How has your weekend been?  I had to cancel many of my plans as I had a bout of mennieres hit me like a ton of bricks but it gave me a chance for some much needed r & r anyway.  Kaitlin seems to have my drive to upcycle and re-use and decided that this weekend she was going to makeover the lovely piece of furniture she scored as a give away this week.

For 2 X 18 year olds they showed great vision in rescuing this piece.  They sanded everything and removed all of the sticky lining from inside the drawers.

Nathan was given the job of painting the exterior of the dresser whilst Kate concentrated on the drawers.

It took them all weekend but they finished it

and doesn't it look gorgeous?

As for me I just stoked the fire and relaxed with

my Kindle that I got for my birthday a few weeks ago.  It truly is a remarkable piece of technology and I just love it.

I have corned beef in the slow cooker ready for our weekly Sunday night family dinner tonight so I had best go and make the cheese sauce.

Have a lovely week.

Hugs - Fee XX

Just like Grandma & Hoarding

I have been doing a lot of reflecting lately on my childhood and some of the wonderful loving charachters in my life that helped shape who I am today.  I am a country girl who moved to the city to go to high school.  I grew up with my fathers mother being a constant in our lives as she lived in the next country town from us.  Nan never went without anything and always seemed to have so much, but looking back now I know that it was because of her frugality and lifestyle and not because she was wealthy. 

Like most of our granparents she cooked from scratch, cleaned the old fashioned way with good old elbow grease and mended anything that was broken or torn.  She taught me how to play cards, taught me how to cook, taught me how to shop frugally and taught me how to value family and friendship - Gosh I miss her.

I cook from scratch as much as time allows me to - This week I cooked Apple Dumplings which have lasted for 3 nights dessert.  I would love to cook more from scratch but with working full time and still being a mum, wife, cleaner and chief bottle washer time does get away from me at times. 

I yearn to be self sufficient in a few corners of our lives and be like my grandma and have the time to stop and enjoy life and it's simplicities just a bit more.  As each day, week and month passes I can feel me taking my life in that direction just a tiny bit more with every home remedy, every tray of cookies and every bit of home grown produce.  We are our own worst enemy as we spend as much as we earn and pack more and more into our lives each day.  For me in my life I want that to stop and slowly I have been plugging away at simplifying it a little bit each day.

How about you do you yearn for a simpler life?

In the past 4 - 6 weeks I have shed a few responsibilities and additional roles that I had taken on and it feels good.  I feel more in control of my life and have had the time to cook, stitch and sew and enjoy the process. 

I have finished 2 quilts in the past 6 weeks and that is amazing for me.  Clearly I have made some extra time in my life and that is great......  I want more though and I know that I will get there in time.......

One thing that we do quite a bit of around here in the past few years is to repair and re-use unloved or broken things.  My middle daughter found this treasure on "Gumtree" to be given away.  She sent me a photo and asked if it was something I would like.....  I bet you all know the answer to that.....

Isn't it gorgeous?  A little unloved but I just know that it is going to look beautiful with a bit of TLC

My SIL who has a ute collected it for me and delivered it so all we have to do know is start the makeover - Hopefully we can find some time over the weekend to begin.

I have been trying to save money for quite some time now to reduce debt and get off the merry go round - Every $1 saved is a blessing and there are a number of items that we use on a regular basis that I refuse to pay full price for. 

They include toilet tissue, cleaning products, dishwashing liquid, pasta etc etc.  Every Wednesday I view the local supermarkets on-line catalogues and write a hit list.  This week Woolworths have a special on "Morning Fresh" dishwashing liquid at 1/2 the normal price - I bought 4 to replenish my stocks.  Do you do that too?  That's what Nan used to do too - I am becoming more and more like her every day - Well at least I hope I am !!

Finally I wanted to show you my new gumboots that I received for mothers day - Aren't they devine?  They will be put to great use this weekend when I spend some time in my neglected vegie patch.

Have a great weekend.

