"Lucy's Awesome Merry-go-round Quilt."

Hello,

Only a few more days of Summer to go!!! Though I still expect some hot weather next month. This has been the hottest drier Summer on record. I am really looking forward to getting out into the garden and organising the veggie patch for Winter vegetables. This month I was determined to finish of this quilt that has been in the cupboard for just a few years. I just needed to hand sew on the middle section,it was already pinned for me. Then I added some borders and I was ready to quilt it.The designs are from a Cactus Punch CD called Fantasy 1 Carousel Menagerie.

Some of the designs are 3D in nature and the tassles on the Giraffes's saddle are cut to be like a real tassle.

With the zebra this was embroidered out then I had to add the saddle on top of it. The details in the embroideries is extraordinary.

I added some information regarding how Merry-go-rounds / Carousels were first invented.

I finished the quilt of this morning,hiding all the threads. The final measurements are about 55 inches square.This quilt now belongs to Lucy. When I brought it out of the cupboard at the beginning of the month she couldn't remember that I had started it for her and asked why I put the information in the middle. She thought as it was her quilt it should have said "Lucy is Awesome." So I think I will call it "Lucy's Awesome Merry-go-round Quilt."

Happy days.

Bev C

"Makes Me Happy" Number 8

Hello,

This week for "Makes Me Happy Monday" I have gone for something completely different again. I am Happy that I know my "Family History". I am a descendant of Robert Carter Convict Number 3180. Robert went on to become a relatively prosperous wheatbelt farmer. Robert and his wife's grave is at the local cemetery. Yesterday we drove out there to take these photo's. Now at the cemetery there is parking either right up at the top or in a car park beside the road before you go in. We decided to park there because the grave is along the first row of graves. We had a bit of a walk to get there. I knew where the grave was but Ian didn't. Luckily he stopped and asked if this was it. I replied no it wasn't. We started walking again and I stopped in my tracks. Just in front of me was a snake!!!! I let it pass on its way and quickly moved on myself. I don't know why these creatures appear in front of me, I just hate them.

Robert and Phoebe have a lovely resting place under the shade of a tree.

This book has been written about all the descendants of Robert and Phoebe Carter. It contains lots of information articles from newspapers and information on which ships people were sent to Australia on.

Late last year while browsing the tables at the Library Book Sale I came across this book called Reflections-Profiles of 150 Women who helped make West Australia's History. This book was produced by the Women's Committee for the 150th Anniversary Celebrations to commemorate the State's sesquincentenary. I knew there was a chance that a relative would be in this and I was right. Jane Adams another relative was picked to be one of the 150 women who had a massive influence on our State's history.
I am so pleased that I can look at these books and know that my family history has been tracked and is still being tracked.

I hope you all have a "Happy Monday".

Bev C

Weekend Happenings at Kainga.

Hello,

Well Ian has just washed two cars. I hope that means we are entitled to some rain. None for months,can't wait to stand outside in the rain. It will happen one day!!!! At least we have temperatures that are in the low 30's over the weekend which is great. I was just going through some photo's and thought you may like the above one. I took this in a shop called The Bach in Whangarei which is in the North Island of New Zealand. This shop was just so wonderful to look around. As you came in the door there was some scissors several metres long and high and a big price tag to go with it. If you owned a material shop it would make a great feature. There were stunning hand made garments lots of jewellery lovely woodwork every conceivable craft. I would have loved to take home this mosaic dressmakers model.

Last night I managed to get a start on my stitchery for the Friday Night Sew-In. It is a good feeling knowing that "out there" there are about 190 plus people joining in with you. Although we are spread over several time zones and even days.

This is a photo of some of the pineapples we have growing at Kainga. These are about the only plants in the garden that are enjoying the hot weather. When you get a pineapple from the shops just cut off the top part with a small amount of the top of the plant. Let it dry out for a couple of days then plant it into either the garden or pot. They love being watered from the top of the plant. It takes about two years for the pineapple to form. This will come from the top of the plant.

Today I made some Liquid Laundry Soap. I found Melissa's blog which has a section where she has a link to some great Aprons and Bags and how to make them. I hope you all enjoy your weekend and I will be back on Monday with "What Makes Me Happy" posting.

Happy days.

Bev C

How to make a "All Natural Iron Cleaner" and Friday Night Sew- In.

Hello,

Today I thought I would should you something that you may wish to make-" A All Natural Iron Cleaner." I have used this to clean the base of my iron for several years now. It is great for getting those marks off your iron when using vliesofix or you have used a higher setting on your iron that you should have and it has left a scorch mark. First of you need some beeswax and some cotton material. I hemmed a piece that ended up being 12.5 inches by 10.5 inches. Just make sure it is big enough to scrunch into a ball so you can clean the base of your iron without burning your fingers.

