Happy New Year!

Look at the beautiful full rainbow I saw at sunset on the 30th December, one day early to farewell the old year and two to bring in the new one.  But I'll forgive Mother Nature, she can put on displays like this above my house anytime!  It was during the smallest of sun showers I've ever experienced, the pavement was pretty much dry the second after the rain drops hit the ground.  This was my first go at using the panorama feature on my iphone, simply because I couldn't fit it all in with one shot.  I was already standing on the road to take this and the Meow thought this meant it was okay for her to come and roll around on the road too.  That's my house at the end of the rainbow there on the right.  Does that mean a big pot of gold coming our way for 2013? Wouldn't that be lovely.

May 2013 bring you many moments of joy, plenty of good fortune and much healthiness!

Sunday snippets

uncovering old stuff

hanging new stuff

more new stuff (from here)

market visiting

Christmas tree-ing

pikelet cooking

More snippets at Tinniegirl's

Wood Lovers Anonymous

Hello, my name is Megan and I really love wood stuff. 

Any wood stuff - be it in its natural state of tree or chopped down to make furniture or little bits of pretty.

I love it all!

I also really love clocks.  Cuckoo clocks to be precise and I have always wanted to get one - one day.  But then Amanda very kindly offered me one that used to belong to her father.  It was destined for the op shop pile unless I wanted it.  Did I ever!!!!! 

How gorgeous is this clock?! It was also really nice to go over to Amanda's place and meet her for the first time, she has an amazing home - the type that looks like it belongs in magazine pages it is so beautifully decorated.  You can check it out on her blog, Homely One.

I love the pendulum blur in this shot

In its new home next to the wooden bookshelf and the wooden bookends...

The best shot I could get of the cuckoo

I feel so lucky to have been offered such a gorgeous piece, I love listening to it cuckoo and counting what time it is.  MR is a big fan as well, so much so that he took over setting it up and hanging it when I wasn't even home to join in.  Thank you so much Amanda!


My other latest wooden piece I got down south on my birthday trip.  It is a hand turned mushroom made out of a banksia nut!  Isn't it gorgeous?  I love facing it this way because it looks like a little face and makes me think of May Gibb's Banksia Men (even though when I was little I thought they were scary)  I am quite in love with it.

It is also a little container, although goodness knows what I would put inside?  Some potpourri maybe?

With some of out other favourite bits of wooden stuff

 Unfortuntely, my love for wooden stuff does not make for very colourful display shelves.  I need to do something about that!

  

Prettifying

Some people go acrylics, some like a good spray tan, others prefer to get their hair done.  No matter what it is though, we all have something we like to get done to treat ourselves and make us feel a bit pretty and special.  For me it's getting my toes painted.

my current pretty love heart toes

Not just painted though, always with a design on at least the big toe if not all of them.  There's just something about it that makes me feel a bit more 'finished' and presentable.  Nice toenails are important (to me at least).  Fingernails, not so much.  Strangely, I'm not a big fan of painting my fingernails.  For some reason the nail polish always chips on the first day, even though it can stay on my toes in perfect condition for at least a week.


Once upon a time you could only get swirly patterns and flowers but these days there are all sorts of awesome patterns and designs done by clever people out there.  Seeing as I am not one of those clever people, I go elsewhere to get my toes done.  But I do have fun pinning design ideas on pinterest to take into the salon for suggestions!

Here's some of my current favourites...

source: Boom Nails

source: becomegorgeous.com

source: letthemhavepolish

source: the beauty department

source: asoftblackstar.blogspot.com

You can check out my other favourites on my pinterest board!


 

What's your little treat for yourself that makes you feel a little bit special?
 

The next sewing project

Will hopefully take place tomorrow, or rather, today seeing as it is after midnight already.

Now that I have my lovely new baby, my macbook, and I've ordered it a pretty decal, the next job is to make it a case.  While there are loads of realllllly pretty ones on etsy, I am perfectly capable of making one myself and I have a reallllllllllly big stash of fabric that just gets added too and not often gets used from.  So this is the perfect opportunity to actually use a pretty fat quarter or two and get sewing.

Luckily, I will have some motivation.  Sally is coming around for an arvo of craft.  I am quite dreadful at doing much sewing by myself for some reason.  I seem to want sewing to be a social thing.  Is this a result of 4 years of home economics classes at high school I wonder?  Maybe I just like the idea of having someone there to help me when (because it really is when and not if) I stuff up.

