Jam and Doilies

Today's lunch.  Freshly made strawberry jam on freshly made bread.  I found the bargain of the year last week.  1kg bags of frozen strawberries for only $4!!  I'm off to buy some more next week.  Seven lovely jars are sitting in my storage cupboard now.  Delish!

And look what arrived in my letter box today...

I won a special prize last week at Ted and Bunny's blog.  How exciting is that?  I need lots of these little doilies and mats for a bed cover I'm planning to make for our bed.  I have quite a growing pile of them now.  They are looking very pretty on our buffet in the meantime. 

Just look at the beautiful work(wo)manship.  These surely must have taken ages to make.  My grandmother and great grandmother used to make such things too.  I am quite sure I would not have the patience to be a doily maker.

This one has a cloth backing and would look lovely on a dresser.

And this square one is absolutely wonderful.  I love the dots scattered around it.  It reminds me of a butterfly.

Thank you so very much Mrs Ted and Bunny!  I will enjoy using these precious doilies in my bed cover.  Still not sure how I'm going to do it, but do it I shall.

I'm A Winner!

I was very lucky to be the winner of a lovely giveaway at Whisker Graphics last week.  It's been ages since I won a giveaway so I was very excited indeed.  This sweet doll named Fru Marseth was handmade with love by the lovely Emily Moss from Ravenhill.  Well she arrived safely in my post box yesterday and has now been secretly hidden away until Christmas, sneaky sneaky!  Thank you so much ladies for such a wonderful gift.

She has a lovely stitched heart on her bottom.  I like doing this as well.  It gives a toy a little bit of love to go out with.

I wonder if she would like to be friends with rabbit?  I will have to give it serious consideration. 

And speaking of Christmas... yes there has been some talk of this day lately on a couple of blogs.  Well you can never start too early with preparations can you?  This stocking I've made from felt is another project for the school sewing lessons.  I went out and bought all the felt at Spotlight yesterday.  Oh all right, I actually bought way more than just felt!  There might have been a few fat quarters too, and perhaps some more quilting pins, and some fibrefill, and the day before there could have been some other purchases at the same store.  Oh sometimes I am sooo bad!!  But who cares!!

There are a couple of dresses I wouldn't mind getting some fabric for as well.  I'd like to make one for myself too actually.  I have a fancy wedding to go to soon and I have no idea what to wear.  It will be a warm weather wedding so a pretty dress would be nice.  I'd love one of these vintage frocks, but would that be suitable?  I'm into floral fabrics at the moment.  There are so many pretty ones out there. 

I'm off to the fruit and veggie shop in a min.  Hope you are having a good day/evening today.  Love to you all!!

Gifts Galore

Just look at this beautiful pin cushion that was sent to me.  This is what I received from the Pin Cushion Swap Kate organised.  My surprise swap partner turned out to be Kawthar who has a delightful blog you really must visit sometime.

Look at the postage writing.  It looks Arabic or similar.  I'm pretty sure it's come all the way from Saudi Arabia.  Golly, no wonder it took so long to reach me!

The edges of the pin cushion are hand croched ricrac and the button is covered in gingham and then a crochet flower.  It's just the sweetest button in the world, I'm quite sure it is.  I was absolutely thrilled when I opened it.  Who wouldn't be?

But that wasn't all!  No, she very generously croched a gift for each of our four girls as well.  Can you imagine how long she must have spent on this little heart?  It's actually two hearts that are stitched together with an opening at the top.  Daughter No.1 is getting this lovely surprise when she arrives home from school.  She'll be over the moon.

And some very fancy stitching here.  No.4 has agreed to have the large flower stitched onto a top for the winter.  I think it will look fabulous.  The star and the beads may end up as a book mark for No.2.  She's a pink girl so will love it.  And the cutest little purse has been claimed by No.3.  Her favourite colours are pink and yellow.  Kawthar thank you very much for all the wonderful presents, we all really appreciate how many hours they must have taken you to make.

