Foxed by a sandy whiskered gentleman.

The Gentleman raised his eyes above his newspaper and looked curiously at Jemima -

"Madame, have you lost you way?" he said.

Here at the Magpie house, Beatrix Potter's characters are real people. We have Piggling Bland's garden down the back, in what was supposed to be my pottager. But the broccoli got eaten by the white butterfly and the marigolds didn't keep anything at all at bay in the pest department, so I gave up on the pottager idea and just had flowers. I once had half a dozen little girls down in Piggling Bland's garden eating homemade conversation peppermints.

Now those little girls are all grown up. The one that shall be referred to as, "she who is proficient at separating eggs" has also become proficient at cross stitch.

I am having her latest creation framed for her Christmas present. Jemima is one of our favourites, even though she is such a simpleton!

I washed them in cheap shampoo to remove any marks.

Laid them on a towel to dry.

Pressed them on the wrong side onto a towel so that the stitching didn't become flattened.

And took them to the framer.

Presently I will reveal her in all her poke bonnetted loveliness.

But not till after Christmas, just in case "she" is reading my blog!

See ya blog chics! have a lovely weekend.

.... and be ware of sandy whiskered gentlemen.

Mary Rose it is!

The very first rose to bloom in my garden this year was Mary Rose, which is a surprise...

And here she is.

I'm enjoying filling my vases with spring flowers at the moment. And re-arranging the furniture for spring. My old couch has gone off to be re-covered, so what else is a girl to do?

When the couch comes back I'll show you all the end result of my make-over efforts. May well have re-arranged things at least three times by then.

Then there's finding places for at least two Christmas trees....

I'm just waiting on the roses.

Just about everything has bloomed that's going to bloom in my garden for spring.

I'm just waiting on the roses now.

They usually appear right on cue in the first week of November.

Graham Thomas is usually the first, and Compassion. Cecile Brunner isn't far off either. The banksia rose climbing the veranda post is already out.

The snowball bush came from a sucker off another one I have in the front garden.

Fancy a spell on the veranda with a good book? I can recommend The Elegance of the Hedgehog.

Foxgloves, granny bonnets and a banksia rose.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

The house is filled with the smell of flowering pinks, and the roses have begun to bloom.

The snowman in my linen cupboard came out for an airing the other day, for a dummy run I expect.

My new book arrived from my friends at amazon.com, and I'm ready to be inspired.

"She who is proficient at separating eggs" was inspired by the little Christmas boxes in the book. She bought supplies and has been coming home from work at lunch time to make Christmas boxes on my kitchen table all week. She doesn't have a kitchen table at her place, so we've seen quite a lot of her this week.

And ... we went shopping the other day and Farmers had their Christmas Shop up and running.

So I bought my first Christmas decoration for this year. She's irresistible don't you think?

Time to really get out in the garden too. The fox gloves have opened their little flowers and the Granny bonnets are in full bloom. The snowball trees are fluffy with new blooms too. I must capture it on camera while the weather is fine. It is my favourite time of year in the garden.

Come Melbourne Cup Day, I really get that Christmas feeling. Not long now blog chics:P

Pretty in Pink.

Finished this quilt top ages ago, and have been trying to decide weather to have it machine quilted or to hand quilt it. Decided on getting it mchine quilted, because there is just so much detail in it. I love it's vintage colours and 1930s fabrics. I got to use a lot of my favourite tiny scraps for the applique and the umpteen 2 inch squares in it.

I think I was proabably attracted to it because of the tea set in the middle block.

But there are so many pretty bits. I loved making it.