Happy New Year 2012

Well it’s out with the old and in with the new. Wow….2011 went so fast and I hope 2012 slows down a bit.

I couldn’t resist that frog and mushrooms and snail..some of my favourite things.

I have had a fabulous 2011 with a couple of trips and one being to Queensland in March where I met up with Dawn, Joy, Fee and a few lovely bloggers.

That was a really fabulous trip and then the opening of my online shop The Pickledish Patch 

In June Mr T and I got our baby…our little Bella who brings us lots of joy and delight with her intelligence and little tricks.

Then in October I met my new grandson Jasper who is just gorgeous! Love him to bits!! and of course was able to give lots of hugs and cuddles to my kids and two other gorgeous grandsons.

I broke a bone in my foot…all healed up now thank goodness!

Also I was able to get my Craft Forum up and running which is a great place to escape to as its like a group of ladies meeting up every day to chat about what ever takes our fancy. Thanks heaps everyone for being there for me and sharing my days. Love you all!!

Another exciting event was starting up the blog Janiac’s Unite which is going along great with lots showing their Dear Jane blocks.

Of course I got a fair bit of sewing done and have increased my stash. Tee hee.

Happy New Year

to you all and I hope that 2012 is the best for everyone and we all have a creative stitching time. Stay healthy everyone and stay safe.

Hugs to all……

 

A special 2011 Christmas and Beautiful friends!

I do hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and spent special happy times with your family and loved ones.

My husband and his parents and I had a lovely quiet Christmas and of course we ate way too much. Roast turkey, pork and delicious ham with lovely salads and stuffing from the turkey. Pavlova was delicious too and we all enjoyed feasting on all these lovelies.

First in the morning we had the ritual of opening the presents. Of course I was delighted with all I got and was spoilt from my husband and parents in law.

My kids spoilt me also and I am truly blessed.

I was also spoilt from some of my special friends who are a special part of my life…

I will treasure this Diary and cover, soap and hand cream from Joy …Joy also gave me some delicious chocolates…but they didn’t make the photo session. *grin* Thank you so much dear Joy and I love them all.

 Fee sent me this gorgeous little wall hanger which hangs above where I sew so I can see it always.

Plus a cute little note book and spoon rest.

Thank you sweet Fee.

From my long time online friend Barb I was delighted to be given a cushion in my favourite colours. Barb knows me well.. Thank you so much Barb…I love my soft cushion which sits on my lounge chair.

I have been wanting to make a little pin cushion for some time so that it fitted in my little sewing bag I grab on the way out the door for when I sit at the doctors or where ever while I wait for my husband while he is having his appointments and Ondrea must have tapped into my thoughts. She gave me this adorable little pin cushion with this fabulous thread catcher made from hexagons. Thanks Ondrea…I now have a pin cushion for my second sewing bag I grab on my way out the door. Ondrea is another long time online friend.

I love nice smelly soaps and this lavender one from Dawn is so beautifully scented.

Dawn made me a gorgeous little bag with the cutest of buttons

and the choccies are gone now and they were delicious! Thanks Dawn for these lovely gifts.

Thanks everyone for making my Christmas a special one.

We won’t be going to any New Years Eve party but will have a couple of quiet drinks with my husbands parents. Probably be hitting the pillow at our usual time of 11pm.

Did I tell you that Bella (my darling pup) comes and stands and looks at me intently as if to say….Well ….its bed time now…. She does this at 11pm every night. She is amazing and every day shows me how intelligent she is.

I have never had such a dog as her.

We spoilt her for her Christmas too…she got some new toys and she loves them.

Hugs to all…..

 

Fabric and things………

I couldn’t help myself.

I just loved these fabrics when I saw them and for some reason they just jumped into my trolley. I am thinking I will make a new bag out of them. Since then I have got some purple homespun for the lining and of course some green fabric found its way into my trolley too. Funny that.

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I have finished my newest BOM and am waiting for it to go to the quilters to have it quilted.

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I bought myself some new shoes to help me with my feet. These ones are Orthaheels and so far they seem to be helping.  Of course Bella had to make sure I took a good picture. LOL.

When I sew on my sewing machine, I am behind the two recliners we sit in to watch television. Sometimes Bella watches me from these and I finally was able to get a picture of her…..sooo cute.

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I have completed number 3 block for the Sentimental Journey BOM ….am loving this BOM.

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Now is the time to Pre-Order your copy of Leanne Beasley’s Vignette Issue #5 from The Pickledish Patch store. Just go HERE to put your order in. It’s due to be delivered on the 1st December.

Have a great day and Hugs to all…..

 

My Memories and a giveaway.

