Well we left Dubai.. after eating ice cream for a week straight. Back now to Sydney. After a week of cleaning, gardening and unpacking it was time to start a new quilt. So I decided to try a recycled teeshirt quilt. My husband has about 200 tee shirts so after cleaning out the cuboard to fit my things also in there we found about 7 that could be given to the second hand store. I cut these up into 6inch squares and began to sew them into lines.
Here they are put together. I used some flannel material for the backing to make it extra warm. The edging still needs to be finished.

Lebanon

Today we go to Lebanon for the last time in a while. We will be staying in Beirut for one night which will be very exciting. Then we will be headed to the mountains up to the olive growing villages to stay with Taita.

Last Day

Well after working hard-six days a week for a year and three parts my husband is finishing up his job! Today is his last day. Thankyou for working so hard everyday:) And giving it up to start a new section of our life. Hopefully the following bit will be even more rewarding. It has been great to live in Dubai for a while.
Next week we get to go to Lebanon to visit Taita then its going to be all packing and visitors. We a have two guests coming. One of my friends from England and G's cousin. So it will be all waterparks and touristy enjoyment. It will be good to go out with more than just two of us. Hopefully our friend in the building next door will also come. So with the five of us we can go exploring Ferrari world and everything Abu Dhabi has to offer as well.

On the work front I've finally almost finished the wedding quilt....

I also worked out that to do fancy freehand stitching with the sewing machine I needed to use the darning foot. Just lower the teeth and inset the foot.
And I completed the wedding cross stitch. Hopefully when we get home I can find an appropriate frame. The bottom part is for childrens names... e.t.c

Last week we went out for lunch at The Noodle Factory. The food turned out to be quite good. They only have imported water and the ginger beer is not that good. The food however was delicious. I ordered some duck rolls hoping to get some duck pancakes or a version of vietnamese rice paper rolls.. but they turned out to be similar to fried spring rolls.




Yesterday we went to a fruit and vegetable market here. It was stinking hot because its outside but the vegetables were remarkably fresh. Guys follow customers around with a wheelbarrow to place purchases in. There are loads of watermelon stalls, pumpkin stalls and every shop owner seemed to want to sell you his mangos. I also began using this massive pile of scraps to make a quilt.

The last couple of weeks have been a challenge. Just figuring out what is edible is tiring. If I can't figure out what to eat I turn yellow and feel horrid. G has been very helpful putting up with crazy requests. The baby is on schedule though. It has grown double its tiny size. We saw it's heart beating at a crazy speed last week.
I managed to finish the red quilt and finish the cross stitch for Brent and Nat. Hopefully I'll finish their wedding quilt and get onto another one to sell. I need to start one for a customer too:) Hopefully I can find some good combinations in dark colours.

I haven't posted for a bit because I've been sleeping... feeling sick and eating... and sleeping.
Last Friday we found out that we are going to be having a baby... so the sleeping and eating is to be expected. It's pretty overwealming to know your going to be a parent. To see you have something growing inside you and hear the heart beating.....

My Aunt and Uncle came to visit bearing gifts last week. They bought a quilting magazine a pattern and some material. So I spent the last couple of days stitching this together.
G also bought some new shoes. I love this style and shape. I've worn the same style for 12 years now. So i've been through about four pairs over those years.. in several differnt colours. They are the only ones who provide the exact amount of ankle support for high impact sports and cushioning. Despite the price...

Pizza Pizza Pizza!

Suzie bought this great Pizza book for me around Easter time.
So when we went to Crate and Barrel I got inspired to buy some Pizza trays.
We never seem to have a large enough tray. These work really well. I like thin crust Pizza. Adonis likes a huge thick crust Pizza. So together we have the perfect combination with both trays.

Onigiri Press+Snap Press

It has been so hot lately. In the airconditioning all day you forget what its like outside.
So I went for a swim. My shorts have been really annoying me so I used the snap press to add some buttons to them. They seemed to have fixed the problem.



Here is the Ramen from the other night.
When we went to Daisco the Japanese two dollar store here. I bought a onigiri press.
Mine was in the shape of a plum flower. The rice came out beautifully from it.

Today I found some Enoki for our soup. G loves cherry's so I bought him some to test. They all came in pairs of more.


I found some small white body suits and a small pair of mittens and a hat on sale. So I thought i'd start buying for sometime in the future. We also went to the Japanese two dollar store.. or 7uad store where G bought a tea scoop.


Finally finished the bathing suit top. If I did it again it would be much better.
We lit candles for his grandpa... who is in hospital. Everyone has flown to lebanon so it's just us two alone at home.

Material into Pillow and Bathing Suit.

Yesterday it was Nat's birthday and Aaron's 6 year anniversary. G and I went to the beach. The water was warmer than the outside air.. Which was about 38 degrees. So we decided to skip the swim but ate some fish and chips. We had a gelati later that night too.


I also bought these-size 22:

Then uncut picked them:


To hopefully make one or two of these:


Such pretty material.

Yesterday I decided to make a cover for a small pillow we were given with handy snaps to close the end. I also bought these large size 22 bottoms for a bikini. I saw the material and thought.. maybe i could try and make this into a new bikini top. I thought for 9 dh (2-3 dollars) it was originally 99 even if it gets stuffed up who cares.

Small Blanket, Small Bag

Today I finished the small blanket. I swear the minkee material is so soft.. i want to be tiny and roll on it. I thought i'd test out a pattern I saw on http://grosgrainfabulous.blogspot.com/
She has a month of free patterns for all sorts of things. These have been provided by other bloggers. I'm not so great at following patterns. I try... but.. most of the time the instructions scramble somewhere in my brains.
This one was fine for the first two steps. Anyway I've had this bright orange coat for ages. It would be more functional as a bag.. as my arms keep ripping out of the jacket. Three times of mending is enough to realize it's not working.

A few things have happened lately. First we started doing this internet fitness. Which is really really good but most days both of us walk around aware of muscles we never knew existed. which is here if you would like to try:
http://www.bodyrock.tv/




We went to a concert.. but before the concert our fire alarm in the building went off. All four lifts stopped working for the next couple of days. So after the concert we had to go out for a few hours before they managment got one of the lifts to operate manually. So 1am we could finally get back into the appartment. G and I walked up the stairs because we couldnt be bothered waiting. Lots of people were in sports gear doing the same thing. It would be ok if you were on a lower level. However 36 flights plus a few extra is alot if we had to do it every day with groceries.
Other than that.. last night we went to a couple of quilting stores. I'm very excited by the new batik patterns one has just got in. I've only seen such variety online never instore.
In the end we got:
some more thread for the cross stitch for my brothers wedding present.
Some thread for the quilt for their wedding present.

Some fabric to make a baby rug for my cousin.


(some Minkee)


I also made a man bag for G. I don't know if he will use it... should fit the rock climbing gear. It's made from his old shirt that recieved a bleach stain.



And we are entering into summer soon.. the heat is slowly rising.

Soon it will be complete hell to walk 200m to the station.. They finished the outside of our appartment complex. Stupidly they have used charcoal coloured pavers. So its like walking through a B.B.Q when we go out.