A Giveaway....

Just click on the Beach Cottage button over on the side and pop on over to join in the giveaway.

It's a divine Cath Kidston set of bathroom yummies - beautiful.

A Lovely Holiday

What a lovely holiday I have had. I've been home a week already!

Lovely lazy days for two weeks. I had such a wonderful time.

Our unit was really great. Just across the road to the beach and the shops about a ten minute walk. The local library was just up the road too, with free membership to holiday makers. It was nice to have a look at some gardening and cooking books.

We mostly cooked easy meals while we were away. The fish and chips seemed a little ordinary this year. Apparently the local fishing hadn't been very good and a lot of the seafood had been frozen.

A little treat one afternoon though, beautiful coffee and churros!! It was delicious.

We have both been so tired with all the end of year and Christmas busyness, so the first week or so of our holiday was I think recovery mode!!

We didn't venture too far from the beach and pool - but then again there wasn't any real need to anyway.

We did go on a couple of drives though. We visited the most beautiful seaside town of Noosa. It is just a lovely place to be. It is very expensive though, so a lovely walk in the main shopping area and an icecream on the beach.

I was very spoiled that day and bought another bead for my Pandora - the little shell with a gold starfish on it. A lovely momento of our day out.

That same day we visited the very large and quite enjoyable Eumundi Markets. This sleepy little town comes alive two days per week. We hadn't been for a few years so it was lovely to see such different stalls. A lot of it is very commercial, but in a holiday setting it was nice to look at things I wouldn't normally see at the shops.





On another day we drove up into the hinterland behind the Sunshine Coast. We took a picnic and enjoyed our time exploring Montville. I was a little disappointed with a lot of the shops, but found a really beautiful shop Ruby & Rose Interiors. Her stock was just delightful, including some beautiful Greengate. I spoiled myself this time!! I just couldn't help it. I still have my parcel all wrapped up - I am saving it for a quiet moment with the children are back at school!!

I spent a lot of time just sitting and reading my backlog of magazines and also some stitching. I found it hard to concentrate early in the holiday, so didn't achieve as much as I had hoped. I am really determined to finish the stitcheries for "A Gardeners Journal" as I have been working on it for so long. Not far to go now though.

The last week has been a busy time with getting the children ready to go back to school. At least it was only shoes and books, thankfully their clothing all still fits - at the moment!! Tuesday cannot come quickly enough - it's a very long time since the last week of November!!

Mitchell also had to have a tooth extracted this week which turned into quite an ordeal. He has been feeling really unwell, so hopefully he will pick up over the weekend ready for school.

This weekend sees us celebrate Australia Day here - sometimes I don't know if I particularly like the fact that James Cook discovered this land way down here at the bottom of the earth!! LOL!!! What could those free settlers possibly have been thinking coming all the way down here!!!

I am looking forward to the year ahead and hopefully many changes and happenings which will free my time up quite a bit. The garden and lots of cupboards need an overhaul and hopefully also some wonderful time will be available for sewing.

A holiday is lovely, but it is also so nice to come home refreshed and ready to start a new year.

A New Year Holiday....

Happy New Year to all my blogging friends and of course those whom I know in "real life"!!!

Christmas was a lovely time with family and seems quite awhile ago now. The tree and decorations are all away for another year.

I received some lovely gifts with the highlight being a beautiful Pandora bracelet from BJ. I am so excited about it and I am really looking forward to adding more beautiful beads to it. Is anyone else out there collecting the beautiful Pandora?

Before you get too excited for me, mine is mostly silver with a little touch of gold!! I will hopefully add a little more gold to it though!

My sweet boys also gave me an iPod. What a trendy old girl I feel!!

Of course we are in the middle of our very hot summer here, so we are off on a very long awaited holiday. We are off to Maroochydore (as pictured below). We cannot wait for two weeks of sitting, reading, stitching and of course eating!!

So the iPod is loaded with music ready to go, so I will enjoy some long walks along the beach to hopefully walk off that little excess from the Christmas break!! The stitching is packed and the backlog of beautiful magazines are coming along too.




I will be back in a couple of weeks when I will hopefully have much more time to keep house and enjoy the company of my friends much more. (And of course enjoy my blogging!)

Christmas Baking.....

Christmas Eve is almost over here in Australia. Everything is ready to celebrate Christmas with our family.

