Humberstone Family Reunion Christmas Dinner

Tonight marks the first time in at least 16 years that the three remaining Humberstone children of Harry and Lyn Humberstone have been together in the one place at the one time. Its the first time ever that Lyn (my grandmother) has had all her grandchildren in the one place at the same time not to mention the 22 grandchildren she has! What a fantastic night to have everyone together.

This is Bernadette and Dion holding baby Crystal and Harley talking to his mum Patricia. Harley and Crystal belong to Trisha.

Mum and Kelly

This is Kianne on the left (married to Scott H.) Kelly and Michelle Humby.

Elaine, Candice and Nana H

Geoff, Scott Darren and Candice

My daugthers with their partners. Alana and Dan on the left and Antionette and Josh on the right.

Many many years ago my cousins Candice and Kelly put some sunglasses on my mum and dads poodle Jose and took a photo of him. Well tonight they wanted to do the same agian with Beau mum and dads poodle they have now. So the following photo was the two girls reliving their childhood! Beau was the perfect angel and sat very still!

Josh and Antionette.

I was busy taking photos tonight and so was dad. I knew he was behind me with his camera and he kept calling me so I half turned put my camera over my shoulder and took the following flukey shot!

Hot Diggity Dog

Well everyone Meribeth from Hot Diggity Dog contacted me today and told me she would send me the fabric I had ordered. So fingers crossed she is going to fix the mistake made by her posting department. Will keep you all informed when i get my fabric.

Feeling ripped off

Well I have learned NOT TO BUY from http://www.hotdiggitydog.com/. Why do you ask? Well I ordered the following fabric :


I also ordered some nice brown paw print on black background to go with this piece. I ordered the fabric for a friend who wants me to make one of those stable bags I make.
This is the fabric that arrived:
Can you see the slight difference? Its bright blue background looks nothing like the black background of the fabric I had ordered. So I contacted the store owner and she said she would send me the black background fabric at a reduced price of $12 but only when I have paid the postage to return the blue fabric! I reminded her that it was not my mistake I was sent the incorrect fabric. That seeing it was her fault I should not have to pay out more money to get what I originally ordered. Yep thats right she wants me to pay the postage to send the wrong fabric back to her then wants me to pay the postage to send the correct fabric back to me!!!!! And she wont send the correct fabric until I send the incorrect fabric back! Now because she in is Amercia and I am in Australia we arent just talking about a couple of dollars. It will cost me at least $10 to send this fabric back to her then she wants me to pay the $12 which is the cost she claims it will be to send the correct fabric back to me. Makes it a very expensive YARD of fabric!!!!!!!!!!!!
All I wanted was a yard of pug fabric to make this bag for my friend. Now I am $49 out of pocket with fabric I will never use and a seller who is not prepared to fix up her own mistake! I am so angry.
So if anyone knows where I can get some of this pug fabric on black background can you let me know. Oh dont suggest hotdiggity!!! Its a Michael Miller fabric titled pug. Oh and if your interested in some blue background pug fabric I have a yard of it as its not use to me as it does not match the other two fabrics I purchased to make the bag with!

MY WEEK OFF

Well today is the last day of my week off! I am devastated! Had a pretty productive week sewing wise. Nearly completed ANOTHER disappearing nine patch! This time its all from breast cancer pink ribbon fabrics. Should be pretty when its finished. I thought my mum how to make this simple pattern too. SSHH dont tell my dad but I showed her how to order from Hancocks of Puducha too! hehehehe

I have also been working on the Orange Crush mystery quilt from http://quiltville.com/orangecrushmystery1.shtml I have completed the first step and look forward to step two. Here is step 1 which is 150 four patch blocks that are 3.5 inch square.

Today I made a Stable Bag. Was a very difficult pattern to follow so ended up whinging it!

Disappearing Nine Patch Class

I am a member of the Port Curtis Patchwork Class. I voluntered to teach the members the Disappearing nine patch quilt technique. What a fun day it was. IT was amazing to watch the different combinations of the quilt appearing. Check out the photos of some of the quilts in progress. Its amazing how different they all look when they are made the same way.

This one is going to be amazing in red white and black. The middle square of the nine patch block was the red colour. The four corners of the block were the black with white print and the others were white with black print. Very effective hey!

This one is made using 3 different fabrics...

This one was made using the same background colour throughout and scrappy blue squares.

Doesnt the black squares on this one come to life! It was amazing watching this one grow. It will look amazing when finished.

