Handpainted brooches

I have been spending my spare time painting some of my wood pieces (instead of sewing my SAL project!!) and I have them on the Buttons and Brooches page-- with the help of my son who is home for the weekend. I don't know how I would have managed this blog without the help of my kids--- and I am sure they wonder how on earth their mother manages to do anything on the computer at all!

We have had a lovely weekend this weekend with both the children home. It is so nice to be able to sit and chat over dinner together. My daughter had done a Thai cooking class some time ago and they had cooked a dish using duck breasts. So she decided that she was going to cook that last night for our dinner. It was a challenge trying to find duck breast fillets-- which we eventually found in Coles-- as they sell all the produce found on Masterchef. The cooking of the meal appeared like a Masterchef show as well--- lots of stress trying to get everything cooked at the same time and duck fat exploding and splattering everywhere. Try cleaning the fat off every part of the kitchen--- I did not realise how much fat came off the duck in the first place. That was the first, and possibly last, time we will be cooking duck-- as I could picture our arteries clogging up with all that fat! In the end it was a delicious meal which she served up, accompanied by potatoes, beetroot and beans from our own vegetable garden (lovingly tended by my husband) with a red wine sauce. A piece of chocolate cake was a nice finish to the meal. Thank goodness I had had a swim yesterday evening and a walk early this morning to make up for the calories consumed in that meal alone.

Cheers,
Yvonne

Easter Bunnies

I have been painting a few brooches in the last few days. Easter will be here soon-- so I thought a few Easter Bunnies would be a good idea.

I wanted to place the 3 photos side by side, but could only manage to get them vertically! I need to go back to school to learn what to do with computers!!!

I have been painting the brooches for many years now, and I still enjoy painting them. It does help my mind relax after a sometimes stressful day. Mind you, my neck does not cope so well these days, as the paintings are quite small and I need to concentrate to see what I am painting, despite my using a magnifying glass when I paint. So I limit my painting time, and hopefully, that way , I can paint for a long time to come.
Cheers,
Yvonne

I have started my S-A-L SKoW project

I was finally lucky enough to be invited to join the SAL group of ladies in January. So I had to get started on my project. I had bought some of Anni Downs' lovely fabric-- "My Favourite Things" at the Darling Harbour Show last year ( and I had also bought the book ), so I am using this fabric plus others from my stash for the project.

Needleturn needs alot of practice (at least on my part), and I have decided that I will use this tecnique , so hopefully my blocks will improve as I go along. I have not done the embroidery or wording, but will do so after afew more blocks are completed.

I must say that I am thoroughly enjoying the process and I had better head off to do more sewing whilst I have the time.
Cheers,
Yvonne

A New Look

My son was home for the weekend and I took the opportunity to get him to help me with my blog. Before I could get him to do anything, he decided that my blog needed some colour and gave it the background that is there now!

I have come across many new blogs since joining the blogging world and have noticed that there are other craft minded people who love to design new things as part of their hobby, and use their blog to promote their designs.I have had email contact with a couple of bloggers who have done this,and their comments have been very encouraging.So I have decided that I would like to give it a try as well.

My son has set up the page titles--- looks good doesn't it ? However, they are empty at the moment. I need to get some things together, photograph them etc. That in itself will be another challenge, then I will have to wait for him to get back home again and set them up and show me how to do it all! My computer skills (or lack of) certainly gives my age bracket away!! I look on it as a challenge to learn more computer skills, even though it is at the pace of a tortoise--- I guess slow and steady wins the race.

Yvonne