December 29 - Christmas has gone for another year

It's time to pack away the Christmas outfits and get into some normal clothes. If you'd like to play around with backgrounds on your blog, have a look here or here 

MERRY CHRISTMAS and A HAPPY NEW YEAR

I have made it to the end of the year as a new blogger. This has turned out to be quite a great adventure and I am looking forward to continuing to show things I have made, as well as current works in progress.

Thank you to those of you who have left comments - I am taken be surprise at how excited I get when I see a new comment. It has taught me to be better at leaving comments on blogs I visit.

I have also learnt how hard it can be to translate what is in my head for a post, into what actually gets published. There are many 'draft' posts, sitting in 'edit posts'. Maybe some of them will see the light of day in 2010?

So, *raising glass*, cheers to a Joyous Christmas and Peace and Blessings in 2010, and for me, many more opportunities for learning about myself, blogging and, of course, quilting.

My Place & Yours - The 'Me' Wardrobe

Playing My Place & Yours again. This weeks theme queen Sandra  asks

What's your favourite item of clothing, the one that you feel special in, the most "you" in, keep going back to, can be spotted in by friends from miles away, wear over and over and hope will never fall apart and die? Perhaps you've even had to darn it already? (There's to keeping an old craft alive!) 

I didn't have to think too long about this theme.
I've had this top for around 5 or 7 years (when  no. 5 - Minky, or no. 6 - Miss Bee, was 4, or 5 and finishing her, or her, last year of preschool). I bought it at this time of year for a Christmas 'do'.
I was feeling a teensy bit uncomfortable because of extra 'baby weight' that I just couldn't get rid of and wanted something nice to wear out on MATH's work Christmas Cruise. I bought a tank top the same gorgeous pinky-crimson and, with a pair of black pants and strappy sandals, felt pretty spectacular.
I love the lightness of the fabric and the beautiful pattern, with its touch of paisley and folk art flowers. It's even almost back in fashion, if newer lines of quilting fabrics are anything to go by.
It comes out mainly at Christmas, but I wear it anytime in the summer months, or spring, or autumn and it's been known to make winter appearances, for weddings, parties, anything...
Sadly the matching tank top lost its struggle for life but this top soldiers on. Just as well, because on a brighter note, I don't need to wear it as an over shirt, I wear it buttoned now!

Hope you enjoyed your peek over the fence...and pop over to Pip's to see other 'me' wardrobes.

Excitement over the fence

I was intending to post about Christmas over the fence, but there is something I want to show instead.

As part of our renovations, starting with the kitchen, was the plan to revamp the front verandah.
Mostly because I wanted it to look nice, but also because there was actually no cover and when it rained, very wet and bedraggled visitors would be standing forlornly at the front door.
But not longer! Take a peek over the fence now...

December 20 - New Christmas 'outfit'

Time for a change...Dear Santa I would like this delightful blog background for a few days -  from the clever people at The Cutest Blog on the Block. 

December 17 - New Christmas 'outfit'

Time for another quick change of blog background.
I spent the day in the city with the staff from school. We had an early start in Hyde Park and then made our way to St Mary's Cathedral for the Rosary and Mass. All relaxed and peaceful, we walked down to Circular Quay for lunch. It's hot in Sydney today HOT, HOT, HOT!
After all this, I need to look at something cool, so here's the new blog 'outfit'
Snowed In from Shabby Blogs
Thanks for taking a peek over the fence..

My Place & Yours - Five Minutes Peace

where do you retreat to for that sanity-regaining break? i am interested in what or where in your home your sanctuary is...
This weeks theme queen is Pilgrim, who has come up with a teriffic theme. 
Mrs Large and I both thought we had it all worked out:

...how wrong are we? No bathroom offers privacy to any mother on earth!








The only place I think I am getting 5 minutes peace is here...

...even if I get interrupted - you know what? I don't care -  because I actually got to sit here for a while, doing stuff like this:




And they all know they have to wait till 'the end of the row'






So hop along over to Meet Me at Mikes to play along too.

