Merry Christmas...

wishing you all a
"MERRY CHRISTMAS AND VERY BRIGHT NEW YEAR"TO ALL THE WONDERFUL NEW FRIENDS
I HAVE MEET THROUGH CYBER SPACE...
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL YOUR

INSPIRATION
COMMENTS
ENCOURAGEMENT

AND WELL JUST BEING THERE...

blogging with 2 keyboards?
can't stop me...

and safe in the arms of her new friend
"Betty Jo"
she made it in time for Christmas
and i could not resisted a poem
to make her feel right at home...
click the poem below to go to Betty Jo's post...

My nom de plume is Betty Jo
I live in a land of vintage Lino,

A haven of plenty that I source,
a magical enchanted forest of sorts.

Where squirrels scurry to their door,
And owls and swallows swoop and soar.

As you can see I do not mock,
for what you want in my shop.

I will make them all up in my head,
whether orange or green, purple or red.

So come and visit if you like,
And take one home for your delight.

madly sewing...

still trying to finish some very last minute
Christmas gifts...
i really wish i had more of these
"granny "cane handles
cause i could have whipped up a few more of these...
i just cut out a shape that looked right and sewed
it up...
then unpicked and re-sewed up...
you know what it's like...

so now i will have to just wait until the new year and
make them up for birthday pressies...

hoping that i can still put up one more post tomorrow
so until then...happy sewing...

Coasters...

coasters...
sorry about not putting up a post
but my keyboard is playing up
after my husband spilt his coffee on it...
i have a old keyboard sort of working to put
this post up...but the space bar
isn't working so i have 2 keyboards connected!!!

so of course in honour of my husband
who constantly spills his coffee
a little poem to go with them...

I'd love a cup of coffee,
I'd love a cup of tea.
Pop it on a coaster,
But there’s no guarantee’s.
Cause you know...
That I will drip it and spill it
and make such a mess.
But, I REALLY need to sit
and have a well-earned rest...

in the new year i will put together a easy
tutorial...

great tutorials...

Some very last minute Christmas gifts...
I really needed to do these a month ago but
yes I'm very disorganized (slack)
but yah! there done...
and of course i could not have made these without
the help of great tutorials
so thanks to PINK PENGUIN
for the great "basket" tutorial
that i converted into a bag...I have also added the yo-yo's
love them...

And here are some very quick and easy draw string bags
that i have made into shoe bags
thanks to CURLY POPS great tutorial...

these were the easiest thing to do and i will
be sure to make some more for other
gift ideas...

so check out the links and most of the tutorials you
will find in their right hand sidebar,
and give them a go...

Christmas dining...

I thought i would share some pics
of the dining room
all ready for Christmas...
the tree is huge and i often think
if we ever left the pub i wouldn't be able to fit
it into a normal house...

we have lots of royal stuff around
and love collecting more to put up...
it makes a good talking point...

I hand painted the royal names around the second year
we were here and they are all in order
and it took me quite a long time to finish...

I first printed the lettering out from the computer
then positioned them around
and placed carbon paper underneath,
then traced over all the lettering...
once they we all traced i had a very fine "folk art"
brush and hand painted the lettering...
it amazes me now that i did it, i certainly wasn't sewing
anything at that point...
but people do comment on it and seem to like
looking at all the names...
we also have a very large framed poster that a friend
brought back from England that has
all the royal lineages on...i catch quite a lot looking at that...
and find i need to keep up with "royal affairs" to

to answer there questions...
but it's all fun...

Fit for santa...

After adding a bit of Christmas cheer
the mantle piece is almost fit for santa...

I made these stars last year
and just used scraps of matching material
and felt backing
i very roughly sewed around the edge
and added a bit of stuffing...
cute little star buttons hold it all together...

What to do...

What to do with a fireplace
that's seem better days?grad a couple of sample pots
before you go to work
and when you get home
turn the blow heater on and spruce it up

A work in progress...

love sample pots!!!
colour "red rum" by taubmans
by the way i serve quite a lot of rum
and I'm sure if they ever made a red rum
the colour would not look even close to this...

