Kainga Happenings

"Australia Day Giveaway."

2012-01-26T08:13:00.000+08:00

Hello,

Happy Australia Day everyone. I hope you have a great day doing all things Aussie whether it is a BBQ or a swim at the beach. Maybe you will be attending your town's Community breakfast. Whatever you do have fun and stay in the shade. We are in the middle of a heatwave here in West Australia. I think we have another week of 40 degrees celsius and above.

I have decided to celebrate the day with a small giveaway. Of course it had to be Australian Made and Owned. We had to go to Perth yesterday and I had a look in Spotlight for something that fitted this. It was impossible to find much that was made in Australia. So I am not giving away craft items. I called into the Pharmacy in town and picked up some lovely Hand Cream and Soap for the giveaway.

So please leave a comment on this post. Your comment must have the words Australia in it at least 2 times.
I will draw the winner on Monday 30th January at midday West Australian time. Everyone is welcome to enter and I am willing to post anywhere.

Happy Australia Day.
Bev C

"I know I am late but I have been cleaning!!!!"

2012-01-24T12:16:00.000+08:00

Hello and a belated Happy Monday to you.

I am a day behind but I know it is Monday somewhere in this big wide world. I have been busy cleaning and tidying up the last week. We get one free skip bin a financial year from the Shire. So I decided to order ours and clean up the yard and the shed etc. So I am very happy to have marked that job of the list. Of course this led to a big tidy up inside Kainga. Bonnie and then Lucy decided to clean up there rooms yesterday. The local charities have been given the items they no longer wanted.

I am happy to report I am still working on the cross stitch and I am now onto the next section of the sampler. I am determined not to start anything else until this is finished.

During the Summer we mainly grow tomato in the vegie patch. This year they have thrived. I had several plants of the little cherry type.

So I got out the dehydrator to dry the tomato. I then put them in some Rice Bran Oil with several cloves of Garlic and sprigs of Rosemary. Yum, this type of food production make me very happy.

I have also made several batches of Tomato Sauce. Nothing better than home made sauce. So this week growing and turning our food into something Makes Me Happy.

As it is now Tuesday I will share a Treasure with you.

My Agapanthus that I purchased last Winter are in full bloom. These are a deep dark purple. I know in some areas of Australia and New Zealand these are classified as weeds. There is no fear of that happening here. We really need to look after them by keeping up the water. So Agapanthus are my Tuesday's Treasure this week.
Please check out Melody's blog to see what other Treasures are appearing this week.

Happy days.
Bev C

"A start on the cross stitch, and some Summer reading."

2012-01-21T11:33:00.000+08:00

Hello,

The television is on the Australian OpenTennis, it will be all weekend. Lucy and Ian are going to the cricket later on today. Perth Scorchers are playing, it is a sell out. So I will be home watching tennis and doing my cross stitch. Last year I had planned to get into cross stitch in June. Well June has well and truly gone, didn't get to mark that one of the list!!! So this year there was no procrastination. Well a little!!! You see I have always worked on Aida cloth when doing cross stitch. So I dived in the deep end and I am working on even weave linen. I am loving it. I had a dud needle that came with the kit. So after battling with it,yesterday I found my packet of new tapestry needles and I am enjoying it so much better.

It is a Sampler and is quite big. The final measurements will be 44cm by 45cm. So I guess I will be working on this for a while. There are lots of pink and greens in this pattern.

I have been looking at lots of blogs that do cross stitch, gosh they are inspirational but I think I should be stitching instead of looking.

Summer time means lots of reading for me. I love a great range of books. I picked up an Autobiography the other week by Clarrisa Dickson Wright. You may remember her from the television show "Two Fat Ladies" There was so much information in this book and I highly recommend this book. I picked it up from our local library.

I also ordered in this book which is a very easy read, especially as this edition was in large print. Lots of home hints and recipes for cleaning products. Wendyl has a weekly newsletter which is very interesting.

Lucy and I had to go to Perth yesterday. So after attending to what needed doing we went to the movies to watch "The Descendants". Gosh it was a great movie but if you intend going please take a hankie. It is rather sad.

I hope you all have a great weekend doing something you love.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Makes Me Happy Monday."

2012-01-16T08:34:00.000+08:00

Hello,

A super big Happy Monday to you all. The first posting for the year for "Makes Me Happy Monday."

Today I am happy to share some finishes with you. The first one is a bag I made from some fabric I won from Sandy last year. I used a pattern from a Handmade magazine but changed it slightly.

There were supposed to be pleats along the top but I gathered it instead. This way the print showed up more. I had two blocks left over that I appliqued to the bag. One to either side. There is a magnetic clasp at the top which is so handy to have. I had the magnetic clasp and wooden handles in my stash. I used a blue print for the lining that I have had in my sewing room for far too many years to remember. This is the second time I have made this bag. A very useful pattern.

The other finish I want to share is the place mats I made for Ainsley and Julian for Christmas.

Yes, they did get them Christmas day. I machine embroidered these. The designs feature people and places from Kalgoorlie York and Northam. . I used some of the fabric I won from Freda.

So this week I am happy to have used the fabric that I won in September last year.

If you need me I will be watching the Australian Open Tennis on TV today.

Happy Monday.
Bev C

"Believe in Tomorrow for the World is a Beautiful Place."

2012-01-12T22:07:00.000+08:00

Hello,

Last year I was involved in a Paper Bag Swap. Colleen who lives in Queensland was my swap partner. Just last week my parcel of goodies arrived. I was so happy to see what was made with the fat quarters buttons and threads.

I love the quote on this. Colleen has even done some colouring in on the embroidery. This really sets it of so well. Look at that cute doll. She is now in charge of my tin full of scissors and sits on the edge of the tin.

There was another stitchery with the words "Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love." I couldn't wait to see how Colleen used the rose button and I was so pleased to see the little bag. Lots of memories attached to this bag now as I won the button from Gail.

Thank you so much Colleen.

I hope everyone has had a wonderful start to 2012.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Final Last Words."

2011-12-19T16:03:00.000+08:00

Hello,

Happy Monday to you.

This week I am so happy to have done the last bit of sewing that was required for the year. On Sunday I used up the leftover blocks from Lucy's quilt to make some matching pillowslips. Not a scrap was left over.

At the moment the house is quiet, I have a CD playing on the computer called "In the Garden" from the ABC shop. It is very peaceful though I know this won't last. I am happy to be enjoying this time before Lucy and David return tomorrow. I know they will say change the music!!! Classical music and young adults don't go together.

I have decided to take a little break from blogging over the Christmas, New Year holidays. So I want to take this opportunity to everyone who has played a part in my blogging. To those who have shared swaps, visits, emails etc you play a part in my daily life and I thank you.

I don't know how often I will be blogging next year but I do plan to continue "My Happy Monday" posts. I have Pauline to thank for this, earlier on in the year she asked when they were coming back. I thoroughly enjoy these posts because you know most times it is the simple everyday things that "Make Me Happy."

Over the break I plan to catch up on all those projects like Block of the Months I got so enthused about but didn't keep up with etc. You know how it is, too many beautiful projects in magazines and blog land to entice me.

I will probably still have a look around blogs to see what everyone is doing, I will be like an angel looking over your shoulder armed with a quick-un-pick if you need it !!

So please enjoy the festive season. Travel safely if you are driving and remember that if you don't get what you want from the man in the big red suit you can always buy it in the Boxing Day sales.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Last quilt for the year at FNSI."

2011-12-17T18:15:00.000+08:00

Hello,

I only did about 20 minutes worth of sewing on Friday evening. I had sewn on the binding and pinned it over to hand sew. Then I looked for some matching thread. I didn't have any. Why oh why didn't I think about this yesterday. So a quick trip to the patchwork shop this morning.

I completed it this afternoon. This quilt is for Lucy. A 18th Birthday present, a little late but it will be ready on her bed when she gets back from staying a few days with her brother David.

The quilt is quite big and measures 57.5 inches wide and 88.5 inches long.

This photo shows the quilting.With the plain coloured fabric it could easily be reversible. It was great to have Friday-Night-Sew-In to finish this project.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Occupy Your Sewing Room"

2011-12-14T13:51:00.000+08:00

Hello,

I recently participated in "Occupy your Sewing Room" which ran from the 3rd to the 10th December. This was organised by Barbara

Here is what I got up to.

I finished the quilt I have been working on. This one is designed by Paula Stoddard and is called "Jacks on Six." It is a very cloudy day here not great for taking photo's. This quilt has been on my "to do list" for the whole of 2011. I will probably hand quilt this one over Summer.

I made a start on six place mats. These have been machine embroidered with historical buildings from around West Australia.

Hopefully these will be finished by Christmas. If not you can give New Year's presents can't you.

I had this Teapot design saved on my sewing machine for quite a while. I used some Insul-Bright for the wadding. So now we have a hot pad especially for our teapot.The hot pad measure 12 inches long by 10 inches wide.
This design took 57 minutes to stitch out because it had 27105 stitches on it.

Thanks so much Barbara for Hosting this sewing event. Make sure you check out and see what everyone got up to.

I also have received two prizes from recent giveaway wins. The first one to arrive was a facial scrub which is for Ian. I won this from Craft Gossip. This site is wonderful and has lots of different ideas. The other one is the Quiltmakers Magazine which I won from Heidi. Heidi has another Friday- Night -Sew- In this week. I plan to get the binding on a quilt. What are you doing on FNSI?

Whatever you do,do it with a smile from your heart.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Makes Me Happy Monday."

2011-12-12T14:11:00.000+08:00

Hello and a huge big "Happy Monday" to everyone.

I have been away from the computer since my last post. We have been busy here at Kainga with visitors, I think I have seen more suitcases coming and going than hot breakfasts.

The big news is why we have had all those visitors. Lucy came back from her year in New Zealand on Wednesday. We were waiting at the airport for her and photographers started arriving then a few more then camera crews. We thought this couldn't just be for Lucy!!! No it was for Paul Collingwood the English cricketer. Though I had no idea who he was Ian knew. The blokes who were at the airport and a few young girls quickly got out there cameras.

Lucy had a wonderful time while she was away. The last three weeks was on a tour of the South Island. She met some wonderful fellow travellers and did things we wouldn't do.

Like jumping into canyons in a plastic garden chair. It was so much fun watching DVDs of these two jumps and her Nevis Bungy Jump. Which is 134 metres down!!!! You think Lucy would have wanted a few days rest when getting home, no on Friday we had a trip with her Gran to Goomalling for some shopping and lunch at our favourite place to eat the Go-Cafe. Then on Sunday she and a few friends left to go camping for the week. So glad to have you back home Lucy.

I have managed to get some machine embroidery done over the last few days. Can you guess who this fellow is?

Since I haven't been on my blog since last week I noticed my Header has changed size. Has Blogger been playing with things while I was away????

Whatever you do make sure you have a "Happy Monday."

Happy days.
Bev C

"Sunflowers and that rain."

2011-12-07T08:25:00.000+08:00

Hello,

Yesterday was a computer free day, I was planning to join in Tuesday's Treasures but the weather controlled what I did. I woke at a quarter to five to a double rainbow outside and the blackest skies. The rain came then left us for a while. So I washed windows floors and curtains and cooked cakes etc. All the while there was lots of lightning around the place and huge claps of thunder. Bonnie came home at lunch time and showed me a photo of the hail that had fallen at Dowerin. It was the size of golf balls. In the afternoon I decided to wash the patio table and chairs and generally wash down everything along the patio and back verandah. Ian rang to say that a huge storm had just gone through his workplace. By then it had started to rain here at Kainga. Well within minutes you could hardly see anything outside the rain and wind had come. We had 18mls of rain in a very short time,maybe 5 to 10 minutes if that. The road down the bottom looked like a river and a small river was running down the side of our block. The hardware store in the main street got struck by lightning and the Christmas decorations in the main street came down. The Shire will be busy over the next couple of weeks cleaning up the roads and broken trees. Today the sun is shining and everything looks clean and fresh though there are more weather warnings today. At least we weren't one of those who were stuck on the tarmac at the Perth airport. Passengers had to wait up to 8 hours on the planes after landing because of the lightning. It wasn't safe for them to disembark.

I did get one of the sunflowers appliqued on the outer block for the quilt I am working on yesterday. Two and a half to go.

Hope you have a great day, we are here at Kainga.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Makes Me Happy Monday."

2011-12-05T10:06:00.000+08:00

"Happy Monday."

Today I am happy to share a recipe. Nothing better than a cake recipe that is so easy to whip up.

I will give the recipe then tell how I changed it to suit the ingredients I had on hand.

Tea cake.

1 cup mixed fruit
2 cups self raising flour
125grams butter/margarine
1 teaspoon mixed spice
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon bi-carb soda
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Place fruit,sugar,butter and bi-carb into a bowl. Pour over one cup boiling water. Stir in flour,spices and beaten egg. Grease and flour a loaf tin. Bake in a moderate oven for 25 to 30 minutes.

Now I didn't have mixed fruit so used sultanas. I used a mixture of butter and margarine because I usually use butter in cake making and only had a little left so melted the butter and margarine together and added to the mix. I used only 3/4 cup of sugar. You can always do with less sugar. One teaspoon of mixed spice is never enough for me. I added about 4 teaspoons. This makes a lovely moist cake.

I am so happy, can you see the apricots in the photo above. I picked them on Sunday morning. This year our tree is bearing more fruit. Last year was the first year it had fruited, I missed it. I found the only apricot it had grown on the ground all soggy. So this year I was keen to make sure the fruit ripened and was then picked on time. I had covered the fruit with a net so the birds couldn't find them. It was wonderful to eat these fruit which haven't been sprayed with anything.

Very happy to have the blocks finished for the centre part of the quilt I am working on. Today I hope to get some applique on the next section done. I cut out the shapes yesterday and plan to start the applique today doing button hole by hand.

Happy days.

Bev C

New blocks and seeing the light.

2011-12-01T20:36:00.000+08:00

Hello,

This week I planned to get into the sewing room each day. Today I spent plenty of time un-sewing. Gosh putting one half of a block the wrong way up was causing a huge problem. Of course it all fell into place once I had worked out what I had done wrong. The next block came together in a matter of minutes. I am working on a quilt which has 16 blocks in the centre.

The size of the completed blocks is 9.5 inches. I have made ten so far. Hopefully tomorrow will be a un-sewing free day. The blue fabric in the block above is some Indigo fabric that came from the Stone Store in Kerikeri in New Zealand. It is such a beautiful fabric, I love the smell of it when you iron it. This type of fabric will age beautifully.

Yesterday I received some lovely mail all the way from America.

It was the most useful light a Beam N Read. I was the lucky winner from Jocelyn's blog "Happy Cottage Quilter." Thanks so much Jocelyn. If you haven't read her blog make sure you do. Thanks also to Beam N Read. I found another use for this light. It would make a great light for a home made light box. Using LED lights it doesn't heat up. The Beam N Read is so light and only takes 4 AA batteries to run it.

I hope you have a wonderful Friday doing something you love. I will be in my sewing room.
Happy days.
Bev C

"Makes Me Happy Monday."

2011-11-28T15:51:00.000+08:00

Hello and a very Happy Monday to you.

I had a lovely weekend and I hope you did as well.

Onto what is making me happy today. Just look at the lovely lot of crochet thread and a hook from Marina. Some crocheting is on the cards over Summer. Thank you so much Marina, appreciate it so much.

I picked up the "Welcome" cross stitch from the framers last week. Please ignore the image of the woman taking the photo in the glass.Didn't realise it until I had it loaded up.

Today I finished the last Christmas Stitchery. I made this one into a table topper. I had fun making little tassels from the DMC thread for his scarf. I machine embroidered the words "It's 45 degrees here- I need a cold drink" We haven't got the climate for a Snowmen to survive let alone exist. I think I should have added a "coldie" in his hand!!!

