What a Mess!

Last Saturday, Noel, Mitchell, Austin and Nelson began digging up the front of our house. We are going to pave the front with bricks to match the other half. Hopefully this will keep some of the dirt out of the house. Lilydale topping is very messy!

The boys had fun driving the Kanga around and did a good job.

We have already got rid of one truck load to a friends' house as they needed some fill. There's still at least another truck load (maybe more) to be removed. This lot will have to be loaded onto the truck by hand!

Watch this space (but don't expect it too soon) to see the finished job. Now, we must get onto the landscaper to arrange for him to come.

A new iron and some cushions!

I decided to splurge and buy myself a new iron. I've never had a new iron, they've all been second hand. No more dirty marks on my patchwork now! Of course, I only use my iron for my patchwork (and occasionally for our good clothes when we go out!).

Yesterday, I finished off these cushions for our new lounge suite. I bought the centre fabric when Mitchell was a baby (he'll be 14 in June!) and didn't know what to do with it. I thought it would make nice cushions and each centre is different, depending on where I cut out the blocks.

Here they all are on the lounge (although it looks a bit washed out). Don't look at the mess in the background though!

When Is Chocolate Not Chocolate?

When it's a piece of delicious fabric!

I've joined in the Ugly Fat Quarter Swap and my partner is Amanda from Krafty Panda. Amanda and I decided not to send each other chocolate (as we're supposed to be dieting!) and we would send each other some fabric (and other goodies) instead.
This is the ugly fat quarter and embellishments that Amanda sent me. She gave me a choice of styles which was nice. After a lot of thinking, mind changing, designing, more thinking and more mind changing, I finally made a decision and came up with a plan for using Amanda's ugly fat quarter. You'll just have to wait to see what I make!

This is the ugly fat quarter and embellishments I sent Amanda.We are both working on our projects and you'll soon get to see what we've made each other.

I Knew I Could Grow One!

On Christmas eve, Nelson and I bought a punnet of two watermelon plants. Noel said we'd never get a melon with it. Well, I proved him wrong. Yes, it is only small but it is a watermelon!
Quite early on, one of the chickens dug up one of the plants and it didn't recover. This melon had stopped getting any bigger and we picked it on the weekend. But it was yellow on the inside!
I had a look at the label and it looks like this is a Pollinizer watermelon. It came as a bonus with the Seedless Red watermelon. It grows lots of flowers which then encourage fruit set in the Seedless Red variety. Oh well! It was still a watermelon!

Nelson's First Footy Match

Saturday, Nelson played his first football match for Yarrambat. It was a practice match against West Preston. Nelson had a great time and his team won.