Happy New Year !!!!!

Happy New Year to you and yours.

Wishing you 365 chances to love, laugh and live your best year yet.

May all your hopes and dreams for the coming year come true and treasure

your lives with wisdom, peace and hope.

Welcome Aboard 2011, get ready for a whirlwind of adventure, crafting and lots of laughter.

Where's the Ark?

In the past few days we have had some phenomenal weather. We have had a years worth of rainfall in about 24 hours just over 8 inches to be honest. This was all due to a tropical low that dumped a good lot of rain. BUT not only did we have heaps of rain we are also on flood watch, the flood has come and burst the banks of the Gascoyne River and it has not reached the town of Carnarvon yet due to a levy bank placed just on the main road outside of the local shopping center, also where our business happens to be.The river has not peaked yet and should do some time this evening and hopefully it does not peak to high as we could be in a wee bit of trouble. As we are unable to leave town due to all roads being blocked by flood waters. Unfortunately though many of my friends live on the other side of the make shift levy and many will have lost most of their possessions and their houses will be water damaged. So here are some photos for you for you to look at.

As long as we don't get anymore rain  we will be ok< but they are predicting more so we will just have to wait and see. So until next time Ciao.

I made an Alien !

This little guy is a twin, I got bored the other day and decided the sewing machine needed a work out so this is the creation we both came up with, he is a stress monster. You can throw, kick, punch, hit, voodoo or cuddle him. He has a card attatched to him as he is a present i am giving to one of the ferals teachers for Christmas. He only took about an hour to make ( extremely easy ) and i think he turned out pretty cute. There maybe hope yet that i may be able to crank out another couple of presents before Christmas, i am aiming at trying to make some headbands for the girls with some beautiful fabric i have had in my stash for years but never actually had anything to pair it with, so now i will become the headband queen ( from a tutorial i got from over at Two Little Banshees. These could become a great source of gifts for the ferals friends birthdays and i get to use some of my stash that wouldn't otherwise be used. I am going to try and get some small lap quilts basted in the next couple of weeks too, hopefully before it gets to hot, but as usual i am not holding my breath.
Anyhoo Ciao for now and happy crafting.

Hello allow me to introduce myself ! AGAIN.

Hello allow me to introduce myself i'm Natalie and it seems to have been a long time since i posted last. The Feral Castle has been extremely busy with extra curricular activities and we have not been home much. Although many things have been accomplished since i last posted here such as;

                      ~The laundry curtain was finished and hung.
                      ~The bedrooms were painted.
                      ~Christmas craft has been started.
                      ~A small amount of Xmas shopping has been done, wrapped & labeled.
                      ~Many School & Church activities and busy bees done & dusted.

But if you ask if my Castle is clean, tidy and harmonious, please remember I am only human.
It seems as though we are never home at the moment and tonight is no exception, tonight we are attending the local Golf Club (to whom the King belongs to)  winter season closing day. So again i seem to find myself in the kitchen cooking again. Nothing fancy though, just Chilli Con Carne & Rice and a Panzenella Salad.
Tomorrow i am hoping to get some crafty stuff done, but we will see. So until next time take care & Ciao.

Utter Chaos

Here in the Feral Palace we have had utter chaos for the past 2 weeks. The ferals have finally gone back to school and the house is getting back to some form of normality. The 1st week the ferals were away in Perth with their grandparents and the king and I decided to paint all the bedrooms in the house while working full time too. Thankfully we got it all done and the rooms look so clean and fresh now. The 2nd week we packed up our caravan and headed north up the coast to the blow holes and spent the week up there and had a good time at the beach and sightseeing. I bought myself a new camera a couple of weeks ago and became a tourist snapping pics here and there, so when i finally get around to downloading the software i will post a couple of pics for all to see. The house is not very clean yet but i am getting there and hopefully no one comes for coffee.
So until next time ciao.

