"What do Dolphins and a "Ballerina" have in common?"

Hello,

You may be wondering what Dolphins have in common with Ballerina's. Please read on.

Back in January I purchased this piece of material which is just over four metres for a $1.00 from the Good Sammy's on there $1.00 Linen Days. Some of this is currently being used for backing on a quilt I am hand quilting.

"Ballerina Rose"

This is the "Ballerina" rose that is flowering in the garden at the moment. A stunning Hybrid Musk rose with large sprays of small single pink blooms with white centres. It has tiny orange-red hips in Autumn. First produced in 1937.

The answer of course is "They both make me Happy!!!!!"

What is making you happy in your part of the world today?

Happy Monday

Bev C

"Friends in cross stitch."

Hello,

No "Happy Monday" this week. It was just too bloomin' hot to be happy,  43 celcius in the shade here on Monday. The hottest place in the state - again. I am so over this heat. Thankfully today it so much cooler. A top of about 30. Perfect for getting out into the garden later on.

I have been doing some cross stitch.

A cute design which is a freebie from Caroline. I changed one or two of the colours to suit what I had on hand.

I made it into a mug mat for my Aunty E. I machine embroidered a label and it will be delivered to her tomorrow. The measurements for the mug mat at 12 1/4 inches by 7.5 inches. I quilted around the cross stitch and on the blue fabric I quilted a circle for the mug to sit on. I used a cream 14 count Aida cloth.
On Monday I asked Lucy if she wanted a day out. We decided to go to the movies. Unfortunately the movie we planned to see started in 15 minutes. It takes a hour to get there. So we decided to go on Tuesday instead. We watched "A little bit of Heaven" Well this has to be the saddest movie I have seen for a long time. You could hear people crying in the cinema. There certainly weren't any dry eyes. A group of 4 ladies who sat near us blew there noses when the movie had finished and said who's idea was it to watch this. It was a great movie though,the actors covered the story line so well.
When the movie finished we caught up with David who had finished Uni for the day and spent a couple of hours together shopping and having afternoon tea. Thanks Lucy and David for a wonderful relaxing day out.

Of course I had to buy this new book  on my day out, which was only released last month. Such beautiful designs. Lots of Samplers etc either stitched in blue or red. See the vase of roses I picked this morning. Some of the roses thrive in the heat while others struggle. These are called St Cecelia, a David Austin rose. Did you know Saint Cecelia is the patron saint of music and musicians.
Happy days.
Bev C

"Lavender Sweet Lavender."

"here’s your sweet lavender



sixteen sprigs a penny


that you’ll find my ladies


will smell as sweet as any"


Lavender Sellers’s Cry, London England CA 1900

Hello,

 I hope you are enjoying the start to the weekend.

Wednesday I decided to have a go at making soap. I had everything I needed to make it. Some Caustic Soda, Olive Oil, Copha and Rainwater. It worked.

Here it is just after I poured the mixture into a lined baking dish. I had some dried lavender on hand. I used lavender heads from my Oiling Grosso Lavender, When the Lavender was put on top of the soap mix the heads greened up again until they dried.
 

It is now drying for 6 weeks. It looks good enough to eat. In fact everyone that has seen it thinks it is cheesecake. I have it on a rack on the kitchen bench with one of those fold up food protectors over it. The food protector has cakes on it so this makes it look even more like cheesecake.  
When I make the next batch I will add some lavender etc to the mix. This time I just wanted to make sure it worked.
 
Happy days.
Bev C

"Tenderness."

Hello and a big "Happy Monday" to you.

Today we have a holiday here in Western Australia. Nothing like a long weekend to make you happy. The rest of Australia has to wait until next weekend for there Labour Day holiday.

This week I am happy to have completed a crochet doily. I have started going back to a crochet group that meets every Tuesday morning. Thoroughly enjoying the outing and company.

The group has stacks of  "Crochet Monthly" magazines to get patterns from. I chose this one called "Tenderness".

Marina kindly sent me the cotton last year. Thanks so much Marina, it is being put to good use. This was crocheted  with a size 20 cotton which took 20 grams to make up and I used a 1.25 hook.

No spiders to scare you this week.


 I do have a photo of the view we get from our home each evening.

It is that time of the year when we are blessed with beautiful sunsets each night.

Happy Monday.
Bev C

"Leaping into Cross Stitch and some pets at Kainga."

Hello,

This is my first ever post on a leap year day. So this month with the extra day I was able to finish my first Cross Stitch Christmas Tree Ornament. Pretty excited about this finish for OPAM (One Project a Month) I hope to do some more like this.

 The pattern is a freebie available from Helga's blog.

I was hoping to get a picture of Clyde for Tuesday's Treasures.

I had to wake the poor boy up. Asleep on top of my chair as per usual. We all love Clyde and want to come back as him in the next life. Sleeping all day. Though I could easily give the mice eating a miss.

We have a pet outside too.

I hope I didn't scare you.

Here it is from the other side.

It is that time of the year when the Golden Orb spiders are out. There web is golden and it is built like a fortress.

Happy days.
Bev C