My Town

About 4 weeks ago, I wondered why the tennis court was overgrown and unusable, and now I know, they have resurfaced the court and are starting reno's on the clubhouse.

I can't wait to have a game, I haven't played in quite a while X:oD

This lovely mans name is Philip Knight, he has been painting for weeks on a spectacular mural/freeze.

My pictures do it no justice!

It is on the old Carriers Arms Hotel, this, as you can see is an old coach stop!

Philip laughed when I asked about taking his picture, but he soon got into the spirit, we had a good giggle together. He drinks black tea if anyone is passing by X:oD

This is as old as it gets in Bourke, this a lovely motel on the site of the old markets, just behind here, on the river bank, was the most inland port in Australia

and this is what used to be a store, now the other half of the Riverside Motel.

I love my town and the folks who live here. Community is not lost out here as it is in other parts. Next week I will put some more people and locations around town up.

Ok well I am off to chase my kids around and around and around X8o'

SANTA SACKS

Well, these Santa Sacks, I have been working on for 12 months now!! Sorry but I never use a pattern (never been one for instruction)

All the sewing is done! They are made out of a jelly roll, from Moda and the range is "12 days of Christmas"

And from here in, it is embelishments that will highlight the whole thing, bells, beads and soforth!

Glad to have some free time to sew with the girls!!! I am learning a lot, and not just sewing skills!

I really think all us girls should hang out with the older crew, they are just like us, and have some great pearls of wisdim to share......plus a few choice words that may be left unsaid. It is amazing what gets said, but find you own girls, because these are MY GIRLS!!!! oh and mums!!

Note to self!

A 3 year old may be able to point and press.....

but they don't wait for it to focus......

you can fluke it and get a beautiful blue sky.....

or a noggin in the way....

there are always going to be distractions.......

like a bucket.....

of water for the dog Choco.....

eventually it will get the better of them......

and they throw the camera in "for a wash".........this is the last picture my camera will probably take.

The lesson is, keep an eye on your camera!!!!

Last weekand a half!!

So this week I have enlisted some help. Yup he is a good helper and willing.

You can't see it, but he holds his tounge just right also.

I am a big clumsy oaf, kicked my toe on a pending project (trambampoline)

My outdoor sink, to be used for gardening and cleaning fish caught out of the glorious Darling River. May also be used for washing children down.

These are some freebees from a friends garden, everything has taken so quick.

The day after these were put in they bloomed.

And a big TA-DAH the glass is on and frilly trim is all thats left to do, no man will ever invade this space voluntarily.

New glass in my cupboard makes it "mouse proof"

Dad has a new toy, a motion sensing camera, he is using it on the farm to see where and what drinks eg. goats cattle sheep and pigs, we see lots of birds too.

And the odd chick on the back of a 4 wheeler lol

And my cute little 21mo is the wrecking ball of the house.

 So things have been moving along slowly, though time is passing at light speed. It is halfway through April and it seems as though I am running on the spot a bit. The inside of the house is comming together a bit neater now and things can be put in the right place. This is what keeps me calm, if the house is hectic I get hectic, so I kind of enjoy cleaning. I know I am not alone in this, so don't poke fun.
There is no more rubbish in the yard for the tip and the boys can now play outside without too much worry (from me). It is unbelievable the amount of steel and wire our tennants have brought in over the last 4 years. Please if you are a tennant, take your shit with you and don't put nails and things in the walls unless your prepared to remove them and fix the wall, oh and finally, it takes 4 screws to hang a curtain, not 57 nails.
Well off to rearrange the sewing/play room and make it work X:oD
PS Chickens due early May

Yes I can sew!

I went off with my Mum today to the Bourke Tafe. We had all our sewing gear and sewed all day, it is every week and Mum has been going for a few years now, so well now we have moved back I can go too!!

This is the end result of a fun day spent with the Ladies of the Bourke Sewing Group. The chair, a $2 Tip Shop purchase, had a yucky vinyl covered cushion, sooo I got a heap of the scrap fabrics left over from the desk project and layed them out in a sort of 4 block square. I then iron them all and kept them it their block arrangement, trimed the edges up so the pieces are squared off, then sew them together.

Once I had all the pieces together in a sort of square I used the cushion as a template and drew around it about an inch out from the edge. I used some iron on pellon and calico on the top, sandwiching them together and machine quilting to hold it in place. For the bottom I used 2 pieces of calico and sewed them together flat, the bottom needed 2 button holes in it, quickly fixed on Mums machine, these are for the holding straps on the original cushion. I then placed rickrack around the upside of the top and sewed it into place, then on went the outside of the bottom, and they were both sewn together leaving enough room to squeeze the old cushion in to the new cover and to turn it in the right way. Ok gloat time, when I turned it in the right way I was CHUFFED! So I stuffed the old yucky cushion into its new home and sewed it up, very pleased with the result, sooo the scraps of the scraps of the scraps from the desk are going to be in the next blogg as a pin cushion and that just about finished the "scraps" off!

Well tomorrow I am off to raid one of the Ladies from today's, garden for cuttings and bulbs X:oD

PS If anyone need some tips I am happy to help.......I will ask Sash, my big Sis or Mum they are really good at this stuff and I love that they have given me this hobbie as a gift XXOO girls I love you both heaps X:'oD