Australia Day

Well here I am with a wonderful bundle of Aussie Day goodness!!

Of course if I had been to town this past week I would have had my parcel to open on Australia Day!!! A BIG THANK YOU to Illene for this wonderful bundle!!!

All of my little parcels wrapped and tagged - very exciting!

Don't know why this photo has imported on it's side but here are all the goodies in my parcel together!

A bit blurry but a cute little Lavender drawstring bag filled with Lollies

A beautiful mug Rug with a lovely Kookaburra embroidery.

Aussie fabric and cocktail flags and Aussie Tattoos (??) - for me to use when I want to be tough!!lol!!

Incense Sticks and Incense Holder

Tea Towel, Tea bags and Used Tea bag holder.

Thanks you so much Illene.

And thank you also to Anthea from over at HIBISCUS STITCHES for being the Aussie Swap Mumma - her very first time and such a great job!

Yay!! Some Sewing!!

So today I have spent all day fiddling with patterns and fabric!! I decided to take a break from the sorting and have some me time - it was such a good idea!!

First up I completed a thermal Bottle Bag and a Bath Towel for a grandson's 2nd birthday.

Need to make a few more bottle bags with the insulbrite in them as this one is snug fit!! Practice makes perfect they say!! Then onto some cutting out.

I have been wanting to make myself some casserole carriers for a long time so I cut them out today and will sew up over the weekend. I have to get the dowel for the handles on one and the mdf cut to size for the bases of both of them but at least they will be ready for when that is done.

Then I moved onto sorting a pile of WIPs that have been sitting around for way too long (I may have even blogged about them 12 months ago!!). This sewing basket is fill of WIPs as is the Bag. So I have taken each one out to assess where I am up to and then put each one into their own ziplock bag.

These 3 I put into their own little project bag that I can just slip into my big handbag and take with me. With school going back and visiting mum every day I can sit and sew while talking or waiting. 

My 3 sewing bags - a gift from a close friend from one of her many overseas trips; a gift received in a swap and a little bag I made many years ago.

And i have downloaded and had a bit of a look through my scraps in readiness to start this BOM - which I found through Melody who is doing a series of posts on Free BOMs on her blog - The House On The Side Of The Hill (thank you Melody) - pop on over to Melody's blog if you are looking for something else to do this year - my Monday sewing group of 3 other ladies will be doing this with me!!

So am I sewing tonight - no I am not - I finished some secret sewing today also but I cannot show you that until mid February.

So I am thinking I am going to go and have a shower and have an early (for me) night!!

Hiding from the Heat

Along with the rest of the country we have had some over 40 days here during the last week - (the last 2 days have been lovely at just over 30 degrees) so there is only one thing to do and that is hibernate inside under the cooler!! Not actually hibernating, just escaping - we have been on a cleaning binge - so not many photo opportunities there.

The preserving continues - tomatoes are getting sunburnt so I will be picking them green to make pickles - then I will be buying from a local farmer (whose tomatoes don't get sunburnt for some reason) - will still let some ripen for our meals.

Our chooks have continued laying despite the heat - so yesterday afternoon was a cook up. Lunches for a couple of days!! 

It is nice to be able to go to the fridge and just get something out to heat up and throw some lettuce and tomato together and there is a meal!

Karah has been home all week after spending Christmas with her dad. She went to a friends place on the weekend and came home with a yummy cake they had made - lovely with a cup of coffee after dinner last night.

She is not one to nurse newborn babies but we did manage to get her to hold Hope long enough to take a photo!

No sewing this week - a lot of cutting out and prep work done though. This is the beginning of some secret sewing. Hope to have it finished in the next couple of days and into the mail for valentines day!!

That is just about it for me  this post - a week of finishing off cleaning out rooms, some sewing and prtobably some more preserving!! What are you all up to this week??

Hope!

Six days before her due date and 'Hope Maree Naomi' is here!

Not all brand new but close enough - 6hrs old. 7lb 5oz; 49cms. Isaac is beside himself with happiness and Kita is just exhausted!

First cuddle and talk for Ma-ma

William (4 months) and Hope (6hrs) meeting for the first time!!

I woke this morning with Naomi on my mind which made for a teary morning on my part - there is always a reason she is comes to me - guess she was making sure her niece arrived safe and sound - I just didn't pick up on it!

And my FNWF sewing was just in the nick of time.

So now that everything and everyone is safe and happy and life is as it should be I have been doing some more preserving this evening. Photos on the next post!

