Almost 40

 

Photo courtesy of Lara

I don't usually make a fuss of my birthday, but this year I have lots to celebrate.

 I forgot my camera - thank goodness for iPhones!

I decided to have an Almost 40 celebration with a group of gorgeous friends (sheesh I'm getting old)!

Photo courtesy Carly

Carly suggested The Tea Room at NGV - and I must say it was a brilliant suggestion!

 Photo courtesy Carly

The scones were absolutely delicious!

Photo courtesy of my sister

We had a beautiful table overlooking the waterwall. The food and the service was excellent. I would highly recommend it for a fun afternoon.
 

How do you know when you have a table full of bloggers? They all whip out their iPhones when the food arrives for a bit of synchronised instagramming... 

I received some gorgeous pressies... will have to blog them tomorrow. Thanks so much for coming along to ladies - it was the perfect birthday celebration!

I Ride My Bicycle

So many amazing and wonderful things have happened this year. I never could have guessed that there was more to come!

Yesterday I went over to Cathy's house. We'd planned to go out for lunch, and I'd asked if I could take her bike for a test ride before I began looking at bike shops myself.

When I arrived, she said that she had a surprise for me..... and OMG what a surprise it was!

A big group of beautiful friends had all contributed to buy me a new bike!  UNBELIEVABLE!

I took it for a test spin straight away.

I haven't been able to ride a bike for well over ten years. I was a little bit wobbly at first, but I managed to stay upright.

We went to the bike shop so that I could choose a helmet and a bike lock.

I came home and rode laps of the park with the nephews.

It was soooooo much fun!

There was a huge envelope full of gorgeous birthday cards too.

Thankyou so much to Cathy for pulling off such an amazing feat and keeping it a secret, and thankyou one and all to my beautiful friends.

Best early birthday pressie ever!!!

Four

To think that just four years ago they were teeny tiny little bubbas...

.... and now they're so grown up

...and they do all their own stunts

Happy Birthday Bubbas Boys

Psychedelic

When I designed my current range of fabrics and ordered sample swatches, it included this fabric design which I originally created a little while ago as a background banner for my sister.

I just happened to show the sample swatch to Cathy at around the same time as I was racking my brain trying to come up with a handmade birthday pressie.

Check out Little Cat in the background

I completely forgot to take any photos after I'd finished, so I had to wait until she unwrapped it, and then I snapped a couple of quick iPhone photos... the outside

... and the Kindle Touch snuggled up inside (check out the matchy matchy lining - Linear in Tangerine)


But do you know what I was more impressed by?

Cathy's amazing homemade cream buns - heaven!

Forty

I forgot the camera so I only have an iPhone snap

It was my sister's birthday yesterday, and a very special one at that!

I don't bake these days, but lucky for me, I know someone who is an exceptionally talented baker and cake maker....

I asked Cathie to make a chocolate mud cake with chocolate ganache, and OMG it was absolutely delicious.

The boys loved the decorative stars, and even sang a special rendition of 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' before we all joined in to sing Happy Birthday.

She received a new Kindle for Christmas so I made a Kindle Sleeve to protect it while it's in her handbag.

Happy Birthday Rach!

Happy Birthday Beccasauras

Happy Birthday Bec!

It's not quite finished.... but here's just a little teaser. Can you guess what it is???

Treasured

Here's the finished result of what I was up to yesterday.

A friends little boy turned one last week. Sam's birthday party clashed with Nico's (I swear, the babies and toddlers and kiddies in my life have more social events than me), so I'm visiting him today.

A few people commented on the clown fabric yesterday. It's a few years old now, but it's Michael Miller Clown Capers.

Funnily enough, Sam's mum had originally bought the fabric to make something for his old brother (who is now four), but she never got around to it and so the fabric was gifted to my stash!

Anyway, I whipped up a couple of drawstring bags to hold his treasures, using my quick and easy tutorial.

I still had a little size 1 t-shirt in the stash, so with a little bit of dragster design, and some applifix....

... he now also has a very cool little man tee!

Ole - Part Three

Winner of Best Dressed Person

Winner of Best Pinata

Winner of Bext Dressed Oxygen Bottle

Silly Stuff

Can you believe there were actually three people dressed as Tequila bottles?

There was a huge mexican feast for dinner. One of my brother and SIL's friends parents (does that make sense) used to own a mexican restaurant, so their friend cooked everything from scratch - nachos, guacamole, bean dip, salsa, tacos. burritos, rice etc etc etc etc. OMG Delicious!

He also managed to set off the fire alarms...

It was all too much for this little mexican. I needed a siesta!

The End.

Delivering Chooks

Nooooo, not those sort of chooks!

I headed off to the country with my big sister in tow yesterday to deliver a Technicolour Chook for my Mum's birthday.

I remembered the leftover bread from my freezer for the chooks, her birthday pressies, and her poor old forgotten puppy dog (under the table above) that I've been fostering (long story), but I managed to forget my camera, so the little late adopter Sony Ericsson phone had to suffice.

We were early getting into town to take my Mum out for lunch, so I suggested a spot of op-shopping.... when suprise suprise we just happened to run into the very famous Chook Artiste herself , along with Punky & Suspence (who are just as uber-cute in real life by the way)!

We couldn't have timed it better if we'd planned to meet up!

After a spot of Op Shopping, it was time for a nice long leisurely lunch by the lake.....

.... and I picked up some yummy tomato and chilli relish to bring home.

For old times sake, we took a drive through the Botanic Gardens. I remember having picnics here as a young kiddie with all of our Aunties and Uncles and Cousins.

Time was pressing on and we had to back in time for the school bus, so we took Mum back home, bid farewell to Mr Limpy Turkey....

.. and Gypsy the Shetland Pony and No Name the Goat (he's a recent acquisition so I really have no idea what his name is), but you may notice that he's sporting a very spiffy goat coat. It's all the rage in goat couture apparently.

The End!

The Technicolour Chook Strikes Back

Well it seems like an eon ago, but today the technicolour chook is finally making a return.

He's been waiting in the wings (very bad pun intended) for the loooooongest time.

You see, after Vic drew him for me waaaaaay back in March, I ordered a fabric version, with the intention of making my mum a cushion for Mothers Day.

I waited and I waited and I waited...... and after about 8 weeks, he arrived. Two whole weeks after Mothers Day.

Never one to be defeated, I hatched (another very bad pun intended) an alternative plan to make him into a cushion for my mums birthday (which is today).

Somewhere between mid-May and last week, he got completely lost in the fabric jungle known as 'my stash'.

But then luckily on Friday, I had a massive clean up and he magically re-appeared.

Talk about perfect timing...

Original Chook Drawing courtesy of Vic
Green Spotty fabric courtesy of Liz
Perfectly sized zip in Tomato Sauce Red courtesy of the Op Shop Gods
Happy Birthday Mum