Slice off some of the beeswax. You don't need much. You can also use the beeswax that you buy in sheets for making candles. I have used this in the past,you only need about a quarter of the sheet of beeswax. Please make sure you have an old towel underneath.

Now I have placed a piece of baking paper under the cotton material and on top of the cotton material. I then set the iron to a fairly high setting like cotton to melt the wax. You can see the wax melting in the photo above. Make sure it spreads all over the cotton material. Be warned the material is very hot now. Take away the baking paper and let the material cool down. You will than have a cloth that cleans your iron naturally. The smell perminating from the cloth is just beautiful. My previous cloth lasted for many years,although in the end it was fairly dirty and had managed to get some holes into it. I purchased my piece of beeswax from the Tourist Bureau in Toodyay and I paid $3.30 for it. If you know a place that sells honey you will quite possibly find beeswax for sale as well.

Tomorrow is the Friday Night Sew In and I am planning to get this stitchery of the Ladybird done. I haven't managed to get much done lately as I have been battling along with a very very low iron level. It is almost non-existant. I have been falling asleep at the drop of a hat,it is common for me to have 3 to 4 hours sleep during the day. I sit down on the lounge chair and I am asleep within a minute. Reading and looking at the computer screen has been near impossible to do for longer than a few minutes at a time. I have had very tired eyes. Things came to ahead last week and I am now on a course of injections over the next couple of months. I am booked in for some tests next month which will hopefully find a cause for it as it has come on quite suddenly. Although I normally don't have a very high level. What I want to know is does anyone else have trouble taking iron supplements. I cannot take them as they make me so tired,it really has the opposite affect. This also happens with multi-vitamins that have iron in as well. If you have had this sort of trouble please let me know what you did about it and if you have any information that a Doctor has given you. I hope you manage to make the Iron Cleaner.

Happy days.

Bev C

p.s I forgot to say when you are melting the wax,make sure the material is folded in half so the wax is between the material.

"Makes Me Happy" Number 7

Hello,

I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentines Day. I am so glad we went out the previous Sunday because it was a lot hotter yesterday. 40 degrees plus.We did our watering in the morning then went for a walk. In the afternoon Ian and I had a swim in the pool to cool down. Lucy had to work on both Saturday and Sunday. We stayed inside and watched the cricket and the Winter Olympics on television. I did manage to get some more work done on the cross stitch. Now for this weeks "Makes Me Happy" I have chosen craft magazines. Look what I got last week for less than $20.00. Five magazines and a DVD. I already had one of the Homespun magazines so I passed this onto Mum. I just love reading magazines and have a pile of them around the chair I sit on in the lounge. I rotate them about from my sewing room so I always have something interesting to read and inspire me. No matter if the magazine is and older one they always "Make Me Happy".What makes you Happy today?

Happy Monday

Bev C

Valentines,PIF,A dear friend and some cross stitch.

Hello,

Last Sunday Ian and I celebrated Valentine's Day with a pub lunch at a hotel in the hills. We then had a wander around the local craft centre. There was a wonderful display of paintings,gosh some people are very clever. We then had a cruise around a garden centre,too hot to buy anything though. I often wonder how some of the garden centres get on at this time of the year.We always celebrate major things like Valentines Day Mothers Day and Fathers Day the week before. It is not crowded out in the restaurants ,after waiting for quite a while some years ago it was decided this was the way to go. Plus usually the cost of the meal seems to be a bit dearer on the actual date. My dear blogging friend Bobbie Lynn kindly sent me one of her precious Valentine cards. I did up a little display of some "Heritage" roses that were coming into bud. Thank you so much Bobbie Lynn. Your card arrived just at the right time. I will treasure this and put it in my sewing room to look at.

What a surprise I got when I got back from the shops the other day. A parcel was on the table out the back. A big plus,it was addressed to me. The other week I had a parcel delivered that was supposed to be for someone in Africa!!!! Inside was my Pay It Forward gift from Cathy. I received one of her bags and a wooden Christmas Ornament which Cathy also makes. I was over the moon getting a late Christmas Present. Your painting on the wood is just beautiful Cathy. Now us women are used to picking up patchwork and feeling it,when Ian got home he saw it and was doing the touchy feely thing. Men and wood!!!

