~ My Quilted Patchwork Journal ~

  I followed a nine part  tutorial by Marianne Kensington and had fun creating this quilted patchwork journal.

I followed a tutorial to learn to make the crochet flowers which I have decorated it with.

I made a pocket inside.

I stitched the signatures in using  pamphlet stitch and used a lot of 'precious junk" to fill it.

I did a lot of rough machine stitching on my pages and left loose threads because I like the 'rustic' look.

This was a fun project to do and thanks to Marianne for the great tutorial.

Thanks for dropping by my blog.

~ Well hello.....~

...to anyone out there.  Yes, it has been ages since I have updated here and am not surprised if you have given up on us as we have been AWOL for quite a long time.  However, there are no rules and blogging shouldn't become an obligation - right!!

Anyway, a cheery hello to anyone who might drop by. I just wanted to share a couple of photos from my garden with you today and I REALLY wish I could bottle fragrance as the fragrance from these is amazing. Murraya paniculta, commonly called Orange Jessamine or Mock orange and it is out in all it's beauty at present at our house. Wouldn't it be lovely if I could send you the fragrance through the Internet....maybe the day will come when that can be done LOL!! 

I have just put a little posey of these on my desk beside the computer as I write and am willing the fragrance to go through to you so let me know if it works LOL!!

Hope 2013 is treating you well.

"To be overcome by the fragrance of flowers is a delectable form of defeat".
                                                  ~Beverly Nichols

~ 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....