December 15 - New Christmas 'outfit'

Yippee!! only 10 days till Christmas. Despite the fact that I have only made a slow start to Christmas shopping - I am still not panicking. 


Last night I started the fruit mix for the cake.
Some purists will insist this isn't long enough - but I am just glad that I will have a cake made for Christmas Day.
Which somehow brings me to the question of a blog background. Something wild and RED is called for...
Deck the Halls from the cutest blog on the block, has just the required amount!
Enjoy your peek over the fence...

December 12 - Another Christmas Outfit

Today has been a rest day between dance concerts and the girls have been writing cards for their friends and adding a candy cane to the envelope.
Also,it's been the day for us to put up our real Christmas tree. Already the house is filled with pine smells (and the stray pine needles around the floor!). It must be Christmas with that gorgeous smell filling the house.

A whole packet of candy canes has disappeared into the tree and they'll become the prize of the willing searchers later in the month!

Which brings me to what this blog should wear...I think it will have to be some Candy Cane Lane- from Shabby Blogs.
Hope you have enjoyed your little peek over the fence...

My Place & Yours - Wherever I lay my hat...

We are playing Pip's game called My Place & Yours. The latest theme of the meme is by myrtle and eunice : wherever I lay my hat...that's my home.

What are the treasures in your house that signify ‘home’? Is there anything that reminds you of a childhood, a life overseas, a loved one? Is there a blanket you always curl under, a teapot that brews the perfect cuppa? Do you have a ‘Droopy Dog’ like that one above – a twelfth birthday present who fits perfectly in the crook of a sleeping kid’s arm and who may or may not have ventured to Europe in a backpack, ahem, three times?

My house has become more like my home since we renovated the old kitchen into the new kitchen.
How straightforward and easy is that. Take that theme, done and dusted.

But... a little voice inside is saying that surely there is more to a home than just what it looks like.

I looked around a bit more and my eye fell to these pieces.

They have come to me from my parents place. I remember them being used by people I love. I remember them in rooms I played in. I remember these were a part of my home then and are a part of my home now.

So little voice... I think home is not the object, but in the end it's the memories, feelings and people, that are part of an object, that's what really makes my place a home.

Thanks for taking a peek over the fence... 

December 11 - New Christmas outfit

I have not been able to dress my blog in it's Christmas clothes for several days - mainly due to it being - well - Christmas!
Anyway lets try out these for clothes for size: from shabby blogs here's just say snow.
...and if you look very carefully you can see it's snowing over the fence!!!

December 6 - New Christmas 'outfit'

I loved the last background so much that I didn't want to change it. It is just as well I have that excuse to use, because I imagined I could keep up with a daily change. What I didn't count on was my 'normal' life getting in the way - and an evening of sewing with Marisew, finishing the 'mystery'bundle' of the previous post, also provided a very welcome distraction.


Anyway - here is the latest lovely offering of a Christmas outfit for that hard-to-please and demanding 'blog'...presenting Christmas Quilt from Shabby Blogs. 

Mystery Bundle - Part 1

This is the story of an unfinished project.

This bundle is rather sad looking.

Unroll....

Iron....

Replace the rows...


Stay tuned for the rest of the story

December 3 - New Christmas 'outfit'

Shabby blogs is where this wonderful blog background came from. You will find Vintage Christmas here.

December 2 - New Christmas 'outfit'

Another new blog background from the cutest blog on the block.

This is yuletide and if you squint the xylophone could be mistaken for fence palings. Thanks for stopping by and taking a peek over the fence.

The Handmaden: It's giveaway time!

The Handmaden: It's giveaway time!

The Handmaden: Giveaway

I wanted to keep this to myself...but in the spirit of bloggy goodness...if you would like to enter a fantastic giveaway from The Handmaden - click here. You have till December 6. She has joined forces with retromummy in this giveaway. Go on - off you go now...and good luck too.

December 1 - New Christmas 'outfit'

Wow! this one is a beauty. (I will have to change from my green text though, its too hard to read). This is Wonder of Christmas by the cutest blog on the block
Hope you are having as much fun checking out the changing backgrounds, as I am having changing them!