~ It's Shedding Time Again ~

For some reason, my title reminds me of the words of a song....no, wait a minute.....that 's "It's Crying Time Again"  I remember now!!

Anyway, Spring is here and Ben has decided he must rid himself of his thick winter coat and he is making fluff bunnies like there is no tomorrow.  Oh well, he mentioned he likes to do his bit for the birds and give them something soft to line their nests with.  The birds don't have to look very far to find it either as there are balls of the stuff floating all around the driveway!!
Here is my boy looking beautiful after a lovely brush this morning....
It is so very dry here that the leaves are just dropping from the trees.  We need rain so badly.

Yesterday, I attended the Craft and Quilt Fair in Brisbane.  Lots to be seen there and I managed to pick up a  few little crafting bits and pieces.  Not a lot but I didn't come home empty handed. I purchased a couple of little bits of fabric to complete my Mrs Waddelow's Huswif which I have recently completed stitching. Considering I forgot to take the pieces of fabric I already had with me, I was pretty pleased with my choice of matching fabric as we all know how difficult it is to carry colour in your head.  I am also going to stitch the needlebook to complete the set.

I hope all is going well in your part of the world and thanks for visiting my blog.

~ A Little Crafting ~

Made these folded envelope pockets.  Very simple and fun to make. Can make them from 12 x 12, 8 x 8 and 6 x 6 sheets of paper. Two pockets in the back to tuck a little something extra and write a little note to put inside or tuck in a gift card.

"Each day comes bearing it's own gifts. Untie the ribbons."

                                                                 ~ Ruth Ann Schabacker

~ Isn't Nature Wonderful!! ~

A couple of days back I posted a photo of my Chameleon rose.....

 Now today....this is the colour....

Nature sure is amazing!!

Look at the trees, look at the birds, look at the clouds, look at the stars... and if you have eyes you will be able to see that the whole existence is joyful.  Everything is simply happy.  Trees are happy for no reason; they are not going to become prime ministers or presidents and they are not going to become rich and they will never have any bank balance.  Look at the flowers - for no reason.  It is simply unbelievable how happy flowers are.  

~Osho

~ Flutters and Tweeters ~

Spring is here and there is a lot of bird life in my garden....

I happened to notice these cuties that arrived in my garden today....

They flew in and landed on the Grevillia....

 There were three sets of them and appeared to be mothers  with babies....

 This mother had kind of 'scary' eyes....

 They must have come from a cold climate as they appeared to be wearing scarves....

but they seemed very happy feeding on the beautiful Grevillia flowers.....

Hhhmmmm, I shall have to refer to my bird book to see if I can identify them!! 

Meanwhile, my shadow seemed to be very content just hanging out on the garden with them and his 'stone cat'....

And while we were out in the garden we took a photo of this beautiful rose.  It is called Chameleon as it changes colour.....

Thanks for sharing a little bit of our backyard with us!!

~ The View from my Window ~

I recently completed my 'Cottage Chic'  journal which is from the Marion Smith digital downloads. I love making these journals as they give me a sense of freedom to just create without the pressure of having to produce something that looks perfect. ( I don't do perfect)!!  I love splotching ink everywhere, cutting pages without straight edges, ageing the pages and roughing up the edges and also adding my own creative touches to my book.

This little book is bound with the Coptic stitch and this was my first attempt at doing this and we live and learn...maybe next time I may use a finer thread but as I mentioned...I don't do 'perfect' lol!! I painted the covers with acrylic paint which I mixed up to make the colour I wanted and inked, sanded and even thumped it around to give it a well worn look.  I made the little nest charm on the side with wire and beads and hung some other bits from the chain.  I love the clinking sound this makes.  I added lots of bits and bobs and did lots of stamping too.

I called my journal 'The View from my Window' as I plan to use it to record some of the bird life and plant life  I see in my garden.

I have also done a tiny bit of stitching and am enjoying my SAL with Sandra..
Here is my progress to date on Mrs Waddelow....