FNWF

The first Friday Night With Friends for 2017 was last night and I actually managed to stitch and complete!!! We have a new granddaughter due sometime in the next 2 weeks (doctor will decide when) and as I promised to buy the baby bath I thought I would do some accessories to go with it.

Face washers

Towel, face washer, and bib. No idea why the photo has cropped one side off - it was there when I saved it!!

Towel, face washer and bib.

a couple of extra face washers.

You can probably guess that mum likes Winnie The Pooh!!

We already have 6 natural grandchildren so which only 2 are girls so another little girl will be a nice change; along with our 7 step grandies we will have a total of 14 by mid January - the family is growing!!

Thank you Cheryll for hosting FNWF - why not pop over to the LINKUP and check out what everyone else got up to last night - I will be between chopping and prepping tomatoes for Passata Sauce and marinated tomatoes/onion/capsicum!!

Have a beautiful weekend.

Keeping Up The Pace!

Well here I am onto my third post of the year before the first week is done! Wonders never cease.

My first batch of tomato relish is done.

I was given some apricots (which would be the smallest I have ever been given), so I have also made some Apricot Butter - as the apricots were very ripe it hasn't thickened as well as it should have but now problem there - it still spreads nicely on buttered bread and with cream on top it is the ants pants.

 Not as sweet as jam and is pureed as well. Would go well as a topping on ice cream also.

The first of my winter food preparation. Parsnips were on special at one of our fruit and vegie shops so I have started stocking up for soups and casseroles.

This week I have Abbey staying with me. She is now eleven and a half. Today Shimika came to spend a couple of days also. They busied themselves covering paper mache boxes with fabrics and making dreamcathchers. Chips of course were needed to keep the creative juices flowing!!

I have even done something craft wise - cutting out drink bottle holders.

And pot holders also - some for gifts and some for market stalls.

Got these out which I started about 15 months ago - 2 teapot cosies - aiming to get these finished for CWA Land Craft in March; and

these potholders also for CWA Land Handcraft in March.

In November last year Griffith Branch CWA members made 36 pillowslips, 14 activity bags and 6 emergency bags for the Children's Ward at Griffith Base Hospital.

Here are Karah, myself and another member Heather with staff members when we presented them.

The activity bags had a scribble pad/or an activity pad, coloured pencils and a sharpener;

and the emergency bags had soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, comb and tissues. Our hospital is fed by a large number of outlying towns and quite often patients are transferred and arrive with just the clothes they  have on their back - the staff were happy to have the emergency packs for these patients.

DON'T FORGET the

AUSTRALIA DAY SWAP being run by Anthea at Hibiscus Stitches - sign up closes on the 6th January so if you want show your love for our country pop over to Anthea's blog and sign up now!!

And so this is .... 2017 ..... YAY!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR

May 2017 bring each and everyone of you lots of beautiful memories, lots of laughter and love, good health all through the year; and I hope that you all achieve some if not all of your goals for this year
So I thought I would share some of the 'good' start to 2017 I have found around the traps.

Rose cuttings that I planted back in September - I have lost a few but I am happy with the strike rate.

My tomato plants are starting to give us heaps of tomatoes - relish to be made tomorrow I think.

Tomato bushes are loaded - might have to make some green tomato pickles also.

Zucchini plants have started producing hopefully I can start putting some in the freezer and use some as fresh vegies.

Bean plants have surprised me - I almost never get beans, the plants usually die first!

Pears are well on their way

some of the peaches are starting to ripen.

apples on one tree

and a few on another tree

the last of the nectarines - yummo

happy to find a little bit of colours somewhere amongst the garden beds

Crepe Myrtle - always so delicate and pretty

This boy is now thirteen and a half, my how he has grown up. Lachie with the changing voice and nearly as tall as me - sounds and looks strange when he sidles up for a cuddle! Mr serious trying to ignore Ma-ma taking his photo.

I can always get the smiles though!

This pest - orphan found on the side of the road and hand reared - they needed to have her adopted because they were going away for a few weeks - so the one with softy and sucker emblazoned across her forehead said yes!! I have tried a few names on her - lamb chop, sunday roast, irish stew - she just looks at me knowing damned well she is here forever!!

Even the machinery had something good for me - a smiling boy

A fresh flower ready to burst open

another flower already open - just a quarter of an inch across!

and after 10 years - someone is making an attempt to level the driveway - maybe one year it will get finished - see I do have faith.

Good old faithful - always a bright spot in the garden.