"Makes Me Happy Monday"

Hello,

Happy Monday everyone. I have been a bit absent from the computer lately. Two children have decided to return home for a short while. One went on the weekend and another is back again today. Two weeks ago Bonnie text us asking what was for tea. She stayed two weeks!!! Her housemate was overseas and she didn't want to stay in the house alone. So that has meant less computer time for me. I have been busy though. I am working on the Catnip Quilt and have nearly finished the applique. I had sewing on Friday so took that along and managed to get 6 hours of hand sewing done.

Yesterday afternoon I found my book called "All Sewn Up" twenty imaginative sewing projects for home and family. This is published by Brother sewing machines. I used the "Betty Boop" fabric that Marina kindly

sent me to make some pillowslips.
I made a pillowslip with the fabric and used some of the lime green fabric that I got from Good Sammy's a few weeks back. Remember I got 7 metres of it for only $1.00.

This is the other one I made. I used a free  machine embroidery alphabet design I downloaded for the name. The first photo shows the actual colour more correctly. Two more projects to add to the OPAM  (One Project A Month) Challenge.

I was pretty happy on Saturday morning when I went to the parish garage sale. I picked up these nine magazines for only $3.00. I will be kept busy reading these.

We had 17.5mls of rain overnight. Gosh it was great to hear the sound of rain on the roof. This is the most rain in a day since July last year. Rain is pretty scarce around these parts. The forecast for Winter is average with warmer days and nights and not much rain. Of course when it rains all sorts of insects and spiders come out of hiding. I found this bug huge moth near the front door this morning. I am certainly glad he didn't make it inside. I can just image what Bonnie would say if she saw this!!!!

I hope you all have a fantastic Monday.
Happy days.
Bev C

"Makes Me Happy Monday" and "Tuesday's Treasures"

Hello and Happy Monday to you.

I received some lovely mail this morning. This type of mail always makes me happy.

Thank you to Marina who sent me this parcel of "Betty Boop" material I won recently from her blog. I plan to make something for Bonnie out of this material. The best ever display of "Betty Boop" I have ever seen is at Reliquaire. This is definately a great place to shop.

"Camp David"

I am so happy that this rose is flowering. It is called "Camp David" Ian and Lucy purchased this for me last year. I couldn't believe that they bought a dead stick home for me. I had to give it extra love and care and planted it into a pot for sometime to make sure it would survive. It is flowering beautifully now.

Here in Australia there must be a cooking show on each television channel at the moment. Last year while watching Masterchef I was enticed to buy some "White Quinoa" This morning I decided to make some up for breakie. I added some apple and cinnamon. I followed the instructions on the side of the packet. It tasted delicious. I think though that I have found the cure for world hunger. It made such a huge amount,the chooks had a treat to.  I will certainly reduce the quantities next time. I have noticed that some of the bread I have bought lately has Quinoa in it as well. Has anyone else tried this grain? I would love to hear about your cooking process with this.

"Mutabilis"

I am happy that Bonnie has shown me a few more functions that are on my camera. Happy to be out in the garden taking close ups of the roses.

Tuesday's Treasures.

I decided to double up and include Tuesday's Treasures in this post.

I love my two latest purchases. The teapot on the left has a metal strainer that can be removed. I only use tea leaves so this is why I bought this one. The teapot on the right is made of enamel and is made in Romania. The lid is attached to the pot which is great.

To see what other Treasure's are being showcased this week check out Melody's blog.

Hope you all have a great week.

Happy days.
Bev C

Sewing results, a big egg and some "Seduction."

Hello,

How did your Friday night go with the Sew-In? I managed to get quite a bit done. I love doing things by hand so I spent my time button holing the cat shapes on the blocks.

I am using some of that lime green and the white fabric I got from the Good Sammy's store earlier on in the month. The cats need some noses and there will be buttons for there eyes,which will be sewn on after it is all quilted. Another successful Friday-Night-Sew-In.

Now that our three chooks are laying we are getting two or three eggs each day. One of them has a rest every so often. Just look at the egg she lays. We have got a couple like this,it weights 80 grams. No wonder she needs a day of every now and again.

