Wonderful weekend

Some time ago (we were trying to work out when...), Cathy of Cabbage Quilts put out a call to stitchers on the Mornington Peninsula to see if anyone would like to join her new sewing group.  The call came at the right time for me - I'm not usually a 'joiner' but I'd decided to push myself a bit and I'd been reading Cathy's blog for a time and felt the warmth of her personality come through her words and pictures.  Additionally, I'd been following Michelle's blog, The Quilted Tortoise, and she too shared Cathy's warmth and welcome - and a wicked sense of humour - and Michelle said she's go too - so I thought "why not?" - and I dragged my bff Liz along too.....

Best thing ever........

I've made some wonderful new friends.........Deb (72 Derwents), Emma (Treehouse Textiles), Kate, Miriam (Yellow Rose Quilts), Julie, another Cathy...oooooh, hope I haven't forgotten anyone!

Anyway, Cathy, Michelle, Emma, Kate, Deb, Liz and I went off to Ballarat for a weekend of stitching, chatting, knitting and shopping and had a fantastic time - Deb found a fabulous house for us to stay in - all 15 foot ceilings, wooden floors and central heating (it is pretty cold in Ballarat at this time of year) - and it was 2 doors away from Ballarat Patchwork!

Not a huge amount of sewing/knitting/crafting got done, but we ate well, laughed a lot, shopped a bit and had one or 2 wines to help the days along - perfick!

I did a little shopping - shops of note, Ballarat Patchwork, The Crafty Squirrel, Mill Rose Quilting, Such and Such and Cascade House.

fabric, twine, linen, threads, needles and a large offcut of wool fabric

Liberty from Mill Rose - aaahh, swoon!

beautiful crewel threads from Cascade House - they rival, if not surpass, Appleton..

I bought a hat from Such and Such - and they serve the BEST coffee

Fabulous weekend ladies - it was wonderful to get to know you all a bit better and so looking forward to doing it again.......

It's been a long time, now I'm...

coming back home....I've been away now, oh how.......

Hands up who was singing it in their head?? (Gotta love the Beatles).

I haven't been away too far, just very busy with Christmas, some commission work and getting stuff ready for my market stall...and I finished a couple of items too.

We here in Oz just celebrated Australia Day - it commemorates the first settlement of Europeans in Australia - it has been mired in a little controversy given the status of the traditional landholders, but it is still a public holiday and it is very traditional for folks to get away for 'the long weekend' (Oz Day is the 26th January and it happened to fall on the weekend, so Monday was declared a public holiday, giving us a 3 day weekend).

My bff, her partner and my husband decided to get away camping, to Noojee, a spot the boys recced the weekend before.  Gorgeous spot, next to a river and not too far to travel.  There's new long drops, lots of shade and given the weather forecast, it seemed like an ideal spot.

Oh dear, how wrong we were...

When we pulled in late on Friday afternoon, it didn't take us long to set up and get the kettle on and contemplate what we'd have for dinner.

Nicked the photo from my bff's facebook page

A Ranger came around to let us know there was still a Total Fire Ban in place, so cooking over the fire was out of the question.  No drama's - perfect opportunity to have dinner at a place called The Outpost in town (the schnitzels were amazing, real chicken breast and came with a multitude of different toppings.  The boys had a Billy Burger and declared them very, very tasty - we'd definitely go back again).

A couple of camping groups in the same area decided that the Total Fire Ban could not possibly apply to them, so they lit a campfire - given they had young kids in their party, this behaviour was completely irresponsible.  It was compounded later by the arrival of several dirt bikes - obviously they'd been out riding when we arrived and the noise they made on their return certainly shattered the serenity of the place - being in a valley added reverberating echoes all around the camping ground - hmm, not enjoying Noojee as much now.....but wait, there's more....

Several groups decided that they should play their music, loudly, so everyone could hear - so we had Jon Bon Jovi up against doof doof (I can't call it music - Gawd, how old do I sound!!) - not the same doof doof artist at each site mind you, but lots of different ones, just in case we didn't like one of them....

