Tuesday 30 November 2010

a lovely mail delivery plus a Tuesday treasures post

Today I received a lovely surprise package in the mail..



Some lovely hand painted buttons from Eli and one of her lovely new stitchery patterns that included a hand painted button. This bundle of loveliness was a gift from the talented Eli from raccolto d'autunno. I stumbled across Eli's blog a little while ago and I have enjoyed testing my lapsing Italian skills by reading her blog and emailing her. Eli's English is far better than my Italian, Just proving the adage 'use it or lose it' . As an adult I only spoke Italian with my grandparents and since they have passed away I have missed not speaking the language. Eli's blog in Italian and English lets me have a little bit of that connection with my heritage. I usually cheat when emailing Eli and write in English as I struggle to find the right words and correct tenses quickly enough.
Eli is selling her patterns and buttons on her blogsite- you can click on the link above or click on the first picture.


Just a quick Tuesday Treasure post...
Here are my childhood dolls.
The baby doll in the blue crochet outfit is from when I was around two years old. She was brought for me so that mum could kidnap and dispose of my old extremely well loved and battered doll. I put the lovely new doll aside and kept my old raggy doll. She did disappear years later and then this doll got some loving and wear. The Chrissy doll is a replacement for one I had at Primary school that got damaged. I loved to 'grow' her pony tail and brush it. The two dolls on the ends I got when I was 12 and we were living in Italy so they have been well travelled.  The one on the far right was bough at a festa (called a sagra where my dad comes from). I love her hand painted face and long black plaits.

Hope your week is going well. Off to U2 tomorrow and I can't wait!
so Thankyou Eli!
cheers
Marina

Monday 29 November 2010

hexies and healing hearts.

Saturday I went to my monthly craft group. I spent a lovely morning. This weekend I mainly concentrated on some healing hearts to send to New Zealand. I have only managed some ones with Kiddy prints for this batch and will work on some more for next week. Just need to stock up on some vliesofix and cream homespun.

Just thought I would show you what else has been filling my stitching time now that my swaps are done. These hexies are from the jelly roll of Park avenue fabrics that I bought a little while ago. Boy is it taking a lot of time to make these up. I want to make all the hexies before I start putting the flowers together. I made one up because I wanted to see how the fussy cut birds looked. The whole jelly roll is cut ready to go and the next batch of pieces is just waiting to be tacked down.
I am also taking part in a hexie flower swap and these will be added to my scrappy hexie top. I could finish it the size it is but the swap was too good an opportunity to pass up to add to the top.
Friday in the mail I received another jelly roll that I had forgotten that I had ordered. It is a Rural Jardin jelly roll to go with the fabric I received from Oddbjorg in our friends swap. Just need to decide whether to chop it up and add it to the Park avenue hexies or use it for something else.
Decisions, Decisions.

Saturday night Dh and I took  the boys, my sil and her hubby and my mum out for dinner to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. I can't believe the years have flown by so quickly. We went to a beautiful seafood restaurant right on the marina (how appropriate). DH and I went there last year for our anniversary too. It was a lovely night spent with people who are dear to us. We actually met at my sil's house. I used to babysit her boys as she was a friend of my mum's. I still blame her for us getting together!
Off to U2 on Wednesday! Woohoo. Can't wait. Dinner with the work girls on Thursday, also expecting some goodies in the mail. I am looking forward to this week.
Have a lovely week...
cheers
Marina

Wednesday 24 November 2010

Sneak peak and Survivor Wednesday?

Well I haven't had to play the immunity idol yet, am keeping it till after the merge in case someone tries to vote me off...
I stayed up last night to watch this weeks instalment of Survivor. I love to see the behind peoples backs play and how surprised people can be by another alliance member's betrayal. Poor Brenda thought her 'queen' would save her by sacrificing his immunity idol- sucker!!.
That's for those of you that fessed up to being survivor fans.
I have finished my round of the Stitching round the block and it will be going on a little trip to Fiona's this week. Of course there are sneak peaks!



Who let the bugs out?
that's it for today.....
cheers
Marina

Tuesday 23 November 2010

tuesday treasures..

Here is my tuesday treasure for this week. It is a new treasure.
No 1 son returned from a month in the Cook Islands on Sunday. It was a real great life experience to be living and teaching there. We are huge Survivor fans and often made references to Survivor in our exchanges. Survivor has filmed two series in the Cook Islands and on the island of Atui (where he stayed) they actually filmed a reward experience. When he was a bit homesick I would tell him to keep looking for the immunity idol and try not to get sent to exile island!
So what should he bring me but a carved mask. My own immunity idol!
Now I just need to work out what I will be immune from...  housework, domestic drudgery, teenage nagging? Will let you know once it starts working.
He also bought me a lovely black pearl. Well, I was off with Jack Sparrow references...
I think I watch a little bit too much tv!
 speaking of which....Saw Harry Potter last Friday.
Can't make up my mind on the verdict. I did enjoy it but just felt it lacked detail for me. I love so many of the support characters but in all the films they are never developed as much as I would like.
I want to see it again as it did bring the book to life for me. Will also look forward to the final film next year.
Have a great week!
Marina

Monday 22 November 2010

new santas..

