Take care... :)

I'm Finally Back!!!!

I'm sorry it's been so long but I'm finally back!! I don't know where my time seems to be going lately but before I knew it I was in full renovation mode, moving house and tending to our new merino ewe's lambing whilst still trying to work full-time and be a mother to my almost 2 year old... (o.k. that's enough of the whining)

But yes, I'm still here and eager to get my new sewing room set up so I can whip up some new curtains for my new bathroom... Can you all remember me telling you about our bathroom Reno's?? Well we're 'almost' finished..... Here's DH bogging up a few more holes (that whole wall was one great big hole, an absolute NIGHTMARE!!!)... Here I am water proofing the soon to be 'new shower'.....
This pic is of the floor and most of the skirting all tiled and ready to be grouted....
And here is the bathroom all but finished... This weekend we're putting the new light fitting up and installing the shower screen which will be one of those frame less one's that look absolutely super slick, well that's what the sales assistant told me anyway... LOL!!!
It seems to of taken forever for this bathroom to fall into place but I'm just so happy that I can now actually shower in it... You see DH and I were going to get a builder to do the bathroom for us which would of taken half the time but we decided to do it ourselves. The money we saved doing it ourselves will go towards builders remodeling the kitchen... So far we've saved $15,000, isn't that fantastic??? So now my original budget of $50,000 for a new kitchen has risen to $65,000. You gotta be happy with that!!!

So if all goes according to plan we'll be staring the kitchen remodeling at the end of Winter.... My next reno project will be the little princess's room. I'm hoping to start that in the next couple of weeks...

Now for a bit of crafting..... This is the full pic (as promised here) of the quilt that I made up for this swap... And last but not least I'll leave you all with a glimpse of one of the new little babies that I have running around my place at the moment...DH and I bought a heap of old merino ewe's in lamb about 3 months ago for a real dirt cheap price, they were practically giving them away.. They all started lambing about 3 weeks ago.... Now who doesn't love baby animals, isn't this one a cutey???

Take Care... :)

I'm Exhausted!!!!

Oh Wow..... Where do I start???? I had the most amazing weekend at Nundle. Kerry sure does know how to organise a fantastic get together.....

Friday night we headed to the Nundle Town Hall and had a yummy soup and damper dinner with homemade rocky-road for dessert (thanks Peg and Dale for the dessert)... On Saturday we kicked started the day with a delicious cooked breaky at the Peel Inn before heading back to the Town Hall for a day filled with Leanne and Rosie's crafty goodness..
Rosie taught us all how to needle turn applique (the pic above is Rosie showing me some of her tricks)... Her project for the day was a gorgeous applique pillow and a stitchery.... I finally learnt how to start and finish off my embroidery work thanks to Leanne. She's such a whizz with a needle and thread... I loved her Chookyblue inspired project on the day.. For a pic check out Chooky's blog....
Saturday was topped of with a dinner party at the Peel Inn. It was a bit nippy but we all managed... After dinner we made our way down stairs to the bar where Rosie and Leanne were up for a bit of a sing-a-long.... We bopped along to some good old classics til the wee hours of the morning, and let me tell you now my poor head sure made me suffer for it the next day....

I met so many fantastic bloggers over the weekend (you know who you are :)).. I had such an amazing time but after all of this being said I am also so very glad to be home... I've never spent a night away from my little princess before and I never thought it was possible to miss someone so much... It really did feel good walking into my house on Sunday night and being greeted by a very excited little girl....

I bought loads of goodies and will post about all of that at a later date... Take Care... :)

I LOVE Australia Post!!!!!!!

Yesterday morning when I went to the post office to collect my mail you can only imagine how excited I was when Bruce (yes, I'm on a first name basis with my local postman) handed me a big bright pink box signed on the back by my 'secret quilt' swap partner Kellie...

