How long till Christmas?

Last week I sent a christmas stocking to a textile friend Aldona

and, in return she sent me one which is now hanging in my sewing room

Three presents went with each stocking - one each for January, February and March and we will continue with more presents throughout the year until the big unveiling and opening occurs on 25/12!

I am thinking that I might be able to buy some small presents in Italy as I have been talking about going in May this year. However, I just looked at my passport and please NOTE the expiry date!!!!!

I will have to take some steps to have it renewed - with Easter on the way, I don't know if there will be enough time!!! MEMO TO ALL - note expiry date of passports on some electronic calendar with a reminder.

I had dinner with Pete on her deck overlooking the river last night which was very nice. Arrived home to find some books had arrived from ukbookdepository - amongst them was this:

This is just a small sample of the joys of the book - I know you're all going to want to borrow!!! You can knit Camilla, Harry, Prince Phil, as well as the bride and groom and it even comes with a cardboard fold-out balcony where they can all be positioned for the nuptial wave and kiss!!!

And over the fence (and this side of it) there are a few additions:
I have a new arch with a white flowery creaper growing on it

and Mr veryrichbuilder has a netted trampoline kiddie-trap up beside the clothesline in the front garden. As well as keeping an eye on their washing, I can now supervise jumping play!

weekends are for.........

I wish that Victoria had come for this weekend as the weather is beautiful and when she was here it was raining and then VERY hotandhumid! I have had a bit of a wander around - went to the Easton Pearson sale of fabrics and my new budget limited me to $100! What I got was quite special:

This is some black and silver diagonally striped silk which will be a scarf soon. Also some hand beaded trims..

These are sumptious silks - either for clothes or cushions.
And this is some magnificent taffeta with gypsies on it.

The children down the street had a stall to raise money for their school and were selling bananas from their back yard for $4 a kilo. Because of the cyclone, we haven't been getting very nice bananas and these are delish!

Andy and Audrey came to visit and I made some cupcakes:

I'm not sure how to remove the "glum" photo of Andy so here's a better one!

the biggest and; the best in ...... clayfield!!!

Forget my poor little beans which have to grow a centimeter a day - mr veryrichbuilder is having an instant sort of garden - arriving on a truck!

I thought there would be some pointy plants - wonder what else will be here when I get home tonight?

what Jack did

last Sunday I threw some beans into the back garden - this Sunday they're bean stalks sitting up there looking very happy. Hope they grow nice and tall!!

The quilt for babyfionanathan is coming along - he's not due for about 8 weeks so I should get it finised!

finished

when I got home this afternoon I found that some painters had been in and had painted the next door's fence in a blinding white on my side. I am so delighted to have it all finished and can't wait to sort out my side in relative privacy. My poor arch has been bashed around a bit - when Victoria comes here next week, I hope she is prepared to assist with a replacement arch!!

and the job of these little trees is to eat lots of chook poo and grow as they can in as short as possible time.

getting rid of some fabrics

I have decided to try to limit the amount of brown things in my house. I'm stuck with the brown cedar furniture in the dining room but would prefer the family room to be as colourful as possible. To this end I have covered one of the poufs:

It's covered in a patchwork of furnishing fabrics.....I like it so much, I might also cover the other pouffe!

I've also started making a quilt for Fi's baby boy - trying to have soft baby colours with some "boy" things. There's some cowboy fabric there that was given to me when FlossnToss were tiny so it is about 25 years old! Whenever I get out fabrics to make baby quilts, I get an immediate nostalgia burst - so many of the fabrics were used for my baby's things!

weeds

I woke up this morning feeling quite strong and decided to leap out into the garden and do some serious weeding. I should have taken photos before I started - these are taken after two hours of solid work. My wheely bin is full, as is the garden refuse bin next door.

The pawpaw that Tosca discovered at Christmas is doing well

I was pleased to see that one bush has grown so tall that it is now hanging over my neighbour's very high fence and appears to be about to drop orange berries in the pool......oh dear!!!!