I hope you have a "Happy Monday" and all the best for the week. I wonder what is making you happy today.

Happy days.
Bev C

"The Week that was."

2011-11-27T11:34:00.000+08:00

Hello,

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend. Lovely cooler day here today which is a relief after the events of the week.

Earlier on in the week I made a journal cover with one of the free fabrics I received recently. I decided to add a garden stitchery to the front. I will be using this next year to write down what we have planted and the produce we pick from the garden each day. I did this a few years back and was quite surprised with the amounts of home grown produce we did eat. I dressed the lady in a purple outfit because this scene just made me think of that poem "When I am old I will wear purple."

On Wednesday morning I happened to look out the kitchen window and saw that a fire in the paddock across the road had just started. A worker had been using a ride-on-mower to clear around the row of trees, which caused a spark. It spread so quickly. The fire brigade came with two trucks and the owner had a bulldozer clearing a firebreak. I have never seen grown men activate themselves so quickly. I know the farmer who owns the property next to it was not very happy about it. Of course later on in the day we turned on the news and saw the devastation caused by fires down at Margaret River. It really made me realise that if something like this happened and if it got more dangerous we would definitely leave and be safe. Because we live close to the water tanks our water pressure is a lot lower than other areas in town.

I did receive my charm pack which I won from Johanna, I have a plan for this. It will be a project on the list for next year. Thanks Johanna.

It has been a busy week with an end of year lunch for our sewing group and garden club. I am glad we have these functions in November and not December. I hope you enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Thank you Mr Singer"

2011-11-22T09:48:00.000+08:00

Hello,

Today I want to share a treasure with you which hangs on the wall in my sewing room.

As soon as I see this picture my feet start moving up and down like I was treadling away on the machine.

To see more Treasure's check out Melody's blog.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Makes Me Happy Monday."

2011-11-21T11:36:00.000+08:00

Hello and a super Happy Monday to you all.

We had a fantastic weekend. I hope you did too. We managed to fit a lot in, there were visits to Ainsley and Julian and friends,shopping, markets, fabric buying etc.

On Friday we received a post card from Lucy. The mail was super quick from New Zealand. It was a card from Kaikoura where she went swimming with the dolphins last Monday.

Now on Saturday she took a ride in a Helicopter to the top of the Franz Joseph Glacier and hiked over the Glacier for two hours. To quote Lucy "It was the best day of her life ever" I think she is turning into a bit of a "Bond Girl".

The floral fabric is some I picked up yesterday at the Guilford Town Hall Markets. We got there as everyone was packing up but we saw this fabric which was only $5.00 for 2 metres. Even Ian knew that was a good price. It is keeping my sewing room company at the moment until I work out what it will be used in.

These are the fabrics I received last week from Fabric Traders. I have plans to use the floral fabric on the end for a Garden Journal I wish to make sometime this week. Thanks so much ladies for the fabric.

I was so happy to catch up with some great on-line friends on the weekend. Sue and Maria were at a retreat nearby and I took the opportunity to travel across to Toodyay for a chat. I now know why they love these weekends. I think it is the massage that they all sign up for. Seriously it was a great afternoon and a pleasure to chat and see Sue's tumbler quilt and Maria's Elves in real life. Thanks for asking me along ladies. If you have the opportunity to meet up with an on-line friend please take it up. You know how you start chatting to people in line at the craft shop about what they are making , it is just like that. You have lots in common already.

Every now and again Ian and I have a walk around the river. One of the swans comes up to greet us in a certain spot each time. So last week I remembered to take my camera. The swans have been on the river for many years.

On Saturday Ian and I took the opportunity to have a look around the new beaut flash Recreation Centre and catch up with some locals. This new building has only been open for use for a few weeks and it was wonderful to be able to have a look around. It is going to be a great asset to the town. Apparently State Netball games are going to be played here.

Pauline has kindly passed on this award to me. It is for blogs with less than 200 followers. I am finding it a hard task to pick out several people to pass this onto. Remember being at school and you had to be picked for teams. It is like that. So if you have less than 200 followers and you are reading this please take it on.

I found this on Barbara's blog this morning and have decided to join in. Nothing makes me happier than occupying my sewing room. Maybe you could join in too.

I received a phone call from a handsome young man this morning inviting me out to lunch so I better go and get ready for him to arrive.

I hope you have a very Happy Monday.

Happy days.
Bev C

.

"A finish for Friday-Night-Sew-In."

2011-11-19T17:33:00.000+08:00

Hello,

I hope you had or are having a successful Friday-Night-Sew-In. I actually had a Afternoon-Sew-In yesterday.
I sat and watched Miss Marple and did the hand quilting and put the binding on later on in the day.

Another table runner finished thanks to the Sew-In. I enjoy these Sewing session because I know I can get something finished. I hope you got a finish or two.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Candle Mat arrives and Friday-Night-Sew-In is on this Friday."

2011-11-17T10:07:00.000+08:00

Hello,

Hope all is well in your part of the world. I received a lovely email from O'faigh to let me know that her parcel for the Candle Mat Swap has arrived. So I can now reveal what I made.

I used a pattern from Natalie's book that is actually for a wall clock. I loved this pattern as soon as I got the book and wanted to make it into a mat. So when the swap came up I knew just what I wanted to make.

I also included some goodies in the parcel.

I don't have a photo of them wrapped up in the Christmas paper, that is on my other computer which is being cleaned and serviced. I included a box of Turkish Delight, Post-It Notes ,Christmas Cards, one of those you can't live without Frixion Pens and as O'Faigh loves old things I went to the Red Cross shop in search of some embroidered doilies. Unfortunately I couldn't get some but I did manage to pick up the linen serviette. I am pretty sure these are the same as some that my Mum has. Thanks so much for being my swap partner Lyn. It was a pleasure doing a swap with you.

What are you doing on Friday night? I will be joining in the Friday -Night -Sew -In.

I have these stitcheries to make into a table runner. I have it all joined together,so on Friday I will be hand quilting the runner. Nothing like a bit of hand quilting to complete a project. I hope you can join us. You don't have to sew you can knit, crochet, make cards whatever you like. It is a great way to get a project completed or even started.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Makes Me Happy Monday."

2011-11-14T08:09:00.000+08:00

Hello,

Happy Monday.

Yesterday I finished this table runner I made with some of the fabrics I got from Impera Magna. It is quite long at 45 inches and it is just under 15 inches wide. I didn't follow a pattern for this runner. I used a cupcake holder as a template for the centre of each block. You can find lots of shapes from the kitchen to use in applique.

Saturday morning we did our weekly shop. Guess what Banana's were on special at $4.99 so we bought a bunch. It was so lovely biting into a banana after going without them for so long. Very happy indeed,even had a banana on my toast with a sprinkling of cinnamon this morning. It has been many months without this fruit after the devastation caused by floods in Carnarvon which is in the north of West Australia and Queensland earlier this year.

There were some markets and displays on at the Old Railway Station on Saturday. One of the stall holders had this moon planting calendar. I was very happy to purchase this. Have been after one for sometime. The lady had some photo's of her vegie garden and a older Dutch lady who lives on 5 acres in York grows all her plants and vegies by the moon. There gardens were flourishing. So we will be following this way to see how things go.

"Many Happy Returns."

Our garden is loving the cooler weather we have experienced this Spring. I don't think we have had a hot day yet. I haven't felt this comfortable at this time of the year for ages. The roses are enjoying it too. The rose above is called "Many Happy Returns."

"Many Happy Returns."

It is a great ground cover rose. It flowers in clusters. It was bred by Harkness in 1991.It has really taken of this year and filing up the space. Happy to see it growing so well.

I am also very happy that Lucy has started her holiday. She is touring the South Island of New Zealand for the next couple of weeks. Lucy will be seeing lots and enjoying things like Bungy Jumping in Queenstown and I know she is excited to be going to the Franz Joseph Glacier. Enjoy yourself Lucy.

Whatever you do today I hope you have a Happy Monday.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Free Fabric."

2011-11-10T14:26:00.000+08:00

Hello .

This post is for all those who love beautiful fabric and even better a fabulous shop to buy it from.
Fabric Traders is giving away a grab bag of fabric. How good is that. All you have to do is visit them and do a posting about your favourite fabric from the shop.

This is my chosen fabric some "French Hatbox in Pastel Green" by Tanya Wheelan of Free Spirit. You know it had to feature roses.

Make sure you check out Fabric Traders.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Overwhelmed."

2011-11-09T14:07:00.000+08:00

Hello,

Monday afternoon I received my swap parcel from O'faigh. I was overwhelmed to say the least. Look how lovely the presents are wrapped.

Check out the goodies in the box, a pom-pom maker,fabric,Christmas decorations, broach, bag, bobbin box and a little book with tips and instructions.

I am in love with my candle-mat. O'faigh did a beautiful job on the stitchery which is attached to felt. I don't have anything that is made of felt so really appreciate receiving this candle-mat. Thank you to O'faigh for a beautiful parcel and a special thank you to Cheryll for organising this swap.

Yesterday I took a trip to Midland dropping of a quilt at the machine quilters on the way. I took my "Welcome" cross stitch to the framers and this will be ready on the 18th of November. When I walked into the framers there was a lady in front of me getting a cross stitch framed. I had to wait about 20 minutes for her to decide what she wanted. Heavens knows how this woman gets on in life, she couldn't make any decision. The framers wife was so patient with her. I had my business done in about 5 minutes. I did purchase a little fabric on my day out including 5 beautiful fat quarters which I gave to my Mum. One of the pieces was actually bigger than a fat quarter and had lots of chooks and roosters on it. Just perfect for a wall hanging.

"Be as the dragonfly,
soar on your dreams.
Be as the water,
reflect Beauty.
Be as the seasons,
open to change.
Be as the wind,
refresh your Spirit.
Be as the blossom,
open to Joy."

Happy days.
Bev C

"Makes Me Happy Monday"

2011-11-07T10:58:00.001+08:00

Hello and a very Happy Monday to you.

The past week has flown by. A little secret sewing has been done but I have mainly been out in the garden working.

Last Friday I was so happy to receive my giveaway parcel from Marj. A watercolour kit called "Spring Gardening." Marj was having a giveaway of items that she no longer wanted and there several items to choose from. I put my name in the hat for this kit and I was the lucky winner. Thanks so much Marj.

Saturday afternoon was the Garden Club meeting and one of the ladies had a pile of gardening books to pass onto others. I chose several and these two are my favourites. Rose books always make me happy.

"Gertrude Jekyll"

Have you met Gertrude? She makes me very happy. We have several along the front garden and one up near the house outside the kitchen window. She is is full bloom now and the perfume is just divine.

I hope you have a very Happy Monday.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Makes Me Happy Monday"

2011-10-31T10:30:00.000+08:00

Hello and a very Happy Monday to you.

We have just had a three day weekend. So that meant with the beautiful Spring weather we have been having we spent it out in the garden. Lots of tidying up. Ian trimmed the Tagaste hedge on the verge and I think I have just about pulled out 98% of the weeds. Though next weekend we will probably be still doing that. October has seen us have the same amount of rainfall as we have in July which is our wettest month.

I am extremely happy that the Foxgloves I planted have reached the stage where they have started blooming. I planted them in a different garden bed this year. In the past they have been complete failures. So getting them to bloom is making me very happy indeed.

Foxglove

Our hydroponic tomatoes are coming along well. The plants were potted into bigger pots about a fortnight ago and we have moved them into a fibreglass pond that we have.

Our first Hydroponic Tomato

Very happy to see that lovely red tomato all ready for picking. It will be interesting to see if there is much difference in taste compared to ones grown in soil.

"Windsor" Sweet Pea.

The "Windsor" Sweet Pea is blooming as well. It goes so well with the Gaura that is in the background. Looking forward to saving the seeds of the peas. Some Sweet Peas I got of a lady from Garden Club a few years back have decided to come up in the garden after a few years absence. These ones are bright red and beautifully perfumed. Funny thing is they are no where I had the original lot planted. This I guess is one of the joys of gardening, there are always surprises to find.

Sometime today the world's seven billionth person is going to born. Can you believe that number.

Whatever you do today I hope it makes you happy.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Welcome" cross stitch finished and a surprise visitor.

2011-10-28T15:20:00.000+08:00

Hello,

On Wednesday I put the last back stitch into the "Welcome" cross stitch.

This was worked on 14 count Aida.
Stitch count 163W X 66H
DMC Threads
Kit purchased from Good Sammy's for $3.00.

Next time we go to Midland I will drop this off to be framed. It will look fantastic amongst the other cross stitch on our family room wall.

I had a SURPRISE visitor on Tuesday morning, I only caught a glimpse of him out of the corner of my eye as I was walking the kitchen scraps to the chooks.

Look at the Bobtail Goanna sunning himself in the garden. Looks like he has been eating lots since he has come out for the warmer months. I can tell you my heart beat very fast for a few seconds, then I realised it was just a goanna not one of those other awful things. Bonnie doesn't like these either. On Thursday they had one walk in with a customer through the automatic doors. He ended up in one of the back offices tangled in the computer cords. One of the "farm" girls had to pick him up and put him out the back garden.

Talking on the phone with Lucy today, she said she hasn't been mentioned here on my blog for a while so a big Hello to Lucy. Enjoy your weekend Lucy.

Happy days.
Bev C

"The Power of One."

2011-10-26T17:11:00.000+08:00

Hello,

I love these words- "The Power of One." One person can make so much difference,it only takes one to start something etc. Here is my interpretation of it.

"The Power of One."

All it takes is one rose to start a passion.

They are all from different bushes. Just a small selection of the roses from the garden here at Kainga.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Makes Me Happy Monday."

2011-10-24T15:52:00.000+08:00

Hello and Happy Monday to you all.

Today I am happy to be back into doing some cross stitch. A little one that I started a few months back and put aside. A few more nights of stitching and it will be finished.

I wish you could smell the handmade soap that is in the photo. A combination of Peru Balsam,Lavender and Geranium. Bonnie purchased this for me in Yallingup. She went down to Margaret River for the weekend. She came home laden with lots of cheeses as well. Yummo. Bonnie knows how to make me very happy.

Ian and I spent the day out in the garden on Sunday. Happy to have done lots of weeding and tidying up. Ian made a trellis for the grape vine we planted. An Apricot tree was planted down the front yard. A Purple Crab Apple was planted in the garden bed which we look out onto from the dining room and a Honeysuckle was planted as well. Gardening always makes me very happy.

Congratulations to the All Blacks on the World Cup win and I believe New Zealand had a win in the netball too.

I hope you have a very Happy Monday wherever you are.

Happy days.
Bev C

Something for "Bill" was made for Friday- Night -Sew -In.

2011-10-22T17:23:00.000+08:00

Hello,

How did you go at Friday Night Sew In? I must have done alright because I had to have a ~~nap~~ three hour sleep on the lounge this afternoon. I decided to use a machine embroidery sample I had done and make it into a "Mail Holder."

This is our local Post Office, which is a old building in our main street. Though it is very modern inside. The Post Office is always busy and has lots of goodies to look at while you wait. The black and white fabric is from my stash. I had used this fabric for a pair of pants that I made many moons ago. As it was cotton and a interesting tribal pattern I kept it. The measurements of the Mail Holder are 14 inches long and 10.5 inches wide. It will fit perfectly on our pantry cupboard door. I just hope we don't end up with many letters from "Bill". I remember when the children were younger they often asked who letters were from. I used to say the ones with those clear plastic bits were from Bill.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Warkworth Blues" is finished.

2011-10-21T09:56:00.001+08:00

Hello,

Yesterday I finished the hexagon project I have been working on. I have decided to call it "Warkworth Blues" because Lisa purchased the fabrics from Warkford Wellsford Hospice Shop.