Almost freedom

Today is the last day of school for my ferals. Tomorrow they head off to Perth for a fun filled week of annoying the grandferals.  YAHOO! Time to myself. I will miss them, but a week of no kids in the house, no one to yell at (except maybe the king) no picking up after any one will be my idea of BLISS i tell you BLISS.
This time every year my parents take my kids to Perth for the Royal Show and to see their cousins. And in the mean time i will be painting our house. It has been many years (7 to be exact) since our house was last painted and i do believe it is the perfect time to do it. I have chosen a pale smokey blue for the bedrooms and an off white/creamy pale beige for the rest of the house, so very soon i will be leaving to go to the hardware store to get all the necessary paraphernalia to get the job done. I am hoping to get the job finished by the weekend, so i can enjoy some me time in between then and the kids coming home. Wish me luck, who knows i may even get in some sewing time and finish off the laundry curtain. Ciao.

Long time no post.

It has been over another month since i last posted. Sorry bout that, can't say i have been busy stitching, creating or even productive in the kitchen. I have pretty much been sitting on my bum doing nothing. NO that is a lie, i have been doing a lot of reading. I Love and Covet historical romance novels, I know it is quite shameful to admit that but i have, and there's no getting around the point that it is my downfall. Unfortunately my life has taken a wee set back in the health stakes and i have just not been bothered to do anything except read. Although in saying that i have discovered a lovely blog called House of Smiths, but at the moment i would rather read than do, and to read what these wonderful people do on their blogs is really amazing and very creative and i just wish i had a smidgen of their creative talents. I have decided that this blog may be a little more about my life at home from now on too as i think the only people whom read this are my family, so things could be a bit boring for some, but you are welcome to pull up a chair, have a cuppa and listen to my ramblings, who knows it could get interesting, perhaps topics of interest could be discussed, opinions could be put forth and lively debates/discussions could be ventured into. If you have something you want to talk about let me know, and we'll take it a bit further.
But for now i must go and finish dinner before the ferals get restless and eat me alive. So until the sun shines brightly and wraps itself around your heart to warm you up and keep away the cold Ciao.

LOST TIME

Another month has been and gone just in the time it takes to snap your fingers. Why is there not enough hours in the day to do everything? This past month has been filled with work, play, and lots of other stuff. Much of it reading. I love to read! next to sleeping and eating it is my next favourite pastime. I love to read anything, adventure, historical romance, sci-fi, but no thriller/horror stuff there is enough of that in my day to day life as it is. Not much sewing, except a quilt for Feral #3 that has been 3 years in the get go stage. No cooking either, if i haven't done much why is life to busy to keep up.
Feral fairy #1 had chicken pox last week and even though she was itchy, she thought it was wonderful to have a week off school, i on the other hand still got to go to work, not fair really. We have had some rain today and it was absolutely wonderful. how can everything be so dry still after a good drenching? we should get some more tonight hopefully, fingers crossed as we are having one of the worst droughts our region has ever seen, and it doesn't look good for the remainder of the year. We need a cyclone in the summer  months to help but that is no something you really want to wish for, the rain they dump is astronomical and that is what we need a really huge rain system.Well that's all that's been going on in the Feral Palace this month, so until next time keep safe and ciao.

Way To Long!

OMG has it really been that long, a month. I guess it has been. A lot can happen in a month too. We have had school holidays, school reports sent home, a new nephew born, we bought a caravan and lots of work.
Unfortunately not much sewing has been done and a new raggy quilt has been put on the back burner for a few more days until the kids get back to school. The computer has had a bit of a rest too. As we have been to busy to even notice it. The past few weeks have flown by and it's hard to realise that half a year has gone by already. Not long now until Christmas god forbid it comes any quicker this year. Well that is all i have to report as the rest of my life has been extremely mundane, but if you really want to know the ins and outs of a ducks bum drop me a line and I'll tell you the rest, but for now I'll just say ciao.

When it rains it pours

Well here it is the do your head in, never gonna make another one again quilt. All finished after 15 months of sewing and on the bed. I looks very nice and i am very pleased with it, but i am also glad it is over. The feral house has not been around the last week or so as we have all been flat out and sick and just plain exhausted. So hopefully this week will be a more sedate pace and more enjoyable. I still have one more quilt to pin and quilt so hopefully this weekend might be the go, other wise the sewing machine will have another break.

Well enjoy yourselves and be good if not be good at it. Ciao.

Another one bites the dust.

