My new sewing project

Here it is at last, home again.

My queen sized, round robin friendship quilt top has found it's way back to me, having been worked on by other patchwork friends.  This one is music themed for my youngest son.  It needs it's batting and backing then quilting to finish, but I couldn't resist spreading it out on the bed to see how it looks.  The friendship quilts have been an ongoing project for the Tuesday Crafternooners for the past three months or so, and we have completed six beautiful quilts during that time!  Some are now already at the quilting stage, so exciting!

I am so happy with the way this turned out!

Also....

our family has been joined by this cute and cuddly little one...Whimsey is the name!

She was found on the shelf at my local pharmacy.

It has been so long since I have seen a golliwog anywhere.  

They have been a bit politically incorrect for a while, what a shame!

I love them!

Have a good day!

How long?

Goodness, how long has it been since I visited my blog?  Too long!

While the weather has been good we have worked hard in the garden, tidying, weeding, and mulching ready for the hot summer. It is looking really nice now, and our one neglected bit out the back has also had a makeover.......no photos yet, though. 

 I have been busy finishing another quilt from the vintage fabric swap of last year, that is both king single quilts done for the guest room, just in time for a lovely visit from my daughter and three grand-daughters.  

 While they were here, we celebrated Penny's birthday with most of the family present for the birthday cake and afternoon tea.

 This stunning old fig tree had to be pruned by the electricity commission as it was too close to the power lines.  I was very vocal in my protests, to no avail, but I had to turn my back while the chain saws were in action!  Thank goodness the tree loppers were not too unkind to it.

 A friend who has just moved house was chucking out these pieces of timber, so Dennis used them for a pathway under the arbour, and filled the gaps with river stones.  Stoked!  I had been waiting for this to be done for ages!  Looks great now it is finished.  Another job ticked off the list.

Me and the girls!

Done!

Here is the finished quilt, all 176 squares plus sashing and binding.  I love the rather eccentric randomness of the fabrics.  The backing is courtesy of the Salvos, two nice sheets plus a pillowcase for $6.00.  Bargain.

The idea was to reuse and recycle unwanted and old fabrics and turn them into something useful and lovely.

The only new items are the cotton wadding inside and the thread used to sew it all together.

Now to finish the second one to go on the other bed in the guest room.

Bargain Hunt

I have been so neglectful of my blog lately, it has been a hectic month here in our little quiet corner of the world.
I helped to organise a big antique furniture auction at our local hall last week and could not resist haggling for a few bargain bits and pieces.

I ended up winning the bidding on a lovely old stoneware jar for ten dollars, a wood table lamp for $2.oo, it just needs a new shade, and I have the perfect one lurking in the cupboard.

My fave buy was this charming vintage cotton quilt, double bed size, in blues and browns for the princely sum of $8.oo!!  I could hardly believe my luck when it was knocked down to me.

It will be nice on my son's bed.

And this rather grotty old coffee table will be improved with a good scrub, sanding and new paint job, a gift at $2.oo!!

Just love a good bargain hunt!!

Australia's Biggest Morning Tea

It has been a while since I called in here to say hello!  Lots of things happening in the meantime, which I will blog about later, but right now I want to remind everyone about the Cancer Council's Biggest Morning Tea to raise money for research funding.  Australia is leading the world with Cancer Research, let's help these marvellous people keep up the good work.

http://nsw.cancercouncilfundraising.org.au/OxleyIslandTea

Oxley Island Hall Committee has approved holding this year's tea party at the community hall, so let us all try to dig deep in the pockets and donate to this good cause.

You can also find Australia's Biggest Morning Tea on FaceBook and you can place a donation online.

Thank you!

Home

Yesterday I scrapped these pictures of the front of the house, featuring my favourite rose 'crepuscule'. 

 The plants have miraculously survived our rather wild weather and this lovely rose is blooming beautifully.  

I love it.

The sketch I used is from Scrappy Sketches.

http://scrapysketches.blogspot.com.au/

 The sketch called for 'twinchies' little two inch squares of fun!

 The white rolled roses were from Heather Waldron and the lovely  rose in vintage fabric is from 

Jules' Gems.

Have a happy scrappy day!

The List

The fabulous fireworks are over, and all the Christmas decorations are back in their boxes for another twelve months. 

What is it about the start of a new year that drives us to make resolutions, or in my case, lists, some sort of agenda for the coming months?

New beginnings are always exciting.  What does the New Year mean for you?  For me 2013 will be a time to reassess my home, my situation, my health, - and my previous lists, to see what still needs to be done!