Either way, Sally is a very clever sewer and super social.  So I will be all set!

Here's some pretty ones I've drooled over on etsy while looking for inspiration....

1 ... 2 ... 3 ... 4 ... 5 ... 6 ... 7 ... 8 ... 9

Seems like I'm going through a bit of a naturals and blue phase!

I think I've decided I like the envelope look but I want mine to have a strap and a pocket or two as well so we'll just see what turns out tomorrow...

  

Pretty stuff in the mail

  

Recently I was lucky enough to be partnered up with Sandra of Made in Hem on a Swap-bot swap.  The theme was 'sew something nice' and boy did she excel in that department!!  Not only did I get this very awesome mini quilt, but we also checked out each other's blogs and had a chance to get to know each other a bit, and it's always nice to add a new blog friend from the other side of the world!

Isn't it beautiful?! You can just see my big toe down the bottom to get an idea of what size it is. 
I probably also should have ironed it before taking photos but I was too excited!

All my favourite things - trees, leaves, woodland creatures, clouds, rain - I love it!

San has sewn over woolen fibres to create the trunk and the grass, I would never have thought of doing that and how she did it so straight and neat is beyond me!

The quilt is partially machine sewn with the details being hand embroidered

I am really lucky to have scored Sandra for a swap partner for this one, I'd like to say I made my partner something just as fantastic but I would most definitely be lying.  

This was what my partner got

And the big question, what to do with my mini quilt?  Well, I'm thinking a big cushion.  It'll need a nice thick fabric so I'm thinking a black denim, to complement the black piping around the edges.  Now I just need to plan a trip to the shops to get some more fabric (oh, what a pity).

If you want to check out how San put together my quilt, check out her blog post about it here.

 

Giveaway alert!

Amanda is having an awesomely generous giveaway over at Homely One.  Not just one thing, but four! Wow.

Just look at the pretty selection of things up on offer...

You've got until the 25th of April to enter so head on over and check out Amanda's blog.

Swapping Loveliness

  
I've been making new bloggy friends lately.  One of them is Christie at Describe Happy.  We decided to do a little swap, 'a pincushion and a surprise' and my package arrived yesterday.  It was a Big and Lovely surprise!!

 Look at my beautiful mushroom pincushion!! It even stands up all by itself! I said to Christie that I can't quilt for the life of me (she is a great quilter) so now I'm lucky enough to have some pretty quilted things.

 And a matching fabric basket - OHH! It's so cute and in just the perfect colours for me.  Now to decide what to put in it??

And if that's not enough, look at these three fabulous fat quarters she sent me, and a stunning packet of cards, I really love the patterns on all of them!

I feel so spoilt, nothing better than receiving wonderful goodies in the mail!! My package to Christie hasn't been sent off yet, lets blame an annoyingly inconvenient hospital stay, but any day now! I'm off to do some more of it now!  Thankfully she is completely relaxed and super friendly and said seeing as we didn't ever set a deadline, it doesn't matter when it arrives because it won't be late.  I like her way of thinking! (But I'm still going to get cracking)

Thank you so much Christie!

Thread painting

  
I'm sticking with the embroidery obsession at the moment because I want to share a very talented blogger with you.  I visited Monika's blog, My Sweet Prairie, after she visited mine.  And as I scrolled through her posts, my jaw gradually dropped as I saw photos of her amazing work.  She takes photos and turns them into art work using threads.  A-May-Zing. 

Bloom in progress, flowers still to be added.

So much work goes into these little pieces!

Wolf Willow and Prairie Lilies #2 

This piece speaks to me.  I kept wanting to add more photos of it in closer detail and half completed.  I just love it.  The old wooden fence post, the small scattering of lilies. Perfect!

My Sweet Prairie (canola field) in progress

 Look at all those french knots. Just look at them all!

Canola fields are beautiful, it's interesting to see they look the same in Canada as they do here in Western Australia.

Flax at Jackfish Lake

I have never seen flax growing before but this certainly paints a beautiful picture of it! This one was made for Monika's Mum, who lives at that lake.

Isn't it amazing?  I am in love with Monika's work so much that I have already commissioned a piece, using a photo I took down south in Denmark on holiday with MR at the beginning of last year.  My first piece of commissioned art work! I had a bit of a squee at that, how grown up. 

It will be started sometime in April. I'm really looking forward to seeing it start to take shape on her blog!