Sunny Saturday

What a beautiful sunny day it has been. Hubby and I rose early and visited a few garage sales in our area and picked up a few treasures which I will show you tomorrow. Then I had to go to work for a few hours before we attended a 2nd Birthday BBQ .

Here is young Tommy enjoying himself at the BBQ. That grin gets me every time !

This is the little apron that I made last night for the birthday girl. She wore it all day at her party. Unfortunately we ran out of time to visit the antique shops in the area but I am putting it on my "to do" list for the coming weeks.

The top photograph is of the parsley and basil that I chopped up and froze today. I have used quite a bit of recycled water on my herbs so I feel like they are extra "green" little herbs.

I am writing myself a little list of things to do tomorrow and am now off to do some more work on my baby blanket. See you tomorrow.

TGIF !!!!!!

Thank God it is Friday !!!!!

I do have to go to work for a few hours in the morning but other than that the weekend is mine to enjoy and I have lots planned.

Tonight is quite a balmy evening and I have just come in from watering all of my potted herbs which are all doing very well. I will pick some basil and parsley tomorrow and get ready to freeze in ice cube blocks ready for use when required.

I have to sew a gift tonight for a little 2 year old who we are attending a BBQ for tomorrow in a lovely quaint little country town around half an hour away. Whilst we are there I am hoping to take a stroll around some of the lovely little antique shops.

Don't you think that these Easter edition Peanut M & M's look divine? They are in such beautiful pastel shades and almost look too good to eat but they are not very safe around me I am afraid.

On Sunday I really need to do some weeding after the rain that we have has and the follow up sunshine they are growing very well indeed !!. I also have some pumpkin and carrot seedlings which need to go in to the vegie patch.

I also intend to do some baking over the weekend as well as some more work on the below WIP baby blanket as I have another to do before April. Hopefully I will also get the chance to do some more work on the swaps that I am currently working on.

I hope that where ever you are that you have a fantastic and productive weekend.

I Can See Clearer now the Rain has Gone..............

It has rained here at Brighton for most of the night and today has been a slight drizzle. You can smell the earth which is breathing a sigh of relief I am sure. The farmers over in the Coal River Valley region just over the hill from us are also breathing a sigh of relief because they have been in "real" trouble with the drought. It isn't enough to cause run off into the streams but I am sure that it will help.

Today is a day of relaxation as per the doctor's orders. This monring Rod and I went to watch Thomas (No 1 Grandson) have his second swimming lesson.

You wouldn't believe that the only car park was right near a second hand book store and a thrift shop so of course I had to investigate both.

I fell in love with this lovely BRAND NEW hat which will be perfect for me to wear in the garden. When I put it on I look like some of the charachters from Anni Down's Gardener's Journal. I also scored this gorgeous Metal Butterfly belt. It has a few stones missing but I will pull it to pieces and use it in some crafty form or another. It was only $1.00 so was a bargain.

I was also fortunate enough to find some embroidery magazines for just 40c each.

At the second hand bookstore I found this lovely gardening book which has the most beautiful pictures of plants and flowers.

We then stopped off at a hardware and nursery store on the way home and I purchased these rather healthy looking Geraniums which I intend to put into vintage containers when I find some and some spinach.

I think that I have made some major life decisions over the last few days and I do feel a lot better about things. I spent the majority of yesterday reading through other people's blogs and it has helped so much to help make things clearer to me. Sadly our busy working lives and tunnel vision make us lose track of what's important sometimes.

I am now off to make hubby a cuppa and to sit down in my bean bag and have a flick through my new book and magazines. Later on I will plant my new plants and wander through the garden to see how everybody is feeling after the rain. Then I will collect my gorgeous girls from the school bus.

Once again thanks for listening - It really helps...........

My Gorgeous Gal

I have been having a bit of a tough time of it the past week or so and have been off work sick this week. My oldest daughter who is heavily pregnant and is chasing around a toddler came up for the evening to spoil me. She brought me these lovely flowers and card and made a reservation for hubby and I to enjoy a meal together. When we returned home she had a hot spa ready for me with rose oil added, had lit candles and sprinkled rose petals everywhere. I felt the most spoilt than I have EVER and I did feel much better after a good soak. She is such a sweet sweet girl and I adore her. Thank you so much Sammy .............

Today I have spent a little time in my creative space to cheer me up and thought that I would show you all where I sit and sew and blog :-

Here are mys two storage cupboards which is where I "hide" things. Sometimes I never find them again but sometimes I get a nice suprise when looking for something else.

This one has tubs which have unfinished large projects - One has my Angel Story Quilt and another has an applique quilt I began about 5 years ago. Naughty I know ........

Here is my cuting table

Lavender Bags and my "Sisters" Hugs and Kisses bag which I am making for my sister's birthday.

