Home Improvement

I have some photos of a couple of projects that I am working on at the moment. Above is a section of an afghan I'm making for our new red velvet couch. I thought I'd be a bit more daring and use a variety of different colours. So far I am very happy with the results. I'm thinking of making it about 8 by 10 squares just large enough to cover the couch seat.

I'm also working on a quilt for our new bedroom. We bought a new bed frame because Axel keeps on hitting his feet on the bottom of the one we have now. (I guess being tall is not always an advantage!)

Here is a catalog photo of the bed. We haven't actually got it yet, it's on order.

Our walls will be a light blue and the ceiling, skirting boards and doors are white so I decided on making a blue and white quilt with a hint of orange and peach for contrast. Here are some progress photos.

At the moment I just have the blocks finished (simple maple leaf blocks without the stems. Did I mention I hate doing the stems on maple leaf blocks?) I'm planning on adding a 3 or 2 inch white border around each block and then a 1 inch navy border, finished with another 6 inch white border. I'm also considering putting a border of triangles made from the left over blue and orange material. I will see how it looks after the first white border and see if it needs more colour.

Anyhow I hope everyone is well and enjoying the first month of the new year. I can't believe 11 days have already passed! 16 more days before I go back to work! I have so much to finish at home that I am no longer looking forward to getting back to work, I just want more time so I can get things finished!!!!!!!

To 'New year's resolution' or not?

For the last few years I've given up on even setting new year's resolutions, what's the point I never keep them. Don't even know anyone that does. And they always seem to be the same ones, get fit, lose weight, eat right with the occasional read more books, get back to art.

Is there anyone out there that has actually kept their new year's resolutions? Is there a way of setting them and actually achieving success?

Having said all this I am one to make a 'what I want to do this year' list and it usually becomes more of a yearly to-do list like a daily to-do list. So what do I have to do this year?

1. Finish renovations on the house
2. Finish planning wedding and get married
3. Pay off more of home loan
5. Finish craft projects not finished from this year
6. Get body ready for pregnancy
7. Extend work skills
8. Start a vegetable garden
9. Maintain happy house and marriage
10. Continue to be pill free, (finally I have come off my antidepressants and want to stay that way!)
11. Living more frugally and environmentally responsible with the main focus being on recycling and getting others to do so as well as being self sustainable as possible. (bring on the solar panels, veggie patch, chooks and water tanks!

I also should be less sporadic when it comes to blogging. Anyhow lets see how things go. I got a feeling this is going to be a busy and exciting year! By the way did I mention I'll be turning 30 this January?

Happy new year everyone, hope it's a good one for you all and that you make the most of it. Hope you pass by and keep in touch with comments and follow me towards being more environmentally responsible. We can do it!... and should do it!

My Swap Parcel

I got my swap package the other day and I must say WOW what a wonderful package! Here are some photos of what was inside the HUGE parcel.

As you can see I got spoilt by Pammy Sue! The beautiful pineapple shawl in the background is just perfect to snuggle up with.

Here are some cute cowboy inspired Christmas ornaments, already hanging on our tree I must say!

And last but not least two wonderfully festive pot holders. I just love the sparklly yarn.

Thank you sooooo much Pammy Sue. It's been wonderful having you as a swap partner and learning all about you. I hope we can keep in touch over the years to come.

Another Cupcake post... why not?!

Ok made some more cupcakes recently and tried some different colours, recipe and icing designs. What do you think?

I really need to get on with things and stop fussing about the cupcakes... although eating them has been fun!

Daydream among the flowers

A few flower ideas I like for myself and the bridesmaids. I must say though I am being very indecisive when it comes to the flowers. Nothing has really captured my heart yet. The only thing I've been able to decide on is that I want lots of different flowers in my bouquet and feathers. I can't even decide on whether I want red or white flowers.

Ring Bearer pillows and favours

Just thought I'd post a few photos of the ring bearer pillow I made and the favors we've decided on for the wedding. I did try several other things for the pillow like a crochet pillow and then I even tried a quilt block pillow from left over material from the bridesmaid dresses but both of these just failed so I went for the simple ribbon/bow pillow made from some lovely duchess satin which I scored for $1.00 a meter! it was on the clearance rack for $8.00 a meter and I just wanted 20cm so the woman said here have a meter for a dollar. The brooch you can see on it was some old costume jewelery I bought at a clearance sale years ago. I was going though my jewelery box looking for a ring and saw it and bob's your uncle it was the perfect finishing touch. The ribbon was left overs from decorating the unity candles and the stuffing was left overs from another craft adventure so all up I think this pillow cost me $5.00 not bad considering the ones in the magazines are around $30.00 to $50.00.

The favors will hopefully add some color to the tables and be a yummy treat for our guests. 2 chocolate hearts and the traditional 5 sugar almonds. I almost bought the ribbon from a fabric store for something like 80c a meter but then found the perfect stuff at the Reject shop $3.50 for 91 meters of curling ribbon and $2.00 for 45 meters of the red ribbon. Thank God I didn't pay the full price from the fabric store. I mean people are just going to untie it and throw it away.

If you want chocolate hearts don't go to candy stores they charge like 50c each. We have a local wholesaler and its like $22.00 per kilo and you get around 160 pieces and the chocolate quality is very good!

And the Cupcake drama continues

Ok I have a confession to make, making your own cupcake wedding cake is just a good excuse for trialing cup cake recipes. We have been at it again this time trying the most awesome berries and white chocolate mudcake cupcakes. The recipe worked wonders and the cakes were to die for BUT bad news was they were too hard after being put in the fridge and the cost got a bit much with all the chocolate and berries. But still an awesome recipe to make for other occassions that dont require 130 cupcakes.

We tried out the beautiful blue foil patties which I paid good money for and while the blue shine is divine the size of the cupcakes are HUGE and look rediculous. The red cherry-on-top look was also not so great for a wedding, more comical and suited to a birthday so we ditched that idea too.

Finally we got the look right with blue frosting and silver candy balls and cheap silver pattie pans. If only I'd known I would never have spent so much cash on the blue metalic ones. Oh well.
We kept this batch in the fridge for 2 days, overnight, like we would have to when it came to the wedding. We also made them using a simple vanilla recipe and added some berry mix so that they didnt set solid when kept refrigerated. Taste testing them on the second day I was suprised and relieved to find that they still tasted fresh and soft.

All we have to do now it figure out how to transport 130ish cupcakes to the reception centre without them melting in the car or getting squished. Any ideas?????????