"Makes Me Happy Monday."

Hello,
Happy Monday.

Making me happy this Monday are my hexagons.

The to do pile is less than the done pile which is a good feeling.  This is a slow stitching project which I pick up and work on in the evenings. If I have a night or two not stitching so be it.

We visited another open garden on Sunday. This one was  aptly named Krannynook in Helena Valley.
As we pulled up to park we realised we had visited this garden before. There is so much to see in this garden that you could visit it again and again and find something  new.

Isn't this a great arch made of horseshoes. The chairs and tables just behind the arch are made of chain. 

Enjoy the wander around the garden...

Every available space was filled with plants and ornaments. There were lots of twists and turns as you walked through the garden. Surprise places to sit or hide were everywhere. The one thing I did think while wandering through the garden that it would be very hard to work out where someone was if you wanted them.

Saturday I was happy to go to a garage sale run by two crafty ladies. I managed to pick up some embroidery threads a few cross stitch patterns and several metres of fabric. One of the ladies owned a craft shop years ago and is de-cluttering. There was so much I could have taken home but one has to be realistic. Someone who does a lot of knitting or crocheting would have been in heaven with the amount of wool that was for sale.

So what is making you happy this week? I would love to hear.

Happy Monday.
Bev C

"Is it Happy Christmas or Merry Christmas? either way it is a cross stitch finish."

Hello,

Do you say Merry Christmas or Happy Christmas. I always think that it should be Merry Christmas and Happy belongs with Easter. You see I found an adorable cross stitch design that is available at the Shepherds Bush  website. It had Happy Christmas on the design so I changed it to Merry Christmas.

I made it into a little hanger for the Christmas tree or for decoration around the home. I added a few buttons from my stash and used the thread which belonged to my Nana to stitch on the ric-rac. The green floral fabric which has little birds as well was used for the backing. I used the recommended DMC threads except for three which I didn't have so used some Puppets threads.

 The other garden we went to last week was in Bickley on 3 and a quarter acres. So there was lots to look at. The garden owner is a qualified horticulturist and sells plants at markets etc. She has a range that is not available in garden centres. It was wonderful to see everything in bloom.Once again it was a cold windy day, which seems to be typical of our Spring weather this year but you have to endure a few hardships in life!

 This was one section in the rear of the yard. So many different plants I haven't seen before.

 My two companions for the day. I bet they were hoping I didn't buy one of those purple shrubs.

 This is the same bed as the previous photo from the other side.

 Being in Bickley of course there had to be fruit trees.

 Out the front garden. Lots of plants re-seeding onto the gravel.

This is the garden bed opposite the previous photo.

There is another open garden to visit this weekend. The weather promises to be a lovely Spring day which will make for a great day out.

Now tell me are you a Merry Christmas or Happy Christmas person, I would love to hear.
Enjoy your weekend.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Makes Me Happy Monday."

Hello,

Happy Monday, apologies for no post last week, was worn out from being out and about.

So what has been making me happy for the past weeks. Garden visiting for a start. After the demise of the Australian Open Garden Scheme a group of West Australian gardeners decided to open a new scheme called West Coast gardens. It officially opened this month and we went to two gardens on the weekend of the opening. The first one was in Kalamunda. My goodness this garden was nothing short of amazing. It was very hard to take photo's as there were so many visitors. Apologies to anyone who is in the photo's, it was impossible not to have people in them. It was just like visiting France with a touch of Italy thrown in for good measure.

Just part of the back yard.

The owner got in a well known garden designer/gardener to do this part of the garden. From my understanding the owner did the front yard herself, sorry no photo's of this but it was equally amazing.

The back yard is right next to the national park with views across Perth. It doesn't really show in this photo but there is quite a drop here at the edge. How it was done with the gravel rocks suited the style of garden perfectly matching the bush and the garden.

More of the back yard from the upstairs section of the home.There was garden everywhere!

