Hello Possum

I've almost got my sewing mojo back. I had a couple of power sessions at the machine late last week resulting in more Australian themed cushions of varied prints & sizes. I also whipped up another psychedelic terry toweling & Pom Pom beach cover up for a wee little one.
On the home building site front, WE HAVE CONCRETE! After a lot of digging & filling & forming up, the concrete trucks arrived at 7am this morning & the guys have been troweling & helicoptering to get a lovely smooth surface.
Yay progress in the sewing room & the building site.
My son turned 9 last week & we had a ten pin bowling party for him on the following Saturday. 14 kids all sugared up & having fun. Dave (hubby) made the most amazing bowling ball shaped icecream cake. He mixed chocolate & vanilla icecream together along with fresh raspberries & M&Ms & filled a large rubber ball that he had cut in half & lined with cling film. Once pulled out of the mould, it had a few coatings ice magic,the result was magnifique. Yum for everyone.

Busy times

Busy busy times! So much happening on the home front. Last week we finally started the addition to our house.Dave told me the whole yard would be nothing but dirt but I just couldn't comprehend why so much of our garden would need to go. Now I get it, it is quite a process & to quote three tradesmen in the space of a couple of days "you have to break a few eggs to make an omelette". It is rather exciting to be finally making a start, I've been thrown into the role of project manager, talk about a steep learning curve. I think I'm a natural at hounding people. I've even been shoveling plumbers grit into the sewer trenches,very hands on.
I've also added a photo of the garage door of a house my husband designed in Marrickville Sydney. The owner of the house is an amazing women & she commissioned artist Louise Tuckwell to paint a mural over the door.
I love it, it sure brightens up the inner city street scape.
I have a long list of Sean-the-prawn orders building up which I must tackle soon. Plenty of designing & cutting out going on, I just can't get myself into a sewing head space.
What do you do to inspire yourself to get back to the machine?

Hippity Hop Hop Easter's on its way

Happy Easter dear blog friends.
For those celebrating Passover well happy times to you too.
Thursday at my son's school they had an Easter Hat Parade which was a lot of fun, I took my parents along to have a picnic with the kids & to watch the parade. So many beautiful hats & happy faces.
On Good Friday we had a beautiful lunch around at the home of some great friends of ours. Delicious homemade curries, prawn green curry, yummy Malay fish & aubergine curry along with a yummy aloo mater.
We brought dessert, a lemon yoghurt cake with whipped cream & another friend who arrived later served up fresh ricotta drizzled with honey. The afternoon finished up with fresh made mint tea Tunisian style.
A lovely afternoon spent chatting & eating while our kids played together & we had some quality snuggles with the host's 9week old baby daughter. Ahh bliss.
Today is Easter Sunday & the kids awoke at 6.30 am to find that the Easter Bunny had left chocolate eggs outside their bedroom, they were very excited.
My parents joined us for a sumptuous Easter lunch of roast chicken & an array of delicious salads, my favorite being beetroot, bean, watercress, pecan nut & goats cheese.
My hubby tried out a new recipe for sweets, a lime & ricotta pudding.
Soooo good we'll definitely be making that one again. Lately we have been using produce from our home garden:- lemons, limes, basil, mint, rosemary, wild cherry tomatoes, water cress, leeks, green beans, free range eggs & sorrel. I'm a proud, lazy gardener, learning as I go.
It has been a beautiful Easter this year enjoying special times with family & friends.
Now I've crashed out on the bed trying to recover from our healthy feast.
Happy times to you.

Sulphur Crested Cocky

Yesterday I finished making up a cushion of a patched Aussie Flora & Fauna theme. I thought the cockatoo needed a little more attention, so I snazzed it up with embroidered detail in some bright yellow Japanese sashiko thread.
Jumps right at you now.

Green Seas

There is something fresh about this appley green sea surrounding the map of Australia on this vintage tea towel cushion that I made last week. I love the sweet 1950's style illustrations of the koala & other native animals.
I've had such a lovely weekend catching up with a dear, dear friend of mine from my childhood. We went our separate ways when we hit our teens but have always had a special connection. It is great to she her so happy now at 42years old with a cute as can be 4 month old baby boy and a fab man. Baby Felix it is awesome to meet you & spend time with your beautiful family.

New life

I recently made a couple of cushions for an old friend from high school. She was so sweet, about 12 months ago she found me on Facebook & had a look at my Sean the Prawn creations & decided to gift me a whole heap of beautifully embroidered doilies that once belonged to her mother in law. She was hoping I'd give them a new life & that is exactly what I did. I love doilies & have quite a collection now. I treasure their beauty & uniqueness, not to mention the thought of just how much love & dedication went into all those pretty stitches. So yep, it means a lot to me to give these treasures a new life, a new chance to be admired. Thanks lovely Jo for the doilies & I hope you had a great birthday.

Feeling breezy

Today is a great day, issue two of online Breeze Magazine has been launched. Sean-the-prawn cushions are on the front cover & throughout the mag, as is a feature of one of David Boyle Architect's (my hubby) sensitive renovations. This issue is all about The Bouddi Peninsula an area in which I am lucky enough to live, & about a few of it's people & their businesses. Many of the photos in this edition were contributed by two amazingly talented women Lisa Haymes & Brigid Arnott, whom I'm fortunate to call my friends.
Such beautiful work ladies especially Lisa's photos of the Bouddi bush.
I'm also loving the awesome Elkhorn's Instagram Adventure, I might have to do that walk soon myself.
The more I look at the the images in this mag the more I realize that this is my heartland/ my dreaming.
For a visual feast check out this mag, www.breezemag.com.au