This next one is going to be totally different again. This lady had two lovely turtle prints she wanted to incorporate into a quilt. YOu can see how we ended up placing her fabrics into the nine patch block (before cutting). The effect is going to be a stripey quilt! As the blocks come together the print fabrics are going to form a stripe accross the quilt and doesnt that aqua blue fabric just look like water!

The following are some of the other quilts the ladies have started on.

Disappearing Nine Patch

Hello everyone firstly I apologise as its been so long since I have updated my blog! Since the last time I have finished two quilts! I have totally finished my 30s disappearing nine patch quilt and OMG I stippled it! First time I have ever stippled a quilt. It has turned out to be a large single bed sized quilt. I stippled it using a pretty pastel coloured verigated thread. The second quilt I finished was also another disappearing nine patch (DPN)in only two colours. I also stippled it however found it easier after someone suggested I use stippling gloves! WOW what a difference they made. Oh and it might of been because it was a only half the size of the other one.

This one is my 30s fabrics dpn. I just love it.!

Next one is my lap size one. I used Kona Bay roses fabric with black muslin.

Noah's Ark

Today I made a baby quilt for the young girl up the road. She is expecting her first baby in July. Went to her baby shower today and had a nice time. I got the quilt made just in time. However I did cheat I machine sewed the binding down due to lack of time and also felt it would be more durable. Its quite a funny theme considering the amount of rain we have had. The saying on the quilt is "It rained for 40 days and 40 nights!" Of course its a Noah's Ark themed quilt. I bought this quilt kit quiet sometime ago from my favourite ebay seller http://stores.ebay.com.au/Quilt-Tops-By-Octavia-and-Friends_W0QQssPageNameZstrkQ3amefsQ3amesstQQtZkm They have the best value quilting supplies on ebay and are the best people to deal with.

RAIN RAIN RAIN GO AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here in Gladstone Central QLD it has been raining non stop for three days. Yesterday we had a wild storm that dumped a heap of rain on us in a short space of time. Check out these photos to show you the impact the deluge has had!

This fence here has been knocked down by the water. It is the boundary fence of the airport. That river flowing through there is usually just a very small creek.

The pic on the right is of the same creek above but on the other side of the road. It actually came up so high that it flooded across this road. One house on the left out of shot actually had about a foot of water under their house.

Picture on the left is Police Creek near the Big W complex. Those trees are usually high and dry as they are on the side of the creek!

The picture on the right shows the speed the water if running. The fence there goes down under the bridge above and divides the footpath from the creek bed! You say what footpath! Yes there is a footpath/bike pathway that usually goes under the bridge in the picture above!

The pic on the left is the footy field behind our Kmart shopping center. The river you see in the fore ground is usually just a very very small creek! But as you can see its turned the footy field into a lake!

The pic on the right shows the path that leads to the walk way under the Police Creek bridge, well actually it doesnt show it LOL cause its under water! You can tell how deep the water is by looking at those palm trees!

Better picture of unsewn and resewn quilt.

Fixed My Mistake

Well I couldn't let this quilt become a UFO. So I have unpicked and fixed up the mistake. What mistake you all ask as you couldn't see it. It was in the greens on the left hand side. I only had 3 greens and then the reds started. All the other had 4 greens then the reds. So consequently the strips on the left were one row short! SO I unpicked between the last green and the first red and added another green row in. See if you can see the difference:

The fixed version is the smaller pic on the left hand side. Sorry i couldnt get two pics exact same size so you could see the boo boo. LOL

Sunday Superbowl Bargello

Well its Sunday in Australia and even though we dont celebrate the Superbowl my aunt and I decided to join Bonnie from Quiltville Chat in the Superbowl scrappy bargello sewing day. The US girls are probably just waking getting ready to sew and to watch the superbowl.

Here are some photos I wanted to share of Gail and I making our bargellos. I had a slight hiccup with mine right at the end however think it will be easily fixed.

The first photo above is of Gail and myself sewing our bargellos together. Hehe you can see mine behind me hanging on Gails curtain.

Gail has steamed ahead of me and alread done her first border and also part of her braid border. Psssttt ssshhh you know why she is ahead of me..... she sewed until 4am this morning! When I arrived at her house this morning she was still sleeping and I went into her sewing room and OMG I found all her strips sewn together!!!

Anyway here are some pics hope you enjoy.......

This is my scrappy bargello. Each strip is different but I organised them into colour groups. I have made one mistake though, can you see it?

