WA Day long weekend

Hello All

Last weekend (2nd -4th June) in WA was WA day long weekend (formally foundation day long weekend). We had decided to go camping with some friends at house beach which is past Bremer Bay. Sound good?  Well on Friday evening/Saturday morning we received around 150 ml of rain in Albany and we experienced an amazing thunderstorm. It did not look promising for our weekend. But we all decided to go anyway and if we couldn’t get to our planned destination we would try the caravan parks in Bremer Bay.

As we travelled the sky began to clear and our hopes began to sore and then we came to the gravel road.

Let’s just say I’m glad I wasn’t driving. I’ll let the pictures tell the story.

I don't think Super Ted really wanted to watch

Don't be deceived the road is gravel with a high clay content which makes it VERY slippery

A regular sight

Just a few of the puddles we drove through

After our rather interesting trip in we arrived safely at our destination and found that we had the place all to ourselves.

Enjoying the sun outside our camper

On Sunday we decided to do some exploring along the coast. We have been to House Beach a number of times but our camping companions haven’t so we took them exploring.

We stopped in at Drage’s beach after having a quick look we decide to explore some more and then come back for lunch.

From there we went and had a look at Doubtful Islands/Shark Alley.

We did a little more driving

and then David spotted some Emus in the distance.

We then went back to Drage’s for some lunch.

Monday morning was really relaxing everyone got up in their own time. The boys decided they needed a fire so after awhile we all gathered around the fire and had coffee and just relaxed.

Here's a few more photos from the weekend

Maddy having a whale of a time with her new bone

The she decided to try to dig to Tibet to look for her ancestors.

After lunch of pancakes, which the blokes cooked we packed up and headed home. By this time we had had almost 2 days of sunshine and wind to dry the track which meant that it wasn’t as slippery but was now starting to harden up into lots of ruts and corrugations. We decided that puddles are much better then killer whoops (corrugations).


On the crocheting front I am busy working on a blanket at the moment. It is a version of this blanket

ABC Baby blanket

This blanket is made as one piece but I didn't want to work on such a big blanket as I often take my work with me when I pick the boys up from School, Work, bible study etc. so I decide to make each letter it's own square and then join them together. I've also made some squares with pictures for the corner square rather than the plain ones. So far I am up to the letter M but for some reason I missed the Letter J so will do that next. I will take some photos next week and give you a sneak peek.

(((((hugs)))))

Sandra

Sunrise

 I captured this sunrise Tuesday morning

The colour change is amazing

This is the first photo

This was taken less than a minute later from pink to orange

Will be back later with some pictures of our long weekend and my latest crochet project.

(((((hugs)))))

Sandra

Ebony dress

My niece has a twin sister who also has a daughter so that meant I would haaaave to make another little dress, oh the hardships :) It is so hard to make cute little girl clothes..... NOT. After looking at my boys dark clothes it is so nice to make something pink and pretty. 

I had a look on the internet for a pattern to use and found LOTS of adorable dresses. 

I decided on this dress

Granny yoke baby dress

I had some pink and purple yarn which I had bought for another project, but had decided against, which was perfect for this dress. It was Moda Vera "Gelato"which is a 50/50 Acrylic and cotton blend.  So Sunday afternoon I started this dress

My eldest son went for his licence on Monday morning so I took along my granny squares finished of the last of them (did I say that I started this dress Sunday afternoon?) and sewed in the ends while I waited and prayed that he would pass (YES he did :))

The skirt took longer than I thought but it was great to do while watching Agatha Christie's Poirot, I love  David Suchet as Poirot. By Friday evening I was ready to put it all together. So less than a week after starting here it is

Ta da

 I decide to make a little dress to go under the crochet dress  as it is an open pattern and it is winter here. My first plan was to make one in cream but after trying cream behind it I decided it needed a stronger colour. It took me awhile and just as I was about to give up this lovely bright green jumped out at me.

 I also added a trim of cream lace which just pokes out from the bottom of the dress when worn.

I had a little chuckle when I made this dress as I used the same pattern that I used for my sons shirts years ago. It is from the Kwik-Sew's "Sewing for baby" book. 

I wanted to give it to my niece before Sunday so that her daughter could wear it to church if she wanted what I didn't realise was that it was Ebony's birthday on Saturday so it was perfect timing.

