Grandma's quilt

After seeing some of the quilts I had taken part in creating for blessingways, Mum came up with an idea of making Grandma a special quilt to brighten up the bed in her nursing home, made up of pieces done by our families women.

She asked my sister Ciny, my SiL Deb and I to create one square and also find other pieces of patterned fabric to make it up.

I Grandma's dementia is pretty advanced now, and she is not unlike a child these days, so we sourced characteristic pieces- fairies, butterflies, horse carousels, farm animals, cars/boats/planes, flowers- and various textures for touch sensation- furry, silky, rippled, velvety and bumpy.

I spent the arvo and evening madly sewing it together....madly time wise and madly stitch wise- I'm such a crooked sewer! Whoopsy ;)

Anyway, here it is......

Our individual pieces are.....

A teddy bear, by me!!

If you look at the completed quilt....yes this is at the top, but no it's not coz it's mine but because of it's furry factor ;) I placed all the nice touchy feely pieces up the top, imagining them to be perfect for Grandma to stroke as she lays under her quilt in bed ;)

The fabric the fluffy bear is on is corduroy, adding more to the sensory goodness!

A country farmhouse scene, by Mum.....how beautiful it is, yet she claims to not be a sewer!

Notice too....it has a RAINBOW!! lol

I found all the embroidery lovely to run my fingers over, I'm sure Grandma will too ;)

A fairy, done by my sister Ciny.....she chose a fairy as she always calls her daughter Millie her fairy girl ;)

This is all felt, another nice touchy piece.

And a butterfly, made out of buttons, made by my brothers wife Deb.

She got the idea from a cushion she saw at a craft shop.

Plenty of nice touchy feely here too ;)

Grandma was such a joy to watch as she opened it!

Mum had warned me not to get disappointed if she thought nothing of it....but just have a look, will you?!

Just the wrapped present alone delighted her! lol Much like a little kid, she kinda looked like perhaps she thought it was a big colourful ball! She had to be guided by Aunty Pam and Dad to actually open it!

This is the backing fabric, Mum chose.....I'd love something made out of this myself, rainbowy!!

Everyone trying to get a look at it!

Jack was happy to see it again, he had been ducking in and out of Nanny's craft room as I sewed it, supervising me, in between playing with Nanny and Papa.

Gosh we did an amazing thing here, our family's women, made such a special treasure!

Relay For Life- update

Yesterday Sam gave me my shirt for our Relay For Life team, it's a gorgeous green colour and long sleeved(which will be good coz the relay is overnight!)

Please take some time to go to our page, you will see the link at the top right of my blog.

Donations on the sight are taken via credit card, but please let me know if you would like to contribute and don't have a credit card, I can do it for you with a direct deposit into my bank account and a receipt will be sent to you via email(donations over $2 are tax deductible, so feel free to be generous!)

All moneys raised goes to the Cancer Council and will help with research in finding a cure for cancer....your money will help prolong Sam's life, every cent is a huge help!

Secondary Infertility, pulling strings

Sometimes, it really does help to blab your stuff across facebook....it's thanks to this that one of my facebook friends, who is an old school mate, found out about our fertility issues and offered to help us!

She works at a hospital that has a fertility clinic, and when I initially had the referral for the gynaecologist, she asked me to email it to her to see if she could get us into the clinic.

Well, today we got news of an appointment!!!!!!

I'm so incredibly grateful, and thankful from the bottom of my ovaries!!

What's more is, it's only a few weeks away, awesome stuff ;)

Secondary Infertility, going natural

For the past few months I have been having treatments with Steven from Seven Star Shiatsu. Each session has been a combination of shiatsu and acupuncture. 

This has been really eye opening for me about natural therapies, as I have really felt the effects of it(yep, I was some what sceptical before experiencing it!). 

After our first session, my cankles(ankles that are as wide as your calves) visibly went down!  I wondered if I'd imagined that, but my Mum noticed it too ;)

I've also have experienced, at the last few sessions, an ache in my abdomen (similar to period pains), and Steven said this is a very good sign....there is a shift happening within!

