Hello,

My parcel that I sent off for the Bee Sew Whimsical Secret Santa Honeypot Swap has arrived at its destination. My partner was Clare at http://www.clarescraftroom.blogspot.com/

I made Clare a Journal and a Wall Hanging/Tablerunner. I am so glad that she likes them and will have them on display at Christmas time. My swap partner Lyn has posted mine off and will be here shortly. I can't wait to see it.

Happy stitching.

Bev C

Buttons, tea towels and Billy Joel

Hello,

We were lucky enough to go to the Billy Joel concert on Sunday evening. What a great show he put on. Songs from the past few decades were sung and enjoyed by everybody attending. Thank you to Ainsley Julian Bonnie and Ryan for the lovely weekend we certainly appreciated it.

I made some tea towels recently. I used some buttons that Cheryl from Willowberry Designs had sent me. These raggedy towels are very cute to hang around the home. I am not sure that much wiping up would be done with them.

Thank you to the three lovely ladies who have joined in the Pay It Forward. I have cut out one of the things already and will get onto some sewing. I have finished Lucy's Cat Quilt and will post a picture of it when I have cut off all the threads and put a label onto it.

Happy stitching.

Bev C

Pay it forward reccipients required.

Hello,

I have something special for everyone to join in. My very first Pay It Forward. I was lucky enough to be the second commenter over at Cathy's lovely blog www.paintsewstitch all the way in Canada.

The rules are I will make something for the first three people who leave a comment, you must have a blog and be willing to pass it onto three more people. I will post anywhere in this wide world of ours. I have 365 days to make it and so do you but I am sure we can get it out there in super quick time to keep spreading the love.

Come on, join in the fun and lets spread some good vibes around.

Happy days.

Bev C

Some lovely mail in and out.

Hello,

This lovely little screen print arrived in my mailbox the other day, thanks Lesley. I think I will add some french knots etc to the print and make it into a cushion. It measures 3 3/4 inches long by 3 inches high.

My Secret Santa present is all finished and I posted it yesterday. I hope my swap partner likes it. I had a great time looking through magazines looking for something to make. Thank you to Darlene at Bee Sew Whimsical for organising this Christmas Swap.

This morning I have prepared Lucy's Cat Quilt ready to start quilting it by machine. I would have loved to hand quilt it but it is already a tad late for her Birthday so the machine quilting wins out.

Happy stitching.

Bev C

Kainga blooms and new books.

Hello,

We have been having cooler weather this year than last year. I needed a jacket on out in the garden yesterday. The good thing about this is the rose blooms are staying on longer not being knocked about by heat. The above photo is a rose growing over the back of the gazebo in the back garden.

A Rosemary hedge. This was grown from 3inch cuttings taken a couple of years ago. I have several Rosemary hedges, very tough and drought resistant. I originally bought two plants and have propagated from them.

Everything is in bloom at the moment. Everything seems to self seed very well for me. Hollyhocks are coming up everywhere.

On Friday I was lucky to receive this beautiful book for a present. It is called Naming the Rose discovering who roses are named for by Roger Mann.

When I went to the book store to pick up my book next to it was this book that I had read about and decided it must come home with me. It is called Tea Roses Old Roses for Warm Gardens. by Lynne Chapman, Noelene Drage, Di Durston, Jenny Jones, Hillary Merrifield and Billy West.

Both of these books I will treasure and read on a regular basis. They are full of information and stunning pictures.

Happy gardening.

Bev C

A finished table runner and camera bags.

I made several of these little camera bags earlier on in the year. I adjusted the pattern by putting on another panel so this suited the size of the camera's. Some of them had embroidery and some had only ric-rac. It looks so much nicer when you are out for dinner to have your camera in a little bag and not nude on the table.

I finished putting the binding on this little table runner last night. It is from a book called Thimbleberries Quilts for my Sister's House by Lynette Jensen. It is called Mini Cherry Berry, there was a bigger table runner that actually had cherry's on it. The finished size is about 15 by 25 inches. I used card No.22 from the Brother Embroidery Collection to quilt it.

Happy stitching.

Bev C

Two more journals.

