SHOULD I?

 

ABOVE:  I saw this beautiful quilt on Facebook recently.

The felt pieces are hand stitched.  It's stunning!

I am wondering if I could do something very similar, in fabrics and felt, but machine stitched.

It is worth a try, doing just a small runner as a test.

I really love trying a new design.  Might start it after I finish the fish cushions and a couple of little cross over shoulder bags.

I JUST HAD TO POST THAT.... it's just too funny.

First up for today, I'm off to Spotlight for some big buttons for the cushions.

ABOVE:  And they are finally finished.  I'm really happy with how they came out, even the buttons on the back look funky.  So much more characterful than a boring zip.

It's now 11.35 and I'm hungry.  Time to get something for an early lunch.  No doubt a wrap of some sort.

6.45 pm:  Yes Marlene, I have been busy!

Sorry for the lack of updates.

I have been mucking around in the sewing room, did some housework, spent time with the girls, and did some knitting.

It has been very cold in the house, so I relented and turned the heater on at 5.30, just to warm the house up a bit for the evening.

I'm like a reptile in winter, I slow down till I'm warm!  We did have a lovely sunshiny day, but it was still cold.

I'm actually going to stop crafting for the evening now.  I'm tired.  I will just sit and watch the telly, feet up etc etc.

Catch ya tomorrow.

FROM

HAPPY WEDDING ANNIVERSARY DARLING

 Today Stew and I celebrate being married for 36 years.

And together for 37 years and 9 months.

I am so very thankful every day for his love, and my love for him.  We were so blessed to have met each other, and to have found our soulmate.

Darling, I love you so very much.

ABOVE:  Aging like a fine tasty cheese!  Cos let's be honest, we don't drink wine.  😃😂

ABOVE:  I love doing these comparison photos!

 

ABOVE:  Bex just finished making some shorts for our Froggy.  He's looking a bit warmer now.

I had thought of going out to dinner this evening to celebrate our Wedding Anniversary, but we went out last night.  So maybe not. 

I might, or might not go to Weight Watchers, depends how I feel.  It's so damn cold in the hall where the meeting is.  It's off putting.  And yeah, I was a pig last night.

I'm going to work on the freakin' fish cushions again today.  I might even get all the stitching done... that would be awesome.

Then I need to make a 'dummy' cover, to get the sizing right for the cushions.  Luckily I have plenty of fabric not suitable for much to do that with.

12.40pm:  And I've just finished all the stitching for the cushions.  Now on to the next step.

I was going to put zips along the bottom, but damned if I can get them to look good, so on to plan B. 

Which means I have to go to Spotlight for some buttons.  *sigh*

I'm feeling crabby as because I couldn't get the zips right.  I'm just not good with zips.

YES, I can do them in the zippered bags and pouches, so I don't get why I can't get them right on a cushion?   Grrrrrr.

Actually, I will look at some YouTube tutorials!

I've decided, rather than stuff it up, I'm doing an overlap with buttons on the fish cushions.  I just can't get the zip looking perfect.

I'll go out tomorrow for the buttons, and finish the cushions then.

Stew is home from work and having his dinner, and we are just going to watch tv etc till bedtime.

Catch ya tomorrow.

Thank You for all the Anniversary wishes.

FROM

QUEENS BIRTHDAY HOLIDAY

 Monday... and it's a holiday.

'Kings Birthday', but he's not MY KING, so I'm sticking with Queens Birthday, thank you.

We don't have any plans.  The weather is iffy at the best, so probably just a repeat of yesterday.

Pottering around the house, doing odd jobs and sewing.

ABOVE:  Steve and Bex gave me another Key Ring last night.  Seems I might be collecting them now?  😂😅😉

I can certainly relate to this one!

ABOVE:  A couple of sweet photos of Dante with Marley.  And Coco being standoffish in the background.

Just sayin'.  NOT favouring anyone....

But we only seem to see Steve and Bex consistently.  Amanda, Lacy, Brylee and Keera now and then.

You'd never know we had LOTS of kids and grandkids eh?

*Mike and Joyce* being the exception, as they live 5 hours away and do come up as often as they can.

