I have a dear friend, Anna, who makes the loveliest felt and felted items (pencil toppers, dolls, purses, book covers), the majority of which are Catholic themed, though not all, and markets them under the name of Stitchin' Traditions.
Another friend (albeit a cyber-friend) is promoting Anna's wares via her blog page (http://starrymantle.blogspot.com.au/), however the full range of items can best be viewed at her Etsy page: http://www.etsy.com/shop/StitchinTraditions?ref=si_shop
Pop over and take a look and these unique and sweet items!
29 August, 2012
06 June, 2011
A long time between drinks ...
Hi folks
Well, it's been a long time since I last posted - life has taken some twists and turns that we hadn't planned on, and that have taken quite a while to accept and get used to.
In December 2010 we had to sell and move from our beautiful old country house on 5 semi-bush acres and move to a township block further north. We were very sad to leave our secluded property but, as we are still in a country town, all is not lost. Fortunately the township has proved to be reasonably quiet and friendly, too
Another enormous change has been that our homeschooling journey has come to an end (at least for the time being) - the stresses and uncertainties of the lat 18-24 months have played havoc with my health as well as the overall well-being of the whole family, so the very difficult decision was made to put our boys into school. I am praying that by the end of the year various factors will have improved which may enable one or all of the boys to return to homeschooling.
In the meantime I have been filling some of the empty hours through the day with my new hobby, which is patchwork quilting, and am hoping to be able to make items to sell as an aid to our poor financial position (excuse the pun!).
All we can do is focus on the positives in order to move forward, and hope that these new directions lead us to a better place in life.
Cheers!
Well, it's been a long time since I last posted - life has taken some twists and turns that we hadn't planned on, and that have taken quite a while to accept and get used to.
In December 2010 we had to sell and move from our beautiful old country house on 5 semi-bush acres and move to a township block further north. We were very sad to leave our secluded property but, as we are still in a country town, all is not lost. Fortunately the township has proved to be reasonably quiet and friendly, too
Another enormous change has been that our homeschooling journey has come to an end (at least for the time being) - the stresses and uncertainties of the lat 18-24 months have played havoc with my health as well as the overall well-being of the whole family, so the very difficult decision was made to put our boys into school. I am praying that by the end of the year various factors will have improved which may enable one or all of the boys to return to homeschooling.
In the meantime I have been filling some of the empty hours through the day with my new hobby, which is patchwork quilting, and am hoping to be able to make items to sell as an aid to our poor financial position (excuse the pun!).
All we can do is focus on the positives in order to move forward, and hope that these new directions lead us to a better place in life.
Cheers!
15 March, 2009
Tanunda Country Show, 14 March 2009
Yesterday we spent 6 hours at the Tanunda Show (can't believe the boys behaved themselves soooo well that we could actually stay that long!). It was absolutely fabulous - all the bands, all the acts, everything!
This is only the second show that we entered stuff in (the first was the Angaston Show a fortnight ago, and that was only some colouring pages advertising the show that were in the local newspaper). We were soooooo blown away … we actually won some classes!!!
-- Needlework, any article or technique not previously specified – I put in a huge hot pink and purple shawl I wove … and won 3rd place!
-- Hens Eggs, brown shell – 1st place !!!!!
-- Digital Photo, people – I put in a photo of Blake sleeping … and won 1st place!!! My Father was a professional photographer for over 40 years and I'm sure he was rolling over in his grave, as my photography used to be so bad that it got to a point where he refused to process any more of my films because he was so embarrassed about how bad they were!
-- Colour print, childrens’ section, open – Blake put in a photo he took on my mobile phone while he was spinning around … and won 3rd place
-- Childrens’ Art and Craft, free painting – Blake won 2nd place for his "fireworks" painting
-- Childrens’ Art and Craft, scrapbooking – James won 3rd in his age category for his scrapbooking page from last year's Medieval Fair (he got to wear chain mail and armour!)