This continued for some time - but it did finish reasonably early on Friday night so off to bed and hopefully a better day on Saturday.

Have to say, Saturday not a great deal better - more bikes - a nice surprise though was that a Total Fire Ban was not declared so campfires legal and we looked forward to a good night around the fire.  Wasn't to be - the 'music' was louder - it appeared that each group decided their particular music should have centre stage - so they just kept turning the sound up - we even had the Bon Jovi group 'singing' along to their cd (don't give up your day job girls!).  The group behind us played a card game that apparently required a lot of shouting - things like f**k, a******e and raucous laughter - don't get me wrong - I love a drink and I swear - but omg, there were kids about and OTHER PEOPLE CLOSE BY.  The noise continued until 1.30am Sunday morning and I'd had enough - not enough sleep - terrible music - noisy bikes.....

I'd love to say I marched up to the ferals/bogans and demanded they thought about others besides themselves - but I didn't - they'd been drinking since lunchtime and I wasn't game enough - so, after breakfast Sunday morning, we came home - a day earlier than planned.  The good thing about that was I was able to watch the Oz Open men's final  - sorry Murray didn't win but it was a great match.

I love camping, especially bush camping, and the irresponsible idiots that tear up the bush, frighten the wildlife and think of no-one but themselves make me despair.  I know this type of anti-social behaviour happens in towns and cities all over the place, but I usually avoid situations where I have to deal with it..there was a time when I wouldn't have thought twice about confronting the perpetrators...I wonder when I got so afraid?

In the grand scheme of things, I've nothing really to complain about - we have people battling floods and bush fires in this great land - and I grieve with them...and send my best wishes to all them, including the emergency services members and volunteers assisting them.

Happy Australia Day..

Too, too long....

...and procrastination and duff sitting may have something to do with it....anyway, just finished a late dinner (home made gnocchi with prawns), having my coffee and enjoying the cool change after a stinky hot day in Melbourne.  Dr No is on the telly (I'm a huge Bond fan, but I've seen Dr No umpteen times and my husband really wants to watch it again), so what to do? Sew? - I could go and make some Christmas presents....or I could blog.....hmmm, what to do.....?  Well, blogging won - and for those who have commented on the last couple of posts (which were a few weeks/months ago - I'm sorry I haven't responded - I'm turning over a new leaf today)

It feels like such a long time since I actually wrote anything and I have done umpteen things in the meantime that I'm just going to record them as I remember them - so in no chronological order whatsoever...

1.  I hosted the delightful Caz of The Accidental Quilter for some time on the longarm - Caz had 2 queen sized quilts she was loathe to wrestle with through her domestic machine so she came to mine to do them - apart from an unexpected powercut, which curtailed tuesday afternoons' session, she got them both finished and did a fabulous job - most impressive for a first time - way to go Caz :)

2.  I made a frock - one of the 2nd year students at school made a beautiful linen dress and luckily the pattern is a new one.  It called for 4.5m of 150cm wide linen which wasn't very budget friendly so I searched through the clearance table at Spotlight and picked up some gorgeous voile for $5 per metre - the dress is a lot less structured in the voile and has beautifully soft folds - it turned out really well and I hope you get the idea from this crappy picture.....I'm saving for some linen to make another one but there'll have to be a few pattern adjustments....I don't think I can fudge them in the linen like I did in the voile!

3.  The Somerville Community House banner is FINISHED - yay - a lot of blood, sweat and tears in this banner - 12 1/2" pieces of calico was handed out to all the class/activities currently on at the Community House with instructions to fill the square with representations of their class or of Somerville itself.  We got back some very interesting blocks - they were painted, stitched, drawn and knitted and with a variety of mediums, from thread to paper to, in one case, a fan!  Putting it together was a bloody nightmare challenge but a couple of wonderful ladies in my Stitch and Chat group kept everything together and appliqued and stitched away with me to come up with a fabulous finish - there's a presentation/launch next week.....but here's a sneak preview....