I have enjoyed some time in the afternoons doing some special baking. I made the fruit cake a few weeks ago now and have been enjoying it this week.

These are some delicious Almond Butter Balls - they just melt in your mouth - YUM!


I have never had much success with roll out biscuits, but was determined to have another go at making some. I found yet another recipe on a blog somewhere ?! . It worked out really well.

The biscuit mixture rolled out beautifully and cooked to perfection.

The fun part was of course the decorating.



The gifts are under the tree and the desserts that I was asked to provide have been made.
I am off to bed for a blissful sleep.
Christmas Blessings to all.

Vintage Christmas Greetings......

I thought I would like to just share these images from some beautiful Vintage Christmas Cards.



I have a beautiful old box full of precious memories, that my dear Nana, Eleanor had saved throughout many, many years.



These are the beautiful old Christmas cards that she had saved for so long. They are just wonderful and I am so glad that I have been able to have them here this Christmas. Some of the names I recognise. I am sure that the senders and their greetings were very precious to my Nana.

I know these must have been very special to her, as I would imagine she would have received many hundreds of Christmas cards during her lifetime.

So to you my friends - Vintage Christmas Greeting to you.

Christmas.. at Eleanor and Ruby

The days are just flying by here at our house. We continue to churn out the Christmas fare at the bakery, which at times seems too huge to cope with.

I think it's almost two weeks since I had a moment to post, so it's lovely to be at home this morning to enjoy a moment by myself.

I took the children to Brisbane last week and had a lovely day in one of the major shopping centres there. We really enjoyed ourselves and I made a great start to my shopping and almost finished it. Just a little to go and I will be organised in that department anyway!

Yesterday afternoon, after work at the shop, I was able to get all of the wrapping done of the gifts so far. This year is a red and white Christmas here at Eleanor and Ruby!!

The Christmas tree is mostly red, white and glittery decorations. So of course the wrapping had to match!!

I am quite pleased with how the decorations on the sideboard turned out this year. I just love this felt angel that I made quite a few years ago. I have placed all the lovely glass containers and cake domes amongst the berry garland. The glass jars have been full of red, white and green sweets but it seems that the family "mice" have had a lovely nibble on those - so had better replace them soon!!

Can you see the lovely polk-a-dot paper lantern reflected in the mirror? I was instantly drawn to these when I saw them. I have them hanging from the lights and from the doorways and one as the centre of a swag of greenery above one door opening.

I love the lights on top of the hutch. I think they may just live there all year round.

So as Christmas Day approaches at top speed, I am looking forward to hopefully some Christmas baking and maybe even a little stitching this weekend. Or, then again, I maybe just dreaming! I hope the last of the gift shopping is done today and then we can gently slide down into the celebrations next week.

Wherever you are this Christmas, I pray that you will enjoy the company of lovely friends and family and that the true Peace of Christmas will live in your heart, not just for one day but during the year to come.

So, if I don't get to post here again in the next week, I just send my love and Christmas wishes to each and everyone who visits here.

Happy Christmas!

Christmas at the Bakery.......

Christmas is coming just too quickly. This is just a glimpse of our Christmas goodies that we make and sell at our bakery.

Fruit cakes, small and large, Fruit Mince Tarts, White Christmas, Rum Balls, Apricot Balls, Shortbread Drops. YUM! We purchase the Gingerbread readymade - but SHHHH don't tell anyone!!

We're off to a very hot start to summer here with quite a bit of very welcome rain as well. The grass and weeds are certainly enjoying the season!

With school finished for another year the past week has been much more manageable with only work to worry about. We are counting down to a very much needed holiday at the end of the month, so I am starting to feel excited in anticipation, despite the work that will have to be done between now and then.

Alexandra and I had a wonderful afternoon yesterday. We put on some lovely Christmas music and decorated the house. It was the first time she has stuck with me through the whole process - I didn't know whether to be happy or sad since it must mean she is growing up. I won't try to include photos today as my internet is on the very go slow at the moment, next week brings fast access again!

I have started some gift shopping but dreading having to really get organised! I find boys and brothers so hard to buy for. Any ideas?

Another storm on the way this afternoon, time for a cup of tea and a bit of a rest for awhile! Hopefully, to listen to some more beautiful rain on the roof.