Simple ways, simple days

Finally some quilting and stitching, I am a huge fan of Craftsy.com and have purchased numerous classes across many craft genres.  Whilst watching a class called Simple Fresh Quilts by Joanna Figueroa I felt that the spool block quilt was perfect for this jelly roll that had been kicking around my craft room so I thought why not let's do it. So early December I set about stitching the top and here it is as I was making the sandwich, this was also the first time I have tried spray basting a quilt and I must say I really like this technique. My furry, four legged helper is Mimi who just loves to help make the quilt sandwich and tries to take ownership over all quilts, she will only sleep on a bed with a quilt on it. Maybe I should make her one of her own. This quilt is also the one that I decided to bite the bullet on and started to free motion quilt it myself, my previous quilts I have quilted in the ditch and basically with straight lines. I found the free motion side

Slowly getting back in the groove. Trying to settle back into the groove after our camping holiday. One of the first requests was " please Mum can you make some bread", isn't it funny the things you miss , the smell and taste of homemade bread has to be right up there. I hope to step up the bread making this year and branch out into fancy plaits and rolls etc, Sorry about the photos, I am not to smart with the phone and I have not located the camera in the unpacking yet. I was pleased with these 2 light rye loaves and somebody else was also as a slice was missing when I returned, they were still hot. I was also very relieved that the vegie garden had looked after itself whilst we were away it is always a worry during the heat to leave it to it's own devices, but it seems to have coped. I will need to get busy over the next few days to deal with the over sized zucchinis and the apricots look not far off either and I am very curious abo

Reflections on 2014 Well we have just returned a day earlier than planned from our camping holiday at Lorne in Victoria, some unexpected heavy rains for Friday and Saturday  convinced us to pack up camp and return home with a damp tent rather than a drenched one. We had a lovely time spending days at the beach and nights playing Phase 10 ( card game ) and Rummikub along with spending time with my eldest daughters fiance and his father. Over Christmas and New Year there was a bit of discussion about the year that was and how it had at times challenged our resilience and that we were grateful for the good times amongst the struggles. Both my girls and I live with a genetic medical condition that impacts us everyday but we make the most of what we can and are happy with life, There is no treatment or cure we just need to manage and adapt as necessary, according to our Specialists we are experts at this and constantly surprise them with what we manage. Having said all of that there is