Now we couldn't have a post without a rose. This one is called "Seduction"  It didn't have a label on the bush but I have just spent half an hour looking through my books and I am pretty sure this is what it is called. These are the tiny buds,the petals change a bit according to the weather. It is always in  bloom.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

Happy days.
Bev C

Joy,Floral Friday and all that quilty news.

Hello,

Happy Friday everyone. Lots to tell you today about what is happening here at Kainga. We will start of with "Little Gits Campaign"

You may be wondering what has brought JOY to us here at Kainga. A win in the lottery??? No something more exciting than that. It has rained!!!!!!!!!!
The garden loves the rain. The water tanks are not empty,nothing liking hearing rain going into the tanks. Everything looks so clean. The vegies are growing at a great rate and some roses have decided to bloom. The chooks are having there first real scratch into damp ground. There is not a piece of dirt in there yard that they haven't scratched. The farmer across the road dry seeded his paddock last Friday,there was dust going everywhere. I know he has a big smile on his face this week. Fingers crossed we get lots more this Winter.
What is bringing you Joy today? Check out Becky's blog to see which other bloggers are finding some  Joy.

 I am doing this block of the month that Shell has on her blog. 12 stitchery hearts. Quick and simple stitchery designs. Instead of turning mine into blocks and making a wall hanging it will probably be the centre of a tablecloth. Now please don't ask me why I made up 16 blocks instead of the 12. A "Seniors Moment" is the only reason I can think of. It wasn't until I had finished all the chain stitch and given it a wash and it was drying that I realised I had done to many. Oh well, I will add something into these blocks when I have finished the others. I plan to do some embroidery between the blocks. This will have to wait until it is all completed because it will just get squashed when I put it into the hoop to embroider each block.

I used some Cosmo threads which Maree send me earlier on in the year in The Colour Swap. These threads are so beautiful to stitch with. The thread never ever knots up. These little blocks would look so lovely stitched onto pretty fabric and made up into lavender bags.

Earlier on in the week I received some mail from Lisa. I won these cute buttons and patterns in a recent giveaway. Thank you so much Lisa.

Today I decided to link up with Bronwyn for Floral Friday. The rose above is called "Radio Times" It is a David Austin rose from 1994,1998 Aust. It is a double,full rosette shaped blooms of rose-pink with a wonderful rich old fragrance. It has strong arching growth and it has continuous blooms. Its height reaches 1.7m by a width of 1.5m.

This is "Sophy's Rose" another David Austin. It has dark cerise pink rosette shaped blooms. It is free flowering with a light tea fragrance. The bush grows upright and is of a medium height of 1.5m. It blooms continuously.

Thank you Bronwyn for hosting Floral Friday.

Now tonight is Friday Night Sew In and I will be working on the "Catnip" quilt. Do you take over the table with all your sewing stuff?

Now it has started raining so it is going to be a great day. Staying inside stitching will be on my list of things to do today.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Happy days.
Bev C

Rose Gardens are my Tuesday's Treasure.

Hello and Welcome to Tuesday's Treasure.

This week I want to share with you one of my most favourite places on this earth. Melville's Rose Garden in the Perth Hills. No matter what time of the day you go here it is always busy. The cafe is full and people and families are enjoying themselves. Who wouldn't with all the beautiful flowers and roses in bloom.

This is halfway up the gardens looking across the the selling area which is in the top right end of the photo.

A lovely display of a little pink flower. I think it may be of the Cosmos family. Not sure on that.

The rose at the bottom is "Edgar Degas" and the top one is "Maurice Ultrillo"

Here I am amongst the pink roses, of course.

Everwhere you look roses are in bloom. Did you see the super big one.

The Koi were rushing to be fed by some children. We noticed how low the water was in this area. They must be hoping for some good Winter rains.

Now this must be the first time I have visited and not purchased some roses. I will be back though when we have had a good soaking of rain.

Now after we left the gardens we went across to Midland where I bought my new book. I have been looking at getting this book since it came out last year. I even looked at it on my trip last week but decided against it. After seeing a ex neighbours name in the death notices last week. I decided yes I was going to buy that book. Well I just love it. So please don't put things of.

