The beautiful wedding.

Lucy's and Kato's wedding was on Sunday! I was silly to be so stressed about it but I was. I worried about the weather and so many little aspects of it!

But the weather was perfect! Everything was.

So here is a preview...

It was at 4 30 and outside on a big lawned area surrounded by trees and vines. We had a big marquee which was stunning.

The anticipation was agonising waiting for that wedding car!

First five little flower girls walked in...

My Dad, Tom, (Grandpa) walked Lucy down the isle. 

I don't think a person draw breath as they walked in.

The sun shone on the couple and really it was just an amazing moment in time. I was counting my blessings.

Now I only have family snaps so far but we have some really lovely photos! I cannot wait to see the professional ones.

This is Chloe with the gorgeous flower girls. These girls were just divine the whole night.

These little girls danced, collected rose petals and were helpful all night. Really a credit to their parents.

Andy and me, Lucy and Kato and Chloe...

During a break in photos the little girls were given something to eat as it had been a huge day. Here they are floating around eating pizza! 

This (below) of Mum and Dad... 

I could go on forever but I'm sure there is only so much you can take! I will add details over time as all the things we made could be things to make for yourself or an event. 

Yesterday I was just so tired and grateful. There were highlights, many of them. A couple (personally for me) included the speeches of both the girls and my Dad. Oh my goodness.... 

Lucy thanked her grandparents for their enormous help and influence on her life. And my Dad spoke about the girls fierce loyalty for each other and how Chloe had loved Lucy from the first day like you just wouldn't believe! So true!

We all have days in our lives when big things happen. This was one of my biggest so far. Many things just came together and it was priceless!

Thank you for so many well wishes. I hope you don't all have wedding fatigue by now! 

Today is a sorting day with decor coming home, flowers drying etc and the couple off to their honeymoon. 

I'm so grateful for the day I need to pinch myself really. The way Lucy honoured her grandparents was really something to me and the way they honoured her. The love and respect shown... the love between the bride and groom of course, the love between the sisters. 

I am still tired! The work put in by others too was enormous. Chloe did so much. She stitched the sparkly detail on the dresses and made Lucy's headpiece which was divine! It goes on and on!

My friend Helen said really it was a fairy tale, which is true. After the fairytale there is a fair bit of cleaning up and recovery! 

Planning and dreaming.

I've been planning my autumn and winter sewing etc. and I remembered the blankets I used to do for adults. I did so many baby ones but I also did grown up ones. I made a pink one for my Nan and I know she loved it. 

This one has been washed and is all soft and squishy and worn but you can still see the work on it. The girls each have one with their name on it. 

I have some suitable blanketing so I really want to start these again. And that's the thing I love, the excitement of a plan and dying to get into something. That is a happy heart!

Also the joy of playing with colours.  The colours and textures are just glorious to mess around with!

Getting absorbed by something you are working on is the ultimate de stressor! Really if you can find something to work on that you love it is like a therapy! You forget the world and work away. That is so good for you. It doesn't matter what it is as long as it has that beautiful effect, it is like a meditation. For some of us we haven't experienced that in a long while. I know the things that give me this feeling and have a pretty long list. But a clue can be the things you really adored when you were a kid. Or other memories of when you were having so much fun. I think as kids/teenagers we didn't have inhibitions, responsibilities etc we just were ourselves. I just loved anyone showing me how to make something. I would sew in bed and get stuck by needles. Knit at school. Crochet in recess. lol

In each corner of these rugs I work a little flower arrangement. 

Each corner is usually slightly different. On children's ones each corner will have a different mouse or animal or whatever. It makes it more interesting.

I edge these with very soft  lace that kind of drapes. I much prefer that to binding. Embroidery on lace is the best fun of all!

Now to decide what colours to do first. It makes me so excited about the cooler weather.

Meantime the weather is divine and the wedding is two days away! I hope I will have lovely pictures to share next week! xxx

The little bits and pieces of life.

The little things seem to be the trickiest to store and keep track of and possibly get in the biggest mess!  I have just been sorting cottons, bobbins, sewing machine needles, safety pins....

And the other day I was asked how do I store nail varnishes by a lovely girl who has a big collection stored in a plastic bag. So this got me thinking of things I could suggest.

Well, the nail varnishes were easy. This is how I store mine. A $4 op shop spice rack. 

