Colourful Friday

In see time, learn; in harvest,

 teach; in winter, enjoy.

-William Blake.

Can you tell I'm waiting for winter? I have had enough of our summer with temperatures reaching 40C +. Today is Colourful Friday in blogland and a group of us have fun looking and searching for whatever the theme is for the fortnight. This week is Spotty and Dotty, so I went on the prowl to find different things in that collection. Robyn hosts this fun game, so you can pop over to her blog and check out what the other players have found. Here is my collection:

This game has given us hours of fun and giggles at our home. The pieces are very heavy as well. They are ceramic pieces.

The word Spot was very appropriate for today!!

This little collection of dalmations belonged to a niece of mine and they were just loved so much by my own boys. We still have them.

Of course, I had to include my most favourite things - buttons!

An piece of aboriginal art, that was given to me many years ago. I love the way the dots give such an effect to the work.

I can't show you any more of my spots and dots, the camera went flat. I better put it on charge before hubby finds out!!!! I'm a bit of a repeat offender for letting the camera get low on energy considering

I use it the most.

I'm buzzing off now to see what the other bloggers have found in the way of spots and dots. Wishing you all a great weekend of happiness and relaxation. Kind regards, Anita.

Pretty bits.

Make us happy and

you make us good.

-Robert Browning

Can someone please tell me where the time has gone?! I have just had one of the busiest weeks I can remember, but it has also been very constructive as well. I have been busy making baby clothes for several people I know who are having babies and the first baby has made their entrance to the world. So the baby clothes will be walking out the door to their new homes. I am making gifts to raffle off at the swimming carnival for the school I work for and am very pleased with how the two bags have turned out.

The bag with two handles is a carry all and is lined with a homespun material. It is a very simple patten as the colour of the fabric lends itself. For my birthday Heather had given me two jelly rolls and this one is African fabrics. It is very pretty. The smaller bag is a toilet bag using the same material. I now plan to make myself a bag using this material.

The High school P & C is holding a Mother's Day raffle as well and I have stamped enough raffle tickets to send out to 600 odd families, so you can imagine the work involved in that project!! So between doing this and other things like housework, I have also just finished a cute baby set to give to the first baby born.

I just need to sew the buttons on and stitch the beanie up and away he goes. I knitted a plain pattern because the colours form a pattern of their own and it was a nice wool to knit with. The first few rows are done in moss stitch and then the rest in plain stitch.

Another project I have just about finished is the bead dolls. Pixie and I went for a quick trip to Perth and bought some more beads. I'm really liking beads at the moment and have enjoyed making all those little dolls.

I am going to be on the look out now in the Op shops for beads, as I didn't realize how expensive they are. Now that the weather has cooled down a bit I hope to get into the garden and give it a revamp. The summer was cruel this year and even though it is officially autumn, the weather is still muggy, hot and taking it's time to switch over to the new season.

Well it's time to keep plodding along and get a few more jobs done. Catch you all up another time. Kind regards, Anita.

Colourful Friday

Ah! there is nothing like

staying at home, for real comfort.

 -Jane Austen, Emma.

What was that noise?.....sound like rain? Yes we had a wee drop

of rain in our part of the world and I'd almost forgotten what it sounded like. Our dry old gardens were very happy yesterday and lapped up every drop it could find. Only trouble was the rain didn't last very long and the humidity was murder! Today is another day, infact it is Colourful Friday and if you visit Robyn's blog you can see what other bloggers have found that have black and white colours. Here is my little collection.

My much loved collection of moo cows in the kitchen, way up high on the shelf. I have another one of these girls somewhere in the kitchen.

An adored piece of fabric that I just can't part with, but haven't done anything with yet......but will do.

Who loves cows then?

 My faithful tape measure who has seen many projects with me.



Hmmm......more cows. I have to say, I am a cow lover!! My kitchen has many moo's decorating it, along with chooks. These two girls are salt and pepper shakers and they have been with me for a very long time.

I had wanted to take snaps of Cory and Brandon's plastic animals, one being a Zebra. Only trouble is that they are in the bedroom and there is no way I'm waking up a sleeping teenager!!!

I had to do my posting early this morning as in a couple of hours the power will be cut off due to repairs in the area. I am staying home today to do some sewing and just as well I have my antique sewing machine that doesn't require electricity. I will have to zoom around later in the day to have a look at the other Colourful Friday girls and see what their great collection of black and white will be.

Thanks for dropping by and have a wonderful weekend. Kind regards, Anita.

I Spy

I do not concern myself with things too

great and too marvelous for me. But I

have calmed and quieted my soul.

- Psalm 131:1

Having decided to get stuck into those scraps that continue to infest my home, during the week I really made a good start on a scrappy table cloth. On Saturday at about 1.30pm I returned from a lovely, fun filled morning out with Heather. Pixie and Cory were at a gokart meeting, Brandon being a teenager was happily tucked away in his room and I had a heap of time. I put my foot to the metal (so to speak), and sewed....and sewed....and when I looked up at the clock it was 9pm!!!! Smirking to myself at how much I had actually accomplished, I realized I had made myself an I spy looking table cloth.

Ruth if you are out there, you will notice the material won't you! lol. Most, all of this material has been given to me. There is a wonderful dent in the material heap, that is so dear to me, but a reassurance that I do use the material. Of course the table cloth is going to work with me tomorrow.

I have had a very busy week, still knitting for all these babies, sewing, oh....did I mention housework?.....that too. I have cleaned lots of those weird little places that only get done now and then, all the other chores that never end. But yesterday Heather and I took off to Toodyay to check out the wool shop, and found some beautiful wool. I laughed when I saw the name of this wool......