I hope you enjoyed my Tuesday's Treasure today. Melody has the list on her blog of other Treasure's to look at.

A special thanks to everyone who left a comment on yesterdays post. I really appreciate them. Pauline has also done a posting about the quilt which shows a much better photo of the quilting. The day I took the photo's happened to be the most cloudiest day we had for about 7 months.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Koa Mane"

Hello and Welcome to "Koa Mane"
Happy Monday has a big New Zealand flavour to it today. I hope my Maori interpretation is correct.I received a email from my Sister Chris that the big parcel I sent across had arrived.

"Hakari" which means Gift

There was something big as well as small presents for Lucy Chris and Pauline. When Chris came for a visit last year she also brought with her a Double Wedding Ring Quilt which needed finishing. I can still remember the moment she asked me, I just laughed and grabbed the back of the chair I was standing near.Some of the hand quilting had been done though they were big stitches. I left some of these as they are part of the history of the quilt.

I  hand stitched a floral pattern in the bigger pieces. I had to work out how to get the pattern on there as usually all this is done before the quilt is put together. I purchased a piece of template plastic and used the punch from my sewing machine which is normally used to punch eyelets. Thankfully David was home and sat patiently punching holes until the pattern was complete. I was then able to "dot to dot" the pattern on with wash a way pen. The smaller pattern I cut out a template and traced around. You can click on the photo to see the hand quilting better.

This is Lisa the owner of the quilt getting ready to unwrap the quilt. I know Lisa loves receiving some Koa mera. (Happy Mail.) I have yet the pleasure of meeting Lisa but have met other members of her family,maybe next visit Lisa.

Here it is in all its glory. Notice they had to go inside. It had started to rain. So maybe I should have kept the quilt if that is what happens!!! Seriously we did have a shower overnight which was a relief.

I did the hand quilting around the edges of the blocks back in Hanuere (January) and worked solidly over Easter and beyond to finish the rest of it. I was determined to get it done. It was also the first time I had put on a scalloped  binding to a quilt.

I used Gutermann Quilting Cotton in colour number 5709 which matched the white cotton that was used in the first bit of quilting perfectly. I machine embroidered a label for the back with where Lisa purchased the quilt from and our names.

Thank you Lisa for letting me finish the heirloom. I do wonder though who the original owner was. So if one day you have the job of disposing of someones treasure like this please attach a note to it. The new owners would be so grateful.

I was also the recipient of some "Koa Mera "last week to. A parcel from the US arrived. I won the most stunning mug mat from Terrie in a blog hop. The Dresden plates are cut out with a Accuquilt cutter. Terrie has done a wonderful job on the quilting surrounding the plates. Thank you Terrie and I will put the fat quarter to good use. It has been used already. This is the wooden tray that we have our morning cuppa on out the front. Lucy made the tray at school a few years ago.

While Chris was here last year she left some beautiful white waffle face and hand cloths. I got to last week and used Brother Embroidery Card Number 48 which has Australian Wildflowers on it. I crocheted a edge around each of the cloths to protect them. I used some of the yellow cotton I purchased at Good Sammy's last week on one of them. It was a size 8 thread and was just so soft and easy to crochet with.


I also want to take the chance to wish my niece Carmody a super duper Happy Birthday for today. Hope you are having a great day Carmody. I know you have been waiting to be this number for a while now. Best wishes for the coming year.

Koa Mane everyone I hope you day is full of happiness and love.
Bev C

Shopping and an escaped prisoner.

Hello,

Well another day of sunshine here today. I was out in the garden this morning planting and re potting.

