ANZAC Day

Anything done for another

is done for oneself.

-Boniface VIII.

As I had lots of time to myself these last few days, I have managed to get my fair share of sewing done. I happened to do some blog surfing and came across a rather sweet plastic card wallet. I simply had to make one and the instructions were very easy to follow.

A great way to use up bits of material left over, which I have stacks of and can't bear to throw away. The photo below is what greets you when you open your wallet.

I found the pattern to make this wallet at Lisa's blog. Scroll down to Scrappy Loyalty Wallet and there you will find this wonderful pattern. I emailed Lisa and told her I had made one and to thank her for the great pattern. I can see a few more of these being made. I also like the idea of making strips of materials for the cover of this wallet.

My girls have also been finished and are now waiting to be filled with lots of yummy lollies and sweets.

I thought I might use felt for the hair this time instead of wool. It was easier and quicker this way, and still has a nice look to it. The cheeks were painted on and the insides of these girls have different coloured linings.

Our local nursery had a 50% sale off everything, so I made my way down there.......twice!!!! As this summer was so long and hot, my garden took a beating, even losing some very established plants. My front yard has always been a cottage garden, but I'm thinking I really need to think about native plants. Perhaps I can just fill my verandah pots with the cottage plants instead. They will have a bit of protection from the harsh Australian heat.

This is what I've done in the front yard so far. I have added an extra row of bushes and then a row of cottage bricks to line the area. What is left of the lawn (which is hardly any) will be pulled out and a brick path added.

Along the picket fence there used to be bushes and now it is empty. The plants I have added will grow rather large and hopefully it will fill in the gaps. A row of pots now line both sides of the entrance to our home, and another row of old bricks to go with it.

The succulent under the bush has just exploded!! I planted a small piece of it last year and out of everything in the front yard, that's the only thing looking real good.

I have to say that I am well known as a hermit around my parts and these few days at home without two of my darlings has been spent happily doing the things I want to do. Brandon and I shared time together and I made all the special foods he loves. Last night I was over the moon to greet Pixie and Cory who had returned home from their go kart trip. Cory gained lots of experience at this meeting, as their were go karters from all around Australia.

My husband can always be counted on to have chunks of meat missing from different parts of his body, and this trip was no exception. He is prancing around with two big scabs on the top of his head.....phhffmm! oops....didn't mean to laugh.

While we were sharing their adventure stories last night, I did have my stitchery on the go.

 I haven't finished stitching yet, but if you like this design it is a freebie. Just click here for the pattern. Today in Australia and New Zealand we are celebrating ANZAC Day. A day in which we remember all the fallen soldiers and thank them for our freedom.

Lest We Forget

See you for now.

Kind regards, Anita.

With love at Easter

The greatest thing in this world is not so much

where we are, but in what direction we are moving.

-Oliver Wendell Holmes.

I managed to make some cute little beaded rabbits for my workmates and on the last day of school I roamed around the office giving out the gifts. I so much loved the beaded dolls I had just made, and that's where the idea came from to make beaded rabbits. They were well received by my workmates and of course having chocolate wrapped in with the rabbit is always going to be popular where I work!!!

 Funnily enough, I had just about come to the end of my bead collection, when suddenly a workmate of mine came in one morning recently and gave me a big bag full of beads. The bodies of the rabbits are just different pieces of scrap material. The ears and cheeks are made from felt. With a fabric pen I just made two dots for the eyes, a cute smile and a dot for the nose, nice and simple.

 With the holidays now beginning, I intend to do lots of things that I haven't had time to do, such as my garden. This summer was long and hot, so my garden took a beating, with several plants not surviving. Now that the weather has cooled down, I have started to plant native bushes in the front yard. A small row of cottage bricks have seen their way into the new garden. A gave one of my neighbours a big shock this morning. They were driving along the road towards my house and suddenly they saw this body coming from under the bridge, pushing a big wheel barrow!! When they realized it was me, they laughed.

Also I have made a start on the Mother's Day gifts for school. I have made some of these before and thought they would go down well as gifts for Mum.

 This pattern is from a Homemade magazine of Heather's and it is actually a child's bag. I love the pattern so much I thought it would be nice to make it as a purse with lollies and sweets. You could put whatever you liked in them. I'm thinking I might make the hair across the top of the head out of felt. Still thinking about that. The face will also have red cheeks stitched on it give the girl's a cheeky look to them.

I couldn't resist knitting this gorgeous helmet from one of the books I scored from the library!! This helmet was knitted in 3 ply and I wish you could see the true colours....just lovely. I keep saying I have just about finished with the baby knitting for now, but I may have changed my mind.

