MERRY CHRISTMAS

Merry Christmas everyone, stay safe and best wishes.

 

I am on annual leave from today and back at work on Monday 12th January 2015, YAY YAY....



 

Hugs
Kaylee

CHRISTMAS COOKING/BAKING



I did my Christmas cooking/baking yesterday, so this year I decided to make a fruit cake,

 



Some cheese logs, they are always a favourite.

Some rum balls without fruit

 

Some delicious rocky road,

Rum balls with fruit, this year I used the Rum liqueur in the Rum balls, ummm should be yummy

Some Christmas bark, I made this for the first time last year and it was a real hit,

 

 And of course some mushy peas, I had a quality control taste test and they are so yummy, yes there is a BIG pot full, I made up two packets of dried peas.

 

 

Cheers



Kaylee

GIFT FROM JAPAN

A lovely young girl I have the pleasure of knowing and is like a daughter to me now lives in Japan and a couple of months ago she had her second child, a boy named Soma, I made a few things and sent over to her.  It is a tradition in Japan when you give a baby gift the family gives a gift in return, how nice is that !!!  Yesterday in the post I received this beautifully wrapped gift.

 

And inside are these beautiful cakes/biscuits, they all look so delicious and there are two of each one, I will be enjoying these over my Christmas/New Year holiday break.

 

Happy Friday everyone.

 

Cheers

Kaylee

QUILT READY TO GO

I added the binding to the latest Aussie Hero Quilt on the weekend, it's ready to go to it's recipient, a female sailor on HMAS Success.

 

This is the front with an Australian flag in the middle of the quilt.  I really enjoyed doing this "quilt as you go" method, a great way to use up scrap pieces of batting.

This is the back of the quilt, a single bed doona cover I purchased from Spotlight for $5 on their bargain table....  and I still have the other half of the doona cover for another quilt. Not sure if I mentioned it previously but I also made the bias binding strips in the quilt.

I also made a laundry bag, I have some of this fabric in the quilt.

Happy Monday everyone,
Cheers
Kaylee

KAOS OF THE STORM

 

Thursday 27th December 2014 will be known as one of the worst super cell storms to hit Brisbane with MILLIONS of dollars on damage. 

I was commuting by train from the CBD of which I boarded at 4.14pm to home when it struck, it was so scary with golf ball size hail hitting the windows of the train, I knew I was safe as they are double windows but it was scary all the same.  Luckily the train driver managed to stop us at a train station when it struck but there we sat for hours and hours.  I managed to finally get home at 11pm, a seven hour commute !!! After having been in 3 trains and 2 cars. I had a headache from no food and all I wanted was to have a nice shower and a nice cold Pepsi Max drink.

 

I took a couple of photos through the train window after the rain stopped as it was too heavy to even attempt a photo when it was raining.

 

This photo is when the "river" appeared outside the train but what I didn't know was............

There were actually train tracks under that water which you can see in this photo once the rain had stopped for several minutes and the water was getting away.

I took a couple of photos of the river bank which I can see from my office window...

Early last week all these trees had beautiful flowers on them and now they don't even have any leaves, they look so desolate, how long till they have leaves again ?

I took this photo on the way to the gym on Tuesday, you can see the Story Bridge in the background. They were previously full of leaves, they look so sad......

Cheers
Kaylee

AUSSIE HERO QUILT

This project has been keeping me out of trouble lately, I have been doing an Aussie Hero quilt over the last couple of weekends.  This one is for a female and her request was for something "Blue".  I am doing a "quilt as you go" quilt, this is my first and I am very happy with my progress so far.  The "quilt as you go" method is from Sue at I Purr-Furr to Craft .  I had a large collection of off cuts of batting from making quilts, this is a very handy way of using the batting left overs.

 

I decided to make a "Disappearing 9 patch" quilt, after joining the 6-1/2" squares to make the 9 patch, above is after I have cut them into 4. 

Here are some of the blocks quilted. They now have the batting and backing on them here.

Here are some of the blocks sewn together with home made bias binding.

Happy Monday everyone.