4.  The veggie patch is growing strongly - we're already eating lettuce, silverbeet, zucchini's, sugar snap peas, asparagus, rhubarb, carrots and spring onions.  There's fruit on the tomato plants - many that self-seeded from last year and the first lot of corn is almost ready to throw up the flowers that will pollinate the ears of corn...there's also pumpkins forming...this abundant growth is thanks to the very changeable weather we've experienced over the past month or 2

5.  I joined the wonderful ladies of the Mornington Stitch Group for our Christmas breakup, hosted by the lovely Emma at Treehouse Textiles.  I've nicked the next photo from the Group mama, Cathy's blog...(Cabbage Quilts)....thanks Cathy and Emma :)

we had a Kris Kringle swap - what a talented bunch we are ;)

6.  I made 3 more Farmers Wife blocks - so that's 100 finished and I only have 11 more to make - YAY!!!!

...and now I've run out of memories!  So, I think I'll sign off - the sewing machine is calling and Christmas is approaching...til next time

rushing in.....

Catching up on stuff - and trying to be more disciplined with my time - there is so much I want to do and seemingly so little time to do it in - surely, I could apply all I learned in the corporate world to organising myself at home? - but then, if what I love doing becomes a 'job', it'd be devastating and surely counter-productive in terms of creativity? Oh, what a dilemma!

Anyway - stuff I have done.....

I made a thank you gift for a lady who gave me metres (yes, metres!!) of beautiful silk that she'd had forever and had decided to de-stash...

pink penguin's bento box bag

I finished 3 quilts for clients (no photos, forgot to get permission, again!)

Caught up with friends we hadn't see for ages - dinner and a show (Hairspray, put on by PLOS - excellent!)

I went to the Quilt Show at Jeff's shed with my bestie - no photos of quilts as there were signs everywhere saying that while we could take photos, they were not to be reproduced in any way without the express permission of the maker.....so in love with the beautiful wools, yarns and fibres available now - I bought a couple of fabulous books....

The pieces in this book are made up in all sorts of beautiful Japanese fibres - including linen - that looks and feels like raffia, and a stainless steel type that allows you to create a shape in your garment that will be 'memorised' - brilliant!!  Check out Dairing's website here - definately making the trek to Richmond....

This next one has lots of fabulous gifts to make with time frames - so given my propensity to leave things to the last minute, it's good for me to have a source book with ideas in one spot (because a 'quick' look on line for a gift idea usually ends up with blog reading for 3 or more hours..)

Bought just a little fabric - literally, a little - most unusual for me but I'm trying to use what I have in my stash before buying anything else - got this gorgeous piece from Kelani Fabrics

I could have bought the shop!!!

In between time, I went with my dil-to-be to pick up her wedding dress (gorgeous - so happy to be able to share in the motb duties because her mum lives 4 hours away) and she finagled me into making her a pair of socks - I almost had one made but so completely buggered it up I pulled it back and started again...

and now I'm going off to do the ironing before we have to start wearing our pj's out.....oh, wait a minute, I do that anyway....well not out....I just have a few pj days at home while I'm 'working'......

Testing, testing, 1-2-3....

A little while ago, one of my bloggy friends asked for volunteers to test a quilt pattern - and because it was the very talented Joan of CaliQuilter, I couldn't resist.

Joan makes some beautiful things - her sense of colour and her expertise in making ensure a wonderful finish to everything she does - so hoping that some of her magic would rub off on me I said 'yes' - and Joan duly sent me her quilt pattern.

It's called 'Going to the zoo' and this is Joan's.............

I was pretty excited about the pattern - I have a good friend who has just had a new baby (another one - must be something in the water in Melbourne!) so it was very serendipitous that the pattern suits a child.  So I cut, and sewed and unpicked just a little (my fault, not Joan's pattern!!) and finished up with this.....

fabrics used: denyse schmidt, michael miller, spotlight spesh

I bought a piece of Denys Schmidt for the back, but in between that purchase and actually making the quilt, I nipped into Ikea and bought some really pretty fabric - one piece of which I thought I'd use instead....