My honey bunny is nicknamed Pixie. It is absolutely nice to the touch, he's not bad either. Oops.

I also managed to find some 2 ply wool and I can't wait to get stuck into knitting something with that.

Getting back to that material subject I have also made a couple of library bags for some special kiddies that I know. I will be whipping up a couple more today, because I just can't give one child in the family a library bag without giving them all one. They are all special.

I can't remember why I bought this material, I think I just had to have it!

 Another bag for a special boy I know.

I had a win recently in a giveaway, and very stoked to have won this fantastic knitting book. It is full of patterns, information and lovely inspiring ideas. It was a giveaway at Knit and tonic, many thanks to you Wendy.

I would love you to see the latest knitting project I am doing right now. I must admit I am trying to knit fast, to finish it and start on my newly purchased wool.

The pattern is very lacely and not hard at all. There are 3 patterned rows and purl on every second row. That's how simple it is. Here is a close up of the pattern.

I am about to donate some clothes to the Good Samaritan bins in a second, so must bid you all farewell....for now. Can't wait to start that knitting. hee hee hee. Kind regards, Anita.

Cute Koala

Love, all alike, no season knows, nor clime,

Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time.

-John Donne, "The Sun Rising"

Could I keep my hands to myself when I found this cute little koala in an Australian Homepsun magazine? Nope! This is Kira Koala....

This was one of the easiest patterns to follow and the brown material had been waiting a long time to be used. My photography has failed me once again, so you can't see the nice running stitch around the hem of the pants. My ambition is to actually get good at photography...one of these days.

I just loved the bright green material that I found to make the pants with. It was in the material scrap bag, along with the pink used for the ears. I found Kira Koala in the Australian Homespun Yearbook No. 80. (Vol.11 No.1).  The write up in the magazine was very interesting to read. Kira was created in honour of all the lives lost in the bushfires in Victoria, Australia in 2009.

Where will Kira go you ask?....to the library no doubt. lol. I am planning to make an Australian animal display sometime through the year and will need to make more sewn animals. I have a pattern for a platypus and lizards somewhere around this house.

I went to check on the chooks while doing the round of the yard yesterday and found them spread out in the sand. They looked like little teardrops in the sand.....not that my photography picked it up!!!

I love the way the chooks just plop themselves sideways on the sand and start flapping their wings and doing strange things. The other girl on the left is checking me out to see if I have any food. No throwing herself in the sand if there is a chance of food the little guts ache.

This was such a lovely weekend, nice and peaceful, no hassles. Just the sort of weekend you could handle all the time. As for me, the rest of today will be spent finishing off one library bag and knitting. I hope your weekend has been as wonderful as mine. Kind regards, Anita.

Colours of Valentine

Love is patient; love is kind; love is

not envious or boastful or arrogant.

- Corinthians 13:4

I can't believe another week has flown by so quickly. It was one of those weeks that was just full of things to do, work, school, food shopping and all those jobs that have to be done. That's why I love the night time, we all seem to settle down, catch up on each others news. The lovely thing is it's Colourful Friday!! You can have fun and jump over to Robin's blog to see what she has collected for Colourful Friday. Today we have taken photo's of things that remind us of Valentine's day.

I am a lover of red and at Valentine's Day the colour reigns supreme. Here are some of my Valentine's reminders.....

These cute little bears have been collected over the years, I just love them to bits. The cuties below are some of the things I have sent to my husband Pixie. I made sure to send them to his work place, to also see him turn my favourite colour - red!!!

Gift wrapping paper that I expect to receive a gift in.

I think of love as soon as I see hearts. Another favourite of mine.

Years ago at the annual show there was a craft stand with lovely gifts there and I found this gorgeous heart done in folk art. The words have stayed true for all these years together.

I've a great time sharing my photo's with you and can't wait to see what the other girls have collected to share with us. I would've loved to show you some chocolate, but hey.....that stuff doesn't last around here. See you. Kind regards, Anita.

Op shop treasures.

That man is the richest whose

pleasures are the cheapest.

-Henry David Thoreau.

Today I'm joining in the Op-Shop & garage sale finds being hosted by Bev. So many of us just love a bargain, or rummaging through Op shops. A friend of mine finds many antiques that people get rid of, not knowing what they have in their possession or the value of it. I am one of those people who just love, love, love to find bits and pieces. Here are some of my finds...........

I just adore finding lace and ribbon, especially those with a different texture or a bit more added to them. Wool and toy stuffing makes my toes curl when I find those. lol. Another interesting find were the gold tassels which I intend to use on some Mother's Day gifts for the school Mother's Day Stall.

A great pile of material made me go into orbit!

You certainly can't leave a tub of beads behind, they have to come home with you.

Another wonder treasure I found in an Op-shop was this lovely wodden paper towel holder. I thought I was super duper to snatch this one up. It is well used in the kitchen I might add.

 I hope you have enjoyed sharing my Op shop finds and do go and visit the other girls and see what they have.

As we are all still getting our homes back into order after our nasty storm, there has been less crafting going on around here. But that will change soon I think. Two of my boys are going gokarting this weekend and the weather is going to be nasty hot, I'm sure. Pixie found a pattern on the net to make some neck coolers. We made some....

They are about 46cm long and are filled with half a teaspoon of water crystals, in each section. We don't know how good they are yet but after the weekend we should have some results.

Enjoy the coming weekend and take care. Kind regards, Anita.