Good weekends

 

 

 

 

On the March long weekend a few weeks ago we drove down to Port Fairy (a lovely little town on the Victorian coast) to its annual folk festival. The shortened name is PFFF for Port Fairy Folk Festival, but I think there should be a couple of extra Fs thrown in (for Fun and Fabulous). It really is a great event, not strictly traditional folky, but a great mix of musical styles, with local and international guests all contributing to the audience's enjoyment. Highlights: American singers Nanci Griffith (who we also saw in concert in Melbourne later that week) Kim Richey and John McCutcheon in separate performances; Brian Kennedy from Ireland, Genticorum from Quebec - how energetic they were!- Dougie McLean from Scotland and Ego Lemos from East Timor. It was, as always, a pleasure to be there - for the music, the people, the food, the incidental conversations and entertainment. We came home with sore hands from clapping so much, and with several new CDs by John McCutcheon (who is also a wonderful storyteller), Kim Richey and Ego Lemos. Brilliant!
Last Saturday I spent having a last-minute panic over a project I was making for a swap for my Friends in Stitching online group. We were all doing designs by Leanne Beasley, and although a few of us chose the same patterns, everything looks so different. In the end, my bag turned out well and my partner likes it, which is the main thing. My partner sent me a gorgeous cushion. There are some wonderful Australian designers, and Leanne is one of my favourites.
On the Sunday I got together with some work friends to learn how to make soap. It was quite an eye-opener - all that stirring and measuring - but enjoyable too. One of the nice things about the day was just getting together; we all work at different branches of our library service and rarely see each other. Now there are emails and phone calls back and forth about the progress of our blocks of soap. We plan to get together in about a month, once it has cured properly, for show and tell. It's fun to learn something new.

Feb. finish - at last

There's nothing like leaving things till the last minute to get the adrenaline flowing. Last year each member of the online friendship stitching group I belong to received a birthday stitchery - and we all got a big shock fairly recently when told the deadline for finishing it was March 3. Yikes! So having made a desultory beginning when I was recovering from pneumonia late last year (my birthday is in May and the stitchery was on the list to be done SOMETIME....) stitch, stitch, stitch I went, with an interruption yesterday to race along to Spotlight for some more thread (a very nice interruption, as it turned out, as I ran into Annie Flowergarden - hi Annie, it was lovely to see you!) Finished stitching last night or rather this morning - as I was washing the piece last night I noticed a short row of stitching still to be done - and it is now framed (in a rustic frame purchased at the Arts Centre Market in Melbourne a couple of Sundays ago ) and displayed on my sewing room wall. I'd always intended to frame this piece, not use it on a bag/cushion or anything else. So not only have I made the group's deadline, I've also squeaked in for a February finish; this really is a OPAM! Just for the record, the stitchery was designed by Leanne Beasley, whose designs are always gorgeous. And thanks to Cathy, who gave it to me.

First finish

I have a finished project at last for the OPAM challenge. The pattern is Bird in a Basket, from Tracy Souza at Plumcute Designs and I think it is just so cute! It's now on the wall in my sewing room. It should have been there ages ago but I had a bit of trouble getting the ends of the binding to sit just right - only a little thing, but SO frustrating. Anyway, done now and I am happy with it. And just as happy that everything I used came from my stash.

Sarah's giveaway

My friend Sarah at Sarah's Prim Treasures is celebrating her third blogoversary with a great giveaway - go and have a look! Sarah and I are in an online craft together and although we haven't met (she's in Tassie, I'm in Victoria) I know she does lovely work - lucky me, I've been her partner in several swaps. Sarah's online store, Patchworks Plus, is worth a look too - she sells a wide variety of patterns and fabrics and the service is great.

Phew, it worked

By spending an alarming amount of time fiddling around with Blogger, I have managed to move my profile from the bottom of the sidebar to the top and FINALLY change the background. Hooray! Of course If I was a bit more tech savvy I wouldn't have messed everything up in the first place.I'm not sure about the background yet, but it certainly makes me feel cool on this hot day. How is everyone in Oz coping with the heat (and how is everyone on the other side of the world coping with the cold?) Keep cool or warm, whatever's appropriate! I'm off to do some stitching.

Keeping cool in the heat

It's 36 degrees in Ballarat today - too hot for this Little Red Hen! So I am staying inside keeping cool thanks to the air conditioning and pressing on with a few projects - such as a stitchery I was given for my birthday last May, and Kira Koala, Rosalie Quinlan's cute softie from the latest issue of Homespun magazine. Kira will be a gift for my great-nephew Jake, who was born on Thursday.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

OPAM challenge

I have committed to Peg and Kris's OPAM (One Project A Month) challenge in the hopes of finishing what I start! I am really good at meeting deadlines when I am making projects for others, but with personal projects, I buzz around from this and that to the other. Sometimes this means I have several projects on the go which do get finished, while others I begin are forgotten about. So here's to finishing those UFOs, WISPs and new starts - what a challenge!
And speaking of challenges - my sidebar is a mess! I have been unable to load the OPAM button to it, or to change the look of my blog; all that has happened is that the instructions for changing the background have saved to the sidebar but the background itself hasn't changed. So I am technologically challenged as well as finish-challenged - and that's enough challenges for one person on a hot sunny day!