Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Our Grandbaby has Arrived!

Our little grandbaby arrived this morning at 10mins to 5.  Renee's waters broke yesterday afternoon around 4pm.  A little boy - Jaxon Eric   8lb 4oz.  both mum & bub are doing well.  I could tell Jaron was in 7th heaven holding his little son :)  No photos yet & as Jarons phone died, we will have to wait till later to be able to do a video call & get to see our little grandbaby.  This is the hardest part when they live so very far away - our first hugs will be in November, so I'm hanging out for that video phone call  LOL

Hugs to all,
Sharm

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Arrivals at the Homestead

We've had a few arrivals here at the homestead over the past week - Last Friday Pete & I arrived home to find the driveway full .................. 
No parking any cars behind the gates until we fathomed how we were going to be able to manage to turn the 5000 gallon water tank around so we could roll it onto the front lawn........... so much for the truck driver delivering it right onto our tank pad - around the OTHER side of the house!!

  By Saturday afternoon, after much huffing & puffing we managed to finally get it close to the designated resting place - only now we had to work out how to stand it up................. and so, after going to plead the services of a fellow up the road who owned a tractor with fork lift attachments  - Ta Da - one tank upright - hmmm we did think we may have lost the roof as it went upwards - but praise God, it JUST by millimetres fits in under the eaves!!!!  Then we discovered no overflow pipe - so the fitting out is still waiting to take place. Hopefully this will all take place soon as we currently only have a VERY small tank for our drinking & cooking supply!

Thankfully the other arrivals came in wonderful little parcels...............Some cotton wool for making more dishcloths arrived from Janet................


And the PIF from Terry.......Isn't it just wonderful!


So today I've been working on the PIF gifts that I need to be sending out before too long :)  It's made it a very relaxing day of hand sewing mixed with a bit of reading & such - the first time in ages I feel we have actually had a  real "rest day" .  Pray everyone else has had a wonderful day as well.
Hugs Sharm
PS:  A big thankyou from Stacey who is feeling improved & even drove into town today to catch up with some friends (medication carefully stashed in her bag to have at the appointed times  LOL)

Thursday, July 15, 2010

One Flower Wednesday

First off, we have our daughter Stacey living back with us & at present she is sick with pneumonia.  Hoping the antibiotics begin working, or she may  have to be admitted to hospital.  She has a history of respiratory illness, but due to quite a bit of stress over the past few months, this lot has really hit her.  Prayers for her would be appreciated.
Scruffy is helping to look after her and all the dogs are very happy to have her back home where she can play with them  LOL
I've been a little slack on the flower scene of late with full time work taking up most of my time these past few weeks.  Thankfully I gave in to trying something new for me that seems to work so well for Valentina - cutting fabric into little squares. Karen & I had a bit of a discussion a while back about how this would work - well I have to say it has cut down the cutting time when it comes to fabrics that I have "lots to cut from".  Once I've cut  the material into small squares I pop them into the basket until  I'm ready to use one. I do find once I have my little hexie bit of paper pinned to the square, I do a quick snip around it before beginning.  Having the little squares already cut & sitting in a basket ready to go, has been very helpful for the short amount of time I've had for working on them of late.  
 
 
 




I have however been trying to also get some of my crochet hexies into flowers (given its winter here & working with wool is lovely), so I can work on my crochet flower garden as well.  I remember vaguely somebody asking about these hexies???

 So for those who were wanting to know about the crochet hexies - above is the diagram/pattern for making them.  Begin with 6 chain & bring together with a slip stitch, then 3 chain to begin the trebles - 2 trebles, 1 chain, then  3 treble 1 chain 5 times as per the diagram.  Slip stitch together & 1 hexie is made!  I think american crochet have different stitch names which can make following patterns a little tricky if you are not aware of this.  Anyhow, I'm sure you will work it out.
On another note, when walking around the garden the other day I noticed one of the gum trees showing off some beautiful flowers. There are lots of various types of gum trees all with different types of flowers - this type look like pin cushions