This is my 13 year old Grandson Andrew in his School cadet uniform. I'm so proud of him. His ambition at the moment is to eventually join the Armed forces, but who knows, he might change his mind. He's doing very well at school, so he will probably have quite a few options open to him if he keeps it up.








Here's a vintage 1957 photo of me with my 2 sisters. Sylvia to my right and Joan. They were 19 and 18 when I was born. I've grown up with their children who have always thought of me more as a big sister than an Aunty.
My eldest sister Sylvia passed away just over 10 years ago.
I'll have to try and find a recent picture to post of my sister Joan and myself. The age gap isn't very apparent now, as I am quite grey-haired and don't try to cover it up LOL

Recently, I've not been getting very much enjoyment from sewing. Just look at the all of my U.F.Os. - 3 bears, 2 gollies, a raggedy, 2 rabbits, a cat, a bag and at least 8 hearts for the Chains of Hearts group.



I have found crocheting very relaxing and rewarding. I've been crocheting beanies for sick and premmie babies. A friend of a friend is the co-ordinator. The knitted and crocheted items going to 3 Toowoomba Hospitals as they are needed.

REST IN PEACE DEAR ROSIE

This morning we laid our beloved old blue heeler to rest under some gum trees in our backyard. She passed away peacefully during the night. Almost deaf, she was well into her nineties in our terms. We'd had her with us since she was a pup. The above photo was taken when she had the first of her 2 litters of pups. Such a good Mum and a really great worker when we had our cattle, also a wonderful guard dog. She'll be missed so much. Goodbye Rosie.

Isn't this doll cute? Only a few inches tall, made as a gift for my daughter by the mother of Emi, a Japanese exchange student, this is the male doll. The pics I took of the female (with longer hair and mauve and pink clothing) were very blurred. I'm going to have a go at making them as they are basically stitched from small rectangles of fabric.

Nap time for our 'Ginge'. Usually just as I'm about to take a good pic of one of the cats they move. Not this time! He must of been in a really deep sleep.

Aren't these alpacas beautiful? They were on a property at Nanango, Qld. Don't you just love the close-up of the white one? Soooo cute.

Here are a few pics taken in September last year. On the left a Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers Garden Competion winning Garden, above, a grass horse in one of the many Toowoomba parks and on the right, a display of clivias at another prize-winning gardener's home.

UNKNOWN TREE

Unknown to me that is. Would anyone please be able to tell me what this is? It was about 8ft. high. It was growing in Toowoomba amongst some Aussie natives, so I'm hoping that I'll be able to cultivate it here. Only difference being that Toowoomba has red soil, ours is black and we're unable to grow things like proteas or any acid-loving plants. Sorry the pic is a little blurry.

Just managed to go over to the new blogger using my daughter's computer. I'm having trouble accessing blogger at all, but I think my modem may be the problem. We now have access to broadband so I think we'll soon be saying goodbye to the old dial-up.
Don't have any pics with me to download so maybe next time.

Here's a pic of my indoor furbabies,Lillypilly and her son Ginger Meggs. Lil and Ginge had just woken up from a sleep as I took this shot. Boy, Ginge sure does live up to his nameLOL

I'm still here! Just haven't got around to posting anything for a while.
Well, we've actually had some really good rainfall in this neck of the woods-still teeming down at the moment, in fact.Everything is starting to look lovely and green.Won't be too much longer though, before the mowing starts in earnest.I've been trying to get a headstart on growing some Summer veges.I figure if I start sowing now, I should have something to show by Christmas.Also if this Summer is anywhere near as hot and dry as last year was, it'll eventually get too hot for most
crops to thrive.

My version of 'Bertha Angel of Buttons' from a pattern in a Homespun Mag. She was made for yet another swap I took part in.

This is another slightly different version of 'Lalie Rose' I made for my eldest daughter. Above is a golly and mammy I made for a swap. The golly was adapted from 'Luther Golly' in a Homespun Cloth Doll and Bear mag and the mammy was from my pattern I used for the raggedies in an earlier post.

This windmill is a typical Aussie rural scene. I thought the colours of the land contrasted beautifully with the clear blue sky.
Since early this morning it's been raining. Hope it keeps up.

This is bushland near Crow's Nest in Queensland. I love the xanthorroea's (speargrass, grass tree, Goonangurra), they do send up a tall spike of creamy white honey-scented flowers that birds go mad for, but I read somewhere they usually do that after a bushfire has gone through.

