A swimming day

It's not often that a person who lives in a note book like Alice Isabella gets the opportunity to go for a swim... but the notebook was open this afternoon and she begged me to take her with me.


So I did.


She shuffled around in her little old case and bought out a scrimply, striped bathing suit.


We walked down to the swimming pool and I reminded her that she still had her hat on.!!!!


"I know, I know" she said with a cross look on her face. "its a special floating hat, I don't know how to swim"


Well I knew that hat wouldn't save her when she was in the water so I found a couple of blow up rings.


I decided to hop into the bubble tub first... and I looked up to see Alice coming towards me with this strange look on her face and the two rings around her waist... the only problem is that she didn't take her arms out when she put the rings on.

"You need to take your arms out so you can float" I said to her... 


"It's OK" she said and jumped right in the water.


So there she was bobbing around in the pool wiggling her skinny legs in her scrimply, striped bathing suit.


She squealed with laughter as she bobbed up and down. The splashed water dripped off her hat and it sank lower and lower around her face... she looked like a drowned rat... but she had a lovely time.


She was rather an item of interest in the swimming pool this afternoon. Now I guess she's tucked up in her little notebook bed.

Tilly has the answer....!!!

Miss Tilly sent this message..

I think that this might be worse than "Silver Bells" however, I will give it a go and see what happens.

Alice Isabella enjoyed herself on the farm, but she did have a few adventures...

One night we visited the Dairy. Alice Isabella took no notice of me when I told her to put on her little rubber  boots. (she has some that look like green frogs with big eyes)
..But NO, she wanted to wear her dainty fairy shoes she bought the day before....


It was cold and wet in the dairy and the floor was sloshed with unmentionables....(Pooh) actually. 
Big round plops of cow p....h.... 


Alice danced around like a princess saying "OOH Pooh, OOh Pooh" and waving her princes arms in the air, suddenly she slipped and fell flat on her bottom in the pooh.....


3 of the "lovely ladies" who worked in the dairy fished her out with a big hook that they used to push the cows into place.... they hung her up to dry in the rafters and she wasn't very happy....


But do you know what...?


She stopped singing Silver Bells. I think that's amazing.

I decided to take Alice isabella on a trip to the farm this morning.

It was a bit difficult getting her out of her warm notebook bed, she was wrapped in a note paper quilt and her sheets and pillow slip are made from silk bookmarks

When I opened the book, there she was with just her little nose out of the cover, the paper quilt was pulled right up to her eyes and she made an Isabella whistling noise as she slept.. Well at least it is better than her singing.

She sleeps with her hat on and it gets a bit skew whiff during the night.

Alice Isabella is rather annoying

It's some time since Alice Isabella came out of my handbag.
In fact, she has been out and about but we just haven't had the time to share our adventures with you all.
Miss Tilly has been inventing stories for her but we didn't put them to air.


Sometimes she just likes to do private things without sharing.


However, the fact that she is now in South Africa is such an exciting adventure that she couldn't remain in there by herself for long.

Cat No 1. is named Zeba-diah

Cat No 2. is named Fish fingers

Cat No 3. is named Fat friday

By the way, she isn't ever lonely.... she does have 3 cats in the note book to keep her company.
Why do they have such strange names....?


Hmm, that's another story all together.


Alice does annoy me sometimes.... she hums a lot and it's so embarrassing when you are standing in line.... for instance in immigration or the shopping cue, or the bus cue... and you have humming coming out of your hand bag.


I tried to think of something to cover the noise.... sometimes I cough.. other times I engage others in the line in conversation. But that doesn't always work.


She sings "Silver Bells" it drives me mad. It's one of those songs that sticks in your head and you can't get it out....

Then I tried to trick her and I left her in my black handbag and hid it in my big suitcase and used my orange one...


But she outsmarted me... she took my purse and put it in the bag her notebook house is in and I just had to take her along.


Still singing Silver Bells.


Little Possum she is.


Now I think I need to teach her a new song.


Miss Tilly what song do you thing would be interesting for her to learn and I don't think I could cope with your favourite song.....

Alice visits France

Alice Isabella loved France.

So did her traveling companion Miss P. Smedley.

and Jack the Jack Russell.

He decided to stay with Miss Alice because his family were going away on holiday.

The three of them became a little band, they walked for miles along the cobblestone pavements.

