Santa has been .....

Hi everyone

Well yesterday was another 40C day.  Thank goodness a little rain followed very late last night and today.  That is no consolation for the fire-fighters battling the many blazes around the country.  My thoughts and wishes are with these wonderful people, many of who are volunteers.  Unfortunately two of these volunteers lost their homes yesterday in one of these fires.  I know there will be many people who rally around them and help them through this extremely hard time.

Hubby will be on holiday from tomorrow till just after new year.  I think this might mean that I won't get much time to blog.  So don't think I have disappeared, just hubby getting me to run round for him.  :-)

Well as second gift has been completed.

The ripple pillow has a partner.

Just to prove it, here is a photo

The last gift I have been working on is almost done.  Well enough to gift it.  I can finish it off after Sunday.  Here is a glimpse ...

Then yesterday, the postie left me this parcel...

Now for the first time I entered a swap which was run by Jellywares (you may have seen the button on the right hand side).

Many thanks Jodies for running this swap.

So as it was my first, I was excited to see what was inside.  So when I saw this, I was just a little excited, lots of oohhing and aahhing - and that was just because of the bag.  I was so thrilled with it.

I cannot believe the generosity of spirit, the time, the effort, the thought that went into this package.  Just the bag was making me smile and feel so festive and a general feeling of good-will

Almost forgot to look inside as I thought the bag was so very cute.  But I could hear a jangly noise, so curiosity got the better of me.  Oh my....... not one, not two but ........

Six!!!!! absolutely beautiful Xmas cloths.  Oh my, oh my.  They are so beautifully made.  I have a green Christmas Tree and a Christmas Ornament, a red Candy Cane and a Santa, a white Dove and Candle.

Oh me, oh my, so very pretty and the work is exquisite.

My favourite Christmas colours and she even used some of my favourite yarn - Bendigo Woollen Mills

But hang on, that did not explain the jangly noise, must look a bit further ....

and look what I found

Isn't he just the cutest!!!!!

So apt for my blog too

Now it seems I am lucky to have him as the gifter wanted him too.

I promise you he will be well taken care of.  Might even start a new Christmas collection, just around him.

I really should start a Aussie Christmas collection and I think Kenny the Koala most definitely will be the beginning.

Now doesn't he look so cute on my Christmas Tree ....

Now I know that I have not mentioned the lovely person who gifted these wonderful gifts to me

It is ......

Knitter Sue!!!!!!!

A blog I have only recently started reading and love

So Sue, I give my heartfelt thanks for such a beautiful, wonderful and exciting gift.

On that note

Bye for now

And Merry Christmas to all with wishes for happiness, peace and relaxing time with family and friends

Sunny days

Hi everyone
For those who need a little sun cause its cold and dark, here is my weekend.

Friday night, after hubby finished work, we went down to Bobbin Head, about 15 mins drive from home, and had dinner - prawns, bbq chicken, salad and a little red wine.  Bobbin Head is inside Kuringai National Park which has the Hawkesbury River running through it

I love our bush!!!

  I love the trees, I love the scents, I love the texture of it, I love the rocks, I love the birds, I love the native flora and fauna.

Not so nice are the snakes and spiders, but if your lucky you can avoid them.

Saturday morning we were off to Central Coast for hubby to play cricket.  On the way we stopped off at Brooklyn, just to sit by the water.  This is another part of the Hawkesbury River.  The outlet to the ocean is under the bridge to the left of the photo

By the way, the clouds you see were very welcomed by us!!!  It gave a bit of relief from the very hot sun  :-)

Sunday, hubby's work held there Christmas Party at Galston, where we got to see this ........

And lastly here are some Christmas Decorations that my mother made, quite a few years ago, with a local crafting group ....

Had never seen the buttons on the Snowman before till a breeze blew at just the right moment  :-)

Bye for now

South Rabbitohs, Penrith Panthers and Xmas

Hi everyone

I had no intention of blogging this so soon. You may know that I am trying to finish 2 blankets and another ripple pillow before my early family Xmas celebration.

So yesterday afternoon, I sat down and watched this

I love the songs, the costumes and the actors.

I then realised that I was closer than I thought to a finish ...

 

This is for DD2 and her partner. DD2 is a South Sydney Rabbitohs fan - colours, red, green and white or black. Souths are one of the longest members of our Rugby League comp. Her partner is a Penrith Panthers fan and at one time their colours were red, green and black (they have changed colours a few times in their short career in our Rugby League). My favourite Xmas colours too ..... so ...

Souths blanket display, originally uploaded by Aussie Maria.

A lapghan was created to keep them warm when they go to watch their teams play

 

Details - Bendigo Woollen Mills Classic 8ply in Holly, Mid Green, Almond and Raven approx. 300g of each.
Measures - 105cm x 105cm
Weighs - 1.2kg
Hook - 5mm (I would prefer to use a smaller hook next time with this wool)

And a quick answer for Mrs Twins (Sue) - I have spent Christmas at the beach over the years but I have never had a meal there. Most Aussies don't as the sand gets into everything. There is usally a headland with grass or a park nearby where a meal can be had. Those who don't like sand in everything usually wait here for those who don't care cause they love the beach.

Bye for now

My Xmas tree

Hi everyone

Well to help me get some festive feeling back I went and bought some batteries.

