Where have I been???????

....goodness knows!!!!  Seriously, I cant believe we are in the middle of the year already! It will be Christmas once again before we turn around.

So, talking of Christmas, some of the Thursday crafties decided to do things in time for Christmas this year :)  Armed with gallons of glue, they set to it :)  The result...some lovely little bon-bons!

As some of you may know, my BFF family came for a visit from Wales for a few months.  We had the pleasure of entertaining them for an afternoon.  This is cute Seth (the one on the left by the way!)

Seth had a bit of an early birthday while he was here (with his Nana below and Jack) and his new friend the Koala backpack :)

 

Unfortunately, the family had to go back home to Wales :(  We had a lovely BBQ at Claire's place before they headed to the grey, grey yonder!

In between the last post and this one, I went off to Melbourne for a two night stint and a YWCA Encore refresher training session. We had to spend some time in the pool, which was a little walk from our hotel.  What a lovely facade the Melbourne Baths have!!! Inside it is quite newish and modern.

Ruth, waiting for the tram to take us round the city of Melbourne's CBD.  Was a stinking hot day and very humid - not common for this part of the world.  Tram ride was great except we had to sit for 7 minutes at the stop/start part of the line to wait till the next circuit was due to go!  NO Airconditioning!!!!!!!

Once again Christmas rears its head....there is a lovely shop located near the hotel we stayed in (which is also just round the corner from the Queen Victoria Markets) that sells Christmas bits all year round.  Of course I had to take a trip inside :) :)

Mothers Day....we (YWCA Encore) attended the Mothers Day Classic Event which took place in the Adelaide park lands this year.  By taking part, I mean we had a tent there!  No excessive exercise for me!!! LOL  Here are the team - June, Chris, Judy and myself - was a good morning!  We were fortunate to be next to the fruit stand, free fresh fruit all day for all concerned :) We even got to take nearly a box of bananas home because they had so much left at the end of the event!!!!  All money raised goes to breast cancer research.

 

Chris's husband Marty ran the event (I understand he did very well with his timing ) Well done Marty!

On a completely different note now....I finally got my new quilt rack in-situ!!! (Well, kind of!) Its in the spare room for the time being, as my male cat can get a bit nervy about new things about the house and has been known on a couple occasions to leave his mark on things :(  Eventually it will come out into the bigger room :)

We have also had many Not the Snobs & Slobs get togethers.....

Glenice made a lovely flower embroidered quilt.

 

Claire made a cute quilt for one of her friends newborn baby.

Lorraine completed this beautiful stitchery and applique quilt.

Lynne's Cat Quilt coming off the long-arm :)

Claire yet again with another finished project - her Snowball Quilt.

 We also had a couple of Not The Farmers Wife quilting group too...unfortunately I have not taken many shots of these events :( Other than this one with once again ....Claire with her nearly finished one of her Kim Diehl wall quilts (has since been completed)

 Friday just gone was the latest get together....here is Lorraine with her template....

 ...and showing us how to use it!!!! LOL

 And just to finish off, I must share this cute (well I think it is) pic of Tiger and Rose having dinner together :)

 Hopefully, the next blog will not be as long away as the last one.....

Winter, wet, cold....

...and just soooooo over it already! Never the less, we must plod on! So...since my last post, things have been busy!  Some of the Thursday Craftie's have embarked on a few new projects.  Margaret has been making these delightful shopping bags.

Nancy fashioned this bag using the 3D cameo as the main theme and built the bag up around it.

Ella brought in three of her waistcoats to display for ideas to use in our next project - a crazy patch project - either a waistcoat or cushion cover.

Also since last posting, a few more of the ladies have finished their Grandmothers Flower Garden Friendship quilts.  The first is Pats.

 The next is Joyces.

 The last for the month is Beths.

All different and all lovely! Only a couple or so to go before we can get a group pic of them all!!!

Mary completed her embroidered quilt top this week, ready to get put together now and get quilting!!

