ahhh Scotland

I am writing to you from our B&B Netherton Farms outside of Inverness, Scotland. It is wonderful here. We LOVE Scotland. Emma already fancies herself a farm girl....was even set to slop the pigs with the innkeeper this evening. But she had to go to bed and get some sleep.

This is what the kiddos look like as soon as they get in the back of the car. If they are stationary for a few minutes they crash. We had a busy day of flying 24 hours ago. Thank goodness we made all our connections.

Oh a note on US carriers....I am soooo happy we did not really pay for the tickets. I would be pretty mad. If you ever fly on one of these crazy round the world jaunts do fly on an international carrier. They treat you so much better. We have been flying American Airlines since Hawaii....I feel like I am riding on a cattle car. Everyone is so rude. We got on a British Airlines flight from London to Edinburgh and were treated like humans again by flight attendants who seemed to enjoy their jobs...and we got a hot breakfast (that was included) that was awesome! I have no clue how something prepared in a small plastic dish could taste so nice....well we were just starved on American on their transatlantic experiment in how to transport 300 people in a tiny a space as possible and keep giving them fluids (non alcoholic fluids, mind you, you have to pay for the ETOH out of pocket) while not picking up the rubbish and secretly laughing at them as they try to extract themselves from their seats and make it to the bathroom....oh and seat an entire family really far apart from one another and be annoyed when asked to be seated closer together (how annoyed would the poor sardine of a business man be when he saw his seat partner was a not really potty trained 3 year old? and what mother would want her kids sitting 8 rows back and on the other side of the aircraft. Come on.)

OK before I get really carried away about air travel, let me get over to how much we are loving Scotland. I don't even want to think of the 21 hour flight-a-thon we are going to be doing next week to get home (12 hr from London to Singapore, 5.5 hour from Singapore to Perth and 3.5 hour from Perth to Alice) but it will be on Qantas and they are a great carrier.

I have always wondered what Heather smelled like. Now I know. It is wonderful....Scotland is so green! I just can't get over it. I guess being in the middle of the Outback will do that to a girl, but it is so green it is almost unreal.
This is the tavern we ate at our first night. 215 different whiskys. We had one from a distillery right down the road. I am not much of a Whisky drinker, but I thought it was very nice and smooth. It was a 12 year old Glen Ord. Now that combined with a bit of jet lag, knocked me out as soon as my bottom sat down in the car for the ride home. I kept pretending to be awake and help my husband navigate the way back to the B&B....but I think he figured my trick out when I was talking in my sleep about Michael Jackson and a spider web.
This is the view from our Bed and Breakfast window. It is a natural quilt....soon (well when I get home) it is going to be a real quilt. I even have the quilting all planned out. Oh and it smells great. Like fresh cut grain (duh...the big bales) and heather and cow manure and just wonderful Scotland!
We went to the Culloden Battle field today and Crowden Castle. We also went hunting for food downtown Inverness and for dinner we had Tapas...in Scotland. Oh well, it was filling. My husband had haggis last night and we all had porridge this morning so we are going to be set on Scottish food. Oh and I bought some stuff from Lush on High Street. I am always up for some "natural" cosmetics. So I stocked up on some moisture rich stuff for my return to the desert. OK, that is it for now. I am off to bed. Big day exploring the Highlands tomorrow.

xo,

Tia

more vacation stuff

My sister and parents want to see more family shots....so here it goes.

So here we are in San Francisco at the Presidio. It was once a military base, now it is back in the hands of civilians and folks are paying big buckaroos to live in government housing. What a great thing they are doing there. This area, Chrissy park (I may very well be spelling that wrong, help me out, Laura) has a great view of the bay with the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz. I thought that picture made me look skinny, so that is why it is there.

