Place Mats

new place mats for the table, machine quilted & hand stitched pictures

this one is A's

son #2

son #1

this is mine

A's breakfast mat

my breakfast mat

the last 2 are spares

they all came together pretty quick, i have a couple more still in progress. think they would make real nice christmas gifts. i have a few sets of coasters for sale that i will put up in a couple of days.

Bath mats

6 new bath mats from 2 towels.

fold your bath towel in thirds & cut, then just lay out your chosen off cuts & sew together. place the font side down & machine stitch around the outside leave an opening to turn right side out. stitch around the outside & along both sides of the seams if you like & your done.

 these two towels i purchased about 20 years ago they are very good quality towels made in Australia. we could still have used them as bath towels as they are still nice & thick, however as they are just a regular size towel they are a little small for my boys now [perfect for when they were children]. we now use bath sheets. [imagine how many mats i could make out of one of those].

some of you may remember the blue, green & white fabric from this post, it is the left over fabric from the curtains i made using a sheet from the op shop.

these ones the brown check fabric came from a friends throw out {thanks Carolyn} & the surfboard fabric is left over from some PJ shorts i made for summer.

Vintage Collection

Kodak Six-20 Brownie model- C

The camera takes 6x9 pictures on 620 film (hence the name, "six-20"). This is about as simple as a roll-film camera gets. it's just a metal box with a winder for the film, a window in the back for a frame counter & a fixed-aperture lens with a single- speed shutter operated by a simple spring. It was made between 1946 and 1953 & was made in London. 

$15 at the local school market, it is well used & is missing the leather handle on the top.

i will not be limited to just cameras. this is the second item in my collection the other is a slide machine. everyone knows 3 items make a collection so the third item is the glass jug above, it is also made by Kodak [Kodak Australia] & was used in a dark room.

Shutters

i saw this & decided i wanted to make some thing similar on a smaller scale

started out with lengths of rough sawn timber that i picked up from out the front of a crate/box place in their throw out bins.

cut 10 the same length

cut 4 cross pieces

cut 2 angled pieces. glued & nailed the cross & angled pieces to the backing boards. punched & filled the nail holes & sanded the putty.

gave them one coat of white paint. at this point i thought i was going to top coat them with the blue from the dinning room, distress sand & mount them on either side of the kitchen server opening but after looking at them for a few weeks i decided to leave them the way they were & instead lean them against the wall. the good thing about that is i can put them any where

;

so this where they will stay for the time being

Anniversary

15 years ago today A & i were married, boy time flies when your having fun

this beautiful basket of flowers & box of chocolates arrived this morning to my surprise :o) it is amazing how happy flowers can make you feel esp when you dont get them very often

cute card i made for A with his favourite "summer rolls"

thursday next week 2 tickets to see Cold Chisel

Halloween

All Hallows Eve

 The Celts believed that at the time of Samhain, more so than any other time of the year, the ghosts of the dead were able to mingle with the living, because at Samhain the souls of those who had died during the year traveled into the otherworld. People gathered to sacrifice animals, fruits, and vegetables. They also lit bonfires in honor of the dead, to aid them on their journey, and to keep them away from the living. On that day all manner of beings were abroad: ghosts, fairies, and demons--all part of the dark and dread.

Virtually all present Halloween traditions can be traced to the ancient Celtic day of the dead. Halloween is a holiday of many mysterious customs, but each one has a history, or at least a story behind it. The wearing of costumes, for instance, and roaming from door to door demanding treats can be traced to the Celtic period and the first few centuries of the Christian era, when it was thought that the souls of the dead were out and around, along with fairies, witches, and demons. Offerings of food and drink were left out to placate them. As the centuries wore on, people began dressing like these dreadful creatures, performing antics in exchange for food and drink. This practice is called mumming, from which the practice of trick-or-treating evolved. To this day, witches, ghosts, and skeleton figures of the dead are among the favorite disguises.

here in Australia we do not celebrate Hallows Eve, it is the wrong time of year for us, spring not autumn. to most of us we associate it with America even tho it originated in Ireland & England. today its all about dressing up, decorating, having fun & not to forget the sweet stuff. for me i like the dressing up & setting the table.

the tree i purchased a few years ago & this is the first time it has been out of its box.

i always have something for any of the kids who do come to our door & this year it was biscuits [skulls, skeletons, bats & witches hats]

the round disk has a moon on it & when it is lit up with a candle it looks great.

i do like the bat in my hair, i think ill be leaving that out of the box so i can wear it again

a little bit scary, no not really, its mostly just every day for me :o) now that is scary

Chooks

spent 6 hours mowing the lawn today, i think we could really use a ride on mower

the girls love mower days because they get heaps of grass clipping to scratch through

hiding out under the mulberry tree

a treat while i clean out the chook shed.

 all the top straw went on the the potato beds & all the bottom stuff, dirt, poo, damp straw went onto the compost.

