Don't forget to view my creative space 14th July 2011

                                       Don't forget to view my Creative Space below
                                                      EllenaElizabeth Makes
                                                            posted on 14th July 2011.
        Time wise Australia is a day ahead of the USA so the 14th is already yesterday to me...LOL


           Where Bloggers Create 2011

                                       Hosted by Karen from http://mydesertcottage.blogspot.com/

Aren't cloth dolls special?

This is my little Cora-Beth Godsey. When I finish making my dolls they almost seem to tell me what to call them. No..I don't mean I hear them speak..LOL, just that the finished product just seems to become its own little personality. So when this one was finished I looked at her and without even giving it any thought the name Cora-beth Godsey immediately sprang to mind. Can you tell what my favourite TV show is? And just in case you can't, it is of course The Waltons. I can't remember the pattern I used for CBG but it is Australian. I did change it quite a bit but when making dolls that has a habit of happening.
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This little sweety is called Aunty Violet Reller. She has a maidenly old world look about her and once again her name just sprang to mind. I think the pattern came from a Handmade magazine but can't remember what issue.

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This dear little girl is called Folksy Megan.

I caught her sitting out in the garden stitching with some of my best threads and buttons. Just check out the look on her face when I discovered her......LOL

The name of the pattern is Megan's Locket by Sun Valley Primitives, Australia.

Anyhow just back to reality now and being serious, I did not change this pattern much at all, which is unusual for me. I just loved her the way she was meant to be.

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                                    I named this girl Ivy. She is quite big and likes to
                                         walk around the garden as you can see.

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This dolly was made for my friend Jenny's 50th so I called her Jenny. Not very original but there you have it. The thing I like making the most was the cornucopia she is holding.

Her hair is a whole skein of vintage maroon darning wool.

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Where Bloggers Create 2011 Part Two

                                       

             Where Bloggers Create 2011 

 Part Two

        This is part 2, as I had trouble trying to complete it all in one post....

  sorry everyone.

            One of my champion rosettes from the 

Royal National Show

Queensland.

                 I have competed every year now since 1994 and look forward to doing so every year.

      There is nothing like a deadline to motivate me.

                                         

The Seamstress

designed

by

Mum's Moment

Queensland

Cute buttons in a little box I painted and lined with felt

My 1st ever Janome.

Bought a few years ago.

Not my favourite machine,

I still love my Pfaff 1475 CD the best,

even though it's 21 yrs old now.

Such an innovative and delightful machine.

Cute little doll's house made by my DH

and

painted and decorated by me about 15 yrs ago.

Thanks so much for taking the time to look through my creative space

as

 well

as some

of

my

creations.

It's been a lot of fun and I can't wait to look through eveyone else's spaces.

Thanks again

and

GOD Bless

you

all.

EllenaElizabeth

Queensland

Australia

2011

Where Bloggers Create 2011 Part One

                   Spool rack assembled, painted, stencilled and varnished by me.
         Where Bloggers Create                  

                      Thanks to Karen for hosting

the

3rd

Annual Blog Party

                                

                                                        http://mydesertcottage.blogspot.com/

I recently changed my creative space from a medium sized bedroom to what is really the formal living room. DH and I moved to a little house on the Darling Downs 18 months ago leaving all our family and friends behind about 100km away. I decided to swap sewing rooms as we don't get so many visitors anymore and the new room is larger, airier and great in summer as it's on the easterly or cool side of the house. As I just turned 50 and left my beautiful big house behind when we moved I don't really care about formalities like what rooms should be what anymore. Having said that I'm happy with the swap and can't wait to fully utilise the new area. I am recovering from major back surgery and am only 9 weeks into recovery, so have not sewn since December 2010 which is un-heard of for me!

I have made a few cards but not without pain, anyhow let's start the tour.

                                    This Beirne treadle sewing machine does not work anymore
                                             but belonged to my great grandmother Annie.
                                                   She died when I was about 20yrs old.

Some beautiful vintage hand embroidered/crocheted doileys. I just love them!

This beautiful stitching carousel made by my friend Jenny

for my christmas pressie last year.

Some of my little collection in an old bookcase from my nursing days.

A busy little shelf of pretty things.

 Vintage glass buttons & bobby pins (still on original card)

None of these clocks work but they were too good to be thrown out, wouldn't you agree? Some of them belonged to my grandparents and I actually retrieved them from the wheelie bin after my aunty had thrown them out.

Who could resist these Derwent pencils in such good pre-loved condition?

I always wanted a set like this when I was at school, so I only had to wait about 40yrs! LOL

As well as being so pretty, they are practical.

More pretty things, collected over many years. Did anyone realise I love collecting little things? It's just occurring to me as I post these pics.

One wall of my newly moved sewing/craft room. Had to leave the piano in situ so used the top to display more little things.

Everything looks very crowded in this shot and it is! However I know where everything is and I never spend any time 'searching' for bits and pieces. The main thing I still have trouble with is finding a particular pattern in one of my hundreds of craft magazines. That can easily turn into a search that takes hours. I love tidiness and do not create well in any type of dis-order. I can never even come into my creative area to make something i have in mind unless all my household chores are up to date, therefore I do feel frustrated quite a lot. All the time thinking of what I want to make and never really spending the amount of time in the craft room that I would like. I'm sure many can relate to this???

