Nundle Retreat Report.............

Well after about a 4 hours drive we arrived at Nundle..........checked out the shops that were open and window shopped in the ones that weren't...........headed out the Cottage on the Hill to see Kerry and picked out which quilts we wanted to make...............this took a little while....lots of what about this......will I do that.....what about this in those colours..............ho hum.......finally a decision.....
We were just leaving to head back into town and this storm came up..............not in town for long and a pretty good hail storm hit............lucky no dints in the cars..................beautiful dinner and into bed..........

Madly sewing all day and a little cutting..........Kerry does lots of cutting for us which is wonderful.........finished up for the day and I caught up with Kerry for awhile and had a bit of blog talk as we are the only 2 there with blogs............(generally speaking I think some people think we are crazy women and some just don't get it..... so we had a chat together on our own)

.............nice dinner again and into bed the earliest ever for a Nundle weekend........
....Sunday more sewing and here are the results so far at the end of the day.......I do have lots of blocks finished.need to piece some rows together.................

My group Janet, me, Gillian, Bronwyn and Pam

the other group from everywhere (sorry girls) - Jennifer, Tanya, Jeannie, Diana, Doreen, Judy and Kate...........nice to meet you all again and some new faces...............

Then another 4 plus hours driving home just missing a few roos and some cows and home safe..........is it worth it absolutely YES!!!!!!

Thanks Kerry for a wonderful weekend............see you next year..............

PIF update

PIF..........I just can't say no so I have 4 people for pay it forward...........I would feel mean to not make an extra so I am making something for Jodie, Kerry, Becky and Monique.........should be fun...............thankgoodness I have 350+ something days to go so I can catch up on a few things I have to get done but wanted to join in the fun.............now for a pic.......

Here is a picture of a quilt I made at Nundle a few years ago and I have not shown you yet.........

The pattern is by Janelle Wind and is called Mary Mary which I changed a little and made a bit bigger..........it belongs to my daughter and we call it Princess Mary as it partly keeps the name and she was crazy about Princess Mary of Denmark (from Australia)..............she is also crazy about the quilt..........actually both of my kids love their quilts and they are very precious to them.......so nice to see............

new course.....

Hi all who drop by...........I have started a new course on digital photography and we have to take lots of pics to play with........(like I need someone to tell me that.....I am always taking pics....)anyway here are some of the pics that I have taken and played with at home but hopefully I will learn how to do this heaps better by the end of the course.......I am so excited about this......it is a quite a few years since I have done a course.....there are a really nice bunch of ladies and I can go until the end of the year.............alas Tuesday nights there will not be much blogging.........oh and I need to take a holiday from reading blogs toooo.......spending tooooo much time on that.......to many wonderful b logs to look at and I don't always get time to leave a comment........2 more sleeps until my quilt retreat here with Kerry I am sooooo excited........

Oh I have been working on my pin cushion swaps............... and started a stitchery............

Got to go to work.................take care until next time...............

Pay It Forward and Muddy Tears

Well I have 2 signed up for pay it forward so if someone wants to join in email me quick..........

Now for the mud.........this is what happens when you Dad rotary hoes the vegie patch..........your brother waters it ..............and then he kicks a ball in.......he gets bogged in his mud boots trying to get the ball out ..........then he wants you to pull him out and you land on your backside...........

OMG what a mess......all the clothes except for these pants are now in the washing machine......the kids have been through the bath but there was a lot of tears from a little girl who didn't want to get "muddy"...........I had a good laugh as it was so funny ......

Bye for now.........

PIF Challenge

I've joined the Pay it Forward challenge. I think it will be fun. I joined over at Sharon's - Red Geranium Cottage blog. She does beautiful work and I can't wait to receive something that she has made.............
I love doing things for people and making gifts for my friends. The first three people to join me will receive a handmade gift from me. I have 365 days to make it and send. Hopefully it won't take me that long though.
Then each of you three must also put this on your blog and get three people each to sign up. Then you make your three people a handmade gift. I think it sounds great. Hopefully three bloggers out there will want a handmade gift from me.
All you have to do is put this fun challenge up on your blog and lets keep it going.
So.........do I have three bloggers out there that would like a prezzie from me.............leave a comment but you had better be quick................

desert pics finally........

Ok this is what you have been waiting for...................but you have to ge here for the recipe thanks Pretty in Pink................

OK it's gone now...............too slow you have to make some for yourself..............

you have to try this recipe......

I was blogging around and found this recipe for Chocolate Pudding Bar.......(I would call it yummy crunchie dessert)........I was going out to a girly luncheon so though it would be nice to try for desert...........let me tell you it was a smashing hit.......make it the night before so you sleep instead of opening the freezer to check if it is done........it is very, very yummy......super quick to make........
sorry I don't have a picture it is all gone but it does look pretty good served up on the plate

lady bug pillow and stitchery swap

Okay so the Lady Bug pattern is finished.....so cute.......I will have to make it up again.........didn't take long to stitch either.....got it from Hatched and Patched Anni does great stuff............

