I lost this photo in the last post.

This is my 84 year old Dad at the steering wheel of the Standard 10. I think he was having a great time trying to steer this car and I am sure it bought back memories of days gone by.

The Standard 10

My DH Greg has been working on this little car a Standard 10 for about 3 years now.

The time has come for the wee little thing to leave the home comforts of the garage and go to the big workshop to have the more serious mechanical work done so that it can be road registered.

The last photo is Greg getting ready to say goodbye to his little treasure.

These photos are of a huge Sydney Red Gum Tree that was uprooted and blown over in the storm.

Around the area there were hundreds of trees uprooted and it took over a week to do all the clearing away of the debri.

Storm Damage

Sunday 9th December our area and surrounding suburbs were hit by a severe storm. This is the damage done to our back decking area and the white spots in the photo are hail stones.

The storm only lasted about 10 minutes but caused millions of dollars in damage. It was very scarey.

These are a few of the hail stones that came through our verhanda roof and some actually hit our sliding doors.

Our Christmas tree.

This year it was Kaitlyn's job to decorate the tree at first all the decorations were on the bottom as she could not reach the top.

Christmas wallhanging

The group I belong to did this wallhanging as a workshop a few years ago the easiest one I have ever done. All the fabrics were vlisoflexed then cut out in various shapes and ironed to the background.

Very easy peesy.

Christmas at the Power House

We love Christmas at our house... decorations have been up since the lst week of November and everyone who visits enjoys looking around at all the various displays.

This is our Santa collection.

Our collection of Snow people has been growing slowly over the years. Kaitlyn loves these especially the musical decorations.

It usually takes us 2 days to get all the decorations out and in the right places the next day is vacuuming day.

The hanging bears were a Christmas Swap gift with my Patchwork Group The Friendship Quilters.

Our Snow People Collection

The Reindeers

Not many of these in our collection

as yet but give us time. The reindeer with the big red bow I made some time ago from a kit.

The front reindeer was a pattern given to me many years ago and I have since made lots as gifts for friends.

Postcards

These are the postcards I have made for "My Favourite Colour" postcard swap with Artsnthemail an online postcard swap I am in. These cards had to be made using only one colour. I chose to do 4 different coloured cards white, blue, green and purple.

Finally Home

Last week my CQRR finally made its way home after travelling the world and Australia for about 18 months. I am very happy to have it home and am thrilled with all the beautiful hand work of embroidery and embellishments that have been added. I think I will have it framed so it can be admired by all who visit.

Arty Farty Class.

These little items are what I have made recently at my arty farty class I attend once a month with the teacher Barbara and Kerry. We have so much fun even though I don't always utilise the arty experiments we do I enjoy playing with different textures and textiles. The little mermaid was made using hand dyed fabric and beaded. My arty box is of hand made silk paper embellished with wools, threads and beads.

Kaitlyn's Strawberries

A few months ago Kaitlyn was given some strawberry plants from her Poppy. This is a photo of her very first strawberry. She has been waiting impatiently for weeks so was very excited to see the first one. Now she enjoys each one as it is picked.

Another Christmas Stocking

This week I was determined to complete this Christmas stocking for my Grand daughter Kaitlyn. This is the 7th. stocking I have made over the past 3 years and my last for awhile.

Again I have been busy catching up on UFO's. Firstly I have made and finished a Stained Glass wallhanging. I went to a workshop with 2 friends Diana and Ann at Windsor a few months ago. I really enjoyed the workshop and am pleased with my wall hanging although not really my colours.

More finished projects

Over the past couple of weeks I have been really busy trying to do projects that have been sitting around the plce for some time. The suitcases I have had for several years salvaging them from my sisters home when she moved houses they were destined for the rubbish dump. I felt they needed a breath of fresh air and so got to painting them in these pretty pastel colours with the help of my daughter Danielle (who loves painting). Now they look so great under the stairs with one of my very own bears sitting atop.



I have been looking for one of these laundry baskets for quite some time and was fortunate enough to find this one at the North Rocks markets for a bargain price of $40. Up until then had not seen anything under $80.-$100. There were multiple layers of paint which I patiently scraped away over a few days with a scraper and sander until I could then paint. The cane was in really good condition for its age and I am just so pleased at how it now looks with the new padded top and original handle.

New craft items I've made and finished

Recently I finished this Silk embroidery and had it framed. The embroidery came in a kit with threads and beads and was so enjoyable to do. I just love it.
Not the best of photos unfortunatly.

I attended a Quilt Camp earlier this year and I attended a class to do embroidery. I made this beautiful Hasif or Sewing Keeper. The blackberries were black glass beads. I also made the accessories a round pin holder and a thimble case.

The next item I have completed recently was this cute little sewing bag. I really do like doing embroidery I find it quite relaxing and doing smaller items I know I will get them finished.

Great day out

Well what a great day we had on Sunday. Firstly my 84 year old Dad had a ride on a Harley we gave this to him as a gift for Fathers Day. He used to ride bikes especially when he was in the Army in his younger days and I am sure this ride bought back lots of memories. After the ride I had organised a lunch cruise on Sydney Harbour. The weather was perfect and even my Mum enjoyed the cruise even though she confesses to not liking boats.

These were a few of the photos of our old biker Dad. Don't you agree he looks so cool in leather.

Mum and Dad on the Catamaran on the beautiful Sydney Harbour
My Dad and me and the Harbour Bridge

Postcards

Today I have been able to get my "School Days" postcards completed. With these cards I printed an old school photo onto fabric then added an abacass made with beads. I really enjoy doing these postcards for members of the artsnthemail online group. The photo in the background is my son Joshua in his Navy uniform

Another Padfolio Gift

I made a second padfolio also from my hand dyed fabric then embellished it with flower stitching and whispy threads. This is a gift for a friend of a friend who will be visiting Australia from England for a holiday.
I hope Barbara likes her handmade gift.

Making Gifts

During this week I have been making gifts. This is a padfolio I have made for my very dear friend Rhonda. I found the pattern for these on the Fibre & Stitch site and Sue Blieweis. The fabric I used I had hand dyed myself then I embellished the front with threads,wools and beads and lastly added the beautiful flower which I created. I was very happy with my efforts

Big Spiders

My Grand Daughter Kaitlyn was not too sure about sitting on the old outside dunny with these really large Red back spiders. They almost look real.