I love Spring!

We had a lovely weekend, the weather was just perfect! Rob and I were cleaning the gutters and eaves through out the week to get them ready to paint. So today we started painting the eaves and downpipes all white, we decided the gutters looked good enough once cleaned up. It's amazing how some paint can make such a difference, we are not done yet but it is already looking like a different house.

Yesterday Aline came by to visit us, I was very happy to see her and Nina because we haven't seen each other for over 5 months. It was a nice surprise when she left me a message in facebook saying she was coming to Perth for the long weekend. She spent the afternoon with us, Nina and Luke were all hugs and kisses; very cute! Tania, Glen and the boys came by in the end of the afternoon also for some hot-dogs, it was great to see them because we also needed to catch up. So our Saturday was a day with good friends, simple food and great weather, I couldn't ask for anything better!

Today while Rob was finishing painting, I took Luke to Lansdale Farm (petting farm) so he could work in peace and Luke could be entertained for a couple of hours. We had some great news also form Kel, she had a beautiful, healthy baby boy, so in the end of the afternoon Luke and I went to visit her in the hospital (which is three blocks away from my house, handy or what?). I got a little teary when I was holding the little bundle of joy, I must admit that I miss the baby phase even with the sleeping deprivation. It was so great to see Kel and Harley so happy with their little angel. Well that's all the news for now, enjoy all the photos from the farm and Kings Park. Take everyone!

REDWORK REDWORK REDWORK!!!!

Its been pretty hectic around here in the land of OZ. Luke is growing so fast, he is a little boy running around the house and outside in the garden in the spring sun. It seems like it was just last month he was crawling around the house. Its crazy how time passes so fast once you have kids! So not only Luke keeps me on my toes throughout the day, renovations have begun here too. Which means, money is tight, trades man coming and going and chaos rains in my little kingdom. Our bathroom renovations have come to a halt because of lack of fund and of tiles due to no more funds to buy more tiles but most of Luke's bathroom is done. Renovation in Luke's bathroom will commence again in November but our roof and ceiling will be fixed next month because May's freak storm damaged both.

Spring has finally arrived here in OZ and all the flowers are blooming, magpies are starting to swoop and the days are becoming warmer. Most of you know that we have a big back yard which has been neglected for years from the previous owners, so with spring here, there is a lot of work to be done in the garden. Rob took this week off, so we could do a so needed spring cleaning in and outside our house. So since Saturday we have been busy outside picking weeds with Luke and trimming back some of the bushes. Also I have been busy with my herb and veggie patch, adding some compost to the ground and planting some seedlings. Hopefully my zucchini seedlings with flourish and all my flower seedlings too.  

So you must be wondering why my post reads Redwork instead of gardening galore? Because I finally started on Kim's wall quilt, she just had her third baby girl a couple of weeks ago!!! So I am making for all three little ones a Redwork wall hanging. Its coming along great, considering I have never done any embroidery before, but pretty much its all straight stitch in red embroidery cotton thread, a no brainer really. If you would like to know more about the history of Redwork go here.So as you all can see, its been pretty busy around here. I will post some photos once the quilt is finished because I don't want to spoil the surprise for Kim, this also goes for the photos of the renovations seeing its not ready yet. Here are some more photo of Redwork but not made from me.Well take care everyone.

                                                       Life at Rosemary Hill

                                                                     Bunny Tales

                                                                      Agulhas da Meri

                                                                     Stitching Cow

                                                                    Feeling Stitchy

                                                              A cup and a catch up...

                                                    

Perth 2010 Quilting Show!

My poor blog is so neglected that its not funny anymore. But its been a very busy beginning of the year and I am really trying to update it as much as I can; its just that during the day Luke wont let me near the computer. If I am at the computer just to check my email very quickly I get a little demanding boy crying by my side wanting to play with my keyboard. Not only that, Rob got me the new Samsung mobile with the touch screen, which I was happy but when we installed the software in my laptop it just crashed my windows explorer! Thank god I have a smart husband because he managed to save all my documents, photos and songs but we will need to re-install windows again! I was so peeved that every time I look at the phone I get upset, not only that; the bloody thing doesn't work properly so I cant send any email just receive, apparently I am not the only one with all these problems!!! We are at the moment seeing if we can return the bloody thing and get an iphone for me instead.

