School Holidays!!

Oh I have been looking forward to school holidays this term!!
It's been a big term with;
  **  5 trips to hospital
  **  A holiday to Brisbane
  **  Neil home for 5 weeks &
  **  A bunch of stuff happening with his job (finishing qualifications, awards nights etc etc)
  **  Decisions about whether or not to move weighing on our minds.

Yep. Big term.

So what does holidays mean for us?
Not a fairy holiday as Hannah is led to believe (yes thank you fairy dancing for telling her she was having 2 weeks holiday. Now she thinks it's 2 weeks of FAIRY holiday LOL).
-  I prefer to think of it as a pyjama holiday.
A big.fat.break!

A bit of this:

Banana, walnut, date & choc chip bread baked fresh this morning. Mmmmm Yum!

A bit more of this:

A bit of play:

Tea Time!

A random week of weather:

What is our spring trying to do to us - 16 degrees then 35 a few days later?!!!

Some family fun movie nights:

My girl with a curl...

And a few necessities of life reluctantly thrown in:

Yesterdays shopping list as written by Miss Hannah (4). She's growing up so fast!!

On the sewing front I'm finally up to date with my bee blocks for the first time in months.
Yeeee haaaa it feels great!
They have also all been posted, so if you are expecting some mail from me then it all went yesterday :)

Next up a whole lot of baby quilt binding for my big pile of Blankets of love & I'll be completely up to date of my obligations.

Then & only then can I start my new projects.
Can't wait :)

PS about the other day - please know that I didn't mean to start a paper piecing war/debate!!!! I absolutely adore paper piecing when other people do it. Just hate the process of doing it myself. That is all.

Hope you understand :)

Love it or hate it?!

Either way, I did it today!!

Paper piecing that is...
To be perfectly honest paper piecing has never grown on me. I've always found it pretty tedious and it's never come naturally for my poor brain.
But like it or not one of my Sew & Bee-Happy friends Hilary requested a paper pieced block for her August month.

I will neither confirm nor deny whether one of the main reasons I'm late with this block is because it was paper pieced...
Me, procrastinate?! Surely not ;)

I was anticipating a battle and lots of unpicking action but as it happened by some small miracle it all went pretty flawlessly.
Only 1 small seam needed unpicking - of course it was the last piece just as I was getting cocky & to the bottom of my beer.
Typical Huh.
What is it they say - pride comes before a fall right?!

But the main thing is that I did it. Woop!
And it wasn't so much like having a tooth pulled as I thought it might be....

I love the block design. Hilary did pick a great block. Even if it was paper pieced.

I think I'm now officially up to Septembers bee blocks.
3 days left to go of September. Hmmm... Think I'll make it?
I guess it's just as well that we have no plans tomorrow & miserable weather is forecast!

Do you dislike paper piecing as much as me?
Tell me I'm not the only one who just can't seem to wrap her head around it... Please!

Never underestimate...

Never underestimate the depth and power of friendships from people that you meet online,
That is my advice today!!!
Because online friendships really can blossom to be something quite quite special...

Today I really could have used a pick me up.
We've had 5 weeks straight of Mr Flutter being at home almost full time with us as a family, but regrettably he had to leave today for another 4 week swing of away work {we still don't have a definitely suitable solution for ending those soon as we'd hoped to by now}.
So we 3 Flutter girls are all a bit glum.

But then this rocked up in my mailbox today and shone a whole lot of friendly sunshine upon my day...

I cannot even express to you how special it was to receive this today!!
I knew this completely awesome cushion was being sent to me and I was STILL lost for words...

Hours and hours of work have gone into this cushion. Right through from paper pieced hexagons to hand embroidered flowers ever stitch of it is just perfect for me...

The back is just as special too...

In fact the entire thing is just spectacular!
I'd seen lots of photos of this during the process of it's making, and I knew through the whole process that it was for me.
I loved it through the entire process, but now that I've been able to touch it and cuddle it I love it even more & I can truly appreciate what a work of art it is.

So from the bottom of my heart, thank you so much Susan!!
I honestly don't know how you could post this to me & not keep it for yourself.
You are for sure a better person than I :)
I will treasure it.

And to all my other special online friends who have sent me things over the last few months that I haven't always blogged about {purely because I wasn't blogging much at the time}, or even if you've just sent me a private email to say hi or send your love, (you all know who you are)
Thank you also.
All my online friends make my life so much richer.

So if you are a lurker and have never emailed or commented on someone's blog all I can say is don't be afraid to give it a try.
There are real people down the other end of the email, and if you give them a chance they just might wow you with their love & support too.

Mr Flutter's big night...

Last night was a big night in this house, as Mr Flutter & I got all "frocked up" and sparkly (well I did, him not so much) and headed into the city for the NECA Awards night...

What are the NECA Awards?

