Bonjour my new mug rugs!

  What a lovely surprise yesterday when I opened my post box….there was a parcel inside from France which peaked my interest…..Once I tore open the packaging, it revealed two simply gorgeous mug rugs…both so different but both quite beautiful. Front: Back: Front: Back: These came from Sylvie and she told me her inspiration for the first mug rug was from our colourful country…so you see the coloured side was her initial ‘top’ until the floods devastated our ‘Sunshine State’ and left it dark and sad….hence the black and white theme which then became the top. Thank you Sylvie….I love them and will think of you when I have my morning boost of caffeine to get me started each day!!!! I haven’t heard from my swap partner yet, but travel to Sweden might take a bit longer??!!!…. No giveaways on names, but my partner is blogless so I guess I can show you what I sent her now!!!!. My inspiration came from the beautiful flowers that have begun to emerge after the cyclone, bringing beauty and an almost symbolic ‘new beginning’!  I’m a bit of a fan of pink and green so I hope my swap partner is too!  (Wouldn’t it be terrible if she was really into brights  instead of pastels and pretties!!???) LOL I even tried my own version of machine quilting….I don’t think I’ll be winning any prizes but it wasn’t too bad! I hope they get to Sweden soon, otherwise my swap partner will think I’ve ditched her!!!! LOL  Thanks Michelle for organising another fun swap! I’ve also been making a birthday gift for a workmate’s 40th birthday… Does this give any clues?????…………. I should have a prize for the first correct guess shouldn’t I????….but not this time!!!….If you guessed the Baseco bag by my mate Dawn……B-I-N-G-O!!!….You’re a winner!!!!! I made a couple of modifications though.   I made my own design for the stitchery…(mainly because I’d made the same bag for my boss late last year for all the work she put into staff training with me.) I based it on one of Leanne Beasley’s designs in her 'Design your own quilt’ workshop we did in Townsville last year. The other thing I did differently was I used a pack of charm squares instead of the 2.5” strips.  You’ll notice the long strips of colour are tonal and not one piece of fabric, as are the handles.  I did that basically because, well…..I wanted to see if I could do it (LOL), and this range of fabric (Moda’s Urban Couture)  was just telling me it belonged with my workmate!!!! I’m getting much braver as I was one of these people that, if the pattern said I needed a certain item, I would go out and hunt it down no matter what, because ‘that’s what the pattern said’!!!!!  I think I’m liking my modifications, and so did my workmate, Theresa!!!! I am extremely happy today too, because my fridge has just been repaired after the cyclone…..it had an ‘issue’ after Yasi, and decided that anything under 13 degrees was far too cold for it…..thank goodness for extended warranty….but I guess everyone had the same problems!!!   I’m going to let it tick over tonight and start filling it back up tomorrow…it will be so nice not to have to go out to the shed to get milk for coffee in the morning!!!!!!   Aaaaaah, life’s simple pleasures!!!!…..and maybe, I’ll just use one of my new mug mats……..I just need to decide which one! Have a great weekend, keep safe and many sugary hugs XXX Wendy   :0)

Bonjour my new mug rugs!

 

What a lovely surprise yesterday when I opened my post box….there was a parcel inside from France which peaked my interest…..Once I tore open the packaging, it revealed two simply gorgeous mug rugs…both so different but both quite beautiful.

Front:

Back:

Front:

Back:

These came from Sylvie and she told me her inspiration for the first mug rug was from our colourful country…so you see the coloured side was her initial ‘top’ until the floods devastated our ‘Sunshine State’ and left it dark and sad….hence the black and white theme which then became the top.

Thank you Sylvie….I love them and will think of you when I have my morning boost of caffeine to get me started each day!!!!

I haven’t heard from my swap partner yet, but travel to Sweden might take a bit longer??!!!….

No giveaways on names, but my partner is blogless so I guess I can show you what I sent her now!!!!.

My inspiration came from the beautiful flowers that have begun to emerge after the cyclone, bringing beauty and an almost symbolic ‘new beginning’!  I’m a bit of a fan of pink and green so I hope my swap partner is too!  (Wouldn’t it be terrible if she was really into brights  instead of pastels and pretties!!???) LOL

I even tried my own version of machine quilting….I don’t think I’ll be winning any prizes but it wasn’t too bad!

