"News from Kainga."

Hello,

A while back I found a wonderful blog with unusual crochet patterns. There are also knitting patterns if you are interested. I got very inspired and went and purchased ten balls of yarn. Let me just say that the yarn I used I would never use again. It was a bit hard and the blanket doesn't feel as soft as I would like. I used some of the cheapo yarn from the $2.00 plus shop in town. Some of the ladies from the crochet group had been using it and were loving working with it. I am glad I used it all up. I will be spending more money on yarn next time.

The pattern is called "Shell and V Stitch round ripple blanket" 

Not knowing how big the blanket would end up I was hoping and praying whilst doing the last round.  I ran out of yarn just 8 trebles from the end. I left it overnight. Then the next day decided to not purchase more yarn and just undo that final round and do a row of double crochet around the edge.  I ended up with 54 rounds of pattern and the final double crochet row. So the blanket is quite big.

I also made another "Kiwi" inspired Toiletry Bag. This one has the waterproof lining. I made the bag according to the size of the fabric I had. Great to use up the whole piece of fabric.

Now I have had this fabric in the stash for many years. When I bought the material I made a bag out of it.  So I got to and  made it into three tea towels. Let me say they have been put to good use since they have been made.

The embroidery machine has been put to work. I made two bookmarks. These are stitched out onto stabiliser that washes out so you are left with a beautiful bookmark.Great for popping into a Christmas card.

We had a wonderful Christmas day, spending a fair amount of time in the pool and inside in the air conditioner. Temperatures  since Christmas have been 41 and above. I think we are having 44 next Monday. Boxing Day saw us drop David of at the Airport. He and his friend Sav are Backpacking through Asia for the next month. We will be having another Christmas next month as Ainsley was working on site up north for Christmas Day so when she gets back we will have a special lunch with Ainsley and Julian.

With all this hot weather we have been experiencing our walking routine has been right out of whack  Seeing there was nothing to watch on TV last night Ian and I decided to go for a  walk at 7.30 pm. I only put on thongs because it was so hot and it would only be a short walk. Well we got to the bottom of the hill. Decisions were made Left or Right. We decided to go right as the next street we had to turn into was easier to walk down than up. We were walking along looking at Christmas lights on the other side of the street when I felt something go over my right foot.  I looked down expecting to see a weed. No it was a snake. My worst nightmare. Lucky I didn't step onto it. It slid over the footpath up a property owner's storm water pipe.I now realise this is how they end up in people's bathrooms. It was only very thin but about two feet long. I decided that the walk was over and and had a shower to wash of those snake germs. I will be wearing closed in shoes all the time even if it is going to be 44. Lesson well learnt.

Happy days.
Bev C

"John Lennon."

Imagine all the people living in peace. You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one.
I hope someday you'll join us and the world will live as one.
John Lennon.

Hello,

Taking a break from blogging, will be back sometime after Christmas. I hope everyone has a wonderful time together over the festive season.

Merry Christmas.
Bev C

"What is a rose, A cup of pure delight."

Hello,

Well I hope all fellow  West Aussies survived the weather we had the past couple of days. Lightening strikes, Thunder,  Rain and Floods. Tuesday morning we had a very quick Lightening storm pass through. I was sitting crocheting in the family room  waiting to go to the Crochet Group Christmas Wind-up when BANG. Lightening struck a tree in the neighbours back yard. A Transformer at the top of our block also blew up. Power was off and on during the day. Our hard drive didn't want to work. Later on that evening we tried it again and luckily all was OK. I think something must have clicked off and come back when full power was restored. The next day we had 18.5mls of rain within a few minutes. It certainly was welcome here, Ian had just fertilised the lawn on the weekend so we have a lovely green lawn. Though some places down south didn't fair so well. Once town had over 200 mls in the day.

With the weird weather going on I managed to finish a few projects.

I saw the quote a while back and took note of it in my little black book (aka a piece of scrap paper) and made up a table runner. The roses on display are a David Austin called "Mary Rose". Now the binding may not go exactly with the front but it goes so well with the backing. See I made it reversible without realising.

A while ago Marina sent me some crochet cotton. Recently Cheryll sent the two Hankies as she knew I crocheted. So I had fun making up two patterns to fit them. Thanks ladies, who knew that it takes three people to do somethings.!!!