Sometimes I see these full of little jars which would be wonderful for buttons, safety pins and bits and pieces in the craft room. But really perfect for nail varnishes. A great present for a teenage girl. If all else fails you could actually use for spices!

Another great one is the hang on the door plastic shoe compartments. In our last house I had one inside my pantry door. It housed all the little jars and packets of soup mix and those kind of things. It totally de cluttered the pantry and I could see everything at a glance. But also they can be used to house anything, dolls, toys, bathroom products, pantyhose, cleaning products etc.

A similar thing is a hanging/foldable jewellery holder. They make a different version for makeup. Just rows of little pockets. This would work for nail varnish too, just fill and roll or hang up. Add files, cotton pads and polish remover and you have a kit.

Also for jewellery, makeup... how about Barbies shoes, handbags and accessories! How cute would that be! Or little toys. Or for a boy in red or blue full of little cars to travel with. Just so many things!

I use cake stands, as you have seen before, for things I want to see and lay my hands on. Perfume, skin care, nail varnish, anything you want to organise and use.

While working on my craft room I am using jars for sewing notions, bobbins, threads, needles etc all those bits and pieces. I love that you can see what you have at a glance. Jars are brilliant for so many things.

I really love the see through drawers my makeup is in. I would happily have a few more sets of those for stationary, for one. Rubbers, pens, pencils, sharpeners and so on. Goodness, so many things. The little bits and pieces can be tricky!

I also love purses and little bags. I have little handbags I would never use as actual handbags (too small) but they are fabulous for other things. One has all my hankies in it. Another larger one is my travelling kit for my hairdryer and brushes. Another becomes my writing and notebook carrier when we travel. I look at handbags I don't use as cosmetic bags too. Mostly they look much nicer than the plastic ones from the chemist shop. A larger tote bag might make a great knitting bag. The possibilities are endless. If you don't use something think of what else it might be great for. One of my best ones is a glo mesh cigarette case that holds my camera just perfectly. It looks fabulous and protects my camera. Another is a glo mesh glasses holder that I have used for so many things. I had a crowd of teenagers gather around me admiring my camera holder and several wanting to buy it lol Sometimes the old stuff is the best!

Snap lock bags come in every shape and size. I really love them for so many things. What a help.

It is so nice to be able to find things, see what we have, and make them easy to access. Life is easier when we are organised!

Do yourself and someone else a favour.

My heart honestly skips a beat when I find an idea or image I really love and even more so when I find a concept that is a !!! moment. The other day I stumbled onto a lovely blog called The Modern Mrs. Darcy. (There is a link on my fb page)

Essentially she had been pinning pictures of gorgeous rooms and eventually noticed a pattern. This is interesting, however we collect our images, this is a great thing to do. Take a look and notice what do they mostly have in common. This will tell us a lot about our taste, what to aim for etc.

Anyway, she noticed they were all light and airy, clean and uncluttered. Things we can mostly achieve ourselves, at home, for free. My taste is the same. Number one is a room has to be light. Light in actual sunlight,  light also in colours. I do not like dark and heavy it has a depressing effect on me.  Fresh as in actual air, fresh as in something alive like flowers. ! Then clean and uncluttered. 

Do this for yourself. Go by what you like but also go by how a room makes you FEEL.

Many times we can get well on the way to the look we love by removing stuff. Sometimes heaps of stuff!

Which leads me squarely to my craft room! The most cluttered space. The room Flylady says.... you will know the room you need to work on everyday. It's the room you don't let visitors see! So I have been following Flyladys 5 minutes a day in that room. And it works. Five minutes a day sounds like nothing that will get you nowhere! But wow they add up and everyday I faithfully have done my five minutes. Sometimes if I haven't been able to sleep I have gone and done some more.

It meant making some ruthless decisions about what to keep and what to donate. I have a nearby favourite op shop which raises money for Doctors Without Borders. I chose to support this one.  I am also going through my wardrobe so between the two areas I was boxing things up and putting them straight in the back of the car. The car was getting fuller and fuller...

There were some items that were tough decisions. One was a designer dress with tags that I had bought in an op shop with dreams of selling on ebay or wearing (swing tag was $800!) 
and a whole heap of things that amount to delayed decisions, should I sell? should I alter ?etc. etc. 

