World Famous in Australia!

Down Under Quilts has to be one of Australia's foremost quilting magazines.  We get it in NZ at a lot of bookstores too and it's always interesting to see what our cousins across the ditch are up to.  Linda Robertus is the new editor, and I'm sure she's going to do a fab job.

Well, I'm hitting the big time folks!  Thanks to a heads up from Marls, I discovered my four lines of fame!  My blog is mentioned in the DUQ issue 158 blog roll.

So hi!  My name is Charlotte, otherwise known as Ms Lottie, and I'm addicted to quilting.  I'm in my 30's, married to a pretty nice guy (he doesn't read my blog!) and have two kidlets - a boy aged 8 and a girl aged 5 going on 15.

We live on a lifestyle block, which is a fancy name for a couple of paddocks out in the wop wops boonies a rural area.

I look after my chickens, my ducks, my cows, my sheep and my family and squeeze in some midwifery work too.

My vege garden is going to rack and ruin, I got six quinces, five plums, a handful of feijoas and a wee bowlful of chilean guavas off my orchard this year, and my cat thinks he's the boss of the world.

Mucking around with fabric is pretty good fun.  I dabble in a bit of surface design and I like putting rusty bits of metal on fabric to make pretty patterns.

I make more traditional (mainly pieced) quilts for fun, relaxation and to make quiet night shifts go faster.

I make art quilts for brain stimulation and 'cause one day I want to travel to Houston (Hubby says I'm not allowed to go unless one of my quilts is hanging).

So if you're visiting - say hi and I hope you stick around.  If you're not new here, say hi anyway - I'd love to learn a little more about you.

Honesty.

Tonight I was having "uncharitable thoughts" about my children whilst cleaning up the interminable mess they make. 

Admittedly they have their 'awwwww' moments.  But in general, they are loud, annoying, they interrupt constantly, they take so much time, they are expensive, they are very, very messy, and they frequently cause me to clench my teeth.

But then a thought popped into my head that is going to make all you quilters giggle.  I have to thank my son for quilting.  My first ever quilt was started long before (like 5 years before) he was born.  But he was the reason I finished it.  That quilt was the reason I went to a quilting exhibition.  That exhibition was the reason I signed up for patchwork and quilting lessons.  And the rest, as they say, is history.

So tonight whilst I am grumpy and sighing and carrying on like a toddler, I was snapped out of it by that thought.

Thanks kids.
xxx

I found this when I went to bed last night.  Those are her grubby cuddlies on my bedside table (which I really must repaint - brown is soooo yesterday).  An 'awww' moment, until I had to heave her into her own bed - she's heavy!



A real 'awww' moment.




When they were cuddlier and didn't talk back so much!



My first ever quilt. (And my first ever baby wrapped up in it).

Beautiful Blogger Award and a little bit of useless info.

Abi at Little Grubs was kind enough to award me a blog award.  You're supposed to nominate other blogs and tell everyone ten things about yourself.  I've done one of these before so I had to look back and see what I've already divulged about myself so I could share something else.  But then I had a real time thinking of things.  So I asked my husband.

1. The first thing he said was,"That you're a mad, crazy, chicken lady." (I'm sure he loves he, really.)  I said that everyone knows that already. 
2. Then he said,"You're totally obsessed with quilting."  Come on - give me something nobody knows!
3. So he said, "Tell everyone you've a tattoo on your back."  Ok - I have a small tattoo on my lower back and I forget it's there because I can't see it and sometimes it startles me if I'm checking to see if my bum looks big ;)
4. Then we got silly.  He reckons he's better at making gravy than me.  He's probably right.  We never really had roasts when I grew up and so I can't ever remember learning how to make gravy.  But I'm getting better at it.
5. Here's one we came up with: I proposed to my Hubby on a leap year.  (And he said yes!).
6. I bite my nails and am totally unaware that I'm doing it.
7. As I go about my day, I often wonder how I would have done what I'm doing back in colonial times.
8. My first full time job when I left school was at the first Spotlight store to have opened in Wellington - but I worked in the Manchester department.  Maybe if I'd worked in Fabrics, I'd still be there?  Instead I hated it and left go to 'Tech to get some qualifications.
9. Looking at my fabric stash, I'd have a guess that my favourite colours are blue and pink.
10. And the last one that my Hubby came up with.  He thinks it's totally ironic that I'm a midwife and that I don't do tiredness very well.  (I told him I do tiredness just fine when I'm in public!).

I love this pic.  My son took it in May on a morning walk (yes, early enough to be still in their jammies).  My daughter is complaining that it's bright and I love that the shadow of my son is in the pic too.

Now the blogs I'm passing this on to if they want to take it up.  There are many I love and read regularly but here are a few that I think are particularly beautiful:

MaeheGirl - always lovely photos and a talented knitter.

