b-r-e-a-t-h-e-

. . . . breathe  - - - -  in. . . . 


. . . . breathe  - - - -  out. . . .


. . . . lift your shoulders. . . . gently. . roll. . back. . your. . head. . . .


. . . . drop. . your. . shoulders. . . . and. . . .b-r-e-a-t-h-e-. . . . . .




No stories, no adventures - just a photo - just a breath - just 'be'.


Bless. xx

My Creative Space

Stamping and cutting flowers to be made into greeting cards to sell at our street party auction this weekend to raise money for a little school that suffered from recent floods in QLD, Australia.


Pop on over to kootoyoo to check out what others are making today.  


Thanks so much for stopping by my place, take care of you, and have a wonderful day.  

Missing. . . .

Very much missing two pairs of little sandy feet this week as my darlings headed back to school on Monday.  


Please spare a little prayer for those in the path of Cyclone Yasi over the next 24 to 48 hours.  


Thanks so much for stopping by my place today.

Beauty Is In The Eye Of The Beholder

Scored myself a bucket, you know the kind, the car washing/florist sort of bucket, - full of roses this morning for $10.00.  That's 10 Aussie Dollars for a bucket of roses.  The above set of photos are the four vases that I filled with the bucket of roses for ten Aussie dollars. 

 

The sign said 'damaged stock'.  

I said 'come home with Joyce'.   


Thanks for stopping by my place today.
Thanks for your lovely comments on hubbies slowly growing scarf.
Thanks for your comments on the library bags.
Have a lovely weekend at your place.

My Creative Space

Hubbie asked me if I could make him a scarf for winter in this pattern from my new book.  Woo hoo - for sure I can - I rarely get the chance to make something for him, so before he could change his mind, that very moment we got in the car and went to get the wool.  

 It's ok, but then at the same time it's not ok.  There was something missing and the pattern was, well, let's just say Joyce needs more practise with colour change in the middle of the row.

 We added another colour and tried random stripes, . . . . no, still not quite right, so then I did another sample this time with larger random stripes, ugg, again, not right, and I didn't even take a photo of that sample.  Luckily this yarn unravels so well and doesn't turn to fluff-mush from the stress of being reworked.  

 Finally I think I have it.  I am working the scarf lengthways this time, and keeping it to basic stripes.  Hubbie doesn't want smaller stripes, he prefers thicker bands of colour.  Cross your fingers this is IT.  

I did 300 chain, and am doing dc in each chain.  I was thinking of doing a row of dc and then a row of treble, however, he just wants it all the same.  I will save the dc row and treble row for a scarf for me instead.  

 To give my eyes a rest from the above colours, I made up two beachy little anklets for me.  I used crochet cotton and plaited a length long enough to go round my ankle twice.  Then I threaded some beads, doubled the crochet thread and grabbed my hook to chain in the beads.  I am glad I doubled the crochet thread, just chunked it out a bit.  It's had it's first beach swim this morning and survived the waves.  I know, I am a big kid, but why not I say, I have no daughters to make this stuff for, so I will make it for me.  Please excuse my big clump of a foot.  It was 'interesting' trying to take a photo of my anklet.  

Here are my completed library bags to be donated to a school in QLD.  I am so happy with them, such lovely bright colours.  There are 40 library bags in total.  

Thanks so much for stopping by my place today.

Head on over to kootoyoo and see what everyone else is making today.  

Have a lovely day at your place.  

Happy Australia Day 2011

      -MY COUNTRY-

The love of field and coppice,
Of green and shaded lanes.
Of ordered woods and gardens
Is running in your veins,
Strong love of grey-blue distance
Brown streams and soft dim skies
I know but cannot share it,
My love is otherwise.

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror -
The wide brown land for me!

A stark white ring-barked forest
All tragic to the moon,
The sapphire-misted mountains,
The hot gold hush of noon.
Green tangle of the brushes,
Where lithe lianas coil,
And orchids deck the tree-tops
And ferns the warm dark soil.

Core of my heart, my country!
Her pitiless blue sky,
When sick at heart, around us,
We see the cattle die -
But then the grey clouds gather,
And we can bless again
The drumming of an army,
The steady, soaking rain.

Core of my heart, my country!
Land of the Rainbow Gold,
For flood and fire and famine,
She pays us back threefold -
Over the thirsty paddocks,
Watch, after many days,
The filmy veil of greenness
That thickens as we gaze.

An opal-hearted country,
A wilful, lavish land -
All you who have not loved her,
You will not understand -
Though earth holds many splendours,
Wherever I may die,
I know to what brown country
My homing thoughts will fly.         - Dorothea Mackellar -

            

Today I am having Vegemite on toast for breakie.  

If you are curious about our Australian flag, you can go here.  

You can go here to check out a template of our flag as to placement, sizing and names of the stars that make up our beautiful flag.

I love this flag, I am proud to wave this flag.  I am proud of where I come from, I am proud of the hard work that built this country under this flag.  This morning I saw the sun rise over the water and tonight I will see it set over the trees.  I wouldn't live anywhere else in the world.  I hope I never have to move from here.  


I was born under this flag, and I hope to die under this flag.  


Thanks for stopping by my place today.


Have a happy Australia Day at your place, from this little Aussie girl.


Oh and thanks Wikipedia for your help today.

It's A Little Bit Vintage.

A few weeks ago there was a little vintage fair/market/exhibition in our town.  It was lovely.  I managed to pop out there and took my camera with me in the off chance that I was permitted to snap a few shots.  Lucky for me, yes, I was allowed to take some photos of a few items that were on display.  

I know it's not much at all really, but gosh as I walked around checking out all the wonderful goodness that vintage is, I kept having flashbacks of photos of my Mum and Dad when they were courting, then engaged, then married.  

Photos like these below:

 I remember a picnic set with a hard cover, it was a steely grey/blue in colour and had little snap latches and almost resembled a little suitcase.  The picnic set inside was set out very much like the one above.  

 Don't you just love these swimming caps.  I 'heart' the white one down the bottom with the flowers on it.  The yellow and black would fit me too.

 They just don't make swimmers like they used to.  The little red and white on the end is just so very pretty.  I would wear the orange one as well you know.  I am sure they are both my size.

The yellow and white I could have worn today at the beach along with the white cap above.

ohhhhh I do hope my dance card is filled tonight.  I would love to twirl and swirl in this little number.

You know one thing that amazed me, is the detail into all of the clothing, some of those dresses are heavy, heavy, heavy, with lining and detail and such perfect stitching.  For them to last as many years as they have, and be in such perfect condition.  

There were no grubby hemlines, there were no markings on them, they were just like they had been made the day before.  

There were lots of items for sale, there were also replica dresses for sale as well.  I didn't buy anything, however, there were a few dresses that called out to me to take them home with me.  *sigh*  

Do you like vintage dresses too?   

Thanks so much for stopping by my place today.