Holidays amd precious friends

 This week I was lucky enough to take a quick trip up to the Gold Coast (southern Queensland) and while I was there I caught up with Elizabeth Peters.  I first "met" Elizabeth on the Country Bumpkin Forum, which no longer exists, and we have met in person several times.  We spent some time op shopping and also enjoyed a delicious picnic lunch in Southport: take a look here.

We spent some time looking at Elizabeth's beautiful creations: lace and felt and lots of other treasures.   you can see her work here

On a previous visit to the Gold Coast I bought this little wicker case to keep some needlework supplies at my father-in-law's house.


He lives in Tweed Heads which is at the very southern part of the Gold Coast.



On this visit I was so excited to see the contents of the case again.

 It contains needles,beads,buttons and a piece of embroidery to work on while visiting.

 I had a lovely time away but am happy to be home again.

Friends & Neighbours

The little girls next door will be 12 months old soon and I decided I would like to give each of them a special outfit.
They are not walking yet so I thought some nice warm trousers and a knitted top would make sense.  Sounds like a great idea and the sewing of the trousers will not be difficult but I don't knit well enough to create anything suitable so I put out a call to my friends and was thrilled when Laurel offered to knit two little tops for me.

I chose the pattern and bought the yarn and sent them up to Laurel in Queensland.  Today the first little garment arrived and I am so thrilled with it.  I couldn't wait to show it to you.  

Now I have to find a pattern and yarn for the second one.

Thanks so much Laurel for being kind enough to do this for me.

extremes

Last Wednesday we left behind a cold, windy and wet Melbourne to travel north to a kinder clime.  When we arrived at Gold Coast Airport it was 21 degrees and the locals had their woollies on against the winter chill!
We have come to stay a few days with my father-in-law to make sure all is well with him and to have a little break from the pressure I was feeling at home.
Here there is no stress, just decisions about whether to swim in the surf or take a nap in the afternoon.
I have spent time with my sister-in-law who I first met in High School and with Elizabeth from http://elizabethanneembroideries.blogspot.com/ 
Both of these lovely ladies accompanied me to the local op shops in search of treasures.  We were not disappointed.  Pics later.  It is such a treat to be able to catch up with friends who live so far away and to be able to take up where we left off last time.

I will post some photos when I am home again in chilly Melbourne: I only have prepaid broadband here and it disappears pretty quickly when uploading.

sunday already

 I have just a minute to write a few words: yesterday we visited our friends Laurel & Neal at their beautiful home.  they made us so welcome and we had lots to look at: their garden is so fantastic and the morning tea was excellent.

I will write a little more after lunch. 

THANKSGIVING

Although we don't celebrate Thanksgiving here in Australia I do think it is a wonderful opportunity to count our blessings and meditate upon the good things in our lives.  So much of life consists of bad news and challenges.

 In this wonderful age of the world wide web we are able to share and keep in touch with like minded people throughout the world.  Through the internet I have made some wonderful friends.
For that I am thankful.

We live in a country that is relatively peaceful, prosperous and beautiful.
For that I am thankful.

 I have great friends, neighbours,  daughters, grandchildren and of course my husband.
For that I am thankful.

There is so much to be thankful for and while we are on holiday I am taking time to think on these things.


I have added some pics I have taken during the past couple of  days.  The plants here are big and bright and beautiful.


This morning I swam in the surf at Greenmount beach. It is so beautiful to feel the power of the sea and to taste the salt.  I could have stayed there all day: there is something about the sea that always makes me feel joyful.


Tomorrow we set off for Noosaville: bringing father-in-law with us.  We will stop on the way to see some friends for morning tea and to catch up with chatter and take a look at their beautiful garden.  It is a about 3 hours driving altogether and we have a lovely new ford hire car to travel in.

I had better stop writing and organize myself for the trip.

KEEPING BUSY

The last week has flown by and although I have managed to do a little stitching I have had even less time to write.  Now I am sitting here wondering where to start.

I will begin with a couple of explanations about the fabric dying.  The first time I ever used procion dyes was when I visited Linda in Queensland.  Linda showed me how to prepare the fabrics and mix the dyes.  It was a day of lots of fun and laughter along with learning a new skill.  We were lucky to have the whole day together and I learnt a lot.  Visit Linda at her blog  http://billabongs2bling.blogspot.com/ 

The idea for using the ziplock bags came from Three Creative Studios, technique of the month for last month.

http://threecreativestudios.com/freeprojects/tom/fabricpaintinganddyeing.pdf    Sue Bleiweiss suggested the ziplock bags in her tutorial.