I just couldn't wait to get to the car to open it up so I opened it then and there in the post office..... (sorry Kel this pic really doesn't do your gorgeous work much justice)

OMG!!!!! It was amazing....... Kellie's work is like none that I have every seen before.... Her applique and machine quilting are in a league of there own and let me tell you now, that league is pretty darn elite.....She packed my parcel full of goodness for both me and the little princess. It really did make me, or should I say us (the little princess and I), feel like royalty for the day.... She made this....and this.......for the little princess... Her work is just sooo gorgeous!!!! I scored 2 pin cushions and a tissue holder, the little princess is just deciding which one she wants to keep... I guess the tissue holder is for me..... LOL!!!!!Now don't think that this is all that Kellie sent me, this woman REALLY did spoil me... I also got these 3 divine fabrics that I just can't wait to sew something up with....This has been the best-est swap ever, thanks Kellie!!! I really enjoy reading your posts and am so looking forward to learning lots and lots more about quilting from you over the months to come....

Speaking of swaps.... I almost forgot to mention that I joined up for the Doll Quilt Swap round 3. The deadline to post out your quilt was the 28th of April but with all of the hype from my swap with Kellie I didn't get it posted until today... Hopefully my swap partner doesn't mind too much...There was no theme for this swap so I just with a traditional block using some modern fabrics and finished off with some hand quilting....
You'll have to wait til later for a full pic as this swap is a surprise/secret too....

I know that I promised some reno shots this week but they're going to have to wait til next week... sorry :( I've been flat out and have totally forgotten to take some decent pics of the tilling we did over the weekend.... I did take a couple of macros though and here's one just to keep you interested.... :)We obviously still have to grout and if you've ever tiled before ( I haven't but have been assured) than you'll know that the grout is what really makes it look pretty....

O.K... If you made it this far THANKYOU!!!! I know that this was one hell of a post.... But now I'm off to pack my bags as I'm off to Nundle for the 'Girls Day (weekend) in the Country'... Kerry Swain has organised the whole thing and she has Rosalie Quinlin and Leanne Beasley comming with a special project for us all to do... I'm leaving first thing tomorrow morning, going via Donna's place to pick her up and meeting up with Fiona and some other girls at Nundle around lunch time... I'm so excited and will tell you all about it sometime next week....

Take Care and have a lovely weekend....

In the bag.....

Yippee!!!! My 'Secret' Quilt is done, dusted and in the bag..... The mail bag that is!!!!
I did a mixture of hand and machine quilting on this quilt but now I kinda wish that I'd done the whole thing by hand.... I can't wait to hear what Kellie thinks of it when she gets it in the post sometime next week... Here it is all folded up with a little extra goodness on top..... :)
And here it is all ready to be popped in the post (well almost)....
DH and I are tiling the bathroom in our new/old house over the long weekend so next week my posts will be filled with reno shots of the old farm house..... Be warned, some of the pictures to come next week may create a sudden urge to renovate... LOL!!!

One last thing before I sign off.... I read an amazing article this morning after following a link on Pink Chalk Studio's Blog... You see, I'm one of those people who frequently reassesses things in my life. I find myself worrying if I've spent enough time with the little princess or talked enough with my DH... These are obviously the largest rocks in my pile of 'big rocks' (when you read the article you'll understand) and should be my priority.... Go check the article out and let me know what you think, are you putting your big rocks first????

My Macro....

I finally discovered where the macro function/feature was on my camera this morning. I snapped this pic of some embroidery on Kellie's 'secret quilt'.... Not long now Kel and it'll be in the post, sometime this week I promise.. :)
We had a little celebration out at the new farm on Friday night and I just couldn't help but take this pic of the little princess in all her glory... LOL!!! Truth be told.... I actually took this pic to show everyone the new skirt I made her. I used the same tutorial as I did back here....This time round I used denim instead of linen for the solid colour on the skirt. What do you think??? I thought I'd share some links to a few blogs that I've been frequenting lately, they're really worth a look.... There's Knitting Box.... This is a gorgeous blog with fantastic photography and man can this Sydney woman knit... I'm also loving reading through and slowly joining in on the Dear Baby Jane Quilt Along.... Bloom is also joining in on this 'quilting' adventure..... She's an Orange based blogger who is an absolute whizz with a needle and thread....

