Meme 2. For the Elucidation of the Masses.

I have not much to say today, so have pinched this meme off Kirsty's blog so you all have something to look at - sorry, best I can do!

48 things about me that you probably aren't interested in at all but I'm going to tell you anyway
1. first name? Nic - Nicole really, but only if I'm in trouble.
2. were you named after anyone? No, Mum & Dad just liked the name.
3. when did you last cry? Earlier today, for no good reason - it's just been a crappy day.
4. do you like your handwriting? No.
5. what is your favorite lunch meat? Double-smoked ham.
6. if you were another person would you be friends with you? No - too boring & needy (today anyway)
7. do you have a journal? Only this blog - I have the commitment & dedication of an amoeba when it comes to journalling.
8. do you still have your tonsils? No, taken out when I was 5. I still remember the horrid nurse who wouldn't let me go home until I drank a glass of milk (I loathed milk when I was little). I was shocked to find out just the other day that my mum had forgotten this about me.
9. would you bungee jump? Well, I did (twice, even) when I was in my early twenties - probably wouldn't do it these days tho.
10. what is your favorite cereal? Granola vanilla & almond
11. do you untie your shoes when you take them off? Nope - lazy cow.
12. do you think you are strong? Weak as ****.
13. what is your favorite ice cream flavor? Pistachio
14. shoe size? 8 1/2 - just like nearly everybody else.
5. red or pink? both
16. what is the least favorite thing about yourself? Can't get my shit together.
17. who do you miss the most? My Nan - still wish she didn't leave so soon.
18. do you want everyone to send this back to you? Only if they want to.
19. what color pants, shirt and shoes are you wearing? Blue jeans, purple T-shirt, purple crocs
20. last thing you ate? Fish & chips for tea
21. what are you listening to right now? Spicks & Specks on the ABC.
22. if you were a crayon, what color would you be? Lime green.
23. favorite smell? Coffee, fresh bread, new leather.
24. who was the last person you talked to on the phone? My friend Cheryl who rang to invite me to the movies tomorrow night.
25. the first thing you notice about people you are attracted to? Their eyes, and then their teeth.
26. do you like the person you stole this from? Yep, Kirsty has a cool blog.
27. favorite drink? White wine or Margaritas
28. favorite sport? Tai chi
29. eye color? Hazel
30. hat size? who knows
31. do you wear contacts? No, though I do need to get my eyes checked.
32. favorite food? Vietnamese cuisine
33. scary movies or happy endings? Happy endings
35. summer or winter? Winter, though it never really gets cold here.
36. hugs or kisses? hugs from my friends, kisses from my sweetie.
37. favorite dessert? Lemon meringue pie
38. who is most likely to respond? No idea.
39. least likely to respond? Not a clue.
40. what books are you reading? Blogs only of late.
41. what's on your mouse pad? Haven't got one.
42. what did you watch last night on tv? CSI
43. favorite sounds? Rain on the roof at night.
44. the rolling stones or beatles? Beatles
45. the furthest you've been from home? Houston, Texas.
46. what's your special talent? Putting on weight without even trying.
47. where were you born? The city I live in.
48. who sent this to you? Picked it up from Kirsty on my blog round this evening.

Sorry for my bad mood - hope to improve soon.

Beach Party Snaps

This is my Dad (on the left) and his good mate Norm. Today we celebrated both of their 60th birthdays at a joint beachside party. They have been friends since they were 17 years old, and there's a whole lot of water under the bridge of their enduring friendship.





I took the opportunity to snap some photos of the very picturesque surroundings - what a pretty spot! This sunset shot looks south down the coastline.
I thought this headland was particularly interesting, especially after my brother-in-law (who is a mine deputy) pointed out the coal seam running all the way to the edge of the land. The city of Wollongong has been defined by it's coal mining/steel city heritage.

This is a shot of the Austinmer surf life saving clubhouse, which was the venue for the afternoon's festivities. I am very lucky to live so close to this gorgeous part of the world, don't you think? 

