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.

Mother Nature

We had Mother Nature hit our town this weekend. An alert for cyclone Bianca had been sent out, but we received an unexpected visit from Mother Nature...big time. On Saturday Pixie called out to me and said "Come and have a look at the sky". Because of the excitement in his voice, I grabbed the camera and came running. This is what I saw.....

I started clicking away with the camera...and then noticed that this big cloud was moving very fast. By the colour of the cloud this was a nasty dust storm coming and the temperature was 44C.

 I quickly took off to our elderly neighbours to warn them, as they probably would've been inside due to the heat and may not have even spotted this coming. Paul and Lorraine came outside with me and they couldn't believe what they were seeing.....

These first few pictures were taken within a matter of minutes. while I was standing there with my neighbours, the pace of the wind sped up and you could hear howling of the wind.

This is when I took off running back over the road and when I got to the back door this is the colour the sky turned.

And continued to get darker until you couldn't see an inch passed your nose. We were all inside, even Max our dog came in with us. The boys were pretty calm considering what was going on. Max was scared to death more because he knows he is not allowed inside, so he was more worried about that I think.

This next shot is looking out the front yard, the howling, crackling of things being ripped apart, and the speed of the wind was incredible.

Now... the damage. This is over the road, a giant limb from a tree came crashing down. 

The only damage we had was this tree branch that fell and missed absolutely eveything!!

We had a big family chat and listened as the boys had many questions and told us their feelings of what had happened. After we shared our thoughts with each other of the event that just took place and did a bit of cleaning up, we decided to have a look around and see the damage. It was everywhere.

The damaged gutter on this building was down, but the sheeting on the ground belonged to another building nearby.

The damage was so great, with buildings torn apart, houses with no rooves, we just feel for those who experienced so much damage to their property. This all started at about 3pm on Saturday, with the power going off at that stage. The power returned to our house at 7pm Sunday night. There were about 80 power poles down in town, and have to give it to Western Power, those guys worked and worked on restoring the damage. It was such a big job. We also had 44C on Sunday, so we were all fit to be tied!

Oh and by the way.....I didn't do any sewing or knitting!!! WhaaWhaa!!! It was too hot! Oh and the cyclone fizzled out! That was a no show. To those in Queensland who are expecting cyclone weather, we are thinking of you. May it go easy on you. Catch you next posting.

Kind regards, Anita.

Colourful Friday

Clouds filter through

sharp branches that unravel

threads of sky tapestry.



I so love Colourful Friday!!! Robyn hosts this fun game and we all join in. My most favourite colour is definately red. Here is a little gathering of red around our home. I thought I would start in the kitchen.....

I had great delight in worrying my husband and had a look through his shed.....I might add it didn't take long for him to wonder up to the shed and check out what I was up to!!! lol

Of course you all knew I would have red buttons stashed somewhere around my home, and red threads......

It was interesting to see exactly how much red was around the home, even the kids toys.....

When I return from my short visit to the city today, I will come and visit other bloggers who have joined in on Colourful Friday. See you then. Kind regards, Anita.