Brandon's Year 12 Graduation

What a wonderful night Brandon's graduation was. A couple of photo's didn't turn out, hence, the missing family photo!! Isn't that always the way. Here Brandon is with his favourite Mum (me in red) and much loved  Heather. It didn't take long for all the formal bits to get undone and removed!! The school really presented the night well, very organised, and everyone was in such a happy mood. Pixie and I are just full of pride. After having completed so many years of schooling and to graduate Year 12 is a huge effort. Well done Brandon.

 Here is a photo of a bunch of them! Pixie was trying to be one of the kids too. Brandon, Pixie, Peter and Cory.

These two are great mates. Peter on the left and Brandon. Brandon has chosen really nice friends.

Best wishes and a successful future ahead for you all.

 Back at the home front, Chester has become a father already!! This little chick was hatched 21 days after Chester came to live with us, now that's quick work. There are no other roosters, so Chester is the father for sure. The little chick also has the line of feathers up each side of his/her legs, just like Chester.

 I am going to visit the hospital today to drop of some of the beanies I have knitted for them. It is just a donation for the hospital as they are always after beanies. Perhaps you could visit your local hospital and see if they need anything made too. The beanies are knitted in stocking stitch and garter stitch, nice and plain.

I have been making a Christmas table runner for work and here are the two stitcheries I have done so far. Grand old Father Christmas.

 And some stars with sweet words in them.

We are having a long weekend this weekend for the CHOGM (Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting). The Queen is here with other delegates and here's hoping they come to some worthwhile decisions.

Hoping the weather stays nice this weekend, lots of things I want to do. I now have to look for another knitting project for the night time, so a bit of searching will be done today. Have a great weekend. Regards, Anita.

My wonderful life

My own mind

is my own church.

Thomas Paine

A friend gave me some advice about how to get rid of aphids. All I have to do is wait for the ladybirds to come......and they have.

There are so many ladybirds, I can't count them all. I do know they are having a wonderful picnic though. This year I don't know where the time went, but I forgot to cut back my rose bushes. I can't believe how the roses have bloomed this year. What is that? The roses have bloomed in bunches this year and the weight on the flowers are pulling down on the branches. They have actually covered over some of my other native bushes.



On the craft scene, a lot of knitting has been done around here and also last weekend I found one of the best editions of Handmade ever. I rather like Handmade and in this edition there are so many projects that I want to make. All nice Christmassy ideas. Here I have made Mr. Pudding.



I happened to have some brown velvety material in the cupboard along with leftover wadding. The wadding has been used to make the custard on his head and red felt for the berries. This will be a great addition to my Christmas display.

We are having one of those warm days today and this morning I managed to do some weeding. I am trying to get as much weeding done before there are any chances of snakes hiding in the bushes. That time of year I'm afraid. Apparently there is some forecast of rain so I'm not sure what the end of the day will bring.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend and see you soon. Kind regards, Anita.

A day at the Toodyay show

On Saturday Heather and I took a nice slow drive over to the historical town of Toodyay. It was the time of year for their annual show and it was fantastic. We went through the craft pavilion of course and were captured by this wall hanging that children had made at school. The dolls are made from calico, a few stars and a border, how great is that!

I was so happy to see that someone I know had won first prize with her gorgeous crocheting. There were so many entries in the crocheting and knitting section, not to mention all the quilts.

I didn't remember to see who was the clever person that made this quilt, but isn't it interesting? There are so many different idea's out there and so many talented people.

Of course Heather spotted the thimbles. I had to have a good look too.

This darling creation was made in 1927 and she is a member of the CWA. Looks like someone I went to the show with!!

Thanks for letting me share these photo's with you, I really enjoyed the day out with Heather and looking at all the creative work that people do.  I have a cute little something to show you next posting. Hope the week ahead is a happy one for you. Kind regards, Anita.

Christmas doll

I received a wonderful bag of goodies from Heather on her return from Queensland. The gift bag was full of wool, material, beads, gadgets and so many other pretty things.

I couldn't keep my eyes off the wool and do admit I had to use my manners and not be distracted by it while Heather was visiting. I did restrain myself, however the minute Heather left I was cutting into some of the lovely material to make a cute Christmas doll.

