"Final Last Words."

Hello,

Happy Monday to you.

This week I am so happy to have done the last bit of sewing that was required for the year. On Sunday I used up the leftover blocks from Lucy's quilt to make some matching pillowslips. Not a scrap was left over.

At the moment the house is quiet, I have a CD playing on the computer called "In the Garden" from the ABC shop. It is very peaceful though I know this won't last. I am happy to be enjoying this time before Lucy and David return tomorrow. I know they will say change the music!!! Classical music and young adults don't go together.

I have decided to take a little break from blogging over the Christmas, New Year holidays. So I want to take this opportunity to everyone who has played a part in my blogging. To those who have shared swaps, visits, emails etc you play a  part in my daily life and I thank you.

I don't know how often I will be blogging next year but I do plan to continue "My Happy Monday" posts. I have Pauline to thank for this, earlier on in the year she asked when they were coming back. I thoroughly enjoy these posts because you know most times it is the simple everyday things that "Make Me Happy."

Over the break I plan to catch up on all those projects like Block of the Months I got so enthused about but didn't keep up with etc. You know how it is, too many beautiful projects in magazines and blog land to entice me.

I will probably still have a look around blogs to see what everyone is doing, I will be like an angel looking over your shoulder armed with a quick-un-pick if you need it !!

So please enjoy the festive season. Travel safely if you are driving and remember that if you don't get what you want from the man in the big red suit you can always buy it in the Boxing Day sales.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Last quilt for the year at FNSI."

Hello,

I only did about 20 minutes worth of sewing on Friday evening. I had sewn on the binding and pinned it over to hand sew. Then I looked for some matching thread. I didn't have any. Why oh why didn't I think about this yesterday. So a quick trip to the patchwork shop this morning.

I completed it this afternoon. This quilt is for Lucy. A 18th Birthday present, a little late but it will be ready on her bed when she gets back from staying a few days with her brother David.

The quilt is quite big and measures 57.5 inches wide and 88.5 inches long.

This photo shows the quilting.With the plain coloured fabric it could easily be reversible. It was great to have Friday-Night-Sew-In to finish this project.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Occupy Your Sewing Room"

Hello,

I recently participated in "Occupy your Sewing Room" which ran from the 3rd to the 10th December. This was organised by Barbara

Here is what I got up to.

I finished the quilt I have been working on. This one is designed by Paula Stoddard and is called "Jacks on Six."  It is a very cloudy day here not great for taking photo's. This quilt has been on my "to do list" for the whole of 2011. I will probably hand quilt this one over Summer.

I made a start on six place mats. These have been machine embroidered with historical buildings from around West Australia.

Hopefully these will be finished by Christmas. If not you can give New Year's presents can't you.

I had this  Teapot design saved on my sewing machine for quite a while.  I used some Insul-Bright for the wadding. So now we have a hot pad especially for our teapot.The hot pad measure 12 inches long by 10 inches wide.
This design took 57 minutes to stitch out because it had 27105 stitches on it.

Thanks so much Barbara for Hosting this sewing event. Make sure you check out and see what everyone got up to.

I also have received two prizes from recent giveaway wins. The first one to arrive was a facial scrub which is for Ian. I won this from Craft Gossip.  This site is wonderful and has  lots of different ideas. The other one is the Quiltmakers Magazine which I won from Heidi.  Heidi has another Friday- Night -Sew- In this week. I plan to get the binding on a quilt. What are you doing on FNSI?

Whatever you do,do it with a smile from your heart.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Makes Me Happy Monday."

Hello and a huge big "Happy Monday" to everyone.

I have been away from the computer since my last post. We have been busy here at Kainga with visitors, I think I have seen more suitcases coming and going than hot breakfasts.

The big news is why we have had all those visitors. Lucy came back from her year in New Zealand on Wednesday. We were waiting at the airport for her and photographers started arriving then a few more then camera crews. We thought this couldn't just be for Lucy!!! No it was for Paul Collingwood the English cricketer. Though I had no idea who he was Ian knew. The blokes who were at the airport and a few young girls quickly got out there cameras.

Lucy had a wonderful time while she was away. The last three weeks was on a tour of the South Island. She met some wonderful fellow travellers and did things we wouldn't do.

Like jumping into canyons in a plastic garden chair. It was so much fun watching DVDs of these two jumps and her Nevis Bungy Jump. Which is 134 metres down!!!! You think Lucy would have wanted a few days rest when getting home, no on Friday we had a trip with her Gran to Goomalling for some shopping and lunch at our favourite place to eat the Go-Cafe. Then on Sunday she and a few friends left to go camping for the week. So glad to have you back home Lucy.

