Thursday Thanks

• A good year!  
• Catching up with cousins.
• Real summer days.
• Barbeque teas almost every night.  
• Lazy days.
• Summer time reading on the deck.
• Relaxing times.

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Scraps

I always find it amazing to see what is hiding in a box of scraps.  Whether it is scrap yarn, fabric, thread, whatever craft you try...  

This is my latest from my scrap box.  I tried really hard to use up some that are so very old that I just want to see gone.  Quite a bit of history in the fabrics in here..  It was fun to try though.  Just string piecing on a piece of paper which I tore out after sewing.  Was handy with the paper guide for sizing. I had 8" blocks in the end.  I did buy the black fabric for the sashes, but that was only around a metre so not bad.  

At this stage I am not sure what I will do with it.  It was just a play piece & using scrap piece.  I won't baste & quilt it as yet.  Will store better this way.  I will probably save it for a charity gift or something...  

List of Projects 2015

• Finish Completely Max New Quilt
• Complete Christmas Table Runner
• Finish off pieced FG Table topper
• Quilt & Bind Reunion Quilt
• Finish Hats that are cut out
• DJ's Birth Sampler
• Start DJ's Applique Quilt Top
• DJ's Cross Stitch Stocking
• Fairy Cross Stitch
• Quilt & Bind Birdie Quilt
• 6 Mill Hill Beaded Ornaments
• Knitting my new Yarn for ME
• DONE - Happy Sun Quilt
• DONE: Crochet - Ripple Blanket

Well I didn't get much of my list done did I?  Oh well, they will just transfer to the new year.  

But well, it's not like I didn't actually do anything is it?  I think I did plenty to keep myself occupied all year.  

Let's see what happens next year.  

Chill Time But It's Hot!

Almost a whole day spent at the Arboretum.  (tree park!)  It's big.  A picnic lunch, games & friends.  

Water lilies just coming out.  

We even saw a platypus play for a while in front of us.  So exciting.  

Heck, there was even a picture of me this time!  Beaut day where hats & sunscreen were essential.  

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A portrait of my boys once a week for a year.

BJ - just checking if I am taking the picture.  Start of a smile coming up...

DJ - Christmas dinner, yes please!  

The last for the year!  Wow, can you believe it's the end!  Now to go & check out the start of the year & see how they have changed!  

Thanks for hanging out with me to watch these boys grow & play this year.  

If you commented throughout & you are on a no-reply email reply then I can't.  I respond to each comment I get if I can but so many come through that I can't actually reply too...  But thanks for visiting me!  

Bye Dear Douglas

23rd - Douglas was busy building a snowman!  

24th - Douglas finally got his summer holiday!  He made the most of the desert island diorama that BJ had from school.  He made himself at home with a drink, his surfboard & a towel.  Found some shorts & some sunglasses & he enjoyed his last summer night here in OZ.   

25th - Douglas has left, but gave us a gift of a photo Christmas ball & some pretty snowflakes.  

As tricky as it can be to share the house with another, we will miss the little guy.  He's been fun this year for sure, kind & definitely crafty!  I hope he is up to a return visit again in 11 months time.  

Thursday Thanks

• Successful preparations.
• No injuries in a local fire.
• Family time.
• Breaks from work.
• Christmas lunch with friends.  
• Start of holidays & plays at the parks.

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51/52

A portrait of my boys once a week for a year.

Suprise Santa business.  

BJ - wrapping dad's gift.
DJ - wrapping his present for BJ.

Elf Winding Down

19th -  Making some cute candy cane reindeers.  He really finds some cool crafty stuff to play with !

20th - Douglas found the felt board pictures.  He had a little play & left a note.  So we got to have a photo session with his backdrops.

21st - A bit more decorating - adding a snowflake garland.

22nd - Douglas loves games.  "Guess Who" is obviously a favourite

Book List 2015

The list of books this year was quite a good list.  A nice list of some good reads.  Not many again but that's just the way it is.

29/12/15 ETA - Little Mercies - Heather Gudenkauf.  Managed to get this one finished with a few days to spare in the year.  Was quite good.  Fast read, plus being lazy so extra reading time.  Will check out for more of her work.

