G & K

G and K have a great backyard with towering gum trees which provide dabbled shady for the yard... However they needed a little more shade down the side of the house where they entertain and so they asked us if we wouldn't mind helping them with their gazebo... It was one of those advertised two man jobs that take at least four people...

But we got to reap the rewards for our effort with a lovely BBQ lunch, a sit in the shade and conversation with two beaut hosts... A lovely afternoon all round...



P caught a couple of G & K 's other guests - on film - they show up regularly for tit bits which are left out for them to nibble...

Images of Christmas

From the Christmas table , to the gifts under the tree, to the Christmas decorations hidden within the branches, to the twinkling lights these are the magical moments of Christmas.... The quiet hush caught between the frantic moments in which to reflect the true meaning of this day and the celebration of family and friends as we sit down to share a communal meal... May this day be special to you and yours - Merry Christmas....

THE new addition...

Well here are the photos I promised if 'she' held still long enough... She was out like a light when these were taken - not 10 minutes before she had been racing around the house like a loon... As P said it makes him tired just watching her...

I never realised how much I missed our Edith until this little bombshell hit the home front - not sure of a name yet so she is just 'kitten'... She has made herself completely at home and the three are now four again all 'glued' together by this little scrap of fur...

Christmas addition...

We have a new 'face' at our house - a photo when she holds still long enough...

Its starting to smell...

... alot like Christmas - or so I am told. Having very, very little to no sense of smell or taste - I miss out on all the good things. In the last week we (or should I say ) P has put up the Christmas tree - a real one this year... As usually he has done a great job - more patience than I have - it took about three nights but it is done and twinkling... I am told it smells lovely...

Today I baked my almond crescents and found a suitable hiding place - otherwise they wouldn't last until the end of the week let alone Christmas Day... They too apparently smelt wonderful as they were cooking. I, well P mainly, made rum balls - those I have frozen to ensure that they too will survive until Christmas week... I believe that they taste delicious.

I hope to make a boiled fruit cake as my Christmas cake on Thursday - this year I am buying my mince pies and I still have a homemade Christmas pudding in the fridge since last year - fortified with more alcohol than I care to think about every couple of months - so I am nearly set... I would like to make a couple of other things but this week the shop is opening earlier and Thursday and Friday night closing at 10pm. We closed at 10pm last Friday night too and I was shattered - my body was telling me it was bedtime and there were people were still trying to decide what to buy at 9.50 - gimme me a break - the staff do want to go home before dawn... Thank goodness I had the weekend off....

We are having our family Christmas Day next Sunday as M &D are spending this Christmas with his family interstate - so hence I am thinking nearly a week ahead... Still on Christmas Day we will have a relaxing day just lolling about maybe joined by one friend... I think after the three trading days beforehand it will be a bit of an anti -climax really and I may just want to sleep the whole day away...

Boasting...

How time flies... It seemed just yesterday when E started her course at the CAE in the city - Last night was the final exhibition of her class - two and a half years later... We were all thrilled when her two biggest paintings sold... A glimpse of some of her work - and the artist herself...

**sharonb alert**

sharonb -in a minute ago blog - stitchin fingers creator, embroidery and crazy quilter extraordinaire - has moved her blog. The new addy is http://www.pintangle.com/

KitchenPoetry :: 7

Three days late - but here it is - this was painted for me a very long time ago - nearly 15 or 16 years ago I would say if I had to guess. The person who painted it for me now lives in another state and we have less contact - but the sentiment remains - "Friends are flowers in Life's garden..."

And so ends my kitchen poetry...

Kitcen Poetry :: 6

Some chicken...

together with steamed vegetables...

is dinner tonight...

Kitchen Poetry :: 5

A night off from the kitchen sink - takeaway...

KitchenPoetry :: 4

Just outside my kitchen door - frequently used herbs...

Kitchen Poetry :: 3

From outside - through the window...

Kitchen Poetry : : 2

Storage for both food and information...

Kitchen Poetry :: 1

A week of kitchen poetry, hosted by Simple Sparrow.

A corner of mine...

A new toy...

Who observes the observer??

What a week!!!!!

This last week has been a mixed bag of events -

• The start of the week have a work colleague announce that he was leaving - like right away - the boss had left for a month off so we were already one person down and had Father Day approaching at a rapid rate - a busy day in the book trade - less people to cover more shifts.
• I then 'drowned' my phone - which I was three months from owning outright - it is now deceased.
• My elderly father announces he is not only selling his house but he is contemplating marriage - he is in his 90's.
• Discovered that the pain I have been experiencing could be a cracked rib from all the coughing I have done in the last few weeks.
• And to top it all off I worked a six day week.

I am feeling mentally and physically done - it is my birthday in a couple of weeks and I feel like I am older than my father - everything is an ask - even blogging...

But I shall persevere...