Cheers
Kaylee

ENGAGEMENT NEWS

After 9-1/2 years, Josh proposed to Kate, (our eldest daughter), they started dating as girlfriend and boyfriend back in 2005 when Kate was only 17 and Josh was 21, this progressed over the years and they built a house together in 2010 and moved in together becoming partners. Finally on Sunday Josh proposed, Kate is very excited to say the least.  We are so happy for them, it's a magical time in their lives. They are currently holidaying in Port Douglas so I am eagerly waiting their return to I can give her a big hug and kiss. Apparently Josh had been planning this since June and he had a talk with Stephen (Kate's Dad) back in September and NEVER said a word to me.  So I was the first one Kate called on Sunday after the BIG proposal, she was so excited and I feel so special she shared this with me first.

 

This is Kate and Josh at our niece's Wedding in Airlie Beach October 2013, Kate was one of the 6 bridesmaids.

This is Kate and Josh last Sunday,

Josh proposed to Kate on a secluded beach - Noah Beach up at Cape Tribulation, Daintree National Park.

 

This is the ring.

 

Ahhh Wedding plans to organise, so excited.  We're probably looking at 2016 as Kate is currently studying her CA (she is an accountant) which will take until the middle of 2015, plus Kate told me she wants to enjoy "just being engaged" for awhile, who can blame her - it's taken a loooong time to happen, it's probably all just surreal to her right now.

 

Cheers

Kaylee

xx

BOAT CRUISE

Last Friday was a Public Holiday for us working people in the Brisbane CBD as our city hosted the G20 summit.  I also took Thursday as an annual leave day and enjoyed a lovely 4 day weekend.  on Friday my husband and I took a lovely boat cruise down the Tweed River to Tumbulgum and a return trip as well.  You can do a morning tea cruise down and they drive you back or you can do the morning tea/lunch cruise and have lunch on the way back, we had a lovely day.  Here are some photos, quite a few actually.  There a LOTS of photos of the Pelicans, I took 3 times as many but narrowed it down to these.

 

 

It was quite magical watching the Pelicans fly around and glide onto the water.

 

Happy Monday everyone,

Cheers

Kaylee

REMEMBERANCE DAY 2014

THANK YOU

 

 

MELBOURNE CUP 2014

I was lucky enough this year to be invited to the Sofitel Melbourne Cup Lunch, it was a wonderful day, the food was great, the Chandon Champagne was amazing and I had a little win on Red Cadeaux. 

 

 

For those of you who don't know - this is Laurel, Gary and Mark from radio station 4KQ, I have been listening to them for years now, I am a real fan of Laurel and of course her wonderful hubby, Troy Cassar-Daly.  Every year 4KQ give away tickets to the famous Sofitel Melbourne Cup Lunch and I never win, this year was the same BUT I was extremely lucky to be invited by the Sofitel staff this year.  After the main meal I went and found Laurel, Gary and Mark and they were so nice and very accommodating when I asked for a photo.

This is the Entrée - a succulent seafood selection.

The main - Seared Blue Pacific Swordfish served with corn and fennel risotto, my first time for eating swordfish - so delicious.

 

And of course dessert - various little yummy goodness.

I also had several glasses (I lost count actually) of Chandon.

 

Ahhhhh - it's all over for another year...

 

Cheers

Kaylee

 

 

 

LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL

The "Life is Beautiful" stitchery has been doing the rounds in the BLOG world, here is mine.  I completed it on the weekend, I love it, now for the decision - what to do with it. If you haven't seen it in your travels you can find it here - Stacey.



 

 

I have now made 3 of these fabric bags, I finished 2 more yesterday.

 

 

Have a great week everyone.

 

Cheers

Kaylee

SEW SWEET SIMPLICITY - FREE BOM

 

I have just signed up for this free Block of the Month, you can too, just go here

http://jacquelynnesteves.com/sewing-quilting/sew-sweet-simplicity-free-block-of-the-month/
It has already started but don't worry it's not too late, you will be able to catch up.

 



 

Have a good weekend.
Cheers
Kaylee