Tomorrow is cousin's day in the country and I'm looking forward to catching up with some favourite boys of mine. Pixie and Cory have kept us updated with the gokart details and all is going well. It seems weird that they won't be here for Easter but they will return soon. Heather has also flown the coup and is visiting one of her daughter's. I miss not having Heather to tease....oops...I mean I miss her company!! lol.

I can hear the garden calling out to me again, so I will make haste. I take this opportunity to wish everyone who celebrates the Easter spirit, I wonderful Easter. A time to remember the true meaning of the Easter story. Kind regards, Anita.







Long awaited holidays

Promise is most given

when least is said.

-George Chapman

Here in Western Australia the school terms have been a bit different for the year and first term has been very long. I am really looking forward to these holidays as I feel worn out. It has been a very productive time in the way of crafts so it has been a joy in that sense, lots of babies being born, beaded dolls, Mother's day stall coming up!! I have also knitted a doll to go along with the baby gear I'm gathering for friends...

This cutie will go home to whoever has a boy. It was from one of Jean Greenhowe's knitting books. There are so many lovely patterns in that book that I might have a go at each and everyone of them. My doll has been knitted in 8 ply and he is quite big. I managed to have a little win too this week. While visiting the library one of the girls put me on to a trolley full of books for sale and these are a few I scored.



I couldn't believe my luck! They smell new and certainly hadn't been used...but they have now. Lots of lovely more modern knitted items, which I tend to stay away from, but these patterns are cute.

Even though I have been flat out with school matters like P & C meetings, Council meetings and such, I have still found a bit of quiet time to knit. I need to sew buttons on to this cute little cardigan, knitted in four ply wool with a beanie to go with it.

I think I need to just knit a couple more items and the stock I have will be enough to share around the baby crowd. However, a little birdie has whispered in my ear.......!

Two of my darlings have gone to gokarts today and Brandon is at a friend's house, soon the sewing machine is going to be dragged out and used. I will make some gifts for the Mother's Day stall for the school I work at. Maybe some lolly bags made from calico might go down alright. Anyway I'm out of here to do my magic. May you all have a lovely weekend and enjoy the sunshine.

Kind regards, Anita.





We're a weird mob.

Art and knowledge

bring bread and honour.

-Danish proverb.

A kind workmate of mine presented me with a gift on Monday morning at work......

This isn't going to help me get my housework done!!! lol. These little beauties were in an old house and things were being sold and rehomed. So the beads came to me. I am so happy to have them I must admit. They just need a scrub and a soak and they'll be as good as new.

I am still slowly knitting for some favourite people of mine and I have now got a large collection of knitted baby gear. Soon I will be knitting for the premature babies at one of our hospitals in Western Australia. The size of the jackets are tiny and unbelieveable.

On Friday we all managed to go out together as a family and it was wonderful to have both of our boys with us at the same time. The day was spent shopping together and then stopping off for lunch and a nice browse through Spotlight. When we got to a shop called Big bubble, we had the time of our life. Cory and Brandon found the dress up section and what a laugh we all had. Some things never change and when the boys were little, we had the best dress up box you ever did see. So when we were in Big bubble all the hats had to get tried on.

I know the photo's are blurred, but I was so excited that we were all together and I was allowed to take the pics!!! Talking about 'Pix', even the Father of those crazy boys is into dressups. Looks lovely in pink. lol.

My two petals below!! Some things never change.

So as you can see we had a great day in the shops and I might add things didn't change on the drive home. We had such fun. The weekend just got better as it unfolded too. We had a cousins day, with Ryan and Jarrod coming over on Sunday for the afternoon. They played with the toy animals and people collection. Yesterday I had a phone call from Heather asking to come over for a quick not-for-any-reason visit, and in her hot little paws were yummy home made biscuits. She is such good value and fun to be with.

Looks like it's time for a nice hot cup of tea and another one of those lovely home-baked biscuits. I hope to have a baby jacket finished tonight and can show you next time. Cheers, Anita.

Fundraising dollies.

Let your speech

always be gracious.

-Colossians 4:6

My beaded doll making has come to an end, so now the sewing needles have been put down, and the knitting needles are on fire!!!

I gave a helping hand to the fundraising committee at my school by making beaded dolls for Harmony Day. The grand total of dolls made were 175, and I loved making each and every one of them. The money raised was almost $900.00, and has been donated to the P & C Committee.



My little partner in crime, Heather, came over on the weekend....with more beads! So kind of her to help feed my doll making addiction. lol.  It was nice to raise that amount of money, but the best thing of all was the smile on the faces of the children who had a doll pinned to their shirts. That was the best bit.

