Play of light

I was driving home from the school run this morning and saw an image of the mountains in our area that was just stunning.

It's been raining most of the night and morning so the sky in the background was nearly black.  The mountains though had a beautiful golden morning sunlight shining on them that made them look like gems standing tall.

 

I didn't have my camera with me and didn't even think about using my phone until I was home.

 

Even doing a google search I haven't been able to find an image anything like what I saw but I have found some that were sort of close.

 

Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

None of the images have the pure black sky behind them though which made the scene so spectacular.

 

xx Susan

 

 

 

 

Catching up

Sometimes life can seem just a little off centre. My equilibrium seems to have been out for a couple of months now and one of the things that I've let slide a bit is my blogging.

 

Life has still gone on pretty well as normal but the whole thought of turning the computer on and blogging hasn't appealed very often.

 

I'm starting to get back on track now and the axis is tilting in the right direction.  That's a good thing but I now have months of blog reading to catch up on to see what my 'friends' have been up to while I've been in my self-imposed exile. 

 

I won't bore you with everything I've been up to because it's not been that exciting I can tell you.

 

Last night though (Saturday), my brother-in-law Jeff took my mum and myself to the football which was awesome.

 

 

It was an AFL game between the Brisbane Lions and Carlton.  Unfortunately the Lions lost but it was a really good game.  It was the first live AFL match that mum and I had ever been to and it made a lot more sense seeing it live.  I really enjoyed it.

 

However being Rugby Union and Rugby League girls we did get a bit frustrated when they couldn't keep hold of the ball and had no idea what was going on half the time.  We just cheered when the rest of the crowd did!

 

The kids' school also has their Annual Big Night Out coming up in a couple of weeks which is their school fete.  It's also the 125th anniversary of the school so there'll be plenty of celebrations commemorating the history of the school too which will be wonderful.

 

I've been busy making tomato relish for Master M's classes gardening and produce stall and still have some lemon butter to make for it.

 



 

I'll let you know about the day once it's over as it's sure to be a great celebration.

 

Another thing I've been doing lately is knitting.  I tried it about a year or more ago then it got put away as I just couldn't work it out.  The two needles was proving a problem for a girl who likes to use just one crochet hook.

 

This time I decided to give it a go and thanks to the many fantastic YouTube tutorials, I'm now able to knit pretty well AND FIX MY MISTAKES!!

 

While I've been doing my knitting and crochet the sewing seems to have gone by the wayside for now.  Ah well, there's no point having too many projects on the go at once is there?

 

For now though I'm off the have some family time and then catch up on some of your blogs.

 

xx Susan

Lovely hot water

For the past three months this has been my hot water system....

 

 

I've worked out that we pretty well only need hot water for washing up and bathing.  It does get a bit of a pain having to boil the kettle for a bath all the time though.

 

Washing my hair was a bit of a problem.  I either leaned over the bath and gave myself a sore back or I'd go visit my sister or mum for a lovely hot shower at their place.

 

Well our new hot water system was FINALLY installed yesterday and has been heating all night.  Never underestimate the power of being able to turn a tap on and have hot water come straight out of it.  Bliss!

 

If you'll excuse me, I'm off to enjoy a really lovely, long, hot shower. :)

 

xx Susan

 

 

Anzac Knitting

Anzac Day was a few days ago (April 25th) and my kids participated in our local Anzac Day march as representatives of their school.

 

This year my uncle brought over my Grandfather's medals so that the kids could wear them and they were so proud to be able to wear these special medals. 

 



 

Their Poppy is very proud that they marched and wanted to wear his father's medals as well.

 

Luckily it was another beautiful day this year so the turnout was pretty huge.  The members of the RSL have been a bit shocked but very pleased that thousands are turning up to our local parade and that majority of those attending are the local school children.

 

 

As for the knitting part of the title...I'm not knitting anything for our troops.  It's just that I started my first ever knitting project on Anzac day this year.

 

I've been crocheting for years but knitting always seemed a bit beyond me.  I tried it last year but kept making mistakes and didn't know how to fix them.

 

Thanks to some pretty awesome knitting tutorials on You Tube, I can proudly say that I've nearly finished my first knitting project.  Yes I've still been making plenty of mistakes but at least I know how to fix them now without throwing a tantrum my kids would be proud of.

 

I'll show you the finished product soon.

 

xx Susan

Easter Hat Parade

The last day of school for the term was certainly an experience. It gave me an even more HUGE appreciation of just what teachers do each and every day and brings home to me just why I will NEVER EVER BE A TEACHER!!!!

 

It was a special day for the preppies as from 12pm they got to make Easter Hats and if they were lucky their Mum's or Dad's were able to come along to help them make their hats.

