Let the Christmas parties begin...

On Saturday night we had our work's Christmas Party/ Farewell Party. So I spent most of the week getting my head around feeding  30 people or so...in the midst of our house/building site.

I tried out a new recipe - Mango, Raspberry Trifle. Easy to throw together, especially if you've made the custard before. Recipe is here http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/41641/mango+raspberry+and+passionfruit+trifles

The Farewell bit was for one of our staff, who's a bit of a grown-up kid. He is Lego mad, so I made him this cake...

Bit lumpy bumpy but it did the job!

Hope you have a good week!

Willow...

Just a random picture of our cat, Willow. I read recently that black cats are the last to get adopted at shelters/the pound and the theory is it's because they don't photograph well for our Instragram/Facebook filled lives. How sad is that? 

Our girl Willow came from the pound, and I think she appreciates her life now as she is happy to be carried everywhere, dressed up, made to sit in cubby houses. I appreciate her as she's the least demanding member of the family!

Sorry I've been missing in action. It has been very hectic around here, with lots of "extra" stuff to get done. Saw this GIF and thought it pretty much sums up my life at the moment! 

Hope you're having a good week!

Holidays.

On the last school holidays we headed off to travel the Great Ocean Rd. It was a lovely trip with beautiful scenery, even if it did involve lots of driving...4500kms approximately. By the end we had a very low tolerance of any "are we there yet" type phrases....ha ha

We saw lots of fields of canola as we whizzed past.

So after a quick overnight stop on the way, our first place to visit was Ballarat. After a quick detour here ..

We then headed off to Sovereign Hill...a recreation of a Gold Rush village. Great place to take the kids...historical, educational and fun!

There is an area to pan for gold, here's our haul...

Not quite enough to buy that private jet yet! *grin*

Then we headed off to see the beautiful scenery of the Great Ocean Rd.

Some environmental art...

Apollo Bay. We stayed at some self contained cabins there which were wonderful.

The Twelve Apostles. Unfortunately only 9(?) still exist. Huge amount of tourists were here at the same time as us...it was a case of "dodge the selfie stick"!

Bay of islands

 

Griffith Island Lighthouse, near Port Fairy. 

And then we finished off at Halls Gap and did some of the walks in the Grampians National Park

Fish Falls.

If you are a bush walker it would be great to stay a week in Halls Gap alone, unfortunately we were only there for two nights and had to leave early the second day to head home.

Anyway, hope you're having a great week. I've have four quilts back from the quilters, so there is binding in my future......I hate binding! Any volunteers??

Roses

I am not much of a gardener, horrible hay fever gets in the way, but I have two very old rose bushes. They survive by their own skills but these are the blooms Gorgeous Girl picked. They are beautiful, and smell divine!

Finish-a-Long List Q4

1. large Star Quilt

2. Eye-Spy Scrap Quilt

3. Chunky Churn Dash

Cheers!

Finished

Sick

Lots of sick kids in the household, with all the joy that brings!  Be back when life calms down.

Nearly done...

Currently quilting my large star quilt, but in between times I have been working on my mosaic.

Just need to venture forth with my first experience grouting. Wish me luck!

Have a great week!

Scraps

I have been trying to de clutter and organise my huge stash. Rather than pack these eye spy fabric scraps away after cutting out some charm squares, I thought I would stitch them together randomly...

I quite like it!

And the best bit is that my eye spy fabrics now fit in a small tub! Woo hoo!

Now back to the decluttering....

And it was going so well...

I was having a lovely time working on a new crochet blanket (waiting for wool to finish the other one), when I realized my rectangular blanket had become a bit of a trapezium. Somehow I was picking up an extra stitch (treble?) each row.

So now back to here...

Seriously missing the days when I would make a mistake with my knitting/crochet and I would show Mum, head to bed, and wake up to find it magically fixed! 

Love that woman! And wish she lived next door...

Have a good week!

Flimsy finished

New quilt.

Fabrics chosen by Gorgeous Girl...nice, hey?

Now one big star quilt...borders pending until the designer gets home from school!

Hope she doesn't choose 300 flying geese, or similar! *smile*

Another hobby?!

When you have a house full of fabric, wool and children, do you really need to take up another hobby? Well, apparently my answer is yes! LOL

I have always wanted to make a mosaic, so for six months I have been collecting and reading, trying to get myself organised to have a go.

Well, here's my first attempt...still got a lot to go, but you get the idea.

I especially love the tiles I bought to represent our furry family members.

I have loved working on this. It's like an artistic jigsaw!

It's been too tempting for Gorgeous Girl to not have a play with, so she has been busily working with this mirror frame.

Why do I have the song "Anything you can do I can do better" running through my head? *grin*

Hope you're having a good week!

Finished

One little blue beanie finished for my nephew. Made from a free ball of Chroma wool received from Knit Picks.

The blue goes well with a certain little boys eyes...

Happy coincidence. .

Knitting a beanie for my little nephew and love that the variegated wool has changed colours right where the band has finished.  Couldn't have planned it if I tried. ..

Another Finish-A-Long list...

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<a href="http://onthewindyside.co.nz" title="2015 FAL at On the Windy Side"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBCgkY4fQ4ArZg65owfj1GnHxeJGkLjqghfxMqjW83GT8aRiPacBuX8KicIad0xanGAUZTGPLDLuDnTA6uNaqP40xppnXGREL_3xucfCLTUj1FojeuPjyWFHUexhj5JiOr4gw6-Xza0Ub-/s1600/2015FALbutton125.pn" alt="2015 FAL at On the Windy Side" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Here's my attempt to get some things finished...another list for the Finish-A-Long Q3

1. My Jelly a Roll Quilt

2. Cat Quilt

3. Churn Dash Quilt

3. Granny Rug

3. Variegated Cowl

Rights, let's see how we go! *wink*

Koala beanie

One of the staff at work was (bravely!) shaving her head for "Shave for a Cure". Not sure if I would choose Winter myself to have no hair...but thought a beanie might help!  So I made her a koala beanie..excuse the dodgy picture, it was finished late one night, handed over the next morning.

I've just returned from a weekend watching basketball at Gosford. Some very exciting games, including Master 10's team winning two games by 1 point!

We headed to Terrigal Beach in the morning before heading home. What a beautiful spot!

I made some progress on my rug,that I'm working on, between games, so hopefully I will be back with a finished photo soon!

Hope you're having a good week!

And so my wool ran out about here....

...with one square to go....sigh....

Ps. Still waiting for volunteers to sew in those ends! *wink*

Crocheting

The kids had a Beanies for Brain Cancer day, so I pulled out some chunky wool and spent a couple of nights putting these together.

A dog beanie for Boo, in the colours of our actual dog, Ruby. Inspiration from here..http://www.repeatcrafterme.com/2013/01/crochet-puppy-hat-pattern.html

And a cat beanie for Little J...

I have also been working on my little crochet squares....it's a slow process but it's good to have something to accomplish whilst watching crap tv! Getting too cold to do too much at night.

Look at all those ends to sew in!!

Hope you're having a good week!