"John Lennon."

Imagine all the people living in peace. You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one.
I hope someday you'll join us and the world will live as one.
John Lennon.

Hello,

Taking a break from blogging, will be back sometime after Christmas. I hope everyone has a wonderful time together over the festive season.

Merry Christmas.
Bev C

"What is a rose, A cup of pure delight."

Hello,

Well I hope all fellow  West Aussies survived the weather we had the past couple of days. Lightening strikes, Thunder,  Rain and Floods. Tuesday morning we had a very quick Lightening storm pass through. I was sitting crocheting in the family room  waiting to go to the Crochet Group Christmas Wind-up when BANG. Lightening struck a tree in the neighbours back yard. A Transformer at the top of our block also blew up. Power was off and on during the day. Our hard drive didn't want to work. Later on that evening we tried it again and luckily all was OK. I think something must have clicked off and come back when full power was restored. The next day we had 18.5mls of rain within a few minutes. It certainly was welcome here, Ian had just fertilised the lawn on the weekend so we have a lovely green lawn. Though some places down south didn't fair so well. Once town had over 200 mls in the day.

With the weird weather going on I managed to finish a few projects.

I saw the quote a while back and took note of it in my little black book (aka a piece of scrap paper) and made up a table runner. The roses on display are a David Austin called "Mary Rose". Now the binding may not go exactly with the front but it goes so well with the backing. See I made it reversible without realising.

A while ago Marina sent me some crochet cotton. Recently Cheryll sent the two Hankies as she knew I crocheted. So I had fun making up two patterns to fit them. Thanks ladies, who knew that it takes three people to do somethings.!!!

I have been going through all those Tutorials and Patterns that I have had saved. I actually deleted a heap, how many quilts bags etc is a woman to make. One pattern I did keep was Terrie's Make-up Bag Tutorial.

I first made the little blue teacup one, complete with the proper Heat n Bond Vinyl lining. Then I made the second one bigger to store stitching items in. Terrie's pattern was the best of the best as far as zipper bags go. I had downloaded several patterns but found all of them except for Terrie's had the lining done correctly so no stitching shows inside the bag. Thanks Terrie for the pattern, it only took me two years to get it done.

As usual family members are continuing to come and go here at Kainga.

David has just come back from a week in Sydney. He attended his friend Sav's Graduation from University. Here they are in front of the Sydney Opera House.

I hope you enjoy the weekend.

Happy days.
Bev C

" Kainga Lotion Bar Tutorial."

Hello,

Happy Monday,

Over the weekend I had a some fun in the kitchen making some Lotion Bars. Maybe you haven't heard of them. They are a hard lotion that is just  perfect for dry skin. I found lots of directions on the net  using  different oils. I didn't want to buy anything so I made up my own recipe using the oils I had on hand. They turned out perfectly.

Kainga Lotion Bars.

First you need your three ingredients.

I used Beeswax, Coconut Oil (Copha) and Olive Oil. You need equal quantities of each ingredient by weight. As this was a tester I used 60 grams of each.

I decided to melt the oils in a glass jug by slowly bringing the water in the saucepan to a reasonable heat. This also makes it easy to pour the oils into the containers later on. Place the Beeswax in the glass jug. Let it melt then add the Coconut Oil, when this is all melted add the Olive Oil.  Stir to mix oils together. I used a wooden skewer to mix.  By this time I had turned off the stove.

I used several different types of containers to set the Lotion Bars in. They more or less start setting before your eyes.

These can then be wrapped in Cellophane as a lovely gift. The glass jug can then be wiped clean with some Kitchen paper. You don't want the oil blocking up your drains.

I hope you try this Lotion Bar, let me know if you make some.

Happy Monday
Bev C

"Exploring."

Hello,

Over the past week Ian and I have been exploring the Great Southern Region of Western Australia. It was great fun to get away and see what this part of the state has to offer. We found lots of Cafes, Patchwork Shops in small towns even a Distillery was on our list of places to visit.

We even got extremely close to some Koalas. They were all asleep.

We had a wonderful time at the Rose Maze in Kojonup. 2000 roses planted by the community, farmers brought in old pieces of wood etc from the farms for the gardens. There were plaques around telling the story of three different people, these were so interesting to read.

We went back to the Beach where Ian once lived. It is full of designer houses and hotels now.

While we were in Albany we had to take a photo of Dog Rock. This is the most photographed tourist attraction in Albany.

We found the Wind Farm just outside Albany so interesting. Loved walking along the pathways, surrounded by native plants.

Of course a trip to this region means a visit to the Natural Bridge and Gap (above).

We also enjoyed a morning visiting Whale World at Albany.

Of course all this travelling just wears you out.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Spring at Kainga 2012."

Hello,

Happy Monday, today I wanted to share some of my favourite photo's I took during Spring 2012 here at Kainga. I hope you enjoy looking at them.

Hope you have the best Monday.

Happy days.
Bev C