I'm feeling rather stiff and sore today

Yesterday was Australia day

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so my husband (DJ) and I decided to take a motorbike ride

Not his bike but one like it source 

out to Denmark, a town close to were we live, have coffee come home and then go to the beach for the rest of the day. The forecast was for 29 a perfect day to laze around. Well that was the plan. This is what happened.
When we were about 17kms outside Denmark  DJ suddenly pulled over to the side of the road and pulled of his helmet a bee had flown in through a 2cm gap between the visor and the helmet and stung him on the temple.


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DJ is allergic to bees but doesn't always have much of a reaction, it usually depends on the type of bee, so we decided to push on to Denmark and go to the hospital. As we were going I noticed that he started getting itchy, not a good sign but he kept going. I tried to talk to him but he couldn't hear me. Anyway just as we came into Denmark there is a sharp corner (it is circled in red)

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I wasn't aware but by this time the reaction was really kicking in (his erratic riding should have alerted me) any way he came around the corner too fast and couldn't react fast enough so we veered on to the wrong side of the road and hit the gravel and lost it , we were about 2mins from the hospital.

The result; the adrenaline from the crash kicked in and stopped the reaction to the bee sting but DJ was very disorientated and his left side was all grazed. With in seconds of the accident there were lots of people helping out. It has reinforced my faith in humanity. The ambulance was called and my husband was soon stabilised. we were then taken to the Denmark hospital where we both received attention for our scraps and cuts. I needed 4 stitches in my left knee and a few metres of fixomull , the best bandage in the world, on my grazes.

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My parents then took me home. DJ on the other hand needed to be transferred to Albany hospital as he had fallen very hard on his side and also had chest pain.

At the moment he is still in hospital because he didn't want me to have to try to help him as he was in quiet a bit of pain and couldn't really move, but he was given the all clear as far as broken bones etc.

I am rather stiff this morning although not as bad as I thought it would be. I waiting to hear from David but I think he will come home this morning.

I am very thankful to my heavenly Father who spared our lives and also protected us from major injury to us or someone else.

I am also very grateful to my parents who came out to pick me up and give me a much needed hug and to my boys S & J who have done everything for me, my BIL Graham for looking after P & D for an extra night and also for our friends Joe, John and Patrick who have organised to pick up the motorbike today. A big thanks goes out to all our friends who have been praying for us and doing all they can to help.

A big thank you also goes to Kim from Denmark windows and his partner who talked to DJ when I couldn't, who held my hand when I got scared and also organised for the safe storage of the bike, and also to all the others who I don't know the names of who helped out by directing traffic helping DJ and I and dispensing looks of hugs, you were all amazing.

If you have come this far on the page thank you for sharing this story with me and thank you for letting me unload.

Bye for now

Sandra

A trip to Red Cross and two more dresses

While I was in town today I stopped past the Red Cross op shop and picked up a bag full of children's tops for $3 I also found two really good quilt covers that I will cut up to make dresses. I also found a beautiful pillow case that I had to make into a dress and I also found some bandannas to use for the skirt of a t-shirt dress.
So here's two more dresses I made today

The white boarder complete with cute butterfly where already on the pillow case, so I didn't add any extra trims.

For this dress I used a small t-shirt and then cut a circle in two bandannas and sewed them all together. I used a tutorial from Girly things.

For the button I used the piece of fabric I cut from the centre of the bandanna. I sewed a tacking stitch all the way around the edge about .5cm in and then gathered it as tight as I could. I then sewed a button over the gathering to hide it and then sewed the whole lot on to the dress.

I think I had better do some folding now L

Hooroo for now

Dress a Girl Around the World

A few weeks ago I come across “Dress a Girl Around the World”. A charity which provides dresses for girls who normally wouldn’t have a dress.

I fell in love with the whole concept and committed to making some dresses once my boys had gone back to school, mid next week.

Well yesterday while I was in town having some Mum time and doing the grocery shopping I stopped in to our local Spotlight and Textile Traders to have a look for some material to make some dresses. This is what I come home with

I picked material from the reduced stand priced from $3.50 for 1.5m $3 per metre $5 per metre , for a couple of really nice fabrics, and $2 for some fat quarters which are perfect for making little dresses. I also bought a heap of bias binding as Textile Traders has buy 2 get 1 free.

Well as I was making dinner I could hear this little voice calling from the bags “make me, make me”. Well who am I to resist the call from the stash. So last night I made my first pillow case dress

I love it. It was so easy to make I think it took me 1.5 hrs which included trips inside to get my iron and other things I had forgotten. I know the next one will go a lot quicker as I now know what to do.