It nags at me sometimes, because I know there is some very unhealthy sibling jealousy amongst our kids.

But guess what?

We are NO DIFFERENT to MILLIONS of other families.  

MY GOD... just look at the Royal Family!  Charles/Andrew/William/Harry... yep that's a really loving family dynamic right there!

I don't feel so bad after all.

That was just 'airing the tea'.

Is there even such a saying?  Never mind, I just made it up then.

11.42 pm:  I'm freezing in my sewing room.  I think I'll have to relent being a power saver, and turn me heat pump on.

Hmmmm... my little rant kinda put the cat amongst the pigeons!

It wasn't supposed to make 'people' defend themselves.

I was addressing more how it makes me feel ... particularly when I get shitty comments from 'ANONYMOUS' people, saying we only care about Steve and Bex.  How we 'only' spend time with them, bla bla bla.

Gosh I'm already over it!

I've done some sewing, but might take a break for now.  My hands are so cold I'm making stupid mistakes.

We got visitors just after lunchtime...

ABOVE:  Like Dante, Liam is very hard to take a decent photo of!  Little shit kept pulling faces.  😂😉

ABOVE:  At least the girls are not so hard to get a decent photo of.

ABOVE:  Nice, normal rambunctious kids.  Loud.

TWO... HOURS... LATER, and all is quiet again.

It was lovely to see them. 

I turned the heat pump on in the family room, it's SOOOOOooooo nice in here now.  I'm not tempted to go back to the sewing room, even though I should.

Luckily, my cousin is in no rush for her fish cushions. Cos CLEARLY, I'm not rushing them!  lol

The diet went out the window this evening.

That is all I will say about that.  Just lost the plot.

Time to sign off.  Catch ya tomorrow.

FROM...

DUMP RUN

 It is SO hard to get out of bed when it's freezing cold!

I hate it.

I put it off as long as I possibly can.

My mission is to get Stew up and moving so he can get over to Steve's and pick up all their rubbish, and take it to the dump.

We've got tree cuttings in our trailer, and Steve has similar stuff to dump as well.  

I'm going to stay in bed as long as humanly possible really.  Then I'll get up and go make those fish come alive on the cushion covers.

ABOVE:  Our winter veges are not doing much growing sadly.  

ABOVE:  Stew did a good job of water blasting the side path yesterday.  We had GRASS growing out of the roof guttering in places too!

Outrageous.   He got rid of that too.

ABOVE: This rhubarb plant did a massive droop when put in the pot... but it seems to have perked up a bit.  Maybe that pot isn't big enough?

We'll see how it goes.

ABOVE:  I had to move the plants from in front of the windows.  The big one in the blue pot was not happy in the full sun.  That plant is very temperamental.

Right, enough waffle... I'm gunna snuggle up in bed and see if I can catch a few more Zzzz's.

1.47 pm:  That's very interesting about the potting mix.  I bet we have shit potting mix!

Cheap and nasty from Mitre 10.  I will try adding some good mix or a fertiliser to ours soon.

Stew did the dump run, got stung like a bee with dump fees.  Warning, don't take sopping wet foliage to the dump, every drop of water is a dollar!  Literally.

While he was doing that, I worked on these:

ABOVE: I stared putting seaweed and bubbles on the left one... and decided to take a lunch break.

Now I don't feel like going back to it.

So, I'm watching YouTube/TV etc in the family room with Stew.

I think we will both just enjoy a quiet afternoon, keeping warm.

It's actually warmer OUTSIDE now than inside our house!

I've got me blankie and hot water bottles on, so I'm happy as Larry.

I will turn our heat pump on soon, to make the house warm for the evening.

Steve and Bex are here.  We were discussing our winter veges not growing.

His comment:

"Maybe they don't identify as winter vegetables, maybe they are bi-seasonal vegetables?"

I will leave that there.

Steve is in me kitchen, cooking our dinner. Neat eh?

ABOVE:  Bacon Carbonara from scratch!  Delicious.  Thanks so much Steve, so nice to have dinner cooked for us.

And on that note, I'm signing off for the day.