On the right here is Gails quilt. Its so scrappy and so fantastic. The photos just dont do it justice. The photo shows the first border on and the braid border in progress.

This is me cutting out my strips from the tubes. Do you know how hard it is to smile for a picture and trying to cut at the same time with the rotary cutter. I wouldn't suggest anyone try this at home!

~~~~~~~~Gail sewing her braided border.~~~~~~~~

COMING SOON:

Photos of the completed quilts!

OMG another bloomin' project!!!

OMG I have gone and started yet another bloomin' project thanks to Bonnie from Quiltville http://quiltville.com/carolinacrossroadsmystery.shtml Between now and her next mystery she has decided to do a one day quilt called Scrappy Bargello. Its for next Sunday when the super bowl or whatever it is in America is on. Being an Aussie I wont be on at the sametime but have decided to make it anyway. BUT LIKE do I really need another project!!!!???????? NO WAY OF COURSE NOT!

On the positive side its all from scraps! Check out my mess everywhere in my sewing room today: I have piles of colours everywhere!

The picture below is of my nice little pile of 16 inch strips by 2.5 inch wide.

Recyled Denim Bag

After seeing Sharon from NZs bags she has made from recycled denim I decided I just had to do one. My one has a sewing theme. There are two nine patch blocks that are 3 inch square that have mini plastic safety pins on them as though they are ready for quilting. On the other side I embroidered I LOVE SEWING with my embroidery machine. I also have used some gold tone sewing buttons on that side too. It was so much fun creating this unique one of a kind bag!

Australia Day

Well everyone it is Australia Day long weekend in Australia this weekend. Its meant to be a time of rejoicing and celebrating our countrys birthday. Its a day that families should get out and about togther and have a picinic or something groovy like that.

What will we be doing? Well the other 5 inhabitants of this house will no doubt be planted in computer chairs staring at their computer screens playing WOW. What will I do??? Well think I will sew!

Last weekend I made a design board. I used 4 meters of felt. Cut them into two lengths of 2 meters and sewed the two pieces together. I then put a hem on the top to slide a rod through. THen I placed 3 large cup hooks into the wood part around the doors in my sewing room. I then hung it up there and wammo a design board just like that. When I had finished with the design board i rolled it up and used those blue plastic hook/clips that you put on quilts when quilting. They held the design board really well and that way I got to leave my quilt inside the roll.

Here are some pics to help explain what I am trying to describe!
First one is of the design wall when its rolled up when not needed. The quilt stays inside it.

If anyone is wondering, NO behind those doors is not my stash cupboard! I wish!!!!! Its actually my laundry!

The next pic is of the design wall when its down. The quilt on it is my dissappearing nine patch made from 30's charms squares I got from a good friend Sharon in NZ and some from Lissa in NSW and some from Marg Fulton - no not the cook from QLD. I love my net friends! Thanks heaps girls!

The picture below is to show all my friends at C-R-A-F-T that my sewing desk is not always tidy! Everytime in the past I have sent pics of my sewing room my desk has been tidy, today its not so heres the proof!

Update On Arrick

Arrick has his arm out of plaster now. It will be just a matter of time and healing until its totally better.
I had a win with my arguement with Pacific Palms Motor in at Marcoola Beach. They finally agreed to give us our money back on the accomadation we had paid.

Arrick and his Broken Arm!!!!

Well after a few drawn out days and lots of twoing and froing from the hospital Arrick had a cast put on his arm today. We had to cancel our holiday plans to the Gold Coast when he first injured himself so we decided on the Sunshine Coast. Well now due to the doctors wanting to do more xrays etc next week we now have to cancel the Sunny Coast holiday.

Oh by the way Pacific Palms Motel are the most empathetic people I know. The gave us a full refund on our accomadation NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A***holes wouldnt even give us part of our accomadation costs back! They kept the whole lot!!! Yep the whole lot! I had paid for the whole entire 5 days of accomadation and not just a deposit. Gotta mind to keep the booking and just not show up! At least they cant let the room out to someone else and earn double for it.!

Anyway back to the little man in question here is a picture of him with the temporary cast they have put on him. Its huge! Its soooooo heavy too. He has it for a week then we go back and they will remove it and do more xrays and decide from there if they put another one on him.

He looks so cute. Its so hard getting his clothes over the cast so he is wearing one of my singlets!

Its amazing how quick they learn to susbtitute! He can now use his left hand perfectly to operate the computer mouse!