First Harvest From The Garden!

 We Noel planted some tomatoes and zucchini and we have had our first little harvest. One tomato and two zucchini! There are a lot more on the plants waiting for their turn.

He also planted some lovely herbs and potatoes.

It's lovely being able to pick your own home grown vegies. The boys had lots of fun digging for potatoes 

last time we planted them.

Getting Ready . . . . .

To play with hexagons!

It would be over 15 years, maybe more, since I've made any.

Blogging Friends Are So Generous!

 One of our swaps for the Friends Having Fun Swaps this year is wool. I mentioned that I will have to start collecting some as I didn't have any in my stash. The lovely Fiona (Bubz Rugz) offered to send me some.

A big fat satchel arrived! I don't think Fiona could have stuffed any more in! Now it's got my mind working thinking about what I will make my partner. Thank you so much, Fiona. It was so lovely of you to start my stash!

 Yvonne from Yvonne W Designs recently had a giveaway of a button set she used for her Triptrych that is in the January edition of Homespun. I was the lucky winner. How pretty is the paper the buttons were wrapped in!

Here they are. Yvonne makes gorgeous buttons and brooches, as well as designs lovely patchwork and stitcheries. You can see them here.

Thank you so much Yvonne. 

The buttons are so much nicer in person.

Stitching and Baking!

 I finish the little sparrow stitchery for Operation Sparrow that Jenny of Elefantz told us about. You can read all about it here on her Operation Sparrow post. I'll give it a good press and then pop it in the mail.

  I made this little wall hanging for my Great Niece, Ava, 

for her Naming Day yesterday. The fabric is 

so much prettier in person. This was one of the lovely fat quarters I won on Donna's (Donna's Lavender Nest) 

blog last year. It was perfect for Ava's hanging.

 I used Michelle's Stitcher's Alphabet pattern 

but just left off the sewing notions.

 On the baking front, I decided to make a beef pie.

 I even made my own pastry for the base which is 

something that doesn't often happen!  I must admit 

to using bought flaky pastry for the top!

 It turned out quite yummy according to my family 

and I have permission to make it again!

Happy Australia Day!

FNSI, OPAM and the Tradie!

 My FNSI project was this little sparrow stitchery by Jenny of Elefantz. This is for Operation Sparrow. You can read all about it here on Jenny's blog. I didn't get as much done 

as I was at Little Athletics for the twilight meeting 

and the light wasn't good enough.

 Thank you to Wendy for hosting us last night.

Head over here to Wendy's to see what 

every one else got up to.

It's time to sign up for OPAM 2015 with Peg and Kris! 

Head over to either Peg's or Kris's blogs to
see all the details and sign up. 

I wonder how many projects I will finish this year!

Mitchell has survived his first week of getting up early and going to work. Although the 7.00am starts are a bit of a killer for him! Nelson took this selfie last night at athletics.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho. It's Off To Work . . . . .

 Mitchell goes!

Today Mitchell commences his 

Landscaping Apprenticeship.

Good luck, Mitchell.

Have a great day.

We hope you don't come home too tired and grumpy!

A New Project!

That's all I can say.

It's a secret!

My first two finishes for 2015!

I've been having fun making my little stitcheries into projects. These two stitcheries are from 

Jenny of Elefantz' Stitchery Club.

 I made my little bird on a cotton reel into a sewing pouch. 

The bird is from Month 3 of the Club.

 I even made a pocket with half of a little doily 

I picked up at an op shop last year.

 The colours in the stitching matched perfectly with the fabrics. You can see the little French knots now. 

I think they were a bit too small in my earlier post.

 Then I stitched this heart from Month 2 of the Club 

and made it into a little wall hanging.

The fabric range I used is Avalon. Isn't it lovely!
These are the fabrics in my FQS BOM quilt.

Only two more days and we get our next set of stitcheries from Jenny. I think there may still be time to sign up here.

 Speaking of Jenny. I have been very remiss and haven't publicly said thank you for this sweet Stitcher's Friend needle case that Jenny sent me before Christmas.

 Thank you so much, Jenny!

Taking The 2015 Swap Pledge of Integrity!

It's time again to take the Swapping Pledge'.

I, Christine, will try my utmost...

* To always swap on time.

* To always email a THANK YOU to my partner.

* To be considerate and thoughtful when choosing a gift.

* To give my partner the quality of gift that 

I would like to receive.

* To communicate when it's required.

* To NEVER over commit and let a partner down.

* To advise the swap mama when I receive my gift.

This I sewonly pledge...

Op Shop Finds!

 On Friday when we took Molly for a walk, we went past 

the Op Shop and I saw this out the front. Actually, there were two but the other one had a very big stain on the top. This one is in perfect condition. It doesn't even look as though it's been used much. I've been wanting to get a stool for sometime now for when I am sitting stitching. 

It's even very comfortable to sit on.

Just ask Molly! 

She decided that there was room for her as well!

After seeing the beautiful treasures Jenny of Elefantz found at her Op Shop, I went over the the linen section. There wasn't really anything that jumped out at me but I did find this gorgeous Christmas serviette(?).

 It has the tiniest of cross stitches. I think they are done by machine but I don't care. I just love it! I plan to make something with this but I just don't know what yet.

I also found this beautiful new cream tea towel. 

I do have a plan for this one.

So I think a very successful shop for only $12! 

Ten dollars for the stool and $1 each for the other two.

What I Stitched and Sydney!

I had a lovely evening of stitching. The little bird was appliqued on and although you can't see them, I stitched the ric rac on with lots of tiny French knots. The bird is one of Month 3's designs from Jenny's Stitchery Club.

Austin and Nelson joined me and we watched a couple of Adam Sandler movies, the silly Billy Maddison and 

Fifty First Dates. It was a bit of light entertainment 

and it wasn't the cricket! Yeah!

 We picked the cricket tragics up from the airport 

this morning. They had a wonderful time.

 

 Watching the Aussies warming up.

Having dinner with my brother Neville.

Pop over to Cheryll's to see what everyone else got up to.

Friday Night With Friends and a Day at the Cricket!

 It's the first Friday Night With Friends for 2015 

hosted by Cheryll (Gone Stitchin'). 

Hopefully we'll get dinner over with nice and early and 

then I can start stitching. My original plan was fish and chips but as we had them only two nights ago at the 

beach, we really can't have them again tonight! 

There's only Austin, Nelson and myself home 

tonight because at 6.15 this morning

we dropped Noel and Mitchell here

to catch a flight here

to spend the day here!

Yes, they just can't get enough of the cricket!

They are staying overnight with my brother and then catching an early flight home 

so that Mitchell can play cricket at 12pm.

The weather is a lot cooler here today which is nice. 

Our cooling still hasn't been fixed so it will be so much 

more pleasant to sit and stitch tonight.

Don't forget you can sign up for FNWF here.

Cooling Off At The Beach!

 It was another very hot day here yesterday. Our cooling system died last Saturday after a power surge. 

The technicians were supposed to come yesterday 

but it was cancelled due to storms coming. 

We still don't know when they will come! 

We headed off to Altona Beach about 6pm for a swim.

Well, the boys swam. I didn't!

 Some ball fun was had. That's Callum with Austin.

 It was a stormy looking sky.

 

 We could see lightening way over the other side of the bay.

 

I managed to get a photo of this bolt of lightening.

We finished off the night eating fish and chips in the park. 

It was a bit too windy on the beach.