Where does time go? & Tagged!

Time seems to go fast I have noticed lately.......it's nearly Christmas and I feel like I'm still at the beginning of the year with what I want to finish. I was reading some blogs the other day and went to some of my favorites as I do first...........and got here and found out I had won Margs blog giveaway. It is called Aunt Ivy's Sewing basket and is just so perfect for sewing bits. I have never won anything in my life before, anywhere so I was really excited to find out I had won. Thanks Marg for picking my name out. I now am on a mission to finish a couple of them for pressies for Christmas.........This last four weeks I have been doing a course in Smocking at Country Bumpkin with the lovely Louise. She has been teaching about 8 ladies and myself the beginnings of smocking and I have really enjoyed it...I was a little concerned as I hurt my index finger (RH) at work and have been unable to hold a needle for long periods at a time, the doctor actually told me to rest it as the damaged nerve will not get better without rest for 18mths........forget that, it will be better soon I hope ( I have managed to strap it up to my pointer finger and then I can sew for a few hours without a problem). I did manage to get the gist of smocking and actually start my first top and here is my 1/2 completed first ever smocking top for my little girls.I love little dresses or tops smocked for little girls and have always wanted to try it....... now to finish it and do the embroidery roses on the top as well. I will post a picture when I am finished......it is a size 2 so I will need to finish it this year or it will be a forgotten top.....

Now I have been tagged by Lenora for 7 random/weird things about myself so here goes:

1. I was born at sunrise and therefore my name was aptly decided.(my parents thought I would be a boy and did not have a girls name picked out)
2. On the subject of names my husband gave me a middle name as a wedding present.
3. I am afraid of water: swimming pools, beach and ponds....
I am ok if I am a safe distance from them.
4. I failed home economics (sewing in particular) at school.
5. I like to sleep with a quilt on even in the summer.
6. I like to read the Websters dictionary at times because I find it interesting and good for my brain to learn a new definition.
7. I still have my pillow from when I was a child.... and can't sleep without it. It does get washed often ( in hot water) and refilled with foam bits as it gets squashed...it also has had a new outer cover a few times ( about 10) but still feels the same.....or at least it does as I remember.

I now have to tag some people........maybe if you want to participate in this please leave a comment and they can visit your blog and find out a little bit more about you!
Have a great weekend,
Hugs
Dawn x

Vegetables and Shopping........

Today has been a productive day for us. My husband has had an RDO ( rostered day off) and he has been out in the garden.....getting our vegetable patch ready for some new plantings....

He picked the last of some celery ( these did not grow to well a bit small but still tasted ok) some colored beets and a few small cabbages....fresh veg out of the garden smell so yummy....also we were given a compost bin and so he has started to organize using it.....first a google visit to find out the best way to set one up....then to the garden shop for some sawdust or pea straw .......then to find a spot......he wanted it in the middle of the garden...I wanted it towards the back out of the spotlight........we agreed that he would put it were he wanted as long as he would move it when the back area was cleared....Lol.......He cleared the back area first then put it there, as he realised he did not want to start it and then move it...... Yeh it's away from my space and the girls play area....I don't like the smell of waste...even if it is green waste

Now here are some pictures I had to share...yesterday when I came home from doing my grocery shopping it's like a feeding frenzy at the zoo...

my girls love to dive in and help put the shopping away..they grab it all out and try to put it in the fridge as that's were they think it goes...'in the fridge...in the fridge'...not that tin of peaches.................................
I have to keep saying that it goes on the bench.........or in the cupboard or we end up with allsorts in the fridge...toothpaste or soap....

or even shampoo.....like no 2 daughter is saying here.....' more for the fridge' ....oh no you don't... we have to laugh.....they love to unpack shopping.....and see what we have bought...Girls love all things shopping.......We are made that way..........homemakers....God created us to be homemakers....that means shopping as well...Lol

Now for another subject close to my heart...homeschooling... (I home schooled my boys for many years and loved it) anyway while visiting Coffee,Tea,Books and Me today there is a Giveaway...Please take a look...... this is a great blog to visit and be encouraged....

Enjoy some shopping this weekend!
Hugs.......
Dawn x

Sunshine and stitching!

Spring has definitely arrived, the birds are chirping and happily collecting for their nest and the flowers are starting to bloom. I have had a few productive days, cooking and sewing. Sitting outside in the garden stitching while the girls have played...they have been quite glad to go 'side' as they say, playing on their trikes and running around the garden.
While looking for an easy cake to bake, I found this great recipe for chocolate coconut cake and it tastes just like a coconut rough for those of you who now what they are. So I have made one for us and a couple for the freezer.

Recipe:
1 cup of SR flour...
1 cup of coconut....
3/4 cup of sugar...
3/4 cup of milk...
2 Tblsp of cocoa

Mix well and bake in the oven (190 c) for about 45 -50 mins....this is so easy ...
then add chocolate icing and sprinkle with coconut...delish

Look what arrived in the mail yesterday.......My Pin Cushion of the month from
Quilt Fabric Delights... (see side bar to the left). I can't wait to start this one.....My mum love owls and hedgehogs so I might make it and add to her Christmas pressie. Can you see the little strawberry pin topper.....its a Pinks and Needles one and you get one in with the pin cushion each month...especially designed for that particular pin cushion...exciting.I have been able to finish a few things that needed to be done, a bag for a work colleagues daughter, a new friends daughter and a quilt off to the quilters to be machined ( I will show it to you when it is finished) and I have almost finished my Pay It Forward gifts - (sneak peek above) one is done and the other two will be finished tonight so I will post them tomorrow - look out for the mail, Pauline, Christy and Jo.
Have a great week.
Hugs to all
Dawn x