Feel like a bit of crafty retail therapy?

If you are local (ie Adelaide) and feel like some crafty inspiration this Saturday Mathilda's Markets is on at the Burnside Ballroom (exquisite clothes, accessories and crafty things for little people) and the Adelaide Hills Spinners and Weavers have their annual Open Day at Littlehampton Peace Hall - lots of handknits, felting and homespun wool (even some of my little hats) and they normally have complimentary mulled wine too!  Definitely good for a bit of crafty inspiration!
Have a great weekend,
Keep smiling,
Nell

I don't do Winter...

There is a good reason why bears hibernate.
The airconditioner here is stuffed (yes, our 5 year old airconditioner is obsolete and non-functional and has required 2 different repairmen, 1 electrician, 1 trying-to-be-handy husband, 2 very hard to get fuses, a fortnights worth of patience, goodness knows how many phone calls and a whole wad of cash and is STILL non-functional)
It is cold.
It is rainy.
It is grey.
I am grumpy.
Hope your Wednesday is an improvement on mine.

Felting Fun (or not?)

This post has been waiting for a photo of the finished projects but because this hasn't happened I thought I would share the photos now.  In the school holidays my crafty friend Lea-Anne and her delightful daughter came over for a day felting.  I recently made a felted bag at Spinners and Weavers and foolishly thought it would be a great project to keep three children entertained over the holidays LOL.

Let me first state categorically that I am NOT a felter.  I still see it as a bit of a waste of good spinning fleece (yes, I know this is upsetting to all good felters and I apologise if this offends)  Despite this, I seem to feel compelled to indulge in little felty experiences from time to time (there is even a 100% lambswool striped jumper waiting for the next felty experience LOL)  The day started out okay given that our plans to felt outside were changed when the workmen turned up to put up our new pergola.  Undeterred we set up a trestle and prepared to get wet and felty.  The kids enjoyed the initial process but found the actually felting a bit too time consuming.  The fleece Lea-Anne had brought with refused to felt and kept springing back up!  Eventually we ended up with three more-or-less felted bags that just require a bit of work on handles and embellishments.  Highlights of the day were definitely Lea-Anne's wonderful parmesan meatballs (we would love the recipe - maybe she will even let us blog it?!) and the impromptu concert that the kids put on afterwards (complete with costumes and original songs with repetitive lyrics)

I think this could definitely become a school holiday tradition (minus the felting!)  Maybe next time we will just stick to spinning!  Anyway, at least the company was good.  I feel really blessed to have crafty friends like Nic and Leanne and Karen and my Apple Piecers friends to share crafty adventures with!

Hoping to get back into blogging more regularly - it just feels like the work/life balance has been a bit out of whack here lately! 

Keep smiling,

Nell

Scrappin and Quiltin and enjoying the weekend

It's been a long time since I shared any scrapping on here.  This is the beautiful new "Rugged" Power Palette that was released for May.

Yesterday my friend Nic and I went for coffee and a play at the playground with Emma from http://www.sampaguitaquilts.blogspot.com/ (we had 7 kids under 7 between us hence the playground once they were all sugared up!)  Emma did such a beautiful job quilting Caitie's quilt.  Today I sorted out the binding for it and hopefully will get it finished over the next week.  Emma has put some great photos of Caitie's quilt up on her blog and I can totally recommend her if you want your quilt professionally quilted (well-priced, very quick turnaround and BEAUTIFUL stitching)

I have also been putting sashings on the Quilts For Queensland project I have been working on.  Unfortunately I have a problem with this quilt.  It once again has red spotty fabric (I know - you would think I had outgrown the addiction by now?!?) and it looks sooooo good draped over our couch (in fact I'm thinking that with the same aqua blue fabric I used to border Caitie's quilt it could be pretty near perfect as our lounge quilt) You can see where I am going with this can't you?  Now I will need to make ANOTHER quilt for Queensland and this quilt might have to live here?  And all this time poor Darling Daughter is patiently waiting for her quilt to be finished too!

Anyway, along with the quilting and the scrapping and the outing with Nic, add in a birthday tea (lasagne and the special occasions chocolate cherry cheesecake) a sleep in, and the fact that our pergola is up and nearly finished and it has been a lovely weekend!
Keep smiling,
Nell

The Silent Journey

I am always in awe of ordinary people that do amazing, selfless things with their lives.  One of the greatest joys I have had through my contact with Creative Memories is the many beautiful stories and the many amazing things some consultants are doing.  One such special person is a consultant in my team, Felicity Stanway. 

Felicity has just finished riding her horse, Rascal, from Kapunda to Willunga, a distance of about 270 kilometres, over nine days, on the Kidman Trail.  She called her ride "The Silent Journey" as she was riding to raise awareness for those bereaved by suicide.  Felicity's ride marked the 10 year anniversary of her Dad's death by suicide.  Such a gutsy, determined and difficult thing to do.  I am in awe.

If you feel the need to get involved please look up "The Silent Journey" on facebook or the Silent Ripples Support Group.

Whilst my own children are still too young to understand, I took them down to meet Felicity and Rascal when they were stopped overnight in our home town.  We foolishly took carrot and apple for Rascal (forgetting that he recently had a freak accident which has resulted in his jaw being wired)  Luckily Felicity was able to cut the pieces small enough and the kids could feed him!

Congratulations Felicity - what a wonderful adventure!

Just kickin back

I am LOVE, LOVE, LOVING the holidays.  It is so blissful to not have to do the school run.  This morning Hannah made pancake mix while I read one more chapter of my book before getting up.  We use Cousin Caitie's mix which is essentially 1 cup of SR Flour, 1 cup milk, 1 egg, vanilla and salt.  We double it if we are hungry.  This morning Hannah made double (by herself)  I forget that she is capable of doing things like that now.  She even put everything back in the cupboard and wiped the bench when she finished.  A bit too grown-up really.  Anyway, for everyday use these pancakes are very kid friendly and a great vehicle for lashings of butter and maple syrup or far too much sugar and lemon juice.  For really decadent, special day, a-bit-more-time-in-the-kitchen pancakes we use Molly Wizenberg's recipe from "A Homemade Life"  I think I have raved about this book before.  It is full of wonderful recipes and achingly beautiful writing.  I can't decide whether my copy should live with the recipe books or my favourite stories so it tends to float between the two categories and often lives on the couch.

No photos with this post but if I was motivated enough I could show you:
a backyard full of cream-painted planks waiting for pergola building
a backyard full of dying weeds waiting for landscaping and turfing
a boy still in his pyjamas watching more kids tv than usually acceptable
a girl drawing her own map of Australia (as you do?!?)
a girl who wrote her first "novel" on 2 sheets of foolscap yesterday (and yes the heroines were named after herself and two school friends LOL)
a house in dire need of a really good clean
a small person who insists on taking her nappy off and leaving puddles and er...presents... around the house (anyone want to buy a brand new but slightly wee-ed on sweetheart punch?)
children who have managed to have 3 playground plays in 3 days
a contented if messy mummy who is just enjoying chilling with the cherubs!
Happy Wednesday!

Is there anything cuter...

There is nothing cuter than teeny tiny baby toes and little soft baby feet, but given that I've not been able to go to Queensland and smooch and smoosh Selena's feet yet here is the next best thing!

I used Saartje's pattern from http://www.saartjeknits/.  James is thinking he has a bright future as a hand model LOL.

And just because yesterday was 8 years of wedded bliss and we are still like a couple of love-struck teenagers:

I love that he still makes me laugh.

Happy wednesday,

Nell

xxx