There were lots of interesting things for Jack to sniff and there were cats everywhere... on the steps by the door, under the chairs, and on the pavement (footpath) Now this excited him very much.

They sat in little cafes on red cane chairs facing the road and drank coffee and said 

"Merci" (which means thank you)

Miss P Smedley had to help Alice Isabella with her pronunciation, because she kept saying "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" in a sing song voice instead of saying it the french way.

Alice Isabella can sing Fre-re Jacques, and she annoyingly sang it very often in her high spindly voice. 

"Frère Jacques, frère Jacques,

Dormez-vous? Dormez-vous?

Sonnez les matines! Sonnez les matines!

Din, dan, don. Din, dan, don."

She can be so annoying at times.

Jack, the Jack Russell put his paws over his ears sometimes, but at other times he joined in. He can speak French you know, he has a strong doggy accent but it's quite nice really.

One special day they visited a beautiful garden.

It was once owned by Mr and Mrs Monet. (You don't say "Mon - ET" you say "Mon - A")

A very, very, merry, long time ago, Mr Monet was a painter.

He painted all day and all night in his bright yellow kitchen.

The walls were yellow, the table was yellow and   even the curtains were yellow. It looked like it had been kissed by the sun.

He painted flowers, and bridges and waterlily s with flair and gusto.

(that means he painted very strongly)

It was sunny in the garden.

It was warm and kind.

It smelt wonderful and the bees and butterflies were having a wonderful time visiting each other for a cuppa.

I wonder if they had baby cino? "That's a children's cappuccino"

To be continued.:-

Alice goes to Paris.

There is always the unexpected.

There is always a surprise.

Storms come with alarming regularity and at times the world bows to their creativity.

Such a storm affected the Travel of Alice Isabella on her trip to France.

Miss P Smedley, her friend, with whom she traveled had to leave on an earlier flight   due to the storm approaching.

Alice Isabella accompanied her in the notebook in her handbag.

It was warm and comfortable there and in fact it saved an airfare.....

The first part of the trip was to Montreal in Canada and Miss P Smedley was so relaxed after the flight she forgot that she left her notebook in the seat of the plane when she got off.

She waited at the gate for the plane to Paris with her other friends forgetting all about miss Alice.

Alice Isabella was actually taking a nap and woke feeling quite relaxed. 

It took her a little while to realise here was something strange. There was no plane noise or vibration.... what was happening.?

Well, its a bit hard when you're stuck in a notebook in the back of a plane seat... you just can't get out until someone takes you out.

Suddenly she felt herself being lifted up by a great big hand. Someone with chewing gum breathe flipped through the book making her dizzy and then all of a sudden she felt herself flying through the air and landing upside down in a garbage bag.

She almost got a headache being in that position.

Where was her friend Miss P Smedley?

How was she going to get out of this situation?

The garbage bag was placed with other bags in the storage room. 

Alice Isabella's bottom lip quivered... for pete's sake she had only just been rescued from jail... now she was in a garbage bag in Montreal Canada.... and she was cold and frightened.

She heard a noise... 

A small noise at first....

A whining noise.....

Alice called out in a small voice.

"is anybody there, can you help me?"

The whining got louder.....

"Whiiiiiiiine whaaaaat do you neeeeeeeed, woof."

"I need to meet my friend Miss P Smedley, she's going to Paris."

"Whine..... I'm going there too, woof.... I'm Jack, the Jack Russell and my owners are taking me to Paris....." said the little brown dog.

"Oooh, can you help me" said Alice Isabella, "I'm afraid I'll get lost" she said.

"Woof, what if I get out of this cage and come and get you and you can ride with me to Paris."..

Alice was so excited she could barely talk.

"Thank you a thousand times"... she said a little dramatically.

Jack the Jack Russell was a really clever dog. He undid the latch on his blue container and ran over to the garbage bag and tore it apart with his sharp teeth.

He picked up the notebook very gently and took it back to his dog container...

Alice Isabella was surprised it was so comfortable... it had a soft rug, a container for water and but it smelt a little "doggy"

BUT she was safe and going to Paris.

She traveled all the way with Jack the Jack Russell and when it came time for him to meet his owners, he gently lifted her out of the notebook and placed her on the luggage belt....

Now Miss P. Smedley hadn't even missed her notebook... you can imagine her surprise when she looked up an there Alice Isabella sitting on her luggage as it came out of the hole thing.