It seems it's a week for parcels in our box.  Yes I won two prizes a while ago!  This one is from Patch, a newly opened online shop.  Thank you very much Claire, I just love all the pretty ric racs, especially the soft velvet ones.  I didn't know I was going to receive quite so many bundles!  Oh the things I'll be able to decorate with them.

The second prize was for naming Clare's sewing machine!  Mabel it is.  Not sure where I pulled that one from, but I'm delighted to now have one of her wonderful patterns.  I think a sewing machine apron sounds like a very good idea.  She also very kindly sent me some big white ric rac.  There's a bit of a theme going on here isn't there?  The three parcels all have ric rac in them.  I wonder if they all know just how much I love the stuff?  Anyway thank you very much Clare, it was a very wonderful prize to receive.

Now I'll finish up with a present I've had for quite some time now.  I feel very bad for not showing you earlier but I just kept forgetting to photograph these lovely items.  Dear Lorraine gave these to  me when she was visiting from the UK several weeks ago.  She knew how much I wanted a pair of pinking shears and found some pre-loved ones at a fair.  How kind of her.  The work perfectly too.

And just look at this pretty pincushion and needle book she made for me.  The fabric is so beautiful and it's extremely well made.  What a clever and very generous lady you are Lorraine.  With everything you had to do before you left home you still managed to make gifts for me, thank you very much.  It's was so lovely to meet you and Jus as well. 

Now my darlings, I must now go out into the sunshine and pull weeds and plant new vegetables and flowers.  It's one of those absolutely beautiful Autumn days where you are drawn to the garden.  I'll be sure to take photos.  Until then, happy stitching! 

Gifts Galore

I forgot to tell you, I was the lucky winner of a fabulous prize last week.  I just answered a nice little questionaire from Fabrication about my favourite subject - fabric,

and I won the prize!

I was allowed to choose between a metre of fabric or fat quarters. 

Annie has an online store selling fabrics from New Zealand.  Please go and see what she has available, she has some very lovely fabrics.

Well after a few hours of mulling the idea over and all the possible options,

I decided upon these little fatties...

I just love the little apples!  So cute.  None of them are for particular projects, just ones I liked. 

So thank you very much Annie.

I had a very productive day yesterday. 

First up I made some dance tops for three girls who are auditioning for a talent quest at school on Wednesday.  You can see a pink one below. 

Shiny isn't it?!! 

Might very well go with my last post title!

Then I sat down to enjoy a little crochet work. 

My big girls took interest in doing a square of their own so after a length of chain was mastered, I proceeded to show them how to make grannies. 

Well it didn't go too badly, although No.1 pulled out with a sore wrist.  Really! 

No.2 however managed to do three rounds and...

ended up with a wonderful first granny!

She's mighty proud of her efforts as are we. 

I've just gone out and bought two more crochet hooks in the same size I am using,

so they can have their own personal grannies in my blanket. 

I can do with all the help I can get!  17 grannies done and many more to go still.

In the afternoon I put a dressing gown together for No.3. 

It's in the most colourful rainbow striped fabric I ever did see. 

I just need to find buttons and it's ready for show and tell.  I only bought the fabric yesterday as well!! 

That's mighty impressive.  

I even managed to impress hubby as he did think it would sit around for weeks just like all the others.

I really don't know what he means?!!

And check this out...

Yep my Spring Swap parcel arrived this morning!  I can't wait to show you what the lovely Willeke sent me.  It's just amazing and so exciting!  If you click on her name you will see what I sent for her.

Dont' you just love the windmill wrapping and the tulip card? 

I'm sure you can guess where she lives!  I'll be sure to post about it really soon.

And Jammy Skirty Winner Is...

The time for the draw has arrived!  Who will be the luckyish winner of three jammy skirtys?

Daughter No.3 was the lucky girl this morning.  Dressed all ready for a party this afternoon, she was presented with 'the jar'.

And in she goes!

Sorry she got stuck!

Ooooh who will it be?

Ah it's Angela!  Fantastic!  Her lovely comment was quite amusing really.  "I just love the fact that the flirtiest of the skirts is on a jar which says "Bit On the Side" round the rim of the lid!!"