Laura (my little sister) took me on a walking tour of the grocery stores in her neighborhood. Holy cow. I LOVE a good grocery store. Always have. But it is more of an obsession now that I have been denyed for the past couple years. I was stunned that you could purchase your wine, beer and groceries in one shop. Oh and how cheap was the produce. Heck everything is cheap for that matter. I hear you squawking about the price of gas....yeah, it is pretty cheap guys. I am paying about $12 a gallon for diesel in Alice Springs. Now that is expensive. I think milk is about $8 a gallon. I can't believe how cheap America is! We are so moving back here some day!

I had to show off this quilt. I made it about 5 years ago when I first started sewing big time. It is the second quilt I finished. Most of that is Amy Butler from her Ginger Bliss, Gypsy Caravan, and Temple Flowers lines. I used the scraps from this quilt to make on for my mom. Mom's is pinwheels with my favorite poem embroidered along the sashing. "Solitude" by Ella Wheeler Wilcox. I will take a picture of that one when we go out to visit their house later this week. Maybe we will go by after going to the dentist. Oh that is going to be a fun day. Visiting the dentist while on vacation. Yippee. But we need to since the dentists in Alice leave something to be desired.

This is Laura, Emma and I at the San Francisco Airport (no family potties). See her bag? I thought it looked like her. I am carrying a red back pack my husband brought home for me. Yes, yes I know it is bordering on sacrilege, but I didn't have time to make one for myself before we left. I did have on cut out and was working on it about 2 hours before leaving for the airport...it is still waiting on me in Alice.

Here is a nice view of the Beach at Bellows Air Force Station in Hawaii. It was so pretty! Lots of Man-o-war jelly fish, but as long as you avoided the mature ones you are fine. Ethan got stung pretty bad by a big one, but he is fine now and the scabs have come off. Anyway, if you are looking at an affordable vacation in Hawaii, check out the website. I do believe you must be a government employee or retired to stay on the base. To rent a cabin is $60 a night. Not bad! It is a no frills place, but that is fine with us. No crowds too! I hate teeming humanity, so that was a huge plus. We went down to Waikiki for an afternoon....most of that was spent driving around looking for parking. Horrible. But lots of strange people to look at so that was fun. I saw Obama strutting down the road trying to look incognito (well I am not really sure if it was Obama or not, my husband wouldn't go ask him, and I wasn't going to either) but it makes for a good story.

For this last picture we took the cog train up to Pikes Peak in Colorado. My Stu bag has been all over the place. I have a group on Flickr....I need to send out invitations or something so you can show me and the world where your Camp Follower Bags have been. It was a nice day trip. Well, we are off to get tires for the Passatt while we are in the states. I would hate to have a blow out on the way to see Malia in Charlotte!

xo,

Tia

Hawaii yesterday, San Francisco today and Denver tomorrow

Hi Yall, the vacation is going great. We are in San Francisco with my little sister now and it is a lovely city. Hawaii was wonderful. We stayed at Bellows Air Force Base. If you are military and want to go to Hawaii and don't want to spend a fortune check it out. We stayed in one of their no-frills beach cabins and it was perfect. Ethan (our 5 year old) got stung by a very big Man of War jellyfish within 45 seconds of hopping in the surf....it's tentacles were wrapped around his legs and ankles stinging the heck out of him. Aside from that everything was uphill. I have some good pictures, but I can't upload them yet.

I am impressed with the family potties in Australian airports. What a great idea to corral your young while you all go pee. Apparently the US doesn't think this is such a great idea yet....maybe I should fill out a comment card.

I am getting some great bag ideas during this trip. I think I want to make a big quilted duffel bag. I have seen several and I just love them. I have a big trip planned to go to my other sister's fabric shop (she is an interior designer in Charlotte, NC and has the hook up at the Schumacher mill) so I will be adding a bit more fabric to my collection. I have some linens in mind...maybe some upholstery velvets.

I also need to figure out how to accept donations to my Hero Bag and Quilt cause. I don't know if I have ever put a real number on how much of your Camp Follower Bag and Quilt purchase goes towards the Hero side of the business. I would say it is about 60%. So 60% of your "Stu tote" bag (or whichever bag you order) goes towards purchasing materials for my Hero bag and quilt cause.