• Christmas at Carrington's - Alexandra Brown.  Ok, not as enjoyable as her first in the series.
• The Tea Chest - Josephine Moon.  Loved this one.  Easy read but nice.  
• A Fierce Radiance - Lauren Belfer.   My reading gift from Stuart for my birthday.  An interesting read with some historical aspects of war that I had never considered.  
• Chocolate Cake for Breakfast - Danielle Hawkins.  Good value for $2.  Was a light read & something a bit different set in New Zealand.  
• A Man Called Ove - Frederik Backman.  This book is in my top 5 books ever.  Loved it so much.  I very almost nearly read it over when I finished it but will save it for summer read again.  
• The Wedding Shawl - Sally Goldenbaum.  Honestly I am struggling to remember this right now.  So as much as it was a nice story at the time, obviously not outstanding else I would remember it better!
• Cloudstreet - Tim Winton.  Finally got this read after false starts.  Really struggled at the start, well for probably the first half.  Wasn't a bad story once I got through it.  But will struggle to pick up another TW book I think.  
• The Tulip Eaters - Antoinette van Heugten.  I wanted to read this as it was about some Dutch war history which I am quite interested in.  Unfortunately there wasn't much in the end & the story was weak.  Quite disappointing.  
• In Falling Snow - Mary-Rose MacColl - Stuggling to remember this one too, but was OK at the time.  
• Prep - Curtis Sittenfield.  Was OK reading at the start.  Turned into a bit of a struggle to finish reading the last quarter.  The story lost it's appeal completely.  
• Sophie's Bakery for the Broken Hearted - Lolly Winton.  Enjoyed this one.  Could use a follow up story now.  
• Life After Life - Kate Atkinson.  Stuart's reading gift from Christmas.  Quite enjoyed this.  Have a few other book by Kate to read now.  
• The Housemaid's Daughter - Barbara Mutch.  A good story.  Liked it a lot.  

We'll see what Stuart surprises me with this Christmas.  I have a good pile of books to read still.  We'll see how well I get through them.  

Elf Days

13th - After Douglas made his post it note tree, he left a movie & popcorn under it the next night!  So nice.

14th - Douglas had a game of Snap with Action Man, Spider Man & Action Man 2.

15th  - Douglas made their lunches for school & daycare today.  Very nice of him to save me a job in the morning that I am a bit over.  I did have a little peek inside - to make sure there was enough for their lunches of course!  There was mini pizza, Christmas tree barbeque shapes, star shaped pieces of watermelon with grapes, jelly, a marshmallow pole & some Christmas confetti & an ornament!  How fun!  lol  (reports back in declare Douglas's lunches are much better than mum's!)

16th - Acting up & sticking stickers to the table.  Also raiding the marshmallows.

17th - Flying the coke can plane.  He also took DJ's Santa letter from under his pillow. Hopefully he takes that to Santa.

18th - A game of Uno Stacko with friends.

Thursday Thanks

• Summer!
• End of school.
• Christmas fun with friends.
• Salads.
• Water play season.

296/1000

Borders!

I got my borders on!  I am quite impressed.  Really pleased with it...  you can't see the design in the border fabric very well.  Hard to capture well.  But you can see the piecing design.  This is the most detailed piecing design I have done in an age.  I even quite enjoyed it & it didn't take long.  String/chain piecing goes quickly - lots of that going on in here.  But yes, it sure made sewing this together very simple.  I'm even pleased with my points as they are quite good.  There are flaws, but nothing that will be greatly noticeable to anyone else without then looking really really closely.  

Anyway, I'm excited that I got this one down in less than a week!  Don't know about the finishing off stages.  We'll see what happens.  I really need to pack up the craft stuff & do some housework.  More housework!  

Liking This

These squares really change with the white tucked in between.  The colours popped a lot more.  Quite pleased with this.  The pattern is from a book "The Big Book of Scrappy Quilts".  It's a very nice book.  Most impressed.  77 patterns in it.  But ok, I didn't use scraps for mine,  I made it from a nice coordinated layer cake.  But the picture in the book just appealed to me  - a lot obviously.  I have to see if I can make the next bit work now.  Stay tuned.

So This Happened On The Weekend

A bit of cutting on Saturday night, a dash of sewing on Sunday & you have 16 blocks...  Just need the next fabric for the sashings etc... This was a Layer Cake of fabric called Mon Ami.  I really like it... obviously, else I wouldn't have bought it right?  lol

50/52

A portrait of my boys once a week for a year.

BJ - Christmas party & decorating cookies.  Concentrating like usual.  

DJ - always a cheeky face.  Waiting for you to eat your tea instead of play around.  

Elf Games & Messes

8th - Douglas pulled the Christmas decorations out again!  Left them all over the place.  But he did put some of my nice old ornaments up on the shelf.  He was quite well disguised up there.  Was nice to see them though as they haven't been out of their box since we moved here.  I do wish Douglas would pack up after himself though.

9th - Games of Angry Birds.

10th - Douglas made a little bit of a mess but he was making things again.  Looks like he had fun & the boys thought it was pretty cool.  

11th - Ninja Douglas

12th - Post-it note Christmas tree?