Finally the before and after bathroom photos

YES! at last we have a new bathroom. The builders finished on Friday with the painting, and we moved in on Saturday. Here is our lovely new vanity and tap set. We chose these taps because they are 'lever action" and so are easy to turn even with my hands. You can see how lovely our glass block window looks here.

Of course we took the opportunity to purchase new towels to match!

The shower cubicle was made as big as possible, and is a lovely sight to behold. Good bye clingy shower curtain!

In case you have forgotten, this is what was here before:



So glad to have seen the end of the purple bath and the icky brown and yellow tiles!

It took a long time, made a fair bit more mess than I thought, and yet it was still worth it. We love this house and plan to stay here for many years yet, so we see it as an investment in our lives.

In other news, we have inherited some lovely pieces of china from my DH's mum and dad, which have gone very nicely with the pieces I have already collected. I had some Royal Albert china which were 'flower of the month" pattern and also some pretty Queen Anne red and pink roses trios. The tea set from the Royal Albert "Country Roses" pattern sits nicely along side of these ones. I now have enough pieces for a very nice "Afternoon tea party" which I will hold just as soon as the Perth summer eases off a little. We have a very hot week ahead of us with temperatures from 36 degrees Celsius to over 41 degrees Celsius, and no end in sight.

I think there will be cold showers and iced tea all round for a while!

The Twelve days of Christmas in Australia

The Twelve Days of Christmas are the festive days beginning Christmas Day (25 December). This period is also known as Christmastide and Twelvetide. The Twelfth Night of Christmas is always on the evening of 5 January.

Twelfth Night is followed by the Feast of the Epiphany on 6 January.

I love the peacefulness of the Christmas season. These twelve days are beyond the stress and rush of Advent's preparations, and we can slow down and enjoy the holidays.


Nearly all of Australia closes for the period between Christmas and New Year at least. Many will go to the beach. We like it in the early morning, whilst it is still fresh and cool-ish. We have got back into walking every morning since Boxing Day and we are loving it.

My Christmas decorations are enjoyed now that there is time to ponder their meaning.

Christmas presents can be explored and used for the first time. I have a new Kindle which I am enjoying very much. I have downloaded free books including "On Walden Pond" that 'simple living' classic by Thoreau.

We eat up the leftovers from Christmas.

My DH is able to 'listen' to the cricket whilst sleeping on the couch in the post lunch period.

Our days stretch to a new rhythm -siesta becomes a reality. As Perth Western Australia has a Mediterranean style climate with short wet winters and long hot summers, we really should adopt this as a lifestyle choice. We get active in the early morning, then retreat to a cool place until the sun goes down.

Stone fruit appears in the shops along with grapes and the most popular drinks come out of the fridge -rose, Semillion Sauvingnon Blanc , and gin and tonics! My coffee now needs to be icy cold and I am thinking of getting back in the routine of making iced tea.

This is the time when we try to have friends over for lunch or dinner -eaten outside -sometimes we barbeque.

Relaxation, renewal, recovery.

I do hope that you have the opportunity to enjoy some of the Christmas season in a quiet reflective way.

Progress being made

I had a sudden rush of energy to make a 'crazy quilt as you go" project and found it a great deal of fun. It came together very quickly and easily, and I hope the person who is getting it for Christmas enjoys it too. This is the front.

And this is the back:


I wish I could be so happy about the progress of our bathroom renovation. We are so close and yet so far! We have the bathroom cabinet installed and the taps in the shower installed and working. Now we need to have the glass shower screen delivered and installed, and then the whole thing needs painting.


We are really happy with how it is coming along, but now we want to get it done and be able to move in. After all, Christmas is coming!

I hope to be able to post the whole 'before and after' bathroom pictures soon, but till then, I guess we will just keep on hoping!

My Quilting story so far

I started quilting when I took long service leave from my job in 2008. I was lucky enough to find a great teacher, who gave me the skills and confidence to start quilting and to keep going.

Today I gathered together all the pictures of quilts I have made since then.

I am on a journey which has given me a lot of joy, and it certainly keeps me off the streets! LOL.

I have given a few of these away, and it was great to be reminded of them as I put this together.

I hope you enjoy it!

Author! Author!

My daughter convinced me to have a go at writing a novel during National Novel Writing Month in November. This is an international challenge for all budding writers, to write 50,000 words in one month.

As a teenager, I thought I would always write a book one day. Now I can say I have! Yes, I have written 50,000 words in a novel with characters and plot and chapters and scenes! It even has an ending!

This is my "winner's certificate"! YAY!

In other news, my quick and easy Christmas quilt is nearing completion- I just have to put the binding on.


I have also got my blue-and-green quilt back from the Long Arm Quilters and I am in love with the chain of hearts quilting pattern on the solids!

AND the bathroom demolition has started. Hopefully by Christmas we will have a shiny new bathroom in this space. Meantime it is looking decisively ugly!

Time to say goodbye

Eighteen months ago we said goodbye to DH's mother, today we say goodbye to his father.

You can read the lovely words my DH will read today at

http://thewildflowerarcade.blogspot.com/2011/11/interlude-tribute-to-fine-man.html

New project ideas

I have been planning some new quilting projects, now that my blue-and-green quilt is at the Long Arm quilters. It all started with this collection of music fabrics. A young quilting friend had seen a quilt made with this panel and knew of our family's link to music so she directed me to the place where I could order it.

You can see I have quite a good collection of music prints now - even a little bit of a choir dressed for Church singing!

I am thinking of this with some words -Sing to the Lord, or perhaps "psalms, hymns and spiritual songs"

Anyway, it seemed silly to buy $6 worth of fabric and have it posted all the way from the US to Perth Western Australia, so I also bought these panels below.
This one makes me think of all the happy days my DH and I have spent in the Swan Valley, or around the Porongorups, visiting wineries.
I can see this one -quite a large panel-surrounded with cream and blue windmill blocks for a singe bed sized quilt.
This one is just asking to be made into something for Christmas.
But this set of naive images of Christmas scenes I like even more! I am thinking of adding some words to this too, to make a banner.
This one is very pretty, but I am thinking of just using the centre blue and white panel with some pretty blue and white fabrics, and saving the green squares for another quilt.

So, with all these things to get started on, what do you think I am doing?

Taking part in National Novel Writing Month of course! Not much quilting is going to happen, I fear, until November is over!