Weekend

We journeyed to the tangled maze on Saturday which was surprisingly good. The kids loved the maze and finding the clues to receive a lolly snake. The only drawback was the entrance fee - pricey! Its here if you want to take a look. The countryside is beautiful around Creswick, I'm sure my dream home is around there somewhere!

Lastnight hubby roasted pork belly, he hadn't done it before but it was absoloutely marvellous. Here is what he did:

Preheat oven 220 degrees (celcius)
Rub oil & salt onto scored fat of pork and place in an oven dish fat side up.
Roast for 20 minutes, drop heat back to 170 and continue roasting for 1 hour. Turn heat back up to 220 and roast for 45 minutes or until crackling is done (that is, it looks crunchy and crispy). Easy and fantastic!

Bracelets

I went to my first jewellery class lastnight, we made these simple little bracelets. They were good starter projects. I'm not really into jewellery, but my aim is to make rosary beads and sell them to raise money for our church restoration. Next week we're making necklaces, which will help me to learn techniques for rosaries. The interior restoration of the church is complete, but the exterior requires a lot of work (and money!) You can read about it here

Caroline

I'm very pleased to have another lovely lady finished! I'm even more pleased to see I'm getting better with the technical side of making them and my design is working really well. Each one has the same body design, so I make that up first. I don't plan how she will turn out, but I do the face immediately after the body to give me a feel for how she might turn out. I should have the next one finished over the weekend, she is waiting for hair.



Pretty garden flowers

Its so nice to see little things happening in the garden, giving us a foretaste of what is to come in spring.

The first jonquils (love them!)



Red hot pokers



And the prettiest little flower of all!


Birthday apron

Here is what I've made for my lovely husband for his birthday in a couple of weeks. He loves to cook on weekends so I think he will like this.



Inspiration file.

I keep an inspiration file to help me decide on new projects and to pick me up when I don't feel like doing anything.
Its just a plastic file with clear pockets. I cut out pictures from magazines or catalogues or photocopy if its a book or mag from the library. Sometimes its just a colour combination I like, other times its a full project. Its also useful for information and tutorials.
I refer to my file all the time, it really helps.

I'm still here

For some reason I couldn't log in to my blog, but after some frustrated fiddling (I'm really not clever with computers!) I'm back.
I'm working on 2 more dolls and a surprise for my husband's birthday coming up in July. Its a real struggle to make time for craft, just too many other things to do. At least the creative impulses are still flowing and I'm doing plenty of sketches and notes for when I do have more time (whenever that may be!)
God bless you all, have a great day whatever you are doing:)

Sophia the doll

Finished!

Sewing tip

This will not help you seasoned sewers out there, but for the newbies:
To get your project looking really professional with crisp, clean lines ensure you always use your iron! Iron seams, corners, everything. By the time I'm finished a project I've ironed it countless times. I often think my iron is as important as my sewing machine, but they compliment each other very well.
Ironing can mean the difference between success or a shapeless, shaggy looking something!
Obviously, this doesn't apply to every project, it depends on the type of project and the fabric used.

Happy sewing! (and ironing!)

This blog is closing!

All posts will now be found at my new site.  Click here to go the the new site.