A dear friend Nita passed away earlier on this week. I first met Nita over twenty years ago when I was employed by the Local Neighbourhood Centre to be the Coordinator of the Learning Centre. I was to get it up and running again after it had stalled for a year or so. I started a general craft and chat morning. Nita came along and after several weeks she offered to Tutor a class in Crochet. I organised the class and it was a great success. The crochet ladies still meet every Tuesday during school term. Nita shifted away a while ago. I still send her a Christmas Card every year,last year I got a card from Brian her husband to say she wasn't well. Nita always worked in size 40 crochet cotton and a .75 hook. This is the finest you can get. Her work was of such a high standard,her family is very lucky to have received many pieces of her work. One year she made us all the beaded bookmark you can see in the above photo. Nita also dabbled in ceramics many years ago. I have her teapot and use it every day. Nita taught us how to crochet using graphs and symbols. This was all gobbly gook to us when we all started,but it is so easy to read now. Nita also enjoyed reading and we would often compare authors. Happy memories Nita.

I have been dabbling in a bit of cross stitch at night time. I chose this pattern from a book at the local library. I have changed the colours as the original colours were very drab and dull. Plus I am using a Rusticia coloured Aida cloth which makes it a bit difficult for some of the lighter colours to show up. I haven't kept to the original pattern and have used parts of a couple of other patterns as I have gone along. I may as well us up all the cloth.

Happy days.

Bev C

"Makes Me Happy Monday" Number 6.

Hello,

A Happy Monday to you. Today I have chosen a subject that you can't see.You may wonder what I can't see when there are lots of photo's on this post. On Saturday while doing our weekly shop I kept on smelling "Toxins" I have a very strong sense of smell. I realised that every metre or so hanging on the shelves were toys from overseas. These were giving of an awful smell. We bought some tennis balls back at Christmas to play tennis and as we didn't need them at the time they remained in a drawer until Lucy and Bonnie wanted to play tennis last week. Well the smell from these tennis balls is unbearable. They have been put out the back to be de-smelled!! Nothing has changed smell wise so I think they will go in the bin. So for this weeks "Makes Me Happy Monday" I have chosen "Fresh Air" There is nothing like fresh air to make me happy, I can't stand musty closed up rooms or if I go to someones home and they don't open doors and windows and let in the fresh air. Less than a minutes walk from my home is a road to the water tanks. The tanks provide water to our town. A newer bigger tank has been built over the other side of town but these are still being used.There is lots of fresh air here.

The crop has been harvested and the trees stand guard.

The sheep are having a good feed on the stubble.

I am now halfway up to the tanks.Can you see the tower behind the tree. I live just near that.You can't see Kainga in the photo though.

Lots and lots of fresh air. It certainly makes me happy to breath it all in.

"Happy Monday"

Bev C

What is Aussie and black and white?

Hello,

Well I have managed to get the Black and White Stitching Challenge I have with Anita each month finished. I decided to do some machine embroidery in black thread. I chose to do some Australian designs by Glenn Harris I made six place mats,it was very hard choosing which designs to choose.The designs in the first two place mats are of an old farmhouse and a miners cottage.

These two are a petrol station and church and graveyard.

Another church and surrounds and the Royal Hotel. You can click on the photo's to see them a bit better. I thoroughly enjoyed doing this months challenge. February's stitching challenge subject is "Hearts". I wonder what we will both come up with.

I got a phone call the other day from Chris to say that her parcel of goodies had arrived.This is the table runner I made with the rest of the batik material. It fits her table just fine.

Please check out the Grow Your Own posting. There were a record 61 entries. Lots of lovely recipes all made from items which have been grown by the bloggers.It has been lovely having temperatures in the high 20's. I had all the windows and doors open yesterday catching the breeze. Just the right temperature to do some stitching.

Happy days.

Bev C

"Makes Me Happy Monday" Number 5.

Hello,

Today for "Makes Me Happy Monday" I have chosen Sunflowers for my subject.They are such a happy plant.

My sister Chris has grown this Sunflower called "Moulen Rouge" it looks good enough to eat. I just love the dark chocolate colour.

This one grew in my front garden here at Kainga it is a "Giant Russian" it didn't grow tall but bloomed beautifully.

This one is called "Sweet Empress" and these are still flowering in my front garden.

This one is extra special. Chris has grown this one from a seed that was given out at my brother's funeral. You may remember this posting. Today it is one year since my big brother Peter passed away so this is why I chose sunflowers as my topic.

Remembering some Happy Times like the time we were at Peter's station and he asked me to cook the lambs fry. Now Peter didn't just have a little bit to cook and a small fry pan. No he had the biggest fry pan in the world and the biggest amount of lambs fry to cook. After a while the smell got to me and I had to ask Ian to take over. I went outside gagging from the smell. Peter walks in later on and asks "How is the lamb's fry going?" I have never eaten lambs fry again!!

I can remember the time Peter weighed his head. Yes his head. Only Peter would think of doing that. Remembering the Happy Times is what makes the world a better place.

Happy memories Peter.

Bev C