What I really want most is a craft room that is peaceful and functional that I can actually craft in! I have a table that gets so cluttered I go work on the dining room table! Defeating the whole purpose of why I have a craft table! Sometimes I amaze myself.

So on Monday I went to the op shop and went in and asked if they like some donations? Like a whole car load? The lady said to me that I had arrived just at the right time. They had nothing left to unpack and the volunteers had nothing to sort, price tomorrow. Plus she told me that she had just sent a cheque to Doctors without Borders for $4000 for the month of Feb. Each month they are sending $3 to $4000. (after they pay the rent). They are all volunteers. They work passionately to help this cause as they know people get medical help in so many countries where they otherwise would get none.

So suddenly I had no second thoughts about any items. These things are the crumbs from our tables, the excess and they can help someone so much and free us from clutter!

Continuing on with my five minutes a day I now have a clear desk. I used my five minutes yesterday to paint the top Annabel pink! It looks clean and fresh and inviting!

I have just used things from around the house for my organisational containers. I still have work to do but I am nearly there! It is like having a whole new room.

Try the five minutes a day method for any challenge that seems too daunting. It's absolutely amazing and will deliver you to the uncluttered peaceful space you dream of!

Prepare ahead and never cook every night!

If you have had a long day, a difficult day, are unwell or tired who wants to cook dinner on those nights!?

There are ways to walk in the door knowing dinner is minutes away, the work is done. What a relief. In lots of instances that also means you can spend time with the family rather than be frantic in the kitchen. And feed yourself and them something delicious and healthy.

My number one way of doing this is using the crock pot (slow cooker). As we get further into autumn and winter I will post some of my best easiest recipes. But mostly any casserole or soup you already like will work, just put it on in the morning, mix it around, mix it again once or twice when you can and dinner is beautiful. Long slow cooking like this is divine for meats that need it ie lamb shanks. But roasts, stews.... so many meals. 

In summer my make ahead salads mean many nights we have cold meats and the salad is ready to go and those are no cooking nights. Also once a week we have a BBQ, Andy will do it and I put out salad and bits and pieces and it's like a holiday! I would never have a BBQ without adding extra meat so there are things cooked that will be next days lunch, at least.

Other things like casseroles, mornay, pizza, quiche, slices, curry, soups I would just never make one. The same time and electricity can mean you have several so that is what I would always do. Then you can further stretch them later by adding rice or a side or whatever.

I read a recipe for a lovely soup the other day. At the end it said "makes two cups" If you saw the look on my face you would laugh for a week! All that time and effort for two cups? lol No. Your time is worth more than that. Make enough for tonight and think of the possibilities... enough to take or send to work in a thermo for a few days. Enough for another evening. Enough to freeze batches for if you have the flu. (When you are sick beautiful soups from the freezer are so wonderful!) Enough that you can help someone else out. That you have a meal when you are tired and in all kinds of emergencies.

Meals put away or simmering at home in the crock pot mean you don't think of takeaway. They mean when you find a meat or vegie special you can make it last for ages and make the most of it. Thinking big will also give you more. If I cook anything in the crock pot I pretty much fill it up. Left over stew/casserole is the best pie filling. Then you have amazing meat pies as well. I will show you how to do this as I make mine in a few weeks.

Last night though I just made simple tuna mornay. I made it ahead as Chloe was coming after work to do my hair. (pre wedding hair...) She had been sewing her fingers off with wedding things, then a day of other wedding stuff, then work, then my hair after work... so I made us and her tuna mornay for an easy evening. Good swap too, I often wonder what it would be costing me if I was paying a hairdresser!

It takes no more time, power etc to triple the recipe. So we had an easy dinner, Chloe took one home and I have two to put away. Two nights off, coming up, in other words. 

Even if you cook like this once a week it has reduced your cooking nights from seven to five. If you do it twice a week you go from seven to three! Add another easy night like a BBQ or toasties and you are down to two. Feeding your family well, making the most of specials, saving electricity and enjoying less hectic evenings.

Something from nothing.

It is the most wonderful thing. We can plant a seed in the dirt and end up with a crop of tomatoes. Or we can take flour, eggs and a few cheap ingredients and end up with a magnificent birthday cake, or lovely afternoon tea, pancakes Sunday morning....  Or we can take scraps of fabric and end up with a heirloom patchwork quilt.

