Merry Christmas

Just popping in to say 

And not forgetting the reason for the Celebrations...

I pray this Christmas is a safe and happy one for you all, may your hearts be filled with joy as you celebrate the birth of Christ and enjoy your time with much loved family and friends…

Many Christmas Blessings

Amanda

To Do's

“Summer to do list”

Ok so now I have been working on my Summer to do list and am just about ready to add it to my Blog.

I do have a few extra things to add so keep an eye out for changes over time.

These are not in any kind of order, and I may have managed to get some done already.

·      Bake Christmas Goodies

·      Organize meal plans

·      Sew a Union Jack table runner

·      Finish the Disappearing 9 patch bed topper top

·      Have Fun

·      Reduce…Reuse…Recycle…Spring Clean everything.

·      Tidy up my Blog…Learn the “How to’s”

·      Sew something out of one of the new books I got

·      Do a Tutors Course in Orton-Gillingham for Dyslexia

·      Get back into my walking routine

·      Lose more weight

Maybe that is enough for now…

I will tick them off as I achieve them, and add to them as I come up with more bright ideas.

Very happy Stitching…

Amanda

Update...

"Update on Union Jack"

 I have managed to get the A2 sized "Union Jack" done... I went off to Officeworks and had the pattern enlarged to what I thought would suit.

It was a challenge, again...

 But not too hard, just having to get my head around "which way was I placing the fabric again"?

It came together nicely.

 Looks familiar doesn't it.

 Love these colours.

 Final piece to stitch together...

 Viola! all done, well the top was but I still had to put a lining and back on it.

She can use this for her dresser, or wherever she likes really.

Finished pUnion Jack is at the top of the page along with the one I made earlier...

hope she likes them...

happy stitching

Amanda

What a Day, What To Do...

It has been raining all blinking day...

What have I been up to all day then?

Well you may ask, and I shall delight in telling you I have almost completed a Christmas present for our dear sweet “Adopted” daughter Rachel…

She loves all things “Union Jack” and I found a pattern for a paper pieced mug rug sized union jack over at the Four Twin Sisters site.

I know you are probably thinking how crazy I am doing a union jack for my first paper piecing attempt… you be the judge (be nice though).

I have Pieced it, added batting and stitched on a back...now all I need to do is some hand top stitching for added effect and hey presto a little union jack mug rug is done.

Because of time issues I have only made this size (10 inches x 5 inches) but will in the near future make her a table runner that she can put on her duchess.

i may even get that done before Christmas but I am not holding my breath, because I am busy and have more stuff to make.

I forgot to mention how lovely it was when we went to Southbank with my Sister and her family (when they were here in October). we went to Max Brenner (first time for me) and had a decadent time.

This is my Danish hot chocolate (extremely sweet) I could not drink it all so had to leave it in the end...

This is my Dessert, how decadent does that look?

it was chocolate ice-cream with choc fudge, choc dusted crispies and choc coated crunchy toffee...with a melted chocolate sauce to pour over it.

Did I manage to eat that ? no way...I ended up giving all but 1/2 a piece of fudge to my nephew and I ate mainly only the ice-cream.

This is Hubby's dessert, he didn't want any but I thought perhaps a piece of fudge would be small enough...think again.

he had the chilli hot chocolate and loved it.

So if you ever see a Max Brenner around and are a chocolate lover, do yourself a favour and have the chocolate experience of your life.

well I must get a wiggle on, I am popping out to pick Hubby up from work this afternoon and it is getting close...keep an eye out for my "Summer to do List" coming soon....

Happy Stitching

Amanda

Christmas Swap

C.R.A.F.T. Christmas Swap

it is that time of year again...

Some of the nicest ladies in the world are members of  the C.R.A.F.T. group online…it was time for our annual Christmas Swap, my partner was Lynda from Brisbane (not far from me).

We met up today to swap our gifts face to face.

I met Lynda in October this year at our Retreat and she is a very nice lady…

We met at the Kuta café on top of Mt. Coot-Tha what a view…

We had to choose gifts that we thought our swap partner would like, starting with each letter of the word Christmas…

The Gifts were wrapped individually with a tag on the front for each letter.

                   C- Charm Pack “Ruby"

           H- Humbug Bag

                   R- “Red” & green Angels

                  I-      “Incredibly” cute Owls

         S- Snowflake Soap

T- Tea Cup

M- Mesh Bag

   A-  Amanda’s Key

      S- Spotty Scissors

Pictures at home…

Close up Pictures, Don't you just love those cute little owls and coloured Angels.

I Love Ruby fabric...

This bag is just gorgeous…

I am so Blessed by Lynda's beautiful and thoughtful gifts...we had such a lovely time at lunch, can't wait to do it again...

I am still working on my "Summer to do List"...I will post it here when I am finished it. 

Summer is officially here as today is the First of December...we had a lovely day, the heatwave broke and we ended up with a big storm in the Ipswich area, which I had to drive through to get home from my lunch with Lynda.

hope you are all stitching up a storm for Christmas...will let you all know what the Book winners think of their books when I hear from them.

Happy Stitching

Amanda

Give Away Draw

Time for my Give away to be drawn….

