Guardian Angel

A friend loves

at all times....

-Proverbs 17:17.

I have had a sombre week and will just look forward to the happy days ahead. I have my friend Heather in my heart as

yesterday her husband Bob passed away.

It will be a long tough road ahead, but Heather will have the

support of family and friends to lean on. We all love her

so much.

Things have taken bit of a back seat in the craft department

but to keep  myself occupied I have continued to

do my knitting.

I have made a start on the Guardian Angel knitting and made

this cute little cardigan....

oh...and also this gorgeous little beanie..

It is really good therapy to keep busy and

as I have been given a huge bag of wool I need

to get stuck into the stash once again. The wool I used

to knit the beanie is nice and soft. I still have some more

of the 100gm skein left so may be another knitted

item can be made.

I have lots of stripey wool left too so I decided to make

a  nice warm jumper to use it up..

It's turning out very nice actually. This year the Guardian Angel

will donate the knitted items to Australian families once again.

Usually the clothing has been donated to the third world countries

and other parts of the world. I love knitting for them, and there

are so many other charities you can donate things to.

Tomorrow Cory and I have planned a trip to Midland, and

a day out with Cory is such fun....I just wish Brandon wanted to

join us. They are both fun. Cory's pupil's have turned into dollar

signs, he just can't wait to fleece me of all my money!!

Wishing you all a lovely weekend.

Miss you already Bob.

Kind regards, Anita.

It's been a while..

The sun is

new each day.

-Heraclitus.

Oops, this week just slipped by while I wasn't looking! As a matter

of fact I am glad this week is over as a couple of

not nice things happened. But each day

is a new day and I look forward not backwards.

There has been a fair bit of rain happening and I'm glad for our farmers that the

rain is here. It has been great weather for burning the fire wood...it's nice

and toasty in our little cottage. Great knitting weather too! This is what I've been

up to.....

.I decided to make myself a scarf out of this wool that Heather gave me. It is so soft and nice to knit with, I was sad to come to the end of the project, so I started knitting something else straightaway.

I was snippy with myself when I didn't work out the

amount of wool needed for this cute little short sleeved cardigan

I started to knit...

Once I got this fair I looked at the remaing wool and knew there would not be

enough. I don't ususally make that blunder but I did

this time. So this is where I stopped with it.

I will dig through my stash in a quest to find the right

amount of wool in a nice colour and make this

cardigan. It is cute.

As I was annoyed with the blunder I thought to myself.....well why not start knitting for

Guardian Angel, that will start soon, may as well get a head start on it.

I don't know where in the world the clothes will go yet this year

but last year the clothes stayed in Australia to help the people who lost

everything in the bushfires in the east of Australia.

Today I slept in until 8am!!! I'm a 5am - 5.30am girl, so 8am was a big sleepin for me.

I fed the chooks and guinea pig, had breaky, did the dishes and then

Cory and I went on a venture to the shops. The boys just love On The Buses TV series

and had a look around for any of those DVD's..unsuccessful but will keep looking.

Cruised around, Cory is checking out the price of an I-touch and then we

went food shopping. It is best I never turn my back on the trolley

or let Cory take control of it, as somehow some other food

finds its way into the trolley.

Cory's friend Corey has come over for a sleepover, so that gave me some time to sew.

Now there is not pattern to this, I just made six petals and a centre to fit and cut out

foam and put it inside. The pieces aren't sewn together yet, as I have to top stitch the petals

and the centre piece and then join it all together.

I thought a bright and big flower for the library would like nice hanging from the wall.

When I finish it I will take a photo of it in the library to show you how it looks.

I am saying some prayers for Heather as her hubby is not too well. I will beam the prayers her way

and hope the best for Bob.

I'm thinking that some bodies will be starting to get hungry so I better get on with things.

Hope you have a lovely weekend and chat with you soon.

Kind regards, Anita.

Very hungry caterpiller

Flowers are Love's

truest language.

-Park Benjamin.

I have to say that this weekend went fast!

I managed to get alot of crafting done

and had the best time burning wood....

that is another hobby of mine.

Pixie just shakes his head when he walks

by the wheelbarrow...he is sure he filled the wheelbarrow up!!?

It was a lovely cold Saturday and what else can a girl do but sew, drink tea and burn wood. I went net surfing and came

across a great little pattern for a favourite character...

He is from the book called Very hungry caterpiller.

If you want to have a go at making him, click here.

I made the caterpiller a bit different to the pattern because

the kids will be handling him, so I put legs on both sides of the caterpiller and the eyes aren't on one side of the face.

Thanks Bev, see how quickly I got to use the green

thread!! Bev kindly dropped off some green thread and I

have already been able to use some of it.

I have also found a cute little pattern for a softie

cat...very quick and easy. Great for using up scraps.

Of course, I'm not getting on with the camera. The top colour is a light blue, the next colour down is a lovely floral. Click here for the pattern. This is the back view of stripey patchwork cat.

I did enjoy making him. I had some spare time while Pixie and

Cory went gokarting. Brandon was busy with his XBox game

and I had fun with the sewing machine. Oh I did finish off

my cardigan too!

It has knitted up really well and so soft. I used one of my

buttons from my button stash..something Heather will be

pleased about. And I can't wait to wear it.