I hope they get to Sweden soon, otherwise my swap partner will think I’ve ditched her!!!! LOL  Thanks Michelle for organising another fun swap!

I’ve also been making a birthday gift for a workmate’s 40th birthday…

Does this give any clues?????………….

I should have a prize for the first correct guess shouldn’t I????….but not this time!!!….If you guessed the Baseco bag by my mate Dawn……B-I-N-G-O!!!….You’re a winner!!!!!

I made a couple of modifications though.   I made my own design for the stitchery…(mainly because I’d made the same bag for my boss late last year for all the work she put into staff training with me.)

I based it on one of Leanne Beasley’s designs in her 'Design your own quilt’ workshop we did in Townsville last year.

The other thing I did differently was I used a pack of charm squares instead of the 2.5” strips.  You’ll notice the long strips of colour are tonal and not one piece of fabric, as are the handles. 

I did that basically because, well…..I wanted to see if I could do it (LOL), and this range of fabric (Moda’s Urban Couture)  was just telling me it belonged with my workmate!!!!

I’m getting much braver as I was one of these people that, if the pattern said I needed a certain item, I would go out and hunt it down no matter what, because ‘that’s what the pattern said’!!!!!  I think I’m liking my modifications, and so did my workmate, Theresa!!!!

I am extremely happy today too, because my fridge has just been repaired after the cyclone…..it had an ‘issue’ after Yasi, and decided that anything under 13 degrees was far too cold for it…..thank goodness for extended warranty….but I guess everyone had the same problems!!!   I’m going to let it tick over tonight and start filling it back up tomorrow…it will be so nice not to have to go out to the shed to get milk for coffee in the morning!!!!!!  

Aaaaaah, life’s simple pleasures!!!!…..and maybe, I’ll just use one of my new mug mats……..I just need to decide which one!

Have a great weekend, keep safe and

many sugary hugs

XXX Wendy   :0)

Sugarpie, Honeybunch…..

  how could I resist this gorgeous little gorilla baby sent to me today with these……… Do ya think I’m spoilt?????  Well, Yep!!!  I agree! It’s become a tradition on Valentine’s Day every year that my adorable husband sends me a swinging, singing softie accompanied by some gorgeous red roses to my work!  Seeing as he’s been working away from home for 12 hour shifts at a time since last Tuesday, I never imagined that he would have the time to organise anything this year….and he even sounded convincing when he told me he didn’t realise that today was to be Valentine’s Day when we were talking about it last week …. he even apologised in advance for not being able to organise anything like he normally does, stating that finances were low due to Yasi and that’s why he had to work this past weekend!!!…..what a L-I-A-R !!!!!…..(but such a loveable one!!!! lol) Here I was thinking that the 7-year itch had struck, and in the meantime he was collaborating with his mother to organise ‘the usual’ with the local florist, who has taken it as an annual challenge to see what she can find in the way of singing and dancing animals!!!! My workmates truly look forward to Valentine’s Day each year too, just to see what animal arrives on the office desk and what song we can dance to in the hallway…..this year it was…..”sugarpie honeybunch….you know that I love you….can’t help myself……I love you and nobody else…..!!!!!!”…..awwwww, what can you say to that!!!! I certainly struck me a good one…..and I’m not letting him go!!!….and NO……you can’t have him…..not even for a borrow!!!!! LOL Hope you had the most wonderful Valentine’s Day with the one you love best!!! Sugary hugs XXX Wendy  :0)

Sugarpie, Honeybunch…..

 

how could I resist this gorgeous little gorilla baby sent to me today with these………

Do ya think I’m spoilt?????  Well, Yep!!!  I agree!

It’s become a tradition on Valentine’s Day every year that my adorable husband sends me a swinging, singing softie accompanied by some gorgeous red roses to my work!  Seeing as he’s been working away from home for 12 hour shifts at a time since last Tuesday, I never imagined that he would have the time to organise anything this year….and he even sounded convincing when he told me he didn’t realise that today was to be Valentine’s Day when we were talking about it last week …. he even apologised in advance for not being able to organise anything like he normally does, stating that finances were low due to Yasi and that’s why he had to work this past weekend!!!…..what a L-I-A-R !!!!!…..(but such a loveable one!!!! lol)

Here I was thinking that the 7-year itch had struck, and in the meantime he was collaborating with his mother to organise ‘the usual’ with the local florist, who has taken it as an annual challenge to see what she can find in the way of singing and dancing animals!!!!