-- Childrens’ Art and Craft, scrapbooking – David won 2nd in his age category
And I got to go in the dairy goat milking competition … and came second to last out of 7 people. It was an absolute hoot and David caught in using the video feature on my mobile phone, so once I can work out how to upload it to my blog page you can see me crawling around on the ground after a rather cantankerous goat!
This is only the second show that we entered stuff in (the first was the Angaston Show a fortnight ago, and that was only some colouring pages advertising the show that were in the local newspaper). We were soooooo blown away … we actually won some classes!!!
-- Needlework, any article or technique not previously specified – I put in a huge hot pink and purple shawl I wove … and won 3rd place!
-- Hens Eggs, brown shell – 1st place !!!!!
-- Digital Photo, people – I put in a photo of Blake sleeping … and won 1st place!!! My Father was a professional photographer for over 40 years and I'm sure he was rolling over in his grave, as my photography used to be so bad that it got to a point where he refused to process any more of my films because he was so embarrassed about how bad they were!
-- Colour print, childrens’ section, open – Blake put in a photo he took on my mobile phone while he was spinning around … and won 3rd place
-- Childrens’ Art and Craft, free painting – Blake won 2nd place for his "fireworks" painting
-- Childrens’ Art and Craft, scrapbooking – James won 3rd in his age category for his scrapbooking page from last year's Medieval Fair (he got to wear chain mail and armour!)
-- Childrens’ Art and Craft, scrapbooking – David won 2nd in his age category
And I got to go in the dairy goat milking competition … and came second to last out of 7 people. It was an absolute hoot and David caught in using the video feature on my mobile phone, so once I can work out how to upload it to my blog page you can see me crawling around on the ground after a rather cantankerous goat!
07 January, 2009
2008 in Retrospect - Driving Holiday
Well, this entry was supposed to be the first in the series entitled "2008 in Retrospect", but I goofed. Oh well.
This year we haven't been able to affort to go on homeschool camps or even to go on our usual driving holidays, so the last time we went away was back in January 2008. We went to Pt Pirie, Jamestown, Canowie Belt, Apilla and Apilla Springs, Whyalla and Whyalla Norrie, Pt Augusta, Moonta Bay and Moonta, Wallaroo, Pt Vincent and Edithburg.
Our preferred choice of accommodation is cabins in caravan parks, but as it was school holidays, and Christmas to boot, we ran into problems finding vacancies along the way, so for Moonta Bay and Pt Vincent we were forced to upgrade to the significantly more expensive option of holiday homes.
Along the way we picked up our friend Ya-Ya, who was able to enjoy a free holiday with us for part of our journey as we visited various beaches and homeschoolers, too.
Our trip started ominously as we left very late, then had a minor collission less than an hour from home (from which the culprit sped away !!!), then we made a navigational error and ended up more than half an hour in the opposite direction, then we became temporarily misplaced trying to get back to where we should have been up to, and then once we were on our way properly a tyre on our trailer shredded! So in 42+ degree heat, on a sandy siding, with millions of flies, my poor husband tried to change the tyre - fortunately a passing local stopped to give a bit of a hand.
The rest of the trip was reasonably uneventful, except for when I walked full force into an air conditioning unit sticking out of the side wall of one of our cabins - I've never been so close to fainting as all went black and my legs began to give way beneath me! Fortunately my husband, who never breaks into a run, must have decided that the squawk he heard come from me sounded sufficiently serious enough that he managed to dash and catch me before I hit the ground. I had a lovely nap in the cabin after that ...
But really, overall it was a great trip ... um, except for when David gashed his foot open on a razor fish (not really a fish at all, but a huge shell).
I do miss our little driving holidays.
Photo #1: playing chess with Daddy in one of the hotels at Jamestown
Photo #2: fun with old tyres while waiting for a new tyre to be fitted in Pt Pirie
Photo #3: wading in the rock pools after dinner at Moonta Bay
Photo $4: climbing the cliffs with homeschool friends at Apilla Springs
This year we haven't been able to affort to go on homeschool camps or even to go on our usual driving holidays, so the last time we went away was back in January 2008. We went to Pt Pirie, Jamestown, Canowie Belt, Apilla and Apilla Springs, Whyalla and Whyalla Norrie, Pt Augusta, Moonta Bay and Moonta, Wallaroo, Pt Vincent and Edithburg.