Any way this weekend was really great! We had our annual WA quilt show. I spend the whole Sunday from 9-5 buzzzy like a bee around wonderful creative quilts and also beautiful fabrics, gadgets and quilt notions. Bought some really neat tools, like the adjustable quilting rulers. It is an Ozzy invention check out the video...its pretty neat. It was pricey but will make my live easier when quilting. Got two nice books with Jelly Roles patterns which of course I got one Jelly Role fabric pack also so I can make a quilt for my bed. I found some cheap $1 wooden buttons which was a bargain. Got some cute Christmas embroidery to make cute tree hangings. Got a wonderful Bias making tool from clover.  I could go on and on but the rest was just small things nothing too flashy. Rob took care of Luke and called me around 13:00 pm to see how everything was going and asking how much longer I would stay...hahaha I told till it closed. Luke is teething at the moment, his molars are all coming out at once so he is very cranky. Poor Rob was completely exhausted when I got home at 17:00pm. So I made a nice dinner for my two special guys and cuddle up with them in front of the telly.

Well I hope you all enjoy the pictures of the quilt show and have fun with Lukes walking video...its pretty funny. Big hugs to all.

Home Sweet Home!!!

Its been really busy around here in Oz. So many big events going on that I don't even no were to start. First, a month ago we received notice that the owner of the house we are living at the moment was having issues with the tax department. Because of this he will be needing to move back into the house in January 2010, so we found our selves homeless! So we started at full gear looking for a new rental place and re-thinking the whole, "lets wait another year to buy a house". So we started looking into sale properties and rental. After some search in the past two weeks we found an affordable 4 by 2 in a good neighbourhood, just walking distance from my mother in law. Its a great location, the neighbourhood is very green with loads of beautiful parks. The schools in the area are one of the best in Perth so for Luke this will be very good. The house is only a short walk to the shops and almost in front of the house there is a small park with huge gumtrees and a little playground for Luke. It is also in a cul-de-sac which means no big traffic so if Luke wants to play on the street he can. The house itself is on a big land 736 square meters (for Brazilian standards this is not very big but for Dutch standards this is huge!). It has an awesome big back yard with two peach trees, one mandarin tree and one lime tree so loads of "caipirinhas or margaritas" in the future. The house inside is very tiered, it needs a good scrub and a good paint job. A new kitchen is also a must in the house and floors too. All in all its a great house with so much potential, so we bought the house!!! I am very excited because its my first property and its all mine which makes a big difference from renting all the time. We got a good price for it and because we need to gut the inside we can change and do what ever we want. So very very exciting times to come ahead, I made some pictures of the inside and as you can see there are still tenants in the house but they will be gone by next week. So we probably will get the keys in December. So will start a DIY section on my blog with all the before and after photos to inspire anyone doing some renovations or thinking of renovating.

Second big event around here was Luke today, he started crawling backwards or pushing himself backwards. So he is mobile now, which means for me more work in getting the house baby prof, so I guess in a couple weeks to come he will be crawling.

Third big event was my brother in laws first photographic exposition in an art gallery. He was in the newspapers and all. That was last night, Rob and I were very proud of him and already ordered our Christmas presents (just kidding)!!

Yesterday was Halloween and we spent it at Tania's and Glen's place. It was so funny Tania had dressed up as Princess Leia from star wars, she looked awesome!!! Glen was Count Dracula, rob and I just didn't have the time to really dress up though, but we had a great time. The boys smashed a pinhata and had a blast with the treasure hunt. Unfortunately forgot to take my camera so no pictures...naughty Alex. So very busy weekend, now we are leaving to have brunch with Rob's uncle and the rest of the family. We all are going to say goodbye to one of Rob's cousins who is leaving to South of France to work as a wine expert in a winery. Have fun with all the new videos and pictures of Luke and the new house.

First time at the beach!

Here in Oz we had a long weekend which was pretty full on. On Saturday we spent the afternoon with Tania, Glen and the kids. We went to the park near their house and Glen and Rob entertained the kids with a bottle rocket launcher. It was great and all the kids in the park were very intrigued by the rocket. Glen made a video and its on facebook (don't know if the link will work) for those of you who want to check it out. Luke had his first time on a swing and he just loved it.

It was a wonderful sunny day on Saturday and on the Sunday the weather was even better. Around midday on Sunday we met Aline, Paco and Nina for lunch at the beach. We had lunch at Trigg beach cafe and the food was the best I had since arriving in Perth. The weather was just wonderful, 26 degrees Celsius!!! So after a long winter we finally manged to go to the beach and soak up the sun a bit. Nina and Luke saw the beach for the first time and cried when we put them on the water, I guess the water was still too cold for them. Luke was just mesmerised by the beach with its birds , sand and sea. The sun was pretty strong so I had to slime Luke with sun protection and keep him in the shade for most of it, but still it was just wonderful day.

Monday Luke and Rob spend the day at Grandma's and I stayed at home having some time for myself, unfortunately didn't get to do any crafts because the house was a mess and it needed some good cleaning. Managed to do so much, I forgot how easy it can be to clean the house when you don't have a baby interrupting you every 10 minutes!

