Thursday Thoughts

I have found a couple more linky parties on the web. There's one at Sew Fresh Quilts that I have linked my WIP Wednesday to. The tag is Lets Bee Social. I found the link on another blog I was on.

 

Sew Fresh Quilts has a Block by Block Quilt along going as well called Elephant Parade. It looks paper pieced and I think I will join in it as well.

This year is the year of Paper Piecing for me. This one is only running till March 29th so nowhere near as long as the other one I have signed up for which is 30 weeks!!

Speaking of which, The 3rd week's pattern is up in the Fandom in Stitches POD and I have just printed it off. I might go make a start on it very soon...



       


Things are in a bit of chaos at home (again) Fixit Guy has been fixing the ceiling in the kitchen. Paint is peeling and there is staining as well. There were 2 vents in there from when we had ducted evaporative cooling in the house that needed to come out. So he has been scraping and plastering and such.In preparation for sanding the plastering I insisted that everything had to be put away... everything off the walls and open shelves, window sills and the top of the fridge. That fine dust from sanding plaster gets every where. So I spent a few hours today (with his help) putting stuff away. He then sanded and then he has washed the walls down now that he has finished with sugar soap. I will put everything back when he has finished painting. It all looks so nice and clean and bare... I hope that when I go to put stuff back I can be a little ruthless and get rid of some stuff. I am not sure I need to  have it all go back up.

Meanwhile the loungeroom has lots of stuff piled up in it... all the kitchen chairs are lined up across the room and the table is piled high with boxes and baskets and that is after I tried to shove as much as I could into cupboards!!

Its lining up to be a busy weekend. We have a birthday party and a wedding. We are also kitten sitting. My daughter (Fangirl) is off to Sydney for her cousin's 30th birthday and to see my extended family whom she hasn't see for 2 years. We have her two kittens to play with. Our old boy cat is a bit put out although they are shut up in the rumpus room which he doesn't go into much. We will let him mix with them tomorrow. Its also Australia Day on Monday so we might head down to the Botanical Gardens for the town celebrations (BBQ breakfast, citizenship ceremonies and local awards presentations.) I want to be able to hang up a banner celebrating Australia Day so better get a wriggle on. I am going to use this pattern designed by my Sister In Law Christine from Bluebirds and Bumblebees and available here on Craftsy free this month

Hope you are all having a great busy time too

Fitness Friday

This week I have been walking up a storm. I have made my 10 000 steps every day and am over 100 000 for the last 7 days actually up to 104 721. I've even managed to pass Fixit Guy for a few days... mind you that's mainly because he has been so busy helping our daughter move into her new home and all that that has entailed that he hasn't had time to do much walking. Still I have passed him and must admit that I am very tickled by that. My friend Sam though has 160 000 steps for the week. That is just insane! I have no hope and no intention of catching her.

Friday 10466
Saturday 15026
Sunday 14 264
Monday 12 842
Tuesday 16 152
Wednesday 19 893
Thursday 14 242
Friday  12 302 (till 8.30PM)

I even managed a run this week. Not a proper one and not a long one but I did run - about 2 kms all up. It was good to be able to get out there and do a bit. I was still able to walk this morning as well so that was good too.

Last Saturday I called in on my friend Betty and David. They are from PNG and were busily getting organised for Independence Day celebrations they were holding later that day. They were preparing traditional food and I was delighted to be able to stay on and watch them. There was various meats - chicken, fish, pork and lamb. There was also vegetables most of which was grown by Betty in their yard including Taro, Sweet potato and greens. They had a pit dug in the back yard and had built a fire in it which had burned down.

They had put a wire cage of rocks in the pit which had been heated till red and white hot.

They had another wire cage that all the prepared food was placed in. The wire cage was then placed in the pit and the hot rocks were put on and around the cage of food.

Then the pit was covered with leaves from various palm trees (and wet newspapers and old cloths since they didn't have enough palm leaves) Then the pile was covered with earth and it was all left for an hour or two. Traditionally the food was wrapped up in banana leaves and tied with twine but now a days Betty and her friend used aluminium foil trays and sheets of foil.

I was invited to come to the celebration that were held in local park. I arrived on time but discovered that things were running on "island time" and didn't get started for an hour or so later. I couldn't stay long due to another appointment but I had a lovely time whilst I was there.


So how has your week been? What have your fitness achievements for the week?

An InLinkz Link-up

a few more linky parties

I just found a few more linky parties on Red Delicious Life's blog which I thought I would bring to my followers attention. And yes its my way of keeping track of them too. I might go back and gather all the linky parties I have found and put them in the one blog but for now I will put them here so I can find them when I want them

SUNDAY

MONDAY

TUESDAY

       

WEDNESDAY

       



THURSDAY

  FRIDAY
   

SATURDAY

          

Christmas Linky party

a few more linky parties I have found

I found some more linky parties whilst looking at another blog Katie Mae Quilts Some of the ones she linked with I already had but these are some that I didn't have. Some are specific ie making baby quilts or cat posts but others are more generally quilting. Some are for any crafting projects. I will combine the lists that I have and do a blurb about each one but that might take some time so in the meantime for those interested

TGIFF @ Quokka Quilts

Finish It Up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts

Link A Finish Friday @ Richard and Tanya Quilts
Sew Darn Crafty @ Sew Many Ways

Needle and Thread Thursday @ My Quilt Infatuation

Let's Make Baby Quilts @ Michelle's Romantic Tangle

Feline Friday @ Sarah Did It!

Finish-Along @ The Littlest Thistle {FAL List}

Linky Parties

What is a Linky Party or a Link Up?
Val at Val's Studio has an acrostic on her web page where she lists the linky parties she knows of or is involved with.

Lots of posts are shared

Inspiring work is found
New friendships are formed

Kind words are given

Unique things are discovered
Praise is received from man

 

Val at Val's Quilting Studio has a page listing lots of link ups as well. The link up list is here. I did find that a few of the links on her page are broken or the link up is no longer active but many are

Personally I link up most weeks to two linky parties. One on a Sunday, Sunday Stash Report at Patchwork Times is a chance to monitor and share my fabric purchases and usage for the week. Its a way of being accountable for what I buy and what I use.

The other link up that I use regularly is WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced which is a chance to share what projects I have been working on during the week but not necessarily finished. 

Both these blogs encourage you to visit a couple of other blogs listed in the linky party and comment on them. We all love to get comments now don't we.

I copied this list of blogs from another blog I was looking at but managed to forget where I got it from. So thankyou nameless blogger who collected this list of links

Anything Goes Mondays @ http://marelize-ries.blogspot.co.uk/

Linky Tuesday @ Free Motion by the River @ http://www.conniekresin.com/ 
Fabric Tuesday @http://www.blossomheartquilts.com/

Let's Bee Social @ http://sewfreshquilts.blogspot.co.uk
WOW = WIPs on Wednesday @ http://www.estheraliu.blogspot.co.uk/
WIP Wednesday @ TN + TN @ http://needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.com

I Quilt Thursdays @ http://prettybobbins.com/

Needle and Thread Thursdays @ http://www.liveacolourfullife.net/

Off the Wall Fridays@ http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.co.uk/
Fabric Frenzy Friday @ http://fortworthfabricstudio.blogspot.co.uk/
Friday Linky Party @ http://www.confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.co.uk/
Lizzie Lenard@http://lizzielenard-vintagesewing.blogspot.co.uk/


The main reason I have written this blog is so that I have a record of the linky parties out there. Having found the lists on other blogs I wanted a way of remembering where they were. Now that I have shared them you too can find some other places to share your work. If you know of other places that have regular linky parties let me know.