First Day Back at Work ...

We had such a wonderful holiday. Tasmania is so lovely and we we saw so many places at their best. The roses and rhododendron trees are to die for. In all we travelled 2,500+ kms, ate some wonderful seafood and had a ball. It was a holiday of many highlights: Meeting Sarah and Dennis in Launceston on our first night. Sarah and I have been internet buddies for quite a few years now. We also met up with Sarah, Kristy and Rosanne for breakfast on our first Saturday - so lovely to be able to chat to and laugh with these girls in person. None of us thought to take a photo. On the Sunday we drove to Burnie - Vix kindly invited the 4 of us plus a bunch of patchwork friends to her house for a bbq. Was fabulous - we stayed way too late. We visited (amongst other places) Deloraine Craft Fair, Cradle Mountain: Strahan (harbour cruise), Cygnet (bought a Saltbox Mercantile Christmas Tree): Hobart (Salamanca Markets), Bicheno (penguin tour), St Helens, Bridport plus wineries, cheese/berry farms and every patchwork shop we could find along the way. This picture shows some of my fabric loot purchased in Tassie (I like collecting background fabrics). What a fabulous holiday. We all loved Tasmania and are planning our next trip down south. Great food, weather, wine, shopping and lots of friends (old and new) to meet.

Almost on Holidays!

2 more sleeps then Sharon, Gary, John and I will be on our way to Tasmania - can't wait to be on holidays. We are arriving in time to attend Deloraine Craft Fair. John's calling this trip the "Patchwork and Quilting Tour of Tasmania" because I'm taking along the "Homespun" shopping guide - he's not mentioning the brewery/winery/cheesery tours etc that I'm sure he'll enjoy. And, I'm positive he won't walk past a motorbike shop without going in and drooling.

We'll be meeting up with some patchwork friends on Thursday night in Launceston and another group of friends have invited us all over for a bbq on Sunday night in Burnie before heading off to Cradle Mt, Strahan then Hobart (and meeting up with some dear friends of ours who moved there from Sydney) and the East Coast - 15 days in all.

Catch you all later.

365 Challenge

I have been making my own version of Leanne Beasley's "365 Challenge" http://leanneshouse.typepad.com/ - I didn't think I would keep up with one block per day - one block per month is more achievable for me and I've been wanting to make red star blocks for ages (no special reason, just because). I've been using a different designer's stitchery patterns each month and they are all stitched with DMC 115 (variable garnet). Received some of this thread in a kit last year and have used it so much since (eg Helen Stubbings' Santa Sack). The other blocks can be seen at http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/album/557730759QLHiMB.

Aside from doing this, I've been tracing, vliesofixing etc so that I have some stitching to take on our holiday. Next week John and I with our dear friends are going to Tasmania for 15 days. We are so looking forward to our trip and meeting up with some other friends during our travels.

Three quilts are almost finished - just little bits of handquilting here and there - don't think I'll get around to that until after Christmas (but then it'll be a bit hot here to be handquilting). They are the last 3 on this page http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/album/249716811VNCEyA?start=12 (have been having a little trouble uploading pictures today).

And, just to top off today, found out early this morning that another dear friend's daughter had a baby boy last night - what wonderful news. Welcome to the world Johannes!

Another Long Weekend is Over

Last Tuesday night our dear old Tarago stopped dead in the middle of the road outside the back of our house, just as I was about to back into the driveway. Luckily, after a little rest, it started again but was making some dreadful noises. John parked it and the next day drove it to Tom's garage (our wonderful mechanic). A new radiator, 20 hoses, 40 clamps and umpteem other bits and pieces later, the car will be ready for me to pick up at lunchtime today. The dear car is 17 years old, has 394,000 kms on the clock and this is its first major breakdown. It is a phenomenal car considering the lack of tlc it has received but the time is coming to buy a new car, mainly because there's usually 1 or 2 of us using it these days - will be very sad when the time comes. Comes in very handy when we are all in Sydney and the family is going out together somewhere.

Had a lovely long weekend - Saturday we all went to Sydney to have lunch with Elizabeth for her birthday (couldn't do it on the day because of everyone's work commitments). We had lunch at Coogee Palace Hotel overlooking the ocean - lovely spot. Had to rush home (while listening to Roy & HG's Festival of the Boot Part 1) so that Jenni and Josh could go to work. Just got home in time to see the last 15 minutes of the AFL grand final.

Sunday spent a fair bit of time ironing then sewing, tracing, vliesofixing various items that need to be made before our holiday to Tasmania. Finished off a wallhaning for Prim Treasures Secret Santa. Had dinner at Sharon & Gary's and watched some of the NRL grand final, but Sharon and I preferred to sit and chat sewing, markets, our upcoming holiday etc.

Monday - more ironing and sewing then John, Jenni and I went to see "Hairspray"- FANTASTIC! John Travolta as an extremely large lady in a very tight dress is not a pretty sight but I was hanging out for him/her to start dancing and was not disappointed.

Happy Birthday Princess

Our gorgeous baby girl is 28 today. What absolute joy she has brought to our lives. Here are some photos of our Princess from 15 hours till her 2nd birthday.

I'm in finishing off mode at the moment - I have a collection of quilt tops and, after buying myself a roll of batting, am making an effort to finish off some of these quilts. Don't get much chance to sew over the weekends lately because the eisteddfod is running until the end of September. Most of last week's free time was spent machine quilting "Mary's Floral Medallion" until I ran out of the thread I was using in the bobbin - couldn't believe I didn't have another spool in the drawer!

Last night and early this morning I quilted "Christmas Belles", a quilt I've been making as a BOM with some stitchy friends. Will sew on the binding tonight and then there'll be a little hand-quilting to do around the "Belles" before it's finished. Which quilt top to layer and baste next? "Everyday Angels", "Sharon's Roses", 2006 Friendship Quilt, Row-by-Row Quilt; the list goes on ...

The days are beautiful - I love spring. Looking forward to Friday - going shopping at Peter's of Kensington and to Bondi with my first baby to buy her birthday presents (she will be 28) and I'll take Mum with us - should be a lovely day out.

Big Weekend

It certainly was - Friday night and Saturday were spent preparing for Sunday - cooking, cleaning etc. I did manage to fit in half hour sewing to finish off machine quilting "Polka Dot Girls" and sew on the binding. Now have a bit of hand-quilting to do before sewing down the binding. Saturday evening John, Jenni and I went to see "Men in Tutus" - it was a very funny show. A couple of the dancers were outstanding. Elizabeth was down for the weekend with Jared, so she met us after the show and we had dinner in a Vietnamese restaurant - lovely food. Jenni had gone to meet a bunch of her friends to have "birthday dinner" with them. Sunday was a busy day - everyone came for lunch and it was lovely sitting out on the verandah. Weather was beautiful, food was good and the best part was having all the family there.

Shame to have to come to work today - could have easily spent the day at home sewing.