After finishing this dress I come inside and had a look at some of the other dresses that have been donated on the Dress a Girl around the World - Dress a Girl- Sydney & Australia blog and saw some really cute T-shirt dresses.

Well who I was I to resist the challenge of making one or two of these. So this morning I rummaged around in my basket of t-shirts to go with crochet projects and found a t-shirt and a tank top and come up with these

The tank top dress has a straight skirt I hope it’s not too tight. The t-shirt dress has a balloon skirt out of these two this one is my favourite and the easier one as there is no hem to sew.

I have decided that every time I go to my fabric store to buy something for myself I am going to but enough material to make at least one dress. And every time I go to my op shop I will look for neat t-shirts and shirts that I can make into dresses. This way it won’t be very expensive and I can remind myself of all the blessing which I receive.

On a different note I was thinking about the other work that I have been doing, for a while now I have been thinking of having a craft store at our local bring and buy but I didn’t won’t to do this till I had enough stock. So today I decided that I that I would make a list of what I would like to have made before I hold my first stall. Then as I make things I can cross it of my list and if I am not sure which project to do next I can choose one from my list. If anybody has any suggestions they would be much appreciated.

Well I think I had better go to town and finalise my sons enrolment in year 11 (I’m sure we have to pass an op shop or three along the wayJ)

Liebster Blog

The other day (17th Jan) while I was reading Pam's latest post on Threading My Way I received a HUGE surprise she had given me a Liebster Award. So I checked out my blog and sure enough there it was. 

What is a Liebster Award you ask, here is what Pam writes;
"It's fellow bloggers helping fellow bloggers get a jump start on their blogs. It also encourages friendships to develop and I really like that (so do i Pam) 
The award is given to bloggers with less than 200 followers, to promote and encourage new friendships among the blog community. Liebster is German and means dearest, beloved, favourite."


Part of this award is to pass it on to others. Here are the rules

1. Post the award on your blog
2. Show thanks to the blogger who gave you the ward by linking back to the.
3. Reveal your 5 picks for the award and let them know
4. Bask in the love from the most supportive people on the blogsphere... other bloggers.
5. Finally the best rule of all, have fun and spread the love!

Here are the 5 blogs I will be giving the Liebster Award to

• ChiWei from One Dog Woof I feel in love with her Crochet and braid T-shirt scarf.
• Stephanie from Clay Baboons who in her own words "(tells) stories about stuff, illustrated with mediocre clay figurines" It is a blast.
• Sharelle, Henrietta, Bec and Emma from The Handmade Rainbow who are 4 mums who like to share their craft achievements
• Ruth, from The Shape of String who designs and makes her own Quilts  and dyes her own fabric
• Elaine from Library Displays who shares her idea's for promoting books in school libraries this is a great resource for librarians or any one who wont's to encourage children to read.

So head on over say Hi to the guys and girls, because we all love feed back.
Thank you Pam for passing on this ward to me. Don't forget to head on over to Pam's blog Threading my Way
Hope you a ll have a wonderful day.
Bear hugs to All

Beach, bag & bracelets

I finished another candy wrapper bag this week. This time I decided to try and make it with a square/flat base. After having a search on the internet I found this web site which had some really good info Nannybird Crafts. I then went ahead and cut up some more landscope magazines and took them to the beach. At the moment the one little peep is doing swimming lessons so I HAVE to sit at the beach ALL day long (lessons only take 35mins). The weather has been really great so we have lazed around at the beach almost all day.So after folding, joining and answering questions I come up with this

For something different I made two rows with pieces that only had writing on them. The difference is really amazing.

This is how the base finished up.

Because the base was larger I didn't want to do the normal zip closure as this would pull the bag in tight at the top and reduce the size of the bag inside. So I come up with this idea

I sewed some material to the edges of the zip to make it the width of the opening and some extra to sew it to the bag. I still have to tighten the stitches on the end of the zip but for the rest it worked really well.

I first tried to make a liner for this bag but it didn't work so I settled for this.

I am really happy with how this turned out. I made a few mistakes along the way which was really good because now i also know what not to do.

