Happy Easter

We had such a lovely Easter - a quiet one to enjoy friends and family. Snapped these photos of the cherubs as we were on our way to a barbecue yesterday. Hoping everyone enjoys first week of school holidays.

keep smiling,

Nell

p.s. didn't get nearly as much crafting done as I would like but did manage some binding so now have only 1/5 of our bed quilt to go LOL

What a long time it has been since I last blogged! We have been SOOOO busy. We have just come back from Kangaroo Island and also had Mum and Dad down from Queensland for a bit over a week. Wonderful family times! These photos have nothing to do with Kangaroo Island but might show you a bit of what we have been up to before that.

First is a bunny I made for the Kindy raffle - this is loosely based on "Miss Milly" in Rosalie Quinlan's beautiful book "Gift". I have since made two others for the cherubs for Easter. The nicest thing about this project is that they were made from flannel squares I bought cheap in Melbourne about ten years ago (I think the bundle cost me $2) They were even stuffed with leftover quilt waddding offcuts so essentially cost nothing to make! It was also quite a nostalgic project for me because when I was a tiny girl my Nanny made me a corduroy bunny (with overalls) and I always wanted to make a similar one for my kids.

Second is a shot of my mischievious toddler. The Mum in me was not amused to find that he had dragged a kitchen chair over to the sink to empty a full bottle of handwash into the sink and proceed to "wash" dishes that were already clean but the Early Childhood Teacher delighted in the sensory nature of it all (and he was having SO much fun!) Dan's clothes were just soaked and there was water all over the floors and benches. He even washed the toaster for us (thank God it wasn't turned on!)

Hannah recently went to her first ever sports day at the local primary school. She was so anxious about it and a bit reluctant to go but had a WONDERFUL time.

This beautiful bunch of flowers really made my day. Thanks Althea.

You have to love Autumn in the Hills for roses. Will try to post a few photos of my own garden over the next few days. We have also enjoyed the Autumn goodness of a loaded plum tree in our backyard (we made plum jam!) and the kids have delighted in finding acorns on Autumn walks - now Hannah is quoting poets: "live yon life like an oak..." One day we will have a big enough backyard to plant an oak and then I will really feel like I have gardened for the children of the future.

Last but not least (and no photo yet but it will come once I've cleared the 300 or so photos I took on KI off the camera!) on the day before my birthday I got the most wonderful little surprise package in the mail with a matroyshka angel and a big packet of my favourite turkish delights. It was from the delightful Catherine of "Made by Maisie". We met through a Melly and Me fabric scrap swap and Catherine has been a wonderful inspiration and crafty buddy since! On her blog you can see a picture of the little Miss Polly doll she made for Hannah (which keeps migrating to my front room because I love her so much!) I received a copy of the Softies book for my birthday and the pattern for Miss Polly is in there so maybe I'll have to try it! Anyway Catherine, you really made my day so THANK YOU. The new little angel is watching over my scrapping supplies and she just looks so cute! I also received some other super special news that day but it is not my secret to share just yet so I'll have to keep you posted on that one at a later date!

All in all March has been a busy month full of fun, family and surprises.

This weekend I am hoping to finish off my bushfire charity quilt (machine quilting) and sew down the binding on our bed quilt. Hopefully next week I'll have lots to show for my efforts!

Until then,

Hope Easter Bunny finds you,

Happy Crafting,

Nell

At long last the promised pictures of what we've been up to.

At Spinners and Weavers this month Kathy showed us rainbow dyeing. This was my first attempt (modelled by Hannah).

Hannah was quite taken with the idea and so I let her choose the colours and dye her own wool for a hat and scarf set. Bright and colourful like my little girl LOL

These are projects finished for Asha over the weekend.

The giraffe is a Melly and Me pattern - Mrs Perkins.

Last night at Christmas Club Jane showed us another Melly and Me pattern called Pippi (think I might have to put it on my to do list!)

These little squares are part of a long term project. I fell in love with Melly and Me's scrap log cabin and even entered their scrap swap 12 months ago (how I met delightful Catherine from Made By Maisie) but when I found that it was all foundation pieced I lost enthusiasm. Then I borrowed this from the library and found that Rita and Karen's version is all just 1 inch strips - perfect for using up my scraps. I am having fun with this and my frugal nature likes the fact that even fabric as little as 1inch by 2inches can be used!

Several people have asked me about the Restash a Crafter project. The details can be found at handmadehelpsout.blogspot.com or meetmeatmikes.blogspot.com If you are looking for other ways to help the Vic Bushfire Appeal then why not knit a square, or a whole blanket for Wraps With Love (I think Better Homes and Gardens is running a Wraps With Love promotion this month) If you live local enough I am happy for you to get the squares to me and I will stitch them up like this:

Not the world's prettiest blanket but it will keep someone warm and that is what counts!

"We make our living by what we do.

We make our life by what we give."

Danny Glover

Happy Crafting,

Until next time,

keep smiling,

Nell

Hello to Quilty Friends and gluten free brownies!