I also started a scrapblog a while ago and thought it would be great to share it with all of you. I am doing this for my family so I can print it out when Luke turns one, so they can have a photobook of Luke's first year. Its turning out nicely, would recommend the site to any one wanting to do a scarpblog-book. Its a free site and very user friendly, check it out! Well will leave you all here and hope all is well. Enjoy the photos and the scrapblog.

Just Keep Swimming!!!

Swimming is a big part of OZ life so we decided to enroll Luke early for swimming lessons. I think is a great way also for bub and daddy to have some quality time together during the weekend. Also I can go swimming and do some sauna while they are busy with the lesson, so on the end everyone is happy. Luke didn't know what to make of his first swimming and cried a little, his instructor told us that it is normal and by the third time he will start to really enjoy it. By the second lesson he was enjoying it more and cried less. When the lesson is over we change Luke and give him his bottle and before we reach the car he is in a very deep sleep. Its funny because he doesn't even wake up when we strap him in the baby seat in the car and usually he is very light sleeper. So now during bath time Luke starts kicking the same way he does during his swimming lesson and he just laughs away while mommy gets completely wet. So here are videos and pictures of my little swimmer. Also I added the pictures of the little elephant Eli that I made, its my design also which is the first for me. Hope you all enjoy!!!!

Winter = crafty projects!!!

Winter for me was always cold, wet and windy when living for 12 years in Holland and as any one in Holland I was always complaining about the cold, the wind and the darkness that engulfed the land during the 6 months of Autumn and Winter. Snuggling under a warm wool blanket with woolly socks with a nice hot cuppa tea watching movies was something that I used to love to do in the cold dark winter months. This has long changed since we moved to OZ. Mind you, it is still cold for us here, Rob and I even bought a gas heater to warm up our little house in the evenings but nothing at all like the winter's in Europe. My red winter coat has been left in the dark closet and has not been worn at all this winter in OZ. I guess I am still not completely acclimatized to the weather because when I go out for walks with Luke everyone seems to be wearing their winter coats and scarves. But for me its just a nice sunny day and only a light jacket is needed to keep me warm. It has rained a bit, which meant that Luke and I stayed inside most of these wet days, giving me a chance to finish a couple of projects that have been sitting beside my sewing machine. I also went for a workshop and made Luke a very cute bean bag to sit, when he gets older. The shop that gives these workshops has become my favorite fabric shop in Perth. Its called Hot Possum, it is such a wonderful little shop with a great selection of fabrics. They also have a lovely blog where you can see all their quilts and other designs. So I have been busy while Luke sleeps or has his naps during the day. I managed to finish a little pram quilt for Kim's new baby boy. Also made some baby pants and a little elephant (which I forgot to take pictures) for Isobel. I think Kim must be receiving the parcel next week, I hope everything fits the baby because they do grow so fast. I also am working on Luca's quilt which I hope to finish for him for Christmas and my latest project is a cute cover for my sewing machine. I am still getting used to the mild winter here in OZ and still feel a thrill that most days the sun is out and the weather is around 20 degrees Celsius. I wake up to see the sun shinning outside, the blue skies greeting me and there are no clouds to be seen threw most of our winter days in OZ. But secretly I wish I could use my red coat again and walk on snow to hear my footsteps on the white silence and feel my red cheeks become numb from the cold wind blowing on my face on winter mornings.

So here are some of the pictures of the little projects that I have finished. Hope you all like it.

Hello hello from OZ... anyone out there!!!!

Hello my fellow bloggers.....I have missed my little blog very much!!! Sorry again for the strong case of disappearance that has been keeping me away form my beloved little blog. Can't stress enough how being a mom has truly changed my life. Gone are the spare hours that I had to add nice pictures of holidays to the blog or great recipes that I tried one afternoon or even better yet, the little craft projects that I used to do. But don't worry I might be less frequent on my posts but they still will be added with great pleasure, just not as frequent!!! So much has happened, cant believe that it has only been 2 months since my last post (it feels like 6 months!!).

OK... update on the baby front. Luke is growing so fast, he is not a newborn anymore, each day he discovers something new in this big wide world of ours. He is such a good baby, cant complain at all. He sleeps through the night and always wakes up with such a big beautiful smile in his little face. I wish I could wake up with such a smile in my face every morning, it truly makes you appreciate your life more, he is only 4 months old and already he is giving me life lessons. He is a very content little boy who always smiles and giggles, I'm in love...really! Motherhood has been one of the best decision of my life, really cant complain at all ....I am loving it!

On the craft front... I have been busy making baby pants which I got a tutorial made by a great fellow blogger Jessica who created it just for me (isn't she awesome!!!). Here is the link to her tutorial (http://balancingeverything.com/2009/04/21/how-to-make-easy-baby-and-kid-pants/), check out her blog is just great! Will post pictures of the baby pants that I made for Luke and some for Kim's new baby boy that I made but it will have to be another time cause didn't have the time to take the pictures of it yet...sorry guys. Also I made a baby blanket/quilt for Kim's little baby boy which also I have no pictures....naughty Alex!!!

