I couldn't help but be inspired...

On Saturday my stitching friend Chris and I went for a drive down to Carterton to do a class with the very talented Alison Norris-Baber. You may of heard of her, she has been featured in quite a number of magazines. She has a gorgeous wee studio selling her own hand made pieces of art, and a workroom to teach classes in. What a dream!

Alison loves the very muted colours, and adores everything vintage. The older the better. A small group of girls chatted together as we stitched and ironed under Alison's guidance. Her work is pure inspiration. And I found her colour scheme very relaxing.

I stitched a very old piece of cotton to a very old piece of linen, which you will see more of in due course. Chris worked on an old church, embellishing with lace. Both our pieces were quite different, but both lovely.

Inspiration hung in every window.

Thanks Alison for sharing your resources and ideas, providing a very
inspirational class, and a lovely friendly
atmosphere.
We had a fabulous day!
You can check out Alison's web site here.


Carole :)

Lots of fun things happened yesterday...

....the day included some of this....

....and some of this....

....could you find a better combination?

Carole :)

a blog post for my daughter...

How was your French class Traci? This afternoon I made these, except I made the dough in the breadmaker. Mmmmm, I will be making them again!

Brioche des plus simples (1 rectangulaire de 26 cm)

Ingrédients :

• 250 g de farine
• 80 g de beurre mou
• 2 gros oeufs
• 1 sachet de levure du boulanger sèche (Briochin 5,5 g)
• 2 càs de sucre fin
• 80 ml de lait tiède
• 1 pincée de sel
• 1 jaune d’oeuf pour dorer la brioche

Étapes :

• Dans un bol, mélangez la farine avec la levure de boulanger sèche et faites un puits au milieu.
• Ajoutez doucement le lait tiède et mélangez du bout des doigts (si vous utilisez un mixeur à pied, versez le lait doucement et utilisez le crochet pour mixer.)
• Ajoutez le sucre et une pincée de sel, puis le beurre mou coupé en morceaux. Attendez à chaque fois que le morceau précédent est bien mélangé avant d’ajouter le suivant.
• Puis, un à un, ajoutez les oeufs. Mélangez jusqu’à ce que la pâte soit élastique et se détache facilement de vos doigts ou du bol du mixeur (environ 8 mns).
• Couvrez avec un linge propre et laissez reposer dans un endroit chaud, à l’abri des courants d’air, pendant environ 2 heures, ou jusqu’à ce la pâte ait doublé de volume.
• Travaillez à nouveau la pâte et divisez-la en quatre boules que vous façonnez avec la paume de vos mains. Placez-les dans un moule de 26 cm beurré, et couvrez pour laisser à nouveau lever (1 heure).
• Préchauffez votre four à 200 C.
• Badigeonnez la brioche avec un jaune d’oeuf battu avec un peu de sucre. Avec une paire de ciseaux, faites de petites entailles dans chaque boule.
• Mettez au four pendant 10 min à 200 C, puis réduisez la temperature à 180 C pour poursuivre la cuisson pendant 20 à 30 min.
• Retirez du four, et démoulez sur grille pour laisser refroidir.

hugs,
Mum :)

gathering treasures

I'm gathering treasures to use in the Open Your Door journal workshop.
It's a whole heap of fun.
Wouldn't you like to join in?

Carole :)

I went to visit a village...

...and a very pretty little village it was too.

Let me tell you about the journey...

I have had a new wooden frame sitting in my sewing room I've had for ages, wanting to be inspired and create something with it. I decided to paint it and collage it. I also got a nail and hammer and belted the nail into the wood several times to give it a kind of aged look.
Paint and collage are totally not me, give me fabric any day! I'm not sure if I like the words, but I was trying to use what I had in my sewing room and I just happened to have some vintage sheet music, and this was the title of the song. I glued some scrapbooking paper onto the hardboard at the back of the frame.

Then I found some fabric scraps, very small pieces, and a little batting. I used whatever thread was in the machine, and dropped the feed dogs for a bit of free motion stitching.

I tried not to lift the needle at all, stitching as fast as I could which gives the house a more random feel. If you free motion slowly, your house will be neater, but I didn't want that look.

I used some scraps that had had paint spilled on them

Added a couple of random birds

A few random french knots and a little hand stitching

And the houses start to take shape

I glued a couple of flowers to the frame

Added a button or two

And a small village started to emerge!

Not such a great pic, but you get the picture!
Whoever thought creating a village would be so easy?

Carole :)

couldn't help myself...