Hugs - Fee XX

Happy Saturday

Brrr it's chilly here today - Winter is nipping at the door so the most sensible thing to do today is to stay home and sew don't you think?  I am happy to be able to show you my finished Happy Happy Garden. 

I am pretty pleased with it and it is already on it's way to be quilted along with my 2 friends quilts who have made their own version of it too - Once they are all quilted and bound I will show you all 3 versions. 

My sewing group and I decided it would be lots of fun if we worked on the same project.  It is a wonderful motivator that's for sure and lots of fun to show each other our progress every week. 

All 3 quilts look so different as we all incorporated our own personal preferences into our own quilts.

We packed them all up into a box together and sent them over to Dawn who offers a $50 quilting service.  Dawn has done a number of my quilts now and they always look great - She has my "Brick" quilt on her frame at the moment so I am pretty excited to be getting that back soon.

Our next quilt to tackle is "Jitterbug".  We have all chosen very different colours for our quilt and each chose a jellyroll from Jane who offers a great service.  We ordered them at our Tuesday night sewing session and they were on my door step by Thursday monring - Wonderful service !

During the week I had chosen the jelly roll strips for my quilt

and sewed them together

Aren't they pretty?

And chopped them up ready for the front piecing of the quilt.  There is lots of hand applique in this one too.

And the added bonus is that I have a whole stack of strip ends to play with too - I wonder what I can make with this lot?

I hope you have a relaxing Saturday and find some time to craft.

Hugs - Fee X

An Unwelcomed Passenger

I brought home an unwelcome passenger from the craft fair - The flu lurgey.  Having had something similar a few weeks ago this one hit me pretty quick and all I have done all week is sit round.

I did try and relax and get over the bug but it has now developed into a chesty cough - Hopefully it won't stick around for too much longer.

Kaitlin is 18 tomorrow so I have lots of cooking and baking to do for a family dinner tomorrow night and as I am back at work tomorrow it all has to be done today.

I spent some time during the week on some sewing for my pal Helen from her soon to be released fabric line which is gorgeous - Take my word for it !!

I spent some more time on my Geisha quilt and

got the courage up to unwrap a much loved jelly roll

This will be made into another Natalie Ross Children's Quilt - This time my sewing group is making Jitter Bug.  I have 5 little girls in the family so I am hoping to get 5 novelty quilts made in the next 18 months as gifts for them all Christmas 2013.

The pattern calls for 9 groups of 3 strips so I had a lot of fun auditioning strips with one another

I am loving the tones in California Girl especially the Blues

A quick look around the garden this morning saw a lot of my plants starting to get ready to hibernate for winter

It won't be long and we will have to spend a weekend picking up Autumns leaves and tidying up before they all fall asleep until Spring.  Wouldn't it be nice to hibernate for the winter in front of the fire with some stitching on our laps and not have to worry about the world outside?  Wishful thinking......

Have a great week

Hugs - Fee XX

Craft & Quilt Fair

Last Thursday I loaded up my car with a few things and headed off to Launceston for the Craft & Quilt Fair.

We had 3 lovely days of selling our wares and got to catch up with many bloggers and old friends

There was lots to see and do and lots of retail therapy on offer.  I indulged maybe once or twice or maybe even more :)

One of my favourite purchases was a kit from Pauline at Calico Crossroads to make Gail Pan's gorgeous Embrodiery Thread Book to hold 24 Cottage Garden Threads. 

I was ordered to rest when I got home from the fair so what better way than with stitching on my lap?  I finished the stitchery and in no time

finished my gorgeous folder.  Looks maybe deceiving because closed it measures 10" square.  Isn't it delightful?  I think Pauline still has some kits available so if you want to make one like mine just drop her a line.

I hope you are having a good week?  It is raining here today so after a trip to the miracle worker (aka my haridresser) I will be putting my feet up and doing a little stitching for a friend with a snuggly quilt on my lap.

Hugs - Fee XX