I have been going through all those Tutorials and Patterns that I have had saved. I actually deleted a heap, how many quilts bags etc is a woman to make. One pattern I did keep was Terrie's Make-up Bag Tutorial.

I first made the little blue teacup one, complete with the proper Heat n Bond Vinyl lining. Then I made the second one bigger to store stitching items in. Terrie's pattern was the best of the best as far as zipper bags go. I had downloaded several patterns but found all of them except for Terrie's had the lining done correctly so no stitching shows inside the bag. Thanks Terrie for the pattern, it only took me two years to get it done.

As usual family members are continuing to come and go here at Kainga.

David has just come back from a week in Sydney. He attended his friend Sav's Graduation from University. Here they are in front of the Sydney Opera House.

I hope you enjoy the weekend.

Happy days.
Bev C

" Kainga Lotion Bar Tutorial."

Hello,

Happy Monday,

Over the weekend I had a some fun in the kitchen making some Lotion Bars. Maybe you haven't heard of them. They are a hard lotion that is just  perfect for dry skin. I found lots of directions on the net  using  different oils. I didn't want to buy anything so I made up my own recipe using the oils I had on hand. They turned out perfectly.

Kainga Lotion Bars.

First you need your three ingredients.

I used Beeswax, Coconut Oil (Copha) and Olive Oil. You need equal quantities of each ingredient by weight. As this was a tester I used 60 grams of each.

I decided to melt the oils in a glass jug by slowly bringing the water in the saucepan to a reasonable heat. This also makes it easy to pour the oils into the containers later on. Place the Beeswax in the glass jug. Let it melt then add the Coconut Oil, when this is all melted add the Olive Oil.  Stir to mix oils together. I used a wooden skewer to mix.  By this time I had turned off the stove.

I used several different types of containers to set the Lotion Bars in. They more or less start setting before your eyes.

These can then be wrapped in Cellophane as a lovely gift. The glass jug can then be wiped clean with some Kitchen paper. You don't want the oil blocking up your drains.

I hope you try this Lotion Bar, let me know if you make some.

Happy Monday
Bev C

"Exploring."

Hello,

Over the past week Ian and I have been exploring the Great Southern Region of Western Australia. It was great fun to get away and see what this part of the state has to offer. We found lots of Cafes, Patchwork Shops in small towns even a Distillery was on our list of places to visit.

We even got extremely close to some Koalas. They were all asleep.

We had a wonderful time at the Rose Maze in Kojonup. 2000 roses planted by the community, farmers brought in old pieces of wood etc from the farms for the gardens. There were plaques around telling the story of three different people, these were so interesting to read.

We went back to the Beach where Ian once lived. It is full of designer houses and hotels now.

While we were in Albany we had to take a photo of Dog Rock. This is the most photographed tourist attraction in Albany.

We found the Wind Farm just outside Albany so interesting. Loved walking along the pathways, surrounded by native plants.

Of course a trip to this region means a visit to the Natural Bridge and Gap (above).

We also enjoyed a morning visiting Whale World at Albany.

Of course all this travelling just wears you out.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Spring at Kainga 2012."

Hello,

Happy Monday, today I wanted to share some of my favourite photo's I took during Spring 2012 here at Kainga. I hope you enjoy looking at them.

Hope you have the best Monday.

Happy days.
Bev C

"November finishes."

Hello,

It is hard to believe that November is coming to a end. I am currently wearing jeans and a jumper. Tomorrow is the first day of Summer. I am so glad the winds from the past couple of days have finally died down. One day we were having temps of 36 and down to about 20 the following day.

November has meant lots of final year lunches,morning teas etc.

Last night I sewed on the binding for the Hexagon Christmas Runner. I enjoyed the hand quilting on this project. I made up a template of a Christmas tree and hand quilted the trees on the red fabric between each hexagon.

I made up this shirt in some stretch knit fabric I have had in my cupboard for a while.

We had our Garden Club wind-up yesterday and as we have to provide a Secret Santa gift. I made up a Garden Journal. The lady who received it was very pleased with it.