This was all hand sewn,which I could sit for hours and hours doing. The pattern wanted buttons in the centre of each folded hexagon but I thought this wasn't a great idea. As it is being used for a table runner, I made some circles up and used some "double sided sticky stuff" to hold it to the centre. On my shopping list will be some matching thread to button hole them on. The finished size is 39 inches long by 27 inches wide.

I did find some clear and concise instructions for the folded hexagons here.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Tuesday's Treasures."

2011-10-18T14:14:00.000+08:00

Hello and Welcome to Tuesday's Treasures.

Lately I have been thinking a lot about two things that are very important to me. Two of my senses,the first one being sight and the second one being smell. Both of these things I treasure most dearly. Having the love of stitching and gardening it is important for me to retain these two things for as long as possible. Quite often I hear from older people that they can't smell roses or flowers. I just cannot imagine this happening to me. I know it will come sometime but in the meantime I am enjoying smelling the roses.

The rose tunnel at the bottom of the garden is blooming beautifully. Can you believe this area was a cricket pitch when David was younger.

Here it is from the other end. The steel pickets are placed a little further out as you go along. This makes the tunnel effect.

We have many Lavender plants in the garden. So lovely to pick a bunch for the home or just to touch and smell your hands as you walk by. Lots of plants have come up from seeds which is a bonus. So this Tuesday I am enjoying walking around the garden smelling and seeing my plants.

Today is also a special day at Kainga. Bonnie celebrates her Birthday today. Happy Birthday Bonnie and all the best for the coming year. Lots of adventures coming your way early next year. Enjoy them.

Please have a look at Melody's blog to see other Treasure's being showcased this week.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Makes Me Happy Monday"

2011-10-17T13:59:00.001+08:00

Hello and a big Happy Monday to you.

I have started a new project and are very happy with the progress I have made with it.

I'm making a hexagon table runner from the bundle of blue fabrics which Lisa gave me. The pattern said these could be joined by using the sewing machine. I hand stitched them, much prefer that over using the machine.

The pattern called for some folded hexagons. I finally conquered how to do these. The instructions that came with the pattern were not that clear. The pictures were not in colour which made it a bit hard to understand. I found some wonderful instructions on the net and I was away.

Always happy to find beautiful pink blooms like this in the garden at Kainga.

I bet there are some very happy Kiwi supporters out there on Sunday. I gave up watching the World Cup match and watched Telethon instead. This year West Australian's raised 13.5 million dollars for Princess Margaret Hospital. Each year it gets bigger and better.

I am very happy to be joining in a "Christmas Candle Mat Swap" at Cheryll's. You have until the 25th October to join in if you want. To keep postage charges down we will be swapping in our own Countries. A great idea as most times the postage is worth more than the parcel contents.

This Friday is also Friday-Night-Sew-In. Happy to be joining in that again.

Hope you have a Happy Monday.

Happy days.
Bev C

Snowmen in West Australia????

2011-10-12T12:58:00.000+08:00

Hello,

I know it never snows here at Kainga.

Though I did see a snowman in my sewing room yesterday.

Some of you asked how I get rid of aphids on my roses. I wait for the ladybirds, they have arrived in the garden and are enjoying the feast of aphids.

This is week two of The Sew Happy Sew-along. I decided to turn this one into a little "Stitching Companion" for myself. I changed the size of the pattern to fit inside a 8 inch hexagon template.

This is the inside of it. A little pocket on each side, a piece of felt to hold pins and a magnet sewn onto the other side to hold needles and pins. To finish it of some ric-rac for the loop and a pretty heart button on the front.
Happy days.
Bev C

"Tuesday's Treasures."

2011-10-11T08:49:00.000+08:00

Hello and Welcome to Tuesday's Treasures.

This week I want to share with you my little Blue and White milk jug.

Little Blue and White Milk Jug.

Years ago when all the children were very young I wanted to learn how to do ceramics. To start with I wasn't able to go but sent along our eldest daughter Ainsley, she went with a school friend. I have always wanted a milk jug like this. So Ainsley spent hours working on this. I love it. Unfortunately one day the children were misbehaving and David grabbed the jug and his Sister's were chasing after him. I just knew disaster was going to happen. The jug got dropped. It was mended but it no longer holds fluids. I will always treasure this little jug and its journey.

I also finished the Milk Jug Cover I was working on. All little jugs should have a cover.

We had a great day yesterday afternoon. It started raining at 5.00pm and didn't stop until about 11.00pm. We recorded 32mls of rain here at Kainga. This is a huge amount for us and the good thing it was good steady soaking rain.

Check out other "Treasures" at Melody's blog.

Happy days.
Bev C

'Makes Me Happy Monday"

2011-10-10T13:10:00.001+08:00

Hello and a Happy Monday to you.

I recently won a double pass to the movie The Help and a copy of the book.

So yesterday Ian and I went on a date, a day out by ourselves. There is no movie cinema in town so a trip to the City and the suburb of Warwick was on the cards. The movie was fantastic,lots of laughs too. Let me say here and now I don't think I will ever eat chocolate pie without remembering this movie. If anyone has a recipe for Chocolate Pie I would love to have it. I can't wait to read the book to see if they are similar.

Other things Making Me Happy this Monday are;

Some Cosmos seeds I was given are starting to bloom.
A bright yellow Dutch Iris is in bloom too.
Lots of interesting books on loan from the library.
Perfect Spring days.

Let me know what is Making you Happy this Monday.

On a blogging note I have noticed I and lots of other people have been having a lot of trouble leaving comments on some blogs. I think it all comes down to how comments are set up on blogs. I leave comments and they completely disappear and I don't know if they appear later on. I worked out it only happens on blogs that have the comment setting at "Embedded below post" You can check on your comment settings by going to "Settings" then choose "Comments" there you have three choices:

Full Page
Pop-up Window
Embedded below post

If you have ticked "Embedded below post" this means a box will appear for your comment settings and this is where a lot of people are having trouble leaving comments. If you tick Full Page or Pop-up Window you don't have problems leaving comments. I don't know why this is happening something to do with Blogger I presume.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Petal" is finished.

2011-10-07T17:08:00.000+08:00

Hello,

It is nearly the weekend, the week has just flown by. Can you tell me where it went?

I finished the latest piece of crochet called "Petal." Boy did I have some fun with this one!!! I only had enough of the pink cotton to do the outside petals and the first round of the border. I then used the bit of white Coats cotton I had then that ran out. I had a look through my supplies. Nothing that would match. Checked out Mum's supply and some DMC thread matched the white perfectly. You can't see where it starts and finishes. Actually the DMC cotton is so much nicer to work with. The Coats cotton seems stiff after using the DMC cotton. You can see another Milk Jug Cover that I am working on now in the blue dish. Using some DMC cotton for this one too.

On Tuesday I was coming back from the Library and I could see a hot air balloon in the distance and I knew it was heading in the direction of our home. The balloons are usually out in the early morning but this one was out late in the afternoon. I couldn't believe when it landed in a neighbours property just up behind us. How is that for service.

The garden here at Kainga is in full bloom for Spring. These Flanders Poppies are blocking the pathway. With the big storm we had early on in the year things are growing in places that they weren't before which is great.

It won't be long and things will start to dry out. In the meantime I am enjoying the garden. We have had a massive invasion of aphids today. The farmer across the road is cutting the crop for hay. The aphids have decided to call Kainga home for a while. At least the birds have breakfast,lunch and dinner supplied here.

I hope you all have a creative weekend doing something you love.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Makes Me Happy Monday"

2011-10-03T15:41:00.000+08:00

Hello and a very Happy Monday to you.

This week I am happy to be crocheting again. I was recently given some thread and pattern books. I chose this little pattern called "Petal."

The pattern needed 25 grams of thread and the balls come in 20grams each. So I decided to make the centre petal out of white thread. I have two more petals to do then it comes to joining them together then doing several rows for the border. I am using a Coats thread in size 20 with a Number 1.00 hook.

On Sunday I took a drive with Mum to an open garden that was part of the Australian Open Garden Scheme that was open in Gidgegannup. The property was on several acres and the garden was watered by tank and bore water. They have a much larger annual rainfall then us but never the less it was interesting to see the garden. They had the same problems a lot of gardeners do. That is it keeps growing and the fences have to be moved.

I loved how they had trimmed the Rosemary bush. We have lots of Rosemary growing here at Kainga so must give this a try. Rosemary is one of the easiest plants to grow by cuttings.

There were many interesting and unusual things to see in the garden. I loved this Pencil Sculpture. It is very creative. Visiting gardens always makes me happy. Of course I couldn't come home without buying some plants and purchased a pot of Agapanthus from the plant stall.

Now you never know what you will find here on "Makes Me Happy Monday" postings. It can range from patchwork, family, roses, stitching etc and of course the unusual. This week I have one of the best hints you are ever going to read. I knew there had to be a better way of doing things. So after some brainstorming and trials. I introduce you to the best cleaning tip ever.

Now if you thought I was going to say get someone else to clean. Well yes that is a great tip. I have found out that "Citric Acid" is the best cleaner for the edge around the hot plate on the stove top. Just put some on where it needs cleaning and use a damp steel wool to scrub of all that brown muck. Just make sure the stove top isn't hot. Believe me you don't want to be breathing this stuff in. You will be coughing like billy-o. I have also found out that "Citric Acid" is great for cleaning the grout on your tiled floors. Just shake some on the grout and wet with some water and use your tile brush to remove the grime. Citric Acid can be bought in bulk if needed and this certainly would be cheaper and more environmentally friendly than the cleaning stuff you buy in the supermarket.

I hope you all have a very Happy Monday.

Happy days.
Bev C

Quilt,Christmas and Tomatoes to name a few.

2011-09-30T10:04:00.000+08:00

Hello,

Today is the last day of September,can't believe how fast the year is going. Over the last couple of weeks I have been working on a quilt top. Doing about 15 minutes at a time. It has been one of those quilts you have to pin and pin and pin. Who said jelly rolls make quick quilts?

There is still a small border to go on yet. The pattern came from one of the Jelly Roll quilt books which I borrowed from the local library. I used the Jelly Roll I had won earlier on in the year for OPAM (One Project a Month) The lime green is from the one I got at Good Sammy's. I think there is only scraps/strips of it left now.The big plan is to have it finished by the end of the year. I am thinking about hand quilting it. Though those plans could change.

I have joined in the Sew Happy Sew Along. Now I am doing something different with the pattern each week rather than making the Christmas Swag. So last weeks pattern I stitched and made up yesterday into a Mug Rug for a Christmas present. This way each week I will have a Christmas inspired present ready to give at Christmas time. With this one I used chain stitch instead of back stitch and used applique for the two hearts.

The vegie garden has been wonderful over Winter and the start of Spring. During Winter lots of tomato plants came up and were protected by the Broccoli and Cauliflower and as you can see we will have little Tomatoes to eat very soon. Usually the race is on to have Tomatoes before Christmas. The Broad Beans have started and we have had those each evening meal. They are lovely and tender, pick them when they are smaller for a tasty meal.

September was National Sewing Month but did you know it was also National Reading Month. There was a little book printed about 50 books you must read. A great source of new books. I have recently read a book by Carole Mathews called "The Only Way is Up". I really enjoyed this book and couldn't put it down. I have just received a note from the library to say another one is available. I would love to hear what you have been reading.

Enjoy the weekend.
Happy days.
Bev C

Happy days.

"Tuesday's Treasures."

2011-09-27T07:57:00.000+08:00

Hello and Welcome to Tuesday's Treasures.

This week I want to share a little box of goodies that reside in my sewing room. All these items belonged to my Nana.

In the box of treasures are some threads,including silk ones,very fine lace and a filet doily crocheted by Nana in a size 40 cotton. I love that it is a Australian design with the emu's. It reminds me of the Australian Coat of Arms. Did you see the newspaper advertisement for Cashmere Soap. I wondered why Nana kept that but the mystery was solved when I turned the paper over. There were instructions for playing a game of cards. My Nana believed in keeping the mind very busy.
To see other Treasures being showcased this week hop on over to Melody's blog who kindly hosts this each week. Maybe you have a treasure to share this week.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Makes Me Happy Monday."

2011-09-26T14:27:00.000+08:00

Hello, Happy Monday to you.

This week I am happy that there are great people out there in blog land.

Last week I received this parcel of happiness from Freda. I won it on a recent giveaway she had going. Actually Freda won this plus more in a giveaway herself. So she decided to pay it forward so to speak. Have you been to Freda's blog The Adventures of the Empress of the Universe You must read about how she came to naming her blog. Thank you Impera Magna.

I had my monthly sewing day on Friday and helped one of the ladies do some patchwork. She had bought all the material and the pattern was one of those freebies you pick up at Spotlight. Most of the material was already cut out but there was an error in the cutting out directions, only half of it was there. So we went step by step until we had all the blocks worked out so then we worked out what size the missing piece was supposed to be. I know we were all happy when it was finished. I had only read a hint a few days before this that before cutting out your material check to see if there hasn't been some corrections to the pattern if it is from a website etc. Even cut out a test piece from scrap material or paper to see if it all works out. Better to be safe than have 99 blocks that are incorrect.

Today I am happy to share the most delicious dip recipe with you. Bonnie had a dip night on the weekend with her girlfriends so we made this.

Ingredients:

Garlic
150 grams sun dried tomatoes
1 red capsicum
160 grams unsalted cashews
40 grams oil
40 grams white vinegar.

Place all the ingredients in a food processor and mix until the desired consistency.

This is far better than any bought dip. I threw in several garlic plants that I had picked only last week.
I only had Apple Cider vinegar on hand so used that. Bonnie was worried about not using the white vinegar but I told her Apple Cider Vinegar in a glass of water is used to control your weight so that was OK. So this recipe may be not as fattening as you first think!!!

Hope you have a Happy Monday and even better week.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Tea in the Garden" at Kainga.

2011-09-24T22:11:00.000+08:00

Hello,

I wonder what is happening at Kainga?

Would you like to come to "Tea in the Garden"?

The pretty cups are out.

Pink roses are picked and placed in a little milk jug.

Roses and Geraldton Wax a native that is in full bloom now fill the vase.

A rose scented candle is lit. The sun is shining.

I hope you can join me.

I will show you around the garden and give you the link to Michelle's pattern "Tea in the Garden"

Happy days.
Bev C.

"Makes Me Happy Monday" warning this post has a sex scene!!!

2011-09-19T13:14:00.000+08:00

Hello,

Happy Monday to you. I hope you survived the storm we had yesterday if you are from West Australia. Can't believe that the weather people didn't know that was coming. We had some sheets of iron flying around the place,very windy and lots of rain. I think they may have fallen asleep on the job after all the excitement of the West Coast Eagles winning the footy on Saturday night. Cousin Darren and his boys are of to the east coast next week,fingers crossed big time for them.

I am happy that Ainsley and Julian came for a visit yesterday. Mind you they had to drive through a hail storm to get here!!!! They had watched the new Smurf movie in the morning and loved it. Remember the Smurfs from the 80's. You used to be able to buy one of the figurines a week.

I finished the Milk Jug Cover last night. I had purchased a packet of glass beads from Spotlight a while back. The packet was only a dollar and had plenty of beads in. They are made in India and each is a little different. I sometimes wonder how craft companies can justify the prices they charge. If I only paid a dollar how much did the people in India get paid to make these beads. I suppose this is where mass production comes in.

I am happy to re-purpose items in the home. The little vase that is holding the flowers was originally held a candle. I thought it was to pretty to throw out and it suits being a vase now.

Oh I suppose you are wondering about the sex scene?

Two happy little Wood bugs/Stink bugs on the Hollyhocks in the vegie garden.

Happy Monday.
Bev C

A new project for FNSI.