Here are the kids on the motor bike................biker girl has just progressed to this bike and she has been sooooo good so far but she is a speed demon usually...........

Don't you love the pink boots.................gotta get some of them.........

till next time...............girls lunch tomorrow..................take care...........

PS I have signed up for a stitchery swap.....check it out over here (scroll down to bottom of Anniversary post)
Deadline for sign-ups is July 28th and you will have until September 1 to mail your stitchery. Check it out and join up ASAP............

Our day out........

This is the only crafty things about this post........the stitching is complete on the lady bugs.......

The boys all lines up.........

Mumma's and there babies.......so cute......

We went for a drive today and this is where we ended up..............at a bore....this flows freely into a pool......it was 14degrees outside and I was sitting on the lawn with a skivy and jumper and a towel wrapped around me and cool and they got undressed and hopped in..........the water is a constant 37 degrees......the edges are slimmy....yuck..........they said it was beautiful and stayed in for about an hour...........

...when I was little we went on a fishing trip.........we came back here on our way home and back then the water flowed freely onto the ground.......with the slim it was a bit slippery.....of course I knew better and went in and slipped over and wet all my clothes..........it was winter and I had no clothes left as they were all wet and dirty from camping at the river......my Mum was not impressed............I had fun though......

On our drive today we come home via another property we have ...thats where I took all the animal pics.................

Emus............they are very inquisitive

The boys again......just growing up and getting fat...............

Not sure if I have told you this but it is very flat in our area...........really flat.............this photo shows north, south, east and west (not in any order).....bet you can't see a hill..............the photo on my header is a view in one direction and it is a distance away you can't see it from this farm............

Bye for now.......take care till next time............

PS is any one having trouble posting comments besides Janet please email me from my profile..........also I have lost my list in bloglines since yesterday and ideas there............

Tagged yuck........

A. Each player lists 8 facts/habits about themselves.

B. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed.

C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog....

1. I hate being tagged for things like this so this may be the one and only ….thanks to Fiona


2. Fiona loves purple and dragon flies…….sorry re-word that..... she is crazy about them....


3. now about me…….I live on a farm (if you haven’t worked that out yet)


4. I am also a twin like Fiona…………worst 5 minutes of my life as I am the youngest……..


5. I love gardening so much so I had my house dam extended in the drought a few years ago so I wouldn’t run out of water for my garden…I am the only person who can put water restrictions on myself besides mother nature when she is being mean……..


6. I love cooking and here is today’s makings with DS…….banana cake, fruit salad (DS) and pumpkin soup…..yummy lunch (comment if you want the recipe)


7. I hate washing up and don’t have hot water in my tap all winter and cool days…….only got a dishwasher late last year………I have had to live like this for the last 13 years……….


8. I love having visitors but don’t get enough………
   
   I am going to tag the following girls and I hope they don't hate me for it but if you don't want to do it don't worry........
   Simonette, Norma, Doe, Jodie, Carole, Gudrun, Janet and finally Fiona (again so she can tell you more things about herself……….)

Bye for now.........talk care.............

Stitching along........

Hi I've had a seasonal update to the header........hope it isn't as brown as the last one for a long time...............dreaming there.........
The kids have been at a sport camp each morning so I have been stuck in town finding things to do...........lots of cappuccinos as it had been awful weather........I have been working on this stitchery that DD drew up for me........
..............stitching this little stitchery from Hatched and Patched.... and making some more yo yo's with my wonderful little yo yo makers..............

Found this little echidna on my way home......except it got shy and tried to bury in so not the best pic.....

......went to take my pic for the header and found these guys bouncing around along the way .....they are a bit shy so lucky I even got a pic.......... a wallaby (in the kangaroo family)

..and finally this is a water hole in the creek that I like and it has water in it at the moment (rare occurance here) so an ideal time to take a shot..........

......bye for now......

Okay get cooking-ANZAC Biscuits/Slice

Ok for the girls who commented and anyone else who stops by...... here is the ANZAC recipe......let me know if you have ago and if you love it like we do......
Ingredients
1 cup plain flour (1/2 the time i use SR flour it works fine)
1 cup rolled oats (regular oatmeal) uncooked
1 cup desiccated coconut
1 cup brown sugar (firmly packed)

125 grams butter
2 tabsp golden syrup 

1 teasp bicarbonate of soda
2 tabsp boiling water

Method
Combine the flour, oats, coconut and brown sugar in a bowl.
Melt the butter and Golden Syrup in a saucepan over a low heat.
Mix the bicarbonate of soda with the water and add to the butter and Golden Syrup.
Pour the liquids into the dry ingredients and mix well.

