"Makes Me Happy Monday"

Hello and welcome to "Makes Me Happy Monday"

I have been absent from blog land for the last few days. I was booked into have a operation which involved about 5 or 6 procedures last Wednesday afternoon. All has gone well and I have been sleeping and resting for the past few days. Hopefully this operation will improve my general well-being and even may solve another problem I have got. The only down side to this operation is I can't swim and go in the spa for a month. Have to wait until everything heals up. With the hot weather we had over the weekend I would have loved to have a swim. Oh well. I am happy it is all over and done with.

Over the weekend I got to and started and finished some crochet. I made a dish scrubber with some Panda Regal 4 ply cotton I had on hand. I used a 2.5 size crochet hook because that was the biggest size I had on hand unless I went to a size 4 which would have been way to big. I am happy to say that I finished it on Sunday. I started with a row of about 55 chains then did half trebles in each stitch with 2 chains at the start of each row. I should have enough to make another one. This will be added to my projects finished for OPAM. I have had this ball of cotton for about 2 years, I picked it up at the local craft shop for only $2.00. Happy to be using it up. Please note half trebles are called half double crochet in America.

I am happy that early last week I managed to get some machine embroidery done.

I just love these Australian designs.

They are so realistic.

I am also very happy to hear that Lucy has been travelling around New Zealand to some tourist type places and enjoying herself. Taking lots of photos and creating some wonderful memories.
Today I have to get onto finishing an article for the Colour Swap. I went down town this morning and bought some Blue food!!!

Happy Monday
Bev C

Tuesday's Treasures.

Hello and Welcome to Tuesday's Treasures.

Late last year we had a day out in Goomalling and we decided to visit "Slater Homestead" Now I have driven past this building over the last couple of years. It was a typical old building in disrepair. The Shire of Goomalling decided to do this place up.  Slater Homestead was built in 1856. A lovely lady by the name of Wendy met us as we pulled up. There is the main Homestead and a couple of out buildings. We were given a very informative tour of the buildings and believe it or not we spent three hours looking through everything. We all said when we left that was the most informative tour we have ever been on. There was even some afternoon tea at the end in the Tearoom, guess what there was no mention at all of any money. Of course we all put some in the jar.

Overnight Accommodation is available in either a Queen Room or a Double Room. We all agreed that spending a night here would be very interesting. It is open from March to November on the weekends from 10am to 4pm. Devonshire teas and light lunches are available.  There is also a gallery which has displays which change on a regular basis. I didn't get a picture of the main Homestead but you can go to this link and find out more and see some different pictures. I would thoroughly recommending take a Sunday drive for a visit. You won't come home disappointed.

My prayers and thoughts go out to everyone in Christchurch. The effects of this earthquake are devastating.

Remember to check out what other Treasures people found this week at Melody's blog.

Happy days.

"Makes Me Happy Monday"

Hello and Happy Monday to you.

I hope you all had a fantastic weekend, I managed to have a swim in the pool on Saturday which was lovely because there was a difference with the weather forecast and the actual temperature.  Sunday was a lovely cooler though cloudy day. Just perfect for getting out into the garden. Nothing exciting,just tidying up. We went to one of the local nurseries to see if there was anything but came home empty handed.

Now onto what is making me happy today.

There is nothing like a real cup of tea. By that I mean using tea leaves not one of those bag things. With real tea you get to read your leaves at the end of your cup. Do you know what mine says? I have also taken to adding some cinnamon powder to my cuppa for a different taste.
Another thing I have discovered that tastes yummy and fresh is........

 Chives. Yes that is right Chives. We have a few patches of these throughout the garden. On Saturday evening Ian was making a Caesar Salad for tea and I decided to go out the back and see what was growing in the garden that we could add to it. I picked a few stems then decided to try the flowers. First I tried one that was just about to open, Yum is all I can say, it tasted like beautiful fresh Garlic, well that is obvious. You must try it for yourself. I have never eaten the flower head before but we will definitely be using these in our salads again.

A little while ago Pauline blessed me with an award.

Now I have to tell you seven things about me. Here goes.


