Busy week

This is the view out of my kitchen window.
It has been a busy week in our house. Lucas has finished school. He had the last of his formal lessons at school on Wednesday. We are very proud parents at the Final assembly Lucas was awarded 2 Academic excellence awards one for Maths in the Industry and the other for Furniture Construction. I have mentioned it before that Lucas is dyslexic so has always found school a struggle he didn't really want to go to school this year, he wanted to find an apprenticeship and leave school. We persuaded him to stay because we felt year 12 was important not only academically but also socially. He now says he is glad we convinced him to stay because he has had a great year. We have not put any pressure on him only that he do the best he possibly can. He choose subjects which he thought he would enjoy, he has done the first module of a plumbing apprenticeship through a vocational education training scheme at school. Although Lucas struggles with writing he is very good at maths, the school wanted him to do specialist maths but he decided that he would use the maths in the industry more when he left school so really enjoyed the subject. Like me he loves making things so furniture construction was another obvious choice, he has made a fantastic television cabinet which I will take a photo of when it comes home from school. He now just has to finish off a few pieces of work and he has finished year 12.
We had his end of year mass last night it seems funny that all our school contact is finished now we have one final evening his graduation ball in November. We laughed with other parents last night at how quickly the years have passed and the fact that we had paid our last lot of school fees and a new chapter of the boys lives was just about to start. It only seemed like yesterday he was starting Kindy.
This post has been largely about Lucas however he hasn't been still long enough this week for me to take a photo of him.
These are some of the roses on my side fence. I am sure we water our roses too much as mine have been fantastic this year with less water. We change our clocks tonight to summer time I am excited.
I have not done a lot of stitching this week so nothing to show I did make another set of pears as a gift.

It's raining

This may not be significant to some but here in South Australia and especially my garden it is great. I have washing on the line and I'm not even complaining.
Lovely rain running of the pergola.

Lesson in Blogger

I have just realized that if you do a draft and leave it for a few weeks it goes in as a post on that day hence I did a draft for my thread holder pattern and then finished it this morning thinking it would end up as today but no it has gone in on the 11th October. Learning something new every day.

Pears

I have just finished these embroidered pears. They are a Crab-apple Hill pattern and I bought it from Hetties Patch. I originally saw these on Leisa's blog (4 July 2007) and loved them straight away. I am even going to steal Leisa's idea of displaying them under a cloche if I can find one in Adelaide. I have rung a few places when you ask for a cloche you then have to describe it.

Just Photos

Lucas and Gemma went to the Adelaide Botanic Gardens today, Lucas wanted to take some more photos for his end of year assessment. Here are some of them.





Of course even at 18 and 21 they still have a great time together. I am really lucky Gemma and Lucas get on well and enjoy spending time together I hope that never changes.

X Stitch

While we were away last week I took this X Stitch to finish. There is a story to this - several months ago a good friend of mine Kerry who lives in Queensland rang me to say she had thought of me that day, while she was out shopping she had bought a X Stitch. Kerry and I met and traveled together when we were 21. We don't see a lot of each other as she has lived in Dubai for quite a while and now lives in Qld. The reason she thought of me was that I had X Stitched her a lovely garden scene as a wedding present.
I was glad she had thought of me when buying a X Stitch. However I thought it a bit strange as Kerry is very arty but definitely not a stitcher.
2-3 days later I got an email from her saying - thought of you again today am posting the X Stitch to you, you will do a much better job than me.
I finished it on holidays - it is for her niece who has just had a baby girl.

Thread Holder pattern

When I first showed a picture of my thread holder a number of people asked if I had a pattern. I made mine one morning at my stitching morning, it does not have a pattern so I thought I would show you how it is made.
Firstly cut 4 strips 7 1/2 inches X 2 1/2 inches then 4 from a contrasting fabric.
Lay them on your cutting board like this.
Lay the next 4 right sides together as above.
This step is important pick up the strips and put a pin in as above, then do the same to the bottom layer.
Sew together with a 1/4 inch seam.
You should have 4 pieces like this. Press seams open.
Lay 2 on your cutting mat as above.
Flip one over so that you have right side together, and seams meeting. Sew together with a 1/4 inch seam. Do the same with the other 2 pieces.
Press seams. You will now have 2 pieces that look like this.
Lay them right side together you should have contrasting fabrics on top of one another.
Sew around the outside with a 1/4 inch seam leaving a small hole for turning. Clip the top corners and clip into the the inside corners. Turn inside out roll and press the seams. Slip stitch the opening closed.
Fold one arm on to the next one. As above.
I use ladder stitch to join these seams. Starting from the inside corner going to the open end.
As you can see you are joining then together along a seam.
Taking care to catch the side that are closest. Do this for all 4 arms.
Your seams if done correctly will have a wrong and a right side. Above is the right side which will be the outside.
This is how the inside will look. If you look at the finished holder it has a section that folds over I stitch up to about 3/4 inch from the top then place the thread through and stitch the seam the other way. This is hard to explain but if you stitch the same way all the way to the end of the seam you will have an inside seam on the outside when you fold the top over.
This is my thread holder as it sit on the arm of my lounge. I should empty it more often.
As always use this pattern as it was intended do not reproduce it in any way. It would be nice to see some finished thread holders. I know lots of people visit and do not leave a comment so let me know how you go with this.
They are great little inexpensive - quick to make gifts.

One wet cold afternoon when boredom had set in the family found another use for it.......

Quilt

First there was this lovely bundle of fabrics.
Then through the course of an afternoon they became this.
Now they are this.
I have to now practice my free motion quilting. Lorraine from Hettie's Patch has made the same quilt and she is much cleverer than I, she has done the most beautiful roses. So I have some practicing to do.

Back from Holidays

We have had a nice few days at Normanville. The house we stayed in was lovely and we spent the days relaxing. Here are some snaps. This is the beach at Carrakalinga.
We had a spa.
We played poker we are not sure if it was my visa and sunglasses that helped Lucas win.
Sean and Lucas went surfing. Lucas had never surfed before this is them heading down to the beach. Sean surfs all the time. The waves were not good the day they went.
Paddling out.
Sean catching a wave.
Lucas coming off his board.
Walking back around the beach.
Sean went out on his own for a short while afterwards.
This is me walking across some rocks near a river. Lucas and Tony were waiting for me to fall over as it was wet and slippery. I have put this one in to show Jenny where I have put the lovely tag she made me. It is on my camera bag.
One of Lucas's photos.
The country side around Normanville is very beautiful. At the moment it is quite green.
Some shots of the locals.



These are for Nicolette. I also like cows, the friends we go with are farmers and I always say I would love a black and white cow. Sadly I don't think one will fit into our back yard.