Birth - Rebirth...

There is at last movement over at my other blog -http://stitchtodayresttomorrow.blogspot.com/ I hope to use this blog to once again to record my stitching and other creative endeavours... Feel free to wander that way...

Image courtesy: 'Wisdom of Avalon' oracle cards - Colette Baron-Reid

:( :( :(

I finally succumbed to a bronchial infection and have been home since Tuesday afternoon - I tried to 'brazen it out' so to speak but by Tuesday afternoon I was dragging my feet...I knew I must have sounded bad when one of the customers ferreted in her bag and handed a cough lozenge across the counter to me and the woman on the other end of the phone told me I needed to make some garlic tea - I wasn't sure that she thought perhaps I might have had a vampire problem rather than a chest infection...

Anyway I finally admitted defeat and came home and here I have been ever since apart from a visit to the Dr's today after which I came home and went to bed... I have coughed and coughed until I have made my myself dry retch.. I went to the Dr.'s today and he put me on some very strong antibiotics and gave me a two day medical certificate... I have felt miserable even my stitching has had no appeal - checking my email and a quick whip around the blogs was about all I could muster as far as computing was concerned...

Tomorrow will be much the same as today and I will decide how I feel tomorrow night before I make a descision about Friday - the boss goes away next week so it will be "all hands on deck" for the following four weeks and I want to be in tip top condition - especially as I am working a couple of six day weeks...

Well I am going to head off to bed now and hopefully get a better nights sleep than I have been having..

Feelings & emotions

This weekend has been one of those weekends... This oracle card says it all...

Image: 'Wisdom of Avalon' oracle cards - Colette Baron-Reid

My BIG day out...

I arrived by train to Southern Cross station - a city train station at the top of the CBD of Melbourne...

...and crossed the river...

...taking the scenery as I walked...

... this view down the Yarra always sends shivers down my spine...

arriving at my 'heaven for a day'...

Yesterday I went to the Craft Fair here in Melbourne - it is the first time I have been to this particular event in a couple of years. I arrived an hour after it opened at 9am and I was still there at 7.30pm - half an hour before it closed. I had a wonderful day looking, admiring, learning and meeting up with old friends with a couple of coffee hot chocolate stops in between...

Usually I am quite restrained money wise - yesterday I was like a mad woman - and I must admit I spent more than I anticipated - and that was being fairly restrained. I did two workshops and sat in on a couple of freebies - one was a woman who does scrumbling or free form knitting as it is better known - she opened up a new horizon for me!!!!! Her jackets just took my breath away and sent my imagination racing - but luckily by then I had run out of money to do anything about it!!!!!!

Here was my day in pictures...

These two photos are of the workshops I did...

Wilma is a crazy patchwork chook - it was a different method of applying crazy patchwork and one that I might have a go at when next doing a block it seemed an easier way although its application takes a little longer...

This workshop was how to apply a soft paint wash to a design and then embroidering and embellishing over the wash.. I could see this could really be part of my repertoire.. I have done fabric painting before but never using it as a wash... This class I did last thing in the evening so there was a certain amount of pressure to at least get the painting done.

This little girl I fell in love with although there is a method in my madness - E has created a character that she would like to see developed as a softie or doll. This little doll design from Melly and me will help understand doll design and give me a practical place in which to start... Once upon a time I would have just passed her by - but she really caught my eye. I chose the fabric while I was there as I was determined that I would come home with the whole lot ready to start - someday!!!

This fabric was an impulse stash buy. The little clasps,beads, do-da's were from a beading stand - I thought they would be perfect 'crazy' embellishments...

This cross stitch pattern and indeed the next were... well, they simply were!!!! These are listed on my 'to do' for my next life...

...and this one - well I have always loved this image - the look of the baby and it gazes at its mother. I have always loved Mermaids as does my eldest daughter M - so imagine my surprise and delight when I saw it as a cross stitch pattern - a must have!!!! You wouldn't think to look at it that it has 39 colours all subtle blends - very subtle... The woman who sold it to me wished me luck with this one - I could understand what she meant when I opened the chart... It is the stuff that cross stitching nightmares are made of!!!!!!!! Nearly each square a different colour!!!!!

I just love this - I think something to do with my garden theme that I seem to be enveloped in lately...

... my excuse for this one is that I have been eyeing this kit off for about a year in the Fox Collection catalogue I receive every few months

So there ends my day of stash building - a good effort if I do say so....

The following photos are of a very, very small selection of wonderful quilts - some photos are a little dodgey so to see some better ones try Patra's Place blog...

Here is G - Patra's Place - at the chook crazy patchwork workshop - a study of concentration... Now where does that patch go?????

Three modern quilts...

...this twee one was beautifully stitched - patience beyond the call ...

...and one that has stood the test and rigors of time...

...unlike me who is shattered today after my big day out.