Swell........

One week of the holidays gone already. The children had their dentist and optometrist appointments, so good to have that over and finished for another little while. Very expensive day out. Both children needed new glasses but thankfully only a check and a clean at the dentist. $1000 gone like that - so much for private cover - glad to get a little back, even if it is only about 30%!!!!

Alexandra has her Winter Ballet School for the next three afternoons. The ballet school has a visiting teacher and gives the girls just a little extra preparation for the upcoming exam.




Last Friday night, I whipped up a new bag for myself. I just love the Urban Chiks fabrics in this one. They are very Swell...... I am loving their new range too - Sweet. This is made with the Melly and Me pattern Sherbet. I did change the handles as the first time I used this pattern I didn't really enjoy doing the handles as suggested.

I have been having fun making large covered buttons for some other projects I have on the go at the moment. I think this big button really sets the bag off.

I have been setting up an Etsy store - now just to get some items in there to sell. Fun....

Off to the sewing room for awhile now. Some more fabricy fun.......

Little Pincushions......

Finally a little project finished. It seems as though these little pincushions have been on the go for weeks. This was Leanne Beasley's project in the Pincushion of the Month. Very sweet indeed. I really enjoyed the lovely embroidery of this project.

Can you see the little tags I have popped on them. I now have official 'Eleanor and Ruby' tags. Very exciting indeed. Now I just have to make 100 things to put them on!!

We have now officially joined the ranks of the unemployed and looking for work. Scary!! Brendon has a couple of offers he is considering and actually has had a today back down at the bakery!! Not quite three weeks and they weren't coping terribly well!!

I am applying for administration positions. An interesting experience after so long being self employed. I applied for two government positions today that required seven hundred word submissions addressing the key criteria!! That got the brain into gear. I wonder if I will get an interview? I had an interview a few weeks ago and was one of 150 applicants.

I think I had better enjoy a little crafting while I can. I think a new routine of a paid position will take a little adjusting to (by all of us)!!

Looking forward to the weekend and hopefully some rain!

Grandma's Girls......

What fun I had on Sunday afternoon. My cousin Amanda and I had both been thinking similar thoughts and mentioned to each other one day how we would love to get our cousins and Aunts together.... Grandma's Girls.

Left to Right: Lauren, Amanda, Kylie, Sandra and Me.....

Amanda gathered all the addresses and sent the most beautiful invitations to everyone.

Daughters, Daughters-In-Law, Grandaughters and Great-Grandaughters.

There was only one Grandaughter missing. It was lovely catching up with my cousins. I spent so much time with them growing up. I was one of Sandra's bridesmaids at her Wedding almost 25 years ago. Lauren was my Flower Girl and Amanda my Junior Maid - 22 years ago!!

Amanda and Lauren and their brother Symon spent a lot of holidays at our farm. What fun we used to have. They have memories so long and constantly amuse me with the things they remember through a childs eye.

Sandra, Kylie and their sister Robyn grew up on the same farm as Grandad and Grandma. We used to go there every Sunday after church. I think most of my clothes and shoes had been worn by Robyn and Sandra first and then they went back to Kylie.

It was sad Robyn was snowed under with work and couldn't be here with us.

Everyone brought some afternoon tea to share. I made the little cupcakes. I was so pleased with how they turned out.

Amanda made these very cute little 'tea cups" - very sweet and easy to make.

Pop on over to her blog to see how it is done.

It really was a lovely day. So nice to catch up in happy circumstances instead of sad ones like the last couple of times we were all together.

I don't get together with family nearly enough. It is just a matter of making the time. I hope I can do this more often.

Bliss.....

Just a quick hello. We have just had a lovely five nights away in Noosa.

Just us!

No children!

(Thank you Grandma and Grandad)

The weather was so beautiful. Hard to believe that it is just a 3 1/2 hour drive from where we are. Freezing winter weather here and lovely warm days at the beach.

We enjoyed walks, time on the beach and generally being very lazy.

Wonderful!!

Home to winter again, although it was a beautiful day today.

Before we went away, we planted over 400 bulbs out. Spring should be spectacular.

Lots of cleaning and organising today ready for a special day tomorrow.

Life is good.

The End Of An Era

Today is the end of an era for our family. Sunday the 31st May, 2009 is the last day of owning and operating our bakery, Westbrook On The Rise Bakery.