1. I love reading blogs for inspiration and just to see what you are all up to.

2. I am currently reading "True Believer" by Nicholas Sparks.

3. I am interested in what David Suzuki has to say about how we live.

4. I love gardening especially roses and veggies. I am interested in how these plants came to be what they are today. Nothing like reading a great informative book on these two subjects.

5. If you drop rubbish in the street, it will be me behind you telling you to pick it up. I love watching grown men picking up there cigarette butts!!!!

6. If I could get on a plane and go somewhere it would be to visit Tasmania again and then hop across to New Zealand.

7. I have never bought a lotto ticket,  and probably never will.So no I am not the winner of the 1.8 million that was won in town a few weeks back.

Now I have the pleasure of passing this onto fellow bloggers. In no particular order I wish to pass this onto the following.

Sharon,
Michelle,
Shell,
Val,
Celia,

I am supposed to pass it onto 15 but I think 5 is my favourite number today. If you don't accept blogging awards I fully understand.

Happy Monday everyone, I would love to hear what you think my tea leaves say.

Bev C

Stringybark Farm is finished.

Hello,

I have finally put the finishing touches to a Block of the Month that has been hanging around my sewing room.

This Block of the Month started way back in 2009.

I needed to complete this block of the Farmers.

I added this block of my own. I found the image on the net. Unfortunately this Block of the Month seems to be in limbo.

I found this farm scene material in my stash which was perfect for the backing. Another finish for the month of February. I realised when I finished this I didn't even have it on my "to do list". A bonus.

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend and remember the following.
Live well, laugh often and love much.

Bev C

Tuesday's Treasures.

Hello and Welcome to Tuesday's Treasures.

This week I want to share with you some weighing scales that David picked up when a housemate was cleaning out. They were thrown out for a verge pick-up but David realised they would be worthwhile keeping and brought them home to me. They have been in the shed since. I went up this morning and took some photo's. So they are as is,dust grease and all.

These are Australian made and weigh up to 21 lbs, The company that made them was "Ajax".

These are some old kitchen scales which are also made in Australia. The plate part is missing but they still work and are a nice weight with the solid base. Not like the plastic things you buy now.

I really should give these are good clean up and bring down to the house.

Make sure you take a look at Melody's blog and see who else is joining in Tuesday's Treasures this week.

Happy Treasure Hunting!!!
Bev C

"Makes Me Happy Monday"

Hello and a very Happy Monday to you all.

I have decided to start "Makes Me Happy Monday" again. Thanks for the nudge Pauline.
This week I am happy to see  the Belladonna Lily in flower.

Sometime last year we were in the garden and I asked Ian to spray some weeds very close to the bulbs. Well I was so scared that he had sprayed the bulbs and all luckily some of them seemed to have survived there bit of spray. These are some of the toughest bulbs you can have in the garden and I can see why they are referred to as "Beautiful Lady".

During the last week I have finished a table runner. I bought half a metre of beautiful pink fabric from Cathy.  late last year. I gained some idea's from tablecloths which she had for sale in her shop. These were made by people from 3rd world countries which Cathy was selling at a very reasonable price.

First I machine embroidered some rose and leaf designs from Brother embroidery card number 44. I used some iron on pellon between the top and backing and used two strands of DMC 604 embroidery thread for the bigger than usual stitching.

I love the back of it as much as the front. It reminds me of those Japanese raked garden beds. The gaps where there are no stitches is because it is where the embroidery design is. My fingers can only do so much work!!!!

I love the crinkled effect of the quilting. I washed it and scrunched it up a bit before putting on the binding because I had to get rid of the "blue pen" marks. The quilting rows are half an inch apart. Making it this way I lost none of the effect of the actual design of the fabric.

I am currently finishing some stitchery blocks for a Block of the Month, hopefully I will have them finished and the blocks sewn together by the end of the week.

Happy Monday everyone.
Bev C

Framed.

Hello,

Welcome to a new week.

I had the chance to pick up my cross stitch from the framers last Friday. I am extremely pleased with how it has turned out. Though I do wish it was a bit easier to take a photo of it. I have just spent about half an hour finding a spot where there are no reflections or light shining onto it. Mission accomplished. I haven't any other sewing to report. Last week David came home for a few days so time was taken up with him which is a good thing. So if I didn't reply to your email this is why. After all 19 year old males love using Mum and Dad's computer.

