Time Out

Taking a bit of a break ~ burnt out already ~ not a good sign

Thankfully my girls are here to look after me

Above is Goldie

          

                                      over here is Lilly

Stay tuned ~ the new me will re-emerge  .............................. 

Australia has it's own special day

Happy Australia Day - follow this link if you'd like to learn more about why we celebrate this day.

It's a sunny 18 degrees Celsius where I live in the good old state of Victoria and we have a day off to celebrate and yep, there are promises of the day getting even warmer and sunnier

                                                              Source: immigration2australia.com via Golden Lilly Crafts on Pinterest

Can you see the Kangaroo in the picture above has a joey in her pouch.  Just beautiful is it not?

                                                       Source: travel.nationalgeographic.com via Golden Lilly Crafts on Pinterest

See above, this beautiful piece of land is only a few hours by car from where I live.  Just magic isn't it?  It's the Twelve Apostles part of the Great Ocean Road in Victoria

                                                                

                                                                           Source: google.com via Golden Lilly Crafts on Pinterest

I love to travel but I can't think of anywhere I would rather live than Australia.

                                                                                         Source: art.com via Golden Lilly Crafts on Pinterest

Have a wonderful, beautiful, fantastic, gorgeous day where ever you might live, because home will always be where your heart is.

Beautiful One Day ~ Perfect The Next

So much going on, getting nowhere fast.  Too many things on the go, nothing finished and so much still to start. Constantly dealing with one crazy off it's face computer that I can say at last is finally fixed. Yippee!!!   So I give myself permission to take time to catch my breath and listen to the sun, sea and sky as they call out to me  ~ "come and play".

                                                                        Source: art.com via Golden Lilly Crafts on Pinterest

It's a beautiful day today, a day not to be ignored but a day to treasure and worship and soak up.  So for now I'm putting my frustrations aside, so I can go and play.  Happy that I am doing my best and working on restoring my health.   I wish you could join me.  

          

  ~ Ciao Baby ~

                                                                     Source: Uploaded by user via Golden Lilly Crafts on Pinterest

A Blog Award - Who Me?

 

Liebster is German for dearest, beloved or favourite

Fellow blogger Diane awarded my blog the Liebster Blog Award, I was surprised to receive this award and humbled by her kindness.  I hope you will all check out Diane's blog - Always Cravecute.  A really pretty blog with lots of wonderful photographs and interesting posts. Diane also has an Etsy shop where she sells vintage children's books and handmade items. I so love the books she finds,steeped in character.

This award is from fellow bloggers and must be given to blogs that have fewer than 200 followers.

Here are the requirements that come with this award:

1. Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them
2. Reveal your top 5 picks for the award and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog
3. Post the award on your blog
4. This is a great way for the blogging community to connect and share blogs that others have enjoyed. I have the privilege of sharing five of my favorite blogs with you.  

Go Green With Red - Red makes the most amazing bags, big, beautiful and colourful.  All kinds of bags, diaper bags, hand bags, cheque book covers and heaps more.  She has a crazy sense of humour which just makes her a delightful person to know.  I always look forward to seeing her latest bag design or funny post.  Red is a very sharing and caring person whom I've come to know well over the last 10 months or so and I enjoy our little chats.

GingerBread Snowflakes - Pam's blog has got it all, she has the most amazing crafting skills and happily shares fabulous crafts for different seasons with detailed tutorials.  Everything on her blog is outstanding and worth a visit.  I have spent many hours in awe of Pam's work.  I often sit down with my morning cup of coffee and pretend I'm sitting in her kitchen just watching Pam going about the business of crafting.  Pam is a very special blogging friend who never fails to share her time with me and she is personally responsible for keeping me motivated enough to continue with my blog which I have come close to walking away from many times over.

Of Buttercups and Bees - Andrea shares recipes, crafts, photos and family life.  She has a large family which are an enormous part of her life and Andrea shares family moments as well.  I love visiting her blog mostly because Andrea is just such a sweet person and one of my dear blogging friends.

Ramblings of a Square Peg in a Round Hole - Deb lives in the Northern part of Tasmania and whilst she has many strings to her bow, she is developing into a mighty fine photographer.   Deb has an amazing gallery of photos, many depicting Tasmania in all its beautiful glory.  In my mind Deb has a unique way of taking photos and I get plenty of ideas when I visit her blog.  Deb and I are both Piscean and we call each other kindred spirits as we seem to have many things in common.

Susie McMahon Dolls - Susie is an outstanding artist and lives in Tasmania.  She is a doll maker and also teaches doll making.  I so wish I could be a Susie McMahon student.  Even though my in-laws lives in Tasmania the opportunity to sign up for a class has not been forthcoming.  I have made one of Susie's dolls "Lou Lou' and I had a great time constructing her.  I'm keen to do another doll, if I can find the confidence.  A visit to Susie's blog is a treat not a chore, she has amazing talent and you can view scores of beautifully crafted dolls all made by Susie.

This post was supposed to go out last week but I've had so many problems with connecting to the internet that I'm ready to throw this computer out the window. Better late than never.

Cheers

Quilting Gone Mad

Since my first attempt at quilting, I've played around with various materials and designs and had heaps of fun exploring the art of quilting.  I'm not very good at reading or following instructions but I did get a couple of books from the library to get me started on my new crafting venture for 2012.  I love to look at the beautiful work created by others to get me inspired and quilting books and magazines are highly addictive and motivating.

I love working with fabric and particularly using strong colour.  I'm determined to make 2012 my year for creativity.

This piece is a work-in-progress, I'm not sure how it will end up, but then that's half the fun. Although this will most likely become a wall hanging.

Rolling Hills

My trouble is I usually have several crafts on the go at once.  Not only am I teaching myself to quilt but I have been doing some embroidery which I plan to incorporate into a quilt of some kind - some how!!

Check List

I recently created a premie blanket which is really basic and seeing I made heaps of blunders I had a great time covering up the mistakes.  That's what I like so much about quilting.  It allows me to explore my true creative side whilst tactfully covering up things that go wrong. It's similar to an artists canvas, if it goes horribly wrong, paint over it and start again. 

Premie Blanket

Am I A Quilter Yet?

I started this quilt about six months ago, but alas I got bored with it in the first week. I think it was because I purchased a pattern for beginners and was frustrated that the pattern had no basic instructions just a few diagrams.  I was totally reliant on the picture on the cover of the pattern to work out the design. Thank goodness the cover was in colour.

The pattern wasn't cheap. The lady in the quilting shop recommended this pattern for beginners and naturally I put my faith in her recommendation.  I was disappointed in the instructions, but maybe I just have high expectations and being too critical.

I've been sick, I needed a distraction and I hate unfinished projects. So out came my earlier attempt which was the centre piece "Confused Butterflies" because that's what they look like to me, they have no idea where they're going.

Eventually I made sense of the quilting concept and even enjoyed the process.  It's not perfect but I don't think the photo reflects my mistakes.

Confused Butterflies

It's hanging on a wall in the least used part of the house for the time being.  I'm all fired up to do another one designed by me.  But first, I'm off to the local library to see what they can offer to a newbie quilter like me in the way of information about the fundamentals of quilting.  I'm sure there will be hundreds of books for the picking.

Wish me luck, because I need it.