A couple of weeks ago I took the day of from Luke, it was a Sunday and the Quilt show was in town here in Perth. So my mother in law and I spend the day with wonderful quilts and wonderful fabrics to buy. It was great but cant say I didn't miss my little guy...it was the first time we were apart and it was a little weired. I kept calling Rob to check if everything was under control. But apart from that, I just had a great time. All the beautiful quilts gave me so much inspiration to make new quilts and new little projects. Oh and I bought such fantastic Japanese fabrics, they are so cute but also have not had the chance to take some pictures of the fabrics so all of you could have a look. But I did already upload the pictures from the quilts in the show so I hope you all enjoy it. Really Australian quilters are so incredibly creative and artistic, I'm so lucky to be able to see there work.

In another note my brother is getting married tomorrow but sadly we had to cancel our trip to go back to Holland because we could only get really crappy flights which would mean that we would have a 32 hour trip in total to get there and also a 32 hours trip on the way back and I just could not do such a long trip alone back with Luke. So sadly we wont be able to share on his happy day with Vivianne but we will be there in spirit! My father has come to us for 10 days and I can really say I was proud of him, he is 75 and managed a long trip to see his grandson. It was very nice to have him here with me. Now my mom has to come and visit also hopefully in September she will be able to come for a visit. We are also planning to go to Holland next year in Spring.

Well that is all the news that I can think of at the moment so till the next post hopefully it wont be too long. Enjoy the slide show of Perth's Quilt Show.

Happy New Year!!!!

We had such a great time last night at Paul's house. It was strange but wonderful to have the passage of the New Year outside having a barbecue in a warm summer night. The memories of when we had our New Year parties in Brazil was present throughout the evening for me. I had very nice fish with some very yummy salad and lots and lots of water and soda. The picture posted on the blog is just for fun....Rob and Paul were smoking cigars and we thought it would be fun to take picture with me with the cigar and beer ... so for all of you out there I did not smoke a cigar or drank beer this New Year!!! It was great to be among friends and family and everyone really had a wonderful time. Alice was really enjoying the warm weather and the great food. It really was a perfect evening for all of us! I wish all of you a great 2009 and that this year will bring peace, joy and happiness for all of you who read my blog. Enjoy the slide show...

Spring in Perth!!!

First of all I want to say that I am sorry for my silence regarding my blog posts. Its been a very hectic August, not only were we looking for a house (which by the way turned to be a very exhausting experience) but also Rob is looking for work. We did find a house which we liked and we are now waiting for all the paper work to be accepted.

On the baby front everything is going very well. I will have my next ultrasound in a couple of weeks which of course I will post the pictures for all of you to see the little jumping bean growing into a real size baby. I still cant feel the little bugger move, even though everyone is asking me, "Have you felt it yet???". It is just a weired concept that I can feel my child move inside of me, I don't know why but I always get images of the film Alien when the thing explodes out of the chest of its host (hahahah). Oh well it is one of my favorite films...another thing that is becoming increasingly annoying is everyone turning to me and saying, "Enjoy your life now because it will be over soon." Talk about positive attitude towards starting a family, than they are surprised why women get post natal depression. Wouldn't you get depressed if the only thing you hear is that you life will be over when your child is born and when you finally popped it out, not only you need to deal with the fact that you have a tinny life to take care but also all those words of "wisdom" of people around you come to hunt you? I wish that there was a kind of law against being negative around pregnant women. Well sorry guys for all the rant on pregnancy ordeals but I needed to get it out of my chest. I am finally experiencing the happy hormones which they talk so much about. I do feel much better and also it feels like I can take the world, its a nice feeling.

For the rest Perth is getting warmer and all the wild flowers are coming out to greet us. I do love spring I think its my favorite season, not too hot and all that fresh air with flowers everywhere. Last weekend was our birthday (Rob and I have birthdays on the same day) so we gathered his family and went to Kings Park for a picnic. It was a warm sunny day and all the flowers were out. I took some very nice pictures of the park and all the flowers. I hope you enjoy them. I also added in my web album pictures of the Rugby game which Rob, Julia and I went to watch. It was so fun to cheer with all the Australians and it was my first Rugby game so I had a blast! Also in the same album there is pictures of the car that we bought which Rob and I love. So I will only add the pictures of our birthday on the blog and for the other pictures please go to my web album. I will soon update the blog again, please be aware that if the house goes through we will be arranging everything to move so it might take some time for all the updates to come through. Oh I am also working on a little overalls for the baby, I already started knitting it and I already done 50% of it, will post pictures when its done. Well I hope all of you are well and enjoy the slide show.