The pattern itself was very easy to understand and each instruction was clear and concise - no overly verbose bits or vague bits - perfect really!

If you'd like to buy the pattern, pop on over to Joan's blog - and even if you don't want to buy the pattern, be sure and have a look at the gorgeous things she makes as a matter of course.

Thanks Joan - a gorgeous quilt that I'm sure will be well loved by the new little man who has just joined us.

WIP Wednesday - well it would be, but now it's Thursday and the link is closed :(

omg - I knew it had been a while since linking up with WIP Wednesday at Lee's, but just saw that the last time was 9th Feb - definately a long time between drinks!

So obviously there's a little bit of creativity going on in the meantime - most of which relates to the Textiles course I'm doing, but I got a few things done outside of that too :)

I have a finish which started about here....

Totally inspired by this

Here's the back........

there's actual sunshine in Melbourne today!

I finished up another quilt...

I'm in the process of adding hand quilting to this next one...

Completed some farmers wife and projects for school, sewing bees and my teaching classes...

I also managed to complete a few quilting commissions on the long-arm too - I'm sure there's more but it's been so long I think I'd be here forever finding all the photos!

Anyway - pop on over to Lee's and check out everyone else's awesome WIP's - huge amount of inspiration out there :)

Still kicking...

In between countless other jobs, tasks and naps, I've been putting together a quilt to welcome a new baby into the world - he actually arrived a couple of weeks ago so I'm a bit behind the 8 ball......

Now, way back when, when I found out that my friend was expecting, I said I'd make her a baby a quilt so what colours would she like?  Like the good irish wife she is, she said 'green and orange' and so a collection of said hues was made - and a week or so ago, I came across this awesome quilt top here and in a fit of inspired sewing..................

........................got this far.........

I'm thinking this needs sashing and cornerstones (the border I have picked out is green, aqua and white tartanish - should have included it in the photo but not sure if it'll be the one)

I'm thinking white sashing but not sure what colour for the cornerstones - according to the colourwheel, the triad would include purple, but there's no other purple anywhere in the fabrics, then maybe I could use brown (there's brown birdies and owls) but it's a bit 'meh'......decisions, decisions..................

Any suggestions?

Stitching day

Busy weekend just gone - I spent Saturday in the company of new friends, Sunday morning in the company of old friends at a Christening - and Sunday afternoon on the couch having a nanna nap in front of the fire....

Cathy, of Cabbage Quilts, had a sewing day at her house (I missed the first one) so I got to put a couple of faces to names and meet some more lovely people....

Miriam of Yellow Roses, Chris of A little bit of Chris, a little bit of....., Michelle of The Quilted Tortoise, Kathy, Deb and we were joined later by Bronwyn of Whippet Good and Emma from Treehouse Textiles.

We had a wonderful day - much show and tell (no photos of anyone elses work - forgot my camera but Miriam has some photos on her blog...), much chat and eating sublime meringues and macaroons and before we knew it, it was 5.30pm and time to go home....the intent is to meet regularly to spread a little quilty/crafty love - so looking forward to it - it's fantastic to have more quilty friends close to home to share our collective passion about our craft.

I finished a quilt.....this will go into either Etsy or Madeit just as soon as I've priced it....

mix of fabrics from dear stella, lark, amy butler, michale miller, etc etc - must take another photo as this one doesn't do it justice...organic machine quilted straight lines

the back - it's a decent size - 62" x 72" and there's a few hand stitched lines too, in grey perle thread

I've also finished the machine quilting on this next one (this one is a gift for a very special person) and have started the hand quilting - its going to take me a while....

Now, must go and create the Project of the Month handout for my classes - it's Quilt Labels this month so I've made a few using different methods......everyone should put a label on their quilts :)

Happy Mail

I've been following Shay's blog, Quilting in my Pyjamas for quite a while now - she writes with an irreverence, in what could be termed a totally Oz style - she doesn't take things too seriously and has a healthy attitude to rules, eg, if the rules don't make sense, ignore them!  Shay's take on life, whether it's of a quilty nature or life in general is a seriously funny read.  She doesn't like housework and avoids it all costs (obviously a long lost sister) and to top off all this wonderfulness, she's incredibly generous to boot.  Let me explain......