On Sunday after the morning service the twins come up to show me the girls in their dresses. They were both very cute. Alycia loves here dress and had to give me lots of hugs. There is just one problem and that is that the neck slips down, but I think this can be fixed by maybe tying/buttoning the top of the neck together like this

Not sure what I'm going to do now but I will need to organise a project as I think I may be spending a bit of time sitting quiet as my Asthma is playing up with all the cold and very damp weather we are having at the moment.

Till next time 

(((((hugs)))))

Sandra

Alycia dress

I know I have been quiet for a long time but the crochet needle has been very busy. To day i would like to share a dress i finished yesterday for a very special little girl. I got this pattern from a book I found in the local book store while looking for an Asterix book for my son's birthday, i know the comics and the sewing books are not even on the same side of the store:).

Cute and Easy Crochet by Nicki Trench

I saw this book and feel in love. So home it came with me. I really wanted to make some of the outfits in this book but as I have grown boys I couldn't make anything for them and i have enough outfits in my present basket. So i decided i would ask my niece if she would like a dress for her daughter. Well the long and the short of it is that she has been having trouble finding nice modest cute dresses for her daughter so would love one. That was last week Sunday. I knew exactly the dress I would make this one. It is called toddler dress which I think is a very boring name but an absolutely gorgeous pattern.

So one Monday morning i went to our local spotlight to get some suitable yarn because of course i don't have any suitable yarn in my stash

By Saturday evening it was finished

TA DA.............!!!!

Front

Bodice detail

Skirt detail

Back

I am so happy with how it turned out. There was a few mistakes in the pattern, which really annoys me, if I'm going to pay for a pattern I expect it to be correct but i figures it out and all is good. I lined to skirt with a very simple skirt which i sewed in just to make it warmer and it also picks out the pattern.

I have some more items I have finished but I need to take some photos. So one day when i have some time I'll take some photos and share with you all.

Lots of Love

Sandra

Unexpected visitors

I had the most amazing morning. I was busy doing soccer registrations and washing when I had a knock on the door. It was somebody going around door to door inviting people to a Good Friday worship service, nothing unusual about that but after saying good bye I went to get the washing when I heard a strange bang coming from the car they were in at first I thought it was someone closing the door but when I had a look they were all getting out the car. It turns out that the radiator hose on their car had split under pressure. So there they were stuck on my driveway with no way of going.

After they had made arrangements to be picked up I invited them in for a coffee, while they waited for their help to arrive.
It was really good fun we chatted and laughed for about 30mins or so.
It was a welcome break from loooooooots of paper work and washing.
What a wonderful way to spend half an hour.
I hope something fantastic happens in your day today

Long weekends and top class dinning

Hello All
Well that was a long unexpected break. It took me a looooooooooot longer to get over the accident than I thought it would, but I’m all good again.  Then when I thought I was better I succumbed to another round of thrush.  icky! So I decide that this time I would go on a cleansing diet. So away went the yeast, dairy and sugar. What a journey that was/is, there is sugar in everything and yeast and dairy in just about everything else. The first week was rather hard as I suffered from sugar cravings and also toxin overload as the yeast died of. But I got through that and am starting to feel more energetic and am losing weight YES so far 4kgs.

Life hasn’t been all bad on the long weekend in March (Labour day in West Australia) we packed up the camper and headed down to one of our favourite camping spots, Torbay Inlet. It is bush camping with no facilities but we are self-sufficient so that’s not a problem.

Our campsite for the weekend

The boys on the inlet

Paul with Maddy

The weather was fantastic.
One evening after dinner I went for a paddle down the inlet I just managed to get a couple of photos as the sun set. They are a bit blurry because I didn't have a tripod.

My trusty companion, Whenever someone went on the kayak Ebonee HAD to come along

Not a very flattering shot but this is where Ebonee loves to stand

A couple of mornings I got up early about 6.30 had a bite to eat and then went for a paddle. It is so calm and peaceful it's really hard to turn around and go back to camp

Part of the remains of the flood gates

This is the large "lake"part of the inlet. I paddled around there the first time I went out but I forgot my camera

As you go up the inlet on the right is part of the rain water drainage system for the potato farms. I paddled up this for about half an hour.

Maddy managed to take Ebony's place up front but Ebony didn't mind. but it did lead to a few little swims.

The reflections in the water were amazing

We are hoping to go back again during the April school holidays

I also have been spending some more time down at Mutton bird beach which is the beach were then inlet opens on to. Last Wednesday I decide to take the dogs to the beach. So after doing the house work I packed my lunch and headed down to the beach.

The view from my table

My lunch companions

My dinning table

I have been doing some crochet but haven't taken any photos so I'll save that for another day.

Lots of love to all