2012 - Another Year Gone.

January

A fresh start to a new Year- and decisions to make

Do I start a new project or continue with an old one?

Nope! - Renovate!!

February

Lots of Sewing this Month and a Family outing

Will they EVER grow up?

(I hope not!)

March

I celebrated a Year of Blogging

Finished 2 Quilts

and watched news reports of my Nephew and a 'few friends' 

Sandbag a Town from an impending flood.

April

ANZAC Day, Easter all important

but this month saw Our Son take Off for a Music tour of  Kyrgyzstan

Time for a Mother to Worry!

and a Lamp will be in my 'Window' until He returns safely.

May

My Lounge Room got turned into a Movie Set

for DS#2's Final University Project.

... Things you do!

June

Started with a small problem of a house mouse with a liking for Chocolate

and ended with adopting a rescue Cat named Spike.

-who is terrified of everything -especially Mice.

July

Meet up and lovely Lunch with 

Jan Maree Ball from Aussie Heroes

August

I showed off some other Skills

Cake Decorating!

Cupcakes for a Cause for DH's work

September

Another busy month and so hard to choose just one highlight

But when your Daughter comes home with the University Course Guide

with Her Photo on the Cover..

well, maybe not so hard a choice after all!

October

Blogging is all about sharing things that happen around you.

I could not resist posting this news photo of

a Kangaroo lost in the Parking at Melbourne Airport!

(Just direct me to the QANTAS terminal please)

November

Still working on Hearts Desire, More Sidetrack quilts finished

and reorganised the Fabric into easy to reach drawers.

December

Finally finished the Centre of Heart's Desire

and then settled into all things Christmas 

Everyone enjoyed - even Spike!

Merry Christmas Everyone

and a Happy and Safe New Year.

Christmas Day

A time for family and friends 

A time that bridges generations.

This HAS to be the Photo of the Week

A story with Great Grandpa.

Christmas Eve....

Hey!

Someone left some Milk out....

Therefore it must be mine....

Butterflies....

... for me Butterflies have come to signify New Beginnings, and so - as I  progressed along the journey that I have been travelling over the past 2 years -It seemed appropriate that I add some to my version of Heart's Desire.

I started last November by placing a ring of Fussy Cut Butterflies around my Centre Block.

And drawing from a lesson I learnt in Cake Decorating that also applies to Quilting...

If you  make a mistake...
.... Embellish it!
(Ok that's Craft-speak
for "Cover it up")

in this case I had a stem that had lost it's leaf.. and rather than remove it and unbalance the block - I balanced a Butterfly on it instead.

That reminded me that I was going to allow a few more of these beauties to alight where they pleased.

And just to let you in on my little secret....

I have been using this beautiful print called Kiyomi Butterflies from Red Rooster Fabrics.

I haven't finished with them yet,

and I'm not telling where I plan to place them next..

After all - this is a mystery quilt!

Together at Last.....

 I have placed the last stitches

 in the last leaf

on the last block,

 so at last

 I can say...

the Centre is done!

....now 

on to the borders!

Christmas Baking #1

It is the time of year when the family starts coming home and writing "Christmas Break-up" on the Wall planner.  This is the cue for me to start dusting off the Christmas Recipe books.

First request for this year was ...
"Mum, can you make a Gluten Free Christmas Pudding and can I have it for Tuesday?"
My (predictable) response was "Of course you can" whilst remembering back to my childhood when the lady down the road started making her Christmas puddings on Boxing Day (January 26) for the next year.
That meant I was about 11 months late!

I like a steamed pudding for Christmas but the thought of having the steamer going for up to 6 hours on a 40 deg C day does not fill me with any enthusiasm. BUT... whilst trawling the Internet for Gluten Free Pudding recipes I found a tip that confirmed what I had been wondering for a while...
You CAN make a steamed Pudding in a Slow Cooker - Fantastic!
No hot steamy kitchen and no boiled dry pots!

So armed with a recipe from one of my (not so dusty) cookbooks,
I swapped the flour for Gluten Free,
I raided the pantry, and used some mixed fruit that had been soaking in Grand Marnier,
I set to work and made......
5 individual steamed Gluten (and Egg) Free Christmas Puddings.

Then had some fun with DS#2 and his new camera to make my little pudding look like it came from a fancy recipe book!

Getting Organised Pt 2...

Like so many other crafty folk - storing your treasures is one thing....
Being able to get at them easily is quite a different story!

Most of us find that everything gets shoved in boxes - and sometimes those boxes are neat and small and clear - easy to see inside and not too heavy to lift.



But - in the case of all good stories (get that? store - ies...  Oh never mind....)
- the thing you want is ALWAYS in the bottom box!
And that bottom box was ALWAYS inaccessible.

Solution No. 2 to the problem I had was found in the shape of .....

DRAWERS..

These ones are by
(Aussie Company) Oats

and the good thing about this storage solution is that if the thing you want is on the bottom....


Just pull out the drawer....

or

better still.....

Take it out completely and go sort through your stash for those colours you need..

With an internal measurement of 12" x 16" it is very easy to fit those treasured fabric lengths.


I also have one of these in the top cupboard with all our First Aid stuff in it - so when a band-aid is needed urgently - we just pull the drawer out and are good to go where ever it is needed.

AND they make a VERY neat solution to the mess that was underneath my work table.