My word for last year was 'completion', and I did complete quite a few unfinished projects, and start some major new ones - painting the exterior of the house, and further garden design.  Looking back, I am happy with all that we accomplished, but, but, but, there is still more to do!

I am thinking that my word for 2013 should be 'simplify'.  Still on the de-cluttering course, and with personal and home harmony in mind, 'simplify' sums up what is required.  

Wish me luck!

MWS 48-12

Heather's Mid-Week Sketch 48-12 from ScrappySketches

tipped sideways.

'Home is where the heart is'

Home Sweet Home

At last we are making some progress on the house painting!  Goodbye to the cream and mission brown!  Here is a pic of the front........

the back deck area is also finished!  So nice to sit there now. 

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!

SUYS September challenge

The September challenge at Show Us Your Stuff is inspired by this quote

by Emilie Ahern.

'The world is full of undiscovered wonder.

Come little one, let us find them out together'

So here is my take on the challenge, the design is based on the Mid Week Sketch 28-12 from Scrappy Sketches.

My paper origami cat has a slightly evil look but it was fun to make, and was taught to me by my granddaughter, aged 8.

I have had a bit of a break from scrapping for a little while, being busy tending the garden and starting the mammoth job of painting the outside of the  house.  We are making slow progress, the garden is appreciating the new mulch and the front of the house, while looking a bit like a building site, right now, has a bit of new paint on the verandah.  Looking good, so far!  Two walls done, six more to go...............

Thanks for Thanks for dropping by!dropping by!

Busy week

It has been a hectic week here, and I have been flitting from pillar to post, hopefully achieving progress, but still struggling to maintain order.  

Last weekend was a cybercrop at Home and Scrapped, which I helped to host, setting two challenges.  One was a colour challenge, inspired by my cereal packet, and the other was to use lace/fabric, etc, as a background.  Melissa created the other two challenges resulting in some really good pages in the gallery.

Next on the list was the community hall annual trivia night, our main fund raiser for the year.  Our hall is over a hundred years old now, it belongs to our community, and it is up to the committee to maintain it in good order.  This year we had to replace the damaged pressed metal ceiling, oh, it looks so good now, but it took many years of fund raising to find the thousands of dollars it cost.  The trivia night, on Friday, was a huge success, everyone had a lot of fun.  We had a 1970s flower-power hippie theme, and some funny costumes appeared, including a couple of original 1971 coats!  There was an enormous work load on our small committee, researching the questions and answers, decorating the hall, providing drinks and supper, running the raffle, and making sure it all went smoothly.  There were about 80 happy people enjoying themselves, a good time had by all!

Meanwhile, I was running in and out of town trying to choose paint colours for the house, which is in dire need of freshening up.  At the moment, I have a front wall, spotted with different shades.........decisions, decisions!  

Also, the garden is getting a facelift, and a general tidy up, all the recent rain has seen the weeds flourish, so they are being attacked with hoe and fork and glyphosate, and the new plants settled in with lots of sugarcane mulch.

AND, in a final push, the tax papers are ready for the accountant - who has been breathing down my neck (and not in a pleasant way!) - and it has all gone off today for his perusal.  No doubt there will be a phone call or two needing more information, but I am heaving a huge sigh of relief for the moment.

My house looks like it has been burgled, or hit by a hurricane, or worse, with paperwork, scrapping and paint all over the place............sigh...........better make tidying up my priority for this week!

A little bag love!

Don't you just love this yummy orange colour?

I fell in love with this soft leather handbag when I first saw it at my local pharmacy a few weeks ago. it quite lifted my spirits.........and being in the mood to change my dull image to colourful, I coveted it, but decided it was out of my price range.........an unaffordable luxury at this time of tight budgets.

Yesterday while shopping at the pharmacy and spending $120 on our pills for the month, I was once more dreaming of the bag when the kindly assistant said

'do you have a Guardian card?

I will check your points!'

Guess what?

That luxe bag cost me $4.95!

Plus my Guardian card points.

How cool is that?

Me, I am one happy shopper!

Warm winter crafts

 The random coloured granny square pile is growing, these will make cushions for the grandchildren to cosy up to while watching television.

Cleo cat (not) helping with the quilting!

The cooler weather sees me reaching for the crochet granny squares, and the quilting UFOs, of which there are a few lurking in the craft stash.  I love to cosy up to the fire with some crochet or stitching in winter.  It is the only time that I take on these crafts, because summer is just too hot for quilts and knitting.  The quilt is one I am working on for a grand daughters birthday, and it has been hanging around for a long time.......not too much further to go now.  A little more hand stitching, trim all the threads, etc, and it is done!

A book, and more rain!