2011-09-17T18:05:00.000+08:00

Hello,

I hope you are enjoying your weekend. Last night was Friday Night Sew In. I see there were 161 people stitching there hearts out together. I started a new project that I have had waiting for a little while. It is designed by Michelle of Rag-tag Stitching and was a freebie through the Homespun magazine website.

It is called "Tea in the Garden". It has been designed as a wall hanging but I wanted to use it as a table centre so changed the design of the flowers. Michelle designed the flowers as three dimensional. Hoping to get back into stitching some more tonight.

We spent the day out in the garden,culling some old vegies and preparing the beds for the next crop. Can you smell the blended manure? Picked heaps of Cauliflowers, Broccoli and Garlic.

Hope you enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Happy days.
Bev C

A Day Out,Crochet and "FNSI"

2011-09-15T16:13:00.000+08:00

Hello,

On Tuesday I had a day out with my Mum. We left at 9 in the morning and got back home about 7.00pm. In that time we travelled about 210 kilometres visiting garden centres and libraries,craft shops etc.

We had lunch at the Melville Rose Nursery Restaurant. Lots of potted tulips were around the
outside of the restaurant.

The displays were absolutely magnificent.

Pots of Tulips and Dianthus in the smaller pots. This is the view I looked out upon. The bees were having a field day.

Pots of vegies were on display around the side of the Restaurant. The meal we had was delicious and so filling. If you haven't been to eat here you must. They cook "real food."

After lunch we travelled to a nearby garden centre and I found these two Emu's. Mind you I could have bought a round the world air trip for the same price.

I loved this artwork. With the light on behind it at night wouldn't it make a great garden feature.

The same garden centre had a chook yard. Look at there lovely feather heads.

I started this little doily earlier on in the week and have finished it. I used a size 20 DMC thread and a 1.25 hook. Hopefully I have enough thread to make another one which I will add beads to the final round to make it into a Milk Jug Cover.

Tomorrow I will be joining in Friday-Night-Sew-In. I have spent this morning getting a project ready so tomorrow is set aside to sew.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Makes Me Happy Monday"

2011-09-12T06:55:00.000+08:00

Hello. Happy Monday to you.

Well Spring weather has been with us over the past week, especially on the weekend. A beautiful clear blue sky blessed us on Sunday. Lots of work done out in the garden over the last week. A little sewing was done also.

"Spring Delight"

I'm happy that I have finished the "Spring Delight" bag designed by Sally Giblin. I didn't use as many fabrics as the pattern called for. I wanted to use the green material which is quite bright and found it was a bit difficult to match colours I also added the applique and prairie points to both sides of the bag. The pattern called for iron on pellon but I joined up some wadding I had left from the sides of the Catnip quilt. This made it a bit harder to do the cross hatching stitching and sewing the bag together. The good thing about using the wadding it makes the bag a bit stronger and protects my camera etc inside the bag.

"Everlastings."

The applique on the sides of the bag reminds me of the Everlastings that are in flower in the back yard and the green material reminds me of the crop of Barley that is growing in the paddock opposite us. A real "Spring Delight" Thank you Sally for the pattern.

I am happy to have won a some fabric from Sandy. This is some of Anni Down's fabric. Not sure how I will be using it but I do have a few ideas. Thanks Sandy.

Now I better go and make a Birthday cake for the man of the house. Happy Birthday Ian.

I will catch up later on in the week. Tuesday I will be taking out my new bag on a outing.

Happy Monday
Bev C

"Tuesday's Treasures"- Blasts from the past!!!

2011-09-06T14:29:00.000+08:00

Hello and Welcome to Tuesday's Treasures.

I have a couple of Treasures to share today. The first is a cutting from a magazine.

My Mum gave this to me a few years back. Can you guess what is behind the cutting? I will tell you soon.

One of my other Treasure's is the common Nasturtium. Now these come up each year in the garden. It wasn't until I was having a conversation with someone who had visited a friends garden and she was proudly shown the Nasturtiums growing out the front yard. The lady was so pleased to have them in her garden. It made me realise we take a lot of plants for granted.

So I went looking for information about it and found that Monet, the great French Impressionist used these old fashioned plants along the central alley of his famous garden at Giverny.

The spur of the flower is full of nectar and the bees love this. Children have been known to sip on the nectar as well. I have used the leaves in hamburgers instead of lettuce. The flowers can be thrown into a salad or used as decoration on a plate of sandwiches. The seeds can be pickled in vinegar and used like capers .

So next time you see some Nasturtiums growing in a garden remember that this plant has been around since the 1500's.

Sally wanted some information about the Sweet Pea (Lathyrus odoratus) so I will include it in this post.
Sweet Peas are native in the Mediterranean, growing wild in Crete, southern Italy and Sicily since ancient times. The first seeds were to England by Father Cupani a Sicilian Monk. Seeds were first released commercially way back in 1724. Sweet Peas are self fertile and apart from mutations come true from seed. Often the smaller shrivelled looking seeds are the darker colours so don't discard them because they are smaller. They will grow into beautiful plants. It wasn't until growers realised that they didn't cross pollinate they took steps to ensure cross pollination and improvements in the plant were possible. Around 1877 Mr Henry Eckford began crossing and selecting Sweet Peas leading to a strain with much larger flowers which became known as Glandiflora Sweet Peas. "Prima Donna" was one of the Glandifloras bred by Mr Eckford and from this a new sport was named which eventually became known as "Countess Spencer" which the famous English "Spencer" peas originate from.
The oldest developed Sweet Pea still in existence is the intensely fragrant,red and white, eighteenth century Sweet Pea called "Painted Lady" The Australian two-toned pink heirloom variety "Bushby" was bred from "Painted Lady". I hope you enjoyed reading about the Nasturtium and Sweet Pea.

Oh yes, you are probably wondering about that magazine cutting. The page behind has my birth weight and my weight for the next couple of months. I weighed 7 pounds and 4 ounces when I was born.

Visit Melody to see who is joining in Tuesday's Treasures this week.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Makes Me Happy Monday"

2011-09-05T13:32:00.000+08:00

Hello and a "Happy Monday" to everyone.

I am so excited that I have finished "Catnip". The sun has been playing hide and seek with the clouds today so the colours show up a bit different in each photo. I can guarantee that it is a very bright Happy quilt.

I started the hand quilting on the evening of Friday 12th August and finished that on Friday 2nd September. A little bit each day kept me motivated to finish it. Then the binding was sewn on and I put the last buttons on this morning. I didn't realise how long it took to sew the buttons on. This was the quilt I had almost completed the quilting by machine and unpicked because I didn't like it. I am so Happy to have done that.

I changed the design around a little leaving out the mice that were originally in the pattern. I do not do mice.
I also added the doll faces and the border was completely different. I added flowers and paw-prints and some machine embroidery with the words Catnip and Meow.

I used the fat quarters that I received with my Homespun Magazine subscription last year. The lime green fabric was from the 7 metre length that I got from Goody Sammy's for the sum of a dollar earlier on in the year. I used the same pink that is on the binding for the backing.

The pattern was in Australian Homespun Yearbook Volume No. 92 (Vol 12.1). The quilt is one of Toni Alexander designs.

I have thoroughly loved working on this quilt and adding my own personal touches to it. Near the end of it I was going a bit slower because I didn't want to finish it. Not that that is a bad thing I was enjoying working on it and it will feel strange not having it on my lap in the evening,quilting it.
"Happiness is a completed quilt"

I hope you have a very "Happy Monday"
Bev C

Shopping and the Markets

2011-09-04T11:09:00.001+08:00

Hello,

Yesterday Ian and I had a day out visiting the Kalamunda Monthly Markets. These are run by the local Rotary club and seem to be a great fundraiser for them. Boy was this place busy. Finding a parking spot took quite a while this time. There are lots and lots of interesting stalls selling jewellery paintings plants statues,everthing you can think of. Of course my main aim was to get some plants.

I purchased 5 plants then we went and had a lovely lunch in a cafe nearby. I had by then decided that I needed to go back and pick up one more plant a Sweet Pea. This one is called "Windsor" and is a English variety. I am planning to save the seeds from this one. The other plants are great at setting seeds which is the type of plant I am after in my garden.

It was then time to go to Midland to purchase some material I was after.

I called into Textile Traders and got some Pink Backing fabric which was on special for only $7.50 per metre, a great saving so I purchased 3 metres. While we were picking up Ian's Fathers Day present in another shop I saw a basket of magazines for only 50 cents each with the money going to the Cancer Council. Which is a cause close to our heart. I chose a fairly old issue of Australian Country Collections. I just love looking through this type of magazine and after all some things don't change that much in decorating. The other magazine was a recent copy of Australian Patchwork & Quilting and I was enthralled to see Melody's teddy bear on the front cover of the Handmade magazine. This magazine was printed in 2001 and Teddy bears will always be in vogue. Melody is having a giveaway on her blog at the moment,make sure you check it out.

Happy Fathers Day to Ian. Presents and a phone call from Lucy in New Zealand made it extra special. Bacon and Eggs for Breakie. When we went for our walk this morning we could smell quite a few meals like this being cooked. I hope all the Dad's have a great day.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend.
Happy days.
Bev C

"Makes Me Happy Monday"

2011-08-29T12:26:00.000+08:00

Welcome and a "Happy Monday" to you.

Today we are blessed with beautiful blue sky with white wispy clouds. I am enjoying it because rain is forecast later on this week.
Last Friday I had my monthly sewing group. We meet on the fourth Friday of each month. I took along my Catnip Quilt to do some more hand quilting. I don't want to start anything until that is finished. I only have one row to quilt then the border. So it is all going to plan.

Seeing I haven't any new quilting to share I thought I would share a quilt I did back in the 90's sometime. I am pretty sure it was my first try at stippling.I did the buttonhole stitch by hand, I know it can be done by machine but I do prefer to use my hands.

I am very happy that the garden is in full bloom. Especially happy that the Dutch Iris have started blooming. I planted some new ones this year which are a bit lighter in colour. It was a good surprise to walk out the back on Sunday morning and see it. Some of the Freesia's are flowering to, these are an old fashioned variety. The plant in the middle of the bottom row is a lupin. I go for a walk to the tanks and collect seeds from the farmers paddock and plant them. They are great to dig into the ground after flowering.

We picked two cauliflowers on Sunday morning. This one weighed in at 5 kilos. I made some Cauliflower soup with one of them and had it with some Naan flat bread. Have you tried cooking flat breads? It is so easy. You get to eat them nice and hot,great with some Dukkah.

Other things "Making Me Happy" today are some Rose scented candles Bonnie gave me. She bought a jar with them in. She liked the jar because of the shape. It is very cute especially that the jar is now full of M&M's. Do you buy things like that because of the container not what is in it?

Finally I want to share this quote with you.

"By the Gate I'll wait for you, dreaming:
And the flowers in my garden will mark your absence
And rejoice in the day of your return"

Happy Monday
Bev C

Nature knows best.

2011-08-25T14:38:00.001+08:00

Hello,

I hope you are having a wonderful day. The sun is shining here, a perfect day in the making.

On the weekend I was deadheading "The Duchesse" and I was surprised to find a nest which had only just been made recently. I know this because a rose was blooming through the nest. Well yesterday I went to check the nest and a little bird flew out and look what is inside it.

Two little eggs. I wonder how long before they hatch. We also have a pair of Willy Wagtails building a nest on the patio out the back. Spring is certainly in the air.

Now if a bird can make such a perfect nest why is it that I have trouble with patchwork sometimes. I received a pattern for a tablecloth and table runner and some fabric from
Vickie last year. I had trouble matching some of the sections together. When I first sewed the bias triangles two corners did not meet up at all. So I unpicked and unpicked and tried again. This time I must have sewn things a bit tight or something, as things were not lying flat. I even left the table runner under a pile of magazines and books to see if that would help. Of course as soon as the books were removed up popped the triangle sections again. The only thing to do was unpick again.

The triangle sections were left out in the end, though I did end up using most of the fabric Vickie gave me so that is a bonus. I actually like the blocks and think they would make a great quilt pattern. You can't see much of the design in the photo but you can see the "You Go Girl" Table runner and Tablecloth here.

Of course all this unpicking has made me tired so I had better go and have a cuppa.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Makes Me Happy Monday"

2011-08-22T13:12:00.000+08:00

Hello and a "Happy Monday" to you.

Over the past week I have been busy doing some hand quilting on the "Catnip" quilt. I have got nearly half way through the blocks. This is the quilt I had nearly finished machine quilting and decided to unpick.

Doing a bit each night has been making me very happy. If all goes to plan it should be finished in about two weeks. Fingers crossed.

I have spent many hours out in the garden at Kainga over the past week. Taking cuttings of Salvia's Lavenders etc and planting seeds ready for Spring and doing hours and hours of weeding. I was even given a promotion to "Head Gardener". I bought myself a jacket on Saturday morning while out shopping and machine embroidered the logo on it this morning.

For the most part of this year I have been looking for instructions for my Yoghurt Maker. I do have the instructions but unfortunately the pages got wet and stuck together. Of course the page with what was required was damaged the most. I have asked family and some bloggers if they had this machine. I have looked on the net every now and again and I know I wasn't the only one looking. I got the instruction book out again Thursday night and decided I would try and work out through the rest of the instructions if it was possible to decipher what I needed. I thought when I got up Friday I would have one last look on the net. I googled and found a kind lady in New Zealand who had the instructions in a PDF. The moons and starts must have been aligned for me. So on Saturday we purchased the yoghurt,milk and I needed a new thermometer and found a cooking one after looking through 5 shops in town. I now have my yoghurt being made at the moment. It will be ready later on today and will continue setting in the fridge overnight. I won't have to buy any more yoghurt for at least 20 weeks. I just need to take half a cup out each time to use as a starter. The only other thing I needed to the yoghurt is a litre of milk half a cup of yoghurt as a starter and 5 spoons of skim milk powder if wanted. You can add fruit or flavouring as desired after the process is finished. So happy to finally being able to make our own yoghurt. I pay $5.74 for the tub of yoghurt I like so making 20 tubs will save me $114.80 over the next 20 weeks. Which adds up to $298.48 for the year. Now I wonder how many fat quarters I could buy with my saving!!!!

Lots of diverse things "Making Me Happy this Monday." I hope you have a great day.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Tuesday's Treasures."

2011-08-16T14:48:00.000+08:00

Hello and Welcome to Tuesday's Treasures.

Today I have lots of treasures to share.

The sunflower smiling in the back yard.

Stocks in the front yard.

Bunches of fresh Lavender,books and tea cup,some crochet I did a few years back and a bag of buttons I purchased this morning from Good Sammy's.

A rainbow out the front on Sunday morning. Look how close it got. I just wish it stayed long enough for me to go and get the pot of gold.

And most importantly I am treasuring the inventor of the Quick un pick!!!! I am not sure who this person was but I did find this information about the American Patent Holder.

Hope you have lots of treasure at your home. Please visit Melody and see what she and the other bloggers are treasuring today.

Happy days.
Bev C

Real Food is "Making Me Happy this Monday"

2011-08-15T07:09:00.000+08:00

Hello and Happy Monday.

There is one thing on this earth that makes Me Happy and that is "Real Food." Food that we have grown here at Kainga, no chemicals added no numbers or codes written on the sides of these foods.

All Year Round Cauliflower

We have had great success with the Brassica's this year. They seem to thrive in the raised vegie beds. Now we build up the soil before we plant and I haven't fertilised these very much, just a bit of Seasol type product when they were younger.

Mini Cauliflower

Even the Mini Cauliflower have grown as big as the regular Cauliflowers. These usually only grow about the size of a mans fist. We are also picking Broccoli heads each night that are as big as the Cauliflower.

