How is your Tuesday going???

Things are 'caravanning' along here nicely.......

Vintage games

Hubby bought home some of his childhood games from his Father's place on the weekend.

All lovely and aged!

Scrabble and Yahtzee have stood the test of time haven't they?

Both still sold  and enjoyed today.

Hubby's mother has even made a little drawstring bag for the tiles.

They knew how to look after things back then.

The fabric is a wonderful classic 70's print.

Some used Yahtzee score cards were still in the box which gave us a chuckle.

Maris is Hubby's cousin and as you can see she had a great sense of humour and fun (which she still has).

Hubby thoroughly enjoyed playing his childhood scrabble game with his daughter on Sunday morning.

As you can see the scrabble tiles inspired a new Blog Header today.

I hope your week is off to a nice start!

I would have preferred soccer.......

Charlie lives for Thursdays and Sundays at the moment.

Training is on Thursday and the big game on Sunday.

To throw on the blue and white jersey, socks, and shorts and don the headgear and mouth guard are what it is all about.

He is mad for football.

His Father is very happy about it.

His Mother would have preferred Soccer.

What can you do?

Flea Market finds

I popped into my favourite 'Vinnies' the other day on my way to the Quilt shop.

I couldn't leave behind this unusual, little bit 'kitschy' apron.

I have never seen anything like it before and I was quite taken by its 'uniqueness'.

I must say it is a bit hard to imagine wiping dirty greasy kitchen hands on these gorgeous white butterflies, isn't it?

I also picked up a couple of metres of 'old fashioned' gingham. It is much better quality than today's gingham from Spotlight.

Sometimes it is hard not to wonder about the stories behind some of the things you find in thrift shops isn't it??
Did the lady who made this apron use a pattern or make it up??
Why did her family not keep it as a 'momento' of her craftiness??

Questions I will never know the answer to I guess... 

I think it is a nice tribute to stop and think about these things for a wee while.

Have a nice Sunday. 

Pop over to Sophie's place for more Flea Market Finds.

Echino cushions

I recently finished making these cushions out of some lovely Echino fabric that I have had in the stash for quite a while now.

I only bought a half a yard and that was perfect for (2) cushion covers.

As it is a printed 'patchwork' fabric, it was just a matter of some straight line quilting and sewing on a cushion back!

Quick and easy, just the way I like it!

 

Warning: colour overload in following photo !

(may cause nausea to some)

Wishing everyone a 'colourful' weekend!!

More from the gift package

How lovely is this rose tea towel??

The colours are gorgeous!

This one will definately become (2) cushion covers.

As you know I am a big fan of anything 70"s related.

I can never say no to a calender tea towel.

Thanks again ever so much girls!

My Creative Space

Today I have enjoyed making more retro caravan blocks.

I am thinking I will make a quilt as I have some cute caravan fabric that will match perfectly.

Yep so much for not starting any new projects......Ha, no self control here unfortunately.

Head over to Kirsty's place for more creative joy and inspiration.

Vintage Apple

 PS

I always have one of these handmade lovelies under the computer keyboard.
Nothing as nice as this one though.

Adds a little vintage charm to the modern apple computer.

No functionality added just purely decorative.

I am sure the two boys of the house will love it!

(Actually I am fairly certain they will not even notice it!)

 (and they didn't, ha!)

Lovely parcel delivery

Am feeling like a very lucky girl this week.

I was 'gifted' the most beautiful pile of vintage handmade delights from yesteryear.

They came from a friend's friend's mother-in-law's estate (make sense??).

Janice's mother-in -law sounded like a very caring, giving soul so it will give me great joy to use them as is, or make something 'different' with them one day.

They are exquisite!! The detail and handiwork is amaazing!!

Thanks Janice and Tina for my lovely gift and for making my day!

 

Thread drawing??

I have recently been inspired by Melissa of Clothworks and her talents with 'thread drawing' (I think that is what you call it?? perhaps it is just plain old raw edged applique??)

She has recently made a lovely cushion with a VW bug as a feature.

Go check it out, it is fabulous!!

Anyway, when I should have been doing a thousand other things yesterday, I thought I would crack out the Vliesofix and have a go with a retro caravan picture.

 

I am reasonably happy with how the 'van' turned out but must admit in places it looks like I am suffering from a bad case of nerves.
(I was a bit nervous actually, it was all going a bit to fast for my liking).