Some of my special hard cover sewing/crafting books. Some of my buttons on top shelf.

Antique Australian Silky Oak day bed with handmade cushions.

Another quiet area of my work room. White melamine drawers store fabrics in themed order.

Handpainted and decorated (by me) workbox lid.

This is where part one ends as I cannot upload anymore pics at this stage. Stay tuned for part 2, should only be an hour or so away.

Chatting to neighbours

Well I set off for my walk this morning and 1 hr later arrived home. I spent 45 mins talking to a neighbour so will try walking again this arvo so I can my miles up. It's always pleasant talking to a neighbour especially when new to a town. This particular fellow has lived in this same street his whole life so has plenty of interesting tales to tell.
 He was good to have around this January 2011 when record floods hit the area. Even though he has been here for over 50 yrs he was somewhat worried about the flooding, as at a certain point in the day the flood waters surpassed 1974 levels which until that day had been the yard stick all other local floods had been jusdged by. Anyhow even though we were very worried and had packed over night bags a small group of us (about 7 houses) were not in-undated. However some houses just down the road from us and across on the other side of the creek were and some are still awaiting completion of repairs, some 6 months later.

On the morning of 10th January 2011 the creek could be clearly seen from this point outside my house. The creek is normally a fairly innocuous waterway. It is set down low between 2 very deep banks either side. In essence, the sight of a raging torrent of water from this view was very scary and something I wish to never experience again. As I said we were spared any damage, unlike so many who did, not to mention the tragic loss of life. This period of Queensland history is something that we hope will never be repeated.

-7 celcius this morning.

Well it was very cold today. The temp in the house stayed at 6-7c all day so I turned the heating on for an hr in the middle of the day. It was so cold that I didn't even take my scotty's coat off. Some of the frost tolerant plants are starting to suffer now as we have had 6 frosts in a row now.
 Walking this afternoon for 30 mins did not even raise a bead of perspiration and I was wearing 5 layers and a scarf. (Had quite a bit of pain today so the walk was very welcome. I have to wait 'til DH comes home from work to put my lace-ups on for me but I could have gone for a walk much earlier just for some relief).
Exciting times for me as I have always lived in the sub tropics. Don't get me wrong it can get very cold in Ipswich down to -3c for eg but the daytime temps would usually reach 20c or so. Anyhow it won't be long and everyone will be whinging about the hot weather.....YUK!
I'll take the cold thanks. Just have to remember to warm our coffee cups in this wintery environment as we have already lost 3 due to the sudden shock.

Here is a photo of the last of my geraniums and zinnias before winter took hold. The lavender does well here all year, actually it does extra well in the winter.

 Also I am posting 2 photos of a recent hail storm. Our plants were not too badly damaged so it was all good.
One of my favourite shows is about to start. It's called Winners and Losers and is only new this year on Channel 7, Australia. Australia's Got Talent is just finishing and I am eagerly awaiting the performance of Jack Vidgen, a 14 yr old who sings like an angel.
GO JACK!!!
His singing always makes me cry. His last 2 performances have been Whitney Houston songs so I wonder what he has in store for us tonight? Well I don't know the song he just sang and it did not make me emotional but still great.

Don't forget Where Bloggers Create 2011, get your photos ready to post on 14th July. I can't wait to see everyone's creative spaces!!!

Well it came and went and it did not hurt at all.

Yesterday I turned 50. Not something I have been looking forward to but its arrival of course was inevitable. Three days prior I decided I DID want to spend it with good friends and rellies so I promptly text messaged or facebooked my guest list and to my surprise everyone was able to attend especially as we live quite a distance from all the guests.
It was a great day, in fact one of the best birthdays I have ever had and not a drop of alcohol in sight. Mainly because it was lunchtime and also way too cold.
The day commenced with a low of -5c and the entire yard white with frost. The skies were blue and cloudless and it was quite pleasant sitting in the sun although the temp in the house never went above 10c.
I told everyone to rug up and I think almost everyone came layered and scarfed.
This is quite funny as this type of weather in Queensland seems quite obscure and surreal even though we do live in a temperate region. All my life (except for the last 18 months) I have lived in the
sub-tropics as have all of my party guests.
My two children were also able to attend so it was extra special. My daughter and SIL live 2 1/2 hrs away and my son a 6 hr drive in New South Wales.

Speaking of my daughter she made a beautiful ginger birthday cake (I chose ginger) for me and decorated it so sweetly. She has had very bad morning sickness for the last few weeks so lucky for me and her she was feeling a little better, enabling her to do so much cooking.
My DH did an excellent job on the BBQ.
I got the through the day better than I would have thought possible considering I am only 8 weeks into recovery from my Transforaminal Lumbar Interbody Fusion (TLIF). When someone asked me what I got for my birthday they were surprised to hear that it was the TLIF. Even though we have private health insurance and there is some Medicare coverage we were out of pocket $13,000. So there went my dream of a Western Australian pink diamond ring. I have been dreaming of one for about a decade. Maybe in a decade's time I might finally get one??? But the way the economy is headed, what with the Carbon Tax (weirdly announced on my birthday 10th July 2011), fears of rising un-employment,shares prices still not recovered from the highs of 2007, the rising AUD $, recessions and maybe even depressions looming, house prices receding, food prices increasing etc etc where will it all end up?