Some things to be thankful for...

crispy white grass

lots of firewood in the shed

a hint of spring

a glimpse of sun now and again

a splash of unexpected colour

and a happy Shelby

It's fun looking for the unexpected.

What are you thankful for today?

Keep safe and well,

Carole :)

Stitching on a sunny day

Not long until August and my new online class.

It will be a small (ish) wall hanging and I'm really excited about it as it's

getting closer to being finished.

It's got a little bit of everything in it.

It will be a little bit more involved than the journal class, but just as much fun.

Hope you'll be able to join me.

Hope you have the bestest weekend :)

Carole

Making hay while the sun shines.....

..... actually I won't be making hay, but this sunshine, the first we've seen in a number of days, will be great to dry my teabags out. (even tho it is a little weak)

If you think you might like to take my next online class, you're gonna need teabags.

Better start collecting now!

Hope the sun's shining on you too,
Carole :)

card making on a wintery day

I can't believe that a whole week has passed by. I don't know where the time is going and I don't seem to be creating much at the moment.I'm blaming the weather. I feel like snuggling under a quilt on the sofa, in front of the fire with a good romance novel.

I am working my way through the class sample which is progressing nicely. Hopefully I will be able to show you soon.

This weekend I have been making loads of new greeting cards for a mini market I am going to sell at. It will be the first time that I stand and sell my artwork, am a bit nervous about the prospect, but I am telling myself it will be a great experience.

Here are some pics from my day sewing....

 

  

 

I think I'm suffering from the winter blues. It's cold and miserable and wet and grey. And I'm not feeling the least bit creative.
Perhaps those of you living where the sun is shining brightly will send me some heat and sunshine?

I'll be back when I feel the vibes! LOL
Hope you are having fun this weekend!

Carole :)

How I lost Mr Madness on the mini break....

 Lake Taupo looking south across the lake towards the mountains

Back home safe and sound and refreshed after a fabulous mini break.

We arrived in Taupo, 3 hours drive from home, on Saturday afternoon and checked into our cabin at the De Bretts Thermal Spa Resort and  immediately went for a lovely long laze in the hottest pool we could find. The temperature was 37 degrees Celsius.

Mr Madness came with me for the first swim, but decided he wanted to watch the rugby on tv later in the evening so I went on my own and stayed until they closed at 9.30pm.

Here's the campground with the row of little cabins early this morning. The over night air temps dropped to -5 and the car was covered in ice. It was lovely and toasty warm in our cabin, but do you know what I really wanted to do?
Go for another soak in the hot mineral pools!
Mr Madness came with me. It was freezing!

A glimpse of the outdoor pools through the trees... There are a number of pools all at different temps.

Here's the hottest outdoor pool, it is kept between 37 and 40 but this morning it was 41.5. Bliss! There
were only a hand full of people using the pools at 8.30 in the morning, the best time to go. We decided to try the private pools, they were 40.

This one will do nicely....

Too hot to sit under this chap!
And then Mr Madness lowered himself into the steaming hot mineral water....

And I lost him! He was in there somewhere!
Only one thing to do,
Go in and find him!!
Can you see him in the steam?

I think we need to shift to Taupo! Absolutely relaxing! So after feeling blissed out we headed home again.

Then coming home today, the sky was the prettiest blue and there was snow on all the ranges and mountains.
And then around the corner.....

There she was, Mount Ruapehu looking charming and glorious dressed all in white.

Here's to a lovely week, and to my friends who are celebrating on the 4th July -have a great day!

Carole :))

A Bridget Jones mini break!!

(photo taken from 'The Road to my House' class sample)

How exciting! 

Tomorrow, (which is Saturday here in New Zealand), my handsome Mr Madness and I are going to jump in our wee motor and have a wee mini break!

A road trip in the country!

What are you doing this weekend? 

See you soon,

Carole :))

How's your free motion stitching going?

no secret to it all, but if you practice, you'll get much better!

have fun,  carole :))

Are we ready? Then let's do it!

OK, easy as!
So now I want you to go off and practice. Write words on your fabric and free motion over them until your fabric is covered in writing.

Leave a comment to let us know how you've got on, and we can all come and visit you to see your homework!

On the weekend I'll post another exercise.
Have fun,
Carole :))

Free motion sewing lesson no.1- Getting ready to stitch

The batting is a piece left over from a quilt I made. It is a polyester/cotton mix and I'm only using it because it is a scrap. There are cheaper types of batting available, so if you are going to buy a small amount to use for practising on, then the plain polyester types are the cheapest.

OK, any questions so far?
Well then I shall see you back here tomorrow!
Carole :)

Welcome to my sewing room....

.... or what I call the equivalent to a man cave!

Are you ready for the challenge??

Carole :))

stitching of an evening...

...working on the class sample, in front of a fire, 

with Downton Abbey on tv, 

and a nice cup of tea.

Could I want for anything more?

Carole :)

How have you changed?

Today it's raining, very cold and grey and I've just finished doing my tax return. It wasn't good news.

 (photo from my very first month of posting)

And then as I was lighting the fire I was thinking about my blog and how long I've been blogging. It seems that Facebook has had quite an impact on the way and frequency of blogging lately. 

