Going back in time - part two

I went a little crazy taking photos in the early settlers slab house, at the historical museum.







The house is original was moved from a property about 20 minutes away, it had been rebuilt about 10 years ago.





 I really liked the quirky touches at this museum.

After receiving a recent donation, the museum folk where able to built a replica outside kitchen,

and bathhouse.

Oh, it is so fun, stepping back in time.

Day Six: Embroidery

Over the school holidays I had a chance to get started on Miss Moo Moo's 'tooth fairy' pillow.

I have finished the embroidery this afternoon with a just enough thread. It was touch and go there for a while. I had chosen this colour as the perfect match to the backing/pocket fabric. However I only had a small amount; it had come from a thrifted bag of collected thread.

Tomorrow I will sew it, stuff it and pop in the cupboard for when it is needed. Spunky Monkey's tooth pillow has been sitting in his cupboard for the last two years waiting... waiting....

To see more creative spaces, click here.

and...
Take a look here to see who else is participating in blogtoberfest.

A whole lot of hoopla

I have finished a few embroideries and simply hung them in their hoops on the wall. The 'peacock garden' above is from Kristen Doran. It was my first attempt of embroidery and I was hooked. I actually did this one months ago and it's been waiting for me to work out what to do with it. Rather than have it sitting in the cupboard, I put it back into the hoop and blue-tacked it to the wall.



This is my finished 'teepee girl' She has been packed up with the rest of the Christmas decorations



This is my finished vintage girl. She now hangs in our playroom.



This is my finished birthday artwork. Miss Moo Moo's picture that she drew for her brother's sixth birthday.



And here is what my creative space is looking like this week. I love this idea that I saw on 'mousehouse' a few weeks ago.

If you want to see some more creative spaces, go over to kootoyoo and be inspired.

Autumn crafting

There has been some Autumn crafting going on in this house of late. I made some decorations for our Autumn tree. The house is my favourite and my preferred shape. Once filled, those circles just didn't want to stay a circle!



The kids wanted to get in on the embroidery action. This was their first attempt at embroidery and I was very impressed. They were very excited and rushed a little. Miss Moo Moo's is the blue leaf. You can see where she becomes 'over it.'

I love them and they are now decorating our hallway.





Work in progress.

If you want to see some more creative spaces, go over to kootoyoo and be inspired.

My creative space...

Another unfinished embroidery this week...

If you want to see some more creative spaces, go over to kootoyoo and be inspired.

My creative space....

The thought of taking a child to the store to purchase a birthday present for their sibling fills me with dread. Spunky Monkey's birthday is on Monday, so I took the same approach as I did for Miss Moo Moo's birthday last year, and asked Miss Moo Moo to a draw a picture for her brother. I am embroidering it to hang on his wall.

I will finish it off tonight. I am party planning today, for some reason his birthday celebrations are stretching over 4 days!

If you want to see some more creative spaces, go over to kootoyoo and be inspired.

AND.....

Perhaps you would like to make a doll or softie for the Queensland Flood Appeal Dolly Drive. There is still plenty of time. The close date is the 18th of March. We would love you to join us. Please read more on my original post.

If you need more time, the close date is flexible, please let me know. I now intend to send some dolls to North Queensland if I get enough. Please read more about this here. Go here, here and here to see some of the dolls/softies that I have already received.

And if that is not inspiration enough. This week I have been contacted by a sewing group in Spain and a seven year old in New Zealand, all are going to be making dolls for the families in Queensland who have lost everything.

Thank you so much to those special people.

My creative space...

I would love to tell you that I whipped up these gorgeous crocheted strawberry house slippers today. I loooove them! But no, they are just what tempted me to bring this book home from the library this morning.



I love these Made in France embroidery books and this one, if nothing else, is sweet fun to look at. I doubt I will be starting any cross stitch anytime soon, as I have a few other simple embroideries ready to go. I'm ready to start one to hang in the children's playroom, but I can't decide on the thread colour. Instead, I picked up this, 'Christmas Tee-Pee Girl' embroidery, to start, when mum came over for a coffee today.

I know that it is a long time until Christmas, but I just needed to stitch something.

I'm finding it very hard to sit idle these days.

If you want to see some more creative spaces, go over to kootoyoo and be inspired.

Handmade Christmas - next year

(image from here)

Christmas is over for another year. Tomorrow we will take down the christmas tree and pack away the decorations. I want to say thank-you again to Tracy for hosting the Handmade Christmas Challenge. I had all of the best intentions in September when I willingly put up my hand for her challenge, but during the months of October and November, our little world got so very busy, leaving me with little time for crafting. But what I did manage, was to have my christmas shopping all done by the beginning of December. This is a first for me. And with the exception of books, all of the presents under the tree, were either hand made by me or handmade by someone else. This made me very happy.

However, there were many things on the christmas handmade list that did not get made. Here is the list of things I would like to have done by next christmas!



• I love these jar jumpers (sweaters) and crocheted garland from 'dottie angel'. "How to's" can be found here and here. Of course I will need to learn how to crochet first. A minor detail.





• embroider some linen napkins for our christmas table, I love these from 'mousehouse'



• make these felted christmas trees from 'purl bee'



• embroider christmas aprons, something like this from' red, red completely red.'



• embroider pillows for the children, maybe something like this, from 'cats and quilts'



• I love these from 'smiley sunday', since I've never cross stitched, I might just have to buy these!





• make some christmas decorations, something like this from 'light blue grey'. So beautiful.



• make a snowflake garland like this one from 'little glowing lights'. Oh how I wish I had a mantlepiece. Snowflake templates can be found here.



• make christmas decorations like these, from 'mom in madison'



• make a simple countdown calender to countdown the days just like this one from red, red, completely red.

• make these snow globes with the kids.

• make origami star garlands like these for the windows.

• I love these gift ideas, a photo book, something like this or this and photo pillows

• make a new countdown (advent) calender. Our is made from paper bags and after fours years is looking a little worst for wear. See a picture of our current countdown calender here.

Birthday craft

After the adventures of the last few days, I had completely forgotten to show you the gift I had made for my cousin's birthday.



Inspired, once again by Amanda, I made this simple fabric and embroidery wall hanging. Seven flowers for the members of Karen's special family and fabric and thread chosen to match her home.



I also forgot to mention, my children's excitement at our unexpected farm stay. I think that they had thought that Christmas had come early.

They were so happy playing with their cousins. They were in the cubie, down at the chicken coop, in the sandpit, playing dress-ups, playing playdough, sharing countdown calender chocolates, chasing the chickens, on the swings, on the see-saw, up at the shed, down at the tennis court, collecting eggs, wandering around the paddock, eating tomatoes from the vine, patting the quails, bouncing on the trampoline, playing with new toys and eating ice-cream with chocolate topping.

They didn't want to come home.

Yesterday

Look what I found sitting on the library shelves yesterday. Just waiting for little old me. I am super excited, with heaps of new ideas for my handmade christmas presents.

I don't think I am going to want to give these back!

'Made in France: Cross stitch and embroidery in red, white and blue'
'Made in France: Linen and Thread'
'Made in France: Blackwork'