~5 Year Blogaversary~

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378 posts

5 years

Whoever would've thought that when I clicked the button to start a blog that it would get this far!!!
My first post is here......I didn't even know how to add photos!!!

This is a framed stitchery I bought off Cathy Penton Designs when she was selling off some of her things

and I have a pattern for this that I won't be making up now
together with this Bareroots sewing machine cover pattern to celebrate my 5 years in Blogworld

Just leave a comment here if you would like a chance to win them and I will get JoJo to draw a winner next weekend....

Thanks so much everyone for stopping by and leaving comments over the years
You're all such an inspiration and I love that I have met some of you!!!

~A Very, Very Special Visit From My Brother~

This is the gorgeous bunch of roses that my Dear Brother gave to me on his visit to our home

JoJo scored a bunch as well

When he first presented them he said choose one and I chose the roses

Brotherly Love here

He is only 14 months younger than I am

This visit was very special as it was his first time here

He has recently had major surgery successfully and still has other issues

but we feasted on these delectable Prawns for Afternoon Tea.......played card games and it was just like Old Times!!!

And here's another look at our flowers!!!

Thank you so much Charlie and Erin for your visit

We had the BEST TIME...

~Surprise Gift From JoJo, a Blogger and the Smash Repairer~

I've had a couple of unexpected gifts lately

First of all the above fat 1/4.....little white bird and Pirate Pen from JoJo

The Pirate Pen she would of bought as I was in Bay Theatre's production of Pirates of Penzance last year and she still tells everyone I was a Policeman

She bought these last weekend when we had a little respite

so very, very thoughtful of her

Thank you so much Beautiful Girl xoxox

A surprise package a little while ago from Bev

2 little owl mugrugs......one for me and one for JoJo

No surprises as to which one JoJo chose

of course, the Christmas themed one

Thank you so much dear Bev

Mine gets used every single day

You certainly surprised us with these!!!

After Mr Armchair's unfortunate mishap with a kangaroo leaving the car like this

it came back from the Smash Repairer looking like this

I saw Mr Armchair come up the stairs with a bunch of flowers and I was thinking oh how lovely they must be for me

He said look what the Smash Repairer gave me!!!

How cool are they.......and what a surprise

Thank You so much!!!

~Cook Up With donna......and Irina~ No 23

My latest cook up with donna hay and Irina saw me using the Spices Cinnamon and Star Anise 

Green Apples

and the last of the Season's Mandarins

All from this beautiful issue of donna hay magazine No 69 Jun/July 2013

Beautiful in that there are some lovely Flourless Cakes recipes in it.......Perfect for Gluten Free people

The menu......Mandarin and Soy Braised Ribs

Boiled Rice

Red Cabbage

Fennel 

Telegraph Cucumber with Fennel Tips

Spiced Layered Apple Cake

I started off by slicing the apples in my new super-duper Food Processor

Look how beautiful the apple slices look......seeds'n all!!!

I used Rapadura Sugar instead of White Sugar

The apples had to be held down by cans when finished cooking

donna's version above

and my version ready to be chilled for Dessert

Now it's back to work preparing the Ribs

All done now

Red Cabbage

and Cucumber

And here'tis......all ready

And the flavour combinations were just delicious!!!

The Layered Apple Cake was just sublime nice and cold

With or without some Whipped Cream!!!

I love doing these cook ups especially now that Irina has joined me

If you want to join in just leave a comment or email

It's all easy.......just cook something from the latest magazine and blog it!!!

Bon Appetit......Dzintra

Unwanted Ads On My Blog

And the happenings get stranger......this morning I see that there are 2 game ads on my sidebar that I didn't put there ......  The only ad I have ever had is from Nuffnang.

I did tell Blogger about my Dashboard but haven't heard back yet.

I don't know what this is......maybe they're trying to take over this blog?????????

Perhaps I should start a new one somewhere else??????

I'm in a bit of a muddle now as what to do.........

~A Workshop and Weird Happenings with Blogger~

This is the quilt Past Times by Lynne Wilson at Steph's that I fell in love with

It's a Fat 1/4 quilt made with 22 fat 1/4's

These are the fabrics I put together when I went 'shopping' on my shelf

And these are the first few blocks that are on their way

To me it looks rather 'wild' with fabrics I normally wouldn't put together but this quilt lends itself so much to that

A mixture of traditional and country fabrics

And I love them all!!!!!!

*************

Yesterday on arriving home I thought I would check in on my Dashboard and lo-and-behold under where it says blogs that  follow there were some really undesirable posts...

I'm wondering if anyone else has had this happen to them?

These posts go on and on and I seem to have lost all my regular posts that I follow but maybe they are there right at the end wherever that might be!!!

*************

Now I'm off to start putting more blocks together and off to a Sing-a-long with the gang from our Melodrama!!!

~Hit by a Kangaroo~

Tuesday morning I woke up and saw Mr Armchair on the couch all dressed for work

I thought I had said bye to him earlier as he headed off for his long commute to work......2 hours

Turns out half an hour into the trip a 'roo came out of nowhere and straight into the right hand side

Can't even  open the driver's door now

So now we are waiting to see what the insurance says about the damage!!!

But the most important thing is he's all right!!!

~OPAM August 2013~

Just a little Needlebook this month for OPAM (One Project A Month)

Pattern by Anni Downs of Hatched and Patched

Thank you so much Sweet Peg and Kris for running OPAM

I hope I'm not too late for August!!!