It's been a really nice day, helped by such a nice visit from the kids.

FROM...

UP.... OR DOWN?

 For the last 20 odd years, I've worn my hair up in a bun.

Why?  Convenience, quick and easy style, no fussing, keeps off me face, bla bla bla.

But lately, when I have had it out, or just in a pony tail, I've felt like it softens my face?  

What do you think?

ABOVE:  I don't want to come across as someone trying to look younger than she is.  I'm almost 65 after all!

Mutton dressed as Lamb?

I'd hate that comparison to be thrown at me for sure.

But in saying that, I will never cut my hair short.  It's just not 'me'.  

If I lose me marbles, then OK, it could be cut short I suppose.  I'm not gunna know eh?  😂😅😊

So for the next few days at least, I'm going to try and keep it untied, and see how we go.

It's a long weekend here.  

'Kings Birthday'.  Monday is a holiday.  

Stew is going to be working in the gardens and maybe even water blasting the back path today. 

Then tomorrow he's doing a 'dump run' with Steve.  Between the two households we have a good load of rubbish to get rid of.

While he is doing that, I will work on the fish cushions, now that I don't have anything else to distract me, like those sweatshirts yesterday.  lol

10.30 am:  Stew and I stayed in bed till 9!  Bliss.

Then up and at it.

I went out to Grandmother's Garden in Gordonton for more Steam a Seam (essential with applique work), then into the supermarket to find our favourite wraps.  REBEL  Low Carb Everything Wraps.  They are sooooooo good.

Home now and Stew's just taken off to the supermarket for his regular Saturday morning shop.  

And I'm now in the sewing room.

ABOVE:  Today's progress on these two fish cushion covers.

I can't believe it's taken so long just to get to this stage.

I'm stopping for the day now.  My back is killing me.

I will make the fish come to life tomorrow...  (figuratively).

ABOVE:  I just did the 'girly thing', and put some curls in me hair.

My hair is a bit curly/kinky when semi dry.  When I brush it, it just goes fairly straight though.  It's nice this length I feel.  No shorter.  I'd hate that.  

Sorry Marie!  And I'm short too... double Ikkkk for you.

Now that I'm back in the house, my biggest job is deciding what to put on our wraps this evening?  Beef/Chicken or Pork.  Oh the decisions.

It's gunna be... fish!  😂😅😂

Our dinner was lovely, VERY filling.  Should be all good now till tomorrow.  Except for a hot drink before bed.

It got very cold when the sun went down... so as per usual for winter, feet up, blankie on, hot water bottles and watching TV till bedtime.

Catch ya tomorrow.

NITE  NITE

FROM

WHAT SHALL I DO WITH THIS?

 I bought two very cheap sweatshirts from K Mart yesterday.   I had something in mind for them from the start.

ABOVE:  This one looks very blah laid out on the floor, but wait till I've finished with it!

I reckon this $18 misery is going to look fabulous.

It sure looks WIDE as f*#k just lying on the floor... it's a size 16.  Last time I bought a winter top it was at least a 20, if not bigger.  So something is working.  😂😉😊

I feel like my hard work is FINALLY paying off ... I threw out 4 big sweatshirts yesterday.  It felt so good throwing them in the bin.

They were not pristine enough to gift to anyone else btw. 

I had thought of keeping them for 'around home' tops, but they were just too big and made me feel like a frump.

Fuck feeling/looking like a frump.  That would have just dragged me down in the dumps.

It is 'Teacher Only Day' at Dante and Archer's school today.  So they are coming here while Bex Works.

I am sure I can still work on that sweatshirt while they play on their Chrome Books.

I know heaps of people like to restrict computer use for their kids, but while they are here... I say go for it!  Happy kids = quiet kids.  I'm over noisy, rambunctious kids!

Right, I'm going to read the news and emails, then get up and start the day.

9am:  and I've already finished that top...

ABOVE:  Usually this fish would have some fearsome teeth, but I've opted not to add teeth as the fabric is quite loose and it might not work too well with little teeth.  It was hard enough just getting the stitching tidy with the bigger pieces.