I have finally finished mygirlfriends baby boys quilt that i started almost 12 months ago, this is called Ollie's Quilt, i am almost half way through my UFO pile and have started sewing down the binding on my Kelidoscope quilt so hopefully that will be done and dusted by next week too, or hopefully with everything going according to plan the weekend. The past few days here in the palace have been very hectic, with 3 days of speedway, cleaning, and general dogs body business not much sewing has been done. The next few days are no exception to the rule either, but hopefully next week the pace of life will slow down and i will be able to smell the roses. We had some wonderful rain here on the weekend and the garden is looking green and the whole place looks refreshed, although my roof did leak and i was not happy but i suppose it is hard to know when you have holes in your roof when it doesn't rain much. well i think it is time for coffee now so i'll say ciao and happy sewing.

Done and Dusted

Well i have finally been productive and finished a project. I made this table runner to go on my dining table and i must say i am pleasantly chuffed at the way this turned out. It fits my table just the way i wanted it to and who says binding on the bias is tricky. Not me ( well not any more anyway ) My candle holder fits perfectly and even the King is liking it, must mean i am improving. I have not been idle though, today i have started pinning my girlfriends babies quilt and hopefully tomorrow i will start quilting it. That is number 1 in the UFO pile, then i have only 2 more quilts to go and then i can start my youngest Ferals quilt. The one that i made for her that is in the UFO pile 4 years ago is not to my liking anymore and as she is no longer a baby, I thought i might make her another one that is more suited to her age. The weather has turned here and the chill has set in. So on Sunday i made a lovely pot of pea and ham soup and the Ferals and I have indulged. FF #3 just loooves soup and would eat it everyday if i would let her. Tonight however we are having taco's only because the King will not be home until late from work and the easy peasyness of them is just to irresistable for me as i will probably still be pinnning the quilt tonight. So until next time happy crafting. Ciao.

Woot Woot I Won

First off i have to say Thankyou to Lisa and Sarah of A spoonfull of sugar for pulling my name out of the hat and sending me some goodies from their giveaway. I was sooooo excited to win that i think i danced around the lounge room for about half an hour before i settled down. The Feral household is not a very lucky household normally so this surprise was great to get. And this is what i won.

some cute muffin/cupcake boxes and patty pans. Now i just need my cakes to turn out nice so i can use them. The new table runner is almost finished and the biding just has to be hand sewn on and then it is finished. Then i am going to tackle some UFO's as they are piling up and some of them would be put to better use being used than sitting in a pile in my sewing room.

Yesterday was a good day here too as we finally had some rain, not enough to fill rain water tanks or even buckets but it did give everything a washdown. It was bliss and hopefully the rain they are predicting for the weekend comes as our garden needs it.  Anyhoo ciao for now and happy crafting.

The Ferals

Well i hope every yummy mummy out there had a great Mother's Day, I did and i did get spoilt, lots of smellys are always appreciated here in the feral castle, only cause the feral's like to use them too. We had the feral grandparents over for lunch, yummy wood fired pizzas in our oven and a lazy day in the sun. The feral's school also had a wee do on the friday before and we had to submit a photo of ourselves for the whole school to see. This is the one we chose,

Then the school put on a small morning tea for all us mums. It was really nice and our school is great in including parents and families in doing small gestures like this. Not much more sewing has been going on as i am still trying to finish the table runner that i have on the go, unfortuneately i have no idea how to do it so i will have to wait until tonight when i go to Bitch'N'stitch to see if the tutor can help me. So hopefully by friday i will have something to show. So until then Ciao.

Wood, Glorious, Wood.

I have discovered the joys of wood and woking with it. I even have my own tool box (it's a converted beauty case) which suits me down to the ground. Two days ago i finished making some candle holders with tea light candles in them and i must say i am pretty chuffed at the outcome. So without much further ado here they are.