The other week I got a message that a lady had a spinning wheel to give away. Would I like it. "Yes Please" I said. Well she rang to say she was coming around and it wasn't the sort of spinning wheel I was probably thinking of. It certainly got me wondering. I went to her car to expect to see a wheel. She opened the boot and said it was in the box. I brought it down to the house and she opened it up. It certainly wasn't what I was thinking it would be. I decided against taking it as I really wanted one for show. Then I may think about taking lessons, as I have a friend who spins.  I did think for one nano-second about taking it but when she said she gets interested in things and then looses interest a big bell rang in my head!!! The spinning wheel was obviously home made, you used the piece of wood that is on the front of it to make it spin.

I was in Dymocks the other week and saw that Maeve Binchy had published a new book. Maeve recently passed away so I was so happy to see that her book was published. I didn't think there would be any more. So I quickly ordered it through my local library. You can see I picked up a few others too.

Hope you enjoy your weekend.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Blue Cross Stitch Sampler."

Hello,

I now am in possession of my framed cross stitch. The framers I originally planned to take it to was closed on the day so I went up the road to another one. Very very happy with the framing. We had a cricket bat framed by the framers a few years ago so we knew that they did a good job.

I had forgotten how hard it is to photograph cross stitch, even using the "behind glass"setting on my camera. Making sure the light doesn't catch the glass and their are no reflections showing on the photo's.

I want to send a big thank you to the anonymous blogging Angel who sent me the Aida cloth.

Here is a close up of the frame. Another heirloom to add to the wall of Samplers.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Father Christmas arrived at Friday Night Sew In and weekend shopping."

Hello,

I decided to spend Friday Night Sew In doing some applique on a table runner. A few weeks back I picked up some Christmas fat quarters from Spotlight.

I chose this one because I intended to fussy cut the snow globes.

So over the past week I have been cutting out hexagons and pieces using a template kit I picked up about this time last year. I had several different fabrics in my Christmas stash and chose other green's and red's to add to them.

Friday afternoon I cut out the snow globes and in the evening I button holed them on by hand.

So hopefully sometime this week this little cheery fellow will be quilted.

Saturday morning we had lots of Garage Sales to choose from. Our first port of call was one that had a wonderful display of goodies, all from a craft shop that had closed down a few years back. There was also some lovely plates doilies etc. I chose a couple of cross stitch kits, a Klipfast frame that was only $4.00. The brown floral cross stitch is a beautiful cotton/linen blend, there are two of these motifs and you can embellish the material and make it into whatever you want.

Hope you enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Postal Happiness, Blogging Etiquette and FNSI."

Hello,

Happy Friday. I had a wonderful time opening the parcels from the ladies in the Fat Quarter Birthday group. There were lots of lovely cards with the most appropriate pictures on the front. I keep all the cards I get from blogging friends in a floral tin vase in the sewing room.

From left to right, Cherryl, Helen, Maria.

From left to right, Christine, Lisa, Peta.

From left to right,  Fiona, Melody, Pat.

From left to right, Shez ,Sue, Lyn.

So a big hug to you all for your Birthday greetings.

Blogging Etiquette.

Every now and again I do a Google search of my blog name to see what comes up. Several times different posts have been stolen and put on other blogs. Why people seem to think that this is OK is beyond me. Don't they know the 7th Commandment is "You should not steal." Which got me thinking about people using images and the current laws regarding copyright. I came across this post about someone who had done exactly that with there blog.

http://www.roniloren.com/blog/2012/7/20/bloggers-beware-you-can-get-sued-for-using-pics-on-your-blog.html

It certainly makes for interesting reading.

Friday Night Sew In is on tonight, I am entrant number 88. Hope you can join us .It will probably be Sunday before I can post again with the results.

Happy days.

Bev C

"The Jacaranda's are flowering and Prince Charles has his Tim Tams."

Hello,

Well I would have to say that this is one of my most unusual post titles. My favourite tree, the Jacaranda is flowering as it does each November. Prince Charles was in Australia the other week. A woman gave him a packet of Tim-Tam biscuits for his Birthday. Prince Charles shares his special day with me.

Some days I feel as if I am still 21.

Other days I feel as if I am 100.

When I am really.

The correct number of buttons are here but I didn't have time to set them out. Now did you really think I would tell you. My lips are sealed buttoned.

I have just opened some presents from a group of amazing woman which belong to the Fat Quarter Birthday Group. Thanks so much ladies, you are amazing. I will do a post about this later on in the week.

Hope you have a wonderful day. Morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea to attend.

Happy days.
Bev C