Sound weird :-)

Well here is the story


When we moved to the apartment we gave a large amount of items to charity, including our 6ft Christmas Tree. It just would not fit here and we knew it. I also hoped that someone had a wonderful Christmas that year with a cheap or gifted tree and that some little children (in age or heart) made good use of it.




So when decorating we have been without a tree as I just could not find anything I liked which was small.



When bringing up a few things this year, I bumped into a box which I had forgotten about - and here it is ...

v

v

v

Xmas tree singing, originally uploaded by Aussie Maria.

I have quite a few of these animated objects which all make me smile and brighten up - but only this one is on display this year

Bye for now

Where has it gone ....

Hi everyone

Where has it gone? 

My Christmas mojo seems to be taking a break, very sad. 

Feeling tired and lethargic, not sure if it is the weather (which has been warm and humid)

or that every weekend is booked out

or that I committed myself to finishing the blankets for Christmas (our early Christmas too)

or if I just need some iron to give me some get up and go   :-)

Oh well, it should work itself out soon

I have been enjoying looking at everyone's decorating though, so I thought I would share a couple of my items

And with my love of Penguins, I had to take this little fellow home

First off we have a couple of Lemax houses.  We have about 20 or so in total, which we used to make village scenes out of for our front window display.  My favourites are the Old English pubs, so we have a few of those.  No room here to display them and would not be seen by anyone but ourselves at 10th Level above ground.  So I grabbed a couple that were not down the bottom of boxes.  The photos were taken at night, but only one shows the lighting any good and that was using the candle-effect mode for the camera

The lighthouse light spins around and is red.  Not much lighting in the house itself.

Not too sure what the name of this house is.  I will have to check the box

And here it is with the candle-light effect which is more how we view it.

A small collection of my Santa's.  The middle one was bought back from Germany by my SIL1, the other 2 were bought at the Sydney Stitches & Craft Show in July.  I just thought they were so cute.

Hopefully I will have more energy later in the week

Bye for now

Crochet, Knitting and a bit of a Win!

Hi everyone

Bit of a mixed bag of blogging today, so I will talk about things as the photos loaded.  BTW does anyone know how to select multiple photos and get them to load all at once?  I can only load each one, one at at a time.

Well the first one is my DD3's bridal garter which she asked me to make.  It was finished a while ago, but she wanted a bit of bling on it.  That became the hardest part to find!!!!

And here it is on the lovely girl's leg

Next is some more knitted washcloth's - another Rudy!! I really love this one.  It was designed by the same person as my Frosty - Elaine from Down Cloverlaine

and a Penguin Washcloth - not as happy with the design but I can't design them and there was nothing else I liked out there - and I have to have a Penguin!!!

 

And then the mailman bought me an envelope! 

I have been reading Jodie from Jellywares Blog and I won this!!!!!

My very first win - I can't say I don't win anymore  :-)

How pretty is this cloth!!!!  And the beautiful tag on it

Thank you so much Jodie, I do like reading your blog and lots of luck with your sales

Bye for now everyone and have a fantastic weekend - DH is playing cricket on Saturday and a wedding dinner on Sunday night - what are you up to?

Just a quickie be back later

Hi everyone
I do have a blog planned for today, but I just had to get this out there.

There is a book I have been eyeing off lately, but it has been hard to find locally.  Not available in my local bookshops, which is where I prefer to buy books as I always have a need to see inside them, to assess their value.  I definitely don't like buying books online unless it is absolutely necessary.

Now I was reading this blog, Hook & Scrumble, who was talking about her Christmas decorating projects when right at the bottom of the blog is this .........

 a Giveaway!!!! of the book I have been eyeing off.

So although I really want the book and don't want to share about the Giveaway, I must

Good luck everyone

Favourite Christmas symbol

Hi everyone
Well where do I start today (slight frown on face)? mmmmm..........

Well to keep me in the spirit of Xmas, I am going to start with my favourite Xmas symbols/people/ideas - anything really.  Please join in and mention yours.

While I do love Santa, and Rudolph is so cute and I love his story (as you will see from my knitting cloths) - my favourite of all has to be .....

Mrs Claus Knitted, originally uploaded by Aussie Maria.

Mrs Claus!!!!!!
Yeah for Mrs Claus!!!!!

She works so hard all year round to help things run smoothly at the North Pole. She very rarely gets recognition of all that she does. But does this stop her? No, she keeps going and finds more to do to ease Santa and the elves jobs.

This is because she so loves sharing, caring and spreading the joy of Xmas!!! The joy not of large, expensive gifts (although if your lucky enough to receive, make sure you say a HUGE thank you), but the joy of having family and friends around, to make contact with others. To renew friendships and keep families together

You will note that this Mrs Claus has her own family around her here! Of course, Santa, who is joined by Mrs Frosty. Just never got around to making Frosty, although I do enjoy the song

Just as an afterthought - the other Xmas blanket I am working on, which is a hexagon.  Well I decided to attempt something new - "join-as-you-go" which I first saw at Attic 24 who noticed it Moonstitches (tutorial on right hand side bar).

Well!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I wish I had of thought of attempting this from the first blanket - it is so easy, and not sure if I do it right, but it has given this new blanket a lovely pattern as well  :-)

Bye for now and hoping that the spirit of Xmas is around