Our last session was an interesting one, the first after learning of the PCOS, and so I had some acupuncture that worked on fluid retention. Steven explained that fluid retention makes more of the cysts develop, so he worked on draining fluid. There were several needles placed in each foot, and also a needle at the top of each shin/base of knee. As soon as the left needle was placed, I felt an electric shock type of feeling shoot down to the needle at the top of my foot, I exclaimed this to Steven and he said that that is a good thing and that it is working fluid out in the direction of down my legs.  I noticed that the right one wasn't giving off this feeling, but when I said this, Steven said that the needle was wobbling which shows him it is working. How weird is that?! The needles wobble!

As well as my monthly treatments with Steven, I am also going to begin seeing a Naturopath in the new year. Something I've been curious about for some time, but money was the factor that stopped me, but I think it's time to re prioritise and find a way to have money for my health!

I've also included crystals into my life, wearing necklaces made of crystals that are said to promote fertility ;)

And, thanks to some rather hideous photo's taken of me recently, I shell be starting the new year with a new food and exercise plan. I am so disappointed to be looking down on my body again, after entering 2010 with better body image and learning to except my body for how it was, but I am excited and looking forward to making some life style changes.

We are not junky eaters, but many of my foods are carbs and we have gone from having cola as a treat drink to having it in the house all the time. I know that the carbs and the cola are addictive additives that my body has come to rely on, because I notice the crappy feelings if I haven't had bread or cola. That's bullshit and I want to cut that out!!!

Relay For Life

This is my cousin Steve and his wife Sam....

Last year, Sam was diagnosed with breast cancer.  She has undergone surgeries and chemotherapy, it has been a rather rough year for her, though she has been courageous and strong and has such a positive outlook!

This cancer has since spread, she is having strong treatments to keep the ever growing tumours at bay, to stay positive through this whole situation has been a true inspiration.

Steve and Sam have 3  young children.

Sam runs her own business, Personal Best, as a personal trainer.

They have a great life and so much to live for, so much more to give, to their children and to their community.

Sam signed herself up to the Cancer Councils Relay For Life, it is a 17hr Relay which the community can sponsor and donate to.  She has been talking about it through facebook for some time now, and each thing she has said has made me feel more and more like I wanted to do something to help.

The whole time Sam has been ill in fact, my family have wanted to do something to help....I guess you feel helpless when a family member is struck with a disease that is not easily fixed.  Sam does have a wonderful community around her, she has been very well supported by her local friends and neighbours.

Last week, Sam had a status on facebook about the relay again, mentioning where she was going to be for that weekend in her fundraising efforts.  Her words struck a cord... "come and see me in the street sat morn 9 till 12...buy a raffle ticket or ask how u can join our team to help us raise $5000 for much needed cancer research...ur support or $$ may just be what cures my cancer..:)..lets work together for a cure!". Yes, the money her and her community are raising just may be the money that funds the finding of the cure for her cancer. How powerful a statement is that?!! 

I was so moved by her words, never before have I made such a strong connection between moneys raised for charity and that money actually helping!  This money really could be responsible for allowing Sam to live a long life!  Wouldn't that be amazing?!

I asked Sam if I could join in the relay, she was very happy for me to jump on board, and instructed me in how to join.

If you look to the left of my blog, I've put a link up for everyone to check out my home page where you can leave supportive messages and make a monitory donation.

Anything helps, every cent counts, even the cost of a coffee could be helpful towards our total, please help us help Sam and many other cancer victims in Australia.

The relay is being held on the 5th of March 2011.

Between now and March I shell be engaging family and friends and my own local community in trying to raise funds.  I have set myself a goal of raising $5oo, our team Personal Breast has a goal of $5000.

Please help us reach our goal!

Pink bits

I have pink bits!!!!

