HBF Run for a Reason

Keep that Run feeling going...

"The Finish Line isn’t the end to helping 199 health-related charities with a donation, big or small, every bit counts. Our charities are researching, educating and supporting people living with chronic illness and these funds help make a difference."

So me and my 36,000 closest friends had a great day on Sunday... ha ha. Got your attention. Seriously, there were a lot of happy people on Sunday. Serious athletes, friend groups, family groups. I saw some pretty awesome prams/strollers with cheerful babies.

My daughter Corbie walked with me as organised, and my husband tagged along as well. We walked a little faster than I normally do, which is slower than Corbie's normal walk and much faster than my husband's normal pace. I was just the tiniest bit puffed at the end, and it felt great. So my goal for next year is to beat this year's time.

Fundraising is just short of my goal and I really appreciate all the donations to Lifeline. It's hard for me to ask people to donate because I know finances are tight and I know most people have 'charity fatigue'. Lifeline is a charity worth putting yourself out there for.

I'm not sure how long this page will stay active so donate now. No one knows what the future holds. Maybe you will be calling Lifeline with your crisis some day. Let's hope someone answers. Click the green donate button. (You can use Paypal).

https://hbfrun2017.everydayhero.com/au/shari

HBF Run for a Reason 2017

HBF Run for a Reason

I've not had much sewing progress since my last post. I'm mostly busy with work, family and church these days. I'm not a hermit though and this year I am participating in the HBF Run for a Reason. I've chosen a charity to fund raise for and have been seeking donations for a few weeks now. Tomorrow is event day and I'm feeling really excited to get out there with thousands of other people.

The charity I chose to fund raise for is Lifeline (13 11 14), a Crisis Support and Suicide Prevention help line. This is a little personal for me as I've known so many hurting people through my day job and sadly several who have committed suicide. We simply must do more for people who need this kind of help. 

I've set up an Everyday Hero page to direct donations to Lifeline. 

If you haven't donated to a charity in a while and want to feel good about yourself, click over and make a donation. Most people won't miss $25. Donate today as my page will be active only for a little while. But you can go over to Lifeline's page for a direct donation any time.

Note to Self...

Do not confuse leave-in hair conditioner with deodorant...

While not harmful, it won't keep you smelling fresh.

Although this may be necessary by the end of winter... stay tuned.

In other news, look at this gorgeous knife.

A beautiful bright orange in keeping with the colour of the year.

It's technically a steak knife, but we use it on bread.

Lovely winter vegies ready for roasting...

For our dining pleasure we have potato, sweet potato, pumpkin, carrot, yellow squash, mushroom and garlic, although it looks like I forgot the garlic. Roasted garlic is very good.

In other news, I'm off to the quilt show tomorrow. I'm booked for a couple of classes and will see the quilts. It feels odd as this is the first year since 2006 that I haven't been there everyday involved in the running of it. Interesting to be a 'civilian' this year.

Also of note, I won an awesome prize recently but haven't had a chance to do a photo and post yet. Hopefully early next week. When you see it, you'll want one too.

Not Much Happening

Not much to share - the day job as usual. The car getting tweaked but basically ok and nearly on the road. Hand stitching the binding is progressing. The days are definitely getting cool and the nights cold. Winter will soon be upon us. Here is a lovely summer-ish photo for you to look at until I have something worthy to share. This was taken in the John Forrest National Park in 2010.

Holiday Snap

I can't have you looking at my poor car so I've found a holiday snapshot from a few years ago. It was taken at Walpole, Western Australia in January 2006.

I'm still working on the quilting, but have been delayed by life and extra work shifts etc.

Non-Quilty Projects

When I came to use my daughter's computer the other day, this is what I saw. She is a very interesting young woman. The bunny is now gone, and the Angry Bird wears the bell.

So the only sewing going on has been to make another tent pole bag. This time I boxed the bottom as the poles were bigger. It will be good to distribute the weight across two bags instead of the original one.

We've also been working on the car seat - some of the foam had perished so we cut away the old bit, shaped the new bit to closely match and then glued it in.

To repair the tear we trimmed the loose threads, drew the edges together then glued a patch to the back. We then weighted the whole thing with a brick. We used the baking paper so any excess glue wouldn't stick to the wrong thing. It worked really well.

Both seats are back in the van and looking good. Today we've been bleeding the brake lines and the clutch. Should be ready for a test drive soon. The van is 20 years old, but so worth keeping going. It's a Toyota Tarago and there's no reason it shouldn't last another 10 years or more. I have a quilting retreat next weekend, so hopefully will actually get something pretty under my needle.

As an aside, I've been trying to reduce the amount of time I spend on the computer. I'm trying to re-focus my thinking and improve my short-term memory and comprehension. I do believe that too much blog-hopping has been adding to the effects of Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder.