These things are the joys of working with your hands. I think of a man that carves works of art from a lump f marble or wood. Or someone carving a statue from a block of ice! All making something beautiful for virtually nothing!

We have so many chances and ways to do this. There are just possibilities everywhere. Like my little patch in the garden that was ruined. In spring it could still be a mess. Or in spring it can be an abundance of lovely flowers. Well, I'm hoping it will now be the flowers and looking forward to showing you, all things going well!

Some of my favourite somethings from nothings besides cooking are yarn and fabric miracles. 

A small bit of blanketing is lovely to embroider on and I have a little stack of smallish bits. I thought what can I make? Now these are not complete and came out with the crochet projects as part of the things I will work on in autumn and winter. I started them at the end of last winter.

I thought I would make hot water bottle covers and heat packs. 

Beautiful wool or cashmere is beautiful to work on. So soft. In another post I am going to show how to get divine fabrics for these small projects for very little as last year I found stunning material to work on only to find it was $300 a meter! So didn't do that! Happily there are ways to get luxury fabrics for these projects for a dollar or two.

In usual fashion for me I have several going at once and in different colour schemes. Different people like different colours and I am making things for gifts so that is what I do!

Smaller again pieces of wool I think I will make embroidered pin cushions. So even little bits have lots of potential. You get a gift from something so small and plain!

I will add sparkle and lots yet to all of these but you can see the general design and soft of how soft they look. The feel is beautiful!

What ever you can turn your hand to and create it will make you feel happy. You feel abundant when you know you can take basics and create something with them. The possibilities are just endless! I am all for using what you have or what is available to you and thinking "what could I make from this" whether it's a tree full of fruit, a box of cheap vegies or a bag of yarn. Just whatever, there will be so many options!

The joy of a new season.

I am a day late! I didn't fully mark the last day of summer but yesterday I did appreciate the first day of autumn and it had snuck up on me really. I love love love autumn. It is glorious.

We usually get some "summer" yet but a couple of weeks ago we noticed it much darker in the mornings. Evenings cool. Lovely sleeping. Beautiful days. Today is the most gorgeous day. Perfect.

There are so many things that come with the change that are just lovely for life and the home. It won't be long and I will be thinking of soups and the crock pot will be full of casseroles and the oven of meat pies. 

But the first thing is I have pulled out my crochet! In summer I work on light things (below) like wash cloths, edges around pillowcases and towels and things like that. 

In autumn and winter I get into blankets and rugs. They end up nice over your knees as you work on them. Last year I learned some new patterns after using the same ones for so many years! It was as easy as going on to You Tube and looking through the tutorials for patterns I loved then watching them. It is fantastic. It is the same as sitting having someone teach you at home. In half an hour you are doing the new pattern and off you go.

I learned three new main ones. Then I sat and taught Mum two of them and she has done blankets in them since. Her blankets are out of this world. One day I will post her rugs that are textural, soft strips and enormous full queen bed size. Amazing!

So I have three rugs to finish and I am using them as gifts. 

The dark blue and the pink are a lace type pattern formed in two rows. You think it makes no sense but it works! Learning new patterns is really good for your brain. Seriously this is true, it is good for you!

The pale blue is a scallop pattern, also formed in two rows. Both are lovely to work and very quick. If anyone wants I will post the link to the tutorials I used. Honestly so quick to pick up.

Even if you have never crocheted it is quick to learn and a joy! And if you can knit or crochet and have unused yarn get going! Make a rug to donate to someone to keep them warm this winter. 

We watch football which starts soon. Once I hated it but now I'm converted! But I use these hours to knit or crochet and goodness things grow quickly. I would hate to sit there doing nothing but with this I produce so much work and feel content and happy. I feel I think happy thoughts when working on something lovely. I know it is good for me. And if you know someone who loves to do handiwork but can't due to lack of funds or yarn, give them your excess yarn and see them have the most wonderful time. We are meant to be productive and you can see the difference in someone who goes from doing nothing to being creative and  productive. it's like a switch is turned on. Teaching someone new stitches, teaching kids to knit or crochet, you are setting them up for years of happiness. 

It is never too late to learn. Every lesson we could ever need is a click away but also maybe you have a Nana or neighbour who will help you. They would adore it! These things passed on and so valuable and beautiful. It is like the love of reading. Boredom is impossible once you have these things!