Reverse Rainbow Starburst Block - A Tutorial...

I have been wracking and wracking my brains over the last few days to come up with a block for my month {February} for my Sew & Bee-Happy bee ladies to make me. After much indecision I think I've finally come up with a plan for my quilt...

I'm thinking along the lines of a rainbow picnic blanket, so I made this very rough little mock up in my Adobe Illustrator {nope no EQ7 in this house} to give them an idea of what I was hoping for...

** Edited to add: You can now read about the finished quilt and see all the pictures here.
But here is the finished version:

The colours are obviously pretty sickly in the example, and the sashing colour is still up for debate (currently I'm pondering grey or a black & white print - that won't be decided until I have all 12 blocks made) but imagine fabric blocks in the colours of the rainbow with white stars in and you'll be halfway there.

Here is my sample block:

This is the lighter orange block & there will be another orange block to come which is more a pinky/corally orange, heading more into red.

So here are the measurements & instructions for the block. Feel free to sew along with us. It would make a perfect scrap buster and lends itself to different sizes nicely!!

Ingredients for each 17.5 inch unfinished block:

  **  24 of 4x4 inch square of your colour fabric
  **  1 of 4 x 4 inch square of your white fabric
  **  8 small scraps, approx 4 x 2.5 inch for your wonky star points.

Instructions:

Lay out your coloured fabric squares along with your 4 inch white square (centre of your star) where you would like them in your final block. It works best if you have the largest amounts of different prints possible. I was working entirely from my scrap bin so I had some repeats of some fabrics. If that's also the case for you then just spread them out evenly in different rows/columns...

Now we want to make our first star point pieces.

Take the coloured squares directly above, below, to the left & to the right of your white square.

With the first one, place one of your white scraps like the photo below...

You just need to make sure than when flipped over the white covers the entire orange corner with no gaps.

Sew using a 1/4 inch seam...

Iron over your white so that it covers the orange corner...

Trim the white flush with the orange square...

Then flip square over and trim the orange corner to be flush with the white so that it is now 1/4 inch seam...

Repeat with the second piece of white like so...

 And trim.

Now you should have your first 2 star points...

Repeat with the other 3 coloured pieces so that you have all 8 points of your star made & put them back in your layout...

Time to join our squares together...

Join them together into rows, then join the rows together to make your finished block.

Square up your block to 17.5 inches.

Stand back & admire your reverse Rainbow Starburst Block...
Too easy...

I think this will be a pretty fabulous picnic blanket! But I'm picking it will be a while before it's finished - perhaps for next Summer?

There goes another new WIP to the pile anyway ;)

Linking up to Fabric Tuesday

Enjoy

F.r.u.s.t.r.a.t.i.o.n!

Noun 1: Frustration -  the feeling that accompanies an experience of being thwarted in attaining your goals

                                  - defeat

                                 -  disappointment, letdown - a feeling of dissatisfaction that results when your expectations are not realized; "his hopes were so high he was doomed to disappointment" 

                       - the feeling that accompanies finding out that your husband can NOT in fact finish his apprenticeship in February, as indicated, but now has to wait until at LEAST MAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hmmm....

Frustration may in fact be an understatement for what I'm feeling right now.

Rip roaringly, eye poppingly MAD is possibly a more accurate description....

As my friends know, it has taken every ounce of strength in me to put up with Mr Flutter working away this last year. It has only been with my eyes set firmly on him finishing his apprenticeship in February that I've been able to get through.

But no.

Just as I suspected, there has been another delay... Because his work scheduled him on a job as a tradesman last year, not an apprentice, and double booked him so that he had to miss his final block of his Uni study, he now cannot finish in February because there is an overlap of ONE DAY between his catch up Uni study finishing and the Capstone exam starting.

One day standing between us and freedom.
One {insert rude word at your discretion} day!!

GAH!

So I am rather mad.
Mad, mad, mad and frustrated.

And now I somehow have to find the strength to put up with at least another 3 if not more long swings of him working away.

*sigh...

I know I can do it.
I just don't want to have to.
I want him to have some options to choose something better for our family!

Luckily I know that I have Devine strength to pull from to get us through.
I'm sure it will become apparent at some stage why this is all happening.
But right now I don't like it one bit, I don't understand and I'm still cross!

Oh and of course this news come right after we just enjoyed an extravagant holiday all the while thinking that Neil was now permanently on tradesmen rates and we wouldn't need that to live on in a few months time didn't it...
Extra joy!

So just in case I didn't wake up in enough of a bad mood this morning after Hannah woke me up at 2.30am and I couldn't sleep after that, I sure am properly grumpy now.

Bet you're glad you're not around me today!
Just sayin...

Sorry to rant at you!
I'll be back in a more cheerful way tomorrow with a tutorial for you all.
It's pre-written already so that's a promise ;)

Sunday Snippet...

Love this one :)

A day out at AQWA...