 Yesterday I had my annual day out. I do get out a bit more often but I call this my annual day out because once a year close to Mother's Day I go out by myself to places and shops I want to visit. A little treat for myself. I usually try to go before Mother's Day but it just didn't happen like that this year. So yesterday I set out to go to Midland and along the way I saw some hitchhikers first there were two females just out of town, nope didn't give them a lift. A bit further along a man with his thumb up and on his mobile phone. Nope didn't give him a lift either. Travelled along a bit further and just going around the corner right next to the car was a prisoner on the ground with two prison guards leaning over him. Thankfully they got him when they did or else he might have wanted a lift from me too. There are two prisons close together one is for people who don't pay there fines and low risk prisoners and the other prison is for baddies of a higher security level. I am not sure which one he was from but I am glad they got him.

I continued on with my day out with a visit to Better Pets and Gardens and stocked up on some chook food then across to Bunnings to load up with plants and goodies. I got several punnets of Salvia in both white and purple and some more Foxglove's. Some packets of seed including Sweet Peas and Cucumbers. A "Candy stripe" verbena which has the prettiest little clusters of pink and white flowers and a Sphaeralcea "Priscilla Pink" which also has pink flowers,this grows to about 1 metre by 1 metre.

Then it was on to Spotlight to have a good look around, No I didn't buy anything there but had a great look around. Then it was onto Midland Gate Shopping Centre to have a look in Dymocks(Book Store) then it was time for lunch. Then I dropped into Textile Traders where I bought a metre of pink material for $6.00. I caught up with Janelle here and had a chat with her. Then onto another patchwork shop then a call into Sweet Country Abode for a cuppa for the way home.

On the way home just out of Mundaring I saw beside the road the male hitchhiker. He had a couple of green bags full of shopping and was hitching his way back. I presume he was pretty confident of getting a lift back with his shopping.

On the way home I decided to call into the local  Good Sammy's Shop  to finish the day of. Well I was so lucky. I could have just about bought out the shop. I was also lucky enough to see a quilt that Pat had rescued from the shop and finished of. It was just so lovely and bright. It will end up at her daughter's home in Canada.

Look at the goodies I got, all brand new total cost $20.50. Bundles of fabric for only $1.00 each which included metres and metres of material. Two lots of crochet thread still in packet for $3.00 each. The most expensive item was the Brisbane Lion's footy scarf that I saw when I was going to the counter. I told Ian he was the most expensive part of the day. Apparently there is more coming to the shop on Thursday. Another visit I think is on the cards.

This is some of the material including a half a metre of the fabric on the left some sunflower material and the other ones were in a bag for a $1.00. The pink one on the right is what I bought at Textile Traders.

I have been doing some hand stitching but it is basically lots of "chain stitch" at the moment so will show you some roses from the garden instead. The above one is called "Pink Rosette" This is a very small bush with large clusters of mid pink blooms. It grows to about 50cm and is free flowering.

This is a David Austin I can't remember the name without finding my book. I did look at the pot which I left near the bush, it does have the name on there but unfortuatly it has the roots from the bush grown into it and I couldn't shift it. You can see the bud of another one coming along in the background..

This is another David Austin in the same rose bed. I will have to find a book that I wrote the names of roses in and see what it is called. They both have beautiful perfumes which is part of the reason I love growing them.

Have a wonderful day full of happiness and love.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Makes Me Happy Monday"

Hello,

Happy Monday to you.

I have just discovered that there are a few problems with blogger. I have had to revert back to the old post editor so my photo's are out of order from what I originally planned. I had a look on the blogger help page and there seem to be lots of complaints but no answers. Fingers crossed someone will have it sorted soon.

I have managed to work out how to make some continuous bias binding. I have done this before but it was some time ago. It certainly made me happy seeing one continuous piece when I cut it out.


I conquered my fear of doing this and did it step by step. I followed these instructions which I felt were quite good.

We had a lovely Mother's Day morning tea yesterday. Bonnie and my Mum came and we had a lovely time. Lucy rang us just as I took my first mouthful of tea. It was great to hear from you Lucy. The roses in the above photo were given to me by Bonnie. Picked out of her garden, she even trimmed of the thorns. Thanks Bon.

Every year one of the local churches holds a Mother's Day stall on the Saturday. Last year I was lucky enough to win a prize. We were waiting for the phone call in the afternoon. We thought we may have been lucky enough to win a prize again. Not us but guess who? Mum won one of the prizes so it was her who got the phone call and visit from one of the ladies.