I have managed to get some machine embroidery done over the last few days. Can you guess who this fellow is?

Since I haven't been on my blog since last week I noticed my Header has changed size. Has Blogger been playing with things while I was away????

Whatever you do make sure you have a "Happy Monday."

Happy days.
Bev C

"Sunflowers and that rain."

Hello,

Yesterday was a computer free day, I was planning to join in Tuesday's Treasures but the weather controlled what I did. I woke at a quarter to five to a double rainbow outside and the blackest skies. The rain came then left us for a while. So I washed windows floors and curtains and cooked cakes etc. All the while there was lots of lightning around the place and huge claps of thunder. Bonnie came home at lunch time and showed me a photo of the hail that had fallen at Dowerin. It was the size of golf balls. In the afternoon I decided to wash the patio table and chairs and generally wash down everything along the patio and back verandah. Ian rang to say that a huge storm had just gone through his workplace. By then it had started to rain here at Kainga. Well within minutes you could hardly see anything outside the rain and wind had come. We had 18mls of rain in a very short time,maybe 5 to 10 minutes if that. The road down the bottom looked like a river and a small river was running down the side of our block. The hardware store in the main street got struck by lightning and the Christmas decorations in the main street came down. The Shire will be busy over the next couple of weeks cleaning up the roads and broken trees. Today the sun is shining and everything looks clean and fresh though there are more weather warnings today. At least we weren't one of those who were stuck on the tarmac at the Perth airport. Passengers had to wait up to 8 hours on the planes after landing because of the lightning.  It wasn't safe for them to disembark.

 I did get one of the sunflowers appliqued on the outer block for the quilt I am working on yesterday. Two and a half to go.

Hope you have a great day, we are here at Kainga.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Makes Me Happy Monday."

"Happy Monday."

Today I am happy to share a recipe. Nothing better than a cake recipe that is so easy to whip up.

I will give the recipe then tell how I changed it to suit the ingredients I had on hand.

Tea cake.

1 cup mixed fruit
2 cups self raising flour
125grams butter/margarine
1 teaspoon mixed spice
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon bi-carb soda
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Place fruit,sugar,butter and bi-carb into a bowl. Pour over one cup boiling water. Stir in flour,spices and beaten egg. Grease and flour a loaf tin. Bake in a moderate oven for 25 to 30 minutes.

Now I didn't have mixed fruit so used sultanas. I used a mixture of butter and margarine because I usually use butter in cake making and only had a little left so melted the butter and margarine together and added to the mix. I used only 3/4 cup of sugar. You can always do with less sugar. One teaspoon of mixed spice is never enough for me. I added about 4 teaspoons. This makes a lovely moist cake.

I am so happy, can you see the apricots in the photo above. I picked them on Sunday morning. This year our tree is bearing more fruit. Last year was the first year it had fruited, I missed it. I found the only apricot it had grown on the ground all soggy. So this year I was keen to make sure the fruit ripened and was  then picked on time. I had covered the fruit with a net so the birds couldn't find them. It was wonderful to eat these fruit which haven't been sprayed with anything.

Very happy to have the blocks finished for the centre part of the quilt I am working on. Today I hope to get some applique on the next section done. I cut out  the shapes yesterday and plan to start the applique today doing button hole by hand.

Happy days.

Bev C

New blocks and seeing the light.

Hello,

This week I planned to get into the sewing room each day. Today I spent plenty of time un-sewing. Gosh putting one half of a block the wrong way up was causing a huge problem. Of course it all fell into place once I had worked out what I had done wrong. The next block came together in a matter of minutes. I am working on a quilt which has 16 blocks in the centre.

The size of the completed blocks is 9.5 inches. I have made ten so far. Hopefully tomorrow will be a un-sewing free day. The blue fabric in the block above is some Indigo fabric that came from the Stone Store in Kerikeri in New Zealand. It is such a beautiful fabric, I love the smell of it when you iron it. This type of fabric will age beautifully.

Yesterday I received some lovely mail all the way from America.

It was the most useful light a Beam N Read. I was the lucky winner from Jocelyn's blog "Happy Cottage Quilter."  Thanks so much Jocelyn. If you haven't read her blog make sure you do. Thanks also to Beam N Read. I found another use for this light. It would make a great light for a home made light box. Using LED lights it doesn't heat up. The Beam N Read is so light and only takes 4 AA batteries to run it.

I hope you have a wonderful Friday doing something you love. I will be in my sewing room.
Happy days.
Bev C

"Makes Me Happy Monday."

Hello and a very Happy Monday to you.