SW has been squirrelling some time away in his shed....trying to keep a surprise from me...but I found out before it was finished! Isnt it cute? Its my new 1/24th scale house "The Maddison" (bit like Bates Motel my brother thinks!)

I was also given a couple of boxes containing items to be decorated for our Miniature Festival in August.  One was the first item displayed - an empty false book, it has a print of the Eiffel Tower on the outside.  Was trotting along past some scrapbook items and saw the lovely little red dresses, and the light went on in the old head!  So we now have a little Moulin Rouge display that will be raffled off at the Festival.

My next challenge was a gathering of bits from a kit - so now we have a cute little coffee shop also to be raffled off with the other room boxes at the Festival.

I have been attending a workshop at the miniature club for the last few months.  Christmas Bon Bons have been the project in 1/48th scale.  But for some reason I have not photgraphed mine yet??!!! But here is a peak at one of the other members Bon Bons!

The next pic is of my colleagues from the YWCA Encore team and our boss Karen, who sadly finished her contract with the Y.  So we all met for dinner and said farewell to her (even though its only a work farewell as Karen will be around in other ways to help out with our programme.) (Me, Karen, Ruth, Judy, Ros and Margaret)

What would a posting be without mention of the Snobs & Slobs???  This Snob is now beginning to be an over achiever in her field of quilt making.  Lorraine has done christmas stitcheries in between charm pack squares for this little lap quilt (or table cloth?!)

She also has put together this jelly roll log.

And not quite done yet is her Farmers Wife quilt which is being hand quilted - so stay tuned for that one!

Lynne completed this lovely little Noahs Ark quilt - well almost completed, awaiting the name of the recipient baby at time photo was taken - so no label attached yet :)

Last week I had an appointment in the city and all the way from the car to the building these two little parrots flew or walked in front of me singing! How sweet was that?

So now the pics bring us to the past weekend....SW and I were lucky enough to be able to enjoy a visit to Ambleside - a lovely holiday home in Moonta Bay courtesy of the Otis Foundation and some lovely people who donate their house to the cause for periods of time.

Unfortunately most of the time we were there, the rain was heavy and the wind was blowy and cold so we only ventured outdoors a couple of times.  However, the kitchen wall said it all and thats what we did....

 

Whilst in Moonta town center, we spotted this quaint little house in between two rather large shops

sadly I don't believe anyone lives there anymore but must of been quite a nice little place to live once.

 

Just noticed the time stamp on the photos and they are wrong :( Will have to check camera out)
Anyhow, Sunday evening was quite a calm evening and the sea looked half reasonable - wasnt thinking of going for a dip though - so this was the right hand view from our holiday home.

 Directly below us - grass was in our garden.

 Then out to the left.

 The sea and the sun always make a lovely pic together no matter the weather. 

 Till next time, stay warm!

I dont believe it!

....that so much time has passed since my last blog!!!! I also don't believe that I haven't taken that many photos since then either! Getting rather slack in my old age :)

So...since the last time I was here...SW and I went away so that I could go to a Workshop on the Yorke Peninsular, we have had Easter - nice break catching up with family and friends, school holidays - time to catch up on some work, getting ready for the next Encore program along with some quilting and miniatures!

The girls at the IQ Workshop - very interesting day - other than the fact I got a speeding fine on the way back to the cabin! First one in 26 years!!!Shiela managed to finish of her Easter eggs too - just in time! lucky grandchildren :)We also went to a friends birthday lunch - was quite funny to say the least.... blowing out the candles...Still blowing out the candles....with the help of hubby and brother and friend......and then the realisation that they cant be blown out!I had a couple of friends over for lunch the other day and was blessed with these beautiful flowers as a gift! Got some choccies too but they're gone so cant show you them!!! LOL

And tonight I have done the first floor in my miniature home. This is 1/48th scale - so that's quarter of what I am used to working in. Very interesting and makes you think even beyond the outside of the square you think in doing 1/12th or 1/24th!! Challenges!!!! Stay tuned for floor 2 coming in May.