At this time of the year.........

things start getting busier and slowing down. How can that be? I think that by this time in the year, everyone is starting to feel a wee bit tired and in need of a good break. I have had some happy days and some a little bit sad. All my babies are growing up and next year will see the littlest guy going to Prep. My happy days have been having all the grandbabies have a sleepover and put up the tree and decorations.

After some tense moments lively discussion, a spot was decided on for the tree. Then after much mucking around and threats of tears and tantrums sorting out of boxes, the final decisons were made on the decorations and lights. So many special things to put on my tree. Handmade and store bought decorations from dear Lynda, a special bauble I bought from the most amazing Christmas shop in New York, some bows my beautiful daughter made for me when I had my first Christmas home alone and put the decorations up by myself, bawling, chugging wine and howling along to 'I'll be home for Christmas'. A music box ornament that Hanney bought for me last year "because it looked like Gramma" though I'm not sure what part of Santa patting a lamb looked like me and I don't want to think about it;  a string of leather reindeers that Holly bought for me in Canada "because Grandma loves cats" which makes absolutely no sense to me; the most amazing little house from Las Vegas that Jack bought for me "because Grandma likes weird stuff" what makes him say that?? So after much oohing and aahing, we finally had the tree!  Taa daaah!!

My happy and sad day was when I went to Hanney's kindy concert to see the little ones do the nativity play. Happy, because they were all so beautiful and innocent and keen to get it right. Sad, because it is just a fact of life that they are growing up and things will change - for them and for me.

Hannes was Joseph, although he told me he was Joseph and Mary so I was waiting to see how that panned out.

Here, Mary tells Joseph 'we gunna haff a baaaby' to which Joseph replies 'um, well, OK'. Fairly brought the house down. Joseph tells Mary that they have to go to Bethlehem to pay Joseph's taxes. Mary says they'll take the donkey, to which Joseph replies ' yes, well, that's probly a good idea, Mary'. House came down again. The good news is, they got to Bethlehem!

When they woke up, guess what?? They had a baby! Surprise!!!

On Wednesday, 12th of the 12th 2012, we had our anniversary. Here I am, looking totally shattered after three full days of little guys. Everyone said the world was going to end. That's what Mum said 42 years ago. But it didn't and we went out to dinner at the Courthouse Restaurant in Cleveland. Bill the Builder had the Oysters Kilpatrick. If you go to that restaurant, do not have the Oysters Kilpatrick. They were minute oysters that were overloaded with finely ground bacon I think and wildly overcooked. When Bill the Builder questioned the quality, he was informed that was how they got them. Clearly, the restaurant does not make its own Oysters Kilpatrick but buys them in, ready made. Poor form.

Our household is very big on trying to keep calm and usually failing dismally keeping calm so when I saw this little stitchery on Bronwyn Hayes blog, I just had to stitch it out as a mug mat for darling daughter, after I saw this perfect coffee cup! I am going to fill the cup with homemade Russian caramel that I saw just today on the Down to Earth forum. It is a recipe that my mother made for many years until our dentist bills got too high.

Here are some of my snazzy dishcloths that are going as stocking fillers, along with some hand made soap. I've given some of these to Mum and darling daughter already and they love them. I keep the ones that are dodgy don't turn out so well for myself, and I'm thinking that green number in the background is a contender!

Moist Orange Cake that I make just about every second week and Christmas cake is finally in the oven.  Smells absolutely divine so clearly the extra extra long soaking did no harm. And what is a blog post without the latest roses?  The pink ones and some of the white ones are from my bushes and the red one and the rest of the white ones are from SIL.

Did I mention that I love Christmas??

How natty is this??

What a busy week! Not without it's screaming frustrations difficulties but all in all, a good week. Spent a fabulous day at the Brisbane Craft Fair with Bill the Builder's niece and bought a little silicon mould.

Not a very clear photo but it is a mould whereby you push a small piece of coloured fondant into the base and then some green over the top, then press the whole thing out and hey presto! Gorgeous little decoration for the best patty cakes in the whole world....mine, of course!

I made these cakes for the birthday party yesterday and they went down a treat. Also made some mini-quiches and you can see one peeking out on the bottom left hand side of the photo.

Started the day off at the fair with a crochet class on how to crochet a hibiscus! That left me open to scorn and derision a questioning look from Carolyn but it was a wonderful start to the day for me. There was one hour tuition, a bamboo hook and two balls of beautiful cotton so excellent value, to my mind.

And who among you does not need a crocheted hibiscus, hmmm??? It needs to be pressed so that the petals tighten up but I am just delighted with it! I was remarkably restrained very responsible with my purchases and even came home with $20! Here is my haul.

The soap mould at the back was a tad extravagant at $10 because I have seen them in the junk shop for $3 but haven't been able to find one for a while and I want them for Christmas gifts, so bit the bullet. Carolyn and I spent a half hour with the truly talented Helen Dafter who would have to be one of the nicest people I have ever met. We did a tutorial in ribbon embroidery and thoroughly enjoyed Helen's sense of humour. Janet Samson had a display of her beautiful embroidered quilts and so the show special had to come home with me. Janet's work stitches out beautifully and she has such pretty designs. They are not showing up very clearly here but take my word for it, they are just lovely.