I must say they were very easy to do and my husband the King was a very patient man (not normally) while he was teaching me to use his power tools, and it was pretty liberating to conquer my fear of those tools that i intitially thought of as being in the mans domain. These are just made of pine with a Jarrah stain on them and i still have the stain on my hands to prove to anyone who doubts that i did them. But in the grand scheme of things i can see that this new hobby could be a good one as i have a new motivation to get creative. Believe it or not i have even managed to make a table runner top to compliment the candle holder and that is sitting on my table just waiting to be sandwiched, pinned and quilted so hopefully in the next few days that will be finished too. who knew that a chance blog reading would get me started on a new tangent and hopefully one that my make my home more cosy, comfy and completely me. Anyhoo ciao for now but check back soon for the pics of the table runner. 

A Change Of Pace

In the past few days i have been inspired to have a change of pace, i have sewn 2 pillow slips for my lounge, and today i have taken the step of becoming aquainted with power tools. Yes i am raiding my husbands tool shed and robbing him of his masculinity. I am becoming empowered. Today i made some candle holders out of some scrap timber we had literaly lying around the house and i am ecstatic with the result, although i have not finished them yet as i have yet to paint them. But when i do i shall post a picture of them. I made 3 in total and my middle feral fairy helped a wee bit too. I have discovered a fantastic site in the name of Knock off wood and it makes me realize that while woodworking WAS a predominately male sector woman can make exquisite furniture and be proud that they are no longer afraid of those tools in the shed. Take a look see and who knows perhaps you will be inspired too. Anyhow that has also inspired me too to get back to the sewing machine and in a few minutes i shall be retreating into the domain that has not been used for some months and i shall be making a table runner to complement my my new candle holder that will sit on my dining table when it is finished.
On  a more sombre note tomorrow is ANZAC day and i hope that we all remember to think of those whom fought for our country to give us the freedom to live in peace and comfort. My grandfather fought in WWII and i am grateful to him and all the other service men and women for their contributions to our country, and i am especially proud of those whom are still serving now to keep us safe from the harm of terrorism, be they at home or overseas, and even if they are not ANZACS, they are still doing a great job. So tomorrow if you are at the dawn service or taking in any service stand tall and proud and thank those who laid done their lives for us.                                    

                                                           ODE TO THE ANZAC
They shall not grow old,
as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

LEST WE FORGET.

ciao.

Yes i am still here.

It as been a long time since i was last on here in blogland. But i must confess apart from mending i have not sat at my sewing machine since before christmas. Life has been too frenetic and frantic and just down right impossible. We are on our last day of school holidays here and i am hoping to get motivated in the near future. I have not dislocated myself completely from the crafty world of the web as i have still been searching sites and reading my fav blogs in search of inspiration, and i wish so badly that i had half the talent of the women and men out there whom find a crafty niche for themselves and not only excel but also have the ability to make money and teach the rest of us. I am turning green with envy as i sit and write this blog. I am hoping that since i have had my hair cut and lost a small amount of weight that the new me will be bursting with enthusiasm and dramatic flair and with the kids back at school i will be turning out those craft projects like there is no tomorrow. I have so many ideas and thoughts, but no know how on how to start, so i will just have to jump in and get on with it. The only thing is do you think my husband the King of all things Feral will notice that i have been fereting through his shed and played with some of HIS toys? who knows maybe i will be better at using HIS toys more than mine, wouldn't that be something then. Anyhoo i must go but i will be back and hastalavista baby. Until next time Ciao.

Hoppy Easter!

These little bad boy Bunnies were made for the ferals teachers at school and they had and easter egg put inside them so they became egg cosy's. They were extremely easy to make and very effective if i do say so myself. All i did was cut out a rabbit shape (big enough to cover an egg) out of felt, using embroidery thread in black put a small cross where the mouth should be and painted on the eyes and blanket or running stitched around the outside of the rabbit and voila you have a rabbit. This would be a good craft idea to do with kids as it is very easy and child friendly. I hope everyone has a great easter and watch out for Giant white Rabbits. Ciao.

Please let me know

Back again just thought i would put this in - if anyone is reading this blog could you comment and let me know how i can make this blog better, and how to increase traffic. That would be extremely helpful and don't be shy but please don't be mean.      THANKYOU !!!!!!

