Just popping in...

... for a quick update :) I have been busy.. not sure what with, but the days seem to be flying by. We've been doing a little bit of shopping for things we need that aren't coming in the container - some bookshelves (can never have enough of those), chairs, kitchen stuff... etc.

We've also still been catching up with friends, which has been lovely.

I have also been playing with my new baby, Baby B:


Such a little sweetie! She sews beautifully and is easy to take with me to classes and workshops. I am very happy :)

Last week I spent all day Tuesday sewing with friends, and managed to get this quilt top done:

If you recall, I bought Kaffe Fassett fat 1/8ths from Emma's to try to make a quick quilt for the art lady in Skipton. Well, I didn't finish it in time, so I decided to be a bit more creative and came up with the above design. I quite like how it turned out, don't you?

Now I need to wait for the container to get here so I can get some backing fabric.... and guess what????? Last night we found out that our stuff has arrived in the Kingdom and is going through customs now... and will be here on Wednesday morning!!! So excited! We weren't expecting it until mid March, so this is a real bonus.

I've been fiddling with some yarn as well... in the last few days before I left Oz, I made two water bottle covers for friends and gave my own one away. So I needed to make another, which I did from a variegated yarn. It looks a little like a bargello pattern:

So I've been dragging my water bottle everywhere I go, even though it is not too hot here yet.

I also have another finish.... a camera case:



Oh, and I made two little Pink Penguin baskets, but no photos of them yet... so really, I have had a very good month of finishes in spite of moving countries.. or maybe because of?!

UPDATE - ok, it is the next day and I am GIVING UP! I can't get any more photos to load :( Don't know if it is the internet connection or blogger, so I am just going to quickly post this and then try again later (I've been trying for a day now!)... you just need to imagine the photos there for now, lol!

Some Observations

Having been back in Arabia for just over a week now, I thought I'd share some observations. So far we feel really comfortable being back. It seems like we have never been gone, other than the fact that we are in a new house with hardly any furniture, waiting for our shipment to come :) Some things haven't changed and some things have:

• the shwarma and hommus are still as yummy as ever!
• the traffic is still crazy (ok, maybe it is worse...)
• our friends that are still here are still wonderful! (And it was soooo good to see them all again!)
  
• there are still sandstorms which blow dust and fine sand into every nook and cranny of the house...
• there are more malls than ever... and more houses being built all over the place
• the lamb is still cheap - New Zealand lamb for $10kg - yum!
• you can still buy Aussie carrots, $1kg (buy Aussie, yeah!!!)
• I can't find decaf tea bags anywhere... bummer....
• they still give you bags when you shop here - and not those thin ones in Oz, real, strong ones!
  

Of course there are a few things that I had forgotten about.:

• I forgot you need to take the veggies to a guy to weigh them before you get to the checkout.
• I forgot that Safeway gives you 5% discount if you spend over a certain amount.
  
• I forgot that you don't take the shopping trolley to the car and unload yourself... the Indian guy who packs it does that for you...
• I forgot that you get 10% discount at the book shop if you show your card (even if it expires in 2008)
  
• I forgot it was so dry here... my heels are cracked and my hair is limp...
• I forgot that you shouldn't shop at Ikea on a Friday night.... it takes you an hour to get through the checkout and get the stuff in your car!
  

And just a few other intersting facts you might like to know:

• Weekend here is Thursday and Friday. It takes a while to get used to that again.
• We drive on the opposite side of the road here than in Oz... umm... that would be the.. um... right side? Well, the steering wheel is on the left :) It always confuses me!
• When Elizabeth and I go outside we need to cover - wear a black dress called an Abaya and have a scarf over our heads. At the moment Elizabeth is wearing my old Abaya and has been hassling me from the time we landed to go buy one of her own with purple trims.. :)

I am sure some more observations will come to me as time goes by. We are very happy to be back again and enjoying every moment. We have caught up with old friends and it was so good to see them again! I went to my friend's quilt group last week and came back with something NEW... I will leave that for another post :) I have a lot of catching up to do on my blog, but will get there bit by bit. For all of you in the rest of the world, hope you are having a great weekend! For us, it is nearing the end of the second day of the work week and I need to go cook dinner...

February Finishing Stitches

We are almost a week into Feb already! Amazing! Time flies when you are having fun... or moving countries... :) So it is well and truly time to get the Feb Finishing Stitches going...

Alice and I had a chat and we decided that since there are a lot of UFO challenges out there, we are going to change ours to ANY finish, not just ufo's. Of course I will still try to get ufo's done, but at the moment they are all on a slow boat somewhere, so I have a few months reprieve :) I have plenty of things with me that need finishing and looking around my new house, I see lots of things that I could be sewing for it. So the challenge is as follows:

Part A - Finish any craft project - big, small, made of paper, wool, fabric, paint, whatever. It does have to be completely finished though - e.g. a quilt is finished when all the threads are tucked away and the binding on :) Just finishing a top, does not count. OK? Ok.

Part B - this is only for quilters I'm afraid. It is to finish a BLOCK for ANY quilt (UFO or just started). The idea is to finish the bigger projects, we divide them into smaller goals. You can work out what your definition of a block is. Small block, big block, stitched block, applique...

Please let me know when you finish something for either Part A or B, by leaving a comment on any post or sending me an email, and either send me a pic or point me to a pic on your blog that I can pinch.

You can join in on one or both :)

Leave a comment on this blog post if you want to join in this month or email me.

I'm off to do some yoyos... :)

PS Go to Alice's blog to see who won the charm pack for January!

We're Here!!!

Just a quick one to say we have arrived safe and sound! It is lovely to be here again with my DH - we arrived almost exactly 3 months after him!

The house is BIG and EMPTY, lol! Must go unpack suitcases.. Catch you all later :)

Almost time now!!!!

We have visas, we have tickets, we almost have lift off!!! Tonight we are heading for Melb airport, destination Dubai (and beyond) in the pic above. That photo was taken 4 years ago when we were leaving.. I'm sure it looks pretty much the same now. But these kids don't!

Taken four years ago at Dubai Airport...

....waiting for the plane back to Australia! Wow, they have grown since then!

We are all pretty excited as you can imagine. Nearly all last minute things done now. Trying to fit everything in the suitcases - ugh! Counting down in hours, not days :)

I'm not sure what my internet will be like when I get there. I will try to do a quick update so you all know we arrived safe and sound, but I think I'll take a little blogging break while I get over my jetlag :)

Till then.... sew for me please :)