How exciting.

Very Interesting things.

So, Alice Isobella had escaped... and just in time too.

But you know she was really sad because she had completely missed the Quilt Show.

She tried not to show her sadness... in fact she was quite good at that.

She smiled a lot, but sometimes if you looked carefully enough, you could see her sad eyes and her bottom lip just had the slightest quiver.

She was very grateful that her new friend "Beulah Baster, the batting babe" had whipped her away on her Harley....a Harley Davison Motorbike to be exact. In fact you may be interested to know that lots of cool Quilters ride on Harleys...

When someone does something kind and special for you, you must always thank them... so Alice  gave Beulah the Baster a big hug and a kind smile. "Thankyou so much" she said. Beulah, gave a shrug and got back on her bike.

"You're welcome Maam" she said and started up that big old harley, Vroom, Vroom.

In fact she was showing off a little and almost skidded as she took off down the road. 

The "Basting Babes" visited with Alice Isabella and told her that the Quilt policeman was just fine now and they didn't really hurt him with their circle of rotary cutters... in fact he decided to change his career and become a "long arm of the law" quilter.

During all these events... Alice Isobella's friend, Miss P. Smedley had been traveling.

She traveled to a place called "Hot Springs" where the hot water bubbles up from very deep in the earth.

How does it get hot?

Well, there is a big cave under the earth, small people "the Jibblings" dressed in green hats, red and white striped legs and little blue shirts spend most of their time boiling kettles on big old stoves.

This is true....

Look at this photo... and you can see the water bubbling up to the top of the earth so that we can share in this wonderful thing.

Can you imagine that if you really wanted to you could go down main street when no one is looking and take a bath in the hot springs... (that would be amazing).

Miss P. Smedley, had been in a town called Alamogordo where they have a Pure White desert with big sand hills to slide down, its amazing, it looks like snow but its hot!!!!


very, very interesting


The donkeys live on the roof

Very, very interesting.


There are cactus that look like bats with prickles and mountains so high they touch the sky.

Miss P Smedley found this a very very  interesting place.

Alice Isabella and the Harley.

While the Quilt Policeman was tied up in the big roll of batting  the leaders of the group, grabbed the keys to the jail door off the hook on the wall and unlocked the big padlock.

Alice Isabella squealed in delight.... 

The door “sqeeched” open...... “eeeerk”

She was so excited she almost fell out the door...

Those Batting babes had it all worked out.... how clever were they.

They bustled her out the door of the Quilt Station.

“Vroom, Vroom” there was a loud roar and Alice looked up to see a huge  motor bike coming around the corner... it screeched to a halt and Batting Babe “Beulah the baster” swung her rather large leather clad leg over the tank of the bike....

It was a bit hard to tell just who she was really, she was clad in quilted leather, big black glasses, orange leather gloves and boots and on her helmet she had her name “Beulah the baster” painted with wings on the side.

Scary Mary.

Now Alice had never been on a motor bike... “they are just too dangerous”... she always said......but she really had no choice.....

“Get on Lovely” said Beulah, and Alice found herself lifted by a dozen hands onto the back of the bike....a helmet was placed on her head and tied under her chin.

“Oh my” she said.... I can’t sit like this, my knickers will show.... 

Beulah, who was used to delicate quilt ladies, produced a giant safety pin from her pocket and they pinned the dress tight over Alice’s legs so it wouldn’t blow up in the air.

Alice Isobella grabbed her straw hat (silly girl it can’t fly off it’s under the helmet) with one hand, had her bags crooked in her elbow and held on to her new friend with her other hand.

All of sudden they were off, “Vroom”, past the post office, past the grocery store, through the school yard, down the little grey lane where Mrs Needlesome lives and out into the country side....

Alice began to relax, she opened her eyes and was enjoying the wind in her curls.

Alice Isobella escapes.

There was a great deal of consternation amongst the "Batting Babes" .... Just how were they going to spring Miss Alice Isabella out of jail....?


The formed a circle, their arms 'entwined'. (That means they were sort of hugging each other).


Their heads bobbed....
There were lots of sighs....Siiiighhhhhhh and then again there were a few "Goodness Graciousnesses" and a couple of 
"Oh heaven to Betsy's".....


Suddenly their heads nodded and they raised their little arms in the air....
In musical union they yelled....


