Six drawer Jewellery Cabinet

This cabinet has two lovely slices of burl as the lid and base. Matt has featured the natural edge of the burl at the front.

The drawers and remainder of the cabinet is made from cedar and pine laminated together before being sawn into its final shape.

The drawer handles were made by Matt from brass rod.

We took it to the cafe one Saturday morning and by the next day it had been sold.

Drinks Tray

Another Australian Cedar drinks tray with star inlay pattern in the centre. These have proved popular and apart from being functional, they look great on a display stand. Also for sale at Fusspots but probably not for long.

A vase full of timber tulips

Matt made these 5 tulips and turned the vase that holds them. They are really quite exquisite in their detail and would look good on any mantle piece.

Did you know that tulips are the flower that represents Parkinsons Disease? Co-incidentally that is what Matthew has. His woodwork is not only enjoyable for him to do, it is also good therapy.

These are for sale at Fusspots Cafe in Ebor.

More jewellery boxes

This is a lovely rustic Australian Cedar log jewellery box with a lift out tray, brass fittings and felt lined. Quirky and unusual, you will never find another like this unless it is one made by Matt.

He has carved the log to bring out the lovely grain in the timber and it is finished with a gloss lacquer.

More of Matthew's Clocks

More of Matt's clocks. The top picture is a red gum burl mantle clock standing approximately 23 cm high and 28cm wide. We changed the hands to gold hands as the black ones were a little difficult to see at certain angles.

The middle picture is a large red gum burl wall clock that is rather heavy but looks magnificent on the wall.

The bottom picture is a large rosewood wall clock which is also a little on the heavy side. The timber is very old.

All clocks have American quartz movements and are all for sale At Fusspots Cafe in Ebor.

My Three best sellers

I had made the odd jar of relish, jam and chutney in the past but in the last 18 months I have been making quite a lot and different varieties to sell at Fusspots Cafe up the road. They have proved so popular with the locals and tourists alike that I had exhausted the supply of recycled jam jars in the village and bought out all I could find in the surrounding Vinnies and Salvos shops.

I decided to buy some jars in bulk from a Sydney manufacturer recently so now I have a steady supply and uniform size plus I don't have to go through that annoying and sometimes difficult task of removing the old labels and glue.

My latest batch is mango, apricot and mixed fruit chutney. Quite yummy even if I do say myself.

Pirate Night on the P&O Pacific Jewel

In July we went on a 12 day south pacific cruise. The first overseas holiday for Matt and my 3rd cruise. It was a fun time but the bit I liked best of all was Pirate Night. Having advance warning of the possible theme nights on board, I prepared 2 pirate costumes and bought 2 wig/hats from an online costume place. This is the result. We had a lot of fun and I was so glad Matt agreed to dress up.