Well, in a nutshell NECA stands for National Communications & Electrical Association. Last night was the presentation of their 2012 WA Excellence & Apprentice Awards where my clever Mr Flutter was one of the 4 state finalists for the 2012 4th year Apprentice of the Year in the Industrial category.

It was a huge honour for him to have been nominated by his company, then to have made it into the top 4 for our state and
I am so extremely proud of him for his achievements!

Of course I've always known that he works extremely hard for our family, but it's truly awesome to see his hard work recognised within his industry also.

Unfortunately he didn't win the award and is understandably disappointed.
But, never the less he'll always be a winner in my eyes.

We had a lovely evening. It is not every weekend we get to eat a posh dinner rubbing shoulders with a handful of the "biggest wigs" of the multi billion dollar company he works for (CEO, COO, Owner etc etc).
What an experience.
Intimidating much though?

Well done Neil.
I'm so proud of you

Confession time...

Definitely time to "mark all as read" and clean out my reader!!, a photo by Flutter from.Kat (Mummastimetocreate) on Flickr.

If I've seemed quiet at commenting on your blog recently then this is why...
In other words it's not just you!

It's definitely time for me to "mark all as read" and clean out my subscribe list so that it is manageable for me.

Instead of blog reading I've been doing a bit of:
Holidaying
Spending time with Neil before he flies away again on Monday
Researching the job market
Looking at study options
Looking at housing options
Reading novels
Developing an X factor obsession

My brain is Full to the brim of different options and I feel like we're at a fork in the road but that there's about 6 different paths to choose from instead of 2.
It's overwhelming at times.

And that's what's going on here
Decisions decisions and more decisions
And little to no blog reading

Kat xx

Who's that getting all mouthy??!!

Hmmm that would be ME...
Because I caved and have joined my first real swap of the year Mouthy Stitches.

I really feel like my sewing groove got lost seriously somewhere back months ago and it's started to really bug me, so I thought a fun swap would be just the ticket to get me back behind a humming machine again.

I have been staying away from swaps for a while now. Mostly because I was super busy at the beginning of the work with sewing for business & something had to give, but also because I had quite a bad run of terrible luck in swaps for a while so the glow went off them a little bit for me.
But this time I know it will be different and I'm super excited already!!

Wanna see my inspiration for my partner?

Ack makes my heart flutter just looking at it!!

It really does help when all 3 swap Mumma's are long time besties who I've even met in "real life," so I have no fears about being given dud partners...
{*hint hint nudge nudge girls* ;) }

What is a "dud partner" you ask?
A dud partner in my eyes is one who drops out of the swap AFTER you send all your nice handmade goodies to them but without sending anything on to their partner, thereby letting their partner down.
Not cool and happened to me in 2 different swaps.
Even though I was not unlucky in the receiving I still felt really cross my partner did that to her partner!

And a dud partner is also one who doesn't even have the courtesy to thank you for all your hard work after they receive your hand made goodies you made them.
Also not cool and that has happened to me 3 different times if you count the 2 times above that my partner disappeared off the face of the earth.
Such.bad.manners!!

But if you have never participated in a swap (or have been burnt like me) then honestly don't let that put you off. Swaps can be soooooo fun and you can make the best friends ever through them.

Which is exactly why I'm greatly looking forward to this one :)

Thankful for...

I'm in a reflecting mood, so today these are the things I'm loving today...

**  Loving our church...
I haven't been nearly enough these past couple of months with all the sickness going on. So it's nice to be back going regularly again.
This weekend was the 20th anniversary of "planting" of the church and it was such a great weekend of celebration, fellowship & visioning forward.
I feel renewed.

Our Pastor's wife asked me this week to create a vinyl wall art for the foyer to greet people as they walk in.
I was honoured and truly believe that it sums it up so well - I have certainly been flourishing under their leadership.

**  Loving my children's laughter...
Again I haven't heard nearly enough of it in the past few months. So I am loving the fact that Abbie has an almost constant smile on her face these days.
Loving tickles and the giggles that result.
They are definitely the treasure at the end of my rainbow!!...

**  Loving Spring...
The weather has turned.
I can tell that by all the weeds in my garden that need my attention pronto.
It's warmer and the sun has been shining down on us.
Floaty floral dresses have been worn.
Smell the barbecue scent in the air because Summer is on it's way baby.

**  Loving our new {mostly} wholefoods diet...
I feel so good on it. In general the kids are eating better.
More recipes planned for sharing over on my journey natural diary very soon...

**  Loving my husband...
Well deserved celebrations are in the air...

More info on that to follow.
But I'll just say that I'm so proud of how hard he works for our family.
He is such a good husband, father & role model for our children.
And especially LOVE that he's been home for the last 3 1/2 weeks straight.

What are 5 things you're loving today?

The post I promised for 2 days ago...