Well I'd better get these little skirty wonders off the jammy jars and pop them in an envelope.  They'll be winging themselves all the way across the seas to England.  I hope your jams enjoy dressing up Anglea!

A Skirty Surprise!

So you all liked my pretty little skirty thing aye?  What a wonderful pile of lovelies you all are.  I've had offers of homemade bread from Luisa, homemade cream cheese from Floss, an offer to send me more obedient ribbon and a rather smart remark about me being on the bottle.  Yes well, say no more!  Really Liz, sometimes I really wonder where you get your outrageous ideas from!

Now I made a small error with my numbers yesterday.  Numbers and I aren't not best friends.  I even struggle to learn a new phone number, mine that is.  It's a bit embarassing when I'm asked for it unexpectedly, I just go blank.  Completely blank. 

Anyway getting back to the story of the plums, I actually only spent $3, not $10 as previously stated, and for that amount I weighed close to 4kgs of stoned plums.  Just remarkable!  For you English lasses that would be about one tiny pound.   

This morning after dropping No.3 at kindy, I popped into two different supermarkets until I found my special jamming sugar.  And home I came to cook up another eight jars of loveliness.  I have to say it tastes

fab-u-lous.  And the colour is just marvelous, a rich red.

Now because of all your very lovely comments about my cutsey skirty thing, I whipped up a few more to tempt your taste buds with.  But I'm going to be super kind this time.  Oh yes I am! 

Yes my little cherubs, this time I'm giving one lucky commenter the chance to win all three of these little skirty wonders.  And yes the stitching is all rather straight for a change.  No running off the edges at all, believe it or not.  And no you won't be receiving the first disaster, no, that one will be going to the jammy skirt cemetery.

So if you think your precious little jammies would like to be dressed in the finest jam wear available, please leave me another wonderful comment right here.  I will be drawing one special name on Saturday morning, lets say about 9am.  That will give me time to shower and make myself a little presentable for such an important announcement.

A Big Thank You!

With the rush just before Christmas, (aren't we all glad that's over for another year!!) I didn't get a chance to post my just in time for Christmas presents that arrived from some very lovely bloggers.

This amazing parcel arrived from Selina. I became her 100th Follower and was promised a gift as a thank you. Really I wasn't expecting anything like what arrived!

Just look at all these sewing bits and bobs. Love the ric rac of course, and the fabric squares, and just look at the little stocking!

These must be the tiniest little bells I've ever seen. They are only a few mm's big and they have a rusted look. I can't wait to use them on something Christmassy. They are beautiful.

And of course a few vintage buttons are always welcome at my home. Love them so much more than new ones. Just look at the depth of colour. Thank you so much Selina!

Oh I nearly forgot, she made me this little needle case too. This will keep one of my daughter's needles out of the carpet and safely in her sewing kit now.

And my lovely commenter friend Priyanca sent me this lovely little braid for Christmas. She saw it and immediately thought of me. What a sweetie she is. I can just see is on a pretty little girls dress.

And a while ago I won a wonderful prize from Juanita. It was a mystery what I was being sent which made the wait very exciting. And just look at all the pretty goodies that arrived! WOW!!

Of course all handmade by her own fabulously creative hands too. I love the box she has printed with her own label on it. But this little cupcake keyring is my absolute favourite piece. Look at how tiny it is and it's crocheted I think too. I'm a bit worried about using it as I'd hate for it to get damaged. So for now I'm just admiring it on my bedside table.

How elegant does my hand look with the bracelet on? It really suits the gold in my ring. I think feeling a little glam today. Thank you very much for your thoughtfulness Juanita!

I don't normally post on a Saturday, but hey, in the holiday's every day is a Saturday isn't it?!! I love January so much. It really is my favourite time of the year. So relaxing and homely.

Fish and Chips were had last night at the beach. It was a bit windy so ended up having the dessert at the Grandparents house much to the disgust of the girls. And today it's meant to be really wet but the sun sure looks pretty and yellow to me. I guess I'll get some washing done after all. Any of you snowy people need any help with the drying of clothes? I'd love to be of some help. Plenty of space left on the clothes line if you need a bit of sun.