Ruby Lou Potatoes

We have a couple beds of potatoes shooting through so in Spring we will have fresh spuds to eat.

Parsley in amongst the Geranium

Parsley springs up each year in some terracotta pots we have near the pool. We pick some of this each day to add to our evening meal. Parsley is high in vitamins.

Fresh Produce from the Kainga Kitchen.

Over the past week I have been cooking a variety of dishes using produce that we have out in the back yard. I made a batch of Carrot Marmalade. On Saturday I looked at the price of Marmalade whilst we were shopping. I am in front by about $25.00 by making our own. I got the recipe from the book on the left. This is a great book because it tells you how to grow then make something from what you have grown.
From the other book which was produced by the people of Ruakaka and the Ruakaka Community Library I have made the 5 minute Chocolate Cake. You cook this in the microwave, it is fun watching it rise right before your eyes. They call this the most dangerous cake recipe in the world-why because you are only 5 minutes away from chocolate cake. I also made the Beer Bread from this book, Yum is all I can say. As we have lots of citrus at the moment I decided to Make a pie. I am sure they won't mind if I share the recipe with you.

Lazy Lemon Pie---- soooo easy

4 eggs
100 gram melted butter
3/4 cup coconut
1/3 cup lemon juice (2-3 lemons)
1 cup milk
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
Zest of 2 lemons

Preheat oven to 170 degrees. Place all ingredients in a bowl or processor and mix together.

Pour the batter into a 23cm pie dish.

Bake for 45 minutes or until top is golden and filling is set.

This pie is delicious and even tastes so much better cold the next day.

Growing and making your own food is so good for you. You don't have to battle the shops,no trying to find a parking spot and best of all you know what is in it. I can't believe what some people put in there shopping trolleys. No wonder we are a growing nation!!! Please let me know what you are growing or have cooked for your family this week. Let me know if you make up the Pie. You will have a smile on your face eating this one.

Happy Monday.
Bev C

"Makes Me Happy Monday" and "Tuesday's Treasures"

2011-08-08T19:02:00.001+08:00

Hello and "Happy Monday."

Today I am happy that the late Winter bulbs are in flower.

Jonquils.

Nothing like a vase of Jonquils on the kitchen window sil to perfume the room. I love the perfume but it is a bit strong so I open the window a bit. We bought a pot of these a few years ago from a garage sale and divided them up. It looks like after they have flowered this year further dividing will have to take place.

On Sunday Ian and I took a drive across to York for a look around and to have lunch. I was very happy to find that we have our own sock manufacturer nearby. A lovely range of socks and other woollen products all made in Australia. It is so great to find something made locally and especially that it doesn't say "Made in China" on the label. I was in love with some of the woollen blankets that are from the Tasmanian woollen mills.

I also happened upon a new craft/machine embroidery shop with a range of threads wool etc. I was very happy to see a range of West Australian embroidery designs. There are three in the range and I chose the one named "Regional Western Australia" This one included our local post office amongst them. Looking forward to embroidering these designs.

This morning I helped a friend work out how to make bias binding for a project she is working on. Always happy to pass on patchwork information.

Tuesday's Treasures

This week I want to share my little painted stool which sits beside my chair. This was painted by the same lady who painted our house sign and a few other things I have around Kainga. Make sure you check out the other Treasure's being showcased this week at Melody's blog. You never know what you will find.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Chook" Quilt.

2011-08-05T10:19:00.000+08:00

Hello,

Way back at the start of the year I made myself a list of projects and things that needed to be finished and in some cases started. Well I have finished one of them!!!! I started this quilt about 5 years ago and had it all completed. For some reason I even had some of the buttons sewn on before I quilted it.

I purchased the pattern from a quilt shop in Dunsborough while on holidays. I think the shop has since closed or moved because it wasn't there when we last went down south for a holiday. I did some basic quilting on it as I didn't want to quilt it to death. It is more snuggly this way. How are you going with your unfinished projects?

Have a wonderful weekend.

Happy days.
Bev C

I can't believe what is Making Me Happy on this Monday!

2011-08-01T14:22:00.000+08:00

Hello and Happy Monday.

Oh my goodness I can't believe that I am admitting that ironing is "Making Me Happy"

I have spent a couple of hours ironing over the past few days. I originally had all my scraps and smaller pieces of fabric in a huge big calico bag that I was given one time when I was at Spotlight. I had to tip it all out to see what was in there. I decided it was much more practical to get organised .Some of the material is going to the op-shop. I have reds and browns in one container. Blues I seem to have lots of and they are full to the brim in there container,novelty prints and yellows/blacks are in another. greens have there own container as have the pinks and purple fabrics. I still have some ironing to do but so glad to be more organised.

I received this lovely pattern from Sally Giblin this morning. It is her new pattern called "Spring Delight" Thank you Sally for this. I love the pattern because you can use either fabric handles or those lovely wooden handles. I have some wooden handles on hand so will most likely use them.

Other things "Making Me Happy this Monday" are:

The frogs singing in the garden. Love to hear them at night and occasionally during the day.
The rain. We have had a few good showers lately and more expected during this week.
Bonnie daughter number two has recently taken on the responsibility of sponsoring a child through World Vision. She decided it was the right thing to do. Pretty proud of her doing that. Thinking of others is always good. Her sponsor child is a little girl who lives in Ethiopia.
Reading a good book.

Happy Monday
Bev C

"Love You" Tote and "Colourful Friday"

2011-07-29T17:18:00.000+08:00

Hello

Today I am joining in "Colourful Friday" but first I want to share a project I have just finished. My "Love You" Tote Bag. This is from Natalie Bird's book "A Thankful Heart" which I recently purchased.

I used a fat quarter that I had and used matching Homespun on the other side. Pink Gingham was used for the lining and ties on the side. I quilted around the letters and on the other side I used my "Wavy Edge" ruler to draw some lines and quilted on these. This bag is just the perfect size to put a magazine in,so great to take a small project if you have some waiting to do.

All throughout Natalie's book there are little sayings. On the tote bag page is this one. Enjoy.

Love
I am thankful for Love.
For Loving and being Loved.
For kisses and hugs, and gentle loving whispers.
I am thankful for the love of my family and friends, the deep abiding Love that my soulmate,
and the wonderous unconditional Love that I have for my children, my greatest blessing.

Now for "Colourful Friday" Robyn chose the subject "Leaves". Wasn't it lucky we are in the midst of Winter otherwise my photo's might be brown. Lots of different textures and colours were found in the vegie garden. Plus I do like looking at the spider webs with all the dew drops early in the morning. Thanks Robyn for choosing a great subject to photograph this week.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Happy days.
Bev C

Have you met the Duchesse yet?

2011-07-26T10:25:00.000+08:00

Hello and Welcome to Tuesday's Treasures.

Have you had the chance to meet a real life Duchesse? I have she is so pretty in pink.

Duchesse de Brabant

Duchesse de Brabant was first grown in 1857. She has small clusters of cupped, soft to rose-pink double blooms. Long flower buds. She has a sweet tea rose fragrance and free flowering. A excellent climber growing to 3 metres.

The bees have been visiting the Duchesse too.

Today our Treasure Lucy is travelling back to New Zealand so a trip to the airport this afternoon.

Check out the other Treasures being shown this week at Melody's blog.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Makes Me Happy Monday"

2011-07-25T13:43:00.000+08:00

Hello and Happy Monday.

The other week I purchased some fat quarters and a new book. I have a project that I want to do with the fat quarters. A few things to finish first though. Extremely happy with the patchwork shop, highly recommend it. I noticed after taking this photo that a "Stock" has decided to come up in the paving, just near the blue post. Happy about that bonus plant.

I am very happy to finish this project called "Monday is Washing Day" designed by Catherine Baynes.

The design on the pocket is stitched with one strand of thread. I used DMC 517. I had a package of waffle cloth that I bought a while ago and decided to try embroidery on this. Lovely and soft to work with. I even added some beads to the bottom of the dress on the clothesline. This scene reminds me of those "Dick and Dora" books we used to read at school many years ago. Nip and Fluff must be playing somewhere else!!

I changed how the laundry bag was made a bit. The original design called for a check pattern to be used on the back, as this shows through from the cut-out shape on the front. I preferred the same material to be used so I cut a piece to just go past the cut-out and added some calico to the bottom of this piece. I then added some calico for the backing. This piece I had to join which was OK then I machine appliqued the cut-out piece from the front on the back. I didn't worry about any wadding between these two pieces because there were plenty of layers already. I then added the binding to hold it all together. A child's coat hanger was supposed to be used. I didn't have any of these so I decided to sew in a hanger on the back. Yellow/white ric-rac was used along the pocket and around the cutout shape.I found some little wooden pegs to add to the pocket.

If you are having a Christmas In July Lunch/Tea enjoy!!!!

Happy Monday.
Bev C

Paper Bag Swap

2011-07-23T19:48:00.000+08:00

Hello,

I can now share what I made for Colleen in the Snickerdoodle Dreams Paper Bag Swap.

I made Colleen a Mug Bag . A Needle Wallet and Pincushion and matching Lanyard. Plus some button tags.

This shows the inside of the Needle Wallet . The wallet and pincushion are one of Joy's patterns. I added some red buttons to co-ordinate them altogether. I covered a lanyard I had in my cupboard, I kept the webbing on the lanyard and used a strip of material about 2.5inches wide to cover it.

Colleen provided lots of ribbons and these lovely paper flowers so I decided to raid the button jar and make some lovely tags with tags I had on hand.

Enjoy your goodies Colleen and looking forward to seeing what I receive.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Makes Me Happy Monday"

2011-07-18T11:43:00.000+08:00

Hello and Happy Monday.

I can't believe how quickly these postings come around. Lots to be happy about over this past week.

Lucy came bearing gifts from Lisa. Thank you so much Lisa for the bundles of fabric cross stitch kits buttons and patterns. I already have plans for the bundle of blue fabric.

I also got this bundle of threads and buttons from Chris. Thanks Chris. I used one of the threads in the "Friendship" Bolster.

Ainsley and Lucy.

On Saturday we celebrated Lucy's Birthday with a family lunch at a restaurant/brewery in the Swan Valley. The meal was huge so we didn't need tea that night.

I have been watching this sunflower budding then opening up in the vegie garden.

Doesn't it just make you want to smile!!

Happy Monday.
Bev C

"Friendship"

2011-07-17T10:11:00.000+08:00

Hello,

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend. A beautiful sunny Sunday here at Kainga. Over the last few days I have completed a bolster cushion.

I have had the pattern for sometime now and the other day I received a bundle of DMC threads and decided to use one of them in this project. The stitchery design was stitched in colour number 3722. The main part of the cushion was supposed to be backed with some lightweight pellon. I didn't have a piece big enough and it was a rainy day and I didn't want to venture outside to the shops so I had a look in my sewing room for something else that I could use. I found some heavyweight interfacing which I think actually works better because it holds the cushion/bolster shape so much better.

Of course I had to add some ric-rac to the project as well. I also used the ric-rac to tie the ends of the bolster. I put in a size bigger cushion than required because this is what I found in my linen cupboard. The pattern is by Sally Giblin. With all her patterns there is always a extra stitchery design as a bonus which is fantastic.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Tuesday's Treasure"

2011-07-12T10:20:00.000+08:00

Hello,

Welcome to "Tuesday's Treasures" kindly hosted by Melody.

We are picking up this Treasure from the Airport this evening. I have strict orders to make some Cinnamon Scrolls. So that is what I will be doing today.

Make sure you check out the other Treasures being showcased today.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Makes me Happy Monday"

2011-07-11T08:08:00.000+08:00

Hello,

"Happy Monday" I hope you have a wonderful day.

I am happy to say that sometimes making mistakes turns out for the best. I spent a good part of Friday quilting. I even had about 99.9% of it done. Then I looked back at it from a distance and decided "No". I have got most of it undone, just about 6 blocks of stippling to unpick. Then I will hand quilt it. Amazing how comfortable I feel with this decision. There was nothing actually to much wrong with the quilting it just didn't feel right.

Mini Cauliflower.

I am very happy that our Winter vegie garden is producing so well. There are several mini Cauliflowers ready to be picked. All organic too.

The Broccoli is ready to be picked also. I just love this vegetable. I could eat it until the cows come home.

The Crab apples are in flower. The little birds love this tree at this time of the year.

Maurice Ultrillio

I am very happy that the roses are all ready to bloom or blooming. This one called "Maurice Ultrillio" is in bloom down the front of the garden. It is a bright red brilliantly contrasted by crisp and vibrant slashes of yellow and white,constantly changing from budburst through to the full,voluptuous and generous mature bloom. It is such a striking rose with large double flowers borne in clusters and a wonderfully healthy bush plant with a rich enchanting frangrance. It is a Delbard Rose from the "Painters Collection"

It has been very cold here the past week or so. Temperatures of 12 to 15 degrees has been the high on some days. We don't get snow here but I think the "Allysum" that grows in the garden could easily be taken for snow on these cold days. Happy that the temperature is going to get warmer during the coming week. I wonder what is "Making you Happy" today.

Happy days.

Bev C

18 and in New Zealand!!!!!!!

2011-07-06T10:07:00.000+08:00

Hello,

Today is a super special today. Lucy is celebrating her 18th Birthday today. Now Lucy left for a working holiday in New Zealand back on 6th December 2010.

In that time she has made a Wedding cake for Will and Kate.

Enjoyed the Kiwi sunshine in her Aunt's hammock in her favourite Townsville t-shirt.

Given to charity,with the purchase of the fundraising shirt for Christchurch.

She has learnt the Haka,worn jandles, been driven over judder bars,heard the Pukeko,she may have even barracked for the All Blacks. We know that she loves boogy boarding,can't do that in the Wheatbelt back here.

Have a Super Happy Birthday Lucy. I hope you enjoy your pizza at the Waipu Pizza Barn tonight.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Makes Me Happy Monday" and "Tuesday's Treasures"

2011-07-05T09:21:00.000+08:00

Hello,

A belated "Happy Monday" to everyone and a big welcome to Tuesday's Treasures. I think I should have called the title to this post "Look at this Mum" because that is what David has been saying to me over the last week. Lots of interesting things to see on you tube. Which means that he has used up our usage for the month and the computer will run slow until early next week. That is why I haven't replied to emails and why I am doing a double posting today.

Anyway after the slight hiccup onto what is "Making me Happy" today.

I have made a start on The Paper Bag Swap that I am doing with Colleen. It will be at your home soon Colleen. I have made a few things with the material. Colleen put in a bag of ribbons which just made me stop in my tracks. There is no way I will get to use them all up but I did try Colleen.

Another thing that is making us all happy is that we are surrounded by green paddocks. Ian and I sometimes take a walk up to the water tanks which is up the hill from us. There are sheep in some of the paddocks grazing on the green grass. Mind where you step though! It all makes for a happy scene.

I was also very happy to meet up again with Sue and Maria over at Toodyay on the weekend. They were on a patchwork retreat with friends from The Dongara Patchwork Group. Avalon Homestead 4kms out of Toodyay was where they retreated to. There was a beautiful patchwork wall hanging of a Kookaburra on the wall and there seemed to be a theme of Kookaburra's throughout the building. Guess what woke me up at Kainga on Sunday morning!!! It was great to chat and talk about patchwork. Sue thank you so much for the hints and tips on applique.

Now onto Tuesday's Treasures kindly hosted by Melody. I picked up these two pieces of Aida cloth at the Good Sammy's last week. When I saw them there they were rolled up and I was looking at them side on and didn't realise that they had a painting on them. One a Iris and the other a Protea. I was going to do something completely different with them. Now I will have to try and find the correct pattern to cross stitch them. A project for "Later On" Make sure you check out the other Treasures too.