I had a lovely weekend and I hope you did as well.

Onto what is making me happy today. Just look at the lovely lot of crochet thread and a hook from Marina. Some crocheting is on the cards over Summer. Thank you so much Marina, appreciate it so much.

I picked up the "Welcome" cross stitch from the framers last week. Please ignore the image of the woman taking the photo in the glass.Didn't realise it until I had it loaded up.

Today I finished the last Christmas Stitchery. I made this one into a table topper.  I had fun making little tassels from the DMC thread for his scarf. I machine embroidered the words "It's 45 degrees here- I need a cold drink" We haven't got the climate for a Snowmen to survive let alone exist. I think I should have added a "coldie" in his hand!!!

I hope you have a "Happy Monday" and all the best for the week. I wonder what is making you happy today.

Happy days.
Bev C

"The Week that was."

Hello,

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend. Lovely cooler day here today which is a relief after the events of the week.

Earlier on in the week I made a journal cover with one of the free fabrics I received recently. I decided to add a  garden stitchery to the front. I will be using this next year to write down what we have planted and the produce we pick from the garden each day. I did this a few years back and was quite surprised with the amounts of home grown produce we did eat. I dressed the lady in a purple outfit because this scene just made me think of that poem "When I am old I will wear purple."

On Wednesday morning I happened to look out the kitchen window and saw that a fire in the paddock across the road had just started. A worker had been using a ride-on-mower to clear around the row of trees, which caused a spark. It spread so quickly. The fire brigade came with two trucks and the owner had a bulldozer clearing a firebreak. I have never seen grown men activate themselves so quickly. I know the farmer who owns the property next to it was not very happy about it. Of course later on in the day we turned on the news and saw the devastation caused by fires down at Margaret River. It really made me realise that if something like this happened  and if it got more dangerous we would definitely leave and be safe. Because we live close to the water tanks our water pressure is a lot lower than other areas in town.

I did receive my charm pack which I won from Johanna, I have a  plan for this. It will be a project on the list for next year. Thanks Johanna.

It has been a busy week with an end of year lunch for our sewing group and garden club. I am glad we have these functions in November and not December. I hope you enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Thank you Mr Singer"

Hello,

Today I want to share a treasure with you which hangs on the wall in my sewing room.

As soon as I see this picture my feet start moving up and down like I was treadling away on the machine.

To see more Treasure's check out Melody's blog.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Makes Me Happy Monday."

Hello and a super Happy Monday to you all.

We had a fantastic weekend. I hope you did too. We managed to fit a lot in, there were visits to Ainsley and Julian and friends,shopping, markets, fabric buying etc.

On Friday we received a post card from Lucy. The mail was super quick from New Zealand. It was a card from Kaikoura where she went swimming with the dolphins last Monday.

Now on Saturday she took a ride in a Helicopter to the top of the Franz Joseph Glacier and hiked over the Glacier for two hours. To quote Lucy "It was the best day of her life ever" I think she is turning into a bit of a "Bond Girl".

The floral fabric is some I picked up yesterday at the Guilford Town Hall Markets. We got there as everyone was packing up but we saw this fabric which was only $5.00 for 2 metres. Even Ian knew that was a good price. It is keeping my sewing room company at the moment until I work out what it will be used in.

These are the fabrics I received last week from Fabric Traders. I have plans to use the floral fabric on the end for a Garden Journal I wish to make sometime this week. Thanks so much ladies for the fabric.

I was so happy to catch up with some great on-line friends on the weekend. Sue and Maria were at a retreat nearby and I took the opportunity to travel across to Toodyay for a chat. I now know why they love these weekends. I think it is the massage that they all sign up for. Seriously it was a great afternoon and a pleasure to chat and see Sue's tumbler quilt and Maria's Elves in real life. Thanks for asking me along ladies. If you have the opportunity to meet up with an on-line friend please take it up. You know how you start chatting to people in line at the craft shop about what they are making , it is just like that. You have lots in common already.

 Every now and again Ian and I have a walk around the river. One of the swans comes up to greet us in a certain spot each time. So last week I remembered to take my camera. The swans have been on the river for many years.

On Saturday Ian and I took the opportunity to have a look around the new beaut flash Recreation Centre and catch up with some locals. This new building has only been open for use for a few weeks and it was wonderful to be able to have a look around. It is going to be a great asset to the town. Apparently State Netball games are going to be played here.

Pauline has kindly passed on this award to me. It is for blogs with less than 200 followers. I am finding it a hard task to pick out several people to pass this onto. Remember being at school and you had to be picked for teams. It is like that. So if you have less than 200 followers and you are reading this please take it on.

