Stitching, swaps and songs

As I mentioned in my last post (oh so long ago - time is flying!) I've been doing some swapping lately. I arrived home a few days ago to find an ENORMOUS parcel from Glenys in Melbourne, my partner in Mrs Martin's Quilt Shop Christmas in July swap. In it were a handmade fabric card, a dear little bag to fill with munchies and hang on a door handle, 2 Anni Downs stitcheries, a fat quarter of rose-patterned fabric and a matching button and a big notebook with a fabric cover featuring more roses and the initial J surrounded by flowers and a scalloped border. All this - plus the biggest box of Maltesers I have ever seen were wrapped up in a bag designed to hold Christmas wrapping paper and gift cards. Thank you, Glenys, for all these lovely things - and to Karen for organising the swap.
My gifts to Glenys included a bag made from Jodie Ric-Rac's tutorial, a glasses case, fat quarter and two simple stitcheries.
Now to finish off the paper bag swap, and a few last-minute things for the FRIENDS swap, and I'm done. I don't have pics of anything, alas, as the camera is still AWOL. Time for a new one - or a big house clean-up to see if it surfaces? Which would you choose?
As for the "songs" part of the title of this post, it's been a week now and I still can't believe I was there - at one of Simon and Garfunkel's 2 Melbourne concerts. What a thrill it was to be there to see and hear these legends whose music my husband and I have loved since we first heard it. They sang all the old favourites and although they must have sung them a thousand times it was as if they were singing them anew. It was such a treat and judging by the audience reaction (loud applause for each song and two encores) we all left the stadium with a song in our hearts.

Swap and giveaway

I'm a sucker for a good swap, and this one sounds like fun. I've just signed up for Maree's paper bag swap - there's still time to join. Check it out on Maree's blog - http://paperbagswap2009.blogspot.com
She does come up with some great ideas!
And I've entered Robyn's giveaway; lots of lovely things (hopefully with my name on them!) at http://daisyquilts.blogspot.com
Not handmade - although having swapped with Robyn for Christmas last year I know she's a generous soul whose work is beautiful - just delightful to have.
Good luck!

Time flies

I can't believe how quickly the year is disappearing, or how long it has been since my last post. What have I been up to? Mainly busy at work and home, the usual stuff. Mind you, although I haven't posted, I have done a lot of lurking, so have kept up with all the happenings in bloggersville.
And I have been crafting, although most of it is for others. Despite my resolution (well, aren't they made to be broken??) not to do much swapping this year, I am doing Mrs Martins Christmas in July swap and just couldn't resist the FRIENDS swap organised by sewprimkhris. And although I haven't yet got my teeth into any of the table runners, bags, wall hangings or cushion covers on my long list of things I want to make, or indeed any of the patterns I bought at the 2 quilt shows I have been to this year, I have at least done some stitchery just for me.
One of my projects is a gorgeous bird and heart design stitched on the front of a little drawstring bag I will use for hankies. The pattern is from Rosalie Quinlan's book Gift; the design is stitched in variegated thread in coffee and cream shades on a background of rose-patterned damask fabric. It will be gorgeous when it's finished (she says modestly).
Last year I was lucky enough to win a redwork stitchery pattern called "Amalie Rouge", by Catherine Baynes of Willow Valley Store. The pattern comes with an iron-on transfer - yay! I used the same fabric as for the bag in these two little stitcheries and I am so pleased with them. No pics, though; the camera is lost somewhere in the house and if we ever see it again I will make a very colourful bag for it as the current one is pale grey and not easy to see among all the stuff on our shelves.
Our two dogs, Katie and Gus (mum and pup Cavalier King Charles Spaniels) are no doubt happy not to have their photos taken right now as they are recovering from what was to have been just a little tidy-up pre-winter clip at the pet shop and turned out to be an all-over (apart from head, ears and tail) shave. I don't know who was most horrified at the result, them or DH and me; they definitely looked rather embarrassed for a while, although to compensate they did get more cuddles than usual and spent several nights inside. Now their fur is growing back and they don't look quite so silly, thank goodness.

A tuneful weekend

We've had a long weekend here in Victoria to celebrate Labour Day (?); DH Peter and I celebrated the extra day off work by taking off to the little coastal town of Port Fairy for its very big annual folk festival.
What a fabulous time it was; people everywhere, all smiling and happy and enjoying the music; good food to eat, only short queues for the loos...
Singers we heard and loved: Eliza Gilkyson (an American singer, new to us and now a favourite with her rich, mellow voice and sparky lyrics); Poms Chris While and Julie Matthews (beautiful harmonies); Aussie group The Audreys; Seamus Begley and Jim Murray from Ireland (Seamus has been around forever; plays accordion and has a beautiful voice; Jim plays guitar and sings harmonies and they share a rather naughty sense of humour); the April Verch band from Canada; April is a gorgeous little thing, a great fiddler, lovely voice and she does step-dancing while she plays; you have to see it to believe it (great to watch but it must be exhausting; don't know how she manages to do it and still continue to be so perky).
Anyway, no pics, because the ones I took were rather dire and dark. If you can, go next year - you'll love it!
And that, folks, is why I've done no sewing this weekend, despite a sewing room to clean up and new challenge projects to start. Since arriving home I've been catching up with the washing, getting ready for the working week and reading blogs (no prizes for which I've enjoyed most!) And I can't stop singing...