You know, I can't really bag Heather too much, she gave me

this lovely wool. I'm not sure what to make with this, but

if anyone has any ideas, I would love to hear

your thoughts and ideas.

If all else fails I can always knit something for Guardian Angel

and tuck it away for when they collect all knitted or

sewn items.

I'm looking forward to another terrific week at work and see

what my week holds for me.

Hope your week will be a great week full of sewing or doing whatever makes you happy.

Kind regards, Anita.

Is that rain I hear?

Bless our home, our

lives, our friends.

-Antique sampler.

I walked my hubby out to see him off to work and I heard the strangest noise...it was rain!!!

Had almost forgotten the sound of it. The chooks were frightened and so was Max the dog. We are so happy for the rain.

Rain makes you want to stay inside and knit and sew.

I kind friend of mine gave me a great pattern to knit a cupcake.

It didn't take long to knit this beauty up and I have used scraps of wool from the donations I received recently. After I knitted the cupcake I stuffed it and then sewed the seams together. The colourful bits on top are mini eggs.

You can add mini eggs or flowers on the top of the cake.

The pattern comes from a Women's weekly magazine

but it doesn't say what edition.

The best thing about this pattern is that

you don't have to use sets of knitting needles, just 2!

In my travels today I stopped off the the Red Cross shop,

and I couldn't believe my eyes...

All the materials and instructions to make this lovely

Noah's Ark cushion cover.

All for $1.00!!

I couldn't believe my luck. I have to make it now.

I just love the print.

Well I'd best be off now as it is Brandon's birthday

and as a special treat he wants

to have take-away for tea.

I am too lazy to jump in that car and

buy tea, it is easier to just cook!!

We are going to have ice cream cake for supper

as that is a favourite of Brandon's.

Happy Birthday Brandon.

See you soon and keep smiling.

Kind regards, Anita.

    

Happy Mother's Day

Each new day is like

a precious silken strand

in the intricate web of life.

 A Happy Mother's Day to you all.

My three darlings are taking me out for morning tea and then I might lay around like a big hairy sloth tomorrow.....or I might not.

Today I got in early with all the big chores so tomorrow I can really just hang out.

I have managed to finish some projects off that I have been working on. I made a clown from a fantastic book given to me by Vickie. It is a knitted beauty and here he is.

Isn't he cute! He was very easy to make and all the wool is from the donated bag I received from Kim.

I thought a picture of him in the garden would look nice.

I'm now looking for a pattern to knit a short sleeved shrug. I will have fun looking for the right pattern.

The school had their Mother's Day stall coming up so I thought I would donate some gifts. I found a quick simple little gift idea on the net...

How nice and easy is this

I bought plastic white spoons, wrapped some chocolate coated nuts (or whatever you like) in cello, cover the  lot with netting, cello or whatever you like. Tie with ribbon and flowers and add the love heart and verse. There you are.

The flowers were part of the donated things in the first box of goodies that were given to me from Margaret. I thought they would come in handy and they certainly did.

Have a lovely day tomorrow.

Kind regards, Anita.

Cushions galore!

Be not afraid of growing slowly,

be afraid only of standing still.

- Chinese proverb.

I have been checking out the lovely materials that have been donated to me, contemplating their future..

After selecting the brightest colours, I chose to make some cushions for the library.

Aren't they just lovely?

They have already been admired and slouched into by the kids. I decided to make 2 girly cushions and 2 boy cushions.

Oh and I also made the cushions as well. Kim dropped off some stuffing as well, so we can't just leave it laying around the house.

There was a great big piece of purple material with stars, flowers and girls on it. I decided that perhaps I could do with a nice table cloth on one of the small display tables.

This table cloth ended up being about 2m x 1.5m.

Just the right size for what I wanted. Of course the girls have gone ga ga over it.

Well it's that time of night to get on with tea. Chicken is baking in the oven, Pixie and Brandon have gone for a short drive, Cory is studying, so it's very peaceful right now.

See you next time.

Kind regards, Anita.

Kind people.

The miracle of friendship usually

begins with a smile.

Hello to you all and I hope you are having a great weekend. The week just gone has been such a wonderful week. Just look what I have been given....

Another bag of delicious donations.

Inside this bag is toy stuffing, material galore, pipe cleaners and more. On Friday night another lady dropped off a huge bag of wool and a hint that a big bag of toy stuffing was on the way also. I would just like to say thanks to Lyn, Margaret, Kim and Kim's nana for all the lovely treasures they have given to me.

I have already made some things from these lovely materials.

A beautiful table cloth

hmmmm...what's this?

Oh yes...some nice new cushion covers for the front verandah. I whipped them up in no time.

In the cooking department, I had a go at the pasta salad that Lisa had on her blog. Lisa the salad was yummy thanks.

Just to top this weekend off, yesterday I went to Midland (1 hour drive from here) and Brandon came with me!!! I managed to get my teenager out of the house. He had a friend of his come with us and it was lots of fun. Pixie and Cory were at gokarts, so I decided that Brandon would do well to get out for a while. It was so interesting and funny to listen to 2 teenagers chatting away sitting in the back seat (no-one sat in the front seat!).

Brandon came home with new shoes, an XBox game, 2 DVD's and a belly full of food.

What more could you ask for!

Wishing everyone all the best for the coming week.

Kind regards, Anita.