I think Melissa must have a very 'cool' hand to have mastered this technique so well.

Alot of practise is needed I believe.

Our little 'Goldilocks'

Our gorgeous girl was away for (2) nights on school camp this week.

'Goldilocks' (aka Charlie) snuck into her 'big' bed for a change of nocturnal scenery.

He thought it was fantastic, made even better by sharing the bed with his friend 'Peter puppy'. 

Anything to be like the 'bigkids' is a great thing for young 'Goldilocks'........

Bounce, rest, bounce...

I love photography.

There is so much to it though.

The concepts are slowly slowly sinking in.

My simple brain can get 'confuzzled' by the whole thing.

Every now and then I play around with all the dials on the DSLR and even pop it onto 'manual' mode. (crazy I know)

On the weekend I was attempting to play around with shutter speed and take photos of James bouncing on the trampoline.

I don't think I could have made that shutter go much faster and there was still blur and fuzz.

The photo on the right is my best effort from our short 'shoot'.

More practise, practise, practise is needed so I can take some lovely photos of our travels to have as special memories.

Do you play around with your 'dials'? or do you just shoot in automatic or semi automatic modes?

(I do love aperture priority for portraits)

My Childhood wheels

I have recently joined Pinterest.

Now there is another fabulous, Internet based, time 'consumer' of mammoth proportions.

What an amazing phenomenon! 

A virtual online pin board of inspiration.

This morning I 'repinned' this fabulous photo of a bike that is exactly like the first bike I owned as a child.

Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jodielz/5305185447/

Oh boy, it takes me back.

I absolutely loved it!

I do remember it wasn't a particularly fast bike and I did struggle on the dirt hills but that was OK.

I didn't need to go fast.

I am likin' Pinterest.......alot!

PS If you wish to join and you need someone to invite you , feel free to leave your email address in the comments. 

They give you (5) invites.

Flea Market finds

I popped into a thrift shop after work one day last week.

This particular thrift shop often has 'vintage' fabric in it.

I was once told that you can tell the age of some fabric by its width.

Fabric these days is 110cm wide whereas older fabric is only 90cm wide.

Feel free to correct me if I am wrong about this.

So I picked up several metres of this vibrant (90cm wide) daisy and rose fabric.

The daisies tend to 'outdo' the roses in this print, but I think the roses are rather lovely.

I also came across this crocheted cat in my favourite colour.

For 50cents I couldn't leave him behind.

I am really not sure what he was made for but I have popped him into the kitchen with the pen and notebook so he now looks rather 'functional'.

Pop over to Sophie's place and share your 'flea market finds' today.....

Rolling along with granny square blanket

Very motivated to complete this blanket.

I am thinking it might be needed when we get to Tasmania.

Even though we will be there in Summer, people tell me it might still be a bit cool for us 'Sunshine State' types.

I have run out of wool however so no more progress tonight.

Not to worry, Tangled yarns is opened tomorrow!

My Creative space

My creative space today is another crochet blanket.

It is made using a lovely wool from Biggan design.

This local company produce the loveliest wool in the most stunning colours.

 I am trying to focus on completing a few of the many unfinished projects that I have started.

There is to many to possibly finish before our trip but I want to get a few done.

I keep seeing cute things I want to make or sew but I am trying to show self control and not start anything new.

Boy o Boy it is hard, particularly when you have the worst case of 'craft ADD', which is made exponentially worse by all the inspiration around blog land. 

Pop over to Kirsty's place for more creative inspiration.

Bubbler or Bidet??

Sorry, this may be slightly inappropriate thing to post about, but I thought I would throw a bit of caution to the wind and divulge a family secret.

It is a family secret that I find quite amusing each time it happens.

The ensuite bathroom of our house has a bidet.

A bidet which has never been used for its designed purpose (by our family).

I must stress this point: it has never been used by us for its designed purpose.

When Charlie was young he was quite taken with the bidet.

It is a perfect height for a toddler and we all know toddlers and water are like magnets to metal.

Charlie discovered it was a great water source also (if you are a thirsty young toddler).

It is just what everyone needs in their bathroom: a 'bubbler'.

I was taken back to 1982 today....

I went to the Chandler pool today to watch James swim in a boys school swimming championships.

