a weekend away :)

I am very lucky that I get to go on jaunts with my lovely crafty girlfriends...........this year the patchwork group decided  to make it 4 day weekend as Anzac Day fell on the Thurs..... I had to take Friday and Sunday off work so we decided to just go for the three days.....we had a delish roasted sweet potato soup for lunch at Gisborne [ why do most of my best memories revolve around food ...lol] did a spot of shopping and headed down to Bacchus Marsh Lady Northcote Camp...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

we usually just have the house that sleeps about 20 but this year ...well wow!!! we rented the big hall that sleeps about 80....not that we had that many....

 

so much space for the scrap bookers ,

 

 

 

 

sewers ( our separate  sewing home :) )

 

 

.....really lovely room accommodation...and so private with lovely verandas and bush views and lovely native gardens.........

 

 

 

 

 

Di relaxing.......we couldn't wait to get out here after we arrived and soak up the last of the sun......

 

 

we sewed, chatted and had lots of laughs......I worked on my quilt...no pics yet....but its coming together nicely.....

 

 

 

 

after everyone had gone and packed up,  we spent a few quiet hours making  .......

 

 

 

 

 some of the many beautiful cards created ............

 

 

 

 

 

 Ann showing off her little stitchery.....

 

 

 

Di's bushfire quilt.....what a stunner this is going to be........

 

 

 

 she hadn't free motioned before but what a beautiful job she did :)

 there's a lovely story that goes with this quilt...... 

 

Di has a lovely creative son called J......

 

when he was little he used to come to craft and make what we did....

he was the hot glue king....

and a dab hand with a needle....

we missed him when he started school....

hes about 14 now and saw di making this quilt....

she had to go to Melbourne the next day and j asked if he work on it....she showed how to piece it together and went off to Melbourne  thinking that she might have some unpicking to do when she got home....there was a lot of texting but j worked on it all day and when she go the 2 1/2 blocks were all sewn together...he had finished it !!!!!!

 

 and his sewing is beautiful......

 

he is now helping out with her unfinished cross stitches....

 

what a boy :)

 

 

....and like everything it has to end but I think next year I might do the 4 days :)

 

 

 

I always find heart shaped rocks here :)

 

 

 

 

wander this world .....

gosh where did the last month go.....I didn't mean to stay away so long but  I have  been trying to stay off the computer and get some things done....its such a time waster.....

 

our Charlie left on  her overseas jaunt to go Denmark and then Ireland til the end of the year.......... it was not without its dramas like the car breaking down on way to airport...((((

 

thank goodness for wonderful friends who got Charlie and me there in time....and another lovely friend for the loan of a car while our is being repaired.... I did feel a bit sad for her saying goodbye to her dad and sis on the side of the road though....

 

 

 

 

ted went too.....pity she couldn't have squashed me in as well......

 

 

 

 

 

bye mor..... [mum in Danish]

 

look at that grin...

 

finally going :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I then spent the next day moving into her room [much to Lucy's disgust ] however Charlie did pack everything up into her wardrobe for me to convert it and her only request was that didn't pin anything into her pride and joy purple wall.....[ which I haven't :) ]

 

now for the first time in absolutely years have a nice little arty crafty space to myself.....I would've loved to have dismantled the bed and put my sewing machine in there but there was a lot of storage under it so had to leave it........

 

 

 put up  my prayer flags..... and little dresses...

 

 

 a mess already ....

 

little bits and bobs people have sent me...:)

 

 

 

 

hehe....sorted mess... 

 

 

 

recent postcard swap....

 

 

finally got my paper shelves set up.....I picked these up at a closing down sale years ago...

 

a bigger table would be nice but it works ok..... 

 

 

 

 and most days since I have escaped down here and fiddled about even if its only for 10 minutes scribbling in my art journal.........

 

 

 

bliss :) 

 

 

stitching......

íts been lovely to get back into some stitching....I find it quite mediative...

first of all I had to get jackys gorgeous horse cloth done and sent off......

I had been wanting to try some feathers and was quite happy how these turned out....other than that I just added bits of sari cloth and played around with different stitches and threads....

 

I think its hard to be in the middle of the collaborative as its difficult to know how much to do ...have I done enough..??.not enough???.... got to leave space for two others to work on.... but I loved doing it :)

and then there was Tedda.......remember how I fixed him up before he went on holiday to Denmark. well, in less than a week,  he is jetsetting off to Denmark  for month to visit his host families with Charlie and then off to Ireland to a spot of nannying, au pairing to 3 young girls for 6 months......:) Charlies host mums have been fantastic and when they heard she was coming, they started organising amongst themselves who would pick her up from the airport, who she would stay with......she's a lucky girl .....

unfortunately while in Denmark last time, Ted a had run in with a cat and came home in a bad state of disrepair....

                                                                       
                                                                         bad cat((((

of course that was  only two years ago now and of course he needed to be fixed before he set off again........the thing that I enjoy while repairing ted is that there is no pressure. I can experiment and play around with scraps, cos lets face it.... anything is an improvement :)

his face was a challenge though..i didn't want to alter it too much and totally change his character....

so here he is...soon there wont be anything any original fabric left to stitch onto....

 

and I lost the other red button but quite like this one  I found....

 

some bling on his face and roses on his butt cut from French ribbon faye bought in Paris...

 

 

 

Charlie had sewn a Danish coin on his arm while she was os, which I reattached ....

all finished....:)

 

wonder what the Irish family will make of him :)

 

he needs a wash but im not game in case he falls apart......

Postcard Swap......

 

 

 our little mixed media group had a wonderful postcard swap for February, and i found the last one  in my letter box today :)

our challenge was to incorporate a face and use some of our gelli printed paper....

                                                                           Clare's...
i fell in love with Clare's beautiful background and grassy hair :)

 

 

Wendy's,  another beautiful gelli background and her cute little whimsy glittery gal :)

                                     

 

 

Lynne's...loved lynnes drippy watercolour effect and the face reminds me of lynne :)

 

Jenny's......   and what can i say...another beauty......loving the colors and layers :)

 

 love my postcard girls :)

and these were mine....., i was aiming for Valentines Day but was a little late (

 

 

 

 

and i was on such a roll with mine that I made two extras and posted this one out to a favourite red headed friend....

 

 

 

and this, i raffled off in this flickr raffle group .....

 

 

 

 In Janes class recently i learnt a handy little tip..... it looks better if the hair comes off the nape of the neck on the 'windy' side ....so i altered mine so you can see the difference...

 

i kind of like the whimsy look of my hairless ones but it does give you a more realistic look......

 

 and i got to use my washi tapes [ these ones from spotlight ]

 

.......the dogs since chewed up the love tape:(((((