Every year I like to get a new santa well this year there will be two! I went to a market night at the school I worked at last Friday and they had these adorable door stop santas.
 The next afternoon I went shopping and found this lovely at Coles. I think he is gorgeous and no one has offered to take him to the shooting range!
Craftiness has included preparing hexies for a new hexie flower project. I have cut a jelly roll of Park Avenue by 3 sisters. I have mailed my Swap package for Judit's Christmas swap so it is winging it's way to Hungary.
Last weekend I prepared the Stitching round the block for my contribution to the block.
I have added a few little things that I hope will turn out nicely.
Here is a sneak peak....


Hopefully the photos have all loaded ok! No more giant multiple photos lol.
See you tomorrow for Tuesday Treasures...
cheers
Marina

Tuesday 16 November 2010

big apology to readers of my blog

I have to make an apology and my excuse is that I am technologically challenged and the 'puter doesn't do what I say when I push the button!
Poor Fiona politely pointed out to me that sometimes I have jumbo photos of the same things in my posts. (Thankyou for pointing this out Fi I appreciate it heaps!)
I thought this was funny as sometimes I have great difficulty uploading photos to my posts! Well Der!!! they have been uploading and sometimes many times in fact and at Jumbo size!
they don't appear when I am writing a post so I have assumed that they aren't there.
I also have problems seeing pics all the time on other blogs but couldn't work it out. Well.... ta da I have sort of worked it out. When I blog or look at blogs through Mozilla is when I have 'photo' issues. When I go through my internet provider I don't but the uploading is much slower.
So sorry to everyone who has been looking at my ginormous multitude of photos thinking 'what is she doing?', but the pics look nice? I have fixed up the most recent posts to the way I had thought they were looking like and as a form of compensation No Pics on this Post!
Has anyone else had these issues? would love to not feel alone in Dersville!
cheers
Marina

tuesday treasures

Last week I had an urge to hunt out some old craft that I had done as a teenager. Tapestry used to be quite a popular craft, perhaps it still is,  and you could get wonderful prints on canvas to stitch. My mum taught me  how to stitch and my first attempt was a small kiddies picture. Once I finished that I was allowed to have a more grown up one.
 I was mad on horses and dogs when I was young and mum bought this lovely Semco tapestry for me. I can still remember looking at all the colours thinking how beautiful and silky they were. I can recall stitching it and dreaming of having a horse. Well never got the horse but I did finish the tapestry.

When we lived overseas we visited an aunt in France, she took mum to a craft shop and they had the most wonderful tapestries and I was allowed to choose one. I was only 13 and it seemed huge at the time and we bought all the wonderful french wools to go with it. I was so excited. It took awhile to finish but I got there.
Unfortunately they are all unframed. I must get around to it! 



(I have had trouble  uploading the large pic of this tapestry. It is an underwater scene in blues. You can get a picture from this close up. It is of the seahorse my favourite part to stitch.


Here is another horse that I have done. It was lovely to pull them out of storage and look at them again. Lovely memories in them all.
There are two others that I have done that I don't have pics of. A hunting with hounds and horses scene that was for my grandmother and a gold panner that I did for my aunt.
One day it may be fun to do another one. I must admit I prefer this to cross stitching.
have a great week.
Marina

Saturday 13 November 2010

a lovely giveaway at Retromummy...

There is a lovely giveaway here at Retromummy....
It runs till the 21st of November.
The goodies on offer are 14 fat quarters of Rosalie Quinlan's new fabric range. Just gorgeous!
cheers
Marina


Friday 12 November 2010

feeling hot, hot, hot....

Well where is the thunderstorm and the cool change!!Today has been a stinker in Melbourne. We have had a few warm days, we have even hit 29-30 degrees. The change was supposed to come early afternoon with heaps of rain but so far....nil, nada, niente, rien, zip, zero, zilch, hakuna! Well you get the picture.
 I wish it was winter again..
One good thing about today was that a special parcel arrived from Oddbjorg in Norway. When she sent me her friends swap goodies she hadn't finished one item and said she would post separately. Today it arrived and it is the most gorgeous bag in my favourite colour-blue.


I even took it for a test run to the post office to post the above items to Carol in NSW who didn't receive any goodies from her colours swap person. Lisa asked if anyone would like to make some things and I was more than happy to. I hope she likes them.
Hope you all have a lovely weekend..
cheers
Marina

Tuesday 9 November 2010

tuesday treasures plus some...