Veggie Yard

another day in the veggie yard, a few weeks ago we had a load of dirt, cow & mushroom mix delivered & today i used up the last of it for beds #6 & #7. bed 5 is the only one that has not been made yet.

bed #6 will be for the bush tomatoes.

the two pots of either side of the gate are for chilli plants.

this is bed #7 it is a corner bed, on one side i have planted bush beans & on the other sugar snap peas

if your wondering where all the mulch went from yesterday it is now the walk ways around the beds. it makes its much softer to walk/ kneel on & keeps grass & weeds down.

Chipper/Mulcher

last year we purchased a big chipper, we just had a very small one when we lived in Linden but with the amount of trees here we needed something with a little more grunt.

we got 3 barra loads of mulch from down the back & another one from the hedge out the front.
it makes a big job very easy & pretty quick.

crochet blanket

Pink & Chocolate Brown is the colour combo, i have been working on these squares for way too long. i have 30 in the basket which kind of sounds a lot but as a blanket not so much.  i think it was about 64 squares the red, white, blue & beige blanket & this one im thinking of making it into a single so at 30 im not even half way. i really like to crochet blankets but i really need to sell or give some away as im getting quite a few stacked up in the cupboard.

Sheets to dust cloths

when your old flannel sheets become thin cut them up into dust/cleaning rags

i let the fabric dictate the size of each cloth & then fold in half & stitch around the edge.

they are soft enough to polish & strong enough scrub with.

they last quite a long time esp the ones that are cut from the edge of the sheet as its usually still like new.

they can also be used to make wee wipes.

sew some fun

cup mats, mug rugs but i prefer coaster.

i saw one of these on flickr & wanted to make my own

a home for my tea cup

Wordless Wednesday

Yard Work

another day spent in the yard, thank goodness for all this beautiful weather.

a friend from work pulled out some garden beds last christmas & i took all the stone. they have been sitting down the side since the beginning of the year & i thought it was about time i used it.
son #1 wheelbarrowed it down the back & helped me set it out. there were a few adjustments as the rock was already set in cement, but nothing a hammer & rock hammer couldn't fix. just enough for 2 garden beds.

they are on either side of the chook gate. the small one on the left used up the left over stone.

the larger one goes from the gate & up to the tree.
the reason for the garden was 2 weekends ago Sally decided she wanted to visit the old lady next door she stretched & worked the wire till she could fit through. so that morning after i got her back through the fence. A' & i used 3 sheets of metal from an old bird aviary & 2 bags of concrete. no more visits :o) the cat will be relieved.
i moved the stone & dug them all in, it only goes to the end of the tin. i couldn't have gone any further even if i wanted to as there were heaps of big tree roots. the only thing left was 3 pieces of concrete.
i think they turned out pretty good & now there will be no complaints about it all sitting around & when am i going to use it.

Veggie Garden

with no work i have plenty of time to get things done, esp all the things that keep getting put off

yesterday A' & i finally finished off the fencing around the veggie yard now miss Sally girl cant get in well fingers crossed.

i pretty much worked all day 9 till 4.30, needless to say i am a little tired now.

first up i built a trellis well not first as i had to cut the branches first & play tug of war with Sally Girl, she loves it when we prune the trees. sooo much fun to be had.

bed #1 is half purple beans & half yellow zucchini & down the centre because it likes shade is 2 rows of english spinach.
bed #2 is two types of beetroot
bed #3 is spring onions then globe onions & at the end is bok choy

bed #8 along the fence was just a huge pile of dirt that i moved today & is now home to sunflowers along the back. at the right hand end are 3 types of carrots, then 2 types of cucumber that will climb the flower stalks as well as attach to the wire fence & right at the end are the only 2 strawberry plants that are left after Miss Sally got a hold of them.
there are 3 trees in front of bed #8 a fig, peach & a lemon.

Skirts

for those of you who read my blog every now & then you my remember this skirt below, it is one of my favourites. i love the skulls but i especially love the cherries.

Simplicity pattern #4595 & the skirt is view D.

one of the best things about this skirt besides how quick it is to make is the elastic waist. ooo elastic waist you might say but it has two very good things about it, 1 it is comfortable & 2 if you put on a bit of weight or even loose a bit of weight it still fits nice, the same cant be said about a fitted skirt with a zipper.

the sunday before son #2's year 12 graduation i decided i wanted to make a new skirt to wear.

this one i like again because of the skull fabric but i think the red gingham with the black lace is very cute.
gingham reminds me of table cloths & Bar-B-Q's.

this one is the one i wore to the graduation. i really love tartan, i used this fabric to make a long wrap around winter skirt last year.

i think spots are cute & teaming it with the tartan & the lace works well. i sewed a satin ribbon all the way around & the bow can be made larger or smaller.

i teamed this skirt with a black singlet, a black t-shirt over that, a cute black cardigan with my nurses watch pinned to it, my new Red Back work boots & this cute old hand bag.