Blogtoberfest day 31 - the Finale

Today is the last day of Blogtoberfest for 2010. I hope you have enjoyed journey through the month with me. I managed to post everyday this year and plan on being involved in next years one.

That also means that today is the last day to enter my giveaway.I will close the entries at midnight NSW (DSL) time. And will post up the winners after work tomorrow evening. So do pop back tomorrow and see if you were a winner.

Blogtoberfest day 30 - Local Winery Visit

My nephew Mark and his best buddy Beth were down this weekend from Sydney and after a family bbq on Friday night (photos to come) we decided to do a local winery trip today. So Beth, MArk, Davina, Royce & I headed of just after 11am.

We started with a High tea for lunch at Belachara, Gerringong, That was wonderful and we had the best prawn sandwich that we have ever eaten. The scones were quite amazing also.

We then headed to the Crooked River winery at Gerringong but were quite disappointed with the way we were treated there. But we still came away with some amazing white Pyjama port and a gorgeous pyjama chocolate port, so called cause the best way to enjoy them is to be curled up relaxed in your pj's.

Next stop Mountain Ridge at Coolangatta. We arrived at the tail end of a bus tour so we walked in to the most amazing atmosphere. Despite being ridiculously busy we were made to feel very welcome and quite special. The bus group left and the other small groups left and we were all alone in the cellar door. The treatment we were given there was incredible. Nothing was to much for them and they were very happy for us to try as much as we wanted (the place b4 had a limit of 5 tastings and we were reminded several times of this). We came away with quite a lot from here including an amazing Macadamia liquor and a Bramble port (blackberry seeped port) yummmmmmm oh and some beer made on the premises. we were also served, just b4 we left, a platter of home baked crusty bread with dukka and olive oil balsamic vinegar, yum. Because we were the only people there at this time we were told the history of the winery and their vision for the future.

From there we headed to the Two Figs Winery, which was at the top of the most ridiculous narrow dirt road. BUT look at the gorgeous

views of the Shoalhaven river we had.

When we arrived here there was already a tour bus there and another one arrived not long after we did so they were extremely busy. They had some lovely wine including a sweet desert wine called sticky fig and a great tawny port.

I kept running into a really nice guy who just wanted to have his photo taken, so if you my friend have made it here to my blog I hope you have enjoyed my memory of the day in photos.

Today has reinspired my son to one day own a winery with a self sufficient restuarant on the same property. Isn't it nice to dream.

I have had a few people ask how I do my photo collages. My sister in law Cathy told me About a free download programme called photoscapes. So I googled it and found their website. Downloaded the program and off I went. I have only just scratched the surface of what this editing programme can do but am very happy with what I am doing so far. When I have more time to play I will try out the other things it can do aside from collages. When/if you do download this programme the one thing I first struggled with was what part of the programe does the collages - so I will tell you its the "Pages" icon that is at approximately 2 o clock on the home page icons.

blogtoberfest day 29 - first roses of the season

my roses are also loving the rain we are having at the moment and most of my bushes are well laden.

I have cut just a few roses to put in the house, there's still plenty more on the bushes.

Don't forget there just a few more days to enter my giveaway. Comment on any post to gain an extra entry - the more posts you comment on the more entries you get.

Blogtoberfest day 28 - how does your garden grow

Very well thank you.........

Our vegie patch is just loving the rain that we are having every few days.

from top left is our tomatoes, legume bed,view from the legume bed to onion bed and tomato bed, brasica bed and root crops, this bed was mostly plated as seeds.

From top left - zucchini, cucumbers, beans & lettuce, dwarf peas and beans, close up of a bean plant - this is very exciting as the beans and peas were the first seeds we planted.

Our herb bed has gone quite wild with all this rain we have had. While I was trying to weed it out I found this little fellow watching me work, he was quite happy to sit in this large rhubarb leaf.

Blogtoberfest day 27 - celebration

Our 25th wedding anniversary celebrations started a day early with my sister and her partner Steven turning up expectantly to share a drink with us for our anniversary and they bought this dirty great big box of chocolates and bubbly. Davina and her SIL made this for us.









John bought me this gorgeous silver jewellery set with little purple gems in it. Very pretty.
Apart form our night away I bought John a silver anniverary frame and popped the most recent (until last night) photo of the two of us in it.