I place this in a slice tray and press into the tin.....but if you want biscuits get spoons full of mixture and roll into a ball about the size of a walnut shell, onto a greased tray leaving as much space between balls to allow for spreading.
Bake in a moderate oven, 180C / 350F, for 15-20 minutes (until browned)

I you make it as a slice cut up in tray while it is still half warm.

(Tabsp 20mls and teasp 5mls)

Found this info on the net.............

Not all tablespoons are the same. The Australian tablespoon is 20 ml; the British tablespoon is 17.7 ml. In most Canadian recipes the tablespoon is 15 ml while the American tablespoon is actually 14.2 ml.

If you have any thoughts of keeping the biscuits for any length of time I suggest you keep them in a padlocked container!

Bye for now..............

Sorry for the delay but I finally have the camera back and got all my bits and pieces together.......Didn't buy much material, more bits and pieces to make my life easier.....there really was so much to look at............had to buy the black and white for a friend who usually goes on me retreat weeknd but can't this year....so she can play with these bits when we are away........that's at the end of this month at Kerry's - On the Hill....
These little stitcheries are so cute and from Anni at Hatched and Patched

These quick and easy yo yo makers from clover as you can see I have been playing with these........they are so much fun..........

Yesterday I made some yummy ANZAC Slice (same as the biscuits but put it in the slice tray).....email me if you want the recipe it is super easy and quick to make but it also goes super quick and the family love it........and so do I........

Other news in I have sent my Angel for the Angel Swap that Wildcraft Farm has organised but forgot to take a pic before I gave it to the mailman...opps........maybe Janet could tkae one and email to me.....please.........

Sent my secret mission off and forgot to take a pic of that also.........

.......Finally news for now .....also found out who my swap partners are for the Pincushion Swap that Angela in the US has organised.....it is so exciting.......pincushion is Robin in the US and a needle keeper with Monique in the Netherlands Thyme and Lavendar

...more news later.............

Site seeing in Sydney

We had a wonderful time in Sydney...catching up with friends each night and doing some site seeeing.....the kids loved it....ent on the monorail, tram, ferries and they were in heaven.......we have no public transport where we live.........I could bore you with more picks but these 4 are my picks of the trip...........
Circular Quay where all the ferries come into for the city........

Do I need to say this is the Opera House..........

.......and of course the Opera House's partner in crime.........the Harbour Bridge.........truely Australian landmarks..............I still think they are amazing every time I see them...........Lastly on the way to Sydney we stopped in at Newcastle to see this bulk coal carrier stuck on the beach at Nobby's Head........it is now gone but ended up being stuck on the beach for about 24 days I think.......was pushed in in a bad storm...........it attracted sooooo many visitors to Newcastle while it was stuck there.......took several goes at pulling is off the reef/beach and out to sea......

This weekend in Sydney (for you US people) the US Kitty Hawke is docking till next Thursday and will cause major traffic blocks as many people go to see this air craft carrier.........

....now the camera has returned with 200 pic taken by a 8yo on a road trip so mainly trucks as they passed the vehicle....yippee...........I won't bore you with them........I will take some pics of my shopping from the craft fair........

Quilt show link

What do you think about the header????? I have been trying for while but the box in blogger would not work finally.......it did........a scenic view in my area........or do you think it should be sewing orientated?

Oh and I found a link to the quilt show results if you want to take a look at the winners....The Quilters Guild of NSW thats all for now.....

Craft Fair Report ......

Ok finally blogger is going to let me insert pics....first up is a pic of the Hatched and Patched stand and you girls that like applique and stitcheries - (May Britt) must take a look at her website........she has projects af all sizes........her shop is in Bathurst and is just to die for...... husband Pete is in the pic I missed Anni as she is serving the customers. She is just lovely and does amazing work......she has a new book out called A Christmas Story she does have stockists in Norway and several other countries see her website...

....then I just have pics of quilts I liked.....

simple but very pretty....

My daughter went with me on the first day for the afternoon....this is her favourite quilt....called secret garden and it is full of fairies.......oh and the tooth fairy had to find us in Sydney......she is completely fairy mad.......such fun....

Now as you can see I didn't get the best pics and the lighting was not excellent and trying to quickly snap a pic before someone walked past was a hassle....

but I am heading for a project with nautical stars and I love flying geese and the mutted colours are my favourite.............

or pastels...... you can't see very well but the blocks all have hand made yo-yos on them.........

I did like this picture quilt ...

Finally meeting up with fellow bloggers.......so exciting Quilting Twin and Pages from Me .....met up, had a coffee and wandered around the quilts......they were lovely....who knows if/when we will get to meet again.....distances are big in Australia and there are days travelling between us...
next report the site seeings.........shopping pics will be a few days as I forgot to take pics and the camera has gone a a holiday and won't be back until Wed night.....may even have something made up by then................bye for now.........