Happy days.
Bev C

"The Dark Lady"

2011-07-01T15:26:00.000+08:00

Hello,

Today I am linking up with Robyn for Colourful Friday and Bronwyn for Floral Friday. Now for Colourful Friday we are allowed to show just one photo with Red and Green. So for both these links I introduce to you "The Dark Lady"

The Dark Lady.

"The Dark Lady" is a David Austin rose which has large deep pink to crimson blooms, with a lighter reverse. It has a fine old rose fragrance with busy healthy dark foliage and spreading growth. It has continuous flowers. The name of this rose is taken from the mysterious Dark Lady of Shakespeare's sonnets.

Have a wonderful weekend.
Happy days.
Bev C

My Brother quilted this for me.

2011-06-30T18:27:00.000+08:00

Hello,

I hope you had a great day. We have had lots of rain today. If it is to wet to be outside its time to sew.
Over the last couple of days I have been working on my Ladybug Quilt.

I originally was only going to use it for a tablecloth and had planned to use some thin wadding inside it. I found a fairly big piece of 50% wool/50% cotton wadding. I just needed to add a strip to one side to make it big enough so now I can use it as a lap quilt if needed.

I embroidered a quilting pattern in the centre amongst the sunflowers.

Some baskets in the corners and flowers along the borders.

Now you may be wondering which one of my Brothers quilted this!!! I used a Brother Machine Embroidery Card Number 22. The final measurements for the quilt is 40 inches square. Another finish for the OPAM Challenge (One Project A Month)

Happy Days.

Bev C

"Happy Monday"- introducing "The Big Girls Eye Spy" Quilt.

2011-06-27T12:36:00.000+08:00

Hello,

Happy Monday everyone. I haven't been on the computer much this last week. Too busy working with gloves. Garden gloves Oven Mitts and Quilting Gloves were put to great use over the last week. I even managed a trip to Needle Ny-dle Noo. I was in heaven there,lots of threads and embroidery supplies that aren't available locally. I purchased threads for some cross stitch projects I want to work on and of course while I was there I picked out another one and got the supplies for that as well.

The quilt that is making me "Happy this Monday" is one I want to introduce you to.

This is the "Big Girls Eye Spy" Quilt. I had sewing on Friday so was able to spend the day getting the quilting finished.

I had already quilted a quarter of an inch inside the triangles and decided it needed a bit extra. So I stitched in the ditch along the edges of each third row. It certainly makes for a interesting pattern which shows up so well on the back of the quilt. I used some floral material and the calico I got from Good Sam's last month for the backing. The only thing I needed to purchase was the wadding.

So I am extremely happy to have a quilt started and finished in a short time. What is making you Happy this Monday?

Happy days.
Bev C

"Makes Me Happy Monday"

2011-06-20T13:37:00.000+08:00

Hello,

Happy Monday to you all. I hope you had a fabulous weekend. Last week I had a bit of fun with some blue food colouring.

I went out an picked two buds of "Blushing Pink Iceberg" this is similar to the "Iceberg" rose but has a pink tinge to it particularly when the weather is colder. I added some blue colouring and within a few minutes the edges of the petals started turning blue. It was interesting to watch its progress over the next few days.
So I am happy that there is such a thing as a Blue Rose!!!

I am also very happy that Ainsley and Bonnie had a wonderful week in Bali and arrived home safely on Friday. Of course they had no idea about the ash cloud from the volcano in Chile closing the Perth airport during the week or the goings on in Indonesia last week. I was certainly glad to have them back on home soil.

What is making you happy this Monday?

Happy days.
Bev C

Scraps make Quilts.

2011-06-18T16:27:00.000+08:00

Hello,

Last night was Friday-Night-Sew-In. This year is all about using up what I have in my sewing room so the project for FNSI was all out of my big bag of scraps.

I cut 2 inch by 9.5 inch strips. Dividing these into light value colours and dark/medium colours. 6 strips of the light colours were sewn together then 6 strips of the dark/medium were sewn together in another block. These were then placed right sides together and a diagonal line was drawn on the wrong side of the light coloured blocks from the bottom left hand corner to the right top corner. Then sewing took place 1/4 inch either side of the line. Then cutting along the drawn line produced the blocks in the photo.
I have yet to make some quarter-square triangles for the sides and corners.

This is a great project to use up your scraps because you can join pieces together to make the strips. I did this in some of the lighter material.

Hope you enjoy the rest of the weekend and see you on "Happy Monday"
Bev C

It must be Friday.

2011-06-17T12:17:00.000+08:00

Hello.

As promised I will give you some more information about growing plants hydroponically.

We have been interested in growing this way for a while. While we were in Toodyay back in May we found a little shop that was selling seedlings and items for hydroponics. We asked lots of questions which you must do. When we first walked into the shop there was a display of plants growing in some poly pipe that is used for drainage. There was also a capsicum growing in one of those disposable coffee cups. He told us that last year he even grew a melon that grew 14 metres in length. The best news is that it is very easy.

I borrowed the book called "Hydroponics for Everyone" A practical guide to gardening in the 21st century. by Dr Straun Sutherland. I thoroughly recommend this book as it is written so you can understand the process and has before and after pictures. This book is published by Hyland House.

There are different sorts of growing mediums. This is what you plant the seeds/plants into. We purchased a bag of coco peet and perlite mix. Some of the mediums available are sand, scoria, perlite, vermiculite,growool, expanded clay balls.

Pots, you can buy special pots but we used pots we already had. Just make sure there are holes in the base so the nutrient mixture can reach it.

Nutrient Mixture. There are many different brands available. Bunnings and your local garden centre stock these. These come in two parts, the first part is used when the plant is young. The second mixture is used when the plant is in bloom. Make sure you follow the directions. We were told to use only a small amount to start of you don't want to kill your plant with kindness. We change the water and nutrient mix once a week. This mixture can be used on other plants in your garden.

When planting seedlings please make sure all the soil is washed of but make sure you don't damage the roots.

We have a small pump going for most of the day. You can leave it on all the time it doesn't use up much power. These small pumps retail from around twenty dollars. We have used one the children had for the goldfish.

Your system can be as simple or technical as you want. You can start with just a plastic bucket for your container. Look around your yard I am sure you will find something that can be used.

Lots of vegies and plants like carnations can be grown hydroponically. I would urge you to give it a go. You will be amazed at how quickly things grow. Good luck with it. Please let me know if you try it.

As today is Friday I am linking up with Bronwyn for Floral Friday. I took this photo of my favourite rose called "Heritage" earlier on in the week. It is a David Austen rose and blooms almost continuously.

Robyn is hosting Colourful Friday today and she has chosen Blue and Orange together. I thought this was going to be a bit tricky but it was just out the back door. The Mandarin tree and the blue sky. I know it is a pity the oranges are no where near ripe as I would have loved to shown that.

I also have some orange and blue material that I will be using in my project for Friday-Night-Sew-In.

So that just about captures what is going on today. Hope you have a great night if you are sewing tonight.

Happy days.
Bev C

Tuesday"s Treasures

2011-06-14T11:24:00.000+08:00

Hello,

Welcome to Tuesday's Treasures hosted by Melody. This week I want to share with you my scissor collection.

I guess it isn't a huge collection compared to other peoples but they do me just fine. The bigger pair with green handles are my favourite and still cut well after nearly 29 years. I got these free with my first sewing machine. There is a fold up pair which is very handy and some curved scissors for cutting thread and material whilst doing machine embroidery.

Now I bet you remember your Mother telling you to never run with scissors and always to hand over scissors in the correct way. Did your Mother tell you not to put your scissors on the edge of the lounge chair you are sitting on and letting them slip down the side. I mustn't have been listening when I was told this. On Saturday I was doing some stitching and just to let you know I do have a little stool beside the recliner rocker that I sit on. I did put the scissors back on that. Though every now and again I put it on the side of the chair. Of course they fell through to the bottom and I was able to reach it. This happened once or twice and then on the third time I couldn't retrieve the little pink scissors. I got up and turned the chair over so the scissors would fall to the back of the bottom of the chair. Of course I could get my hand in. Then I moved my hand along a bit further. OMG I couldn't pull my hand back out. Thoughts of pushing the chair across to the phone and calling for help were on my mind. Luckily Ian came down from the shed and was able to push the chair apart after several long moments and managed to pull my hand out. Bruised and scratched but we did get the scissors out in the end. So from now on my scissors will be on the tray on the stool beside my chair. I wonder where you keep your scissors when you stitch.

Make sure you see what other Treasures are being shown this week.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Makes Me Happy Monday"

2011-06-13T11:29:00.000+08:00

Hello,

Happy Monday.

On the weekend I finished the borders for the "Catnip" quilt. I changed them because I didn't have enough fabric for the squares that were on the original pattern.

I machine embroidered "Meow" on the bottom border with some whiskers thrown in for good measure.

The top border has "Catnip" machine embroidered on it.

Along the side borders I added some flowers. There are also cat paw prints on the bottom and top borders.

Toni the designer of this quilt loves wearing odd socks. Looks like her creatures do to.
On the lookout now for some bright green backing and wadding. Looking forward to finishing this fun quilt.

I am happy to report that we have been doing a little garden experiment. As you know water is in short supply or should I say rain is in short supply in our State. We had lots of tomatoes coming up where I planted the winter vegies. So we decided to try growing them hydroponically. The photo above shows them the day we had set them up. The tomatoes had only just been planted into a mix of perlite and coco peet.

I am very happy to say it works. It was so easy. Look at the growth after only one month. We will put these into bigger pots in a while and a bigger container. Our little fish pump circulates the water and fertiliser is added to fresh water once a week. Certainly looking forward to seeing what they taste like.

During the past week our local Annual Art Prize has been on. I called in and had a look at the wonderful paintings and photos. Gosh there is some talented people out there. The old Mayoral Chambers were open at the same time in the Town Hall. The display was amazing,old photo's of people and buildings that were in town. I found out we even had a Brewery and a Skating Rink. It is a shame that a lot of these beautiful buildings have been pulled down. There were photo's of the tearooms with about 5 male workers standing out the front and I had to smile at the signs advertising 3 course meals. I wonder who has time for a 3 course meal today. There were rooms available for families and ladies to eat in !!! It was interesting to read the Rate Books from 1931. Everything was beautifully written in ink. Bookkeepers really earned there keep in those days. I spent a happy couple of hours browsing through things.

I hope you have a "Happy Monday" and do something you love.
Bev C

The time has come.

2011-06-11T11:06:00.000+08:00

Hello,

I hope you have made a great start to the weekend. Recently I have been in my sewing room seeing what really needs to be done. Not new projects. That pile that sits beside the sewing machine. One of these quilts in that pile has sat there for nearly one year. It has been moved from the pile to the back of the sewing chair. That is an important move. Because it means I really want to get it finished.

I won the fat quarters a while back and because they were so bright and funky I really didn't want to cut them up to much. There are four spare blocks as well. These may be used on the backing or I will make some matching pillowslips. The quilt was just getting far to big. Originally I was going to make this for our bed but decided that it didn't suit our room.

Now I was thinking a all over scroll or floral type of quilting should be used. I know it would look great for each individual block to get quilted but it all comes down to cost. I promise the next stage is to take it to the quilting lady.

Have you got some quilt tops that need finishing? I have about ~~three~~ plenty more so this is only the start.

Happy days.

Bev C

Happy Monday.

2011-06-06T11:16:00.000+08:00

Hello and "Happy Monday "everyone.

We have a long weekend here in West Australia, we are celebrating Foundation Day. The sun is shining and it is perfect weather outside. So that makes for a perfect start to Happy Monday.

Yesterday I joined together the blocks for the "Catnip" quilt. I am happy with how it looks.

I just picked blocks up and sewed them together. I made a few more of the patchwork blocks because I didn't have any more vlisofix and after all this year is all about using up what I have on hand.

Did you notice a dolly had decided to join in on the action. She is not part of the original pattern but from Toni's Blogging Buddies doll pattern. Her hair adds a bit of 3D to the quilt. I did button hole by hand on all the applique except for dolls hair. Here I did a satin stitch by machine as this helped hold down her hair. I have plans for the border of the quilt. Will work on that this week.

Last night I felt like doing some cross stitch. So I went to my local shop which is open 24 hours a day 7 days a week (my sewing room) and looked through the drawers of projects I have ready. I purchased this cross stitch last year from the Good Sammy's for only $3.00. Look what I got done in a short time.I plan to do lots of cross stitching in Winter. There is something about Winter that makes me to want to stitch.

This weekend it is ten years since we shifted here to Kainga. Still happy to be living here. Today we celebrate David's 20th Birthday. We will be going out for tea tonight to the Tavern. Gotta go where the boy can get his steak sandwich!! Happy Birthday David and all the best for the coming year.

Happy Monday and all the best for the week.

Bev C

Floral Friday and Colourful Friday.

2011-06-03T17:58:00.000+08:00

Hello,

Welcome to Kainga Happenings. Today I am linking up with Bronwyn for Floral Friday and Robyn for Colourful Friday.

Please enjoy the roses at Kainga.

Of course some flowers turn into wonderful produce.

Lemons just ready for those hot lemon drinks on a cold Winters day.

Peas just waiting to be picked and popped straight into the mouth.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Meow"

2011-06-02T12:35:00.000+08:00

Hello,

I hope you are having a great day. I have been busy embroidering the blocks for the "Catnip" quilt.

I just have the whiskers to go. The feet for the birds are cut out and ready to go. I will attach these when the blocks are joined together so the feet don't disappear into the seam. I will now work on the Sawtooth Star blocks. I have done three mystery blocks as well. These are something that weren't in the original pattern. I finished them yesterday and they are very cute. You will have to wait until it is together to see what they are.

Now I need your help please. I recently( the 10th of May) put in a order for some books from Almond Grove Craft in South Australia. I know there actual shop is closed and they are having a clearance of goods on there website. I received a email to say that my order was taken but I haven't heard anything since. I presume this email was an automated one. I have sent a couple of emails to see what is happening but I haven't heard anything. I was wondering if anyone knows if they are still operating or are on holiday etc. I really love the books I ordered and would love to get them. I have just tried the web page again and it seems to have gone. Any information would be appreciated.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Makes Me Happy Monday"

2011-05-30T11:40:00.000+08:00

Hello,

Happy Monday everyone. I have been a bit absent from the computer lately. Two children have decided to return home for a short while. One went on the weekend and another is back again today. Two weeks ago Bonnie text us asking what was for tea. She stayed two weeks!!! Her housemate was overseas and she didn't want to stay in the house alone. So that has meant less computer time for me. I have been busy though. I am working on the Catnip Quilt and have nearly finished the applique. I had sewing on Friday so took that along and managed to get 6 hours of hand sewing done.

Yesterday afternoon I found my book called "All Sewn Up" twenty imaginative sewing projects for home and family. This is published by Brother sewing machines. I used the "Betty Boop" fabric that Marina kindly

sent me to make some pillowslips.
I made a pillowslip with the fabric and used some of the lime green fabric that I got from Good Sammy's a few weeks back. Remember I got 7 metres of it for only $1.00.

This is the other one I made. I used a free machine embroidery alphabet design I downloaded for the name. The first photo shows the actual colour more correctly. Two more projects to add to the OPAM (One Project A Month) Challenge.

I was pretty happy on Saturday morning when I went to the parish garage sale. I picked up these nine magazines for only $3.00. I will be kept busy reading these.

We had 17.5mls of rain overnight. Gosh it was great to hear the sound of rain on the roof. This is the most rain in a day since July last year. Rain is pretty scarce around these parts. The forecast for Winter is average with warmer days and nights and not much rain. Of course when it rains all sorts of insects and spiders come out of hiding. I found this bug huge moth near the front door this morning. I am certainly glad he didn't make it inside. I can just image what Bonnie would say if she saw this!!!!