Yesterday I visited a new craft shop in town that stocks lots of scrapbooking stamping haberdashery homespun quilting supplies and art supplies. I bought some black homespun for a quilt I am working on some cute cat buttons for the same quilt some cardstock for Christmas cards and a visual art diary. I have been looking for these visual art diarys for a long time. So of course I had to make some journals. The floral one is for a Christmas present and the sewing notions one is for myself. I will put this in my bag for when I need to have measurements of material and DMC colour numbers etc instead of writing on an old envelope. So much nicer to bring out a journal. Today I will try to get the quilt I am working on finished, well at least the top of it. I am not sure if I will hand quilt it or machine quilt it. It was for Lucy's Birthday which was in July. Gee she is patient.

Happy stitching.

Bev C

A lovely homemade liquid soap recipe

Hello,

Today I will be making soap with a recipe that I have used for a while now. The recipe is very simple and only uses three ingredients .

Homemade Liquid Soap

Grate one bar of sunlight soap and one bar of the nicer soaps for example dove or palmolive, add them to a pot with about six cups of water. I use rainwater. Bring the soap and water to the boil. I give the occassional stir with a wooden spoon. Then give a wizz with a stick blender. Leave it overnight to thicken. water down if desired. Fills 4 or 5 bottles depending on the size. You can reuse shampoo bottles and hand pump bottles. Have a go with this recipe. It is a very
economical recipe.

Happy days.

Bev C

Happy Anniversary

Hello,

Well it is Ainsley and Julian's first wedding anniversary today. It is hard to believe that 12 months ago today they were married. For your first anniversary the present is supposed to be paper. So I made them a cushion with some of the leftover material from the wedding quilt. I used paper piecing and hand stitched the hexagons onto the material. I even made some piping for the edge which was a bit of a challenge getting around the corners. After completing the cushion and getting it ready to be pressed I felt front and could hear paper, I had left one of the hexagon papers inside. So a little bit of unpicking then stitching it back up again. Enjoy your day Ainsley and Julian and may you have many more anniversaries together.

Happy days.

Bev C

Delightful Tasmania

Hello,

Don't you just love tulips. We took these photo's in Tasmania two years ago. I was amazed at the amount of tulips. Cheryl over at Willowberry designs wanted us to show some photo's of our holidays and let her know about our memories of holidays. We are saving our pennies and hope to get back there again one day.

Enjoy your day

Bev C

Secrets and giveaways

Hello,

There are lots of secrets being kept around here. I have been making this hexagon item for somebody special. I was working on it the other night and Lucy said it looked like a beehive. A photo of the finished item will be revealed at a later date.

My Secret Santa has been in touch with me, thanks for stopping by. I have contacted my swap partner and have started on the present. I

got a lovely book from the Library yesterday about card making. So will have a go at making something special.

Kyle and Janelle are having a giveaway with a lovely bag as the prize, check them out at there blog; http://www.threadsoffriendship.blogspot.com you even get to choose the material. How special is that.

Happy stitching.

Bev C

Snapshots of an Open Garden

I visited a garden on Sunday as part of the Australian Open Garden Scheme. This garden is on a farm on sandplain country. The owners had collected old items and these were displayed around the verandah. The sewing machine attracted my attention. Old posts were used along the edges of paths. They are lucky enough to have a lake as part of their garden, what a lovely place to spend on a hot day. Lots of native trees have been planted with plenty of them having finished flowering although there was enough other roses lavenders and numerous other trees in flower. A real bee's heaven. If you have the chance to get to some of these open gardens you will not only see different styles of gardens lots of the gardeners donate the entry fee to a local charity, a win win for everyone.

Happy gardening.

Bev C

Look what has been growing in my pantry cupboard.

Hello,

Look what I have had in my pantry cupboard for the past couple of weeks. A Choko, the botanical name is Sechium edule. You cannot buy Choko's at your garden centre I purchased this one at the vegie department at my local shop. If you want to grow them all you have to do is put them in a dark place for a few weeks and they will sprout. Now is the time to do this. Choko is a herbaceous, semi-decidious perennial vine and it is extremely vigorious. The pear shaped fruit is eaten as a vegetable or stewed in sugar which tastes like stewed pears. The whole fruit is planted by partially burying it at a 45 degree angle, with the growing shoot facing downwards and the stem end slightly above the level of the ground. I hope my choko does grow. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

Happy gardening.

Bev C