teacups and totes

I know it was my birthday nearly 2 weeks ago, but I wanted to share a couple of goodies that were given to me. Firstly a GORGEOUS Shelley trio hubby and the girls gave me. My youngest daughter Isobel chose this one and I must say her taste is perfect. It is exactly what I would of chosen for myself!

and this beautiful Tea for One set given to me by my sweet sister! I love it too and have been using it everyday. Sometimes these are too small so you have to have about 3 in a row to get a good hit of tea, but this cup and pot are BIG, the cup holds the equivalent to a mug! great stuff

and a finished project. This scarf I started last winter then ran out of the pink ribbon yarn. I have tried to get the same again but couldn't so I have added a couple of other ones. I like how it turned out and I like this ribbon yarn knitted up as it's very heavy, great for a scarf. So yes, this is finished just in time for the hot weather!!!!!!!!!!!!

and finally look at this cutie! I bought it from Etsy for another birthday present to myself!!! I know I could of made a tote for myself but I LOVE this fabric. I have never seen it before and besides, it's lovely buying something handmade for yourself, it's usually for other people I find. This was made by Ginny at isew and her work is gorgeous and the tote came so beautifully wrapped. I had a little bit of birthday money left over so I have ordered a couple of other things from Etsy which I will share soon. They arrived yesterday but I haven't taken a photo yet. Thank you too for all the birthday wishes for me, and for mum too, she was touched.

prettiest bag

look at this absolutely gorgeous bag! and Anna is giving it away!!!!! Anna has a lovely quilting blog so pop over and check it out and say hi! This amazing giveaway ends on Tuesday the 2nd!

and thank you to all of you who left lovely comments on my last post about my stitching, it has really encouraged me to keep going and try some more embroidery, I feel quite addicted already!!!!!

finished!

I have finally finished my name stitchery for Brown Owls! Once I got started I couldn't stop, as you can see!!!! I just LOVED adding more and more texture. Even though my stitching at times just wouldn't stay as neat as I had hoped, it still was a lot of fun!! I haven't ironed it yet, because I don't do ironing! But I will! It needs it.
and of course I couldn't resist a macro shot even though that means you can inspect it a little bit toooo closely!!!!!

background #1 000 000!!!!!

yes I know, I have changed my background AGAIN! I like to change it even more than I like to change the furniture around. It just has to feel right I think. You know, suit the blog, suit you etc and I think I am happy with this one for a while. I have had some I loved ie the strawberries but the blog gets lost on something too busy so the strawberries had to go. Anyway I am going on a bit aren't I, I won't bore you anymore with my background dilemmas.

Here is some of our weekend, more cupcakes made by Miss 15 this time.

and this divine Lemon Slice. I copied down this recipe from Carolyn's lovely blog a few weeks ago and have only just made it. It is sooooo yummy, it's like cheesecake. I thought we would have some for dessert tonight but no, it's gone already. Next time I must double it!!!
and some more journal fun I've been having recently

must rush now, wash up etc etc so I don't miss Dr Who!!!! :)

up close and personal!

I have been having more fun with macro. Taking shots of stuff that is special to me in my work room so I can add them to my Flickr photos!! loving this macro stuff!!! great fun

mail delivery

I do love the postman!!!!

mutti

From the age of 31 you struggled to make ends meet and raise 3 children on your own ages 9,6 and 3. You worked for quite a few years and then returned to study and graduated as a Librarian and started a new career! You not only worked full-time you ran a house, looked after the 3 of us, had a beautiful large vegetable garden, a beautiful flower garden, mowed the lawns, chopped the wood, always managed a family holiday to the beach every Easter and Christmas, always had a Sunday roast lunch, trained and umpired school girl's hockey, took us to our hockey games, sewed, knitted and looked after your own mother doing so much for her up until she died, and the list goes on.........and on

You are, always have been and always will be an inspirational, loving and incredible role model to me and are now to your grand-daughters.

Happy 70th birthday mum. I love you xxxxxx

p.s. As I was born on your birthday, clearly I am the best present you have ever had?? Wouldn't you agree??????........mum???.............hello????are you still there?................

etsy love

It's my birthday on Monday (and mum's too!) so I bought myself a purse from Etsy. I had been looking for weeks and weeks at the frame purses and then this one jumped out at me. It took soooo long to chose as there are soooo many I would of loved! (still would love)

made in Canada by SHUSWAP

art and fabric

I really have been doing some crafting. I have been knitting and stitching but neither are really at a stage worth sharing. So instead I will share some fabric picked up recently. The first is a vintage curtain found on Ebay. The Peter Rabbit curtain is from the op shop! great find. I love sewing totes with decorator weight secondhand fabric, I get very excited when I find some I love at the op shop, truly one of those heart stopping moments!!!!