Our preferred choice of accommodation is cabins in caravan parks, but as it was school holidays, and Christmas to boot, we ran into problems finding vacancies along the way, so for Moonta Bay and Pt Vincent we were forced to upgrade to the significantly more expensive option of holiday homes.
Along the way we picked up our friend Ya-Ya, who was able to enjoy a free holiday with us for part of our journey as we visited various beaches and homeschoolers, too.
Our trip started ominously as we left very late, then had a minor collission less than an hour from home (from which the culprit sped away !!!), then we made a navigational error and ended up more than half an hour in the opposite direction, then we became temporarily misplaced trying to get back to where we should have been up to, and then once we were on our way properly a tyre on our trailer shredded! So in 42+ degree heat, on a sandy siding, with millions of flies, my poor husband tried to change the tyre - fortunately a passing local stopped to give a bit of a hand.
The rest of the trip was reasonably uneventful, except for when I walked full force into an air conditioning unit sticking out of the side wall of one of our cabins - I've never been so close to fainting as all went black and my legs began to give way beneath me! Fortunately my husband, who never breaks into a run, must have decided that the squawk he heard come from me sounded sufficiently serious enough that he managed to dash and catch me before I hit the ground. I had a lovely nap in the cabin after that ...
But really, overall it was a great trip ... um, except for when David gashed his foot open on a razor fish (not really a fish at all, but a huge shell).
I do miss our little driving holidays.
Photo #1: playing chess with Daddy in one of the hotels at Jamestown
Photo #2: fun with old tyres while waiting for a new tyre to be fitted in Pt Pirie
Photo #3: wading in the rock pools after dinner at Moonta Bay
Photo $4: climbing the cliffs with homeschool friends at Apilla Springs
2008 in Retrospect - Visit from Flat Logan
Flat Logan arrived via a local homeschool friend, after having travelled from Massachusetts in the USA. Flat Logan is like Flat Stanley, expect the boy that drew this one is called Logan, so he named his flat traveller Logan, too.
He belongs to the Scholfield family: http://alessonincompromise.blogspot.com/ (see their entry for October 27, 2008).
We've been so busy with Advent and Christmas, as well as preparations for our eldest son's first Holy Communion, that we initially neglected Flat Logan, but we've now shown him a little of our side of the world (in the photo he is with the boys in the Amazon Lily House at the Botanical Gardens - they are waiting for the tiny fish to nibble their hands)
Soon we will send him on his way, travelling round the world, either to friends in Singapore or England.
2008 in Retrospect - David's 1st Holy Communion
It seems to have taken me forever to prepare our eldest, as I wanted him to truly understand the significance of the event, to receive our Lord in the Blessed Eucharist, but finally, at 10yo I felt that he was ready.
I won't go into the mortifying experience (for me) of his interview with the Priest prior to being given approval to receive his first Holy Communion (his brain went to mush and I couldn't find a crack in the floor big enough to fall into ... sigh).
However, at the Mass on Christmas Eve, looking resplendent in freshly polished shoes, hired shirt, tie and pants, he received our Lord in the Eucharist.
I think the Priest must have quickly worked out that he needed to keep a close eye on my mischievous boy as, at the end of Mass, he beckoned to my boy to join him at the sanctuary steps in order to process from the Church with him. I had drilled David on all that he had to do during the Mass and reception of our Lord, but this totally threw us both - fortunately he obeyed, albeit with wide-eyed trepidation!
2008 in Retrospect - Williamstown Carols
It's kind of funny; I have neglected to teach my children any carols, and yet they have managed to pick it up quite well, and have managed as well as others whilst busking carols, and again at our township's Christmas parade and carols evening.
Different groups entertained the crowd by mounting the back of a semi-trailer tray-top which was set up as a stage on the local park, but from time to time they called for children in the audience to come up on stage to join in - my two youngest didn't need much encouragement and were up there each time.
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