Meh, I'm nothing if not unreliable at the moment.
No valid excuse.
Other than it's been busy & in my downtime I've had my nose in a book.
Haha yep told you - not really all that valid!!

Anyway some sewing has been done & I'm slowly catching up on some bee blocks...

Improv "piecing" for Nicky (Miss July) of Sew & Bee-Happy:

Turning all "Granny" on you for Dolores (Miss August) for CARE Do.good stitches...

I hate being late for anything so it feels great to have one less thing on my catch up list!

More coming -
(two lots of paper piecing... so please wish me luck eeeek!)

My name is Kat and....

... I am a fabricoholic!!

And this is why I haven't been to Spotlight or let myself look at any fabric websites for months...

... because bundles like this just jump into my car and come home with me.
Despite the fact that I could not possibly need any more fabric!!

I also could not resist this one...

So yum!
Even if so unnecessary.
I am officially banning myself from entering that shop again until I've actually used some of my stash up!

On the other hand I did actually sew something today. Yippee
I'll show you tomorrow when I've hopefully finished a bit more...

The Holiday post...

We're back!!!
And boy did we ever have a fantastic time!!

A family holiday was exactly what the doctor ordered for all of us.
{Especially me.}
I feel like we've all come back with some fresh perspective, renewed goals, and some genuine energy & excitement about the future. Which is a far cry from the survival mode I had been feeling for quite some months now.
What a relief!!

We fit so much into our 8 days away that I will let the pictures do most of the talking...

We visited Seaworld:

That was an awesome family day out! Lots of things to see that all ages could enjoy and the weather was beautiful!!

That night we hired a baby sitter & the Mummies & Daddies got to go out and remind themselves what life used to be like before children... We enjoyed a beautiful dinner together out at Southbank Brisbane...

We'd almost forgotten what getting to eat my meal hot, not have to get up 500 times to chase a toddler back to her seat, and having an uninterrupted conversation was like!

The next morning was yet another glorious day of mid 20s. So we decided to head South a little way to have brunch, visit the markets and check out the Wellington Point beach...

On Monday we took some time out to do some more serious stuff that we don't usually have the time to do, like looking at houses & meeting with a home loan broker. It was nice to hear that we were where we were hoping we were, or even further along and that our hard work is finally all starting to pay off.
Exciting to think that shortly we'll be in a position to buy another home (now the crucial part is just figuring out where to buy it!!)

We also caught up with one of my cousins for dinner. Prior to Saturday night I hadn't seen her since I was about 12 so that was really lovely to catch up!!

On Tuesday we headed back down to the Gold Coast to visit Movie world:

Despite the fact that Hannah wasn't feeling too well we managed to have a great time. That bottom left picture in the top mosaic is her first "big" roller coaster ride.
I tried to talk her out of it because I took her on a little one in Perth one time and she cried.
But she begged so I gave in and let her.
Then she almost didn't get to go on - the man had to measure her with a special measuring tape & she was literally tall enough to the millimetre.
But she proved me wrong & did not cry, proudly announcing "I am a brave super star Mummy, I wasn't scared!"

Danger Mouse littlest Flutter was highly miffed she was too little to go on the roller coaster & such. There wasn't too much she was allowed to do but she proudly showed us all how good a driver she was at the bumper cars...

You can tell by the grin on her that she was having a total ball.

By the afternoon Hannah, who hadn't been feeling well all day, was really starting go downhill fast so we headed back home only to discover that she'd been running a temperature all day.
Whoops... and the parent of the year award goes to!

Hannah had been complaining of a sore ear & throat for the past 2 weeks and I suspected she'd developed tonsillitis from her cold so I figured I better take her to the doctor just to get her checked out.
Yes it turns out that even on holiday we just can't stay away from the Emergency room...

But thankfully the one we went to was just fantastic; after only a short wait we came away with my suspicions confirmed and free bottles of antibiotics, panadol and a new inhaler all for free.
Apparently if you're going to have a sick child on holiday then Wynnum Hospital, Brisbane is the place to visit!!

The rest of our holiday was very laid back. We went for a drive up to the Sunshine Coast, looked at a few more houses, and just generally enjoyed hanging out with my Brother, Sister in Law & the lovely Amelia...
Because lets face it, it was really for cuddles with my gorgeous new niece that we decided to visit:

And gorgeous she sure is!
The girls took to playing with each other like ducks to water & it was so lovely to see them all spending time together.

I think all in all we had the perfect holiday!

Of course the question on everybody's lips since arriving home has been "so are you going to move to Brisbane?!".
Well... I can't answer that finally, but I will say that Brisbane seems just beautiful (if not just a little hot) and it has left us with lots of food for thought.
In other words, lets just see what happens. Anything is possible ;)

But for now we are just happy to be home in our own beds!!!