"Oh dear me it's nearly 2017."

Hello,

December has flown by.

 Christmas has been and gone. Thanks Ainsley, Julian, Jacob and Jude for having us for the day. Lots of memories to keep and treasure.

 The Apricot tree has finished for the season. We started picking  only a few then it was a bowlful every day. Even had enough to make some jam one day. Looking forward to the next tree producing early in the year.

Sewing and crafting took a back seat this month but I did manage to do two more face washers for Jacob and Jude for Christmas. Designs are from Kreative Kiwi.

I found two tea towels that were blank in the sewing room. The Christmas design is from Urban Threads and the Kiwi is from Kreative Kiwi.

As 2016 comes to a close I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year. I hope 2017 brings Peace and Happiness to you all.

Happy days.
Bev C

"OPAM finishes for November."

Hello,

November has passed in a blur of busyness. Lots of things happened that certainly weren't planned and are continuing for a bit. I have my fingers crossed all will be well with everyone soon.

I did manage to get some Christmas decorations made up on the embroidery machine.

 These were a free design from Creative Machine Embroidery site. I didn't have glitter to put in them so used some small white beads for the snow. Instead of using felt on the back I had some snow globe Christmas fabric left over from last year.

I purchased a couple of designs from Kreative Kiwi Embroidery designs and have made a start on the popular swirly place mats.  I still need to wash out the wash-away from the edges. The "Construction Set" is perfect for the little boys in my life. I enlarged the design a little and have two of the designs stitched out on some face washers.

Thanks to our children we were treated to a day at the Regal Theatre watching Fawlty Towers.  Or should I say Farty Towels.(You need to go to the show to see what I mean by that!!!) What a great show, so many laughs and the actors were fantastic. My favourite was Manuel, he was the spitting image and had the actions down pat. It was sad to see that the actor Andrew Sachs who played him in the show passed away.

I hope to get back into the sewing room some time very soon and I also need to attend to a lot of dead heading roses in the garden.

Enjoy your weekend.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Makes Me Happy Monday."

Hello,
Happy Monday.

A quick visit to Good Sammy's last week saw me come out with this little bookshelf for the princely sum of three dollars.

 It had one of the hooks missing so Ian  managed to cut out a piece of wood and add some paint. Jacob and Jude loved it.

So then I was able to use the freebie embroidery cars design that I had saved a while ago to make up two pillow cases.

 The garden has been keeping us busy. A couple of loads of sheep manure and some lupin mulch have been added to lots of the plants. The citrus trees have supplied us and family with more than enough mandarin, lemon and oranges. Potato, broad beans, onions, garlic, cauliflower, lettuce etc are picked on a daily basis

It has been a very happy Monday with the completion of the black hexagons. I know there is a way to go with this quilt.  I really don't want to count how many more I have to cut out.

So I will be happy to put the hexies away for a while. The embroidery machine is calling for me to sew up some of the designs I have saved.

I would love to hear what is making you happy this week.

Happy Monday.
Bev C

"Makes Me Happy Monday."

Hello,
Happy Monday.

Making me happy this Monday are my hexagons.

The to do pile is less than the done pile which is a good feeling.  This is a slow stitching project which I pick up and work on in the evenings. If I have a night or two not stitching so be it.

We visited another open garden on Sunday. This one was  aptly named Krannynook in Helena Valley.
As we pulled up to park we realised we had visited this garden before. There is so much to see in this garden that you could visit it again and again and find something  new.

Isn't this a great arch made of horseshoes. The chairs and tables just behind the arch are made of chain. 

Enjoy the wander around the garden...

Every available space was filled with plants and ornaments. There were lots of twists and turns as you walked through the garden. Surprise places to sit or hide were everywhere. The one thing I did think while wandering through the garden that it would be very hard to work out where someone was if you wanted them.

Saturday I was happy to go to a garage sale run by two crafty ladies. I managed to pick up some embroidery threads a few cross stitch patterns and several metres of fabric. One of the ladies owned a craft shop years ago and is de-cluttering. There was so much I could have taken home but one has to be realistic. Someone who does a lot of knitting or crocheting would have been in heaven with the amount of wool that was for sale.

So what is making you happy this week? I would love to hear.

Happy Monday.
Bev C

"Is it Happy Christmas or Merry Christmas? either way it is a cross stitch finish."

Hello,

Do you say Merry Christmas or Happy Christmas. I always think that it should be Merry Christmas and Happy belongs with Easter. You see I found an adorable cross stitch design that is available at the Shepherds Bush  website. It had Happy Christmas on the design so I changed it to Merry Christmas.

I made it into a little hanger for the Christmas tree or for decoration around the home. I added a few buttons from my stash and used the thread which belonged to my Nana to stitch on the ric-rac. The green floral fabric which has little birds as well was used for the backing. I used the recommended DMC threads except for three which I didn't have so used some Puppets threads.

 The other garden we went to last week was in Bickley on 3 and a quarter acres. So there was lots to look at. The garden owner is a qualified horticulturist and sells plants at markets etc. She has a range that is not available in garden centres. It was wonderful to see everything in bloom.Once again it was a cold windy day, which seems to be typical of our Spring weather this year but you have to endure a few hardships in life!

 This was one section in the rear of the yard. So many different plants I haven't seen before.

 My two companions for the day. I bet they were hoping I didn't buy one of those purple shrubs.

 This is the same bed as the previous photo from the other side.

 Being in Bickley of course there had to be fruit trees.

 Out the front garden. Lots of plants re-seeding onto the gravel.

This is the garden bed opposite the previous photo.

There is another open garden to visit this weekend. The weather promises to be a lovely Spring day which will make for a great day out.

Now tell me are you a Merry Christmas or Happy Christmas person, I would love to hear.
Enjoy your weekend.

Happy days.
Bev C