Sorry, no pictures this time but wanted to say a big hello to my quilting friends from Apple Pieces II who have just found out I have a blog and promised to check it out! We had a lovely day at the Patchwork Apple yesterday. They are such a lovely bunch to work with and I am always inspired by our collective wisdom and quilting abilities (that said I am definitely the amateur of the group!) These girls are all so productive that they make me want to finish things so today I finished one hat for new baby Asha (my friend Kelli's 3 day old daughter) and I also finished Asha's giraffe. Last night I put the binding on our bed quilt so now I am just waiting for a really good movie to get it stitched down and finished!

While we were stitching yesterday I met two more bloggers in the shop - the internet is definitely making the world a smaller place hey?!

Anyway, just for the Apple Piecers, here is the gluten free brownie recipe!

200g ground pecans or almonds or hazelnuts (I used almonds)
1/2 cup rice flour
1/3 cup cocoa
1 3/4 cups sugar
250 g melted butter
1 tsp vanilla essence
3 eggs
200g chopped milk chocolate

Combine ground almonds, rice flour, cocoa and sugar in bowl and make a well in the centre.
Add cooled melted butter, vanilla and eggs.
Stir, then add chocolate and stir again.
Spoon mix into a greased and lined slice tray. Bake at 180 degrees for 40 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely before cutting into squares.

Recipe from Country Style Magazine November 2003.

I do have some photos of recent projects but that will have to wait until later on in the week!
Keep smiling,
Nell

Excitement and a spot of crafting

Just a bit of excitement today when my new cropping table finally arrived. I know I am easily excited but you see we have always had this table which is little and cute and really no good for entertaining. My front room (the scrap space) has had two trestles and an end table. The trestles are getting old and rickety and painful to put up and down. So now I have this:

and I am so in love with it. I predict that this table will see croppers cropping, and stitchers stitching, and quilts basted, and family and friends gathered around it for homecooked meals, and it will probably even turn into a mansion of a cubby house at some point. It is beautiful and I am so proud that I paid with it totally from Creative Memories money.

So when are you coming to crop with me?!?

On a totally unrelated subject. As a kindy teacher I have always valued prior learning - children come to kindy with all sorts of wonderful knowledge that they pick up from watching their parents (I had one little bloke that could take tractors apart LOL) Here are my children showing off a bit of what to them is very normal. Hannah has been learning to knit on a knitting nancy. She is making a beanie for dolly. Then the other day I found Dan seriously doing this and as he did so saying to himself "knit, knit, cro, cro" Bless them! I'm glad they've inherited the crafty gene!

Keep smiling,

Nell

p.s. would have loved to show off my table with a huge vase of flowers but the garden is exhausted after the heat wave!

CM layout comp and other stuff

Okay, at the risk of sounding heartless, I so don't want to talk about the Vic fires. It is a terrible, terrible tragedy but I am to the point where I have thought about it too much and I just want to move on. I have been making a quilt to send through Mrs Martins Quilt Shop and some soft toys to send to Meet Me at Mikes. It seems like every blog I look at has talk of the fires. January and February seemed to have been plagued by bad news and ill health for so many people that we know. I so hope the rest of the year is a good one. Enough. On to more positive things.

Creative Memories is having a layout comp and while I normally don't do those kind of things I thought if I am encouraging others to have a go I should be doing it myself. It was kind of fun going through albums picking out my favourites to submit. So here they are:

Innovative layout?

This was done quite a long time ago but it is still one of my favourites - think it is the pink and green together that I like?

Best use of journalling: I don't know how to turn the photo around so that you can read it but this was written when Dan was a newborn and my friend Shannah took the photo!

This one is of Dan when we went to Lake Bonney. It is for the title category (I like to cut up our title stickers and rearrange them - someone told me that this is "serial killer" font eg. like the notes that get sent to police asking for ransom money LOL)

This is Hannah at Coffin Bay for the "themed layout".

Last pic is of my boy with his dog. It is no secret that I haven't bonded with our dog but I really can't fault him with the kids. He puts up with all manner of games and rough housing at his expense and he takes it all goodnaturedly. The kids adore him.

No other wildly exciting news here. I feel like I have been cleaning up little messes (spilt milk, wee, crumbs etc etc) all day. Joys of motherhood LOL.

If you have taken the time to read this please leave a comment (I'm still easily excited by comments left on the blog!)

Keep smiling,

Nell

Some Recent Cropping and how we beat the heat

I have been trying to finish our 2008 family album and I am so cross that it will not fit into two volumes! The goal this year is to make 2009 fit into one album which means more pages like this one with LOTS of photos (these are some of our favourites from the trip home to the farm for Christmas)

I have also been playing with Creative Memories beautiful new Heritage and Serenity papers. Very yummy!

We have been surviving the heat wave with lots of iceblocks and fun in the wading pool (and quiet time and air con in the afternoons!) I think poor bunny and the dog and chooks feel it more than we do! The last photo is of my little man with a squash and some cherry tomatoes (all organic and home grown!)

I love that even though we live in a boring housing estate we still have our chook pen and fruit trees and vegie garden. I can fool myself into believing I am still a country girl! Surprisingly, because he knew we grew it Dan devoured the squash for tea last night!

Today is the first day that Hannah is at kindy all day and Dan and I don't have plans. The house seems very empty without her and Dan is following me like a shadow! I think Truck Boy and I will enjoy our days together (and I might even get a bit more crafting done as Dan doesn't feel the need to be entertained as much as our Preschool Diva!) I'm off to play.

Keep smiling,

Nell