"my shadow"

We are wrapping up our year for home schooling...
in only a very short time doing it
"my shadow" can now read a book to himself
and is doing so well...
we don't have any stress and tears...
and i think the weight off his shoulders has now
lifted and he can actually learn things and they are sinking in...
we have spent the whole of his school life with
an amazing amount of anxiety, sickness, tears and more
and i kick myself all the time that we didn't do it sooner...
"my shadow" has been sick since really i suppose
before he was born and life can hand out hefty blows
but it is always so upsetting when there babies...
over the 11 years or so we have seen
and meet wonderful parents and children from all walks of life
and spent far to much time in hospitals
and as Christmas approaches i remember them all with fondness,
and wonder how there all doing...
and hope they are all doing as well as "my shadow"
our little guy turns 12 at Christmas
and i know that is a wonderful miracle
that we all only dreamed of coming truethis is a photo of me and him when we could take him home
unfortunately we had to take him back again
but it is a lovely shot because he has no tubes sticking out of his nose
we had to tube feed for 6months after that shot was taken
and so there are not many shots without it...
it will take me a bit to really go into it all
but i feel that there are still so many families
out there still going though it all
that it is hard for me to pretend it didn't all happen
and still isn't...

"our wonderful little guy"
was born with complex congenital heart disease
and has four open heart surgeries and so much other stuff
that i really choose not to remember...

All i can say is i love Christmas day as it means
"my shadow" is another year older
and he is with us...

Kings...

After a wonderful start to the week...
I found myself agonizing over a name for
these special little guys...
yes you heard right
"guys, men, brothers, princes, kings"

The problem started when i could think of heaps of "funny" names
It all started with Disco Stu, then Mr Magoo, and even
Jughead...the list went on and on...
but nothing came to me that really was "royal" and original
what to do...

in the end I came to the conclusion!!!
There are plenty of guys out there
that call themselves Queens...

So why can't there be guys who call themselves King's...

And so King Rupert it is...
he enjoys a spot of golf
and loves hitting a "birdie"
which luckily is not very often...
one of his favorite charities is
"Fairways not Freeways"

And King Cedric...
he likes photographing endangered species,
and has just released his first book...entitled
"If I can see it, So can you"
available at all small out of the way bookstore...

Welcome my good men...
Welcome to the world of Royalty...

Prancher...

Meet Prancer...
when she isn't busy helping out Santa at Christmas...
she likes clopping through the new leaves in spring
or nibbling on new clover...
she loves snuggling up when it's cold,
and loves children of all ages...

if you would like to give Prancer a home before Christmas
e-mail me and she will
Dash away, dash away...right to your door...
special blogger price of $40-00
which will included postage...that's a $20 saving!!!
only for Australian...sorry to my overseas friends...

Also I have been very busy on a very new "look"
can't wait till i have it completed...
and i think you will all have a shock....

to market, to market...

WOW
what a day...
yes it did rain, yes i wasn't as organized
yes i ate nothing, and didn't see half of what everyone had...
but WOW...
what a turn out...
great people , great stalls, great atmosphere...
i managed to sell out of the crowns
and only returned with 3 bags out of 17...
aprons were sold out as well,
yes i was selling them cheap as i want to do more exciting stuff
next market, but turn over is good...
and yes i have booked in for the next market
on the 7Th of February...

I did manage to have half a second to meet
Diana from Sketch
and how lovely is she!!!
and see her amazing range...
if you can't see her stuff at the markets
check out her online shops...
her caravan cushions are amazing
and she even have a new design
that i will let her tell everyone about
all i will say is that it is DIVINE
I'm sure she will blog about it very soon...

Now if you are checking out my blog for the very first time
"hi" to all the lovely people who i meet that day
and be sure to e-mail me if you are after
anything...you can just click on my profile
in the left top corner and you will find it there...
or leave a comment on one of my posts...

my niece's birthday was this weekend
and Vanessa made a beautiful " barbie" cake...

the detail in the dress is amazing...
the cake was a double mud cake YUM
and the icing tasted just like soft chocolate...
i think i could have ate more icing than cake...

i love going down to the city...
and love coming home full of new ideas and more materials

but as always when i do the long drive home
there is a spot about 10 minutes before i get there
that as i drive over a hill and reach the start of our valley
that i have a huge sigh....

and say
thank god I'm home...

new chickens...

this is our proud new mummy
with one of her four chickens...
it was only about a hour old when i took this picture
and very, very tiny...

we are all hoping they will be alright
as we have a severe flooding today and tonight
and the river is over the 2metre mark...
they are up high enough but I'm still worried
that they will be safe and warm...

A Crown of an idea...

just invested in a pair of
pinking shears...
I'll say invest as they are not the cheapest
purchase but wow should have bought a pair
years ago...

so these little crowns...
(if i can get them off little miss)
will be at the market stall...
so little misses out there can be a
"a royal princess"
at least for the day...

Props...

Found this cute BURGUNDY bench seat
at the chemist for $12-95
and think it will be a cute
prop for the stall

and it fits 2 girls on it...

