Mud, Mud, GLORIOUS Mud!!!

Oh, to be 3 again. Look at my little girl, enjoying making mud pies on a windy and cold spring day in Perth. I had to change her pants 3 times because they were so wet and muddy, but she had a great time. It just goes to show, the simple things in life are absolutely the best!

$6, 3 metres of fabric and the bet

I had some "Mummy" time yesterday and popped out to the local Spotlight for a bit of shopping therapy. For anyone who doesn't know, Spotlight is a large furnishing, art, craft and fabric shop, and is probably the best place to purchase every day crafty things in Australia. I went to purchase something to start my Mum's birthday present, was just about to leave the shop and this fabric literally jumped out at me and said "buy me". OK, well not literally, but it did catch my eye, and was even more attractive sitting on the clearance rack for only $2 a metre! I bought what was left on the roll (3 metres), thinking that it would make a nice picnic blanket, and bought it home. I showed John, and he said "I bet that will be like all of your other projects, and I think that in a week it will still be sitting around collecting dust!". Well, humph to him - I'm going to prove him wrong, and just to sweeten the deal, he has to do the dishes all next weekend if I have used it before then! That will get him (and it will be so lovely to have a break from the dishes!).

I have since had second thoughts about the picnic blanket idea, and decided to make some new covers for some chair cushions that are looking a bit dated for our outdoor setting. That should use about half of the fabric, and I'm thinking maybe a table runner and possibly some grocery shopping bags. Oh, the possibilities.....watch this space!

Craft!

Oh, to have more time to craft! This week I have been extra tired for some reason (I'm going to blame it on the spring weather being a bit up and down!) so I've only sat up twice this week with my cross stitch.

I'm currently doing a Shepherd's Bush cross stitch stocking for Charlotte called "Mary's Stocking" (click here for the link). The stockings are just beautiful, and I'm really enjoying seeing it grow. Here it is, "Work in Progress".

I've also got an idea for my dearest Mum for her birthday (I'm not going to say until after her day in case she reads and sees - hi Mum!) but I will post after then (end of November) to show what I did.

I love reading what all the other clever ladies in blog land are doing, and my head just swims with ideas for projects and wish I didn't have to cook, clean, and sleep so I can do them all! I have probably got more things on my WIP list, but I would prefer to keep it at things that I know will get completed soon so I can "tick" them off my list and do a little happy dance every time I do! Other ladies in blog land, please keep inspiring me...I think you are all amazing!

Autism

Our little darling Charlotte was diagnosed with mild autism in December 2007 at the age of two and a half. We have been lucky enough to have her enrolled in early intervention this year (ABA therapy through ISADD) and have seen amazing progress with her which excites me every day. I have to manage her autism daily, but I try my hardest to see her as a person (and believe me, she has heaps of personality and is an absolute crack-up!) and not see the autism as something that is a label for her. I may, from time to time, mention her autism on my blog, but I certainly won't be focusing on it, as it is only a teeny-tiny part of Charlotte.

Charlotte is enrolled in kindy for 2009 (2 full days per week) and at the moment will have an aide for 25% of the time. I think she will enjoy kindy, and is already asking who her teacher will be and what her "best friend's" name is. She has come through so much already, that I'm sure she will jump through the next hoop with only a few minor hiccups. She is amazing, and I couldn't love her more.

I'm forever blowing bubbles....

...as the old song went (which, apparently, was my great grandmothers favourite!). Charlotte, like most children, loves bubbles, but hasn't been able to successfully blow them all by herself until recently. Look how clever she is now!

I must apologise to Charlotte for the first photo - I remember when I was a child my dad taking a photo of me every year blowing out my birthday candles and I had the horrible puffed out cheeks in every shot that is really unflattering! I remember one birthday (must have been in my teen years), that I "fanned" my birthday candles out instead of blowing them just to avoid the puffed cheek photo. Of course, these days the horrid photo would just be one of many hundred that would be taken at a birthday, not one of 24 like the old fashioned camera. Thank God for digital!

Strawberry Jam

There is something utterly romantic about making jam - I'm not sure why I feel this way, but I think its because I'm creating something that I would normally just buy from the shops! To be honest, this is the very first time I've made jam, and it was fun (and addictive...oh-o....). I remember my Mum making jam when I was a child because my aunt had an apricot orchid, and try as we did, we couldn't eat all the apricots that came off the tree in time, so a few did make it to the jamming pot.

Mum and Dad visit a strawberry farm close to them on a weekly basis and I asked if they could get some strawberries for jam. They were lucky enough to be there just as the grower brought out a big bag (nearly 2 kilos!) of ripe, but slightly marked strawberries and sold them to Mum and Dad for $3.50. Very, very cheap, considering a punnet (250g) would be about $2 at the moment in the supermarket.

So, my adventure with jam began. I cheated and purchased special sugar that has the jam setting agent in it. I might try and use jam setter next time so I can compare. But first I had to cut all the strawberries like this:

John did "steal" a few strawberries at this point - um-ma!!! I can't say I blame him though!

Then I popped it on the stove with the sugar - it is literally a 50/50 mix so not good for the waistline AT ALL! If you make jam I dare you NOT to take one of the sugared berries from the pot at this stage - I tried not to be tempted but I was (there, I admited it!)

And here it is when all the sugar had disolved (which didn't take long at all which suprised me!)

And finally, here it is, wearing its little hat and all ready to be given to Mum and Dad as a thank you for getting me the strawberries in the first place.

If I had a little more time I would have loved to have made this little hat from LucyKate Crafts for the jam which I think is so clever and pretty. Maybe next time!!

Perth Zoo

I had a wonderful day today - Charlotte and I, along with her "Grumps" (my Darling Dad) visited Perth Zoo. Spring came early to Perth this year, and today was the perfect Perth spring day and ideal zoo weather!

We frequently visit Perth Zoo - John and I became members many years ago (BC - Before Charlotte) and we are more than happy to invest in our yearly zoo membership because we know that we only have to visit 3 times in the year to make our money back! (We visit a lot more than that, so the money is well spent!) It's a wonderful place to go for an hour or so with Charlotte and visit one or two exhibits without the exhaustion that usually goes with a zoo trip with young children.

I often forget my camera when I visit the zoo, but today I made sure that I took it and here are some pictures of the animals (and humans - ie Charlotte) at the zoo.

Just laying around with a Kangaroo (not real....)

Oh to be an animal....

MWWWWAAAAA! (again, not real.....)

The First Post

I have recently discovered and become addicted to crafty blogs, and I thought to myself, "hey, I would love to do that too"....so here I am, giving it a go.

As you can see from my blog title, two of my very favourite things in life are Craft and Tea as I think they go hand in hand - there is nothing like a good cup of tea (in fine china please!) and curling up with a cross stitch, quilt, sewing or knitting project and creating! I could have made the title very, very long and added my other loves - my gorgeous, 3 year old daughter Charlotte, my wonderful husband, John and my family. I also love fine days, good coffee, chocolate (wish I didn't love that one!), my fantastic friends, cooking and my garden. But, I'll leave it at Craft and Tea - and I'm sure you will learn about my other loves too as time goes by.

Thanks for dropping in and visiting my first ever post - hopefully there will be a lot more to follow.