My knitting needles were calling out to me every night that I was making those dolls, I could hear them. Now I'm flat out knitting a fantastic baby coat with 299 stitches on the needles.

I found a very old knitting book stashed away in my cupboard and thought I would have a bash at knitting this cute coat. The bottom is brimmed in moss stitch and the rest of the body is stocking stitch. I am using 3ply to knit this up and it is coming along well. The clock is ticking for these adorable babies to arrive, so I am having fun and using all the excuses in the world not to do too much house work.

I also picked up some great books from the library, one a knitting book and a toy making book. They both look great. I plan to look at them tonight. I have been busy with School Council and P & C meetings this week. So things have been hectic. Hopefully next week will be of a slower pace.

Well now, it's almost time to think about cooking tea and doing a few chores around the house, better get on with it. I will also try to answer some of the emails that have been sent my way. Not long until the weekend now, hope you all enjoy yourselves. Kind regards, Anita.

Busy weekend

Water is the driving

force of all nature.

-Leonardo da Vinci

Oops! I was very busy on the weekend and missed saying

hello to you all. This week we are celebrating Harmony Week.

It is a week of friendship, tolerance, loving for people just for

who they are and appreciating all cultures. I had made some little beaded dolls awhile ago and thought I would put them to good use. I approached a work mate Lyn, to get some ideas about selling the dolls to raise money for the school. Lyn is just full of fantastic ideas and plans, so I knew she would think of something.....and she did. We could incorporate the dolls into Harmony week.

As this weekend was a sewing weekend, I had stacks of time to get stuck into it and that I did. Pixie and Cory went gokarting, Brandon invited a friend over, so it was open slather for me. I had made several of them before the weekend and at the end of the weekend there were over 120 little beaded dolls sitting there all pretty.

I made different coloured girls.....and boys! Can't forget the boys! In the photo below, check out the boy doll on the bottom left hand side! I didn't realize at the time, but he seems to be looking up a skirt....oops.....that was accidental. But never fear, the girls have pants on under there. Most of them do. I added bushy eye brows, bows and ties to the boy ones. I think they're very cute.

The dolls made with black and gingerbread colours have painted eyes and smiles. I didn't have any cream or softer coloured paint than the white, to paint them on with. I did think they looked a bit....harsh? and then I made a mistake. On one of the dolls I put the eyes too far over to the right. I didn't want to waste the doll, some I decided to put cheeks on her to see if I could cover the white dot. Guess what it worked!! And looked so much better, more child friendly to look at. I pulled all the coloured dolls back out of the box and gave them all cheeks. What an improvement.

I really enjoyed myself this weekend and was so excited to go to work. There is something really special about seeing joy on childrens faces. I was going to start selling the dolls at lunchtimes, but when I got to work, children were already coming up to me asking about the dolls. I got to the library and there were parents waiting for me too! So I started selling them. By the end of the day, I had $247.00. I will sell them until stock runs out and all monies raised will go to the P & C Committee.

Someone asked me if I had had enough of making so many dolls. My response was, I only stopped making them because I ran out of beads!! On Sunday night I continued my pleasant knitting. I will also cut out 2 doll bodies to make for the Mother's Day raffle going on at the high school. Never a dull moment around here. Hope to catch you up on Friday for Colourful Friday, have a great week! Kind regards, Anita.





Raffle gifts

Hope is the

parent of faith.

-Cyrus Augustus Bartol.

Lately I have been busily working on raffle items for the

swimming carnival at the school I work for. I thought three

items would be nice to raffle off and this weekend I finished

the projects I had been working on. I always have to make one of the special cloth dolls I enjoy making so much.

I had purchased this material on a trip to Collingully Barn with Heather, my little partner in crime. We had spent alot of time choosing the right matierals. I very much fancy the material used on the pants of the doll.

The pattern is from my favourite Australian Homespun magazine, the very first volume, but I have not included the wings for this doll. The cup/mug carrier is also a favourite pattern I do on a regular basis and this pattern is found in another favourite magazine of mine Australian Country Threads Vol. 2, No. 12.

The cup would have the person's name on it where I have stitched 'my' and in the centre of the stitched flower and vine you would put the person's initials. As I do not know who will win the gifts I have just left it plain. The last gift I made will be first prize, a carry-all bag and a matching purse.

I can't give you the pattern to these two items, I just made them up as I went along! lol. I do love the materials though. Now I can get back to making my beaded dolls and knitting. I love being busy, in a crafty way, there is always something to try out.

I am going to kick back and take it easy today, still trying to get along with a sinus headache that's plaguing me. I've been a good girl and done the ironing and lots of dusting this week, so this afternoon I'm wanting some relaxation. Hope you are relaxing too. Enjoy. Kind regards, Anita.