and some more pages from one of my art journals...these are sketches I have done from Charles Blackman's Alice Series. It is one of my favourite series of paintings ever and I thought I would just play around with trying to draw some.
these are my take on his works, ...I thought she looked cool without hair!!!!!!!
the last one below is just one of my faces I play around with. Hopefully I will have some handmade things to show you in the near future but it is slow going I'm afraid. I am finishing a scarf, stitching my Brown Owls name stitchery which I have been doing for ages (I kept unpicking it but I think I am happy now), and also a few totes cut out. But this is the 3rd week in a row I have had 1 or the other child home sick!!!!!!, I had my girlfriend from WA stay (which was WONDERFUL I miss her already) and not feeling too good myself. I find it very frustrating having all these projects either started or in my head and not getting done!!! argh

happy weekend :)

cupcake love and thrifty goodies

we have been making more cupcakes. A great thing to do when it's raining all day! Bel iced these ones a lovely bright aqua!

some more op shop goodies to share, I have lots to catch up on. I love this tablecloth it has a beautiful texture and folk artsy design.

and a great score with the Golden Books. These ones hubby found for me the day he came home with the other goodies from the op shop! He chose so well!! He said it looked like they had just put them out (otherwise they wouldn't of been there because as you know if you love to collect them, they don't stay there long!)

I have my dearest, closest friend coming tomorrow for a quick stay. She is coming from Perth and is on her way to Queensland for a conference. (just a slight detour!!!!) It won't even be a full 48 hours she will be here, but wonderful nonetheless. Can't wait until you get here Mrs M!!!!! I have the Guinness in the fridge! :)

monsters,op shops and art journals

look at this little monster guy, his name is Boo. Bel designed him, cut him out and made him all on her own on Sunday. She has put me to shame as all the softies I want to make (and promised her I would make) just sit on the 'to do list'. Some are cut out of course,but have been that way for sometime!!!! Boo is gorgeous! :)

and look at this vintage curtain I found on ebay, it washed up beautifully!

and this gorgeous pillowcase with a crocheted edge I found at the op shop last time I went, I love it so much even though I am not really a fan of peacocks as they keep us awake in summer, even fly up to our roof! but when the babies hatch well that is cute and they follow mum in a line one behind the other around everyone's gardens!!!

Something I had been planning to do for a while was to photograph some of my art journal pages as I am in quite a few Art Journal Groups on Flickr. I thought I would share a photo or 2 on here as well on different posts. This is the cover of my current journal (I have a smaller one on the go too, oh and actually a tiny one I keep in my bag with me) The Gocco print is by Kirsty over at Lollibchie. Kirsty did these nearly 2 years ago and gave me 3 in blue, lime green and pink. They are part of her "Naughty Bunny" series. I have kept them so long for a "special" project and then thought they would work well in/on a journal, not just for sewing.

and finally, after my girls and I did the draw for my giveaway and I posted the winner, the girls really wanted to do it again so I decided to have a runner-up. Zoe did it this time and she pulled out Carolyn who is actually having her own giveaway at the moment. So I will find a little "runner-up" pressie to send of to Carolyn soon. Like I said before, I wished everyone could win.

a great weekend to all =) xx

the winner is......

This has been so much fun having a giveaway and I will have to do it again!! I found the random number generators on Google but decided to print out the names and get one of my possums to draw the winner out of a bowl. So.......the winner is.........Cathy over at Miss Marzie!!! Congratulations Cathy - please email me with your snail mail address and I will get your apron and goodies off to you soon!!

It was great hearing about everyone's movies. There were a few I haven't even heard of!!! I really wish everyone could be a winner though. I had my camera ready to take a photo of the bowl and Cathy's name coming out in Isobel's hand, but my battery was flat and by the time I recharge and do it all again it will be late, so I just wanted to post anyway with the winner!!!

Thanks to all who joined in. There are so many giveaways at the moment in the blogosphere, bloggers are such a generous bunch :) Pop over and say hi to Carolyn she is having a giveaway at the moment of a wonderful book!

cowboys and treasure

here is a pencil case I made for hubby. I have had this fabric for so long (hubby chose it) and I have just not got around to making it. It is perfect timing as he has just started lecturing at Uni this semester so this is a great size for his drawing and marking pens. I knew there was a reason why it took me so long to make it!!! I really would like to make some more out of the retro fabrics on offer from Michael Miller, I love them all.
Some treasures from scouring the op shops - not me - hubby!!!!! He had some time to fill in and there are a couple of op shops near uni. I couldn't believe the treasures he found without me!!!! This crocheted blanket in mint condition,

more pillowcase love. The top one has cars and trucks on it circa "70s models" according to hubby and it has had some love and use as it's quite thin and faded but still in great nick, and the one below it doesn't really show it in this photo but looks very Japanesey, I love it

AND a handmade beanbag! The fabric is fab, it's very thick and bright. As my girls are a bit old for this print, it is ripe for cutting up!!!!! Thanks hubby, you did soooo well, I am impressed

now please don't forget my giveaway (last post) leave a comment there, you have until Tuesday night. Happy weekend :)