The week that was....

Monday was my Birthday and I was totally spoilt.
DH bought me a birthday cake - so I didn't have to make my own (wasn't that sweet?) and then he booked a restaurant for dinner - so I didn't have to cook my own party....or wash up after it!
Being a Monday night it was VERY quiet and the staff enjoyed my 'party' as much as we did, ending the evening with an attempt to sing Happy Birthday whilst encouraging me to blow out the candle on my desert!

The Kids gave me a new toy to play with - OH MY Goodness!

It is an ASUS tablet with a detachable keyboard - It came with the instruction that "NOW you can Blog on the Road".  I have a lot to learn as it is not quite the same as a laptop.  It will be interesting to be able to pull it out and write up posts for my other Blog while I am actually in a Cafe!

It also has Kindle and came pre-loaded with a copy of Alice in Wonderland... Hmmm I wonder why the  programmers chose that book?  We refer to those little side trips and detours along the way when we are travelling as "Going down Rabbit Holes" - just like Alice, you never know where you will end up or what you will encounter - or now, what I could blog about - once you get there!
If my Sat Nav is called Myrtle I wonder what I should call my new tablet?
  Alice perhaps???

On the sewing front - I have been making a Special Request quilt for one of our Aussie Heroes.  It was supposed to be a "Simple Beginners Block" - fantastic nice and quick, that was until BOTH my machines started playing up and decided they were not going to sew scant 1/4" seams!  So I have been doing more un-sewing than sewing, which is a tad frustrating as I could have had the top finished by now - I am sure I have sewn enough seams for it!  And I think I am going to have to make it reversible with something bright on the back, as it it a little too close in colour to their uniforms to make it fun!

A Mouse Ate My Handbag........

Seriously!
We have had a mouse in the house for a couple of weeks now.  The first we became aware of his presence was when I moved the little bear that sits on the TV cabinet.  We brought 'Little Bear' home from the Haigs Chocolate factory which is why he had a couple of Chocolate Hearts in an Organza bag tied around his neck.... That was until Mouse found it!

OK so they were very stale bits of chocolate and should have been thrown out years ago and we thought it amusing that the 'little mouse' has eaten his way through the bag and the foil to get to the chocolate, and delicately dropped the chewed pieces of foil in the lap of Bear as if Bear was the one to blame....
So I cleaned the house from top to bottom - plugging any hole that may have let him in.  The next morning we woke to find a Caramel Bunny (left on the bench overnight) with a rather large bite out of it's middle.  OK so this mouse has a passion for chocolate.

The kids wouldn't let us set a traditional trap and so we bought the "Catch Him Alive" model.
Oh Yeah THAT was successful .... Baited with chocolate - it took the bait and said 'thank you very much' by leaving a "calling card" on the floor instead!
Then DD found evidence it had sniffed out her 'Hypo Stash' in her handbag - and helped himself to half of a Confectionery Company Dinosaur......
Mouse is no longer amusing....

Time for a better Mouse-trap!  Enter Spike.  .......This also doesn't work. Cat is scared of everything that moves and spends most of his time hiding under beds or in his basket in the laundry.

So DD cleans up her room convinced that she had been kept awake all night with scratchings in the wall.  A suspicion that was proved with the discovery of............ (see photo)
well this is one VERY determined Chocoholic Mouse.
[I must point out at his stage that no other food left out has been touched - the traps set with other mouse tempting tidbits were ignored.]
The only thing this mouse will eat is Lollies & preferably Chocolate!

Then Tuesday I picked up my handbag - only to discover......

OH NO!  It had smelt the chocolate my Mum had given me when we went for coffee the other day, got into my bag and when it discovered that the chocolate was in the zipped section - promptly ATE his way through not one but TWO sections of my bag lining and a layer of foil to get to the 'prize'.....
And then proceeded to chew it's way back out via a different route!

And as Bugs Bunny said...."Of course you know that This Means WAR"......

.... it also means I need a new handbag!

Still working....

Last June Esther posted the 4th Block in her Mystery Quilt "Heart's Desire".  And I am Still working on it....
This week I have been making the remaining flowers for the Flowers for Me.
Now that I have finished making all the flower heads I can now go into 'production mode' and get the remaining 3 of these blocks finished.

I really SHOULD have had them finished by now and ready to sew onto the blocks - but having a new addition to the family in the shape of a very fluffy cat - is a major distraction.

If you would like to meet 'Spike' see my last post!

Introducing Spike

What a way to celebrate my 100th post!

I have been a Quilter without a Cat.....that is until today. 

RSPCA Mugshot
"Spike"

I don't know whether he will appreciate the finer responsibilities of being a Quilter's Cat, but I am sure that he will get the hang of his new position in life once he ventures out of hiding in the cat basket in the laundry and into the rest of  the house.

At the moment he is quite shy, that is until you start to scratch him behind the ear! And I am quite sure that in a few weeks he will be ruling the household.

We don't know what breed he is.  What we do know is he is 100% Gorgeous!

And his name? Well that was given to him at the animal shelter - will he keep it? ...Why Not?

So be warned, this is probably not the last you will see of him.






2018 Update:  Our Handsome Spike is Part Siberian Forrest with a Bit of Chinchilla and the most beautifully Chilled Personality. He is quite the Heart breaker!