Autumn Garden

Come with me for a walk around my garden.
We've had lots of sunny days lately, and the air has a little nip in it, as temperatures are getting cooler here in the Southern Hemisphere.
Do you like my pink begonia? It is one of the taller 'cane' varieties, and will grow to around six foot high.

This blue salvia is a favourite of mine, and also the native blue-banded bees'.
It started off as a cutting, and has grown into a huge rounded shrub. 

A mauve buddleia. It attracts lots of butterflies and other nectar loving insects.

Another one of the blue salvias. A tiny 'stingless' native bee is flying in for a visit.

A striking red and yellow flower of a bromeliad. They are related to pineapples.

On the edge of the pond, a sedge frog.....keeping very still hoping I won't notice him. There are around a dozen other little frogs quite close, but they are not sitting still......(for me to take a photo)

And lastly a beautiful 'fuscous swallowtail' butterfly, over in the tropical garden, basking in the morning sunlight.
I hope you enjoyed looking around my garden,
do come back now, I'll look forward to your visit.

Cheerio for now,
Sandi x

Wee Wonderfuls

Thimble-sized tiny red parasols......
I imagine fairies sheltering underneath
keeping their wings dry from raindrops...

More little umbrellas crowed together growing on an old log.
Isn't nature wonderful?

Sandi x

In Print

It is so exciting to see your projects in print.
Here is my latest one - the little beehive pincushion.
It is always a pleasure working with Danielle (Editor) and her expert team at Country Threads magazine. They always make my projects look wonderful with their beautiful styling and photography. 

Here is the cover (Volume 13 No 10). Lots of fabulous projects inside....
Happy Crafting, I must dash,
Sandi x

Hubby's Bunny

Helping my mother-in-law move house (she was moving into a retirement village), we came across a long lost friend.
'Rabby Bunnet'
Hubby fondly remembers having a bunny when he was little, and had assumed it was long gone.
What a wonderful surprise!
Rabby was lovingly crafted by a favourite aunt (Aunty Lucy). He was made from a piece of cream wool blanket.

With a button eye missing, an arm nearly off, a few stains, Rabby was
 looking a little worse for wear.
He is quite heavy, so after carefully undoing the arm (that was falling off), I discovered him to be stuffed with some kind of pink cotton??? clumpy looking filling.
So I decided to unstuff (is that a word?) Rabby and give him a good soak to see if I could get the stains out. It doesn't matter if they don't completely come out. And I don't really want to bring him back to 'new'. He still has to look a little .....what's the word?....aged?
The embroidered face will have to be reworked as it was a bit moth-eaten. I have gone through my old button collection to find a pair of matching eyes to stitch on.
I will do an update post when he is ready.
Do you still have any of your cherished childhood toys?
Cheerio for now,
Sandi x

Sock Monkey Wrangling

A friend of mine recently commissioned me to make a pair of my cheeky sock monkeys for two little sisters.

I think they turned out quite well don't you think?

I took a quick photo (at night) before they were heading off to meet their new owners next morning.

Sandi x

New French Knitting project

I am just buzzing with excitement as my latest project,
 this little beehive pincushion,
is being featured in the latest edition of  Creating Country Threads magazine.
Do you like the little bee buttons? They are hand made by a local lady.


Here's a photo of the project in progress.
I have quite a few different pincushions now in my studio.
Do you have a pincushion collection too?

Cheerio for now,
Sandi x

Oh My, They're Back (where's my camera)

Hello, good morning to everyone.

Today I just have to show you some lovely (and rare) butterflies that were visiting our garden.

They are Richmond Birdwing butterflies. 

These are on the endangered species list, due to habitat destruction.

A lot of work (planting host plants for their caterpillars) has been done to bring the numbers back again. 

We have some of the vines planted along the fence.

The top left photo is the male, and the top right is the female.

They were all enjoying a morning sip of nectar from the mock orange (murraya) flowers.

So lovely to see them visit around this time every year.

I hope you enjoyed today's post.

Sandi x

Blackberry Picking Time

Oooh lookie, 

a whole hillside of lovely blackberries there for the picking - 

so a-picking we did go.

Luscious and juicy, I must admit that some got eaten along the way.....

Now snap frozen, awaiting to be included in a sweet recipe or two....

Sandi x

My Favourite Time of Year - The Florin Street Band (New Christmas Song)

And now......time for a little something to get you in the Christmas mood.
The setting and costumes are wonderful by the way - filmed at Blists Hill Victorian Town, Ironbridge,  in England.


Enjoy,
Sandi x

A Finish

Good afternoon everyone,
Here's the project I started in October - a paper pieced ball.
All finished !
(you can scroll down to November's posts to see it being made).
  I am quite pleased with the way it turned out.

I'm sure the little one (and her sisters) will enjoy playing with it at christmas time.

Cheerio,
Sandi x

King of the Parrots

Look who dropped in for a feed.

A regular visitor to our bird feeders are King Parrots.
This one is a male, his partner was too shy to come down. Her colouring is mostly green.

Beautiful!
Always lovely to see them.


Sandi x

Are You Organised

Hi Lovelies,

With christmas just around the corner, here is a great way to get organised.

I have found a wonderful website to get you started,

 go and take a look around, you'll find lots of fab ideas there.

AND 

you can find my 'famous' recipe for White Christmas Slice featured too ......

Here is the link:    The Organised Housewife

Cheerio for now,

Sandi x

Cheeky Monkeys

Just finished is this cheeky fellow.......
a sock monkey.

A little buddy for this guy.

 

'Don't forget to show 'em your tail'.

Sandi x

Getting Crafty

My dear mother-in-law has recently moved to a lovely local retirement village. The residents are a friendly bunch and all know each other by their first names. Being a new resident MIL Dot needs a little name plaque to hang beside her door.
I decided to make her one.
I purchased a teensy canvas, painted the edges a nice blue (to match one of the colours on the chosen fabric background), then Mod Podged (a type of sealer/glue) the rose print fabric on top. Next, I painted the wooden letters. I had a little red silk rose, and thought it might look better if it was pink. (I didn't know how it would go if I painted it - it works!)
Out came the hot glue gun to stick on the flower, leaves and letters.
When I was shopping for the canvas (at the two dollar store), I spied this 'lace' over near the scrapbooking supplies. It feels like it is made of a sort of plastic. The lace was supposed to be self-adhesive (but didn't adhere very well at all), so I stuck it on with the Mod Podge.
Voila.....finished!

 

I hope she likes her new little name plaque.

Cheerio for now,
Sandi x

Having a Ball

Hi there lovelies, just a quick update on what I am working on at the moment.
Can you guess what I am making?
It's a patchwork ball ......paper pieced and hand-stitched.
and it's already halfway finished!

This patchwork ball will be a christmas present for our niece's baby, Summer.
The pattern is from a book I borrowed from our local library, called I Love Patchwork
by Rashida Coleman-Hale.

I will show you a picture of the ball when it's finished.

Cheerio for now,

Sandi x

Our Local Quilt show

Thought I'd show you a few quilts from our  local quilt show held recently.
I loved this one with all those colourful cats....... 

This one reminds me of pies or pizzas  :)

The travelling quilt. (big quilt on stage) travelled around Australia, and was added to by different quilt groups.

Lovely!

Very nice!

Quiltopia had a stall there.

Great modern design!

Country stars.
I had a great afternoon looking at all those lovely quilts and browsing the stalls.
I even had a win - I won a lovely table runner made by one of the ladies in the quilt group.
Sandi x