I had serious Clivea envy with many pots of these in full bloom on the verandah's.

Now how much mulch does a garden like this need? plenty.

After this it was onto the next garden in Mount Lawley.

This garden belonged to one of the organisers and was lovely. The garden belongs to a home that is 100 years old. A more cottage style garden at the front.

Parts of the backyard had been recently re-done and I loved this raised bed of succulents. Once again it was standing room only.

Two very different gardens but the main thing to come from it was we have to plant plants according to our climate and mulch mulch and more mulch.

Then during the week we took the opportunity to watch several hours of sheepdog trials.

The Australian Supreme Sheepdog trials  were held at the local Rec Centre. There were dogs from across Australia and New Zealand competing.

It was interesting to see the way the dogs responded to the commands of the owner. The ones who used a whistle instead of talking to the dogs seemed to do better or maybe it was just the ones we watched.

Last week was all about getting a few things done in the kitchen. Lots of soap making over a couple of days and making up batches of Kombucha and Kefir Water. I also made up a batch of Fermented Salsa, from the Quirky Cooking blog. I followed the recipe but didn't really want to add 100 grams of Chillie as the ones I grow are very hot so added 20 grams of my chillie and 80 grams of Capsicum.This is so yummy I could just eat it by itself.

I am so happy that the garden scheme is up and running. We visited another garden on Saturday but will share those photo's later in the week.

What has been making you happy lately?

Happy days.
Bev C

"Friday Night with Friends."

Hello,

Hope you have had a great week. Now it is time for Friday Night with Friends.

I 'm dressed and ready to stitch.

 The tea is brewing.

The music is playing.

I will be stitching some hexies. I have decided to add a row of black hexies around each flower.
To see what every one else got up to make sure you check out Cheryll's blog.

Enjoy the weekend, I will be back for Happy Monday.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Makes Me Happy Monday."

Hello,

Happy Monday,

Today I am very happy to reveal the mystery cross stitch project. I joined in the mystery stitch that was being run by http://jurapointdecroix.canalblog.com/ We were given 4 different designs and we could choose one or all 4 of the designs to stitch into whatever we wanted to. We had 3 months to complete it but of course I only started half way through September.

I had recently picked up a piece of 14 count Aida cloth at Good Sammy's so decided to use that and added three inches around the stitching design. These measurements paid a big part in the end as when I started stitching I had no idea what I would make it into. Luckily the piece fitted the front panel of a Messenger style bag that I found the free pattern for on the Internet.

I did leave a bit of the stitching out on the bottom and added the little Bee charms.

 I used two fat quarters that my Sister Chris was never going to use so she sent them to me. They were purchased at the Stone Store in Kerikeri in New Zealand.There were several hundred ladies from across the world involved in the mystery stitch along so make sure you keep checking the blog to see what everyone made. The free pattern for the bag is available from Lisa's blog which is called Two Pretty Poppets.

On Sunday we attended the Inaugural West Australian Act-Belong-Commit Permaculture Festival held in Middle Swan. What a wonderful time we had, lots of interesting stalls and so well set out. Beautiful food vans, I went back to the lady we purchased our lunch from and told her how delicious her food was. Just wish this type of healthy food was available at all shows. A big hint to those who organise the craft shows! I was so busy talking about the food with Ian when he stopped me and said "Isn't that the guy." Of course I had no idea who he was talking about because Ian had forgotten his name. He pointed him out and it was the curly headed West Australian gardener Josh from my must watch show each week Gardening Australia. . The most interesting part of the day was I took the opportunity to sit down and do some basket weaving. I have never been so relaxed while doing a craft. I would have stayed much longer and do more weaving but we had family and Grandies to visit. I used several different types of plants but the main one was from a Peppermint tree so the basket has a beautiful perfume to it. The lady does run classes so I am tempted to go to one the only thing is it is a few hours away.

What has been making you happy lately, I would love to hear.

Happy days.
Bev C