When I was contacted by MyMemories to review their My Memories digital scrapbooking software I was very excited as I love making my digital photos look great and be more interesting.

 My Memories Suite version 2 software is a complete digital scrapbooking solution that provides a powerful set of creative tools and multiple sharing options that no other software can offer. Its intuitive workspace and enhanced time-saving features are perfect for a beginner to build an entire album in minutes, or to empower the design pro to build a scrapbook album masterpiece.

I love how My Memories Suite will help you build beautiful pages from the digital scrapbooking software and make all your creations look great!

This one is my Out Of The Box BOM.

Or to make a Album using one of the many professionally-designed scrapbook templates provided within the scrapbook software.  

I wanted a template to show one of my designs I had published and this one was just perfect for what I wanted.

I was able to include a journal to describe the design and a few pictures to show too.

I had to do a page with my Bella on it….too cute!!

A large collection of papers and embellishments are available at your fingertips to help you make each page uniquely your own.

Check out this Utube video of My Memories Suite.

http://www.youtube.com/user/MyMemoriesSuite

Would you like to have your own copy of My Memories?

I am thrilled to be able to give one lucky winner a My Memories Suite all of their own. This is available to anyone in the world.

Now are you excited?

If you would like to win a copy of this fabulous My Memories Suite Scrapbook software -

Go to MyMemories and come back and tell me your favourite digital paper pack or layout and leave me a comment here on my blog.

So that’s it…Mr. Random.org will pick a winner in one weeks time….so on the 8th October 2011(Australia time) the winner will be announced and that lucky person will have their very own My Memories digital scrapbooking software just like me.

If you can’t wait until next 8th October 2011 to see if you have won, My Memories is giving my readers a $10 discount off the full price of the My Memories Suite Scrapbook software, together with a $10 coupon for the MyMemories.com store - $20 value all up. At checkout copy and paste this code: STMMMS62153 into the checkout section to receive these discounts. This offer will be available after the draw so don’t worry if you didn’t win you can still get a great bargain.

Have fun and hugs to all…..

Ahhhh I so love Spring!

I love the flowers that God gives us to love and admire and smell. It totally warms my heart to go outside after being indoors for the most of the winter months and to see all these beautiful blooms waving to me and saying ‘Hello….Look at me!”

Around the corner from our house is a one of these truly amazing trees in blossom. I just had to go for a walk with my camera and take some shots of it, it was so thick with the blossom….truly beautiful.

Love the bees….they were so busy….it was quite hard to get a shot of one……..and a few other flowers around the street.

 

We are having a few nice sunny days here and my little Bella just loves it outside and its a good opportunity for me to sit out side also and soak up some natural Vitamin D.

Hope you are able to get some sunshine and enjoy the flowers.

Hugs to all……

A New Bag.

I really liked this bag after going thru my many patterns of bags.

I probably spent a couple of weeks trying to decide which bag to make.

Well ……..

I found this bag HERE at All People Quilt and after downloading the pattern and sorting out what fabric I wanted to use… I made my own bag. I used linen fabric to make it stronger.

This is quite a big bag and I am still deciding wether to use it for my everyday shopping bag or keep it for when I go away for a weekend for putting all the things I need to take with me for a sewing day with friends. Its a nice sturdy bag and has pockets on the inside for your mobile phone or pen or notepad etc.

If you decide to make it then have fun and show me yours…..I would love to see it in your choice of fabrics.

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Just had to show you what my little Bella does when I sit and have a biscuit or piece of cake….

She sits there on my shoulder and watches every mouthful I take….lol. She is spoilt! and so cute!

Hugs to all…..

What are these?

I was so excited to be finally making a batch of zucchini and apple muffins that when these came out of the oven I was so disappointed. *Very glum look*

I said…..”What the heck are these???”

The mixture was a bit too thin and so before I put the next lot in I mixed in some more flour.

Ahhhh that’s better….now these I will definitely call muffins.

These are very yummy too. I have not ever had zucchini and apple muffins before and I will be making more in the future too.

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The other morning we had a foggy morning and on the clothes line the spider webs had dew all on them. I was amazed at how this tiny little spider had made such a big web. And so perfect too. You can see the spider on the top yellow line at the centre.

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My little Bella is growing bigger and graduated with a certificate from Puppy School. She can ‘Sit’, ‘Beg’, ‘Drop’, ‘Roll Over’, and a couple of other tricks too. She is so cheeky at times and makes me laugh often with her antics.

I have yet to take her out for walks and I want to do this soon now that nicer weather is here.

Here she found a twig!

So where are the other things I was going to show you? I got to iron them….so they are coming. Promise. *Grin*

Hope you all are having a fab week…..

hugs to all…..