Stuff

Well Hello Again,
It's me here although i don't really feel that i am here in mind but i am in body. Still nothing to report on the stitching front, but i have been cookin up a storm in the kitchen. Cakes, Cakes, muffins and scones and the occassional meal, only cause apparently the king and the ferals can't live without real food every now and then.
We have been hot here in sunny, humid Carnarvon and the pool has been put to good use as have the aircons. Today we have a public holiday and of course on these days i have to go to work, so i'm not happy Jan.
Yesterday was a slightly productive day in the kitchen, it got a nice clean and is all shiny and crumb free, for a couple of days anyway, i have discussed with the king that if i had a you beaut steaming machine the rest of the house could be this way too and my powers of hypnotic suggestion must have worked as he said i could get one, i am going to go and order it tomorrow, it is going to cost a fair bit of money, but if it is anything like my vaccummmmmmm we will have a very nice relationship and live happily ever after.  AAAHHHH love with appliances i hope thats not illegal. I hope the vaccumm doesn't get jealous, i may have to keep them apart and the affair a secret.
We got a nice surprise on Saturday morning when my cousin and her family called in for an hour on their way to Exmouth for a stay with family, and she has 2 GORGEOUS kidlets you would just want to eat them up. Ishi is so cute and Tali is such a butterball he should never be allowed to grow up.
This morning i decided to look through my Sew Pretty Homestyle books to get a little inspiration and i believe it may be working. I have almost completed the I hate this quilt quilt top (Kaleidoscope), it has one more border to be cut out and sewn on and then i can send it off to the quilters. I have to say i will be very glad when it is finished it has taken me over 12 months to get to this stage.

Anyhoo that's folks ciao for now.xx

Movies

Well Hello All
I have been a wee bit absent in the last couple of weeks due to bad mojo and it's not getting any better. But that is another story you don't want to hear. Today after work i came home to an empty house and watched Julie & Julia and it was FABULOUS DARLING. What a fantastic movie and Meryl Streep was great. Wouldn't it be lovely to try and do something like that but i unfortuneately don't have good mojo for that at anytime so i am in awe of Julie Powell for sticking to it and finishing it.If you don't know what i am talking about then get the movie. Life is very hectic at the moment and i am in need of a desperate health and mental overhaul and a holiday would be welcomed enormously, sunny beaches,cocktails and men that look like greek gods would be good, but on the other hand i am partial to cold weather, hot chocolate and snuggling up to greek gods,this also sounds good. So if you have a spare greek god send him my way please.
We are finally getting some hot weather at the moment and the aircon is cranking again, thank god for aircons or this little black duck would be very a cranky black duck. Roll on winter i say. Anyhoos this is a quick post so ciao for now and blog you soon.

Something Old, Something New.

The last couple of days i have been working on a project for a friend of mine another mermaid. and today i finished it so i thought i would post a picture of it for you, so what do you think?

She has her pearls, and her bag of goodies full of treasure, so i hope my friend likes her. The ferals have almost finished their first week at school and i do believe they have had a good time as far as school goes. Tonight i am doing up the school agenda so i know where they are during the week as they have different days for sport, library and music and not to mention the school help for me to do, so i have done a laminated sheet of A4 with their names and classes and my stuff too just so i know where i am too, as i need to be super organised or everything goes to pot and i have absolutely no idea.

Their is not much else to report so until the next time, same bat time, same bat channel, ciao. xx

A Stitch in Time.

Yesterday my feral fairies started back at school and the youngest is now at full time school so i have a small amount of time to myself during the week, so who knows i may get some projects finished this year. This is the ferals in their uniforms.

So after the kids went to school and the King went to work i decided to do some stitching so i went to my books and picked out the Melly & Me Kaleidoscope book, and took out the pattern for the Kokeshi friends stitchery, although i only copied one of the dolls onto some fabric just to keep me amused for the day.

and this is what i have ended up with but it is not quite finished yet. But i believe it will look cute when it is done. I may put some Japanese fabric as a border and then put it into a frame as the Ferals will have some birthday parties to go to so it might make a nice pressie for someone. Or it could end up as a bag. But anyhoos that is what i have done in the past few days. Ciao xx

Happiness that won't make you fat.