And here is my messy desk

Storage shelves

Thanks for taking a look around - I love looking at other peoples creative spaces and thanks for letting me share my special night last night.

Goldwen Lodge

I have been blogging now since New Years Day and thought that I should start to take some photo's of my digs so that you can get to know your way around. Our property is called "Goldwen Lodge" - I have tried to find out some history on the property and the reasoning behind the name but so far no luck. So here is our sign which is out front. We have a 3 acre property which is just big enough for us and keeps us pretty busy.

I have photographed our breeze through before but here is a view of one of the ends. Both ends are the same and have the area at the top that lets through the breeze but small enough not to let my pet cats out.

You can slightly see in the top right corner a little bit of our garage which holds 5 cars apparently. This is where my one day dream will happen ....... you know one day when I open up my own little craft and quilting shop in the back yard.....

Here is part of our native garden at the side of our house. Our bedroom window looks out onto this garden and one of my favourite things is to wake up and look out at the birds in the trees. We have 2 "Little Wattle birds" which visit on a regular basis and sing to me from these trees.



This is the view of the native garden from our bedroom. The birds sit on these low branches.


And now for an inside shot here is our dining room. Our home does not have any plaster walls or ceilings. It is very "Cottage/Country" style. We bought it around 4 years ago and I instantly feel in love with it's ambience.


We also keep worms to add to our garden. Here is their home.

And here they are posing for the photo shoot ...............................

And another pose .............................................

I will take some more shots of "Goldwen Lodge" over the coming weeks and will show you some more of my "clutter" of which I have plenty or so DH says.

Here is a quick shot of what I will be sewing over the weekend whilst Amy has her 10th birthday sleep over - I am thinking that I may not get too much shut eye with 5 giggling girls so I will put the time to good use.

I will post some finished pics tomorrow.

Hugs and Bye for now ...........

Thomas and His Play Mat

Here are some pictures of the play mat quilt that I recently made for my darling grandson Thomas (TJ). I neeed to make another now for a friends baby and just wish that I had written down everything as I made it because I didn not use a pattern. Lesson learnt next time I make something out of my head I will do up a pattern first. I used colouring in books to trace the pattern pieces and typed the letters up on the computer and blew up for the applique.

Thomas loves to sit on it and traces around the letters with his fingers feeling the applique. He has a goldfish called "Reno" so that is his favourite animal on the quilt. The outside border and backing is made from Hey Diddle Diddle fabric.


This is TJ (Thomas Junior) who is my first grandchild. My daughter Sammy is expecting a sister for him in April. I can finally get to make some pink things. He is helping to collect the eggs from our recently acquired hens which are pictured below. He loves getting "up the back" when he visits grandama and goes straight to the hens to say hello.

Finally a Day Off

I have been working long hours for the last few weeks and finally caught up around the garden today with Rod. We mulched everything and started off another garden bed ready to plant our berries in a few months. Our tomatoes are heavily fruiting which means it shouldn't be too long before I can make chutney and sauce. We are still getting a few raspberries and our silverbeet is doing really well. We also have Capsicum, Brocolli, Cabbage, Spring Onions and Zuchinni planted at the moment. We have just sewn pumpkin and carrot seeds and will plant them out in the big garden just as soon as they are big enough.

Here is a shot of the breeze through which we recently built at the back of our house. It is a great area which gets lots of sunshine. It has pull up bistro blinds which help protect it.

And here is an updated shot of our herb garden. Do you remember a few weeks back when we planted them all. Haven't they grown? We have been cutting lettuce from here as well as coriander, parsley and chives. We also have Basil, Marjoram, Spearmint and Mint.

I have a few projects on the go at the moment and will take some pictures this week of the progress of some.

Have a great week.

Vintage Heart Swap

Hello There,

The Vintage Heart Swap is now complete and I have received my lovely box of gifts from Shann which included a lovely gift box that she made, a gorgeous roses mug, candy, chocolate hearts, scrapbooking stickers and much more. I have sent my box of goodies off to Shann. Here is what I sent her. I think it is fairly safe to post the photo tonight as she should receive the box tomorrow.

The Vintage items were a lace hankie that I bought amongst some items at an estate auction along with a vintage pink scarf. The fabric heart covered waste paper basket that I made for Shann also has some lovely hand made vintage lace around the edge that I had been saving for awhile. I hope that she likes everything. I had so much fun looking for heart items.

I have also joined the Easter Swap and also Maree's redwork swap which I am working on as well.

It has been a terrible week here in Australia with so many lives and homes lost. I am currently working on some blankets and toys to send to Victoria's Cat Associations and RSPCA for the sick and injured animals affected by the devastating fires. Many blogs have auctions and fundraisers as well. The Aussie spirit and mateship is so wonderfult to see at this terrible time and makes me very proud to be an Australian.