My first attempt at Collage Art

I have been wanting to try to make collage pendants for a while. I have purchased a few but I thought that I could probably do it myself. I found Christina's Craft which is an online shop for scrapbooking and altered art here in Australia. They had all the bits a pieces, the glass and even some little frames so you don't have to get out the soldering iron, though I have also bought some copper and aluminium foil to do the soldering thing too down the track.

The picture I used is of my Mum. She was quite young at the time and there was a set of 4 and they were taken in a park somewhere. I found the photos when I was going through a heap of my Pop's things and I had put them away to use in something. Just like me, mum liked bright colours so I thought she would have appreciated the setting. I might do another one of these for my sister for Christmas, her's will have to be blue.

Gathering of Friends

Never Never take a 4 year old to a craft fair even if you think it might be a good bonding experience. She was feeling a bit poorly and I thought that she would be ok she usually pretty good when we go shopping but she just didn't have the staying power. When I go to these things I like to take a stroll around work out where I am going to spend and then jump in. It was clear right from the begininning that this was wishful thinking on my part. So I ended up spending most of my money at Kirsty Campion's stall and didn't have much by the time I got to the Rustic Tarts. Did get one of Christina's Altered Pendants and one from Town and Country as well as some Christmas Tag's which I am going to use a Chrissy decorations and of course the Willow have been wanting one of these for a while now. Lydia said to me for the 100th time "Can we go now? But first I really want the princess" (the doll on the left hand side). How she spotted her I do not know from half way across the hall and she was burried behind a few other dolls but she pick her out and she was a bargain at $7.50 so she came home too. The Funky Monkey is for Lydia for Christmas.

I am hosting a Girl's Night In tomorrow evening, it is a Craft theme, luckily a few have pulled out so I feel less stressed than I was feeling at the begining of the week. Playgroup girls are going to put to work to make stuff for the Playgroup stall at the local church fete I really should be cooking at the moment but thought I needed a break. Here is the display I have put on the buffet to get the girl inspired (most of them are uncrafty so it will probably just intimidate them.

Dr Who's No 1 Fan

It was my son's birthday the last week of the school holidays and as we were having the party at the Beach House we decided not to have the party in the school holidays when the place is just feral so it was today which was pretty hot in Adelaide so the place was packed anyway.

Daniel is a huge fan of Dr Who (obsessed would be the word) so we had to have a TARDIS cake, and appropriate invitations and lolly bags. Here is the results. I think the cake turned out pretty good, I must admit I did stress out about it a bit but Daniel thought it was fabulous so at least it past the test.

So we had eleven 7 year olds plus my 4 year old daughter. I am really glad we decided to pay the extra and have a hostess as she was great and always made sure we had all 12 kids in tow and made sure we padded out the 3 hours with the activities that were included. So my bank balance a lot lighter and my feet a tad tired I think it was a hit with the kids.

The only thing was I forgot my camera so I am really glad I took these photo's yesterday, because what is left of the cake aint pretty.

Finished Quilting NOT

Here are my excuses: it is school holidays, my son turned 7 this week and I have been a bit under the weather. But I did manage to finish quilting the Nick of Time Quilt or NOT as the Sloanies are calling it.

Apart from the excitement of starting a project my favourite part of the quilting process is this. Yes it is trimming the batting away after the quilting. You see I hate putting on binding don't know why well yes I do it is probably because my quilts are usually huge and it take so long this stage takes about 2 minutes and the quilt looks crisp and clean with all the threads and frayed bits cut off I love it. Here is a close up of the quilting, probably should have done more quilting but didn't have a pink to match so will put the binding on and quilt the pink later when I can get to a quilt shop unshackled by kids.

I have used a polyester batting which I am trialling as my husband hates the weight of my quilts. I usually quilt a quilt to within an inch of its death so that also adds to the weight. It is a Matilda Batt called O So Soft and it is actually quilt nice to work with doesn't feel polyester at all , it drapes really nicely and it is nearly weightless so the complaining may stop if I put one of these on the bed.

It's Spring

One of my favourite spring time flowers is Geralton Wax. They are the perfect drought tolerant plant, I don't think this bush has been watered since last summer and it is absolutely magnificent this year.

I have two bushes. One (the lighter pink flowers) we bought at the Native Plant Sale which is held I think once a year. The way they are cultivated they are virtually guaranteed to out grow plants that you buy in a garden shop. Within 12 months I had a large bush covered in flowers. The other bush is still tiny and it was just bought in a standard pot and is only 50cm high and there is only 6 months difference in planting. The original is about 1.5 m all round and has been butchered every year after flowering. Now it is just a pink ball.

Might have to head back to the sale this year (if I haven't missed it) and get some more they just look fabulous.