JaM & Tea

Jody asks us this week have you got a favourite tea pot or maybe a china tea cupand are you lucky like me and have favourite person to drink it with?

I rarely make a pot of tea because when I want a cup I want it NOW. But I do have a favourite mug. Mum gave it to me after I broke my last one.  A cup of tea just isn't the same unless you use your favourite mug and it has to be a mug not a little cup that holds only a couple of sips. It usually takes me a while to find a mug that feels right but this one was perfect.

Sometimes it is nice to have a cup and saucer and this one is pulled out of the cupboard. It is actually quite a big cup. My sister in law gave it to me years ago.  It fits perfectly in my kitchen with it's green stripes and very gorgeous chooks.
Usually I drink me tea whereever, sitting at the table at lunch, at the computer while typing Blog posts like this, in my chair in the lounge room reading a book and sometimes outside somewhere. Never in the sewing room because I usually find it half full and cold somewhere because I get distracted.
So where do you drink your tea and do you use a cup or a mug, a bag or a pot?
Pop over to Jody's for more tea stories.

Yesterday and Today

Yesterday and a lot of days before that we needed this

This morning the sky is like this

and there are puddles everywhere!!!!!

My Place and Yours:Green

The theme for My Place and Yours this week is Green which is probably one of my favourite colours.
For more Green treasures pop over to Vic's at Punky and Me

Galah's

I had the perfect chance to get photos of a flock of Galah's in a tree in the backyard early this morning but the dogs decided otherwise and chased them all away. Except this one,

They flew out into the paddock . 

Apart from Cockatoos, they must be one of the noisiest birds I have ever heard. Not one bit of melody in their call either!

Looking out the back it is a very typical early morning view of Australia in the middle of Summer.

But there is a promise of the cooler days of Autumn showing in the garden

JaM - Whatcha got.

This weeks theme for JaM is Watcha Got. Have you found anything lately to add to your collections? Anyone who has been following my Blog know I have more Collections than I know what to do with but strangely enough I haven't really added anything to them over the past few months. (Probably because Christmas totally drained my Wallet!!!)  I have been wracking my brain trying to think if anything new had been added and  while I was wandering around I found this........

Beau gave me this Vintage Picnic basket a few weeks ago.  It has been badly repaired with bits of red and green plastic but it still has a lot of appeal. I love the woven piece inside the lid.

One of these days I will sit down and repair it with something a little better than multi coloured plastic.

Oh Fred!!!!!

Fred has grown into a beautiful looking cat in the 18 months since he turned up at our place.

But he is the dopiest, under your feet, in your face, feed me every five minutes cat that you will ever come across.

But how could you not love that face?!

JaM - Easy-Peasy Comfort Bag Challenge

It's not often I post to my Blog twice in one day but I did say this morning that I was going to try and get my Bag done for Jody Pearl's Challenge.
I managed to get everything I needed at the Op Shop this morning which is amazing because usually if you go in there for something specific they don't have it! As it was I got the only two ties in the shop!
 I didn't really need another bag and decided that if I was going to do this I would do two and give them to my brother's gorgeous girls. Maybe they can use them when they go to the Pool?

I made them both fairly similar because you know how sisters can argue over the littlest things. The red one has a Vintage buckle instead of a tab and a sweet vintage lace motif on the end of the piece of tie that holds the bag shut. I did do the jeans pocket on the inside and made a loop at the skinny end of the handle to hang things on. I managed to part with some vintage buttons which I sewed to the centre of the lace doileys.

This one is pretty much the same but in greens. It has a Vintage metal buckle and a small vintage button on the lace flower on the bit that holds the bag shut.
They really didn't take too long to make and once they were made I kept thinking of other ways I could have decorated them. Maybe I can do some more another day?????
Thanks Jody it was a fun Challenge. For more bags or maybe even to make a bag yourself go to  re-inventing fashion blogspot and join up with this weeks JaM

Getting organized

I have been playing with my fabrics a lot in the past few weeks and have really gotten over sifting through my very untidy tubs of fabric trying to find what I need. I have a habit of stuffing little bits of scrap back in a tub because I know I can get one more square or triangle out of it and overtime it has just gotten out of control.

So brilliant me decided to retrieve all these little scraps and cut them into squares. All the tubs would have in them would be large foldable pieces of fabric.

So I have sorted. folded and started and I have rapidly started to wonder if I am at all sane! It is the most fiddly time consuming job known to man, of that I am very very sure. 

But looking at the lovely baskets and boxes with the squares I have done so far ranging from 2" up to 6"  and looking at the tubs of neatly folded and sorted fabric I know that I will be happy that I persisted when  or if I ever get it finished. The hardest bit will be stopping myself from shoving little bits of fabric back in the tubs from now on and getting into the habit of cutting them as I get to them.

Today I will take a break and go to the Op Shop for the supplies I need for this weeks Jam with Jody Pearl. All being well I will get her Challenge done this afternoon.