 

There was lots of glue, glitter, paper, sticky stuff, bright stuff, gluggy stuff, icky stuff, fluffy stuff and nearly everything else you could think of to make their hats. 

 

 

 

I remembered about an hour before I had to be there that I was going to crochet some flowers so a very industrious 40 minutes later I had 7 flowers and 1 leaf to put on my boys hat.

 

 

After the decorating we got to sit down to have lunch with out cherubs and then it was off to the hall for the hat parade with the other preppies (there are 3 classes of them at this school).

 

 

There were lots of wonderful creations and I think ours stood up to the test but then that could also be from the amount of glue Master M decided we needed on his hat to make everything stick.

 

 

After the hat parade it was time for games like the 3 legged race or a pass the ball game or a steal the egg from the nest game.

 

Last for our group was the egg and spoon race which my boy certainly had his own version off after he dropped his egg after one step, then kicked it across the room, raced to grab it, ran back with the spoon in one hand and the egg in the other to pass it onto the next child in line. 

 

Mum had to take his next go.  He INSISTED!  My egg stayed on although my boy tried hard to make it fall off.

 

Do you want to see our Easter hat close up?  Of course you do!

 



 

It's made of a paper plate that I cut a spiral out of in the top and then stuck drinking straw in it to give it some depth.  Then everything was stuck on with glue or sticky tape until Master M was happy.

 

Now Little Miss R wants her own hat so the first day of the Easter school holidays will be spent making Easter hats at home.  Oh and we'll be baking a cake too as it's my sister's birthday and the kids REALLY, REALLY want to make a birthday cake for their Aunty Sandy.

 

Wish me luck especially as it's WAY past bedtime and none of us is too interested in going to bed right now.  I'm sure I'll be paying for that decision tomorrow.

 

xx Susan

 

P.S.  My boy insisted on a photo with his mummy.  Here is the first one we've had in YEARS together.

 

 

Certainly no Pixie portrait but it's very much us!

 

The Stitches and Caft Show

On Friday my sister Sandra and I headed down to Brisbane to the Stitches and Craft Show that was on at the Convention Centre.

 

We'd never been before and decided to do something different and head into the city for a look.

 

Being a stitches and craft show it obviously has lots of stalls of all things stitchy and crafty.  That means fabric for quilting, scrapbooking, beading, yarn, books, trims and heaps more for your crafting needs.

 

There were also some displays from quilters, the lace guild, tapestries, embroidery and my favourite section which was outfits made by high school students.

 

Some of these were awesome including the music inspired dress below.

 

 

There are some very talented teenagers out there I can tell you.

 

 



 

Sorry but it wasn't easy getting photos and in some areas no photos were allowed to be taken at all.

 

 

The skirt on the one below was hand felted and other material joined in with the felt then sewn together.  They certainly make my sewing efforts look pretty feeble.

 

 

I was very interested in the beautiful skeins of wool to be found but I have to admit there weren't too many stalls with yarn. 

There were a few stalls with lots of gorgeous trim but I was a bit overwhelmed by the sheer quantities that I ended up not even bothering to get any.

 



 

Anyone want some Washi tape?

 

One of my favourite stalls was Miss Rose, Sister Violet which was full of very girly lace trim and goodies.  Much of it was vintage or vintage inspired and I adored the vintage lace outfits they had there. 

 

 

The lace was just beautiful.

 



 

I did find something that my little boy would absolutely love.  A quilt that seems to be made just for him.  I may have to try and source this awesome material and make something for him.

 

 

There was plenty of other things to look at but as I said, you couldn't take a lot of photos and what I did take wasn't very good quality.  One of my favourite stalls where no photos could be taken was full of handmade and handpainted porcelain buttons.  They were absolutely gorgeous and I couldn't work out what I really wanted to buy so I left with their brochure knowing that I can shop online.  If you like buttons then head over to CheraBella Buttons for a looksy.

 

There were also lots of workshops going on around the place too.  Some were free and others you paid for but you could have a go at nearly any kind of craft you wanted.

 

I didn't come away empty handed either.  I just had to buy some gorgeously soft skeins of yarn.  It's 40% silk and 60% mohair and I know is going to be a delight to work with.  Now I just have to find the perfect project to show off the colour and justify the expense!

 

 

 

On a whim I also bought some wool so I can do some felting.  I've wanted to have a go at this for awhile and now I've got some wool so I can get started (knowing me it won't be straight away!)

 

 



 

 

It was a lovely day out although I was a bit overwhelmed by the amount of people there and also everything that was on offer. 

 

The best thing about the whole day was that I got to spend it with my sister and that it always something to celebrate and enjoy.

 

xx Susan

46 Years!

Happy Anniversary to my parents.

 

 

46 Years married.  Now that's an achievement!

 

Love you both.

 

xx Susie