Craft

 Our Tuesday Crafternoon group made this cosy blanket as a gift for a needy family.  We all helped knit the patchwork strips which were then sewn to a purple polar fleece backing.  

Good job girls!

I used lots of white flowers and handmade flowers from swaps, plus lace from my late Mum's sewing box, gesso, paints and inks to create this reverse canvas I made for my lovely niece who turned 50 this month.  The family got together to celebrate, with lots of food, fun and chat!  A great weekend.

Thanks for dropping by!

Hibernating!

That is what has happened here, with the shorter days and the cooler weather, I have been hibernating..........but not idle.

June was busy with scrapping pages, knitting and crochet to use up all those leftover bits of yarn lurking in my basket.  I completed a granny square rug for my son's place, helped to make a warm blanket for a homeless person, and have started more knitted squares.  There are so many out there who need help.

Here is some of what has been achieved while hibernating!

 Attended Grandparent's Day at Amarah's school.

 Made a few cards for the stash.

 A layout using scraps

 Our friend's beautiful spoilt princess.

 Another page for the holiday album............great memories!

 And a draught excluder dog!

Just for fun.

 The granny squares finally found a home.

 Melbourne Cup day with the girls.

Check out the hats!

Our One Direction fan!

All scrapping pages are challenges from the design team at Home and Scrapped.

Thanks for popping in.

Liebster Award

Liebster award

I received this great award on my blog and thought it was a lovely idea.  Thank you to Sarah at http://lawlessrose.blogspot.com.au/  for the  nomination.  It really made my day.

About the award:  This award was designed to be a blog award in the pay it forward fashion. Once you have been nominated you award it to blogs that you like that have fewer than 200 followers to encourage new visitors to these blogs.

Rules for Acceptance:  Thank the person who gave you the award and link it back to their blog. Post the award onto your blog. Give the award to 5 bloggers who you appreciate that have fewer than 200 followers. Leave a comment on their blog letting them know that you have given them this awesome award.

Here are the 5 blogs that I would like to share with you due to their creativity and originality in scrapbooking and other art forms.

Scissors Paper Pen - http://pennyhackney.blogspot.com.au/

Kerri Smith - http://myscrapnaddiction.wordpress.com/

Lydia - http://kiwimumscraps.blogspot.com.au/
Live Laugh Create - http://sophiekllc.blogspot.com.au/
Kate McCulloch - http://www.mumofheidi.blogspot.com.au/

it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Do you start Christmas early at your place?

Christmas decorations have been in the shops around here since October which I reckon is a tad early!  Twelve days of Christmas and all that!

I usually like to put up the tree just a few days before the man in the red suit arrives.  Meanwhile I have been making cards and these cute little felt decorations..........

Oh, and the hand made pizza boxes with cards and tags inside were well received by my crafty friends at our Christmas afternoon tea last week.  They were easy to make and fun, thanks to Susanne's October challenge at Red Earth Scrapping for the inspiration.

Goodbye, October!

October has been such a busy month.  On the farm we have dealt with wild weather, broken water pipes, and a flurry of new calves born.  The veggie patch was ploughed and planted, the gardens weeded and mulched before the hot summer weather sets in.  And we have started the mammoth job of painting the house............it is going to take ages, but as the Chinese say.........each journey begins with one step!

My roses are blooming beautifully in the new front garden, they seem to love their new home.

Our old truck gave up the ghost and the new (old) one had to have heaps of work done to it to make it roadworthy.  Dennis worked hard on it for several weeks.  Today we reached a milestone.........the truck was inspected and passed for rego!  Hooray!

Our little finches are busy making nests and hatching babies, and the wild lorikeets are nesting again in the old dairy, the galahs are here morning and evening enjoying the kikuyu seed, I love this time of year!

Not so fun was this snake, that my little dog, Abby dug up in the orchard, just where we were standing.  I thought she was after a blue tongue lizard and was telling her off for digging........a couple of minutes later, she had this red-bellied black snake by the middle and was shaking it madly!  Luckily she escaped being bitten, as it could well have had deadly results.

Between all that, I have been crafting too, and I am now more than half way finished two more quilt tops in my determination to make a quilt for each of the five grandchildren.  I have enough fabric in the stash to quilt for a small country, I think, so it is good to get it out of hibernation at last.

This month has been a time of re-evaluation of health issues.  A visit to the GP, extensive blood tests, new specs, a visit to the dentist, and discovering a lovely lady who practises Bowen Therapy which has helped with various ills.  I have given up eating wheat and within a couple of days was feeling improved.  All my blood tests came back with good results.  Fantastic!

Hope it is all good with you, too.  Thanks for visiting!

Winter crafting

Remember all those crocheted granny squares I made while staying up late watching the Olympic Games?

I sewed them into a couple of cosy cushions.  They are quite cute and country, I think.

It is time to put away the knitting and crochet now the weather is warming up.  It is gardening time!

And then to tackle the dreaded Spring Cleaning!