What to do with a load of old wood?

I got my grubby little hands on a load of 80 year old planks from an old veranda.

Some time this afternoon was  spendt a bit of time removing some old nails so I could use the wood for all kinds of fun things ( I'm thinking frames for stitcheries, bird houses and many more ideas)

Having been biten by the stencil bug I thought I should try and sand one of the boards back enough to stencil on it ( THICK layer of green paint on the boards) and see how that would turn out. I must say I like it! It will need to be prim-ed up a bit more, but we'll have to wait with that til the paint is dry.

A lot more nails to remove and some more sanding to do too, may have to leave that for J to do, as I did notice a few spider egg sacks on a few planks, and I'm not going anywhere near those!!

How I spend my Sunday

For a while now J was getting sick of my wood working stuff under the veranda where I was just making a mess. And a big mess too! Sawdust and bits of wood everywhere! Enough is enough said my darling J we're gonna build a workbench!

So after we ordered the wood on Thursday we were ready to do it today!!

How impressive is my new workbench??

J and I spend a whole day today building it! (would have been half a day if we didn't have a dodgy electric screwdriver battery that would only let us screw in 6 screws at a time, before it had to be recharged.)

Comfort Food

We're having wonderful cold Winter weather here!

And after being hit on the noggin today by a blind that decided to jump off the wall (oh and lets not start about the 15 min I had to stand holding the darn thing up, til J came home to save me!)

I really was in need for some comfort food. So out came the trusty Pumpkin Soup, with yummy garlic rolls ( for some reason we like to have our garlic bread made in individual packets ( just Hot Dog rolls, with garlic butter wrapped in alu foil).

So Yummy with sour cream and freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

To top it off we had a mug of hot Bestest Chocolate milk with a cookie

We all know how to make a good pumpkin soup, so I won't bore you with a recipe.

But for the Bestest Chocolate Milk, I will give you the recipe:

Bestest Ever Chocolate Milk

Serves 4.

4 cups of milk

2 cinnamon sticks

200gr block of milk chocolate (broken into bits)

mini marsh mellows to serve

Bring milk with the 2 cinnamon sticks to a simmer ( do not boil!) and stir occasionally for 10 minutes. Turn of the heat, cover and leave stand for 10 min.

Remove cinnamon sticks. Turn heat back on and while re-heating the milk add the chocolate and whisk until chocolate is melted. pour into 4 cups and top with a handful of mini-marshmallows.

Enjoy!

Note: I got this recipe from a magazine, I just can't remember which one it was, if anyone knows let me know, so I can give proper credit to them!)

Another one bites the dust!

I've been busy framing like a mad woman got a few cheap frames at the op-shops and thought I give it a try!

The framing of the Hand quilting in the pictures above is something I'm particularly happy about! It has been lying around for the last 5 years, and finally it's framed!

the frame is slightly too small, but it still looks alright I think

Talking about Love

For years I've admired people that did punchneedle, and told myself that one day I will make a punchneedle project too!

So one day 3 years ago I was looking through my newly discovered Create and Decorate magazine (June 2006 issue) and all was well until I got to page 81 and that's went I fell head over heels in love with that lovely Baa Baa Black Sheep picture and I decided that is the one I was going to make!

Fast forward to June the 13th 2009, and After spending my gift voucher a friend send me for my Birthday at "Spotlight" on a punchneedle (anyone else out there use a Boye punchneedle?) and materials, I sat down and worked until the wee hours to finish it.

Now I'm wondering what took me so long! I really enjoyed doing it and have gone crazy lookng for patterns to make!

Project 2 is now on the go! I've picked one of Primitive Betty's patterns, she has a whole bunch of freebies on her blog, they should keep me busy for ages!

Love sweet Love

For a few years we've had cats: Doc (cause we live in an old Dr surgery) and Cosmo.

Doc has been with us for 5 years now, and Cosmo joined the family about a year ago, a few months after we lost our beautiful Bruce to a snake bite. Cosmo is Bruce's half brother and while he fits in with the family, he just didn't get along with Doc. As soon as they are in the same room, the hissing and fighting starts! Some days the fur flies everywhere!

And then I walked into the study this morning and saw this (see pic above!) and we now know it was all show!! As long as they think no one can see them snuggled up together it's ok!

As soon as the flas of the camera went off, Doc turned to Cosmo and smacked him square in the face! Good thing I had the camera in my hand, coz no one here would believe me otherwise!