The girls looked gorgeous heading off to a special night at school tonight………..
And tomorrow I’m heading off for a special weekend at Sewjourn. We didn’t get enough takers for our workshops so instead two friends and I are making the most of it and planning a weekend just to relax, create and enjoy!!! And I can’t wait! Hopefully I might be back with some crafty photos to show for it next week………..
Yesterday I had lunch with these lovely girls. What a nice way to spend a few hours! And of course lots of the talk was about…….can you guess?……..fabric!
Kellie has just released a new pattern and is having a giveaway to celebrate. As always her work is divine so pop on over and have a look. You can also pre-order the pattern. Now must get back to work on this lovely sunny Melbourne day…………
PS. So pleased it is the first of the month and my internet is back up to speed – must get it sorted before this month is out.
A couple of weeks ago……way back before Stitches and Craft and the Quilting Bee…….my 2 partners in crime craft and I went on a mini road trip down to the bayside shops, including the amazing Chandlers Cottage run by the lovely Leesa. Its a treasure trove if you love Japanese fabrics…………
…..has been going on here this afternoon. Made some thank-you cards for my lovely friends who cooked for us on Saturday.
Hope they don’t read my blog before the mail arrives tomorrow…………
Wow, what a great day! Last night I didn’t even have the energy to turn my computer on let alone type words in a sequence that would make any sense………but today I’m eager to share all that happened yesterday at our Quilting Bee. It was a great day on so many levels. Firstly, we were all there with the purpose of doing what we could to help those who have lost homes and family in the recent bushfires. And what an effort girls – about 30 quilts in progress! Secondly, what fun spending a day together sewing, chatting, eating, meeting new people and being inspired by each other’s creativity!
Set up ready to go…..
Work in progress……
Sewing………
Unpicking……….
Eating……. (thanks to 4 very special girlfriends who baked morning and afternoon tea for us – you know who you are!!)
Choosing colors……..
Planning………….
Some of the lovely quilts in progress………
First-ever-quilt!!!!!
The gorgeous Jeanette displaying her quilt backing bought in Singapore in 1967…….and red travel case taken on the same trip (now her sewing bag)!
She’d made this quilt for a friend of hers who had lost his home on Black Saturday and she had painted the border fabric with bleach to get her desired effect!!
Thank you so much to Dale, Bronwyn, Kaye, Diane, Suzie, Tracy, Maggie, Anne R, Michelle, Pam, Jonina, Jodie, Jeanette, Jo and Anne H for your great efforts and making the day so much fun. Thanks also to all the lovely ladies who sent blocks, quilt tops or fabric to be used. And to Lynda and the other kind lady (please email me and let me know who you are if you read this as I don’t remember your name!!!) who dropped in fabric and blocks on Saturday. Last but not least thanks Yvonne for helping set up on Friday afternoon and then coaching the Angels to a 16-9 win in the first netball game of the season!
We are all getting together on Saturday 23rd May to bring back completed quilts and have a finishing off day – then we will be delivering the quilts to people we know who need them – packed in bags sewn by Mum’s sewing group in Bendigo and accompanied by gorgeous gift cards made by a friend Karelyn.
This afternoon (two days ago now thanks to our wireless router having a bit of a meltdown preventing me from publishing – maybe it has had enough of the heat also!!) two friends and I visited the Ian Potter Centre at Federation Square especially to see a restored antique quilt dated as 1840. It was really amazing – so much broderie perse (applique)! The colours of some of the fabrics were still very vibrant and the patterns were gorgeous – the longer we stood and looked at it the more we oohed and aahed! (I think the two male guards standing nearby were watching us with much amusement!) One of the most incredible things is that it has survived about 170 years.
Next we headed off to the Nicholas Building to Kimono House and Buttonmania. I’d never been to either of these lovely shops before but had been wanting to for a while. Buttonmania is certainly the place to visit if you are looking for that special button – they have them in all colors, shapes and sizes.
And Kimono House is wonderful – a treasure trove of Japanese fabrics, Kimonos and other treasures. I purchased some sashiko needles so now there is no excuse for starting the kit I bought a few months ago.
What a lovely way to spend an afternoon………need to do some work tomorrow!
Happy New Year! As always it’s the time for making declarations and planning for the year ahead…….I’ve decided to keep it simple to avoid the disappointment of not living up to all the declarations made!
1. Have a quieter year – shouldn’t be that difficult as it would be hard to have a busier year that 2008.
2. Do some more crafting rather that just reading about it on blogs and dreaming (and buying the supplies!)
3. Aim to be ’40 and fit’ rather than ‘frumpy and 40’ – I have until mid-year to achieve this!
There’s lots of UFOs that need finishing so the aim would be to finish one project a month but I won’t go into more detail than that suffice to say I will show you photos when the projects are done.
So far the year has started off nicely with some more relaxing, a day at the Hanging Rock Races and a wedding last night. We are off to an afternoon tea in the Fitzroy Gardens today to continue the wedding celebrations in perfect Melbourne weather. Hope you are enjoying your start to 2009.
Two of the girls’ best friends are moving to Sydney……..lots of tears over the last couple of days but promises of Skype and begging for MSN (not keen on that one!) They both helped make cushions for them to take. Trying to remember it’s not ‘Goodbye’ but just ‘See you later’.
On the flip side though good friends have just arrived back from NZ and will once again be ‘just around the corner’ – yeah!!
Our end of year celebration this year was brunch. We had more people come to that than any UFO night during the year (LOL!) But it was fun.
Dale set us a challenge for this year, the rules being:
1. Everyone was given a fat quarter.
2. You need to incorporate this into a completed project by this time next year.
3. You cannot add this into an existing project.
4. You can choose to show this project as you go along or keep it a secret until the ‘unveiling’.
5. The project can be big or small, anything you want, but needs to be completed by our Christmas breakup next year.
This is my fabric…………
Lots of ideas, now just need to put one of them into practice!
It’s become a tradition now – for the last 8 years a lovely friend and I have made our Christmas Puddings together. Usually we do it sometime in November but this year today is the day! We make them using an easy, basic recipe from the Weekly Times 1964. And it’s a tradition that has stood the test of many things – babies, living overseas and chemo but so far we haven’t missed a year! So here’s to many more puddings.
The recipe is below – we think it’s really yummy (even if half of my family won’t eat it!)
CHRISTMAS PUDDING (Weekly Times 1964)
Cream butter and sugar with a wooden spoon (note: we use an electric hand mixer but I’m guessing they didn’t have those in 1964) Add eggs one at a time. Add 1/2 sifted flour/spice/bicarb soda, then 1/2 fruit mix, then 1/2 flour/soda/spice and then 1/2 fruit mix. Add brandy and bread crumbs. Boil cloth for 20 minutes. Use tongs to squeeze out excess water. Thinly flour cloth before adding pudding mix. Tie up leaving loop to hang later and enough room to expand. Add slowly to boiling water. Top up with water as needed (careful not to add directly onto pudding). Steadily boil for 5 hours. Hang to cool and then place in fridge. (We attach ours to a wooden spoon that sits across the saucepan so that pudding hangs in water and dosen’t touch the bottom of pan).
Boil for 1 hour to serve hot. Serve with brandy butter, cream and custard.
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