Thought it was about time I posted something. I've been very slack lately.
The picture above is of a Christmas Ornament I made for a recent swap I took part in. I'm sorry about the picture quality - this pic was the best of a very bad lot-and even IT is a little blurred.The flower is an SRE poinsettia stiched with ribbon stitch petals and lazy daisy leaves. The centre of the flower is french knots. The year was chain stitched with gold thread. Below
the flower is some beaded ribbon,to the left beaded sequins, a zigzag of bugle beads top right and beaded lace top left.

Here is a bag I made for a recent swap. It's an enlarged version of a jewellery pouch that my Mum bought me years ago. I used a cream jacquard for the outer bag and pockets and green homespun for the lining. I then used green cebelia crochet cotton for the edging and drawstring cords. The cords were a little long but they can be easily shortened.
I stitched a round pincushion from the jacquard and finished it with some SRE irises and a beaded edging which doesn't show too well in the photo. The pincushion is attached to the centre of the pouch with a velcro dot.

A CQ RR

The section I embellished on this CQ RR block reminded me a little of tree bark and as it will eventually be returning to U.S.A., I decided to embroider some Aussie wildflowers on it. I began by sketching out a rough design on some paper. Once the placement looked okay to me, I threaded up my needle and started stitching, using what I call my 'freehand' embroidery.
There are some gumnuts and blossoms (eucalytus), bottlebrush (callistemon) and some wattle (acacia). FinallyI added some of our tiny stingless native bees. I stitched all of this with DMC stranded threads using straight stitches, french knots and lazy daisy stitch.
I didn't do any seam treatments as I had already taken up quite a large space and I am only the 2nd of 12 to work on this block.

CINNAMON DOUGH

Here is the recipe for the cinnamon dough that I used to make the buttons, beads and gingerbread men for the raggedies in the previous post.
Mix 1/2 cup of cornflour, 2 x40g or 50g (1.9 oz.) containers of cinnamon and 1 of ground cloves. Place in bowl and set aside.
Put 1 1/2 cups of applesauce ( either commercial or homemade applesauce or tinned pie apples that have been blended to a puree ) in a saucepan and add 2 sachets of gelatine. Stand for a few minutes then heat, stirring constantly until simmering. Pour into dry ingredients and stir until a dough is formed. Knead well, wrap in plastic and rest for 10 minutes.
Then the fun begins. Either roll out and cut into shapes or hand-mould them as I do. I usually make stars, hearts, gingerbread men and beads, using a skewer or darning needle to make holes for buttons, gift tags or christmas ornaments. Air dry on sheets of greaseproof paper on a rack, turning several times a day or for beads, string on dental floss and hang to dry. I find that the slower they dry, the less cracks will appear, but they can always be patched up with a little moistened dough. The whole house smells lovely during this process.
I have kept buttons made from this dough for years. I think it might keep indefinately if kept dry, a little like bread dough. I once read somewhere that to refresh the lovely smell, just lightly sand and rub with a little clove or spice oil. My buttons, etc. are stored in airtight jars with whole cloves which I buy more cheaply in larger quantities from a local dried flower outlet.
From September, I usually start making old-fashioned pomanders from oranges studded with the cloves and rolled in spices. One year I made miniature pomanders from cumquats and decorated a small Christmas tree with these, cinnamon dough ornaments, raffia bows and topped the tree with a tiny hand-stitched country angel. I gave it as a gift to my best friend who was thrilled with it.

DOLLS & BEARS
These are some that I've made for various swaps. My first doll was the one that can be seen on top of my craft cupboard in a previous posting. Once I have some very dark brown mohair I will be a little closer to completing her. She reminds me so much of my High School Headmistress LOL.

Above right - "Raggedy Spice"- Her necklace, buttons and the gingerbread man are made from cinnamon dough. The pin was made from a free online pattern ( I think it may have been a 'Mogs Design' )
Above left another Raggedy made from the same pattern for a friend's Birthday.



This teddy was made from mock suede and was supposed to have worn a dress, but I thought 'he' should sport a tie instead. As my swap partner lives in NZ, I embroidered the raw silk tie with Australian wildflowers.

My version of "Lalie Rose" a design by Judy Gray from a Homespun Doll and Bear Mag.