Today my mate Ebby put some pink in my fringe, and it looks pretty rad I reckon ;)

Excuse the crap photo quality, it's just off my mobile

This is my fave I think ;)

Ebz tried to comb a section of it, hahaha, freaked her out! lol

It's really weird and jelly feeling when wet, and waaaay to hard to comb when dry....just DON'T comb it! haha

And I like it like this, bit tied into the pony tail, bit out, funky!

My aim is to buy a tube of fudge in every colour and have a rainbow down one side at the front, it'll be awesome!!

Ebby said it's totally recked, yeah yeah, and that it needs fully chopping off, yeah yeah....I said I might go shave it all off then!! haha But the alternative, and preferred- seen it took so long to grow, is to dread it...and I'm a bit excited about that coz I've been pondering dreads for ages!!! And hey, if they don't work out, I can always shave then!!

Oooh and beads....gonna put a heap of cool rainbowy beads through it ;-D

Blonde birds nest

So the hairs starting to settle in and I'm really loving it!

Infact, I'm really hoping to not need to cut it, coz I think it's really funky, cept for this......... 

It's a real birds nest at the back! lol

I haven't been able to run the comb through it without it breaking, so I've jsut not brushed it, haha. And I've not washed it since washing that bucket load of conditioner out, trying to give it a rest.  But that means it's been getting pretty messy!

The back is just a shamozzle, but the rest of it looks funky beachy hair, kinda the start of dreads...which would be cool coz I wanted to try dreads anyhoo! (A friend said today that she had an urge to put beads in my hair, lol)

Messy messy!

I've been tying it up when I go out, folding all the ok looking hair over the nesty hair, and it looks ok then ;)

Pony tail, hiding the mess

Neatish looking hair

It actually looks really cool when it's down, if it weren't for the mess in the back! lol

I figure I'll try put a heap of conditioner in it next time I wash it and try get these knots out while it's in

Re-connecting the Circle

Women's Circle had taken a break, as the lovely Sheree went into hibernation in preparation for the birth of her 5th child, and then enjoyed a baby moon.

A meal tree had been happening for Sheree's family, but as I don't venture oer that part of town usually, I promised to bring some baked goodies for the freezer.

Here are the 5 trays of un-cooked biscuits that JackJack and I made, the green stars are peppermint and pink stars are rosewater with a chocolate button on top, ready to be baked as the family wants them ;)

First cuddles with baby Myah, who is simply divine!

We also gave Lala her birthday present, as we missed her party coz it was the day we went to see Grandma for her birthday.

We made a rainbow necklace and bangle, which I felt very appropriate for Lala as she drew us a rainbow picture one night at circle ;)

Lala is coming for a sleep-over at our house over the holidays!! She asked her muma if she could come for a sleep-over at mine and Jack's house, out of the blue one day, lol, and she has been talking about it and she really is allowed to come, which is great coz I'm excited!!

A close up of the bangle, as modelled by JackJack

Also modelled by JackJack, the rainbow necklace

All the kids were happy to see each other again, they get along so well.... Caelan even told his muma once that he'd love a brother just like Jack!

Jack wanted his new mate to join in playing, trying to give Myah a car to hold

Whoops....Jack shows Myah how tasty the cars are ;-S

After talking in the lead up to Circle about how we all felt we didn't wanna cut our wrist bindings from Sheree's blessingway, feeling we wanted to keep the connection, we decided to do a binding of the Circle!

I brought along this rainbow wool, coz I thought that we would be hopeful to keep these on longer then a blessingway one, so make it a prettier one!

As we did it, with 5 of us there and throwing it to and from women across the circle, rather then going around it, we formed a star! Which was pretty cool...didn't get a pic though.

And as we stayed connected as we continued chatting, Jack came up to one of the cross-overs and entwined himself into it too! So cute.

This night was spent just chatting, catching up on news of each other and purging all our worries out....it was exactly what we all needed and made us all feel we were leaving a lot lighter then when we arrived ;)

Dumb blonde

So, a few months ago, I decided I wanted to go back to being blonde for summer.

