I spent last night in the company of my lovely husband, this man and thousands of other music fans agains the picturesque background of Hanging Rock in country Victoria.
It was the last night of Bruce Springsteen's tour of Australia and let me tell you - he rocks! He's dynamic, energetic and boy did he put on a great show - a bit over three hours of Bruce singing, dancing and giving everything he's got (which is a lot).
My bloke and I have been fans for years so this was a dream come true; we couldn't quite believe we were seeing and hearing the Boss in real life (although for most of the time he was just this little figure on stage, with big screens bringing the show closer to the audience. Can you see him in the bottom right corner of this photo?)
Springsteen and the E Street Band were supported by the Rubens (a young band, hadn't heard of them before, they were great) and Jimmy Barnes (very loud and oh so good too). Adding to the atmosphere were the kangaroos , which were racing around as we made our way through the reserve to our seats, the starry night and Hanging Rock, which was intermittently lit up by the stage lights. What a great night out!

Last-minute February finish

 I don't have much to show for February - this is it. And I love it. The pattern is from Natalie Bird's gorgeous book Red Home and was this month's project in Chookyblue's Stitch-a-Long. Finished just a little while (make that half an hour) ago - phew, just made it, this Little Red Hen didn't want to get a telling off from the Blue Chook! Gotta love a deadline - and someone who makes you want to meet it.

At the zoo

Yesterday we went to Melbourne Zoo to visit a very special (and very cute) new baby.

Being a public holiday, hundreds of people had the same idea, so there were loooooong queues for what turned out to be a five-minute viewing time of the latest addition to the zoo's growing elephant family.

His mum and big sister Mali, who was born at the zoo in 2010, were so protective it was a little difficult to get a good view of this endearing little chap - so small and so precious. Meanwhile, his dad, who is enormous, wallowed in the pool, away from his family.

Seeing the as-yet-unnamed little elephant was definitely worth the drive and the queues. I loved seeing the giraffes, too - they are so stately and so inquisitive - but wasn't impressed with the dusty enclosure they shared with a couple of zebras. In fact, most of the enclosures seemed to me to be too small for the large, majestic (and snoozy; it was a warm day) animals they housed.

Now I'm interested in visiting the open range zoos at Werribee or Dubbo - much more doable than seeing animals in the wild in Africa, which I imagine would be an incredible experience (or maybe I'll just have to watch more David Attenborough programmes on telly).

The year is up and running...

January is nearly over - that was quick, where did it go? - and unlike previous years, I have a few things to show off. You see, after the big rush of making things for Christmas (and don't get me wrong, I really enjoy it) the urge to craft usually has a big sleep in January. But not this year, thanks to the super-organised Chookyblue and her latest Stitch-A-Long. I joined up because I needed something to kick-start my stitching year and because I liked the projects and because I already had all three of the books involved (Red Home and Tis the Season, both by Natalie Bird, and Anni Downs' Some Kind of Wonderful). January's projects - Anni's shoe bag, with its quirky applique, and Natalie's easy and fabulously useful thread catcher, were completed a few weeks ago and I've made a start on the stitchery for the bag which is the next project.

Two simple drawstring bags were made in response to an appeal from the ladies at the Quilted Crow in Tasmania for library bags to be filled with books donated by a local bookshop and given to children affected by the awful fires in that State. What a lovely thought, and since books and reading are dear to my heart, and I once lived not far from the area worst affected, I was happy to take part. Unfortunately, only one of the bags was posted; I lost the other one in the local shopping centre carpark on the way to the post office and only found it after it had been run over many times and was covered in oily tyre-tracks. Note to self: be more careful in future.

The highlight of my year so far was last week's meeting with Teresa from All Things Vintage. Teresa is from Queensland and we have 'known' each other in Blogland for several years now and for a time belonged to an online stitching group. She was in Melbourne for the tennis and last Sunday she, her brother and partner had a road trip to Ballarat and beyond. It was so good to meet her at last; she's every bit as lovely as I knew she would be. We had a delicious breakfast in a quirky little cafe in the main street, chatted non-stop about all sorts of things and afterwards stood in the sunshine while my husband Peter took a photo of us. I hate having my photo taken because I usually look smirky or sullen, but it turned out so well I've pinched it from Teresa's blog (I'm the short one). So that's January - come on, February, I'm ready for you.

I've been patient...

... which is not like me at all! But my patience was rewarded when FINALLY a rather battered parcel turned up in my letterbox in yesterday's extra-hot weather. It was from Grace in South Portland, Maine, USA, my partner in Chookyblue's SSCS swap. The "C" stands for Christmas, and Grace had posted it in plenty of time for it to sit under my tree ready to be opened on December 25. Meanwhile, I've had plenty of time to admire what other participants in the swap had made, while keeping my fingers crossed that mine wasn't lost in a postal black hole. And this is what I received: :

a gorgeous little quilt - just my style and colours - a gorgeous selvedge needlecase, a tapemeasure and notebook from the New England Quilt Museum, a card from a museum in Lancaster, Philadelphia featuring a very fancy chook, a sweet handmade pinwheel ornament and a cross-stitched Tree of Life sachet, because Maine is the Pine Tree State (I didn't know that either!) And these are what I sent to Andrea in England

A Phoebe handbag (free pattern online; should be easy to find) and a flex-frame purse in the same fabrics; a little drawstring bag, a felt brooch I made and the pattern for some cute little birds, a locally-made cupcake button and two cute Christmas ornaments. Once again, I really enjoyed taking part in this swap. Many thanks to Grace for my gifts, to Andrea for being such an appreciative partner and to Chooky, for all your hard work in putting the swap together.

A little bit of this and a little bit of that

It's been a long time between posts. Time and inclination don't always coincide. But I'm a haven't-posted-for-ages blogger and participant in Chookyblue's global Secret Santa Christmas swap and Chooky is cracking the whip, so here goes. No photos, unfortunately, because my photo system thingy isn't working. This is the third SSCS swap I've taken part in and it's always so enjoyable. Last year I made for a lady in Norway and received from the USA; this year I'm sending to ?? The parcel is wrapped and ready to go tomorrow, along with a few cute gifts for my new great-nephew in Queensland - that's NEW as in just over a week old. How exciting. Apart from that swap, there's been some Christmas crafting, mainly decorations (a gorgeous one by Marg Low, who is one of my favourite Australian designers, and the cutest little bird, framed in an embroidery hoop and designed by Aneela Hoey). I'm hoping to make more Christmas gifts but am not going to let it stress me if it doesn't happen. I've made myself a handbag and appliqued some T-shirts for my little niece and nephew in NZ. And it's way past time to come to grips with the mess in my sewing room. Isn't it amazing how little space you can craft in when there's stuff all over the place! And there have been lots of fun times playing with the dogs, enjoying our garden - lots of lovely scented blooms and the veges in the new plot are doing all the right things - and good times with friends. The highlight of the past few months was Emmylou Harris' concert at St Kilda on Saturday night; she was just wonderful in concert and we had to keep pinching ourselves; listening to her was a dream come true.

There are lovely white blossoms on the Manchurian pear trees in my street and daffodils are blooming in my garden. But apart from a little sunshine - just enough to make us think for a while that spring is just around the corner - it has been grey, gloomy, cold and wet. Today began with thick fog in the morning, cleared a little and degenerated big time this afternoon. An icy blast and a sudden hailstorm turned the garden into a scene that reminded me of an old-fashioned Christmas card. All that was missing was the robin red-breast and a spray of holly.

Spring can't come soon enough.