Also, not many blogger's out there haven't heard of New Zealand based Tiny Happy but just in case you are one of the few who hasn't you really should check out her latest stitching efforts... They're AMAZING and are where the inspiration for the embroidery on my 'secret quilt' came from...

I hope there's at least one new and exciting read in this bunch for all you bloggers out there.... Until next time...... Happy Blogging... :)

What I've been up to.....

Kellie and I decided to do a little quilt swap with each other when we both missed out on the latest round of the 4 seasons quilt swap. We're still following all of the guidelines set out by this swap so it'll be a 'Spring' themed quilt. Our only difference will be that we'll know who our partner's are (I think that's better anyway)....
The snap shot above is just a little sneak peak for Kellie. It's by no means any where finished..... There's loads of embellishing in the form of embroidery and maybe even a little bit of applique to come let alone the quilting... The deadline to post is Monday fortnight but I'm hoping to get mine mailed out early this time, for a change.. :)

Now that the evenings are cooling down I've been feeling a real pull towards knitting. I started knitting this cardigan for my little princess on Saturday night. It's so super easy I should have it finished come the end of the week (fingers crossed).I'm using the most divine yarn that was sooo affordable. It's Soft by Carnival, is 8ply and was only $2.68 per 80g ball. Carnival was the brand of wool my Mum used to buy me when I first started to knit/crochet, it's not the most luxurious wool out there but for a machine washable yarn it's pretty good and makes knitting infants clothes that little bit more affordable. What's your opinion??? I'd loved to hear it. Have you ever used this yarn before??? What's your preference when knitting/crocheting kids cloths???

Lots of Goodies.....

I got a chance to go and visit my Mum at Cootamundra over the weekend.... It was great to catch up with her. On Saturday morning we popped by the local sewing shop and look at what we found...... A gorgeous jelly roll by Moda in the American Jane collection... Mum decided to buy it and seen as though I loved it so much she is now going to make me a quilt with it. We picked out a design together on Saturday night while pigging out on pizza's with my little sister. This week Mum will be sewing all of the strips together to make my quilt... I can't wait til my next visit so I can see how the whole thing is progressing.... I promise I'll keep you posted with some progress pics...... ;)

While we were in the sewing shop I also spotted this gorgeous tin and just had to have it and thanks to Mum I now do... (You really do spoil me too much MUM!!!!!)This is what was inside, 4 spools of gutermann threads, how fantastic is that.....While I was at Mum's I also got a chance to whip the little princess up 2 pairs of winter pajamas. I can't believe I drafted the pattern myself!! It was all thanks to Enid Gilchrists Sleepwear book, that women is a geneous!!! Here's the little princess modeling a pair.... She's just gotten out of bed in these pics and as you can tell by the big nest in the back of her hair she likes sleeping with the birds... LOL!!!I've had an idea floating around in my head for a while now and this morning I finally got a chance to make up my first prototype and here it is.....It's supposed to be a fabric flower brooch.... What do you think???? Does it look like a flower to you???? I'd love to hear what you think.....

PIF Exchange....

I participated in a PIF exchange back here. This is a sneak peak at the pressy that I'm sending out to Carolyn over at Comfy & Cosy. Hopefully receiving it makes her day... ;)
Now, only 2 more people to make pressies for and my round of the PIF is over... I'm hoping to have them mailed out sometime next week, fingers crossed...

I'm totally hooked on making washcloths at the moment... Here are my latest 2, both crochet and both made with the most divine yarn from Moda Vera called Bamboo/Cotton... I'll definitely be using this yarn again, it's gorgeous!!!! The first washcloth is called the Tulip Stitch Cloth and you can find the free pattern here.And the second wash cloth is called the Blossom Stitch Cloth and you can find the free pattern here.
I'll definitely be making the Tulip Stitch Cloth again it turned out absolutely beautiful!!!! Perfect for using as a face washer... The Blossom Stitch Cloth was a little tricky as there wasn't any instructions on how to do the picot edge. I did the best I could with the little crocheting knowledge I have...

Take care everyone and have a lovely weekend full of crafty goodness... ;)

I'm such a Sucker....

