Chairs are done.

 After years of being used, abused and largely ignored the dining chairs have finally had their much needed makeover. All eight of them are positively glowing now that they are refreshed and look as good as new!


There was no stopping me once I got the hang of the staple gun. Bruce didn't last too long on the job though. I had to sack him from the "stapling" part as he went way to close to my fingers, too many  times! This was a an inexpensive thing to do and didn't take too long, so I might do it every year.

That's one stash of fabric down and two to go. 

Added here is a photo of number one son Jack, I couldn't resist as I have  new photo editing software and love this shot of Jack, aged 15,  in black and white.

Long Hot Summer

It seems my "Summer of Sew Content" is morphing into a "Long Hot Summer". The combination of a depleted stash and a shortage of precious sewing time does not a happy sewer make!

Having said that I have had the brown fabric for a while and intend to recover my "In desperate need of a makeover" dining room chairs.

 In a bid to feed my fabric obsession I popped into "Patches"  yesterday and bought the other pieces of fabric on sale!  That takes care of the "stash" now I need to make some sew time.

A dress form the green and pink and maybe a full skirt from the purple, white and green fun fabric.

I have made myself a nice Sewing Ritual:

• I dress in something that I have made
• I wear the hat featured in this Blog
• I burn lavender oil 
• Drink endless cups of peppermint tea
• Listen to v loud music, (Nick Cave is a fave)

Once I had the scene set yesterday I had a lovely day making a tote bag for my wonderful friend Kathy in Sydney.  Though I have to say it was a bit warm here in Brisbane yesterday so it was a bit of a sweat shop set up for awhile. No matter I had a  lovely day happily, sweatily sewing away! Photo to come.

High on my list of things that make me happy are Spider Lily flowers. So delicate but still strong and hardy. No scent though which is unfortuneate.

Can't beat a good spot..

Who doesn' t love a good spot? In my opinion you can beat a lot of things but you can't beat a ....good spot.

I love this pattern, (Simplicity 8965) and we have developed a no maintenance friendship - the ones I like best. The McCalls 2401 pattern that I have coveted for ages finally arrived at Spotlight. Once I had it in my hot little hand , it looked slightly more high maintenance than tried and tested Simplicity. Go with what you know I say! So I did and as always I love the result and I can't go past a black and white combo either

Ha, ha we all love Bruce's new Ute (well, new to us), especially Spike who gets to go for a drive. The ute is great to get dirt for the garden and to throw the bits n pieces in the back that we don't have room for in the family car. Taking the photos with the ute remind me of the Paul Kelly song "It's Only 40 Miles to Saturday Night."

The Gardenia is from our garden, they are one of my favorite flowers, both so delicate yet so hardy. We have hedges of Gardenias around our house so their intoxicating scent wafts gently through on the breeze. Aromatherapy heaven! So lucky that we are getting a second flowering this season, must be from all the rain. Flowers make me happy.

Just finished reading Sarah Allen Addison "The Peach Keeper". I like her as a writer. This was an easy to read story with a few quirky touches and a nice reminder of how important friendships are.

I'm not sure what is next on my sewing agenda, so I'm just going to keep an open mind and see what inspiration comes along.