This and That

No quilty sewing going on at the moment. But I am torturing my sewing machine nonetheless by sewing this heavy-duty tarpaulin into tent pole bags. I've done one of two and believe me getting the needle and tension right was not fun. This is definitely one of those projects where close is good enough. I'll make the secong bag on Saturday as I will be home alone. My husband and my youngest daughter will be going driving so she can get enough hours in her logbook to get her license. She needs 25 and she's at 15. Of course she needs a zippy little car to do it in. She's worked hard to buy this little car, and we are glad she chose to get a new one. She's really looking forward to the freedom of not relying on public transport and Taxi Mum.

And because I simply don't have much to say lately, I will share with you a classic Australian snack: SAO biscuits with vegemite and cheese. Perfect with a cup of tea and also good for the occasional light lunch.

Blogger is being very funny - does Google really think they've improved it? Why try to tweak or fix something if it works the way people want it? I can't insert any links and it disappears my photos when I try to shift them. Can't wait to see what happens when I try to post. Hopefully you'll be reading this!

Scraps & Noodles

So I've been doing a little cutting with no particular project in mind. Just tidying the stash.

In tossing the scraps in the bin, they caught on the bar of the table.

This brought to mind scenes from my childhood.

Every winter, my step-dad would make home-made egg noodles and cook them in home-made chicken broth. I would come home from school to find a broom stick between two chairs with the noodles hanging over it, flour everywhere. The smell of the simmering chicken was divine. He would toss the noodles in to the big pot and we knew it wouldn't take long. The flour thickened the broth nicely and the chicken just fell off the bones. Too, too yummy.

There was always some discussion as to the best egg to flour ratio. But dad liked one egg to one cup of flour and just a pinch of salt. He hand-rolled the dough and cut it with a knife. He used extra flour on the cutting surface and the broomstick. With the meal this delicious, who cared about a little flour tossed around?

Do you ever make home-made egg noodles?

(These noodles found on Google images.)

Misc

There's not much sewing at the moment.

This is the state of my sewing room.

I think a tidy-up is in order.

To procrastinate, I've been de-constructing an old wool jacket that hung in my father-in-law's closet for so many years the moths had a really good meal. The interesting metal silver buttons are off the jacket. The look like stainless steel.

The is the tailor's label. The little paper tag next to it I found actually adhered to the wool inside the lining. I'm sure for those who know such things it would tell them when and where the jacket was made.

And although it's clearly obvious in the above photo I do not need any more fabric, I couldn't resist this little morsel that came home with me from guild on Tuesday.

Yummy rainbow snakes. On a purple background.

With gold highlights.

I'm just a kid at heart.

World Economy

I'm doing my bit for the Greek economy.
What are you doing?

Little Helper

This little gecko watched me hang my laundry.

My garden is literally a desert,

but even the smallest creatures can find a home.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American family and friends.

May you have a joyous time.

To all my other friends, may you have joyous occasions with family and friends. And maybe find an interesting vendor like David Lansing did when he went to Mexico.

Display Home Art

So we occasionally look at display homes to keep an eye on what's happening in layout and design. A few art pieces caught my eye - they are all prints, but may just translate well in quilting. The first is very intriquing and my first choice if I decide to have a play.

Although this one definitely has possibilities too...

An outdoor shower off the master bedroom. Not sure about this one. We usually see these when someone has a pool.

For lovers of curved piecing...

This cute guest room actually had a (store bought) quilt on it.

It seems the decorator colour of the moment are brown and orange. What a lovely room.

So I'm sharing all this as I can't show you my sewing. If you've made it this far, I will tell you that I had a slightly tricky design problem (basically I'm scared I'll wreck the quilt) so I decided to photocopy that section of the quilt and practice sketching what I want to embroider. Seems to have worked so progress is continuing. What are you working on?

A little sewing...

Aside from hemming pants, I have managed to do a few little bits of sewing. I made these little padded sleeves for the weights for the pull cords for our vertical blinds. Now that the surfaces are painted so beautifully, we did not want these weights to chip the walls. I've pulled the sleeve down a little for this photo so you can see the plastic case for the weight. I've made the sleeve snug enough to just slide on without being tied on.
I've also got three of my pieced borders for this quilt done. This looks good enough to be it's own beginnings of a quilt, but I will resist starting anything new for now.

I've also washed and ironed these lovely Dr Seuss fabrics. One project for this fabric is a nappy (diaper) bag for a friend of my daughter's whose baby is due in January. I will make the bag at the retreat I am going to next weekend. I will also make a small quilt with the panel. Should be fun.

So my camera is at the ready and I will catch up with you all after the retreat.