I found this on Barbara's blog this morning and have decided to join in. Nothing makes me happier than occupying my sewing room. Maybe you could join in too.

I received a phone call from a handsome young man this morning inviting me out to lunch so I better go and get ready for him to arrive.

I hope you have a very Happy Monday.

Happy days.
Bev C

.

"A finish for Friday-Night-Sew-In."

Hello,

I hope you had or are having a successful Friday-Night-Sew-In. I actually had a Afternoon-Sew-In yesterday.
I sat and watched Miss Marple and did the hand quilting and put the binding on later on in the day.

Another table runner finished thanks to the Sew-In. I enjoy these Sewing session because I know I can get something finished. I hope you got a finish or two.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Candle Mat arrives and Friday-Night-Sew-In is on this Friday."

Hello,

Hope all is well in your part of the world. I received a lovely email from O'faigh to let me know that her parcel for the Candle Mat Swap has arrived. So I can now reveal what I made.

I used a pattern from Natalie's book that is actually for a wall clock. I loved this pattern as soon as I got the book and wanted to make it into a mat. So when the swap came up I knew just what I wanted to make.

I also included some goodies in the parcel.

I don't have a photo of them wrapped up in the Christmas paper, that is on my other computer which is being cleaned and serviced. I included a box of Turkish Delight, Post-It Notes ,Christmas Cards, one of those you can't live without Frixion Pens and as O'Faigh loves old things I went to the Red Cross shop in search of some embroidered doilies. Unfortunately I couldn't get some but I did manage to pick up the linen serviette. I am pretty sure these are the same as some that my Mum has. Thanks so much for being my swap partner Lyn. It was a pleasure doing a swap with you.

What are you doing on Friday night? I will be joining in the Friday -Night -Sew -In.

I have these stitcheries to make into a table runner. I have it all joined together,so on Friday I will be hand quilting the runner. Nothing like a bit of hand quilting to complete a project. I hope you can join us. You don't have to sew you can knit, crochet, make cards whatever you like. It is a great way to get a project completed or even started.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Makes Me Happy Monday."

Hello,

Happy Monday.

Yesterday I finished this table runner I made with some of the fabrics I got from Impera Magna. It is quite long at 45 inches and it is just under 15 inches wide. I didn't follow a pattern for this runner. I used a cupcake holder as a template for the centre of each block. You can find lots of shapes from the kitchen to use in applique.

Saturday morning we did our weekly shop. Guess what Banana's were on special at $4.99 so we bought a bunch. It was so lovely biting into a banana after going without them for so long. Very happy indeed,even had a banana on my toast with a sprinkling of cinnamon this morning. It has been many months without this fruit after the devastation caused by floods in Carnarvon which is in the north of West Australia and Queensland earlier this year.

There were some markets and displays on at the Old Railway Station on Saturday. One of the stall holders had this moon planting calendar. I was very happy to purchase this. Have been after one for sometime. The lady had some photo's of her vegie garden and a older Dutch lady who lives on 5 acres in York grows all her plants and vegies by the moon. There gardens were flourishing. So we will be following this way to see how things go.

"Many Happy Returns."

Our garden is loving the cooler weather we have experienced this Spring. I don't think we have had a hot day yet. I haven't felt this comfortable at this time of the year for ages. The roses are enjoying it too. The rose above is called "Many Happy Returns." 

"Many Happy Returns."

It is a great ground cover rose. It flowers in clusters. It was bred by Harkness in 1991.It has really taken of this year and filing up the space. Happy to see it growing so well.

I am also very happy that Lucy has started her holiday. She is touring the South Island of New Zealand for the next couple of weeks. Lucy will be seeing lots and enjoying things like Bungy Jumping in Queenstown and I know she is excited to be going to the Franz Joseph Glacier. Enjoy yourself Lucy.

Whatever you do today I hope you have a Happy Monday.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Free Fabric."

Hello .

This post is for all those who love beautiful fabric and even better a fabulous shop to buy it from.
Fabric Traders is giving away a grab bag of fabric. How good is that. All you have to do is visit them and do a posting about your favourite fabric from the shop.




This is my chosen fabric some "French Hatbox in Pastel Green" by Tanya Wheelan of Free Spirit. You know it had to feature roses.

Make sure you check out Fabric Traders.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Overwhelmed."

Hello,

Monday afternoon I received my swap parcel from O'faigh. I was overwhelmed to say the least. Look how lovely the presents are wrapped.

Check out the goodies in the box, a pom-pom maker,fabric,Christmas decorations, broach, bag,  bobbin box and a little book with tips and instructions.