It was a bit of a kicker that the car blew a heater hose and had great gusts of steam issuing from the bonnet as we pulled into the carpark of the fair but at least it didn't happen on the way in. We did the responsible thing and went to the fair any way so that the car could cool down. Long story short, we came home in a tow truck! I love RACQ! Tow truck driver was a delightful young man who described himself as a former troubled child and told us how he had turned his life around. Very inspiring story.

Only one SBS block done this week. Sickle block, which went together quite well and is traditionally pieced. Need to go back to Farmer's Wife Sampler too, as well as get a wriggle on with an embroidered quilt for gorgeous daughter-in-law. And the weekend ended on a high note with the 5th birthday party for the most adorable grandson in the whole world. I love this little guy so much. He brings true joy and happiness to my life. Happy birthday, Hannes!

Blowing out the candles on his Giggle and Hoot cake. What a lovely day we had in the park with family and all his little friends.



Further proof......

that I have not just been goofing off for the last year. Well....maybe a little, but had productive spurts too.

I learned to make my own laundry liquid. It works really well and saves me a ute load of cash. Gotta love that!

And my own bath soap after a totally diabolical first attempt which involved a can of Draino. Whoda thunk it?

Had a double birthday celebration for two grandbabies before they set off on a wonderful holiday to America.

Taught myself how to crochet around a handkerchief.  Probably would have worked better with the right colour cotton but you know how I hate to wait around for things ie next day to buy right colour cotton.

Went on a weekend ride to Tenterfield which pleased Bill the Builder no end. B the B nearly bawled had a few anxious moments when he discovered the battery on the bike was flat but he soon fixed that and off we went. A good time was had by all!

Channelling biker chick and failing dismally. Check out the grimace! Doncha love helmet hair??

Read a great tip here the other day about cutting the bottom of a bunch of wilting celery and standing it in water to revive it. Ditto lettuce. Since I had both dying a slow death in the bottom of the fridge, I decided to give it a go. And it worked!

SIL did the pop-in later on in the day and we had a lovely chat. After he left, he came back about a half hour later with a gorgeous bunch of flowers. I was so touched.

After talking to DD later that night, turns out SIL felt very sorry for me because I was trying to brighten up with place with celery and lettuce so he went out and bought me flowers! How sweet is he?

I've had this top done for a little while now. It was from Quilter's Magazine and is in Robyn Pandolph fabric which I love. Turned out to be a bit brighter than in the magazine but I still love it.

Check out these mitres!! Am I any good, or what?? Actually, all credit goes to the every patient Lynda who helped me to do it and she hardly rolled her eyes at me at all!

It is sitting on a king bed so I'm not sure whether it will fit on my quilt frame or not. I'm working up to quilting it for Mum's birthday. Need backing and batting and was working up to getting that this week, but haven't made it so far. Intended to pick it up after I dragged ferried Mum to the doctor this morning but ended up going for coffee instead.

A loooooong time between drinks!

Blimey! Didn't realize how long it had been since I've done any blogging. But have I been slack? No. In fact, I've been a very busy little vegemite. What inspired me to spring back into print is my progress on Sylvia's Bridal Sampler. I am actually up to block 50. On the strength of that, I pinned my design sheet up in the dining room and whacked all the blocks on. Bill the Builder will never notice the extra pin holes in the wall!

Not sure about that one third from the right on the top row. Might need to check and see if that's how it's supposed to look.

I have also caught the crocheted dishcloth bug. Since I am the instant gratification fairy, I love doing these! The first obvious plus is that I can do them and the other thing is, they are so fast, which we like! Mind you, some of them are a bit squiffy so they are the ones I kept. I gave some to Mother and to gorgeous daughter. They are mildly abrasive, very quick drying and it's just nice to have something pretty to do with dishes with. How sad is that??

Knitted wonky dishcloth

 Been to a wedding in Toowoomba.......

 Been to Sydney to catch up with buddies and go to............

another wedding! What a fantastic week we had too! Nearly vomitted A few anxious moments when I discovered I'd left my brand new, gorgeous little matching (naturally) handbag in the cab. A kit of new makeup, my phone, our hotel key, a credit card and $55 in cash. Thank you wonderful cabbie for finding it and taking it back to the hotel for me. but where is my $55?

A birthday for Mother who has been whining for ages asking to go to Outback Spectacular so we took her and SIL down for their combined birthdays. FYI, that is SIL and not Mother with me and gorgeous grandson in the snap.

A birthday for Bill the Builder (note to self - never buy Black Forest Cake for B the B again due to chocolate shavings being blown all over the house when candles blown out. Stick to anchored down decorations.)

Another birthday for me. FYI, that is Mother on the right looking like a deer caught in the headlights and gorgeous daughter on the left. Need to go and get out of my jammies now and forage in the freezer for something to defrost and feed Bill the Builder. Seem to recall a lump of brontysaurus in there somewhere. I'll do something creative with that. Hope he doesn't say 'surprise me'. We all know how that one ends!