At the beginning of February, Shay mentioned in her blog that she's starting the Farmers Wife Quilt Along and had decided to 'Rock the red and white' - now, I've been doing the FWQA too - I started ages ago - and am also rocking the red and white - so I suggested we should do a swap of reds (you need an awful lot of reds for the FWQA blocks)........and look what arrived....

This little bunch of lovelies doesn't include a further 6 or so pieces that I already have - I've sent those back to her with pieces from my stash - it's fabulous that we both live in Oz and we're still able to find many pieces of red and white that we don't have in common - fantastic!

I will get organised with a few more FW blocks - soon I hope - but school has started in earnest and I already have quite a bit of homework - coupled with my teaching and a few quilting commissions (plus a new commission to make a complete quilt) and several other things I have on the go, I beleive that my own personal sewing will be a very poor last on the list - not to mention the frequency of my blogging.

Thanks Shay - love the fabric - and this blogging quilty collective is just such a wonderful place to be...

Serendipity extended......

Apart from a family issue on saturday morning, the planets continue their alignment for my benefit...

Saturday evening I joined my besty and 2 other girlfriends for a night in the city - we went to see 'Bjorn Again', an Abba cover band and while I'm not a huge fan of Abba, they were fantastic.  The opening act, The New Romantics, had us up dancing to 80's hits - the lead singer had a fabulous voice and didn't take himself too seriously - very funny - and then Bjorn Again - they imitate the costuming, accents (they're Aussies) and songs of Abba in their heydey - so we continued to dance and sing along - and drink far too much wine!  Luckily we stayed in the city (at the Crown Metropole - very nice) and had a sumptuous breakfast overlooking Melbourne city. 

On sunday, I had a date with a group of ladies that have 'adopted' me - let me explain a little - I joined a quilting group last year - we sit and chat about stuff - no lessons or anything - it's mostly hand sewing on whatever we want to do - which is why my double wedding ring quilt got finished and why my hexy collection continues to grow.  Anyway, the woman who hosts this group (Ms CB) did a Textiles course some 20 years ago and she still catches up with the ladies she did the course with - they call themselves the TT  (I forgot to get permission to blog about them so won't spell it out). 

Now, I am doing that same course starting next year and Ms CB invited me to one of the TT gatherings - and these women are so talented - the stuff they've done (and continue to do) is amazing - a few make the most brilliant quilts, another makes the most amazing elfin dolls, yet another makes fabric boxes which are just beautiful - and a few of them teach too - so to fall in with this group is just the best thing to happen!  They are full of advice and ideas and books and hints and so willing to share it - and the lady who hosted yestrday's gathering owns a soft furnishing shop and GAVE me tons of furnishing fabric samples to make bags and pouches with....and they 'adopted' me into the TT's with the offer of help while I do my course.  How wonderful!!!

I was knackered when I got home - in bed by 9pm and after finishing this post I'm off to make a few things out some of the beautiful fabrics I was given yesterday - how lucky am I??

..........except the rail in my walk-in robe collapsed under the weight of my hanging clothes and they're now strewn all over a miners couch in my bedroom (and I HATE ironing!!) - I think those planets are suggesting I need a bit of a clean out!

Hangin' with my peeps

Is the abovementioned title just a little bit bit sad being written by a mature woman??  My son is rolling his eyes, but I don't think I care - I find it very amusing and it aptly describes how we spent yesterday.....

My SIL came over to use the Gammill - she's made a really pretty quilt top for her mum for her birthday (my ma-in-law, and I still haven't made her gift yet...) and wanted to get it quilted.....