It is the second time I have been to watch and I just love sitting in the stands feeling like it is 1982.

My main memory is Tracy Wickham winning gold for the 400m and 800m.

Oh and who could forget the Kangaroo who winked at you whilst motoring around QEII stadium....I thought she was gorgeous.

I wonder what happened to Matilda??? Anyone know?

James didn't win any of his races but I was so proud of him!

As a little fella he used to look like he was riding a bike in the water instead of doing any form of swimming kick.

So my big boy has come along way!

It bought a tear to my eye when he gave me a wave each time before his race.

Good on you Jamesy!!!

Terrible Photo, but here he is ready to  do breaststroke in lane (6)

What are your memories of 1982?

Meet Finn..

The Accountant of the family wasn't happy, but I just couldn't resist this gorgeous girl:Raspberry Sorbet Blythe.

Ella and I have named her Finn.

She is absolutely 'girl next door' gorgeous.

Do you love vintage sheets?

If you do, Kellie from Green Tea and Red Nails is organising a 'Vintage Sheet Fat Quarter Swap'.

What a great opportunity to boost your stash and add a bit of variety!!

You choose your own number of fat quarters: what you send in is what you will receive back.

There is plenty of time to find some good quality sheets in the thrift stores as it doesn't close until the 15th April.

The only costs are postage to and from Kellie (oh and the cost of your sheets of course).

A very easy fun swap for vintage sheet 'fans'.

Thank you so much Kellie for organising swap, great effort!!.

Just click on the link in my sidebar for more information if you want to join the fun...

Meet our new caravan

We really love our Jayco Expanda, it is truly a comfortable van for a family of (5).

We have made the difficult decision of selling this one and buying a full caravan that will suit us better for travelling around Australia.

We have some good friends who have just done the trip and fortunately for us, they are selling their wonderful 'Coromal' full size van (which is absolutely perfect).

We feel this van is much more suitable as you just pull up and pull your awning out. 

There is no worries about pop-tops, making beds each stop, or having enough storage.

There is a wonderful bike rack on the back and a huge 150 litre fridge (which will mean less time wasted buying food supplies).

We spent the day with them yesterday catching up, getting some great tips, and generally realising that we need to 'get on with it and get organised' (because there is so much to do).

So we came away very excited and motivated to use the (15) weeks we have left to really get on top of things before driving off into the heart of our great country.

So here she is (It was a bit difficult to take external photos, so have borrowed a photo off Coromal website)

The wonderful fridge

The kitchen and dinette area

The parent's bedroom. Heaps of storage in here as well as under the bed storage.

The kid's bedroom

As you can imagine, the excitement here is mounting as planning starts to move into full swing.

It all feels so surreal.

So looking forward to the 'simple' life and good quality family time.

A sneak peak....

Here is a sneak peak of an 'Australiana' quilt I have started.

It is made out of souvenir Australian linen tea towels that I have collected, most are from thrift shops and a few from Ebay.

I couldn't bear to cut up these kitsch and colourful beauties so I have left them in their wonderful original state.

I might have a go at cross-hatched quilting (criss-cross pattern) but the linen may be a bit to 'mobile' for my first attempt.

This baby may travel around Australia with us.........

PS look at the lonely lovely Frangipani flower that looks like it was strategically placed next to James' foot. 

One of my favourite flowers.

PPS sorry the quilt is upside down

Have you ever been into stamp collecting??

I have never been 'into' stamps.

Occasionally I might admire them, but I have never kept any, or started a collection.

Ella and I saw some vintage framed stamp collages at 'My Aunt's Travels' which I fell in love with. 

They seemed to be 'decoupaged' before framing. 

They looked fantastic.

We then stumbled across a packet of used stamps in a shop for $2.50 which got me thinkin we could have a go at a 'stamp collage'.

Here is the result:

 

There are no decoupage skills here, so we just popped it through the ol' faithful laminator, which did a wonderful job of looking like some 'decoupage' action had taken place.

I have developed a better 'appreciation' of our stamps.

They are little snapshots of history, art, Australian flora and fauna, Australian people and places.

I am going to be keeping a closer eye on the good ol' everyday stamp from now on.

Ella also made some wonderful bookmarks which came up a treat as well.

Do you collect stamps?
Do you do anything with them?