Giveaway Winner!

Well my birthday is almost over. I have had such a lovely day today. There were presents galore this morning followed by breakfast in bed. Then a treasure hunt for a fab present - one of those lovely little Christmas houses that light up!

We have just returned from my parents house where we had a wonderful meal of roast lamb followed by a pavlova cake. Now here's the surprise, there were only six candles on it!! Imagine that? So I'm not as old as I though I was!! And no one guessed how I was spending my day correctly either. Oh dear, never mind, I'll just list all the participants from the 'Oh Dear' post, along with the ones from the last post, and give each comment a number.

And drum roll please.... we have especially selected by husband A (not B!!) number 7!! And who would number 7 be you ask? Let's have a bit of a looksie... Oh golly it's Serenata from The Balancing Kiwi! How wonderful!! Well now, I will have to put a little birthday parcel together for you honey and send it out real quick. Congrats to you!

What Has The Woman Sent?!!

Well I found a sweet little present for you on Saturday. It wasn't at Market Day, but at the shop by dance class. It's a creative centre and the shop there sells things that crafters have made. It's a great place to shop for presents as they are reasonably priced and very unique. So this secretly hidden present, with a very lovely felt envelope, will be part of my giveaway. I'll add a few bits and pieces as it would be a bit boring unwrapping just one present wouldn't it?

Now I have decided that I would like one of my regulars to win my birthday giveaway. So if you left me a message on my last post, 'Oh Dear!', then your name will be put into a hat on Sunday 29th, my birthday, and she will draw a winner out. Sound fair? By the way No.2 is feeling quite good now thank you. She did love reading your kind messages.

And speaking of presents, my goodness did a wonderful collection of them arrive this morning! All the way across the world, dear Liz trawled the op shops and market places to find as much red gingham and spots as she could carry by the looks of things!! She warned me beforehand that it was all a bit of fun and nothing serious, and she would have to explain a few items. Just look at this bag full...

Liz you completely spoilt me!! And she just did this because she is such a sweetie. Thank you so much for all these lovelies. Well, shall we have a bit of a looksie then?

A spotty cap which will be perfect at a picnic as I will now match my picnic blanket!! Great as camouflage should war break out. Spotty pen and pencil case - very useful and will also blend in. Fragrant beads wrapped in gingham that looks like a necklace but is probably a smelly for my wardrobe. Four gingham squares for jam jar covers I'm guessing.

Two padded coat hangers for my best clothes. And the funniest thing of all... a red gingham school uniform dress that I nearly wet myself over when I opened it!!! Imagine sending me a uniform?!!! What a hoot!

Shower cap covers for the fridge leftovers, beats the clear ones I currently use by a long shot!

The prettiest kitchen cloth that Liz must have known I've been pining for since I first saw them on UK blogs.

I'm not sure if No.2 is ready to forgive me yet for dressing her up!! She is so glad it's not her real uniform as she is not keen on it at all! I think it fabulous and I'm hoping No.3 will let me dress her in it when she gets home. Isn't she just the funniest?!! Honestly we were both in stitches afterwards. So funny! (Have you noticed the plunger on the floor? You never know when you may need one in a hurry!)

Look what I picked up the the op shop this week...

and these darling little florets. I thought they suited that name! I'm thinking these will be perfect for adding to my bags and cushions. The tray cloth will be carefully cut up into individual stars for our Christmas bunting. How flash will that look I wonder. I've had to give them a good soak to revive them back to their former glory. I wish I had taken before photos because I was quite shocked when I found them so very white. I may have to tea stain the little ones.

Well that's enough for today. I feel a list coming on. I think I may have many more things to make for Christmas still. Really don't know what I'm up to. Don't like that feeling of being so unorganised, you would think I would have got used to it by now wouldn't you?

Oh golly No.4 is finally thinking about toilet training herself. Must go and supervise! I didn't ever think she would get there as she's so much later than the others. Bye!!!