My workmates truly look forward to Valentine’s Day each year too, just to see what animal arrives on the office desk and what song we can dance to in the hallway…..this year it was…..”sugarpie honeybunch….you know that I love you….can’t help myself……I love you and nobody else…..!!!!!!”…..awwwww, what can you say to that!!!!

I certainly struck me a good one…..and I’m not letting him go!!!….and NO……you can’t have him…..not even for a borrow!!!!! LOL

Hope you had the most wonderful Valentine’s Day with the one you love best!!!

Sugary hugs

XXX Wendy  :0)

Getting back to ‘normal’

  **Warning** :   Long post…picture heavy!!!!  Make sure you have caffeine and time!!!!! LOL                                             Cyclone Yasi is on its way Apologies for not being able to blog this past week as our power only came back on on Sunday night, but went out again Monday and then didn’t come back on till Tuesday….it’s been a hectic week……very surreal and now it feels like it was a lifetime ago!!!! Cyclone Yasi certainly made its presence felt and even though we were about 300kms away from the centre, we certainly felt some of the effects…thank God the majority of it was only outside in backyards, parks and gardens and little damage was done to buildings.  The power of prayer certainly is amazing and I know that many of you were praying for us up here in NQ, and I am so thankful…..you can only imagine how much!  We are certainly feeling for those less fortunate in Tully and Cardwell and the surrounding areas that copped the most direct hit with storm surges that took buildings and placed them in the next street, covering everything in a thick layer of sand.  Friends in Ingham have only got their power, water and phone connections back on today…can you imagine going without a bath for a week!!!???? We lost power on Wednesday but hubby was prepared with a generator that could run the whole house….we hooked it up on Thursday and powered the fridges and freezers up so we didn’t lose too much…..the generator had other ideas!!!!!……it died on Friday morning!  We managed to borrow another smaller generator on Saturday afternoon but it could only power a fridge and freezer at a time, so juggling became second nature however it was a losing battle!  We finally got power on Sunday evening but I think our garbage collectors are going to be very busy tomorrow with all the food we’ve had to throw out! We went for a drive around town, when it was safe, to inspect the damage… this is our local Woolies store….trees were uprooted from  the bitumen carpark…. large trees, some over 100 years old, toppled like cards. Sugar cane was flattened. Parts of the Coles sign ended up halfway down the road and huge, heavy metal signs just ‘fell’ out of the ground! My son’s high school had uprooted trees fall through the roofs of the office and home ec. room. Trees went through electrical wires which caused no end of drama but the Council and Ergon (our electricity suppliers) boys worked like mad!!! I thought I’d share some our our yard with you…….not such a pretty sight at this stage!!!! The powerful winds twisted this large branch of our macadamia tree which we tried to remove with a hand saw, but soon realised a chainsaw was in order if we were ever going to make any headway!!! One of our mango trees was snapped and the branches blown over the other side of the garden, past the mandarin tree and the herbs This mango was split in half by the wind’s force Avocadoes, bananas and pawpaws bore the brunt of Yasi’s force in the back corner of the garden and you can see the amount of leaves stripped and lying all over the ground!!!! Hubby had to cable tie the back awning at 2am during the cyclone after the aluminium arm broke.  We were worried that it would rip the fascia off and then the roof so cable ties saved the day!!!! A couple of days later, this was the pile of branches from our garden we disposed of for the council pick up……we now have another pile there, the same size, ready for the second collection!!!!  And, I am O-V-E-R  green ants!!!!…if I never see another green ant it will be too soon!!! LOL Despite having no power, by torchlight and l.e.d. lamplight, I managed to catch up on some of my Raggedy Friends stitcheries when we weren’t cleaning up the yard…. Amazing what you can get done when you’re not distracted by tv and technology!!!! And now, it’s back to ‘normal’……hopefully it will be that way for all affected (afflicted??) by Mother Nature very soon!  Let’s not forget them too! Sugary hugs XXX Wendy :0)