We had another round of celebrations today, because somebody in our household has a birthday today.
The number starts with a 5, so that should be a good clue that it's not a regular member of the Flutter clan. Perhaps somebody visiting from places afar?

Racking our brains last night for an activity we could do together as a family which involved air conditioning (because we are far too sensible  chicken to try somewhere like the zoo in this heat!) and which the children would still enjoy, we settled on going to AQWA for the day (The Aquarium of Western Australia). I have taken the children there once before, but Abbie was just a baby, so it was lovely to take them now they are a bit older. I highly recommend it as a place to visit...

First we went down into "the tunnel" - A journey under 3 Million Litres of Indian Ocean to explore "shipwreck coast"...

Littlest Flutter was not so sure about the tunnel at first... She didn't say anything or complain, but I could tell by the fact that she buried her head in shoulder.
Who could blame here with creatures like this swimming so close to us though...

I mean look at the teeth on that thing!

Yikes!

But littlest soon came around and was pointing and ooohing and aaahing along with the rest of us at all the wonderful creatures...

Then we came upstairs and had a look at the rest of the exhibits...

We got to make a badge each...

Yes that would be my little fashionista dressed in a scarf and a wrap in 40 degree heat. No it wasn't my doing... *Sigh...

Just in case we needed reminding how dangerous it can be to swim in the sea, there was a special "danger" section complete with sea snakes, stone fish and all kinds of other things...

Apparently these guys are not so good to eat...

Then we got to the kids favourite part... there was no doubting Abbie was having a great time by the time we got to the outside tanks and the kids got to splash in the water & touch a starfish...

Not sure Hannah's smile is sincere though. Are you? LOL...

Then it was time for lunch so we skipped around the corner to a seafood restaurant at Hilary's boat harbour...
I highly recommend this as a stop on your visit if you're ever in Perth!...

Sadly we forgot to take our swimmers. What were we thinking?!

The others have just got back from the beach (I was a bit too lazy to leave the air con this evening, even if it did mean a swim) so I better go help get dinner.

Hope you are all having a lovely weekend too!

Favourite Thing Friday - The Holiday Edition...

I'm pretty sure it will be no great mystery as to what my FTF is today...

H.O.L.I.D.A.Y.S....
And most specifically, celebration holidays with my hunny!

Yes, we are back from our brief getaway and I don't think it would have been possible for us to have had a more perfect time!

We took a little road trip down south and stayed at a fabulous resort. I knew it was going to be nice down there but it far surpassed our expectations.
Our hotel had 3 pools, was set on the beach, AND had it's own pond complete with baby ducklings. We also had our own private spa.
If that's not enough to make you want to go pee every 5 minutes then I don't know what is, but it sure was nice :)

It also had all the best things that you really want from a hotel: clean, quiet, comfortable and air con! That last one is particularly important when you are travelling in the hottest week that WA has apparently seen in 47 years, trust me on that one!

We also did all the things that {to me} make a perfect holiday:

We slept in!
We ate out at some truly fabulous places...

We shopped...
{right through from thrift shops to some of the cutest boutiques ever!}

And not just window shopped at that.
We ate out some more...

We swam...
We napped...
We read books...
We watched movies...
We took drives to see the sights...

I didn't wear the white dress intentionally although now the thought has occured to me about how ironic it was, it is quite funny that I did!

We even went into the cutest sewing shop ever and I got to try out a Bernina 820
and Mr Flutter even stood there and picked the ladies brains about it!
{No that doesn't mean I'm getting one btw - was just playing.}

And the most important thing of all...
We.were.celebrating.10years.Together

It was our first time celebrating an anniversary together in 4 years at that. About time.

So really and truly it was the perfect celebration holiday. Even if by today I did miss my gorgeous girls like crazy!

Not that they were interested in me in the slightest... this man was understandably the man in demand...
But I can understand that since it'd been 3 weeks since they'd seen him and only 3 nights since they'd seen me.

And I suppose you'd like to know what Mr Flutter gave me as a present?...

Go on then I'll tell you...
A few more sparkles of the gold & diamond variety...

Handmade by a local jeweller to the area in which we stayed.

Yes it has occured to me that I have the perfect man!

So tonight it stands to reason that I am feeling like that Kat that ate the pigeon...
I'm sure my 5am variable alarm clocks will bring me right back down to reality in the morning, but for now I'm going to revel in it!

Linking up to here...

10 Years Ago Today...

I looked a LOT younger and slimmer (who didn't right?); 

and I spent the day doing this...

So now you can see that the obsession with butterflies is not a new thing! ;)

Happy 10th Anniversary Neil!!

As you read this I am currently away at a resort, enjoying 3 nights of CHILD FREE time with my hunny for the first time in about 3 years. 

Nice!!

Thanks need to go to my Mother-in-law for her willing childcare services!