I also spent a day and a half making candy wrapper bracelets with lots of girls at the beach. My SIL took some photos so I'll get some copies and share with you the fun we had. In the mean time here are some of the bracelets I made

Till next time

Have a great day









Unicorn Poop

I found this today on Instructables, The are just so cute

The only problem is I have all boys and if I suggested making something like this the alternative suggestions just don't bare thinking about.
If you haven't been over to Instructables make yourself a coffee and head on over to have a look, there is some great stuff to checkout and make.
Have a great day

Century eggs

I received this in my inbox today. It came via Instructables a great website were people can post photo instructions(hence the name) for others to use. I think this is one set of instructions I will never use, well not for dinner anyway.

Bon Appetite.

Just for a laugh

I came across this really cool blog today via Cool2Craft it is called Clay Baboons. The author tells the most amazing stories along with plasticine figurines. It is well worth a look.

Candy wrapper tutorial

I finished my small candy wrapper bag which I will use to carry my keys and phone etc. when I go walking

 It has a really long handle so it can go across my body. I'm really happy with the way it turned out.

With handles

Handles removed

This bag is fully lined

As I was making this a took a series of photos to help remember how I had done this. I then made it into a tutorial. My first ever, I hope it make sense :)
Lined Candy Wrapper Purse With Removable Handle
Bye for now
Sandra

Ta-da

Evelyn's Bolero

It's finished !!

In time to pass on to my niece tomorrow before they travel back to Perth. I really hope it fits. It was a bit of a guess with the sizes as she isn't close enough to try in on.
I never did develop a liking for or understanding of  the pattern but I worked it out, so that a point for me.

I'll take some better photo's tomorrow in the day light.

Hooroo For now
Sandra

Ducks, work area and WIP

My son is looking after his cousins pets whilst he is away on holidays. The other day while he was checking on the ducks he noticed that the eggs that the duck was sitting on where hatching, he even got to watch one of the ducklings hatch. So the next day we went to have a look thinking we might see about 5 or so, only to be greeted with this sight

We haven't been able to count them accurately but we think there must be 17. They all seem to be doing well lets hope it stays like that till my nephew returns.

I took this photo today. Don't they look so cute hiding in the long grass.

Today I decided that it was time I tidied up my hoard of craft things and find myself a place to store them properly. Unfortunately there isn't any room inside, I could try in the corner of my lounge but I think DJ might have a few things to say about his lounge chair being moved outside :). So I got to thinking that there might be some room in our new games room. The kids are only using half of it for there xbox and books. So I claimed the unused space as my own. 

I turned this

In to this

Inside the cupboard 



Oh!   No!

I haven't even been crocheting for a year and already I've managed to start a yarn stash.

Is there any hope??!!

No?

Oh well I had better console myself with a trip to Spotlight  Bunnings to look at some yarn porn storage solutions.

This isn't a very big work area but I will admit that I still have a lot of stuff inside.

If I spread it over a larger area then I can kid myself that I don't really have that much.

Just a few photos of my WIP

The pattern I am working with is very hard to understand and also doesn't give a lot of detail. Maybe they assume you know what to do. This morning I had to do a bit of frogging but I got there in the end. One example of confusing instructions is it says to join the shoulders when you work it as one piece ?? go figure. I think it means side seams.
I've almost finished the second front panel and then it's on to the sleeves. Now I just hope it will fit my niece.
Well I'm of to put my feet up and enjoy a bit more hooky time before I tuck in for the night.

Bear hugs to all

Have a great day were ever you are

Sandra

Shabby Chic

Here is one of the projects I did while lounging at the beach between Christmas and new year. I love the way it turned out and it was really easy. I found the pattern here.

I also bought myself a doll to model my clothes. It's rather funny this buy of dolls by me because as a young girl I never had a doll and always consoled myself that i could buy one for my daughter when i had one. Well I have 4 children and they are all boys so still no dolls but blowed if I was going to wait for grand-daughters so I bought one (actually 2) for myself under the guise of buying them for my crochet work (hee hee)

She's quiet a chubby little girl (she was wearing pink so it must be  a girl) so I HAD to buy another to model the little baby clothes.

Today i started working on a Bolero for my niece. My sister made her this gorgeous summer dress but couldn't find a nice light weight jacket/ cardigan to go with it.So we had a look through some patterns and found one we all liked. It is a pattern I found on Ravelry. I've had to work out the pattern to fit my crocheting and yarn size, Also the pattern is worked from a chart which is new for me

This is my progress so far. it's a bit hard to see the pattern as I took this tonight so the light isn't very good and I can't find my camera so I used one of the kids cheappes.

Well I must go to bed so good night, sleep tight and don't let the bed bugs bite, and if the do get your shoe and beat them till their black and blue :)

Love and Bear Hugs to all

Sandra