"Batting babes forever"


They had their plan.
They were prepared.
They were ready for anything.


Three of the ladies joined together and carried a roll of soft warm and 'flatural' batting under their arms... 
The other ladies followed quickly and silently, forming a single line, trying to avoid suspicion.


The lady in front put on a bright smirky smile and walked up to the Quilt Policeman who was sitting on his chair behind the desk examining a quilt for uneven stitches.


"Sir", she said, "Can you help me, I have this roll of batting and I have a problem with the brown paper that goes around it. It's stuck and I can't get it undone. Can you use your Quilt Police Quick Unpick to open it for me"


The policeman glanced up over his glasses and put down the quilt.

Suddenly the ladies pounced and rolled him right up in the batting.

He was tucked up as snug as a bug in a rug as they spun him round and round at a fast pace.
His feet almost gave way.


The Batting Babes squealed with delight and the excitement of the moment.
They made a big circle around him with their arms outstretched. In their hands they held their rotary cutters with its sharp blade just ready to pop out at the flick of a plastic click...


Now this is a very dangerous thing to do.
Children don't have a Rotary, Gotary, Lotary license.... so remember ....No touching the rotary cutter until you are at least 40 years old and you can earn your license....

The Quilt Police

So there she was.


Behind bars.


IN JAIL !!!!!


Now I'm not too sure if you know, but there are "Quilt Police" in the Quilting business.


They have been around for a long time.... mostly they are very, very annoying.


Mostly they very strict.


Mostly they are crabby.


Mostly they just are - Ghostly Mostly.


But, I'm happy to say, that on this very occasion they were.......


Mostly helpers.


When they found out about Alice Isabella, they realised that she didn't really do anything really bad.. 


I mean, what do you think?

So the chief of the Quilt Police, 'Generous Germaine' (I think her other name is Greer) put in a call to the "batting babes" another group of famous quilters... and they dropped everything they were doing and raced to the home of Generous Germaine to an urgent  meeting.

Their faces were flushed, their bosoms heaved in exertion and they were all a little flustered... they're not used to moving so quickly, but this was an urgent case.

They  sat at a big round table. The room was dark except for a low light in the centre of the room... the ladies huddled, jiggled and talked in quiet tones as they hatched their escape plan.

The 'long arm' of the law

The Policeman looked down at his feet.


No doubt about it..... this was the pin culprit.


Alice shook in her black boots, her hair 'winkling' even more than before.


"Madam, do you know what damage you have done" he said in a 'gruffly' voice.?


Alice was too scared to answer. She just shook.


I mean this was the little lady who was too scared to come out from behind the pot plant... now she was being arrested.


The Policeman looked down at her from a policeman height.


He said "Eight pigeons have reported pins in the their toes. 

Six ladies have punctures in the tyres of their motor carts and 20 ladies have pins in their 'quilting crocs, we're arresting you for 'pinfull damage'"


Oh, my goodness... what will happen to Alice, will she go to jail?


Do they have a jail for quilters.?

The Quilt Show.

Alice Isabella decided to walk to the quilt show.


She tucked her big bag full of quilting 'stuff' under her arm and began the walk down the street.


There were a lot of people  walking in this direction and that.
Their feet made loud noises on the pavement.


She passed a big line of bright yellow taxis. The drivers sat on a seat on the corner and chatted about the day while they waited for their passengers. They smiled at her as she walked passed them.
Pigeons sat by their feet and talked pigeon talk.


Suddenly she stopped, her winkly eyes winkled "What if I can't find my way back" she said out loud.
She twirled around, her "spotty lotty" dress took a little while to catch up with her spin !!!!! she almost toppled over...


Suddenly she smiled. It was happy, curly smile, and she reached into her big quilt bag and took out a little box of pins.

As she walked along she dropped the pins and she knew she had worked out her problem.


Then she was there... finally.


Her heart beat a little faster...


There was a hummmmmmmmmm in the foyer.
There was a hummmmmmmmmm in line.
There was a hummmmmmmmmm just all over the place.


It was an happy hummmmmmmmm  and then finally she was inside.


Still dropping her pins.


Alice Isabella was having a wonderful time when suddenly a policeman with a big hat and a shiny badge came up to her and put his hand on her shoulder,
"Ma'am"


Alice Whizzed around in fright.... she was so scared she dropped the pins in her hand right in front of him.....!!!!!


What will happen....!!