As i have not done anything noteworthy in the past couple of weeks i thought i would show you some of the yummy fabric i picked up last time i went to Geraldton, i think the bottom fabric is going to be the backing for a quilt i have yet to finish and the pinks, greens and blue will be to make a bag or two for some birthdays that are coming up. Next week i should be a wee bit more organized as the ferals are off to school and the #3 feral is at full time school this year so i should be able to get lots of things done. Cross fingers because it might not happen. Anyhoos nothing else to say so i'll just say ciao.xx

The Griswolds Camping Trip

Well for the last few days the Ferals (my Family) have been out of town enjoying a wee bit of R & R and we went camping up to a place on our coast line called the blowholes. It's pretty much where the desert meets the sea and is a fabulous place to unwind. But the weather was awful. It was stinking hot and the flies were our best friends but it was nice to get away all the same. 3 days was enough for me though and it is nice to be home with all my creature comforts. I did take some photos for your enjoyment so enjoy.

This is the Feral Family in front of the HMAS Sydney Memorial Cairn at Quobba Station just north of Carnarvon. The HMAS Sydney was in a naval battle with HSK Komoran a german navy ship during WWII and sadly there were no survivors from the Sydney but some of the surviving Komoran saliors were washed ashore at this point of the Western Australian coastline and taken as prisoners of war by the locals, and therefore to commemorate the heros of the Sydney a cairn was erected in their honour. The final resting place of the HMAS Sydney is south of Carnarvon near Shark Bay and was only discovered last year after a 50 year search.

This is Feral Fairy #2 she asked her father to dig a hole and bury her in it and give her a pair of boobies.

This is FF #3 and as she was not to be outdone asked for the same thing as FF #2.

DANGER WILL ROBINSON DANGER  WARNING the next photo is of a dead animal

This cat here may look like it is a cute little thing but it is actually a pest in these parts and this feral cat is not  tiny, in the flesh it was about the size of a small dog, think along the lines of a small Border Collie.When these animals get loose and start to live in the wild they threaten the native wildlife species of our country and many have become near to extinction because of feral cats, so do not feel sorry that it's life was ended, it's death may have stopped a native animal from being eaten. It was one of two cats seen around our camp site over a two day time frame and the other one was even bigger.

The only thing wrong with our little sojourn was i have no photos of any crayfish (Lobster) to show you because the the old boy, ( sorry the King ) wasn't able to catch any, but there's always next weekend.

Ciao xx

Not much sewing going on here as it is too hot so instead i decided to heat up the house even more and cook. This slice is called Choc Delight and it is from the recipes + february 2009 magazine and one i have featured here before. But this time i thought i would give you the recipe so you can enjoy this decadent mosel of heaven. So here goes;

Makes 18 squares or 12 if your like me (why have a small piece when you can have a big piece)

prep time 10 mins cooking time 30-35mins

preheat your oven to 180'c or 160'c fan forced

you will need the following ingredients;

1 cup S.R Flour

2 Tblspns cocoa powder

395g can of condensed milk

125g melted butter

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 cup dessicated coconut

200g dark eating chocolated chopped

step 1 preheat oven and grease and line a 26 x 16cm slice tray

step 2 sift the flour, and cocoa powder into a bowl add the sugar, milk, butter and coconut and stir until well combined, spoon into the slice pan and smooth surface and sprinkle with chocolate.

step 3 put in the oven and cook for 30-35 mins, stand in the pan for 15 mins to cool slightly and cut into squares.

Enjoy and Buon appetitto.

ciao xx

Sewing again

Hello all and welcome to 2010, i hope it's been good to you so far. Unfortuneately i have been ill since Xmas eve and i am just coming back to the land of the living thanks to some antibiotics and lots of rest. I had lost my mojo there for a bit and today i bit the bullet and finally got into my sewing room and made something. A friend of mine is due to have her first baby in the next few weeks and i thought i would make her a nappy bag and nappy pouch and i must say i am quite pleased with the end result, so have a look.

I even made it with velcro on it so it will close up, a small pocket and a large one (in the bag) and i even quilted the outside of the bag, it took me about 2.5 hours but it is done and now i may have to do some more sewing as i enjoyed myself, although in saying that yesterday 2 feral fairies and i made a pavlova and it was pretty good to so not sure i want to cook or sew at the momento. Anyhoos got a roast in the oven so must go and check on it so until next time, ciao. xx