I have made this doll before, and of course, she is from Homespun magazine. The original pattern has buttons spaced over her dress, but I thought this material was pretty on it's own without the buttons. Also whipped up very quickly was a scarf for next year. the pattern is feather and fan, and will look rather gorgeous with next years winter colours.

 The material below is already marked for a couple of Christmas bags.

 I am right into the Christmas spirit already and whilst the boys were away go karting, I stitched up this cute little stitchery.

We had a very hot day here today, an unreal temperature of 35 C!! No wonder we were all out of energy. I'm so excited about going back to work tomorrow and seeing all my work mates. All the best for the coming week. Regards, Anita.

Getting ready for Christmas

For it is in giving

that we receive.

St Francis of Assisi

Yesterday we had all seasons in one day. The morning started off with sunshine and clouds, then it became very warm and towards the end of the day we had rain. At night we had thunder storms, which didn't go down very well with our dog Max. The rain was a continuous rain that would slowly soak in, good for our farmers.

I have decided to make a start on Christmas decorations, the first completed item is a reindeer.

 This sweet reindeer is from an older edition of Homespun No 18 (Vol 4.4). I have changed the idea a bit, instead of Christmas trees on the side of the body, I chose yo-yo's because I had some left over and wanted to use them.

I love the cord legs with bells on them, the kids are going to love this reindeer in the library. Oh that's where the reindeer is going to live, at the library. I am slowly gathering and making things for a Christmas display for the kids.

I have made a cloth doll today but as she is not finished I will save her for my next posting. I am still chugging away at her dress. Have a wonderful crafty day. Kind regards, Anita.

My own Parliament of owls

Whilst browsing my favourite blogs I came across a delightful photo of owls at Karen's blog. I could feel owls were going to be happening around here!!!

The two owls at the front are about 8 inches tall and the dear soul behind them is a fair bit bigger. I just hand drew the shapes and went from there. The owl on the right has been made with material and felt, but the other owls were made with material. There is something special about owls.

Today Heather is coming over for morning tea, after being away for so long on holidays. I have some nice carrot cake and cream horns awaiting her arrival. I don't want to wish time away but I can't wait for the end of the day when Pixie comes home from working away.

After almost 22 years of marriage, I still miss him like mad when he goes away.......no-one to tease!!!!

Have a great day.

Regards, Anita.

Introducing Chester

The difference between

stumbling blocks and

stepping stones

is how I use them.

Anon.

I would love you all to meet Chester, my new rooster. I'm not sure what sort of bantam he is, but he is cute. The girls think so too and since Chester has been in the chook house with them, no more arguments. He was kindly given to me by a farmer friend of mine.

Chester has a stubbie kind of tail instead of the traditional long straight-out-there type. He even has feathers on the outsides of both feet, oh and did I mention he is cute? The girls had started to squabble since Benjamin died and the presence of another male has stopped that.

On the last day of school I went into the staffroom and discovered a tea party going on. There was Mr. Octopus and some other of the library toys with a tea set on the table. The culprit(s) set them up and I was so happy to see Mr. Octopus. That lot had no mercy for me at all. I had many suspects in mind and the one I suspected the most finally fessed up. I do hope they all believe in the old testament.....an eye for an eye. tee hee hee. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of the tea party as I had no idea it was on!! lol.

The school holidays have now started and my full-time stint is at an end. I now plan to enjoy the time off and try to finish up the knitting and crocheting I am doing for the volunteers traveling to Botswana. I am very happy with this rather cute blanket I have crocheted using odd bits of wool. It would fit a regular sized baby cot and someone will get good use from it.

I forget to show my stitchery I purchased from our annual show. Through the grapevine, on the day of the show, I heard about a craft stall that was there and that I must see it. I am so glad I had only taken a small amount of money to the show as I would've spent the lot just at the craft stall!! A beautiful Bronwyn Hayes stitchery.

I will start the stitchery once all the knitting and crocheting has been finished. I now plan to spend the rest of this glorious Sunday doing rounds of the backyard, sewing and tidying up. Not so much with the tidying up bit. I managed to get a photo of a busy bee going about his business in my lavender bush.

I do hope you are having a lovely weekend. Well done to the Geelong footie team for winning this year. Regards, Anita.