Spring is here in Australia and our garden is very dry as we have had no rain for weeks!!  The birds are very active though and I am really enjoying listening and watching the activities around the garden. Sadly, we had an injury in the weekend though as a rather large bird which our research showed to be a cormorant, flew into the house and dropped down onto the deck in a very bad way.  We nursed it overnight and our daughter who is a wildlife volunteer, took it to the vet so I am not certain what happened to it.  Sad :(  It wasn't looking good!!

Hope all is well in your world.
Thanks for coming by....

~ Things that made me happy today ~

BEAUTIFUL Spring weather    ......

Lots of birds in my garden        ......

Butterflies    ......

Artwork from my beautiful little Grand daughters    ......  

We are experiencing amazing weather here right now and although it isn't officially spring, we are very definitely experiencing spring weather. The birds are very busy in the garden enjoying the grevillea and I am hoping we will find a nest somewhere.

Here are a couple of photos I took today......

..... my boy enjoying the beautiful weather 

..... and taking time to wander in the garden

I am just getting back into a bit of stitching again after quite a long absence. Sandra and I have started a new SAL.  We are stitching Mrs Waddelow Huswife.  Not a lot to show yet as we are only stitching a short time each week and have only done week one at this stage.  It is always fun to see each other's progress as we both chose different colours, linens and threads. 

Thank you for your kind comments  in last post. 

Take care and hope you had something to make you smile today :)

"If you don't have a smile, I'll give you one of mine".

 ~  Author Unknown

~ Uh oh! ~

Yup...this is me....not showing my face though!!  It's not a happy face!

No stitching or crafting for the present time.  Typing left handed is tricky too...

~ Pregnancy Journal ~

This coming October I am going to become a grandmother again for the third time.  My beautiful son and daughter in law are expecting their first little baby and we found out only yesterday....it is going to be a boy!!

I made this journal for them so they could keep a record of their precious journey.

                                                  

        

I am really happy that they loved their gift.

~ She is finally finished ~

Yes, after all this time, I am very happy to post that my stitching project from back in 2010, a SAL I did with Sandra and Diane, is now complete.  The actual stitching was finished in 2010 but Abigail Colby work basket and accessories, sat patiently in a drawer waiting to be assembled and I have just completed the mammoth task. Yippee, can you feel my relief....She was a daunting thought but happily I can report to have managed to finish her and here she is.....

She is stitched on 40ct linen with Belle Soie thread and I have posted individual photos of each piece here in my Picasa albums if you would care to take a closer look.

Now to finish my other long awaiting WIP and I will be even happier lol!!

Thanks for visiting my blog.



"


"Patience 
“

~ Today is My Birthday ~

Gidday.....Ben here, aka on Mum's blog as 'My Shadow'.(that means I am Mum's shadow)

Today is my birthday.  I am seven years old today.  I think if I was a human that would make me about 49!!

Anyway, Mum made me special treats for my birthday... some Banana and carrot cookies.  I could smell them cooking last night when she was baking them and they smelled GOOD!!

Here is a picture of me waiting.  I was very good and never jumped up to take any.  Mum says I am always good like that.  I don't take things off the table or the counter.

Then later, me and my bestest mate Indy got to have one and here we are waiting until we got the word to say it was okay to take them. Mum said we were both very good.

 You  will notice my tongue  is ready to go. Yum, we love banana and carrot cookies.

Mum said it is polite to say thank you so 'thank you' to anyone who takes the time to visit our blog.

~ Do They Ever Change? ~

No, I DON'T think so LOL!!

Ben as a young puppy!!

That very same Ben today!!

Yup.....and he will be seven years old in a couple of weeks and so, I rest my case!!!

Oh and have I mentioned lately how much I love that boy... even when he rolls in mud.

PS. We have had a lot of rain recently and everything is muddy.  He decided he should have a little roll in it!!

~ A Finish ~

I stitched this La D Da Design  'The Tie That Binds' as a gift to my son and his wife for their wedding back in October last year. A simple yet very elegant design.  Love La D Da!!
I can't remember the linen colour....maybe Creme Brulee but it is 36ct and stitched with NPS Silk

I also made the ring bearer pillow for them. 

Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog.