Hexagons, new material and a mystery recipe.

Hello,
We have another smoky day around here. Bush fires are burning down south and we are copping the smoke. I will be glad when it clears up. Nothing like having a lovely day weather wise and having to have the doors and windows shut because of the smell. Yesterday I cut out some hexagons to make a bag for my sister Chris. I love doing this kind of work and can see why people get addicted to doing them.

This is the panel of material that Chris sent me. I have cut out the hexagons from the side of the panel so far because I want to make something else with the middle section. You can download some instructions for making the hexagon bag at Kiwiquilts.

Look what I bought the other weekend at The Apple Basket in Donnybrook. It was half price and as I couldn't see what the original price was I just got 1 metre. It was only $10.00 I wish I had bought the rest of what was on the roll now. We stopped here for lunch and they certainly do a lovely meal. Plus there is a great range in the patchwork shop as well.

Now I hope someone out there in blog land can help me decipher this recipe. My son David found it left on the counter at work here earlier on in the year. It is a recipe for a pie. I know it has 5 eggs and 1 cup self raising flour and that you cook it for 180 degrees. Beyond that I have know idea. Even what language it is would be great. I presume it is Japanese.Click on the photo if you wish to see it more clearly.

Happy days.

Bev C

Parcels of goodness from Santa's Festive Honeypot Swap

Hello,

Once again I was involved in Santa's Festive Honeypot Swap. It was a direct swap this year and my partner was Shiree in New Zealand. Shiree made up these wonderful decorations to go on my tree. Beautiful toile fabric in red tones. These are currently gracing our Christmas tree.

A matching card was made as well with some ribbons. Shiree also gave me the extra hand made card which I will frame. Thank you for these gifts Shiree and a big thank you to Darlene for organising this swap.

This is the card I sent to Shiree. This card can be pulled apart after Christmas. I cut out a piece of material that had Santa on it and sewed it on with some buttons.

This is the table runner I made for Shiree. I adjusted a pattern from Fat Cat Patterns.

I also added in some DMC thread a fat quarter and a tea towel I had appliqued.
So a little bit more of my work graces a home in New Zealand.

It is going to be a hot day here today so I have already started the watering of the garden. We are allocated two days of the week according to the last number of our street number. We are allowed to water by sprinkler or reticulation up until 9.00am or after 6.00pm on those two days. We can water by hand at other times. We just have to be organised. With the sun getting up earlier you wake up anyway.

Happy Sunday.

Bev C

Embroidered Bowl,"Best Friend" Rose and a little pink shop.

Hello,

Yesterday I spent the day doing something I will most probably never do again. I have always admired these machine embroidered bowls. I had downloaded a freebie from here. The bowl has six sides to it. Each segment took 34 minutes to stitch and had 19 718 stitches in it. The centre piece took 44 minutes to stitch out and had 25 699 stitches. I ended up making 7 side pieces as one had sewn a bit funny and it wasn't until I had taken it out of the hoop until I noticed it. I will use this for a bookmark. This morning I joined all the pieces together and it has pride of place on the table awaiting some lollies. There were several sizes to sew out I chose the smaller one. The centre piece would make a lovely Christmas decoration to hang from your tree. Am I going to make one? Probably not ,well maybe next year.

When we were looking around Bridgetown on the weekend we found Hayley's Nursery and what a lovely well stocked nursery it was. I was after a rose to plant to celebrate our anniversary and guess what I found. A rose I had been after for a while. It is called "Best Friend." It is a hybrid tea rose. It is a medium upright bush with deep pink highly fragrant blooms with long stems and good lasting qualities. It has light green glossy foliage and very free flowering. It is named by the RSPCA to honour friendship from loving a pet. I love it because of the name and that it is pink flowering. For Ian and I it will be the perfect reminder of our 25th Wedding Anniversary.

Look what we found while wandering the garden at Ford House. A lovely little pink room with lead light windows. The agapanthus was about to bloom. I wish mine would grow that big. It is amazing what a difference in climate and rainfall make.

Inside was a pink paradise. Pretty feminine gifts to touch and be in awe of.

Lots of lovely pink. It certainly was a shoppers paradise. You know in our room in the wardrobe hanging up were some little girls/babies dresses,a special touch indeed.

We are having a few cooler days before it heats up for the weekend. So I will have a chance to get some more sewing done hopefully.

Happy days.

Bev C

Silver-weekend away.

Hello,

Ian and I celebrated our 25th Wedding Anniversary on the weekend. We were married on the 1st December, this was the closest weekend to that date.It was just so relaxing doing nothing but sight-seeing,eating and relaxing. Ian chose the wonderful Bed and Breakfast at Ford House in Bridgetown. We stayed in the Delaportes Suite. This is where we had breakfast yesterday morning with the other guests. This is an old barn with a wonderful arrangement of gifts you can purchase. On the right hand side on the shelves you can see all the preserving of fruit which the owner Ken does. We had some of his marmalade on freshly baked bread.

I can tell you that these two chairs were just so comfortable. I have always wanted some wing-backed chairs. I think we will have to look out for some.

The carving on the bed heads was just beautiful. I wish we could have slipped the bed heads into our suitcase.
There were several different buildings on the property surrounded by lovely gardens which we had a good walk and look around at. The Blackwood River runs along side the property which adds to the atmosphere. There were some geese that called Ford House home as well. I am glad that they tended to stay down the other end of the property. Although they were all there to greet us at the barn door for breakfast.
It was interesting to read through the "Guests" book in our room to see who had stayed there before us. A Lord and Lady...... of Scotland had signed the page.Wow!!!! It has been a couple of years since we last visited Bridgetown and things had changed a little. Some new shops and some had closed down. We did manage to do some shopping though. Thank you so much for the weekend Ian.

Happy times.

Bev C

"Walk in the Garden."

Hello,

Today I spent the day putting this wall hanging together. Dzintra sent me the pattern a little while ago. It has been on the top of my to do list. It is called "Walk in the Garden" by Runaway Quilts. The pattern was made to suit a "Friends" panel material. As I didn't have access to this material I used what I had on hand including a fat quarter of material that Dzintra sent with the pattern. On the pattern they had the stitchery squares in a different order.The house was first followed by the duck flower and lastly the saying. I changed them around.

After all the animals are always up first. They may go to bed before us but I have never checked on the chooks in the morning and found them asleep.

Look who is sitting on the chimney. We must have all been very good. Santa looks just so happy sitting there.

We get up each day. Thanking the good Lord that we can go about our daily business.

Then we go out and check out the flowers. Thank you so much Dzintra and JoJo for this. I will hang this in my sewing room and remember you for your kindness when I look at it. Another project finished. I often wonder why I spend so much time looking at the pattern when all that time could have been spent sewing it. Oh well, I suppose I could call it research!!!

Happy days.

Bev C