Quilt Show Report

I've had a busy few days at the Illawarra Quilt Show (my local guild) and in preparation for the show - of course I left my own quilt til the absolute last possible minute to complete it. The binding was finished on Wednesday, no time to block the quilt and I was not happy with the way it was going to hang, but there was nothing to be done about it at that late stage. It mustn't have been as bad as I thought, as the quilt was awarded the blue ribbon for professional machine quilting (wooohoooo!!!!).

This is my client Val Muir's quilt, which won 2nd prize in it's category as well as 2nd prize for professional machine quilting!! It is a lovely applique quilt, done on a damask background. I used the damask pattern as the basis for my quilting design, and it did turn out particularly nicely.








My Limelight wholecloth quilt was awarded 2nd prize in it's category as well as 3rd prize for the professional machine quilting. I was asked many, many times today how it was done. The secret is shadow trapunto - the top layer of quilting uses batiste on white polyester batting, which is trimmed away for the trapunto effect. A layer of neon green cotton is added between the trapunto and the final batting, which gives the soft green colour.




This is my Mum's William Morris quilt which she made for my Dad for his 60th birthday (and I quilted). I was thrilled that it won 3rd prize in its category - Mum never gives herself enough credit for the lovely work she does, and she deserves those kudos. 

Studio Tour - Part 2

Okay, sorry for the interruption - let's continue around the room in a clockwise direction. Next you'll see my cutting bench, which sits atop two stacks of wire baskets (which are full of various equipment and some of my unquilted tops, awaiting time or inspiration to be finished). I plan to put up another corkboard on the wall behind the bench - I love to pin stuff up! Also visible is more of the wonderful new shelves - you can see that I had no trouble filling them up.



This corner is where you'll find my trust sewing machine - you can see the quilt that I've been working on, awaiting my attention. This quilt has a deadline which is rapidly approaching, so I've been working in the evenings for as many hours as my eyes are able, to try and get the applique work done.






Next to my sewing corner is my old desk which holds most of my art supplies and general junk. The fact that you are able to see any of the table top is unusual - I tend to pile up crap on any available flat surface until lives are threatened by the risk of an avalanche of debris.











I don't usually have long-stemmed red roses on my desk. I wandered out into my garden in search of inspiration for an upcoming exhibition, and these buds were so perfect I had to bring them in.

That brings us back to the stairs. Hope you enjoyed the tour!! 

Studio Tour

I've been looking at some pics of other people's studios on various blogs, and always find it fascinating to see the different working environments. As I've just spent a couple of days having a major cleanout of my workroom, I thought I should take advantage of the momentary cleanliness to show you all where I work. The first pic is the view as you walk down the stairs into the studio (we live on a steep block that slopes down away from the road, and my studio is on the bottom level below the rest of the house). Directly in front is my design wall, along with the hanging rail on which I display client's quilts when they come to collect them (with a quilt in position).
Moving clockwise around the room, you can see my wall of shelves which houses a ton of junk, along with my stash in tubs, TV and music equipment and a small portion of my book collection. It looks pretty disorganised, but this is actually a vast improvement on how it looked a few days ago.

Continuing around to the right, you'll see (you can hardly miss) my Gamill Class Plus Longarm Quilting machine. As you can see it takes up quite a bit of space. I store batting on the rail underneath as well as a some tubs containing client quilts awaiting their turn. You can also get a glimpse of the leafy view outside my windows, and the blank wall between them where my new air-conditioning unit will be installed some time in the next couple of weeks.

This pic shows the actual machine head sitting at the end of it's table. Above that, you can see some of the new shelves which Rob put up for me on Monday, giving me much more space to store my stuff (I love having him at home on holidays - so much gets done!!).

Looks like blogger hasn't uploaded all the pics, so I'll have to do this in two seperate posts - to be continued....

Pics @ the wrong end of the day...

I really should make sure that someone takes a pic earlier in the day - as you can see from this family shot, I'm a little the worse for wear after cooking/cleaning/entertaining all day!! Nevertheless, Rob had a really good time with all his family around him today, so it's all good.

This is all of us - from left of shot Bonnie, Adam, Rob, Me, Emma and little Ruby (who is feeling much better, thanks everyone for your kind thoughts & get well wishes).