I hope you all have a fantastic Monday.
Happy days.
Bev C

"Makes Me Happy Monday" and "Tuesday's Treasures"

2011-05-23T21:16:00.000+08:00

Hello and Happy Monday to you.

I received some lovely mail this morning. This type of mail always makes me happy.

Thank you to Marina who sent me this parcel of "Betty Boop" material I won recently from her blog. I plan to make something for Bonnie out of this material. The best ever display of "Betty Boop" I have ever seen is at Reliquaire. This is definately a great place to shop.

"Camp David"

I am so happy that this rose is flowering. It is called "Camp David" Ian and Lucy purchased this for me last year. I couldn't believe that they bought a dead stick home for me. I had to give it extra love and care and planted it into a pot for sometime to make sure it would survive. It is flowering beautifully now.

Here in Australia there must be a cooking show on each television channel at the moment. Last year while watching Masterchef I was enticed to buy some "White Quinoa" This morning I decided to make some up for breakie. I added some apple and cinnamon. I followed the instructions on the side of the packet. It tasted delicious. I think though that I have found the cure for world hunger. It made such a huge amount,the chooks had a treat to. I will certainly reduce the quantities next time. I have noticed that some of the bread I have bought lately has Quinoa in it as well. Has anyone else tried this grain? I would love to hear about your cooking process with this.

"Mutabilis"

I am happy that Bonnie has shown me a few more functions that are on my camera. Happy to be out in the garden taking close ups of the roses.

Tuesday's Treasures.

I decided to double up and include Tuesday's Treasures in this post.

I love my two latest purchases. The teapot on the left has a metal strainer that can be removed. I only use tea leaves so this is why I bought this one. The teapot on the right is made of enamel and is made in Romania. The lid is attached to the pot which is great.

To see what other Treasure's are being showcased this week check out Melody's blog.

Hope you all have a great week.

Happy days.
Bev C

Sewing results, a big egg and some "Seduction."

2011-05-21T14:34:00.000+08:00

Hello,

How did your Friday night go with the Sew-In? I managed to get quite a bit done. I love doing things by hand so I spent my time button holing the cat shapes on the blocks.

I am using some of that lime green and the white fabric I got from the Good Sammy's store earlier on in the month. The cats need some noses and there will be buttons for there eyes,which will be sewn on after it is all quilted. Another successful Friday-Night-Sew-In.

Now that our three chooks are laying we are getting two or three eggs each day. One of them has a rest every so often. Just look at the egg she lays. We have got a couple like this,it weights 80 grams. No wonder she needs a day of every now and again.

Now we couldn't have a post without a rose. This one is called "Seduction" It didn't have a label on the bush but I have just spent half an hour looking through my books and I am pretty sure this is what it is called. These are the tiny buds,the petals change a bit according to the weather. It is always in bloom.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

Happy days.
Bev C

Joy,Floral Friday and all that quilty news.

2011-05-20T10:09:00.000+08:00

Hello,

Happy Friday everyone. Lots to tell you today about what is happening here at Kainga. We will start of with "Little Gits Campaign"

You may be wondering what has brought JOY to us here at Kainga. A win in the lottery??? No something more exciting than that. It has rained!!!!!!!!!!
The garden loves the rain. The water tanks are not empty,nothing liking hearing rain going into the tanks. Everything looks so clean. The vegies are growing at a great rate and some roses have decided to bloom. The chooks are having there first real scratch into damp ground. There is not a piece of dirt in there yard that they haven't scratched. The farmer across the road dry seeded his paddock last Friday,there was dust going everywhere. I know he has a big smile on his face this week. Fingers crossed we get lots more this Winter.
What is bringing you Joy today? Check out Becky's blog to see which other bloggers are finding some Joy.

I am doing this block of the month that Shell has on her blog. 12 stitchery hearts. Quick and simple stitchery designs. Instead of turning mine into blocks and making a wall hanging it will probably be the centre of a tablecloth. Now please don't ask me why I made up 16 blocks instead of the 12. A "Seniors Moment" is the only reason I can think of. It wasn't until I had finished all the chain stitch and given it a wash and it was drying that I realised I had done to many. Oh well, I will add something into these blocks when I have finished the others. I plan to do some embroidery between the blocks. This will have to wait until it is all completed because it will just get squashed when I put it into the hoop to embroider each block.

I used some Cosmo threads which Maree send me earlier on in the year in The Colour Swap. These threads are so beautiful to stitch with. The thread never ever knots up. These little blocks would look so lovely stitched onto pretty fabric and made up into lavender bags.

Earlier on in the week I received some mail from Lisa. I won these cute buttons and patterns in a recent giveaway. Thank you so much Lisa.

Today I decided to link up with Bronwyn for Floral Friday. The rose above is called "Radio Times" It is a David Austin rose from 1994,1998 Aust. It is a double,full rosette shaped blooms of rose-pink with a wonderful rich old fragrance. It has strong arching growth and it has continuous blooms. Its height reaches 1.7m by a width of 1.5m.

This is "Sophy's Rose" another David Austin. It has dark cerise pink rosette shaped blooms. It is free flowering with a light tea fragrance. The bush grows upright and is of a medium height of 1.5m. It blooms continuously.

Thank you Bronwyn for hosting Floral Friday.

Now tonight is Friday Night Sew In and I will be working on the "Catnip" quilt. Do you take over the table with all your sewing stuff?

Now it has started raining so it is going to be a great day. Staying inside stitching will be on my list of things to do today.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Happy days.
Bev C

Rose Gardens are my Tuesday's Treasure.

2011-05-17T13:45:00.000+08:00

Hello and Welcome to Tuesday's Treasure.

This week I want to share with you one of my most favourite places on this earth. Melville's Rose Garden in the Perth Hills. No matter what time of the day you go here it is always busy. The cafe is full and people and families are enjoying themselves. Who wouldn't with all the beautiful flowers and roses in bloom.

This is halfway up the gardens looking across the the selling area which is in the top right end of the photo.

A lovely display of a little pink flower. I think it may be of the Cosmos family. Not sure on that.

The rose at the bottom is "Edgar Degas" and the top one is "Maurice Ultrillo"

Here I am amongst the pink roses, of course.

Everwhere you look roses are in bloom. Did you see the super big one.

The Koi were rushing to be fed by some children. We noticed how low the water was in this area. They must be hoping for some good Winter rains.

Now this must be the first time I have visited and not purchased some roses. I will be back though when we have had a good soaking of rain.

Now after we left the gardens we went across to Midland where I bought my new book. I have been looking at getting this book since it came out last year. I even looked at it on my trip last week but decided against it. After seeing a ex neighbours name in the death notices last week. I decided yes I was going to buy that book. Well I just love it. So please don't put things of.

I hope you enjoyed my Tuesday's Treasure today. Melody has the list on her blog of other Treasure's to look at.

A special thanks to everyone who left a comment on yesterdays post. I really appreciate them. Pauline has also done a posting about the quilt which shows a much better photo of the quilting. The day I took the photo's happened to be the most cloudiest day we had for about 7 months.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Koa Mane"

2011-05-16T09:20:00.000+08:00

Hello and Welcome to "Koa Mane"
Happy Monday has a big New Zealand flavour to it today. I hope my Maori interpretation is correct.I received a email from my Sister Chris that the big parcel I sent across had arrived.

"Hakari" which means Gift

There was something big as well as small presents for Lucy Chris and Pauline. When Chris came for a visit last year she also brought with her a Double Wedding Ring Quilt which needed finishing. I can still remember the moment she asked me, I just laughed and grabbed the back of the chair I was standing near.Some of the hand quilting had been done though they were big stitches. I left some of these as they are part of the history of the quilt.

I hand stitched a floral pattern in the bigger pieces. I had to work out how to get the pattern on there as usually all this is done before the quilt is put together. I purchased a piece of template plastic and used the punch from my sewing machine which is normally used to punch eyelets. Thankfully David was home and sat patiently punching holes until the pattern was complete. I was then able to "dot to dot" the pattern on with wash a way pen. The smaller pattern I cut out a template and traced around. You can click on the photo to see the hand quilting better.

This is Lisa the owner of the quilt getting ready to unwrap the quilt. I know Lisa loves receiving some Koa mera. (Happy Mail.) I have yet the pleasure of meeting Lisa but have met other members of her family,maybe next visit Lisa.

Here it is in all its glory. Notice they had to go inside. It had started to rain. So maybe I should have kept the quilt if that is what happens!!! Seriously we did have a shower overnight which was a relief.

I did the hand quilting around the edges of the blocks back in Hanuere (January) and worked solidly over Easter and beyond to finish the rest of it. I was determined to get it done. It was also the first time I had put on a scalloped binding to a quilt.

I used Gutermann Quilting Cotton in colour number 5709 which matched the white cotton that was used in the first bit of quilting perfectly. I machine embroidered a label for the back with where Lisa purchased the quilt from and our names.

Thank you Lisa for letting me finish the heirloom. I do wonder though who the original owner was. So if one day you have the job of disposing of someones treasure like this please attach a note to it. The new owners would be so grateful.

I was also the recipient of some "Koa Mera "last week to. A parcel from the US arrived. I won the most stunning mug mat from Terrie in a blog hop. The Dresden plates are cut out with a Accuquilt cutter. Terrie has done a wonderful job on the quilting surrounding the plates. Thank you Terrie and I will put the fat quarter to good use. It has been used already. This is the wooden tray that we have our morning cuppa on out the front. Lucy made the tray at school a few years ago.

While Chris was here last year she left some beautiful white waffle face and hand cloths. I got to last week and used Brother Embroidery Card Number 48 which has Australian Wildflowers on it. I crocheted a edge around each of the cloths to protect them. I used some of the yellow cotton I purchased at Good Sammy's last week on one of them. It was a size 8 thread and was just so soft and easy to crochet with.

I also want to take the chance to wish my niece Carmody a super duper Happy Birthday for today. Hope you are having a great day Carmody. I know you have been waiting to be this number for a while now. Best wishes for the coming year.

Koa Mane everyone I hope you day is full of happiness and love.
Bev C

Shopping and an escaped prisoner.

2011-05-11T14:31:00.000+08:00

Hello,

Well another day of sunshine here today. I was out in the garden this morning planting and re potting.

Yesterday I had my annual day out. I do get out a bit more often but I call this my annual day out because once a year close to Mother's Day I go out by myself to places and shops I want to visit. A little treat for myself. I usually try to go before Mother's Day but it just didn't happen like that this year. So yesterday I set out to go to Midland and along the way I saw some hitchhikers first there were two females just out of town, nope didn't give them a lift. A bit further along a man with his thumb up and on his mobile phone. Nope didn't give him a lift either. Travelled along a bit further and just going around the corner right next to the car was a prisoner on the ground with two prison guards leaning over him. Thankfully they got him when they did or else he might have wanted a lift from me too. There are two prisons close together one is for people who don't pay there fines and low risk prisoners and the other prison is for baddies of a higher security level. I am not sure which one he was from but I am glad they got him.

I continued on with my day out with a visit to Better Pets and Gardens and stocked up on some chook food then across to Bunnings to load up with plants and goodies. I got several punnets of Salvia in both white and purple and some more Foxglove's. Some packets of seed including Sweet Peas and Cucumbers. A "Candy stripe" verbena which has the prettiest little clusters of pink and white flowers and a Sphaeralcea "Priscilla Pink" which also has pink flowers,this grows to about 1 metre by 1 metre.

Then it was on to Spotlight to have a good look around, No I didn't buy anything there but had a great look around. Then it was onto Midland Gate Shopping Centre to have a look in Dymocks(Book Store) then it was time for lunch. Then I dropped into Textile Traders where I bought a metre of pink material for $6.00. I caught up with Janelle here and had a chat with her. Then onto another patchwork shop then a call into Sweet Country Abode for a cuppa for the way home.

On the way home just out of Mundaring I saw beside the road the male hitchhiker. He had a couple of green bags full of shopping and was hitching his way back. I presume he was pretty confident of getting a lift back with his shopping.

On the way home I decided to call into the local Good Sammy's Shop to finish the day of. Well I was so lucky. I could have just about bought out the shop. I was also lucky enough to see a quilt that Pat had rescued from the shop and finished of. It was just so lovely and bright. It will end up at her daughter's home in Canada.

Look at the goodies I got, all brand new total cost $20.50. Bundles of fabric for only $1.00 each which included metres and metres of material. Two lots of crochet thread still in packet for $3.00 each. The most expensive item was the Brisbane Lion's footy scarf that I saw when I was going to the counter. I told Ian he was the most expensive part of the day. Apparently there is more coming to the shop on Thursday. Another visit I think is on the cards.

This is some of the material including a half a metre of the fabric on the left some sunflower material and the other ones were in a bag for a $1.00. The pink one on the right is what I bought at Textile Traders.

I have been doing some hand stitching but it is basically lots of "chain stitch" at the moment so will show you some roses from the garden instead. The above one is called "Pink Rosette" This is a very small bush with large clusters of mid pink blooms. It grows to about 50cm and is free flowering.

This is a David Austin I can't remember the name without finding my book. I did look at the pot which I left near the bush, it does have the name on there but unfortuatly it has the roots from the bush grown into it and I couldn't shift it. You can see the bud of another one coming along in the background..

This is another David Austin in the same rose bed. I will have to find a book that I wrote the names of roses in and see what it is called. They both have beautiful perfumes which is part of the reason I love growing them.

Have a wonderful day full of happiness and love.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Makes Me Happy Monday"

2011-05-09T13:53:00.003+08:00

Hello,

Happy Monday to you.

I have just discovered that there are a few problems with blogger. I have had to revert back to the old post editor so my photo's are out of order from what I originally planned. I had a look on the blogger help page and there seem to be lots of complaints but no answers. Fingers crossed someone will have it sorted soon.

I have managed to work out how to make some continuous bias binding. I have done this before but it was some time ago. It certainly made me happy seeing one continuous piece when I cut it out.

I conquered my fear of doing this and did it step by step. I followed these instructions which I felt were quite good.

We had a lovely Mother's Day morning tea yesterday. Bonnie and my Mum came and we had a lovely time. Lucy rang us just as I took my first mouthful of tea. It was great to hear from you Lucy. The roses in the above photo were given to me by Bonnie. Picked out of her garden, she even trimmed of the thorns. Thanks Bon.

Every year one of the local churches holds a Mother's Day stall on the Saturday. Last year I was lucky enough to win a prize. We were waiting for the phone call in the afternoon. We thought we may have been lucky enough to win a prize again. Not us but guess who? Mum won one of the prizes so it was her who got the phone call and visit from one of the ladies.

There is always a rush to buy flowers at this stall. Ian kindly bought me the roses in the photo above. There is some Wattle bloom in the rear of the vase. A nice Aussie touch.

The chook card came from Ainsley. This is one of those cards with a musical chip inside. When you open it plays "The Chicken Dance".

David was away camping with some friends but I did catch up with him for a short while on Friday when he came to pick up some camping equipment.

It is another beautiful sunny day here, I think it got up to about 31 or 32 degrees yesterday. To good a day to be inside so I will get out in the sunshine. Hope you all have a Happy Monday.

Happy days.

Bev C

Hot Pad Swap,Mug Mats and a Paper Bag Swap.

2011-05-06T15:43:00.000+08:00

Hello,

I finally heard from Cheryll,the Queen of Swaps that Carolyn had finally got my Hot Pad I sent her way back on the 11th of April. It must have been taking a super long trip by plane.

Anyway without further ado I present Carolyn's Hot Pad.

Carolyn had requested her Hot Pad to be in Red, Lime Green, Grey,Black and White. I managed to get them all in. I got my inspiration from the book Scandinavian Stitches.