Let's go shopping!

I missed out on meeting the Tassie blogging girls, who were there on Saturday, but Sunday was a great shopping day at AQC. My non-bloggy friend Margot and I caught the train from Ballarat just after 9 am, and the train back from Melbourne around 5 o'clock , and had a great time in between. There were so many tempting things to buy - and we did - interesting classes and lectures (we are now sold on the idea of jelly rolls and 10 inch squares) great things to see and friendly stallholders and fellow crafters to talk to. I was so pleased to meet the Quilted Crow girls from Hobart; I won one of their lovely felted wool patterns just before Christmas and it was nice to be able to thank them in person; their stand was lovely and so are they. It was great to catch up briefly with the Selvedge Queen herself (Ms Jodie Ric Rac) and to see so many fabulous quilts. Forgot to take the camera, so I'm posting pictures of my haul and wondering when I will ever get time to use it or where I will put it (storage in my sewing room is chocablock and I have only recently rediscovered the floor, which gives you some idea of how messy it was) -but I love everything I bought and don't regret any of it. And despite the fact that I really don't need to buy any more patterns or fabric, I AM going to the Stitches and Craft show in Melbourne a couple of weekends hence. No sewing next weekend - DH and I are off to Port Fairy Folk Festival over the long weekend to sit in the sun and listen to great music - can't wait!

....but not so great for so many

While my year has been humming along quite merrily, if rather haphazardly, so many have had a terrible few weeks. So many lives lost in Victoria's terrible fires, so many homes destroyed, so many communities shattered or burned out of existence.
What has not been lost is the great spirit demonstrated by those affected by the fires - many are keen to rebuild their homes and their communities as soon as possible - by the generous public all around the world and by emergency services crews and all other helpers.
In company with so many others, I've donated to the Red Cross - have you? Please do! - and bid on crafty online auctions.
Feeling the need to do something other than pressing buttons on the computer, I've made some little carry bags which are now filled with textas, a colouring book and scribble pad; a little effort which I hope will bring some cheer into a few little girls' lives.
I've made these in response to an online plea from Monica at beyondpinkandblue.blogspot.com. Check it out - and check out Nikki's post to see the heap of colourful bags made at the sewing bee she organised yesterday (nicolemdesign.blogspot.com).
Inspired by the gorgeous pics Annie posts on her blog annie-flowergarden.blogspot.com, I've posted this shot of my favourite rose (taken BEFORE all the petals dried in the horrible hot weather) because it's so pretty, and also because its name - Best Friend - is so appropriate. There is such a need of good friends right now, and so many of us are being just that to people we may never meet, because we should, and because we can.

A great new year so far!

Belated New Year greetings, everyone; do hope your year so far is progressing happily. Mine is; I am still half on holiday (still a few weeks to go before my second job at a primary school recommences for the year) so am enjoying the residual feelings of well-being and relaxation from my Christmas holiday break. My husband and I (sorry, sounding like the Queen here; I could do the white-glove wave if you insist...) spent the first week or so travelling around - a night in a cottage in Coonawarra, South Australia - 3 nights by the beach in Robe, SA - 2 nights in boiling-hot-but-good-anyway Mildura and 2 nights in Melbourne. The latter was a bit of an extravagance as we live only just over an hour away from the city, but it was so nice to walk about and mooch and catch trams and just do whatever. Yesterday we went to a festival at a very picturesque lavender farm, but the Big Ballarat Blog Meet to meet UK blogger Trashalou has been the highlight so far. Jodie (vintage Ric-Rac) arranged the get-together with bloggers from near and far coming together to meet each other and swap stories and ideas and food and sit under the big trees in Eureka Park and generally have a great time. Jodie is so brave; she invited us back to her place for hot drinks and cake and more chat and it was all great. If you want to see pics, you'll have to try other blogs; not only did I forget to take the camera out, but I still haven't got the hang of posting pics yet. We met first at Ballarat Patchwork; apart from door prizes and bits from Emma's grandmother's stash, we all came away with new bits and pieces. I am trying to be braver with colour this year and bought 2 nice bright fat quarters, Heather Bailey's new fruit pincushion pattern and the shop's own pattern for a pot mitt and pot holder. I'm happy to say the pear pincushion from the pattern is progressing nicely and is NOT doomed to become a UFO.
Happy stitching!