Merry Christmas...

To all my blogging friends and their families.

Wishing you all a fantastic Christmas and New Year.

Thanks for the wonderful swaps

and Friendships...

A Skirt.....

For years I have wanted to make a ''Christmas Tree Skirt"...

I have a few patterns to do this project........
 that have been collected over the years as well.

So with only a week to Christmas whats a girl to do!

 but sew day and night to achieve it this Christmas 2014....

 nothing like a little bit of pressure on ones self even though my Christmas shopping is still to be finished hahahaha
and the Plum Pudding is yet to be made!!!!!!!!

So to the starting line I head (wink)

all traced, stuck to fabric and cut out

and

ironed onto the background

appliqued

  and quilted

 time for trimming

 binding and buttons to be added

 doesn't look to bad under there

 wrap and add some pressies

I think it looks pretty AWESOME...

now I must go soak the fruit for the pudding 

before I head to the hairdresser today...

finish my Christmas shopping tomorrow... well I hope too (wink)

Christma Sewing...

My ''baby cousin" loves to decorate for Christmas... 

she also likes to have me and my family over for
Christmas get together before Christmas

and

we are sort of making this a tradition, especially now that I am living closer.

Last Christmas get together I noticed her Christmas table runner was looking a little worst for wear... so I made her a newbie

 I have added some hotfix crystals to some of the trees

 tried to make it look a little like snow falling

 I have also made her 6 Christmas placemats....

the pattern for the runner can be found here

Let's Swap...

This wonderful parcel arrived yesterday...

 these were inside

 something for the tree

 something for the sewing room

 something to make

 something to read

 these are all my pressies together... 

oh there is ''something to eat" a yummy box of chocolate and yes I have done a taste test... plus there is one more pressie "something for under the tree"...

 love them all and I was very spoilt by Marcia, thank you...

and thank you Maree for all the swaps this year...

this is the gate to our property... 

there is a little competition going on around the ''estate'' to decorate your gate... I also have flashing solar lights on them for the night.

Christmas Swap...

My Christmas swap parcel was mailed out on Wednesday

so keep an eye out girls

it could be coming your way...

Where Has The Weeks Gone..............

But I have been busy REALLY TRULY...

in the garden

in the sewing room

and 

house stuff...

Plus Hubby was home, so I don't post much when he is home just surfing/stalking your blogs...

Hubby has been busy doing more edging around the garden beds 

and 

I pulled out some hedging (the hedge wasn't growing well) and replaced it with some large pots and potted them up with lavender

hoping that these will grow and the sent will waft through my sewing room window.

 once the ground cover grows back around the pots it will look lovely.

while Hubby was home this time we had some lights installed in the living area

 there were just bayonet lights and they weren't very attractive 

plus they attracted the bugs at night.

 our son-in-law is an electrician 

 so he got in the roof and cut the holes too.

 we had 2 down-lights put in above the bench and a bar light above the kitchen block

so much more light and looks lllooovvveeelllyyy

 excited..... a little heehee

 feature lights above the dining table

and 

6 down lights in the lounge area.

loving it....

 we love marinated feta on our salads

but a small tub cost so much.... so last week when I did the weekly shop I bought 4 pieces of Danish feta and tried my own marinating... the 4 pieces make up 2 and half tubs of bought feta

 haven't tried it yet....

someone things the car seat it the perfect place to watch the world from!

30 Years...

On Monday 27th October Hubby and I celebrated 30 years of marriage!

 We went to Matilda Bay Restaurant for lunch

 we had a wonderful 3 course meal... food was glorious

one of the sweets was "burger and fries"!!!!

 it was 

"Nutella gelato, crème patissiere, brioche bun,

 doughnut fries, strawberry sauce"

we also had

Parfait 

Banana parfait, peanut butter ice-cream, caramel popcorn 

 both were very yummy...

while Hubby has been home this time, 

he has been doing the edging around the garden beds...

 looks so much better

 will be easier to mow the lawn and whipper snip the edges

along the blocks now... still 2 areas to do.

hoping it also keeps the dogs from walking through them and digging hhhmmm?

 Hubby has gone back to work so back to the sewing room at night for me...

last nights sewing was putting the odd ends of my ''scrappy trip around the worlds" into blocks...

these are going to be place mats/heat mats/pot holders...

 hahaha sorry for the upside down photo only just noticed...

 these are rug mugs for an online swap

 we were given the patterns... I have added a little more detail to mine.

these are off to USA today...

Burning The Midnight Oil...

Yep Hubby is back working away so I am having late nights again... 

I don't sleep well when he is away so I sew and stay up... 

less night time that I have to deal with, I am generally up at 5.30

and no nana nap ... have never been able to sleep during the day...

more ''scrappy around the world stripping

 some tubing out (as the plumber would say)

 then loads of cutting and unpicking to produce

17 more blocks... still not sure if I will make a couple of lap quilts or a bigger one!!!

 every afternoon I throw the ball for the dogs...

but

Baz is the ball dog

Jax is a stick dog or leaf dog or larger stick dog or dead branch dog

 the lawn and back door are generally his collecting point drop off... most days there is a collection to pick up and bin...

some of my rose bushes have an abundance of flowers at the moment

and I have picked some for around the house

 some of them have a glorious smell

 and others not so much

 they look so pretty