Overall, I'm happy with how it worked out.

Now... I've got this one to think about:  

ABOVE:   It doesn't show up in the photo, but it's a very pale blue.  

Should I do another Fish?  Or something else?

Gimme some ideas ...

ABOVE:  At the end of the day, it wasn't hard to decided what to put on this sweatshirt.

Now I have two new winter tops that are totally unique, and funky.  My sorta funky anyway.

I have kept the houses simple, no chain downpipes or flowers etc.  Going for the 'less is more' theme again.

Now, it's 2.21 pm, the boys went home half an hour ago.  So I might just relax and watch something on Netflix, or YouTube.  

I'm done in the sewing room for today.

Or have I?  I just realised I forgot to put chimneys on my houses.  And they need chimneys!  I'll do them later.

ABOVE:  It's later.  They are done.

And I added a bloody chain drainpipe!

I had a very quiet afternoon, which was lovely.  Had a late shower and hair wash, and got into me PJ's at 4pm!  No point getting dressed again.... no one visits us in the evenings.

Unless they are family.  And they don't mind seeing me in my PJ's and Oodie.

I made a wrap for his dinner, he loved it.  I put Won Tons on his wrap, something a bit different.

Yummo.

Time to wind down.... catch ya tomorrow.

NO BOYS?

 I wonder if I'll get a message this morning, asking me to look after sick boys again?

Hmmm.... time will tell of course.

Until then, I shall snuggle down in my lovely warm bed and read the news, check out emails/ Instagram/Facebook and YouTube.

Something I do every morning before my feet hit the floor in fact.

Strange how life changes.  25 years ago I would have never done anything like that.  Thanks to the internet, life changed dramatically for everyone.  Sometimes for good, sometimes for bad.

But, change happens.  Ya gotta roll with it.

Today I'm heading to Spotlight to buy some of these:

ABOVE:  Thank you Gail for suggesting these yesterday.  I am sure they will be perfect for pulling the needle through the fabric/knitted tops.  And save my fingers.

I also need more needles and some blue fabric for the back of the fish cushions.  Hopefully that's all I 'need' to get.  I feel like I live in Spotlight sometimes.

After Spotlight, I'm off to the supermarket for just a couple of things.  Basil Pesto is top of the list.  That shit makes our wraps and sandwiches so TASTY.  Without huge calorific content.  Gotta love that.  Usually I'd slather a wrap or sandwich with Mayo, made with Unsweetened Condensed Milk and vinegar.  Super sweet, not good for us.

The hot drinks I've been having are HIGH as f*#k in points!  One I have had was worth 4 points!  So I have to get the ones that are worth only 1-2 points.  I will do that while at the supermarket too... scan them all and only buy the low point ones.  

Right, I'm off to snuggle down with me phone.

Catch ya later.

SORRY!   I would have updated sooner, but my laptop died.  It revived itself about an hour later.  No idea why it just went black on me.

1.22 pm:   Long morning.

But a good one.

I got some cute little pliers from Spotlight.  Not the ones I wanted as they didn't have any, but a cute pair anyway.

I went to K Mart and got a couple of really cheap sweatshirts.  I'm going to doctor them.  More on that another day.

Then off to the supermarket, where I got what I wanted.

Then home to do this:

ABOVE:  I sorted out all my hot drink sachets.

The ones above are what I will probably stick with.

ABOVE:  And these ones will be 'once in a blue moon' or for visitors.

I just had my lunch, another yummy wrap.  I wonder when I'll get sick of them? 

5.17 pm:  It's been a quiet afternoon.  I've felt cold all day, so I just watched some YouTube tutorials (sewing) and so on.

Stew arrived home and promptly left for the pub.

If it's not raining, he will walk home, otherwise I'll pick him up.

I have started watching Jared from Subway.  So far ... slow, boring, predictable.  The next episode is this Saturday night.  Not sure I will even bother watching it.   

10.36 pm:  I've just finished watching Coronation Street.  And it's probably time for bed.

I've got the boys tomorrow so no lie in for me.

But that's OK, cos the weekend looms, and I can lie in bed all I like then.

FROM...