Robyn just sewing in a couple of threads after quilting

Then my bff finished piecing the back of her sampler and we loaded that one too



Lizzy having a bit of a meander

Unfortunately she had the same issues as I usually do with 'stitch in the ditch' so there was a bit of unquilting in front of the telly later, whilst watching 'Limitless' (not a bad movie), followed by what must be the worst movie ever made (and I've watched some stinkers) - I won't say what it was called because you just never know - but O.M.G. - it was filled with oddly timed close-ups (reminiscent of those awful daytime soaps), an amateurish and predictable script and terrible staging.  The DVD cover was so promising too - and we watched it to the bitter end, hoping against hope that it would get better - it didn't!  Ah well, it created a lot of amusing commentary...........

I made pea and prawn risotto for dinner followed by chocolate or butterscotch self saucing pud with cream or ice-cream (or both - Weiss vanilla bean or Ben & Jerry's chocolate cookie dough - mmm) contributed by Sparky.....an excellent saturday all round really.

Red & White Challenge

At the beginning of June, whilst wasting time researching, I came across a Red & White challenge issued by Elizabeth. The idea was that Elizabeth would send red and white fabric to the respondants and she would later make a block for them as a thank you.  As one may have gathered, I'm a bit partial to red, so I picked up the gauntlet and made a Shoo Fly block for both Elizabeth and her friend Leisa.  These were duly sent to the US, along with a couple of pyramid purses* made with Aborigine fabrics:

.....and look what arrived in the post this week:

The block on the left was made by Leisa and the one on the right, by Elizabeth - these will go very nicely with the additional 2 blocks I managed to make.  In fact I liked the idea so much, I ordered more fabric from the Temecula Quilt Shop in the US (there was another reason I had to order more fabric and it involved my great-neice and a muddy dog, but that's another story) so I can a make a usable sized quilt.  Thanks Elizabeth and Leisa - they really are gorgeous.

Speaking of that great-neice - she turned 2 yesterday -she is such a wonderful little girl - she can talk the hind leg off a donkey, she's fearless, loving and full of beans.  I had already made a sampler quilt for her, which was to be her birthday present - but when I was at the Melbourne Quilt show, I bought a gorgeous little frock pattern from Nicole Mallalieu (the Tulip dress) and I've made one up for Stella

It's a little too cool in Melbourne to be wearing this just now, but a little long sleeved T underneath, and thick tights should keep her warm while we wait for summer.  I will attempt to get a photo of Stella wearing the frock at some stage.

The pattern was very easy to follow (it's got pleats, a cute little vent at the back of the skirt and buttons).  I chose to make the sleeveless version and I included the optional flat bias trim around the waist.  I also got a bit artsy with the buttons - I used some largish flower shaped shell buttons and sewed a tiny button on top, at the same time - you can't really see them in the above photo (and I used 3 different coloured centres) but suffice to say, they look really cute.

We're off to an animal farm on sunday to celebrate her birthday - hope it doesn't rain!!

Happy birthday Stella.

*the purses were designed by the very talented Nicole Mallalieu, designer of the Tulip dress - it appears the free pyramid purse tutorial is temporarily unavailable - so keep checking back - it's easy and very, very handy

Show and tell

I've been teaching some very crafty ladies the rudiments of patchwork and created a sampler quilt so we could work on foundation piecing, applique, HST's, cutting, pressing etc etc. 

One of these crafty ladies also happens to be my bff - and she has completed her quilt top.  It's absolutely stunning and the following photo simply does not do justice to the rich depth of colour that glows from this quilt...

Apologies for the rotten photo - it's nightime and I used the flash (and I probably should have edited out her toes!!)

My bff is currently piecing the back and is doing a little improv. stitchery with the scraps - she's also created the initials of the recipient (it almost looks like MWAH!!! - sealed with a kiss indeed)

Lucky Sparky.

It is amazing how different it looks from my sampler, seen here and also to our other classmates' (I'll post a photo of their quilts once they've finished piecing them.)  It's also amazing that this time last year my bff wasn't all that into quilts - really didn't like them at all - and I lurrrrrve that she's now as obsessed as I am with fabrics and blocks and all that other fabulously creative stuff - my evil plan has worked (heh, heh *smirk*, *smirk*)  - love you Miss Lizzie.