Out of curiosity I decided to go back in time and see what my blog posts were like when I first started blogging and just how much they've changed compared to my posts now.

I found lots of enthusiasm and lots of lovely artwork from friends all around the globe. 

I also thought I wrote a lot more than I do today. I wonder if that's a reflection on the fact I'm always running out of time?

I also think that my focus has changed a lot during the four years I've had a blog presence, when I first starting blogging I used to participate in loads of swaps, but now I've found I enjoy teaching, I love meeting people and as I watch my students finishing their amazing journals I realise how exciting it is to  share the fun of helping students make a special piece of art.
I think my art journey has become more focused. I think there are going to be some exciting projects ahead.

But maybe sometimes we all need to step backwards so that we can move forwards?

How have you as a blogger and artist changed from when you first starting blogging?

Hope you've all had a fantastic week,
Carole :)

i don't mean to scare you but.....

my next online class is going to require some LOTS of free motion stitching

feed dogs down

and going for it

do you think you're ready for the challenge?

Carole ;)

it's winter....

every year i look forward to winter,

wearing my pretty scarves,

sitting in front of a fire at night reading a book,

having a legitimate excuse to stay inside and stitch while it rains outside

and i enjoy the smell of freshly baked bread as it cooks.

this will be eaten with my lamb and beer casserole. :)

the recipe is very simple and is a river cottage recipe (i love hugh fearnley-whittingstall's cooking)

sift 500gms plain flour and 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda into a large bowl and stir in 1 tsp fine salt. 

make a well in the centre and add in approx 400ml of buttermilk, stirring as you go, if you need you can add a tablesp of milk to help bring the mix together, it should form a soft dough, 'just this side of sticky'

tip it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead lightly for about 1 min. it doesn't need to be smooth and elastic like normal bread. 

working quickly is good, you want to get the dough into the oven while the buttermilk is working with the bicarb of soda. 

transfer the dough to a floured tray, dust it with flour and with a sharp knife cut a cross on the top of the dough. this allows the dough to expand.

bake in a pre-heated oven 200 degrees celsius for 40 - 45 mins until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped underneath. 

if you want a crunchy crust cool on a wire rack, if not, cover while it cools. 

nice eaten while warm, or left overs make great toast!

let me know how you get on!

have fun,

carole :)

Some exciting news!

Are you looking for something different?
Want an exciting new class to join during Autumn and Winter?
Lots of on-line fun? 


I'm working on a new class!

here's a sneak peek....

It's called...

'The Road to my House'

and are we going to have fun or what!!

Do you think you're ready for the challenge? 


Don't forget to check back here for more updates as they're posted.

Carole :)

a post that has absolutely nothing to do with anything

Last night I decided I would be adventurous and make sushi for dinner. 

I have never eaten it before, let alone make it, but I'm always game to try new things - and beside all the young ones in the office are eating it all the time :)) -how bad can it be?

Here is my roll of sushi rice, and my filling of crab meat, capsicum and cucumber, with a little bit of seafood dressing added for taste.

So far so good.

mmmmmm

Pretty frickin good for a first attempt, and tasted good too.

However.....my DH decided that he'd sooner have a steak, so to make them more palatable in the meantime he drenched them in apple sauce! 

It would have been funny, except I cooked that much rice we'll be having them for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the next week !!!

Have you been adventurous this week?

Carole :)

Here it is all finished!

Well finally the moment you've all been waiting for. 

I have to apologise for the quality of the pics, it is dark when I leave for work in the mornings and dark when I get home and today the day is grey, windy and wintery, not the best for taking photos.

The big reveal of my funny mismatched quilt. I'm going to share the love with you :)

Here is the original pattern, scanned from the book, it's so easy anyone could just about make it blind folded!  (except me)

That is until I came along and stuffed it all up. I still can't understand how I managed to, I measured and re-measured absolutely everything. And almost everything was out. I can say with a certainty that this quilt is the biggest mis-match of a quilt I have ever made!

This is what it looks like now...

But you know what? I really love it! It shows off the brown French themed fabric right in the centre, and you can hardly notice all the "fix-up" bits of fabric I had to add.

And I decided to take the advice of those of you who thought I should embellish it, thanks for your ideas, I decided to cut circles from my left over fabric and sew them onto the small squares in the middle of the quilt. 

I'm pleased I did, they look really neat.

On the back I used the last of my larger pieces of flannel fabric.

It's a very snuggly throw - A very small bear and I tried it out!

Have a lovely weekend my lovely friends,

Carole :)

A right royal bunting...

Making buntings has been fun, I think I'm on a roll here! This bunting is 8.5 feet long and will get listed in my Etsy Store shortly. 

 

It's a fun bunting with 13 flags and 6 British rosettes.

Carole :)

Love is all around us...

Just for a change I decided to make a pretty bunting for my Etsy store. And I decided to use paper as I consider I am severely challenged when it comes to working with paper and need all the practice I can get! LOL

In pretty pinks and greens it is 5.5 feet long. It will be listed soon.

Carole :)

I have a funny feeling.....

Still working on my quilt. 

I have the funniest feeling that just because nothing matches on this quilt, no seams join, no nine patches are straight, that this quilt will turn out to my very very favouritest!

Just because!

Have a lovely weekend dear readers. 

Just because.

Carole :)