OK Laura is mad that I am blogging instead of chatting, I just wanted to let you know all is well, and my mind is being soooo inspired. Ohhh great things are coming!

Cheers!
Tia

I am off on my World Tour....See ya in September.

This is where I will be for the next week....then off to the States to see my sisters and in-laws. MY parents are up in Alaska hanging out, so we couldn't go up there. Our kids are very sad about that, but maybe Grandma and Grandpa will try to visit down here via AMC. After the States we will be swinging over to Scotland for about another week, then back home via stop in Perth. Wow....it will be good to get home again after all that, but I am wildly excited to go to a big huge grocery store and a mall. How very American of me. I also want to be rained on, so I figured if Hawaii couldn't do that for me then Scotland could. We almost tried to work Seattle into our journey, but something off with the flight schedule....(I was pretty sure I would find rain in Seattle) so rain must be found in the UK

These last couple weeks I have been less than social. When I haven't been cutting and sewing, I have been thinking about cutting and sewing. My husband and kids are so excited that I have the dining room table cleaned off. To them that means that I am going to take a break. I do want to make some pencil cases for the kiddos before we leave tomorrow... and I new bag for me, but I don't know if I will have time. Oh well. Such is life!
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Another "Ethan School Backpack" and a matching Molly Purse. Won't the Walsh's look great on the first day of school? So....I am really debating on if I am going to add this backpack to my lineup of bag styles. It is pretty mush a big fat pain in the butt to make. It is adorable, and Emma's has done very well for her this year at school, but some of the hardware is annoying. I had to use open ended zippers so sometimes she has to fight it when she unzips it all the way. No real big deal in the greater scheme of things, but annoying nevertheless. I changed from d-rings to strap adjusters, because Emma's d-rings were a little less than useless. I ended up just tying her straps to the d-rings. These bags (this one above and the Anderson backpack) should not have that problem. They also take forever to make. Time wise they are my most lengthy bag to produce, so that will certainly play a part in if it gets added to the line-up. I have a month to think about it, huh?

This is my latest Hero Bag. I will be making their son a Hero Quilt when I return from our trip. Here is the write up about Anthony on the Army Times website.

Army Cpl. Anthony K. Bento
23, of San Diego; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.; died Sept. 24, in Bayji, Iraq, of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked his unit using small-arms fire.
US Army times

Here is the Doll Quilt Swap 4 that I just sent out to it's new home in another hemisphere. This was hard to do....not because it was difficult to get the the post office or anything, but this little quilt and I really bonded. I guess I can make another just for me...but that requires time, which I never have enough of. But that will change after my little vacation. I am going to cut WAY back my custom bag orders. I have several other plans up my sleeve, so time will tell on them.

I decided to take this clutch up a notch. I had some thinking to do about Emma's teacher, so I decided that I would do some hand sewing while I mind wrestled my daughter's school situation. OK....note to self (and you for that matter) hand sewing tiny glass beads is made even more challenging with invisible thread. But I got it done dammit! I also figured time would cool me off in regards to Emma's teacher. Which it did.

I have good news and bad news and more good news about my list of bags over there -}. I have finished all the bags I possibly can and still send out. I am stunned by the amount of sewing I completed over the past couple months all by myself. If you have any doubts as to my productivity check out my Flickr gallery. Sometimes it is almost unbelievable to me that I made all that stuff! Sooooo that means if your name is over on that list I have not been able to finish your order. That is the bad news. The good news is that if your name is over on that list you are going to get something extra special added to your order for your awesome patience and support of me and my sewing gig. You can keep it for yourself, or give it for Christmas to some one special. I tried sooooo hard to get all those bags finished before our R&R, but too many other things happened despite staying up until midnight sewing. Now if this is an issue for you, I have no problem packing up your husband's uniform and refunding your money, no problem whatsoever. I just need to know STAT as I am getting on a plane tomorrow morning and leaving for a month.

At any rate have a wonderful August, ladies. I will try to post from our vacation....we will see how the Internet situation is.

