On the weekend

Friday evening we spent on a friends farm for a BBQ tea. The kids had a great time feeding the goats and running around the paddocks. There were two sweet little baby goats, it is so funny to see them jumping around. The late afternoon light gave everything a golden glow.

There was just enough time before it was dark to investigate the tree house before watching a movie under the stars on a large home made movie screen.

Saturday we went strawberry picking with friends at Beeerenberg in Hahndorf. A lovely sunny day and there were plenty of huge strawberries. After we had a relaxed picnic at the park.

From the garden

A pretty cactus that has been flowering in the garden this week. I have discovered it is called an Epiphyllum Cactus and produces gorgeous flowers at this time each year.

Christmas Birds Napkins

It was a lovely surprise to win the Holiday Napkin contest at Spoonflower this last week. I can't wait to get my fabric to make up a few cocktail napkins, coasters and maybe a small christmas quilt. This photo was taken at Spoonflower as they photograph the top ten fabrics. There were lots of gorgeous designs in the top ten and in the competition.

This is my entry for the restricted palette Flights of Fancy contest. I found it quite difficult to work with this palette but not everyone found it so, as you can see many beautiful entries on the Spoonflower site for the contest this week.

On the way to school

The kids and I usually walk to school during the week and the bottle brush at the top of the hill has been flowering for the last month. I wish I had taken some photos of it a few days ago when it was at its peak, the flowers looked like red velvet. When they start flowering it reminds me that Christmas is just around the corner.

On the way home from school we spotted some cheeky cockatoos in the wattle tree having a feast on some seed pods. When the weather starts warming up here the cockatoos, rosellas and rainbow lorikeets start appearing. There were three black cockatoos in the garden the other day that usually make an appearance every year.

From the Garden

Just a few photos of the Robyn Gordon Grevillea from our front garden. I was only going to photograph these with the Wildflowers Calendar tea towel but they were so beautiful that I decided to take a few photos to see the detail. This is not actually the one in my wildflowers collection, there I have used a Grevillea from Western Australia that has a lovely cream pincushion shaped flower.

2013 Wildflowers Calendar Tea Towel

This is the finished Wildflowers Calendar tea towel printed on linen-cotton canvas. My Mum did a great job of hemming the edge for me. Thanks Mum! I was very happy with how it printed on the linen and there are a few photos below that so you can see the detail.

2012 Christmas Pageant

This weekend we went to the Christmas Pageant in the city. We have taken the boys for the past five years but this year was the first year they were really keen to go. They are six and eight years now so I thought they would not be interested this year, because this was the eightieth anniversary they were quite excited. It was a beautiful sunny day, not to hot and although we were not there as early as I hoped we did get a good spot. I love to see all the tinsel and shiny fabric shimmering in the sunlight and I love the traditional floats.

I love these clowns, they have been around for years and have a slightly sinister look to them. As they tower down over small children you can see that they could be a little frightening.

Humphrey B Bear has become a bit of a tradition, his TV show was my favourite as a small child.

Just a few Australian icons so you know where we are. 

Hero Saves the Day - 2nd place

Hero Saves the Day came 2nd place in the Spoonflower Be My Hero contest last week. There were lots of great designs in the top ten with the winner Hero-sauras by Jennartdesigns. These photos of the printed fabric are from Spoonflower as they print the top ten in every contest and make them available for sale.

From the Garden

Just a few interesting textures I found in the garden this last week. The banksia seed pods are so interesting and it is amazing how many paper thin layers of bark are peeling off of some or the native trees.

Hero Saves The Day

This is my entry for the Spoonflower contest this week "Be My Hero". One lucky person will have their design produced by Timeless Treasures Fabrics and distributed to fabric shops everywhere. Below are a few more designs I did to form a collection, it is so hard to stop at just one.