Yesterday my daughter came to visit and we celebrated her 40th birthday with food and wine and I gave her the mask I made.  I am pleased to say she was thrilled with it!  

I  gave my middle daughter the wheat bag I made and that was also well received.  I had made a little sachet of lavender as well as it is her favourite fragrance.

This is the first time I have given my daughters  things I have made especially for them: it seemed to go down well so I will continue to do this in the future.

Oh talking of gifts, I received a parcel in the post from Judy.  It is a kit with the pattern and makings of pin cushions - one of my obsessions!  

http://judysfabrications.blogspot.com/   Have a look at Judy's fantastic crazy patchwork!   I will take a pic of the kit tomorrow.    Thanks so much Judy.

Oh gosh I nearly forgot the lovely gift I received from my friend Ann, from the uk,  who is visiting her family who live near here.  We had a day out last week and I hope to see her again on Wednesday before her trip back home on Sunday.

Well I think that is all for now.  Happy stitching everyone.

PARCELS IN THE POST

Today the postie delivered surprises from distant places.

This ATC (from the UK) is called Rockpool and was sent to me by Lorna - artymess, as part of the Stitchin Fingers ATC group swap for May.  The theme was under sea creatures.  Take a look at the atc blog to see the fantastic tiny works of art that are swapped throughout the year.

http://textileartisttradingcards.blogspot.com/

The next parcel was a card with gorgeous threads, sent to me by a dear friend in Queensland.  I can see these will be used on future ATCs and postcards.  Thanks so much Laurel for thinking of me and for your generosity.

Once I had finished drooling over  the first two parcels I opened one from the USA.  

This was a prize I won through a random draw on the 3 Creative Studios forum.  Each month a new technique is suggested and members show the results of their efforts.  Then one name is drawn for the prize.  This past month I was the lucky winner of threads, hand dyed fabrics, buttons, yarns, a gorgeous handmade book and card.  So many possibilities.

http://threecreativestudios.com/

This last little group of goodies were included in the parcel from Lorna.

lorna-artymess.blogspot.com/

 I took this lovely pic the other day when my husband and I went for our morning walk.  The sky was so pretty.

Then later in the day I received a parcel in the post from a friend.  In the parcel there was a piece of muslin, some foil, metallic sheet, felt and wire form to play with.  So many possibilities.

Every day is precious.

I thought I would go a little off subject tonight.

Last night I attended a football match and before the match there was an event called the Field of Women Live 2010.  It is an event where 14,000 men & women assembled on the football field to represent the number of people who will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year.  It was a very moving event and even though I have not been touched by this particular disease, it was a reminder of the fragility of life.  

I was fortunate enough to be there with my daughter and her daughter.  It was such a good thing to share.

We didn't win the football match but we did have a great night. 

 The photos are not really good but the first one shows the people moving from the stands onto the field.

The second photo was taken when the stadium lights were turned off and the people on the field turned their coloured lights on.

This stadium holds 90,000 people although it was no where near full the atmosphere was fabulous.

Anzac Weekend

I have been fosicking about in my basket of ufos and found a piece I did a couple of years ago. It is a tulip embroidered on silk and just the right size for a needlebook.

Having come to the conclusion that it would work I then needed to find a suitable fabric for lining it. I wanted something with a bit of body to it as the embroidered fabric is quite flimsy and I wanted something interesting that would add to the piece rather than vie for attention.

Over the past few weeks I have received several parcels of goodies from friends so I thought I would look through that collection and see if anything worked well. Of course it did. A piece of painted fabric with a bit of a metallic look about it. It is quite stiff so is a perfect backing.

I stitched the two pieces together using some of the inbuilt stitches on my sewing machine and it turned out well.

I will just add a folded piece of felt for the "pages" and finish it of with a couple of charms or tassels.

STITCHING FRIENDS

The last week has been one of happy encounters and conversations with some surprises in the mail as well.

A few days ago I bumped into Bev Tully when I was out shopping. I have attended some classes with Bev and it was a real delight to see her again. Bev is off to do a tour of stately homes in the UK - it will be her pleasure to teach some needlework classes to the people on the tour. I am sure the classes will be great fun with lots to learn as well.

Yesterday I received a gorgeous Easter Card in the mail and along with it a gorgeous little fabric egg which contained a crystal charm. These treasures were sent to me as part of a swap conducted on the Embroiderers Guild UK Forum.

As if that wasn't enough I received a lovely parcel from a friend - it contained some hand dyed and painted fabrics and a lovely ATC which was made just for me.

There is something so special about the world of needlewomen - such kindness and generosity is just so lovely.