Cabbage Tree Farm - a local bloggy find for me.

QuiltPorn - told you I was mad about quilting!

soggy bottom flats quilting and stitching - gotta love a blog with a name like that.

Our Wee Farm - very lovely pictures and a great sense of style.

Apron Strings - beautifully honest about life.

selina's vintage - if you like chenille...

So if it's rainy and miserable at your place like it is at mine, and you have some spare time, check them out.

Flood Memories

Thank you everyone for the kind words about my Father in Law.  He has had some good news yesterday, but will have to have more tests and some surgery.  But for now we can breathe a little easier. 

The rain is lashing down here,  absolutely pouring.  It always makes me a bit nervous when it rains like this. 

In April 2007, Northland suffered terrible floods.  It had rained and rained, but I went out to Playgroup anyway.  I shouldn't have because I ended up hiking home, with my son and husband, through the wet and slippery bush, five months pregnant with my second child.  The roads washed out, slips came down and we were marooned at home without power for three days.  But at least we were at home, some people couldn't get home that first night.

When you got to the end of our road, you turned onto State Highway 11.  This was heading south.

I don't think my family ever saw these photos so I'm posting them now.  Lets hope the rains stops soon (ungrateful wench that I am, I've been moaning about the drought, now I'm moaning about the rain!).

This was State Highway 11 heading North.  We couldn't get through either direction.

My waterhole is almost completely full.  The driveway is like a little river and we have a creek in the cow paddock where there wasn't one before.  The ducks, however, are in heaven!  (And it's perfect weather for staying inside and quilting till my heart's content).

Aww, Cheers!!

I need to show a little bit of gratitude. 

First to Elaine, from Soggy Bottom Flats.  She sent me this lovely parcel of batik scraps and they're fantastic!  Beautifully saturated colours and a perfect red amongst them.  (Check out her post of her husband receiving her 17-years-in-the-making quilt - the pictures are priceless.)

Then to Itch to Stitch, our local Bernina Agent.  Bernina do a fantastic five year warranty on electrical parts and 10 year warranty on mechanical parts.  My machine spat the dummy at me the other day and lo and behold, she was three months out of her electrical warranty (I've had her for FIVE years?  You're kidding me!  I'm sure she only arrived a month ago!  And I still love her as if she did.).  But Itch to Stitch did some sweet talking and I've only paid freight, no repair cost.  How cool is that?  Next time I'm in Whangarei, I'm gonna go show them some luv'.  (Of the retail kind, it's only fair, isn't it?)

And lastly to Wright Fabrics.  They sell good quality, reasonably priced batiks over their website.  I did an order (I treat myself occasionally) and although my payment went through, no fabric arrived.  Usually they are fantastically fast so this was unusual (okay, the sounds like I order more often than occasionally). Anyway, when I called them, they had had the payment but no order had come through.  And glitches happen, so I wasn't expecting it, but they sent me a half meter of fabric added to my parcel as an 'opps, sorry'. 

Aww, the world is full of good people.  Virtual hugs to them all!

Blogversary!

I started this blog a whole year ago today. Wow! Here is my first ever post word for word:

"Ok, so I mainly created this so I could comment on other people's blogs. I'm what I would call 'computer literate' but certainly not 'computer savvy', meaning I can turn the thing on, buy things on Trademe (!) and read blogs. But posting links, making my own blog....well, that's all new to me, so 'scuse me if I look a little dense sometimes! "

That was it, my entire post. And whilst I may have created the blog mainly to comment on others (not knowing then that I could just create a profile and comment), I have totally fallen for the bloggy world.

I used to watch TV in the evenings. Not much, but a few shows and documentaries here and there. Now I can't remember the last time I watched it. I'd much rather spend that time reading other people's blogs. I guess if television only featured shows on quilting, farming, homesteading....I'd be watching that instead.

When it all gets too hard, I lock the kids in a cage and go hang out on the net.

Blogging lets me blab on without worrying too much about what I say. It's allowed me to sort out my thoughts, to vent, to diary what's happening and look back on it. I've made friends I've never met. It lets me stay current with my family - complete with photos. And most of all, it has let me learn so, so much.



Someone asked me recently how I knew "all this stuff"? We were talking about gardening and chickens (and trust me, I am NOT an expert). I didn't really know how to answer because I'd never thought about it until then. But now, after a bit of reflection, I've realised that I've totally indulged my interests through the net and that's helped me pick up so much knowledge. The net lets me check out forums, blogs and sites where I can learn whatever I like. I can read about a book and put it on hold at my library with a few mouse clicks. I can ask questions of fellow bloggers and I can find how-to's on just about anything at all.



So, really, what I'm trying to say on my one-year anniversary is:

Thank - you!

Bloggy world, internet, and fellow bloggers - you are the best!