There is always a rush to buy flowers at this stall. Ian kindly bought me the roses in the photo above. There is some Wattle bloom in the rear of the vase. A nice Aussie touch.

The chook card came from Ainsley. This is one of those cards with a musical chip inside. When you open it plays "The Chicken Dance".

David was away camping with some friends but I did catch up with him for a short while on Friday when he came to pick up some camping equipment.

It is another beautiful sunny day here, I think it got up to about 31 or 32 degrees yesterday. To good a day to be inside so I will get out in the sunshine. Hope you all have a Happy Monday.

Happy days.

Bev C

Hot Pad Swap,Mug Mats and a Paper Bag Swap.

Hello,

I finally heard from Cheryll,the Queen of Swaps that Carolyn had finally got my Hot Pad I sent her way back on the 11th of April. It must have been taking a super long trip by plane.

Anyway without further ado I present Carolyn's Hot Pad.

Carolyn had requested her Hot Pad to be in Red, Lime Green, Grey,Black and White. I managed to get them all in. I got my inspiration from the book Scandinavian Stitches.

In the book there was only the tree and clothesline but I added a little carrot patch to the side of the tree. Carolyn's blog is called "The Veggie Hunter"

Now this is the back of the Hot Pad. I noticed on Carolyn's blog that they are undergoing some home renovations. I hope your home is all back together soon.

I have just finished a fairly big project so wanted to do a few small things before I start on the next project. I found I had a partially completed pair of board shorts on a square. I started this block when I was making the beach quilt and lost it in "The Sewing Room". It re-surfaced when I was looking for something else as this is what normally happens. I also made up a cat applique. Two completed Mug Mats for very little effort. The cat material they are sitting on is the backing for the cat one and the same Hibiscus print is on the surfie shorts.

Paper Bag Swap.

I love a challenge and stitching for someone else is pretty high up there. I have joined in the Paper Bag Swap that is being run by Darleen at Snickerdoodle Dreams.

I received a lovely email from my partner Colleen the other day and this is what I will be sending her to make something special for me. We had to include two fat quarters some thread and any extras. I found a Butterfly that I did a test run on for some machine embroidery. It has been floating around the sewing room so may as well be included. I added a beautiful rose button and some ric-rac. What project wouldn't be complete without it.
Now I posted a huge parcel of today and of course when I got home I immediately remembered about the Paper Bag Swap so I guess we will be going via the Post Office on our walk this afternoon.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Happy Days.
Bev C

Clyde is our Treasured pet.

Clyde as a kitten.

Hello,

Welcome to Tuesday's Treasures. This week Melody has asked us to show of our pets. We have a cat that is called Clyde. He actually belongs to our daughter Bonnie. Now Clyde went missing from the Unit Bonnie was staying in when he was just a tiny wee kitten. The above photo is the one we made up for the posters we had put around to find him. We rang the vets etc but no word came of him. After a couple of weeks we decided to go to the vets because Bonnie had heard of a kitten being there. When we went in we asked if they had him,we showed the photo and they brought him out. He had been fixed up and sorted out. He had a few injuries where he had got caught up in his collar. Then they went and took down the sign that was asking for a new owner. He also went missing again from the same unit. We thought he was definatly gone this time. After the first time he went missing we had put on a name tag with our phone number. I received a phone call about three weeks later asking if I was missing a kitten. He had travelled about 3 to 4kms. I think he must have been picked up by children and dropped when they had finished playing with him. He had one tiny flea on him otherwise he was OK for a kitten who had been missing for so long.

He always manages to find the best spot to sleep.

Ian has the job of feeding Clyde. He just loves him and I can guarantee that as soon as Ian's ute comes home in the afternoon he will be at the back door to greet him. If he wants to get out at night time Clyde goes to Ian's side of the bed. It is quite funny how he now has to get up to the cat in the night. Makes up for all those times I got up to the children!!!

Clyde continues to bring joy to us everyday, along with a mouse or two that he has found.

Make sure you check out the other Treasured Pets at Melody's.

Happy days.
Bev C