We have been in business since the 20th December 1993, except for a 2 year break 1997 - 1999. It has been a long journey.

I sit here to write this morning, to record our journey for the sake of family history. The bakery has been a labour of love at times and also of hate at others. At this point we are glad for it to all be over. The time of small family business in this economic time is over. We have been bought by an expanding company that is based in Sydney. They have purchased this shop sight unseen, internet viewing only. That alone has boggled my brain! The new owner finally arrived yesterday to see his new business.

A bakery that operates seven days a week, with Brendon the only baker, except for some casual help three days per week has been a true test of our capabilities. Mental, emotional and physical. There is not a week goes by that we do have to change staff rosters in some way, someone always wants something different. We are exhausted.


This morning I went to the bakery early to take some last pictures. Brendon is a very good baker having won many, many awards along the way. This has been his creative outlet and together we built our business from a very small, rundown shop in a rural town to a large business with two shops and at times almost thirty employees. Eighteen months ago we sold our larger shop and have been operating the small shop only. This proved harder than we thought, with limited staff and the expectation to be open seven days each week.

As of tonight we are unemployed. I am excited and scared about the future. I know Brendon will find work easily. He has already been offered two positions and just has to decide which he will take. He will have about three weeks off first though. I have been considering my options and applying for administration work, preferably in a professional environment. My creative side is tugging hard though. Maybe I will be able to do both.

Waves of emotion keep engulfing me this morning. I do not know if I am happy or sad. Happy for me, sad for Brendon. He has loved being creative with his product and he is so good at it. I guess that is why he has been offered work so readily.

I think I am just exhausted. Mentally and physically. The work that still lies ahead of me to clean up the business side of the shop is almost overwhelming. I will forge ahead with it though, just so that it is over with as quickly as possible.

Stocktake this afternoon and some cheques deposited into our account tomorrow and that will be the end. Our freezer is loaded with some or our favourites to enjoy in the coming weeks, the children made sure of that - especially Daddy's sausage rolls!

Tomorrow is the beginning of a new life!

From My Garden......

There is something very satisfying about picking a basket full of fresh fruit and vegetables from your very own backyard.

26 lemons, corn, beans, tomatoes and passiontfruit. YUM!!

The weather is beautiful here at the moment. Very cool evenings and mornings with beautiful days. Some rain would be just wonderful soon though.

I am looking forward to the weekend, not quite as much on. The year is disappearing so quickly. The June holidays will be here before we know it.

The Eisteddfod was lovely last weekend, the children sang beautifully. Alexandra gained a Highly Commended for her solo. We were so proud of her, as she had just started voice lessons this year and it was her first performance. Mitchell has had a huge week with his school musical. They are doing Pirates of Penzance, so he is very much enjoying playing pirates!! I am looking forward to seeing the show on Saturday night.

A lovely weekend to all!

A Happy Mothers' Day

I have had a lovely Mothers' Day today. Busy but lovely. It started with the beautiful breakfast tray being brought to me in bed. French Toast and a pot of tea served in my lovely vintage tea set. The lovely tray cloth was one I found in amongst my Nana's linen. I think it would have been stitched by her. It has a lovely matching serviette. The embroidered teacup that you can see just popping out from under my cup is a little pocket - very cute.


Our afternoon was spent at the Toowoomba Eistedfodd. This weekend has been spent listening to beautiful primary school choirs. My daughter took part in 5 sections (I think) - it becomes a bit of a blur.

Tomorrow morning Alexandra is doing her very first solo performances. She will take part in two sections. Tomorrow evening Mitchell will be part of the High School sections.

It is just beautiful to watch the children take part in such a great competition. It doesn't matter if they win or not, just to sing on the stage of our beautiful Empire Theatre will be etched into their memories forever.

My sweet Mitchell cooked dinner for us tonight. We had lovely steak with Jacket Potatoes and corn and greens from our garden. He cooked the steak and the corn on the barbeque - it was delicious.

He had spent the afternoon at home making this yummy dessert too. It is a Strawberry, Chocolate, Cream and Hazelnut Meringue. It was just scrumptious!! Thank you my special boy.

Mitchell is a Jamie Oliver fan and found this in one of his cook books.

A happy Mothers' Day to everyone.