Tea Anyone?

I made these coasters for a friends birthday. I used inspiration from my book to bust some of my thrifting stash.

Weekend

Happy Weekending to you....

Friends on Friday( and a new baby)

"...understand that to nurture and love others with the grace you desire means taking care of yourself and cultivating your own inner harmony. Inner harmony grows not by finding ways to get away from your child, but by giving yourself the gift of a hot bath at the end of a long day, reading a book of poetry, talking to a friend on the phone, taking a nap, crying, getting a massage, having a day off from cleaning and cooking, staying in your pajamas all day, swimming, going out to eat, or attending a conference. Do something for yourself as you give. Learn to laugh at yourself and not take yourself so seriously."
~ Peggy O'Mara, The Way Back Home( found via here )

We moved outside and sewed, drank tea and created together then I continued on into the afternoon all by myself with just my own thoughts and the birds to listen to .After such hot hot weather it was a refreshing hint of Autumn.

The project above was continuing on with my challenge to use up some of my already thrifted goodies. I used this tutorial as inspiration.
I made two ,to gift my two beautiful sisters with....

Oh! which my youngest has just blessed us with the PINK VARIETY!!!!!!
MYA FLORENCE OWENS.
Can't wait to see you guys in a week and a half.

This week at Playgroup

Jellyfish....

I am very inspired by watching Playschool...not that this particular idea came from there but I love the idea of creating something from what you already have.

Reading

Our big Pre-Primary boy came home with his first "reading book" last night.We love books in our house and thankfully the kids have always enjoyed a good story and also having a good story read to them.

Just like my mum made...

I haven't shared any recipes for a while but this is one a playgroup mum shared with me last week.
It took me straight back to my mum's kitchen...

Mum's Date Loaf


1 cup of dates
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp butter
1 flat tsp soda - bicarb

Place all the above ingredients in heatproof bowl
Pour 1 cup BOILING hot water (I use Kettle) in a bowl
Mix until butter has melted and leave to cool to lukewarm ( approx 1/2hr)

Sift 185g SR Flour into "soupy date water" and combine well.
Mixture is quite runny,but will bake OK as dates soak up moisture whilst cooking

Bake in moderate oven 25-30 mins- I use a loaf tin

It is so moist and very indulgent if you have a lashing of butter on each slice.....which really is a must...although it is so tasty on it's own.
Thanks Cy for sharing.

Start making...

Each week Meg has a dance class not far from a local thrift shop...so what is one to do while waiting for her to finish dancing?
Well that is fine because I usually have a bag of things to gift them but then I often find somethings to gift myself with....so I decided this week as I left with a few small finds that I would set to work and be more diligent than I have been in the last few weeks and find the purposes for which I have been bringing home these fantastic finds.

Last night I managed to pull together

• A market bag from a vintage tea towel ( being from my Nan)
• Two pot holders from a table runner
• A pincushion
  

I just needed to set my mind into gear (I have let it slip out over the summer break) and work away at my piles of fantastic finds.
Check out over here to see if there is anything you like and then drop me a line.

The Pink Variety

I am now ready for whichever variety arrives in Tassie!
My baby sister is awaiting ever so patiently for the arrival of baby number 4. I am ahead of myself for once and have now finished the pink quilt to go in waiting with the blue one.
Not being a true quilter I am pleased with this one from the fact that I managed to put it together using all thrifted or pre-loved fabrics (some from my kids) and even a pre- shrunk thrifted woollen blanket inner.
I know my darling little sister will really appreciate this ...only I hope she is too busy with other things to read this post and spoil my gift. ( which I can hand deliver in just 18 days.... YaY)

I used this tutorial for the quilt construction.

This week at Playgroup

Continuing on our summer theme...(which by the way is a good thing seeing we copped another day well over 40 C) we read a story about boats and then had some fun constructing one.
Simple materials...a couple of scourer sponges, a straw ,a dishcloth sponge, some glue and some glitter glue for colour.
One of our playgroup dads made the great suggestion that it was a great idea - a toy that also cleaned the bath....only a stay at home dad would think that!!!

We required child friendly PVA glue for this activity but for most paper related gluing you just need a paste. I found a great recipe today for making your own...check out this.
Thanks Logan for being a willing model and great boat maker!

No Eectricity

Baby Soon?

We have a baby on the way ....
I spoke with my youngest sister tonight who lives in Tasmania and she is very close to having baby number 4!!!!!
This is causing me great excitement as a new baby in the family always does. It means that in three weeks I will be heading over to spend some time with her as well BUT.....
I have this pile of material to firstly assemble into a quilt just in case this new addition is of the pink variety. We don't know which variety it will be but I already have the blue kind covered.

So Far...

The Granny Square count so far.....


81

From that to this....

You might remember me showing you these earlier in the week.....
Well I did reacquaint with my sewing machine and I now have this....

I have not mastered the art of photgraphing while wearing the subject but I think you get the gist.

Weekend

Happy Weekending To You......

Liquid Gold

Thanks Bees....Sweet Sweet Honey for our bread..