Using the random number generator…

For the Summer Book

True Random Number Generator

Min: 1

Max: 24

Result:

19

Sharon-NZ said...

hmm summer adventures........ LOL getting the new wee terrorist under control methinks over the xmas summer hols.....Omy....

Winter Book

True Random Number Generator

Min: 1

Max: 24

Result:

24

Anonymous said...

Hello Amanda,
I see you have friends all over the world. Now, I write from just around the corner (Germany) :-) Here the Winter ist comming and we will prepare the Christmas celebration with snow and cold windy days. A warm cup of cacao is the most wonderful think after a long walk outside and sitting with my children and talk about the little problems in there life and big love we have for each other.
I hope you have a wonderful summertime.
Maybe I can win the Winterbook... 
Send Anna best wishes from me!
Petra from Cologne in Germany.

Congratulations to Sharon and Petra, I will contact you by email for your postal address.

...Happy Stitching Ladies...

Amanda

Summer Give Away

Woot woo Summer is upon us in a big way here in the southern hemisphere, so in celebration of that and Christmas coming up I have decided to have a little (quick) giveaway, in fact if you blink you might miss this one.

As I mentioned in my last post, I am making a “summer wish list” for myself to get some stuff done over Summer. I mentioned I would love to hear about your summer adventures you may have had or intend to have…

What do you have to do?

Easy, just leave me a Summer adventure comment on this post and on Sunday 27^th November (one week away) I will run numbers through the random number thingy and pick a winner…

The Prize…

An awesome Tilda book for you to make some lovely Christmas stuff…hopefully you will get it by early December…well that is why this is a quick giveaway.

Added Prize…

Because those in the Northern Hemisphere are heading into Winter I will pop in an extra prize... Tildas Winter Book…

*Very important* 

Please specify if you would prefer the Winter book or the Summer book, I must be able to email you for your postal address on the day of the draw so please make sure your email is attached to your blog or leave me your email address...If I can't contact you I will have to re=draw the prize on the same day. 

Tell your friends, just to make it more fun…

Can’t wait to hear of your fun adventures…

Happy stitching

Amanda

New Books and Some Finishes.

I have had a few finishes for a change.

While away at Retreat I made a table topper and only had the binding to do. I had to find some fabric for the edge, I was happy to find some when we visited Bargain Box Fabrics… So finally it is finished, what do you think?

 A Close Up...

On the Table...

I also had some fun making a couple of toppers for our bedside tables with the fabrics I bought on our shopping spree with retreat. I love these colours and mixed them up a bit… I am learning more each time I sew something whoo hoo.

Some new books arrived too…

Quilted Gifts…

Home Sweet Sewn…

Home Sewn…

French Twist…

Aprons Book…

Home Made Vintage…

What Yummy Books, I am looking forward to doing some of the projects over the Summer Break. I home school my DS12 because he has Aspergers and just does not fit into the “System”. When school finishes for the summer I am putting together a “Summer Wish List”…a list of the projects I want to make, books I want to read and places I want to go…have you thought about making such a list?

The reason I am doing it is because I never seem to get anything done for ME...

It is how I relax and God knows I need to relax.

I would love to hear about summer adventures you intend to have or have had in the past, just leave me a comment.

Anyhow I must dash… things to do.

Many Happy Stitches to you

Amanda

Homemade tips...

I have been surfing the blogs and been seeing a few lovely blogs with many helpful hints for us women who are constantly cooking and cleaning etc.

Sharon from NZ shared this one with us on Pinterest and it is quite a good tip...

Do you use Febreeze or something like it? 

Well why not make your own for next to nothing. Click on the picture to go to the blog with all the details.

Another fantastic hint for those really hard jobs can be found at "SimpleLiving" by clicking on the toilet.

My Tip

I thought I would share my little helpful tip for air freshener we keep in the Toilet for Hubby and DS1 who tend leave behind an door that could melt human flesh..hehehe.

First you will need a spray bottle that has a very good fine mist spray to it, I have recycled this old bottle from an aerosol free air freshener purchased ages ago for around the $6 mark.

You will also need some essential oil, the cheap variety of oil burner oils that you can get from the $2 stores is ideal.

 I put around 3 mil into the empty bottle. I find this is quite enough to give a very nice scent, not too strong and not too faint either. Then I top up with warm water from the tap and give it a really good shake.

Hey Presto you now have amazing smelling air freshener for a fraction of the price. In fact it would take about a year for our family to use up all of the 50ml bottle of oil. If you use only 3ml you can make 16, 300ml bottles of air freshener up from that single bottle of oil. That is a massive saving when you think the original bottle was $6, if you bought 16 of them it would add up to $96. so for $2 for the oil I am saving a massive $94.

Now in my books that is Frugal, I do have to point out that in this picture I have used my very yummy "Crabtree & Evelyn" oil which cost me $14.95 at their store because I could not find my $2 oil (which is very yummy vanilla scent).

Do you have any awesome tips you can share with others? perhaps you would like to share on your blog, send me a link so I can follow your frugal ideas too.

Happy Stitching and Money Saving.

Amanda