Sunday Afternoon Nap

Going Batty

Found wandering on my back veranda this evening.  None of the animals even noticed it was there which is anazing although I suspect Fred may have had something to do with it's appearance..
I picked it up and put it in a dark quiet place in the garage, hopefully it will be ok.

Cuckoo in the garden

I've heard a different bird in the tree out the side the past week and today I managed to spot it. It is a young Cuckoo being raised by a tiny Wren (I think it is a Wren anyway)

JaM - Step away from Your Sewing Machine

I'm joining Jody Pearl again this week for JaM and this week it is all about what we are sewing and what with.

So I have literally stepped away from the sewing machine to take this photo.

So what am I creating up the back yard in my shed? Quilts!!!The blocks on the one at the back are Fractured squares which really tested how accurately I can piece and is made up from the numerous bits of fabric I have stowed away in the cupboard. I finished Machine Quilting it today The one behind the sewing machine is different size rectangles and is made up of Vintage fabrics. it is ready to be quilted.

The Machine I am using is a Janome DC3050 which is a nice little machine but nowhere as good as my old Janome. I am seriously considering paying the big bucks out to get the old one repaired as it was a beautiful machine to sew with. I also have one of the early computerised Singers and it is a nice machine too though not used very often. It is the emergency machine.  I have 3 treadle machines and  a hand turned machine as well which all sew beautifully but are a little bit more work to keep them going round and round so I don't use them much. I am extremely lucky to have a huge sewing room up the backyard so I only have to clean up when I run out of table (two large trestles!) and floor space.

So why don't you join Jody Pearl and I and show us what your creating and what with?

Sunrise

5.30 this morning the sky took my breathe away. The photos don't really do any justice to how vast and beautiful it was

Summer Morning

It is nice to sit outside early in the morning before it gets too hot .

The view is definitely looking more like Summer now as the grass goes to seed and dries off

Huge flocks of starlings are appearing but sitting here as the sun rises there is a chorus of birdsong from the many different birds in the garden this year

There is a promise of flowers everywhere I look

And passionfruit

There are apples on the tree

and flowers on the Persian silk tree

It is well worth getting up early to sit in my garden in the cool of the morning.

Gifts from a friend

Usually my mail brings me bills, junk mail or something I have ordered, occasionally it brings a parcel that lights up my day.

Today I received a parcel from my friend Pam . She has made me this amazing, wonderful and creative cushion with photos of my pets that have been on my Blog over the last year or so. It really is something special and it is a gift that has touched my heart and has made me smile all day.

There was also some gorgeous Handmade Christmas ornaments, also made by Pam.

I'm so glad the Postman came today!!!

(If you haven't checked out her items for sale, pop over to her Blog and find the links to where she sells her creations, I know you won't be disappointed with what you find.)

JaM on Monday - A Sign.

I'm joining in with Jody Pearl's new Meme JaM on Monday, The very first theme is 'a sign' and I was going to do one on those ridiculous signs on the side of the road that say'Trees close to road' but there isn't one close by that I could photograph and no photos that I could find on the net. While looking for one I found out that public outcry over the stupidity of this particular sign has forced VicRoads to rethink and take them down. At $200 a pop I hate to think what this little exercise cost!

This is a sign I did have a photo of. It is the sign Beau's (now ex) girlfriend and I made to celebrate the end of Beau, Flynn and Elly's walk from Corryong to Lakes Entrance.  We will always be so proud of the kids and what they achieved. The friendship they have will always be something just a little more for doing this as well.
Ok, so you can see how easy this little Meme is so why not pop on over to Jody Pearl's and join in?

Learning new skills

I've been a bit slack lately with blogging and visiting and commenting but I really do have a good reason/excuse. I promise.
I love the the way hand quilting looks. I love sitting quietly and slowly hand quilting my latest quilt and so in the 20 odd years I have been making quilts I have never machine quilted a quilt. I have come to a point in my life where I can no longer avoid learning and using machine Quilting and over the past week I have sat myself down and got on with trying it out.
I can't see the point in doing samples of anything because they are not practical or useful so to begin my Machine Quilting adventure I needed a quilt. This is where the fun bit comes in!!!
I have, (well had now that this week is done!) a small collection of Bark cloth curtains and samples. All at least 50 years old and some in good condition and some not so good. So out they came and after a lot of fiddling and changing things around I came up with this little beauty

The machine quilting wasn't too bad but I really thought I could do much better than I did which meant I needed to make another Quilt.

After this one I think I have got the basics of machine quilting sorted. Well enough to quilt the quilt I needed to learn it for once it is finished.

I used a large piece of curtain for the backing on this one because I had enough to do it and it was in too good condition to chop up!
I am really loving the Quilts though, the fabrics and their colours are just amazing.  So now I am going to have to find more Bark Cloth fabric, by fair means or foul!!!!!
(PS The gorgeous garden seat I have the Quilts displayed on is my Christmas present from the Husband!)