In the book there was only the tree and clothesline but I added a little carrot patch to the side of the tree. Carolyn's blog is called "The Veggie Hunter"

Now this is the back of the Hot Pad. I noticed on Carolyn's blog that they are undergoing some home renovations. I hope your home is all back together soon.

I have just finished a fairly big project so wanted to do a few small things before I start on the next project. I found I had a partially completed pair of board shorts on a square. I started this block when I was making the beach quilt and lost it in "The Sewing Room". It re-surfaced when I was looking for something else as this is what normally happens. I also made up a cat applique. Two completed Mug Mats for very little effort. The cat material they are sitting on is the backing for the cat one and the same Hibiscus print is on the surfie shorts.

Paper Bag Swap.

I love a challenge and stitching for someone else is pretty high up there. I have joined in the Paper Bag Swap that is being run by Darleen at Snickerdoodle Dreams.

I received a lovely email from my partner Colleen the other day and this is what I will be sending her to make something special for me. We had to include two fat quarters some thread and any extras. I found a Butterfly that I did a test run on for some machine embroidery. It has been floating around the sewing room so may as well be included. I added a beautiful rose button and some ric-rac. What project wouldn't be complete without it.
Now I posted a huge parcel of today and of course when I got home I immediately remembered about the Paper Bag Swap so I guess we will be going via the Post Office on our walk this afternoon.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Happy Days.
Bev C

Clyde is our Treasured pet.

2011-05-03T11:23:00.000+08:00

Clyde as a kitten.

Hello,

Welcome to Tuesday's Treasures. This week Melody has asked us to show of our pets. We have a cat that is called Clyde. He actually belongs to our daughter Bonnie. Now Clyde went missing from the Unit Bonnie was staying in when he was just a tiny wee kitten. The above photo is the one we made up for the posters we had put around to find him. We rang the vets etc but no word came of him. After a couple of weeks we decided to go to the vets because Bonnie had heard of a kitten being there. When we went in we asked if they had him,we showed the photo and they brought him out. He had been fixed up and sorted out. He had a few injuries where he had got caught up in his collar. Then they went and took down the sign that was asking for a new owner. He also went missing again from the same unit. We thought he was definatly gone this time. After the first time he went missing we had put on a name tag with our phone number. I received a phone call about three weeks later asking if I was missing a kitten. He had travelled about 3 to 4kms. I think he must have been picked up by children and dropped when they had finished playing with him. He had one tiny flea on him otherwise he was OK for a kitten who had been missing for so long.

He always manages to find the best spot to sleep.

Ian has the job of feeding Clyde. He just loves him and I can guarantee that as soon as Ian's ute comes home in the afternoon he will be at the back door to greet him. If he wants to get out at night time Clyde goes to Ian's side of the bed. It is quite funny how he now has to get up to the cat in the night. Makes up for all those times I got up to the children!!!

Clyde continues to bring joy to us everyday, along with a mouse or two that he has found.

Make sure you check out the other Treasured Pets at Melody's.

Happy days.
Bev C

Moondyne Joe is making "Making Me Happy this Monday"

2011-05-02T14:15:00.000+08:00

Hello,

Happy Monday to you all on this fine sunny May day. On Sunday Ian and I went across to the Moondyne Festival at Toodyay. A huge crowd had come to see the festival. Lots and lots of stalls and shops open. We didn't get around to them all. Locals were dressed up in period costume. Convicts,Mayor, Judges and even plenty of Floozies were amongst the crowd along with Moondyne Joe himself. There was even a prisoner with a ball and chain. I reckon he must have had the best day. While we were dining on the balcony of a upstairs restaurant he came along and told us that he recommended the bread and water.In case you are wondering who Moondyne Joe is you can read about our local bush ranger here.

In the collage above you can see Moondyne Joe being taken along the street to his goal and court case. I have never seen so much money pass between a lawyer and the crowd. Lots of cheering for Joe who ended escaping up a ladder to the top floor of the hotel behind.

In this collage are photo's of the horse and cart rides. The crowd. Teddy bears for sale. Characters sitting down for a rest. The centre photo is the moustache competition which was a lot of fun to watch.Wood chopping. The view from the restaurant where we had lunch. The Blacksmith and some old timers having a billy tea.

We have been to this festival a couple of times before but this one was by far and away the best we have been to. Lots for everyone to see and do. I think having people who were dressed up greeting everyone they met really added to the occasion. It is not often that a lady and gentleman dressed in there finery greets you with taking his top hat of.

With our daughter Lucy who is 17 being overseas,we often wonder what she is getting up to. Well I don't have a worry in the world about it. You know she made the cake for Will and Kates wedding. She also has been seen wearing a Tiara and white gloves. Check it all out at Pauline's blog. It certainly made us smile.

Please let me know what is "Making you Happy this Monday"

Happy days.

Bev C

Monkeying around for the OPAM Challenge and a great garage sale find.

2011-04-30T14:20:00.000+08:00

Hello,

How is your weekend going? I can hardly believe how fast this month has gone by. I did manage to get one more item done for the OPAM Challenge (One Project A Month).

I made this bag from the Stash Blog. It is has insul-bright for the lining so it will be used for my lunch on my sewing days. So much nicer than a plastic lunch box. I embroidered a "rose tree" design from Sue Box Creations / Golden Classic Collection.

This is the other side of the bag with another "rose design" from the same embroidery disc.

Did you notice the peg tin and laundry powder box in the first photo? I got these at a garage sale this morning for $5.00 for both of them. A lady was shifting house and was going to get a new one for the next house because this colour didn't suit her new laundry. I asked her why she just didn't paint them. I think she was going to take them back when I asked her this. She then replied "Oh my husband can buy me a new set." He had the peg bucket set up on her clothesline on some sort of pulley system.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend and have some fun.
Bev C

Three things Tuesday.

2011-04-26T10:17:00.000+08:00

Hello,

I hope you are all enjoying the Easter/Anzac break. You won't want to go back to work will you. We have enjoyed the time of, though Ian had to go back to work today. Lots and lots of work was done in the garden,we shifted trailer loads of manure and wood chips. I planted a punnet of Foxgloves, I am determined to get some to grow. Each year I plant a punnet or two and they come to nothing. I changed the bed they are in this time. Hopefully it will help them to grow. Now on to part one of today's posting.

Happy Monday.

Now I know this is a day late but I think ANZAC day takes priority.

I was very happy last week to find this parcel of goodness in the letter box. A jelly roll of "Love is in the Air" by Deb Strain. This was my prize for being a lucky winner in the OPAM challenge last month. Thanks to Kris and Peg who do all the bookwork tallying up the total number of projects finished each month.

I am also very happy to have finished the top part of the tablecloth I was working on. I used up some ladybird material that Jules sent me in a swap.

I machine embroidered some sunflowers in the centre. The middle sunflowers are from the Brother Embroidery Card Number 55. The outer sunflowers on the ric-rac are from the Studio Bernina Debbie Mumm Everyday card.

I am debating how to quilt this by machine or hand. I am presently doing some "secret hand quilting" so will get back to this tablecloth when I have finished the "secret project"

Joy.

You can find "joy" at anytime in the past week I have found it:

Enjoying our breakfast together on the front verandah and just watching the world go by. Those cheeky Willy Wagtails just love joining us. I love the antics of these little birds.

I have changed my walking route and looking at the different gardens and old homes brings "Joy". It is always nicer to walk where things are interesting.

Speaking to Lucy in New Zealand and hearing her good news. Good luck Lucy.

Tuesday's Treasures.

Today I wish to share with you my latest Treasure.

My potted "Sandgroper Chrysanthemum." This was given to us by my Mum for Easter. I didn't have chocolates so this plant was a great replacement,calorie free. I will plant it in the back garden just near the patio shortly. I have to wait until some Dutch Iris bulbs come up. I know I should have put a marker where I planted them!!! For those overseas "Sandgroper" is a term referring to a West Australian. Please visit Melody's beautiful blog to see what other Treasure's are coming to a blog near you today.

Happy days and thanks for visiting "Kainga"
Bev C

ANZAC Day

2011-04-25T11:07:00.000+08:00

Hello,

Today in Australia and New Zealand we commemorate the men and women of our armed forces who paid the biggest sacrifice for our countries.

Lest we forget.

Bev C

My Musical Treasure.

2011-04-19T10:46:00.000+08:00

Hello and Welcome to Tuesday's Treasures.

Today I wish to share with you some musical sheets I purchased at a auction here in town many years ago. A gift shop was closing down and auctioned all there goods. Not many people went to the auction I think mainly because the owners had such high prices on some of there goods in the shop. A girlfriend and I were just going for a look,several hours later(we left at nine and came back about 5.00pm) we came back with a couple of boxes full of all sorts of goodies. The good thing about an auction is you may be the only bidder. The auctioneer really had his work cut out for him on this day.

Some of the sheets date back to the 1930's. They have the Name Aeolian Club Choir on them. There was also a Junior Aeolian Club Choir. One interesting sheet is called "Australia! O Thou Favoured Isle! with words by CJ Dennis and they called it A National Anthem.

Roses are freshly picked from the gardens at Kainga this morning.

The funny thing is I haven't a musical bone in my body but I do love "old things"

To find some more treasure's please check Melody's blog and see who else is linking up. You can join in if you wish.

Happy days.

Bev C

Ladybirds and Sunflowers makes for a "Happy Monday"

2011-04-18T14:14:00.000+08:00

Hello,

"Happy Monday" everyone.

Starting a new project is making me very happy today.

Of course the new project has to include ric-rac,ladybirds and sunflowers. It is the start of the centre block for a small tablecloth I am making.

Always happy to have Bonnie and David home for the weekend. David goes back on the train tonight, he has to work over the Easter, ANZAC weekend so is having a break at home now.

Hope you find some happiness springing up in your day.

Happy Monday
Bev C

My Row of the Month Quilt is now completed!!!!

2011-04-14T14:06:00.000+08:00

Hello,

Today I wish to share with you the Row Block of the Month I worked on last year. It only took three weeks to do the hand quilting. I hand quilted around the inner border of each block and the shapes. I did a bit during the day and most of it was done at night time while watching television. Now I don't hand quilt like everyone else. I take one stitch at a time. I used to be able to do the quilting a few stitches at once. Unfortunately I don't like using a thimble so I find it better to just do what I feel comfortable with. It may take my longer but I do get there in the end.

It turned out quite big. The final measurements being 80 inches long and 53 inches wide. There was a different theme for each set of blocks. Chickens, hearts, trees, flowers,angels,baskets and scraps. The blocks I made that were scrappy I cut up and used across the quilt for sashing. I took two of the blocks of from the chicken and heart row. The chicken one that had the machine embroidery of our favourite chicken recipes will be put on the back. The heart stitchery will be used in something else.

I used a cotton wadding and this caused a few problems with the fluff going everywhere whilst I was quilting. Lots and lots of scraps were used in this quilt. I raided my button jar to sew some buttons onto the suffolk puffs on the baskets.

I used Gutermann quilting cotton that was a cream colour for the quilting. I used a red shade for the red square.Calico was the only material that I purchased for the backing. I bought a little less than what I needed because I wanted to add some strips of scraps. I had a bag of these that I had sewn up at sewing last year on the final day and just needed to add some more. I also used the strips of scraps for the borders.

For the binding I also used the strips. The strips were 3 inches wide so I just cut the backing and wadding a little wider to allow the strips to fit nicely on the border.

It turned into a lovely bright quilt which I know will keep someone very warm. Quilting on days with temperatures at 35 degrees I can tell you it is very warm under there. It is much brighter than what shows up in the photo's but I didn't want to get it dirty outside on the paving so dull inside photo's will have to do.

Thanks for visiting "Kainga" today, I hope you have a happy day.

Happy stitching.
Bev C

Whatever happened to Monday? plus Tuesday's Treasure.

2011-04-12T10:46:00.000+08:00

Hello,

A belated Happy Monday,it must be Monday somewhere. I actually was busy finishing hand quilting the quilt I have been working on. Plus it was such a lovely day I decided to do what I wanted to do. Some days are like that,blogging takes a bit of a back seat.

The past week of Happiness.

I was very happy to get 7 metres of lime green fabric for the sum of $1.00 from Good Sammy's on Tuesday. Yes a whole 7 metres of fabric, you will see it in quite a few projects. It was a bit dusty on the edges. Probably from where it was rolled up. A wash in the machine and it is back like new. I also bought some craft/patchwork magazines for a $1.00 each. The best thing I got though was heaps of embroidery threads in pink green and yellow.

It has decided to finally cool down. I think it was last Thursday our temps were from 6 degrees to 23 degrees Celsius. Just heaven after having days /which turned into months of heat. Rain, well that is another story. We had 1.75mls on the Thursday then a few days later we had 2 mls of rain. I did stand out at 11.30pm to see that it still comes from the sky.

On Sunday we had a family lunch. Ainsley and Julian have come back from holidaying in the Maldives for three weeks. Gosh the photo's of the sea were just so clear. Lovely resorts that they stayed at,one of the islands they stayed on was only about 300 metres wide and 1.5km long. They showed us a photo of a deserted island that you can hire for the day. It was so tiny, just a little shack and nothing else. I think you would be bored after ten minutes. Not even a palm tree to shade you.

I am also very happy that I have finished my "Hot Pad" for the swap. You can see a bit of it in the photo.
It is of on its journey and won't be long before it lands at the new owners letterbox. Always happy to finish a project,especially for someone else.
I am EXTREMELY HAPPY that I finished hand quilting the quilt I have been working on for the past couple of weeks. Just the border and some buttons to go on now. Photo's soon.

Tuesday's Treasures.

This week my treasure is a favourite book of mine called "Gardening by the seasons at Foxglove Spires - Velvet Pears" by Susan Southam.

Fellow blogger Dzintra kindly told us about this beautiful garden. You know she waves to me each time she goes there!!!! One day I hope to get there and see the treasures in real life. Here you can see more of Foxglove Spires.

Make sure you see what other Treasures are being revealed this week at Melody's blog.

Happy days.
Bev C

"5 Little Monkeys" send some Chickens and "Colourful Friday".

2011-04-08T08:04:00.000+08:00

Hello,

Earlier on this week I received a lovely parcel in the mail. It is always fun to get a parcel. It was my Hot pad from Angie, from 5 Little Monkeys Quilting. Angie looked through my blog and discovered that I love chickens. Angie has some cute chickens herself. You must check them out.

This is it. Isn't it gorgeous. It was put to use straight away. Presently it has a teapot on it. Just look at the cute little chicken under its Mother.

This is the back of it. Imagine a chicken taking a bath. Thanks must go to Cheryll for organising this swap. A big thank you to Angie for taking the time to look through my blog to see what I was interested in. She was spot on.

Today is "Colourful Friday "hosted by Robyn. The theme for today is Hexagons in any colour. Easy Peasy.
I found these two baskets that I made a while back. The little purse is one that I made many years ago. Most of it is made by hand. It seems this style of purse is making a come back in blog-land.

I hope you all have a great weekend.

Happy days.
Bev C

Tuesday's Treasures.

2011-04-05T13:20:00.000+08:00

Hello and Welcome.

This week my little Treasure is a hand painted rose de-thorner. This was painted by the same lady who did the plaque for our home which shows up in my blog photo profile.

Truth be known I don't use them as much as I should but they are pretty. The rose in the photo is "Dapple Dawn" which is a English Rose which was previously known as a David Austin Rose.

Dapple Dawn is a sport of "Red Coat". It has large, single pink blooms with a paler centre and long yellow stamens which are lightly scented and is always in flower. I have three of them in a hedge like situation.

The book is about Trevor Griffiths a rosarian from New Zealand. A beautiful book with lots of history about his life and roses.

Once again one treasure has turned into more treasures.

Have a lovely day and make sure you find the other treasures on show this week at Melody's blog.

Happy days.
Bev C