I know it's pretty traditional to spiel off on a tangent now a whole bunch of lovey dovey stuff - but don't worry - in this particular occasion you are saved from all that. Because while it's all true - I'm pretty sure I'm saying all that stuff to Neil's face right now and therefore don't need to say it in a blog post ;)

But instead I thought I'd share some general thoughts and tools on marriage and how we make our relationship work and be the brilliant relationship that it is today.

Because like every marriage, ours has not been without its bumps along the way. Quite frankly it has been a lot of hard work to get to this point, {In my opinion anyone who says marriage is not a lot of hard work is either not married, or in denial!}.

The first 5 years in particular were very hard going actually!!

... While divorce has never entered our vocabulary, I must admit that I have on occasion felt like slipping Neil a little something 'special' in his dinner if you get my drift, during some of those hard times. As I'm sure has he to me as well.

But through faith and perseverance we have made it through, and 10 years on I believe we have the best and strongest marriage we've ever had! Yes we still have hard times, but we know stuff now that we didn't before and we are much better equipped to deal with those times in an unbreakable way.

So I thought I'd share some of the stuff that we've learned...

***

I believe that the most valuable thing that I know about love today is that Love is a verb.

Not {just} a feeling like Hollywood would have us believe, although that is certainly a big part of it too.

But feelings in themselves are fickle! We all know that feelings can change, can "grow apart" {or smash apart}, especially when given a little conflict.

No; I believe that love is definitely a doing word.

And it can take practice to be exceptional at it.

So with that in mind I will share a few resources that we have found really useful to help enrich our relationship and help us continue to love even during the tough times. Ones which I think that every married couple can benefit from reading, whether they are going through a tough time themselves or not.

Because there's always room for improvement right?
I know there always is for us anyway LOL...

So here goes...

The first book which stands out to me above all the others is this:

The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman...

We got given this book as a wedding present, {by two different people actually} and I have given it many times as a wedding present myself. That's how fundamental I believe it is!

It talks about how there are 5 different ways that we each communicate & receive love. Ever feel like your partner doesn't really get how much you love them or continues to misunderstand things that you do or say? That could be because you are speaking different love languages...

The 5 languages it talks about are: Words of affirmation, Acts of Service, Gifts, Physical touch and Time.

All I can say is that if you don't know about these then trust me, they're really worth knowing! It turns out that when we first got married Neil was speaking love to me by doing things, when all I really craved and wanted was for him to spend time with me. Not a cool combination and I'm sure that you can imagine it was one that led to a lot of disputes and misunderstanding!

Gary Chapman also writes a huge range of other useful books in this series and on other topics. E.g. there is one on love languages for children & another for teenagers. Really useful when dealing with your kids!
I also really like his book "The family you've always wanted & 5 ways to make it happen"...

Next I really like:

For couples only boxed set, by Shaunti & Jeff Feldhahn...

These are the best two books that I have ever read on explaining the differences between males & females. In my opinion it is invaluable to know that these differences are very real, understand and respect them.

There are two books included in the boxed set (although you can buy them separately also) - 'For Men Only' & 'For Woman Only'. 

These books are in our experience very accurate, include a lot of fascinating research, but are very easy (and quick) to read and digest.

The set is designed so that you first read the book about your gender (E.g. I would read the one about woman entitled 'For Men Only') and highlight or underline the bits that you can particularly relate to or find most relevant. Then you give it to your partner to read so that they can better understand you as they go through.

They also have younger versions of these books "'For Young Men Only': A Guys guide to the alien gender "& "'For Young Woman Only', What you need to know about how guys thing...". Great for teenagers too! I know I plan to make my daughters read them (so that they can understand just why I won't be letting them run around in string bikini's, low cut tops & micro skirts ;) )

The next two resources also go together:

Fireproof DVD & The Love Dare...

 The Love Dare is a book taken from the movie 'Fireproof'. It is basically a 40 day programme designed to help grow your marriage.
In the movie the couple is at breaking point - about to get a divorce. But the man's father gives him this programme to do. He does it really half heartedly at first but somewhere along the way he has a change of heart and keeps doing it without his wife's knowledge. They end up resolving their differences and renewing their marriage vows. Very inspiring!
 I think that a programme like this can help a healthy marriage also.




This is the movie to support the book {or vice versa or whatever}.
Worth a watch!
It is a little cheesy in places, but it's one that I always get something from.
Word from the wise though; you may want to have tissues handy...







  Sheet Music...
I'm pretty sure the cover sums it up. Not a book about music, despite what the title may otherwise indicate.

Probably enough said, just in case my children read this one day ;) ...
 LOL...








There are more resources that we've used & like, but those are the best we've used which I feel are most not to be missed.

They are all written by Christian authors, and most of them do have a Christian element to them, but regardless of your faith I think that they are very valuable resources for the toolbox.

Right, ok... back to sunning myself by the pool, drinking cocktails and being fanned by my cabana boy husband.
Oh wait - thanks to the wonders of Blogger technology, I have been doing that the whole time ;) LOL

See ya