Weather.
Weather conditions over the weekend were "windy" and "dusty". I am just glad that the wind has died down and we have a reasonably cool day. My prayers and thoughts go to those who lost there homes in the Roleystone and Kelmscott fires which started over the weekend and continue to burn. More crews from here are expected to go down and help out this afternoon. This fire was started by someone using a angle grinder. Something that didn't need to happen,especially with the strong winds around over the weekend.

Apologies
This morning I received some emails to join in with Fanbox. I obviously pressed the wrong button when I was trying to get out. So if you received something from them from my email address please delete it. Thanks.

Now I have decided to have a break from blogging for about a week. I won't be joining in Tuesday's Treasures or Colourful Friday. I want to use this time to catch up on some sewing. We are blessed with some cooler weather which makes it more conducive to sewing.I will be checking in on blogs and seeing what everyone is up to though.

Catch you all next week.
Bev C

Share your op-shop and garage sale bargains link -up.

Hello,

Welcome to this special post. There are lots of people who love getting a bargain. Shopping at Garage Sales and Op-Shops is GST (Goods and Services Tax) free. That plus such reasonable/cheap prices is my main reason for shopping like this. Ian and I love looking at Garage Sales,you not only get to check out what people have for sale you get a sneak into there backyard, We have often seen something in someone's backyard and got great ideas from them. Over the years we have bought heaps of things from Garage Sales,though we can go for weeks without seeing anything we want. The biggest item we have bought is a car for David. Though this was a car that was for sale on the verge,a garage sale was down the road.

Since the start of the year I have been on the lookout for Aida cloth. I want to get back into doing some cross stitch but with the cloth priced at about $33.00 per metre here I decided to keep an eye out for some in the Good Sammy's Shop. They have a great range of haberdashery at our local store and I always call in on a regular basis. I even call in here before I go to the local craft/patchwork shops. I was searching through a box of haberdashery last week and there at the bottom of the box was a piece of Aida cloth for $2.00. I grabbed that and also bought a bag of new wool for $4.00. I don't knit but I can crochet so will keep this for later on.

There is nothing quite like finding something that you have been looking for and it popping up right in front of you.

This would have to be my best bargain from a garage sale. I got this box from a lady who was leaving town and having a lifestyle change. It was full of patchwork material,plus there was a heap of blocks made up and several bags of blocks ready to be made up. The total amount I paid for this was $20.00. I am still using up the material.

This is some of the crochet cotton,wool and sewing cotton I have bought from Good Sammy's. I just love the Jo Sharp wool which I paid only $10.00 for the bag. It retails for about $8.50 per ball. So a great bargain. The big cones of cotton were only $2.50. I have also purchased bags of DMC thread for a few dollars,cross stitch kits and material from Good Sammy's. The savings to be made are enormous. Another good thing about buying at op-shops is you are helping the community.

We have bought lots of things for the garden,we paid only $3.00 for this piece.It is quite heavy and will be great for a climber to grow on. We have bought old wheelbarrows tools lattice and even a garden shed from garage sales.

I paid just $3.00 for this hanger. I know it is supposed to hang in your kitchen but I have it hanging outside. I have taken of the garden tools that usually hang on there.

It will be fun to see what bargains you have found at your local op-shop or garage sale.Please link up so everyone can see them.

Happy days.
Bev C

Tuesday's Treasures.

Hello and Welcome to Tuesday's Treasures.

This week we are enjoying the fruits of our labour and enjoying our very own homegrown Treasure.

We are picking fresh  tomatoes.We planted a few plants of  a tomato called "Principe Borghese" and another variety called "Beefsteak". Unfortunately the "Beefsteak" didn't eventuate,the labels must have got mixed up and we got another smaller variety. Which probably was OK because with less people at home the smaller variety is great for popping into salads. I treasure the taste of organic home grown fruit.

To see what other Treasure's are being showcased this week,please check in with Melody at House on the side of the Hill. Thank you for hosting this special day Melody.

Happy days.
Bev C