Afternoon bliss

What else to do on a saturday afternoon, other than to join forces with 3 wonderful women and help one create a quilt for a friend....

Nicole wants to surprise a friend with a quilt, so some time ago, we created a very simple pattern on EQ6.  Nicole then bought a gorgeous layer cake of the Bliss range by Bonnie and Camille for Moda, so we rejigged the measurements of the blocks to ensure a more economical use of the fabric. 

It took a couple of hours to decide on the prints to use in both the pieced and plain blocks and where they were to be used - and another couple of hours to decide on the layout!!  During this time we also decided it was too busy if we used all the prints everywhere, so we introduced a vanilla solid to rest the eyes.  Once we were all happy, (and having 2 of us with very random styles and 2 with a greater love for symmetry, no wonder it took so long!!) ) it was cut, sew, iron, cut, sew, iron and by the end of our session, we had completed all the pieced blocks - Nicole just had to go home and stitch them together.

sew, sew


We did a fabulous job ladies!!

the completed layout

 To top the day off, a couple of us joined another friend to help celebrate her birthday - happy birthday Sharon - we had a great night.

Family and friends

Just spent a wonderful few days with my most favourite people and I am basking in the warm and fuzzy glow you get when you spend time with people who 'get' you.  Last week I packed a small overnighter and joined my bff, house and cat sitting for a friend.  We had a fabulous time - went to the movies, went out for breakfast (deliciously decadent!), did some shopping (I'll show and tell later) and generally pottered about.  It was all sooooo easy and I am a very, very lucky woman to have a bff like her - she always makes me feel I'm alright, that who I am is ok - and I love her to bits.

Next, we donned fancy dress and went off to a party on saturday night.  It had to be something beginning with L, for the birthday girl, so I went as Lady of the Lake (which I had to keep explaining!), my husband went as a lieutenant, my bff went as a labourer and her partner went as a linebacker.  What a fabulous party - danced my socks off - and didn't get home toooo late.

Then today, my side of the family gathered at our house to celebrate my husbands' birthday - I just love it when we all get together - it's noisy, but it's the best type of noise - the noise of a family creating more 'ties that bind' - just love, love, love it.  So I've loaded the last of the dishes in the dishwasher, washed the stuff that won't fit in and I'm enjoying a coffee while catching up the blog.....and smiling to myself.

So.....other things to share.  Before I went away last week, I made a few more FWQA blocks - it's soooo addictive - like chocolate - just one more......and I got another 4 done, so have now completed 8.


8 down, 103 to go........


I also spent time with my sister before I went, at our weekly Scrabble session - and of course, after skiting about my sensational hands the week before, I kept picking up rotten letters and I was positively trounced.  My sister said that I wouldn't mention this fact on my blog - so there you are gorgeous, enjoy your win!!

As mentioned above, did some shopping - we went the long way home and called into a couple of patchwork shops that I'd heard about but hadn't been to - the first one,  Patchwork House in Hawthorn, has a wonderful, fresh feel as soon as you walk through the door and the lovely staff couldn't have been more helpful.  I bought some Liberty fabrics to add to my collection and also this beautiful 100% organic fabric.....

Nature Walk - Grove in Straw by Cloud9 Fabrics

The camera hasn't done anything for the colour - trust me - it's gorgeous - and the fabric is so soft - feels like an old and well loved flannel shirt.

Next stop was Amitie in East Bentleigh - what a feast for the eyes - the range of fabrics was just sensational and the staff very, very friendly - I wanted everything!!!  In the end, and trying to be disciplined, I purchased the makings of a quilt for one of my nieces who is expecting her first baby.  This gorgeous print, 'goo goo socks' from Alexander Henry, and a few toning solids will be cut into circles and stitched down onto the appropriate sized blocks (likely cream or white - whatever looks right with the print).  I also bought some DMC threads to do some decorative hand quilting once it's together - maybe spirals, but then again, maybe echo quilting around the circles - not sure yet.

So, that's it for this post - time to have another coffee before calling it a night.