Let me introduce Mel

My god, 2 posts in one day but holidays can do that to you. As we have had a few country trips of late and I find it easier to knit in the car Mel was born. At first I thought I was making a Teenage Mutant Ninga Turtle. Funny how limbs can help.
If you have not been to Monkee Makers blog head straight over there she is the funniest person so in her quest for monkey domination I thought a monkee made of knit could have some adventures in Adelaide. The family had a meeting and we came up with the name Mel(so named after the very sexy Mel Gibson). As today was such a beautiful day Mel thought it would be good to go to the beach. Mel was a little apprehensive at first and thought a walk up the jetty would be good before going down on the sand. Please note Tony standing up the jetty trying to look like he is not with the strange women taking photos of the monkee.
Mel liked what he saw and decided to do a bit of sun baking I tried to talk him out of it as I am very conscious of the suns effect but he just wouldn't listen. He did apply some sun screen then when I looked around he had a can of beer opened this was also a concern as we all know the real Mel has a tinsy winsy drink problem and Australian beaches are dry zones so he was just asking for trouble.


I had to be very careful taking these photos as here in Oz if you get caught on the beach taking photos you get dragged off the beach your camera confiscated and the hard drive on your computer checked. I was quite confident I would be able to talk my way out of a pedophile charge however taking photos of a monkee made of knit might lead to a stint in the nearest psych hospital.

Out and about with Clarice

Our mornings have been beautiful the last few days. we have been having hot days today is 36 degrees Yesterday I was up early and went out to take some photos, at the moment the flowering gums are gorgeous I love them for lots of reasons. They come in lots of different colours so here are some snaps.







Even my friends the parrots like them.
Flowering gums like these were the inspiration for May Gibbs and her lovely books about Snugglepot and Cuddlepie.

I've had some strange comment

I have had a few problems with my emails. I'm thinking I have a virus which has wiped out my inbox. I have had some very strange comments left on my last post from Adam Brown. Has anybody else had any problems?????
I seriously wonder about these people they need to take up a useful hobby like stitching.
Does anyone know how to notify Blogger about this sort of problem.

Merry Christmas

Wishing all my blog friends a safe and happy Christmas. When I started this blog 6 months ago I had no idea where it would take me - what a great time I have had, what friends I have made so thank you each and every one of you. Looking forward to more adventures in 2008.

Still on the reindeer theme

When I saw these last Christmas they were described as a fun activity for children, only a sick perverse person would attempt these with children. We have a large open plan lounge/dining room/kitchen, last night while I was making them Lucas was watching T.V. his comment was that if I had made them with children the children would have learnt how to swear.




Look how some turned out.











and this one.






Wishing you all a merry and safe Christmas.

Christmas

I thought I would put some of my handmade Christmas projects on. I made this wall hanging at a workshop at Hettie Patch. Lorraine has set up a blog but with the usual Christmas rush needs a little time to fine tune it, have a look and leave her a comment this could be the inspiration she is looking for and once Christmas is over she will have the time she needs to get it set up. I have finally found a cloche so my lovely pears are now protected from dust(and there is a lot of it in my house).
A friend of my mothers gave her this reindeer years ago and I kept thinking I would cut a pattern off it and I finally did last year, he is quick and fairly easy to make.
A Tilda reindeer, I had a bit of a reindeer theme happening last year.
Finally on another note Lucas went paintballing yesterday and these are the bruises he came home with, they are really horrible about 20 of them went as a 18th birthday party. They all had a great time it doesn't look much like fun to me but I suppose when you are an 18 year old male it could.

365 day challenge

I have completed 11 rows minus 4 days of my 365 day challenge quilt. My husband and I stood in front of it and thought it didn't seem a lot for 9 months of our life. My husband thought we might be able to use it on our bed however that is not going to happen.

The winner is

The Homespun is heading off to Jane in England. Send me your mailing address and an Aussie Homespun will be coming your way. Thanks to everybody for visiting and leaving comment.

Homespun

When I bought this months Homespun it came with a past issue free, as I already have this one I thought I might as well give it away. Any non Australians out there who would like a copy of Homespun just leave a comment and I will pick one Wednesday night. I do not have patients at work on Thursday so can pop out to the post office through the day and send it on its merry way.

Merry Christmas

I received a lovely parcel from Anja through the week. We did a bit of a swap I had admired a bag on her blog and now I have one of my own. I was also lucky enough to get some swiss chocolate I have had to hide them from my family until I took a photo and some rather cute Xmas tissues. The parcel was opened by customs and a information sheet put it. The sheet said that customs use detector dogs and X-ray to inspect all mail, it made me think what was in this parcel that would show up and require it to be opened. Sean who works at the airport said drugs are quite often sent disguised as chocolates then I thought what a great job it would be like Xmas every day opening presents and seeing what gets posted around the world. What a laugh they must have when they open some parcels I expect our stitching parcels are rather tame compared to some other post.

Look who's spoiling the apricot jam

This morning while I was hanging out the washing I spied 2 fruit thieves. Our neighbour has an apricot tree which has an abundance of fruit at the moment however it is not ripe enough to eat.
This one needed a bib.
This one was hanging upside down trying to get the best bits.
I am glad our neighbours do not put net over the tree to stop the birds, this usually ends up with the birds getting caught in the net and dying. Our neighbours are elderly and get very annoyed when the birds spoil a lot of the fruit. Last year they hung CDs in the tree, I'm not sure if it helped but at certain times of the morning I had a great light show in my kitchen when the sun came over and reflected off the CDs. There is generally enough fruit for all of us, we always get a few bowl fulls when they are ripe and my neighbour has enough to make jam.

WIP and Visitor

This is what I have been working on. I showed the centre appliqué a few weeks back, I am now waiting on some weighs and length measurement to put along the sides and I will quilt it. The twins came early at 32 weeks but are doing well. They are friends grandchildren and are in England so when finished, Winnie will be winging his way over to England. Once again not a great photo as Tony was working and it was early Sunday morning so no chance Gemma & Lucas would be up so I paper clipped it to a stick and hung it on the gate.

Look who came visiting the other morning. Our 2 Jack Russells when absolutely crazy at the front door I am surprised they didn't go through the screen. Some how the ducks knew that the dogs were not a threat and waddled along the verandah to the front door. We live very close to a lake which is salt water but the ducks still swim in it. I have a pond in the front yard which I think attracts them.
Tony then thought he would give them some bread which they happily gobbled up.