After I finished work we headed to Gerringong and our night away from home. While we were there John booked his & Haylee's trip to Ireland next Easter.



We stayed at the beautiful Bellachara Boutique Motel in Gerringong and had dinner in their restaurant. I forgot to take photos of our meals.

I had roasted beetroot with puy lentils and fetta salad s, followed by beef fillets with a herbed polenta cake and baby vegetables and for dessert a passion fruit parfait with a sesame tuille.

John had brie & Riesling soup with walnuts and pan fried ocean trout.















On the way home today we did a little shopping. I came away with 2 shrugs, a red & a purple one. AND two pairs of shoes. I finally found a pair of black sandals that I can wear to work (only been looking for 2 years for the right pair) and how gorgeous are these little orange shoes, you can wear them as I have on here or put the strap behind your ankles.



Don't forget about my giveaway . You get an entry by commenting on each of my posts, thats one for each post and if you become a follower and let me know thats another entry.

Blogtoberfest day 25 - getting ready for tomorrow

Sharing a few of my wedding Lo's with you Check back tomorrow to see why.

Blogtoberfest day 24 - One week to go

Only one week to go to enter my blogtoberfest giveaway, go here for the original post and the rules. I have updated the photo of what I am giving away, just need to add lace to the bundle which is only a sample of what you will receive but this is the sewing companion and book mark

I also promised an extra prize when we got to 50 follower and if we doubled my followers.

I have decided to give away another sewing companion now that we have made it to 50 followers. AND if we make it to 80 (double my original followers) I will make one of my retro reversible aprons and add that as a prize.

Also to make it even sweeter, blog about my blog & giveaway, tell your readers to come over, tell me you sent them and follow me and the person who refers the most new followers will win a secret gift. Which will include a handmade item. buttons and a FQ.

Giveaway open until 12midnight sunday 31 October. Will post winners Monday afternoon.

Blogtoberfest day 23 - lots of yummy fabric.

Earlier this week I received in the mail two big bags of fabric. A craft forum friend, Jane, was selling off some of her fabric stash so I went a little mad and bought up BIG.

This first fabric has been purchased specifically to make a present for a certain person (can't say too much as I think she may pop in here on occasions to see what I am up to), Will be starting on this project next month so keep an eye out I might do a few teasers.






I was very excited when I saw that Jane had some Fig & Plum fabric. I started a quilt at my quilters retreat in August with this fabric & didn't have enough to fit the bed. So after i have finished sewing for the fundraiser I am going to finish the quilt with THIS fabric. This will go in the spare bedroom.







This fabric is really not my colourings but I think its good sometimes to step outside of your comfort zone. Not sure what this will become yet. But it looks so pretty sitting with my stash.










I bought this set purely because I LOVE ric rac and that's what the large piece is - ric rac fabric - how cool. Again no plans for this one but I did find a really nice pattern on the Moda Bake shop for Charming stars quilt - it uses 3 charm packs but I could always just make it a little smaller.









How scrumptius is this fabric and it came with 10 (yes 10) matching FQ's.

Now this one is likely to be used in a swap but again not going to say too much in case my partner pops in here, but the gift uses 2 Fq's and a charm pack.

Although I think the fabric above may be more her colours I don't want to cut up the layer cake to make it.

Well I think I just may have to go off and play with my fabric again. I am thinking of putting it in a display basket until I get around to cutting it up.

Blogtoberfest day 21 - hexies

This months hexy flower was made for Sandra. She wanted a cream centre with blue flowers, I hope I got these petals blue enough.

last months hexy flower was for Donna i had awful trouble with this hexy. I sewed two petals together straight down instead of going around the hexy, had to unpick it and then I sewed it back in the SAME place. And blow me down when I started on the other side of the flower I did the same thing twice again. And to make matters work once i finally got it in the post a week later than planned it didn't make it to its destination. Sooooooooooooooooo

I made Donna a second hexy flower and this one arrived this week and i sewed it together without any hiccups.

Blogtoberfest day 21 - The Rose of Sharon Quilters

Each Wednesday night during school term for the last 12 years I have been going to Brenda's place (in white shirt in centre of photo) for my Bible study quilting group called the Rose of Sharon Quilters.