.....just had to have it. rubyfloy stocks the most interesting things!

I'm sure there's a journal round here just waiting to have some lace added :)

Carole :)

not a good sign.....

mmm........what do you think?

:D Carole

a little mischief

I am really looking forward to the on-line journal class starting.
I'll be organizing chairs and tables soon :)
-won't you join us?


in the mean time...

Carole :D

Happy birthday Linda!

Hope you have a fantastic birthday today Linda!
Even if it really was yesterday here in New Zealand!!

Feel free to pop on over and wish her a great day!

A touch of pink and my pin cushion

I had a lovely surprise this morning to find my
needle keeper had been picked to be featured on an Etsy Treasury Feature!
Thankyou Ruth!

CLASS REGISTRATION OPENS!

Registration is now open for my online class

'Open Your Door'

Starts: June 14th

Cost: $US45.00

Make a sturdy practical journal for everyday use,
special project, or to give as a gift

In this workshop we will work through every step together from
preparing the fabrics, choosing covers, designing pages and signatures, embellishing
to final construction of the journal



I will be there every step of the way to advise and guide you,
to answer all your questions and to watch you
create some fabulous keepsake pieces

The workshop will run through a special "invitation only" blog that only
you as a student will have access to



There will be loads of instructions, photos and videos, and
there may even be some downloads

In this workshop you will be using your computer,
your sewing machine,
doing some hand stitching, dyeing, embellishing,
stamping, transferring


There will also be lots of deconstructing

No two journals will look the same!

Please make your class payment via PayPal, (link is on the side bar)
include your
email address so that I can contact you


As soon as I see your payment
I will issue you an invitation to join my workshop blog
Please check your spam for my email if you don't hear from me.

A list of the things you will need plus treasure hunt items
will be added to the workshop blog before the start of the class


The blog will be up and running for 3 months, during this time you will have full access to it so that you may work at your own pace and revisit it if you choose to go back and make a different version to your first journal
I will also be available to help during this time.

Once your workshop fee has been paid there will be no refunds


If you have any questions don't hesitate to email me
(link on the side)

'Open Your Door'

An online journal workshop

Starts: 14th June

Cost: $45.00

You may use this button (above) on your blog if you like :)


I look forward to you joining the workshop
I know we are all going to have loads of fun together!!

Carole :)

More fun than watching tv!

This is the lastest addition to our small flock.
He's a lovely handsome ram for our girls.
I guess you could say we're into arranged marriages here :)
We're hoping he romances our girls, in fact this handsome dude has a
marker on him, which is why he has the harness on. It has a wee pouch filled with red powdered paint so we can tell just who he has been out on a date with!
He leaves a tell-tale streak of red on all of his girlfriends.

WAIT A MINUTE......



Is that a hint of red on his head???

Just where exactly has he been???

And while we were spending all our time checking the paddock for the colour red,
Buddy decided he would slip into the bedroom for a quiet nap in comfort!

Carole :)

I went fishing yesterday

what did you do?

Carole :)

just when you thought it was safe to check my blog!

More details coming soon!
Carole :)

nippy mornings and some European comfort

We've had a few frosty, foggy mornings here of late. A bit nippy first thing in the morning, but we've had some lovely days to go with them, a very pretty start to the day.

Bet you can't guess who has been visiting New Zealand?? Oh my this chocolate is good!!!

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Carole :)

sewing again, it's a definite sign!

I'm sewing again,
it's a definite sign that one of my many vices is in full swing.

I haven't worked on anything major for a couple of months, and felt like I needed to. I need to work with the sewing machine...
So out with the stash and a challenge to use some of my scraps, decided to use up the remains of the batiks from the quilt I made for Mr M&M.
After loads of measuring and cutting, I'm off on the sewing leg. It's coming together quite quickly.

However,
it's a sign...
when I'm procrastinating I sew,

how about you dear reader, what do you do when you procrastinate?

I also have several others...
when I'm angry I clean,
when I'm stressed I garden
and when I'm down in the dumps I eat.

I am sewing because I have my final assignment to write, it's approx. 3500 words. It's a biography.
And I'm a little stressed because I will be finished university in a few weeks time and will urgently need to find a "real" job! LOL

Did I tell you I weeded the garden?

Oh well,

here, have an apricot pie!

Carole :)

a little sunshine goes a long way

Debbie from over at Little Red said sent me some very welcome sunshine, thanks Debbie!

As I'm a bit shy about passing on these awards, if you happen to come across my blog and would like to share in my sunshine, feel free to treat yourself!!

Carole :)