I got a clutch of books from the library last week and most were pretty ho-hum.......except 'The Maid' by Kimberly Cutter. Published in 2011, it is the harrowing story of Joan of Arc, Maid of Orleans.  It was hard to put down.  It is historically as accurate as the author could get, taking into account the few hundred years since The Maid was burned at the stake in May 1431 at age nineteen.  There is plenty of documentation on her life, fascinating and horrifying as it is. Joan was found innocent twenty five years after her death after an investigation by the Pope.  She is a patron Saint of France, being canonised in 1920,  

Read it if you get a chance.

Today, I started off on a trip to town to try on my new specs frames, but did not get far.  Our land is so wet from the almost constant rain of the past few weeks that I bogged the car in the driveway!  It just slid sideways from under me, and no amount of reversing and forwarding and trying to steer it straight would work.  So I grabbed my umbrella and trudged back to my nice warm house.

More rain and choosing new specs

It has been five years since my eyes were checked and I have noticed over the past few months that my sight has deteriorated a fair bit.  I need to use a magnifying glass as well as my specs to read the telephone book.  So I took myself off to my local optician for a check up.  It seems that my eyes are healthy, a relief to know that there is no macular degeneration, retina damage or signs of glaucoma, but my glasses need more powerful lenses both for reading and long distance vision.
I must have tried on dozens of pairs of glasses, trying to choose new frames..........anyway, after bringing home my final three, I have made my choice.  So it is back to the optician tomorrow to order them and get my new goggles............wow, it is going to be so good to be able to see clearly again.........

 Using tags from stash.............and my gorgeous girls.

 Bethie is our mini masterchef

 windmill at Sunnydale.......

 use up your stash - ribbons

Friday night step-by-step

The above layouts are all Home and Scrapped challenges............go check them out.  Here.

So wet here!  The garden is soggy, the driveway a slippy-slide, and damp laundry is everywhere!  We are a bit over the grey skies...........bring on Spring!

Heather's sketches

Heather's sketches have kick-started my missing mojo, and the pre-retreat challenges over at Red Earth have added to it.  The layouts are not the most fabulous in the collection, but after a lull, at least I am going again.

My Christening.......a LONG time ago, with all the family.  Heather's sketch and handmade flowers.

 Snapshots of Sunnydale..........Heather's sketch and hand-made flowers.  She is one talented lady!

Nice to spread out and do a double page layout for a change.  These pix were taken at the lookout on Thunderbolt's Way.

And finally, a card from leftovers for the stash, using a ribbon flower gifted in a swap.

On the home front, we now have two pairs of cute little Zebra finches living at our place in a new taj-mahal aviary built by DH, who is now busy making nesting boxes for them.  Would be so exciting to have baby birds!  They are great little time-wasters, so cute to watch, and not nervous of us at all.

Thanks for dropping by!

More pages

The sad lion is a beautiful memorial to the Swiss soldiers who bravely went to France to try to protect King Louis and Marie Antionette during the time of the French Revolution. Unknowingly they marched to certain death. This dying lion was carved from the rock face above a still reflection pool in a pretty garden in Lucerne. It was a magic and memorable moment to be there during our European tour.
This layout is for the Daring You To Scrap challenge. Go check out their blog!



This pic was taken of the youngest grandchild at his pre-school. Little angel/devil that he is!

It has been raining here so a good excuse for more scrapping! Do I really need an excuse? Nup! I still have plenty of those paper scraps to use up.

By the way, remember while we were overseas six months ago, the cattle got into the garden and drank the fishpond? Well, it seemed that they drank all the fish as well. So........we have done nothing with the pond, it has become green and slimy and totally overgrown and neglected. Until yesterday. Dennis decided to clean it out. Guess what? We found a dozen or more goldfish still alive and swimming in the murk!! Poor little things.........made us feel really bad. Anyway, the rescue mission was on, and they are now happily swimming in a lovely clean pool, with fresh rainwater falling in, and plenty of nice fish food to eat. End of story.

A thrifty find!

While browsing through my local charity shop yesterday, I found these brilliant purple retro daisy single bed sheets for a measly six dollars! Yay! They will make perfect backing fabric for my vintage squares quilts and save me heaps, another thrifty bargain. One is a little faded, but I don't think that is going to worry me at all. I am about a third of the way through quilt top number two, it will be similar, but not the same as the first.

I am loving this rediscovery of my sewing hobby which has been lying dormant for a couple of years. Scrap booking took over, because I love the instant results of a 12 x 12 inch page, where a quilt can take months, even years, to complete. So patchwork is back in vogue at Summerleigh, although scrapping will still be ongoing.

Watch this space.