Brenda & Esther (in denim vest) have over the years taught us so much, lots of quiting techniques but mostly lots about God's love, Jesus sacrifice, how to live for God & share is word with other. They have done this in many ways the way that stands out the most is how they love each one of us and support us through whatever is happening in our lives with words of wisdom, comfort or encouragement, prayer and very often practical help (like meals, a cuppa, hugs and even groceries). I sooooo love these two women and am very very blessed to have them in my life. I have also loved getting to know all the ladies who have come over the years and simply love the group we have now, feel so comfortable with them that I can share with confidence that they will be praying for me and encouraging me to continue to live my life in a Godly way (which I don't always get right).

We have been through a lot as a group and in our separate lives and just knowing that we are all there willing to pray and support each other is such a blessing and encouragement.

We also have a lot of fun, laugh a lot and eats really nice suppers. And we just love having our photo taken.

Last night we started our new study - A John Stott study on Jesus. our last study was a book study, Calm my Anxious heart and i will share about that in another post as I need to take photos for it.

Blogtoberfest day 20 - New Shoes

have I ever told you that I love shoes? Well I loooooooooooooooooooooove shoes. I decided I need to buy a few pair of sandles for summer for work so I trotted down to Rivers. I have totally become a rivers shoes fan, every pair of shoes i have bought from there lasts me a few seasons

(I am very very hard on shoes), usually cost less that $40, and are comfortable as soon as I put them on. I don't buy anything else there as I don't like the way the store is set up to find clothes - but I love their shoes.

Any so I head down there with $70 to try to buy 2 pair of sandals and unfortunately they had very little in the way of sandals so I bought myself these 3 pair of gorgeous shoes instead. The top right shoes are faux red patent leather with a red flowers stitched on them, they are adorable. The bottom left are a simple slip on with sequins all over them, a very Gail shoes. And the bottom right shoes is a sling back in reddy brown colour - these will be perfect for summer. I had to put back two other pair of shoes as I went way over my budget - but these 3 little beauties only cost me $85 - bargain...........

blogtoberfest day 19 - more aprons

This blue apron was made for my nephews 8th birthday yesterday. He told me on FB yesterday that he has already worn it when he helped his mum cook nachos for dinner. I added a large pocket with separate areas to the pattern as kids need places to put things.

i didn't have any kiddy fabric suitable for his age so I used the fabric I used on the reversible aprons. I was very happy with how it turned out.

These are the aprons I made for the twins 2nd birthday on Sunday. A Bob the builder for Jackson & a Dora the Explorer for Isabella.

Blogtoberfest day 18 - WOW 52 followers

I have been taken by surprise to see we have reached over 50 followers so quickly. Quicker than I expected so I have been taken off guard for the extra prize, will think about it today and post tonight what the extra gift will be.



Just a quick reminder of what i am giving away so far - have look here to see how to get more entries.

Blogtoberfest day 17 - Happy Birthday Isabella & Jackson

Today is the 2nd birthday of my great neice & nephew, Jackson & Isabella. I made them an apron each, a Bob the Builder for J and a Dora the Explorer for I. Their mum and all the other ladies liked them the twins weren't so impressed, but they didn't seem to care for any of their pressies today.

Happy birthday XXXX.

I'm off to see My Fair Lady this arvo so I will be back with some piccies hopefully.

Blogtoberfest day 16 - SWitch women's conference

Today was the inaugural Switch Conference at Waterslea. It's first women's conference for the Shoalhaven and it was a wonderful day of great Biblical teaching. The theme was faith in a fallen world and Jackie Stoneman walked us through Romans 12 in the first session finishing with we need to pray, cling to God and to support each other as we live for God in a world that does not want to know God.

The 2nd session (after morning tea) was quite confronting as we looked at the media's impact on our girls, scary is the word I would use and I have a bit more understanding of how fast our little girls are made to grow up and how sexually orientated media are including our music stars. we need to protect our girls and let them be little girls, not make them grow up faster than they should. We were shocked to hear that they made padded bras for 6 years old and push up bras for ten year olds.

We then had a noodle box lunch overlooking the beautiful Shoalhaven river. After lunch we had 2 electives - I chose Friendship evangelism and aging gracefully. I found both most helpful and now have some very simple exercise to do at any time of the day such as every time I get up from a chair I am to do it 5 times with out use of my arms and even try to do it one legged. This will strengthen my thighs so that in the event of a fall I will have the strength to stop myself from falling all the way to the ground. I was also encouraged to use the "ambulance prayer" (whenever you hear an ambulance you pray for the victim, the ambulance, and any medical staff involved) in all situations ie as i am going shopping for God to give me the words and for his love to shine through me to all I encounter.