My christmas trees are coming together nicely, just need to glue the trunk into the cotton reels and find some beads to put on the top.Even dh commented how pretty they are. I just love them.
this swap item has decided to make an appearance after having so much difficulty loading the pic the other day!


 couldn't resist this Maisie pic. I know, she is always lying down or asleep but she is a cat! It is so hard to get a pic of the boys as they are always running around.
 Here is my Tuesday Treasure for this week. Clare is winding this up in a week or two .
This tray belonged to my grandmother and she used it often. I loved it as I have always been an avid dog lover. I secretly wished that she would give it to me one day. After she passed away, when we were cleaning out my grandparents home it turned up and everyone said that I should have it. It is just beautiful. (the little tennis racquet clock on the side was made by no 3 son in woodwork. He has made some really great pieces-could be his calling?)

 Here is a mini camellia from our garden. It has flowered after all the others have finished their flush of blooms. I love the flowers just before they burst open fully.

sorry for all the pics...
Have a lovely week..
Marina
ps and it's unanimous- No one saw Noah in the 60's!

Monday 8 November 2010

Aunty Marina....

conversation with 5 year old great niece...
  • Aunty Marina?
  • Yes Molly,
  • Why weren't we around when everything was black?
  • What do  you mean when everything was black?
  • You know, In the 60's?
  • Oh in the 60's (where is this coming from? but a question deserves an answer), well I can tell you, because I was there in the 60's that were was lots of light, it wasn't all black in the 60's. When was it black, (please explain?) do you mean like with the dinosaurs?
  • No, you know when Noah built his ark and everything was black...
  • Oh that blackness? (should've known there was a bible story involved!) Well it was black like when we have a storm and there are dark clouds because it had to rain for 40 days and 40 nights. But it was dark at night.
  • Oh Okay....
  • Phew! 
Where do they get these sort of questions from. Next time I may say ask your mother?
In conclusion for all those of you who don't remember the sixties perhaps you were stuck on Noah's ark in the blackness waiting for the rains to stop!
 cheers
Marina

Saturday 6 November 2010

my saturday ...

today I have had a good go at getting some niggly bits and pieces done..
I managed to conquer the stitching on the stitching around the block piece, boy talk about hard work, it took me three goes to get it decent.Oh and that chocolate bar Fiona included helped provide some comfort too!
Now it will be ready to make it's way to Carol.

Here are some more Christmas goodies....
These I finished off today. Quite happy with the result.

I think these two little girlies are just so cute and they will look lovely on the Christmas tree.
Hubby bought me some dowel to put in my cotton reels for the yo yo Christmas trees so can't wait to make them up!
Once they are done I have some more christmas stitcheries to work on as pressies for friends.
I am itching to get back to my hexies and to start a new hexie project!
Here is my Hexie top update, since this pick a month ago I have added another couple of rows but you can see how it is growing........
I only have a few more rows and I will have exhausted my scrappy flowers. It will make a pretty bed topper I think.
Have a lovely weekend....
cheers
Marina

Wednesday 3 November 2010

The mailman cometh!!!

I came home at lunchtime today to two wonderful parcels that I had been waiting for.
One was an ebay purchase of wooden cotton reels for my Christmas tree bases. I have been wanting some of these for ages but as I don't want to waste the ones with cotton on them, I have since bought some crafting reels that are a bit smaller but are the ones I will use for my trees. They remind me of my mum's sewing boxes and of course my nannas. They were a great bargain and they fill an Anzac tin nicely.
The next parcel I got had these lovely stamps....
So I got very excited...Norway- it must be my friends swap from Oddbjorg!!
I carefully ripped into the package. I couldn't wait. The parcels were all wrapped so beautifully in blue and white..

 I opened the individual parcels..
f for flower fabrics and thread
r for romantic blue button
i for item no 3 ( a gorgeously well made zip purse)
e for enjoy a bath (some soap)
n for Norwegian pictures (calendar)
d for dishcloth
s for stitchery pattern with dog and cat

As you can see the gifts are just adorable and suit me to a t! The colours and goodies are perfect!!
Oddbjorg has chosen things that I will really love. The little zipped purse has the most gorgeous fabric with blue cottons. I love it. My friends at work were amazed at the fabric and workmanship.
Thankyou so much Oddbjorg. I love them!!!
Thanks to Khris for running another enjoyable swap. It is wonderful.

This week I should be getting some more mailman visits with fabric I have ordered. I feel a little naughty but they were such good bargains. Who can resist?
cheers
Marina

Tuesday 2 November 2010

a slight distraction

I have been a little distracted and got a little carried away with some no-calorie cupcakes.
The pattern is from the same site as the yo yo christmas trees. I just love them and like real cupcakes found it hard to stop at just one!


Now get focused back on those christmas swap goodies!
cheers
Marina

Time is flying....

 Seems like my blog has become a little neglected again, this doesn't mean a lack of crafting though. Progress has been achieved on most...