Market - only 6 days and counting...

and you may have noticed a link with this picture in my side bar...
my sister has her web page up and running...
if you love cakes check it out...
there will be even more cake pics on it soon as she
has a photo shoot next week for a wedding magazine...

lolly legs

QUESTION:

Is i wrong to have "lolly legs" after 40...
total dilemma as i want to wear something fun
to the twilight market...
as it is held at the school grounds
and it will have, I'm hoping a real family Christmas feel... I made this skirt forever ago
and decided to shorten it to a better length...
i LOVE it and with the left over material
whipped up a couple of Chicago's with it...
the socks i picked up the other day and they don't quite
match in colour tone...
as you can tell...
i always wear jeans and t-shirts but now i feel
like re-living my "trendier" days and wear something
that i would have say worn 15 years ago...
any thoughts...
do i stick with the skirt and black socks and
black "royal" print t-shirt and flowery skirt
or
the lolly legs and dark skirt top etc
or have a collage of that the pic above???

can't believe i am worried about pure trivial crap at the moment but...
our minds play funny tricks sometimes...
and it's easier to worry about stuff like this...
than the bigger picture...

more juggling...

TICK-TOCK
time seems to be flying at the moment
and i can't help but get a couple more Chicago's done
before the market...just a reminded
OLIVE TREE MARKET AT THE JUNCTION PS NEWCASTLE
sooooooooo excited...

So if you are in the area why not do some Christmas shopping!!!

i have now got a three column blog and thanks to bellgirls links
i did manage to wing it and amaze myself by being able to do it...
i used this link...HERE...

also if you check out bellgirls site
you can view her newly arrived "Chicago bellgirl"
I think she will have many an adventure...

for all who asked...from last post...
i cook 5 nights a week and weekend lunches...
and yes i am very over cooking...
but i am one of these types that presentation is everything
and if the plate doesn't look just as appealing...i wont serve it...
coming up with specials is the hardest
as you can't keep everyone happy and you have to
be able to sell enough to make your money back
as i don't like freezing stuff...
also most of the stuff that i put on the specials
takes longer than all the usual food...
and if I'm the only one cooking it takes up to0 much time...
we have a very small country pub and most of the time
i can get through about 10-20 meals by myself...
as i didn't mention before that includes taking the orders,
taking meals out and all the prep and washing up...
don't you just love running your own business???
that's why 2 nights a week i get a lady in to help with prep and orders
and dishes etc...
i really don't know how some places have 5 or more staff
racing around the place
the wages would kill me...maybe i need to up the prices???
but i hate doing that cause i think most people in town
wouldn't be able to afford to go out...
and that just doesn't sit right with me...

I suppose...

Well if you have every wondered what i do...
this is it...
(no...i didn't mean getting plastered...)
i can hear the giggles!!!

sorry i actually can't stand the taste of beer and being surrounded by
grog most of the day isn't as exciting as it may sound...
i know this may be a bit of a shock to some of you...
as even my dearest friends and family still can't believe that
i run a pub...

i suppose I'm not the most typical publican...

my release from all this is my kids and crafting...

This year i have added a bigger work load on myself by
deciding to home school my middle son..."my shadow"
(thought i better give him a blog name)
there are a huge amount of reasons why we have decided to do this
but I'm not really ready to go there yet...
so maybe I'll go into that in another post...

I have also added a playlist that I'm sure all of you may have noticed,
especially if you had your volume up by accident...sorry...
I'm hoping it relaxes me so that i can write more...ha i think it's working...
it was easier than i thought as i am truly learning with all these gadgets...
if anyone wants to put one on their blog and is unsure what to do give me a hallo...

Now getting back to the whole pub thing...
as you may have noticed from other posts
i mentioned cooking...
i do all the cooking with help on the weekends
i think i might start doing a pasta night again now it's getting hotter...
and i can borrow a industrial pasta machine from a friend...
it's amazing how different "real" pasta tastes and
fresh basil pesto is to die for...
it's funny but i love making chilli type pastas
and my level of heat is a mild sweet chilli sauce,
luckily i have plenty of guys handy to test my experiments out on...
and they are more than happy about that...

well that's about it for this post...more later...
i think i have rambled enough...

Chicago sisters...

All i can say is...
no wonder i can't seem to find the time to do housework...

yes i can't help myself...
and even thou i said to myself
i wasn't going to make anymore "royals" before the market...
i find myself at the machine again...
frantically sewing...it's only one more...
and these colours are so nice...

and i did promise someone i would make
a special blue Chicago sister...for all her inspiration...

if you are keen on receiving a gift like one of these...
post a comment on my PAY IT FORWARD
and you could be that lucky...
now back to the kids and cooking and cleaning...
and maybe a tad sewing, not much, well only a bit...