What was exciting about this conference is that the women who organised it expected 100 women to be interested, they prayed that 200 would come but God bought 375 women to hear his word. some even came form as far as Canberra & Wollongong.

The other thing that was exciting about this conference for me was that it was the first conference Haylee & I have BOTH attended (even if we did go in separate cars).

Dont forget my giveaway, you can enter on each post if you want to to give you more chances to win.

Blgotoberfest day 15 - almost halfway there - time for a giveaway

To mark the middle of Blogtoberfest I am having a giveaway which will consist of one of my sewing companions made with the sewing fabric, one of my fibre bookmarks, a fat quarter and a mixed bag of ribbons, ric rac, lace & buttons.

To enter make a comments on any of my blogtoberfest posts. If you become a follower (or already are you ) you will get a 2nd entry and if you blog about it and leave me link to your post you will recieve another entry.

Please make a separate post to let me know

Now to make it sweeter if I get to 50 followers I will add an extra prize and if I double my followers (80) I will add a third prize.

If you are reading my blog but do not have a blog yourself please send me a message me by going to my profile and following the email me link.

Blogtoberfest - self portrait challenge

Cathy (tinniegirl) has challenged us to a self portrait today. I am so bad at self portraits I can never get the angle right and I pull these dumb faces. I have seen some done with mirrors so I thought I would use this little porthole style mirror on our antique wardrobe. And i am quite happy witht he result. Why don't you pop over to tinniegirls blog and join in the fun

Blogtoberfest day 14 - Bookmarks

A quick piccy of me laughing like a goose with Karen & Haylee.

Here are my latest Bookmarks that I have completed, over 35 made this time, 20 have gone to the shop. We have now sold 115 of these at work. I am pretty chuffed with that. I have also made 8 for the SECET fundraiser and have one to giveaway as well as a bundle spare ready for whatever.

Blogtoberfest day 13 - A most excellent day with Karen & Steve

My wonderful SOF Friend karen & her DH Steve called in for a few days on their long awaited Holiday, they are making their way from Rockhampton to Tassie.

They arrived late afternoon yesterday and we started our time together with a lovely BBQ cooked by John and a gorgeous lemon yoghurt pie for dessert, mmmmmmm. We then sat up to very late chatting.

This morning we decided after a fairly late start to head out to Jervis Bay. Karen was told we had the whitest sand in Australia and she wanted to see it. I took them to Huskisson as the first point of call and told them we would work our way down to a few more beaches.

Welllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll - the best laid plans......



We parked at the Husky Pub car park and wandered along the water down to the wharf. As we did one of the dolphin cruisers was coming. We decided to watch it moor and as we did I was pretty sure my BIL Glenn was the skipper. When I heard his voice I realised it was, so I called out to him. Well to cut a long story short we ended up on his next trip out - on the Extreme Boat to do a lit bit of Dolphin and hopefully whale watching. He had just seen a few whales on the trip he just came back from.

We headed out to Point Perpendicular, saw a huge pod of dolphins - who are extremely hard to photograph - wandered along the edge of the cliff to see the amazing rock formations and then headed back into the bay as another boat had spotted whales.

This is the 3 of us with my BIL Glenn, the skipper (in red jacket) and few pictures of the amazing whales. We witnessed quite a show - there were two pods, 2 mother humpback whales and their calves and they gave us the most amazing feeding show.

Then they had a wonderful time playing around, flapping their pectoral fins, waving their tail around, breaching a few times and at one point one mother whale bought her calf almost right up to the boat for us to see. WOW that was so amazing.

The large photo in this collage is showing how close the whales came to our boat.

Needless to say after this we didn't get to the other beaches, but I don't think any of us were disappointed.

we finished the day of with a beautiful roast lamb dinner and chocolate tart. Cathy, Kyle & Tasha came over and joined us for tea also. This was the first time Cathy & Karen had met so that was pretty special.

A big thank you to Cathy who told us about photoscapes a free download that allowed me to make these great collages very quickly.

Blogtoberfest day 12 - the frogs are back

During winter the frogs almost disappeared but they have returned and most are at least twice the size of what they were b4, some 3 times. One is the size of my thumb.