Not much moneys and such for hairdressers so I jumped on it when a friend offered her bleach kit that she already had(not naming her here so she's playing no part in my own stupidness!! lol)

Anyhoo, ages ago I found this chic on flicker with rainbow hair, and she had instructions on how she does it....no I'm not going the full rainbow, but wanted a white blonde then put some rainbow in a stripe down one side.  I couldn't find the link I had saved, and I thought I recalled that she wore her bleach to bed overnight.........holy freakin moly, I was soooo bloody wrong!!!!!!

Gawd, I had my hair all wrapped up in cling film and ready to go to bed, was sitting in the lounge room watching telly with Tyler for a bit.......

.......as he stared and laughed at his "cone head" wife! lol

I felt the plastic and noticed it was warming up, was feeling some ouchy spots, but then figured it was just my psoriasis and it's a bit icky with any normal dye, then.......holy moly schmoly....raaaaaaan to the bathroom, the friken thing was burning, like on fire feeling, faaaar out it hurt!!!!!!

This is take 1....I say take 1 coz I wasn't happy with the results and did more.

Coming from red dyed hair, it turned very yellow, though the regrowth went a nice whitey blonde ;)

Side view of take 1.

I ended up doing another lot the next morning, and this finished up the powder and 40vol I was given....lotsa hair there to dye.

Again, my lovely husband found a negative to say, claiming my hair looked like it was on fire or that I look like a troll doll! He's so lovely to me ;-S

I again wasn't happy with the results, and another friend suggested getting a packet dye, for the toner...so I went off to the shops and got 2 packets, thought the goopier the better with my lotsa hair.

I kept the packet dye in for about 3hrs, again thinking the longer the better....I had been told during the developing time of this one that it probably stops developing after an hour, but I had to wait for my mum to get here as Tyler had gone to work and I didn't want Jack anywhere near the dye as I washed it out and he loves getting in the shower with me ;)

As I rinsed it all out, running my fingers through my hair resulted in clumps of hair coming out ;-O  Wasn't to concerned as this had happened to me before, during pregnancy, and I have so much hair that it didn't make any difference looks wise.

I was in the shower for over an hour and couldn't get the stuff fully washed out, same happened with the bleach treatments, and when my hair dried from that I had little stiff bits where the stuff was still in.  After getting out of the shower, I tried blow drying it, after it had been towel dried for a while, but it wasn't drying really. I tried combing it, and the comb was pulling lots of strands out!

I remembered that the chic from the link I had wore conditioner to bed overnight, so I thought that might help. Smothered a heap of conditioner on and put a shower cap over it.

That stayed in for about 4hrs, then I felt like the headache that I had might be coz of how I had my hair stack up on my head, so decided to go wash it out.

This is the current look.......

It is looking heaps better colour wise, but it seems with the breaking of the hairs that I need it chopped according to my mates :(

I'd been growing this all year :( Bum bum bum

Haven't even tried to comb it, though it was easy to finger comb in the shower, it seems to feel knotty like now. The conditioner helped get rid of most of the crap still in it, but touching it now(still wet), it feels like if you've just shampooed and no conditioner, like rough feeling.

If it doesn't keep falling out, I think it looks ok now, and I wont have money for a haircut til next week anyway.

We have Jack's Christmas concert for Mini Maestro's tomorrow....I have a Santa hat out ready to hide my hair under if it looks crap in the morning! lol

Crafty Christmas

We've been getting crafty with our Christmas tree decorations.....

Polystyrene balls, scrapbook paper cut up with scrap booking shape cutters and some paper scrapbook flowers too

Small flowers and big flowers

This is my fave! Rainbow corrugated sun shapes

Patchwork sun shapes

This are larger balls, with cool rainbowy striped circles

I got these photo balls from a craft shop and put some pics in them

Other side of photo balls