I am in love with my candle-mat. O'faigh did a beautiful job on the stitchery which is attached to  felt. I don't have anything that is made of felt so really appreciate receiving this candle-mat. Thank you to O'faigh for a beautiful parcel and a special thank you to Cheryll for organising this swap.

Yesterday I took a trip to Midland dropping of a quilt at the  machine quilters on the way. I took my "Welcome" cross stitch to the framers and this will be ready on the 18th of November. When I walked into the framers there was a lady in front of me getting a cross stitch framed. I had to wait about 20 minutes for her to decide what she wanted. Heavens knows how this woman gets on in life, she couldn't make any decision. The framers wife was so patient with her. I had my business done in about 5 minutes. I did purchase a little fabric on my day out including 5 beautiful fat quarters which I gave to my Mum. One of the pieces was actually bigger than a fat quarter and had lots of chooks and roosters on it. Just perfect for a wall hanging.

"Be as the dragonfly,
soar on your dreams.
Be as the water,
reflect Beauty.
Be as the seasons,
open to change.
Be as the wind,
refresh your Spirit.
Be as the blossom,
open to Joy."

Happy days.
Bev C

"Makes Me Happy Monday"

Hello and a very Happy Monday to you.

The past week has flown by. A little secret sewing has been done but I have mainly been out in the garden working.

Last Friday I was so happy to receive my giveaway parcel from Marj. A watercolour kit called "Spring Gardening." Marj was having a giveaway of items that she no longer wanted and there several items to choose from. I put my name in the hat for this kit and I was the lucky winner. Thanks so much Marj.

Saturday afternoon was the Garden Club meeting and one of the ladies had a pile of gardening books to pass onto others. I chose several and these two are my favourites. Rose books always make me happy.

"Gertrude Jekyll"

Have you met Gertrude? She makes me very happy.  We have several along the front garden and one up near the house outside the kitchen window. She is is full bloom now and the perfume is just divine.

I hope you have a very Happy Monday.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Makes Me Happy Monday"

Hello and a very Happy Monday to you.

We have just had a three day weekend. So that meant with the beautiful Spring weather we have been having we spent it out in the garden. Lots of tidying up. Ian trimmed the Tagaste hedge on the verge and I think I have just about pulled out 98% of the weeds. Though next weekend we will probably be still doing that. October has seen us have the same amount of rainfall as we have in July which is our wettest month.

I am extremely happy that the Foxgloves I planted have reached the stage where they have started blooming. I planted them in a different garden bed this year. In the past they have been complete failures. So getting them to bloom is making me very happy indeed.

Foxglove

Our hydroponic tomatoes are coming along well. The plants were potted into bigger pots about a fortnight ago and we have moved them into a fibreglass pond that we have.

Our first Hydroponic Tomato

Very happy to see that lovely red tomato all ready for picking. It will be interesting to see if there is much difference in taste compared to ones grown in soil. 

"Windsor" Sweet Pea.

The "Windsor" Sweet Pea is blooming as well. It goes so well with the Gaura that is in the background. Looking forward to saving the seeds of the peas. Some Sweet Peas I got of a lady from Garden Club a few years back have decided to come up in the garden after a few years absence. These ones are bright red and beautifully perfumed. Funny thing is they are no where I had the original lot planted. This I guess is one of the joys of gardening, there are always surprises to find.

Sometime today the world's seven billionth person is going to born. Can you believe that number.

Whatever you do today I hope it makes you happy.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Welcome" cross stitch finished and a surprise visitor.

Hello,

On Wednesday I put the last back stitch into the "Welcome" cross stitch.

This was worked on 14 count Aida.
Stitch count 163W X 66H
DMC Threads
Kit purchased from Good Sammy's for $3.00.

Next time we go to Midland I will drop this off to be framed. It will look fantastic amongst the other cross stitch on our family room wall.

I had a SURPRISE visitor on Tuesday morning, I only caught a glimpse of him out of the corner of my eye as I was walking the kitchen scraps to the chooks.

Look at the Bobtail Goanna sunning himself in the garden. Looks like he has been eating lots since he has come out for the warmer months. I can tell you my heart beat very fast for a few seconds, then I realised it was just a goanna not one of those other awful things. Bonnie doesn't like these either. On Thursday they had one walk in with a customer through the automatic doors. He ended up in one of the back offices tangled in the computer cords. One of the "farm" girls had to pick him up and put him out the back garden.

Talking on the phone with Lucy today, she said she hasn't been mentioned here on my blog  for a while so a big Hello to Lucy. Enjoy your weekend Lucy.

Happy days.
Bev C