Aloha!

Heather Ross has a blog and a sundress pattern to download

Hey there gang,

This is just going to be a quick post as I have a ton of sewing to do today....but I wanted to share Heather Ross's new blog with you. http://heatherross.squarespace.com/

She talks about her new book (Weekend Sewing) and her new fabric line....and I totally dig her even more now. If that is possible, without sounding like a total freak.

My mom likes to follow the lives of movie stars, she takes people magazine and knows all the gossip....well out here in the middle of Australia with no TV (we have opted for the no TV bit, there is cable to be had, but I kinda hate TV....personal issue, I know but there you go. Now we do watch movies....I love movies, well some movies, but I can get into that later, if you like) I really couldn't care less what is going on with movie stars... My celebrities are fabric designers. I swear I am a fabric designer groupie. I am kinda stunned how much I know about these wonderful ladies who design the fabric I love, but there you go.

Heather Ross is one of my 2 favorites. Amy Butler being my #1, Heather Ross being my #2. I think I might like Amy Butler better because I use her fabric every day. Heather Ross fabric I am pretty strange about. I have tons and tons (well at least 3 pretty good stacks ranging from her designs at munki munki to her more recent stuff) and I look at it, rearrange it, fold it, stack it, put it together for future quilts, but I rarely cut it. It is just too wonderful! I have made Emma and Ethan both Heather Ross quilts, but I was pretty stingy with cutting it.

I ordered almost all of her new Mendocino line and I can't wait to get it, so I can stack it and color coordinate it and dream of what I am going to make with it. Hopefully it will be here before we leave for our vacation. Speaking of which I am really getting excited about and I need to pack for. Maybe I can put it off to Sunday? But for the trip I got a little Thread Cutter Pendant for my on the airplanes sewing projects....looks kind like a throwing star.

OK, back on track. Heather Ross has put a down loadable pattern on her website for a Sundress. I saw it on the Purl Bee when they were announcing her as a guest sewing instructor. And I was so bummed about being so freaking far away from civilization, but oh well that is how the cookie crumbles, huh? I downloaded my pattern, and I just went to the crappy fabric shop in town and found elastic thread....I am pretty leery about it working though. I will post about my results! It looks really nice and simple, and you put the elastic thread on the bobbin, FYI.

OK, I am off to work on some smaller bags (a Molly and some back packs). I have an enormous mailing day today. I need to take a picture of my desk. It almost looks like a shop! I feel so darn productive.

Love ya!
Tia

tomorrow is picnic day

It has been a busy couple days around our house. Friday night we hosted a baby shower that lasted until 2330. That was pretty late for me, but I guess folks like to hang out in my messy house. The boys crashed on the sofa. That is not really my ugly sofa. It is the governments ugly sofa, we are just borrowing it since all our furniture is in storage in Texas....well I assume it is in storage, someone may be using it right now...sitting in my 300 year old 6 legged Swedish rocker that that I found in a antique barn in Germany....or maybe eating at my massive French table. I sure hope they take care of my stuff! I am sure everything will be fine, but sometimes I imagine the worst.


The fun included 2 little girls loosing teeth, my daughter lost her 4 front tooth and another little girl knocked out her tooth in the bouncing castle creating quite the blood bath for fellow bouncers. Good thing we all have our shots and have such stalwart little kiddos.

Here is a pile of Stu totes that are all finished. I have 2 more to finish tomorrow (Nager and Bento) then I should have a pretty big shipment on Tuesday when the APO opens back up. Tomorrow (Monday) is a holiday....Picnic Day. So everything is closed. We will be going to Desert Park to admire nature in all her spring glory. It must be spring since the sparrows are having flight school around the kitchen window again and the maggots have become flies....glorious flies. Have I mentioned the Fly problem here in the Outback? They really are horrid aggressive things. They fly straight up your nose and attempt to drink from your eyeballs.

OK, I am being called to watch a movie. Love you all!

xo,

Tia