let's play "i spy" ....

once upon a time a very long time ago

we lived in a different house with its walls of many colours

the world of blogging was all anew

the idea of a swap was so inspiring - still is

& this little hARTy blogger joined in an "i spy" swap with Care

she will admit she has a "full blown i spy addiction"

 & thus began an inspiration ...

 you see .... this started me on a road
which led to hosting an "i spy" swap myself ...
way back here

 t'was great fun & i really should do something like it again
here i am such a long time after
& am finally at the finish!
binding has been hand stitched on ...

 all ready it has been played with
sat on, cuddled under & "spied" a-plenty
(i still have the small rainbow version to complete ... )

now it did start an inspiration
the Prayers & Squares Group at ABC
have used this idea many many times
over the last few years when a prayer quilt for a child has been requested
the very first one they made was as a silent auction item
at our very first Playful Market
lovely hey ....


i also made a couple .... with great assistance from my bloggy friend Bron ...
for the primary schools' libraries earlier this year
when we went on a mission trip to Ambon, Indonesia

so i'm feeling like this little journey has ended & yet it is just beginning
"i spy with my little eye .... something beginning with ... ?"
or how it currently goes ..... i spy a .....

 ..... matador

yellow school buses

pears

pencils

fish

birds

a pirate

hearts 

snow flakes

strawberries

cup cakes

planes

hippos

daisies

scottie dogs

a mermaid

tennis balls

buttons

lady birds

grapes

frog

& french horns ????

its all about loving to learn to read ...

i've mentioned this trip to Ambon

a couple of times lately

its departure-eve!

i am so organised its un-characteristic!

so yes ... this trip to support the foundation

Lawamena

is all about visiting the schools where the 

main goal is that we will set up

a reading centre in the library

i'm going on handed down info here

but i understand that these libraries

are not very well used or resourced or loved

we are taking & donating LOTS of books

both Bahasa Indonesian & English

but in some ways the goal of physically

changing about the furniture

organising the books

training the teachers how to use this great resource

&

visually making the spaces a really welcoming

comfortable, safe place where the children will be 

encouraged

to read ...

... so

its all about loving to learn to read

as a team we will spend some time

in each school & we have planned some

activities to do with the various aged classes

we've gone for a theme

(you know me well - i LOVE a theme!)

enter stage left

THE

VERY HUNGRY

CATERPILLAR

by Eric Carle

yep ... kinda mentioned this the other day

i love it as there are so many layers

so

we've used the copy right permission

colouring page from the 

official Eric Carle website

which is the only way to use his image!!

& lots of other great resources

like

these fabric wall panels

set of 5: x2 sets = 10 panels

No 1 - caterpillar

No 2 -mini caterpillar on leaf

No 3 - x1 apple & x2 pears & x3 plums & x4 strawberries & x5 oranges

No 4 - choc cake, ice cream, pickle, Swiss cheese, slice of salami,

lollipop,piece of cherry pie, sausage, cup cake & one slice of watermelon

No 5 - when he became a 'beautiful butterfly'

a huge thanks to the ABC Prayers & Squares group 

& my mum, for helping me get these made

& thanks to Lizzie who helped me source the fabric panels & fabrics

& x2 I SPY quilts ... 

well .... they are actually more mats....

designed so that they can be moved about

sat around & used as starting point for the 

students to write/make up their own stories

as I used in both the I Spy mats & the VHC panels

 an acrylic wadding that is quite static ... was left over from a 

mammoth project from years ago ...

& i sewed lots of rows of quilting stitches to make it all quite stiff

& i used a thicker sturdy curtaining fabric (with fun animals) for the backing

it was extra wide so i didn't need to piece the backing

 ... whew!

a huge thanks to Bron for helping me out getting the fabrics chosen, cut & pieced together!

 &

for the secondary aged kids x 12 that Lawamena sponsor

i made a notebook fabric cover to fit the exercise books that they will be given in their gift bag

a huge thanks to Cas for stealing Oscar away sew i could get these sewn!!

we're attending a huge dinner with all these children ... 

i think there are 40 & their parents/guardians

in fact the organizers had a spot of trouble finding 

an appropriate venue nearby to host us all!!

this will be a special event & i'm really proud to have some 

handmade goodies 

in with their stationary 

oh & the 28 pencil rolls are not in the pic below but for 2 ...

(i know the original post said we made 22 but some more we needed!)

as they have already been distributed about the other group members

to pack safely in their cases! 

another big thanks to Lizzie, Jo, Judy, Cas, 

Aretha & mum for helping sew these the other week

tally ....

10 VHC panels

2 i spy quilt mats

28 pencil rolls

12 exercise book covers

= 52 hand made items!!!

& various other teaching aides ...

& lots of English books 

a big thankyou to Naden for helping out with some of those too!

oh & yeah I packed some stuff for us to wear & use etc ...

& we're meeting the Governor General ...

what do you wear for that?

sam & karen ... i'm keeping you 2 up my sleeve for

the next round of ideas!!

think i may come home with 1 or 2!!! xxx
so joining in
Finish it Friday
with the crowd over at
crazy mom quilts
as this was all a mammoth finish line
(i'm best with a deadline!)

easter at 'our' river ...

Well it is 'our' river didn't you know!?

Oscar at least, thinks it is ....(Above view is technically not the 'river' ... view of lake outside our cabin!)
We had wonderful, perfect warm Autumn weather ... glorious sunshine....
& we had time being just 'us' as a family with a good balance of some time with great friends!
Took my machine & a heaped pile of projects which of course I didn't get to all ... (and even fiddled & started some odd new haphazard piecing that I really am not sure what they will become....couldn't help myself)
...but had a 'good crack' at it ...Finally bound this wonky stars little number!Was supposed to be Oscar's bigger cot quilt ... up-sizing from this one ... but of course now he is in a big bed! Ahhh well still all good!
I love the backing .... a true favourite!
Better get on with a big bed one now & see if I can get it on the bed before he grows out of that one!!!


How about how nice our new grass is!?
Heavenly ....
I have plans to use that 'i spy' picnic rug lots on this here little patch of green!
Hmmm ... what to make this stack of coins into!?

Bound and Gagged!

All 8 of these have been hauntingly calling my name for a long time now .... Binding done .... tick! Hope you enjoyed some time with family over our season of Easter .... ?
There was some respite digging done in the sands by the Murry of course!

Bound myself to a promise ...

... you see I usually get to the binding & just can't seem to make it happen unless I have a deadline ... that's why all the gifts get finished! .... but as for my own projects .... so I promised myself that I would not move onto the creative part of another project until I start completing the whole quilt ... so here is the evidence for all to see .... might be a mini quilt for the end of the sofa at our cabin ? we shall see ...