I started making Christmas cards last night. Couldn't resist another cup of green tea in our new Moroccan tea glasses this morning as I contemplated my creativity thus far.

I got a bit carried away at the end of last year when a local scrap book store was selling off her stock and also bought up big at a craft fair with their tempting sales. I justified my purchases by saying they would do me for the whole year!

I am not sure if I was kidding myself or was just carried away in the moment (probably both!), but I have been slowly working my way through the 'stash', not as quickly as I would have thought. We shall see how many cards I get made now that I have started the project! I made a lot of cards when I had my enforced post-op recouperation time earlier this year and had a lot of fun making cards for all occasions. It has been so nice to have a handmade card for every occasion during the year from my 'stash'.

After steady rain this Spring, we are officially out of a 9 year drought in all areas of New South Wales. The grounds of Stud farm, Upper Hunter Valley, my workplace, is looking particularly attractive as I look out my office window. The rains have spoiled the proliferation of climbing roses, but their delicate apricot hue still reminds me of their beauty.

From the Common room area where we sit to eat our catered lunch each day, I am drawn to the magnificent escarpment into the distance. It feels so ancient and I never tire of this scenery.

A day in my pantry

I have been wanting to clean out my pantry for 12 months now. I used to do these Spring cleaning jobs with monotonous regularity earlier in my married life but in recent times I have way too many interests, commitments and obligations, so my Spring cleaning suffers. Life gets too busy... Oddly enough, I miss those Spring cleaning Saturdays!

Yesterday was a bright and clear sunny day and I spent a happy time cleaning out my pantry, listening to tunes through the iPod dock. To the songs of Eva Cassidy and Peggy Lee I sang my heart out, rehearsing for the next concert at the Sydney Opera House whilst I sorted and cleaned, and scrubbed and sorted some more.

I don't sort my spices into alphabetical order anymore or line the knives and forks up like soldiers in the cutlery drawer, but I do still like everything to be in neat Tupperware stacks! Phew! I hear you say? I have a life! But there is nothing more pleasurable than opening your cupboards to find them clean and orderly.... life gets in the way... as I, like so many others, try to cram so much into my day with working full time, hobbies, study, interests, committees, community activities.

This is my dilemma... being 'houseproud' as my Nan and mother would approvingly comment on someone they met probably in the 1950's, having everything in order, or jettisoned into living a very full life and squeezing as much in as you can to your day.

Lunch in the Hunter Valley

Last Sunday we went for a drive in the Lower Hunter valley, NSW. The craggy mountain backdrop to the acres of vineyards, cattle and horses grazing with plenty of green is very soothing to me. Crops of calves and foals tell me that Spring is on its way. We stop at our favourite cafe and have a platter of assorted desserts and a pleasant glass of wine! A nice treat. It's still chilly, but the wattle is beautiful everywhere. Winter is behind us now I hope.

Unravelling time

Oh dear! A whole month's worth of knitting disgracefully unpicked and lying there waiting, waiting patiently to be knitted up again into a sample wrap. I can't bear a mistake and it would be so obvious in this pattern. See pattern here on MadelineTosh website.

The variegated yarns of this shade of Noro Silk Garden sock yarn is a little too contrasty for my taste, but once I put a deep frill on it, it may change the whole look. I love the knit fabric of garter stitch which shows up the blending of colours in the yarn so well. (I will have to find some more Austenish good movies to watch and knit by this weekend!)

My first fabric ATCs

Some ATCs traded with swap groups in July, August. The fabric ATCs were scraps from a Sunbonnet Sue quilt that I was making maybe 10 years ago! I kept the piece of patched 'fabric' wondering if I would ever use it! I can't think of a nicer way to use up bits and pieces. Once you start thinking in miniature, you see possibilities everywhere and start dreaming of creations. I will never look at a lifestyle magazine the same way again! All those lovely photos of flowers, home decor... mmm...

I have been having a lot of creative fun with ATCs since being introduced to them March 2010. Collage with pretty papers, magazine images, now experimenting with zentangles and watercolour and fabric. After all, I have been a fabric a holic for nigh on 25 years now! So I hope to slowly use up some of my fabric stash and ephemera. As these miniatures are just that, 2½" x 3½", I can't see the stash disappearing in a hurry, goodness only knows our lovely rumpus room table has become a casualty to collage and ephemera, with nowhere to put all this lovely stash.

Jach and Celia. This is the only photo of my maternal grandparents on their wedding day, so I thought it was worthy of embellishment. I included an Australian postage stamp with bridal roses. It is a mystery as to the flowers Gran may have carried on her day, or perhaps, none at all in lean times and being one of 16 children. I will have to find what year this was! Maybe early '20's?

This photo used to hang suspended from a very high picture rail in their tiny poorly lit loungeroom mostly devoid of ornamentation, encased in a very big oval wooden frame. I often used to stare at this photo as they stared back at me, frozen in time. The couple in the picture seemed to bear no resemblance to the hard working grandparents that I knew in the '50's, '60's and '70's. Gran always in her 'pinnie' and beanie, milking cows on the freezing cold mornings just a smidgeon past dawn, in Bullarto Sth Victoria; scrubbing and rubbing clothes on the wooden washboard until she got a new Pope washer with a hand wringer.

I have fond memories of hanging the washing on the line on a wire propped up on a pole working with Gran. Not the most sophisticated clothes line, but serviceable. Like everything my grandmother had. Their married life was all about hard work on a dairy and produce farm, thrift and recycling as much as possible.