Seen as though the weather is cooling down in these parts I though I'd better whip the little princess up a couple of skirts to wear with tights and boots. On Friday night I got a chance to make this one up using Kate's (from two little banshees) fantastic and super easy skirt tutorial.... (excuse the DIRT all over the skirt, she wore it on Saturday before I got a chance to take a pic...)I used a cotton/linen blend in Navy that I purchased from Spotlight for the top panel and some of the gorgeous nursery rhyme fabric I bought back here for the bottom. I'd of loved to of made 2 of these gorgeous skirts on Friday night but the big hand on the clock was fast approaching 1am as I was sewing up the hem on my first one and seen as though I had an early start on Saturday morning I thought that SLEEP was definitely my main priority.... LOL!!!

We jumped in the car at 4:30am on Saturday morning and did the 450km trek to Orange. We were certain we weren't coming home until we had ALL of the supplies needed to renovate our new/old bathroom...

After a lot of hunting around I finally found and bought the vanity I've been dreaming about. It may not have started it's life as a vanity but it was surely destined to be one in our house. We're cutting a whole in the top of a hall stand (purchased from this divine shop) and inserting a wash basin.... Sounds scary I know but I have complete confidence that my DH and our builder (his best mate) will be able to pull the whole thing off, if they don't, LOOK OUT!!! LOL!!!

DH tells me all the time that I'm 'such a sucker' but how could I let these 2 little kitty's go to the big kitty heaven in the sky. Let me introduce you to Lilly and Tabbitha, the newest additions to our family.... I'm sure that if the little princess has anything to do with it they will be feeling very welcome in their new home in no time at all..... Thank goodness we have a 'huge' back yard...

I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend.... ;)

Happy Easter!!!!

Every year I like to bake all family and friends that live close by something delicious..... This year I made up a nice big batch of Choc-Mint Slice... I made all of the deliveries on Thursday afternoon with the little princess and let me tell you now.... It was a HUGE HIT!!!

I packaged the grown-ups treats in some little cellophane bags (you can buy them in packs of 12 from spotlight, they cost around $2 per pack) and then wrapped them in some gorgeous polka dot scrap-booking card stock (I also bought this from spotlight, it was 50cents a sheet and 1 sheet made 3 packages).
I cut a little window in the shape of a bunny out of the card stock to give it an Easter feel, put a couple of whole punches at the top, threaded a ribbon through and attached a label.... Too easy!!! This idea would work really well for any occasion, just change the shape of the cut out to match...For the little kiddly-winks I wrapped their treats up with some yellow cellophane and tied a big bow of raffia around the top.... Super easy and super cute....Here's the recipe for the slice....

Choc-Mint Slice

ingredients...

250grams sweet biscuits, crushed

1 - 2 mint crisp chocolate bars, chopped

1 x 300ml tin of sweetened condensed milk

150-200grams of good quality chocolate like Cadbury's, melted.

hundreds and thousands for the top if you like...

method...

combine biscuits, sweetened condensed milk and mint crisp bars in a large bowl and stir with a metal dessert spoon until well combined...

press into a 5cm deep slice tin (there is no need to grease the tin but you could line it with tin foil, this makes it easy to remove the slice once it has set) and allow to set in the fridge for an hour...

Pour melted chocolate over the top of the slice (this is where you would be adding the hundreds and thousands if you were wanting to use them) and allow to set at room temperature, this makes it easier to cut...

Once the chocolate has set cut the slice up and store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.

The beauty about this slice is that you can add what ever you like to the biscuit mixture. If you don't like mint crisps or can't buy them any where you could add some honeycomb or smarties instead, what ever treat takes your fancy....

On the home renovation front.... We finally finished gutting the bathroom and boy-o-boy was it a BIG job... We didn't get a chance to head over to Orange to buy our bathroom supplies so have planned to make the trip this coming weekend, fingers crossed nothing pops up before hand.

I had such a lovely Easter long weekend with DH and the little princess. I hope that everybody else had a wonderful Easter break with their family too.... :)