...since my last post! How terrible :( Well, here I am again! Today was the beginning of the Christmas Pageants in South Australia, and for those of you that don't know, we hold the biggest one in the world! Speaking of Christmas, one of the ladies that goes to Thursday craft, entered her Christmas waistcoat into the local show and won a prize! Well done, Mary :)
It has been quite a busy few months, that's my excuse and I am sticking to it!!!!
YWCA Encore Adelaide were successful in securing a decent grant for 2012-13, which has enabled us to be able to run several programs, so that's part of what I have been up to :) Below is two lovely ladies, Marilyn on the left is a volunteer ambassador in SA for
The Otis Foundation ( they provide retreats free of charge for people who have had breast cancer to go and have a holiday with family, friends or supporters) and Ruth, my colleague on the right :) We were at the St Andrews Breast Cancer Luncheon which is held every year. People (and I say people, because breast cancer is applicable to both men and women) who have had BC surgery at St Andrews get to come along for two years after their treatment and can invite a friend to come along. There are guest speakers and a lovely lunch too!
Please ignore the dates on the pics - camera was not set right! So...then it was a bit of quilt therapy for me...I booked in to see
Ricky Tims at the
AMQ Festival :) :) What a fab day we all had (well, I think we all did!) Exhausting, lots of woo hooing and light bulbs going on during the course of the day. The venue was at the Adelaide Convention Centre and I have to say I was impressed - staff were great, food (gluten free!!!) was provided and it was EDIBLE!!!! and delicious :)
This is one of Ricky's quilts, unfortunately the picture does it no justice at all. It is called Bohemian Rhapsody.
Here is one of my friends, Marilyn, with Ricky. He was sooo nice, he signed every ones book and had a picture taken with all that wanted one! You don't get that very often.
And just have to show you all again! This is my 1/12th Quilting studio...
More R&R, this time up to the
Lyndoch Lavender Farm with SW and the Fossils for a lovely morning tea. We then headed up to
Tanunda for lunch (ice cream really), had a mooch around and then headed back home. Believe it or not that took the whole day up! Was my birthday so it was nice to do nothing much.
October was our middle great nieces 5th birthday, sadly I did not get a pic of her :( But this is one of the 8 new puppies in their household. Soooo cute, but no! I am not getting one :)
There is always a fugly pic somewhere, and this is mine for this post. If anyone would like to purchase it (the light fitting that is) it is up for sale. And NO, it does not belong to me, but to one of the Snobs & Slobs, it came with the house she bought.
Last week, we had some lovely weather, so I was able to leave my studio door open while working and in flew this little butterfly! It made a bee-line for the fake flowers and it took me a while to get it to go back out the door.
Other people have been busy too...this is
Quilty Gal holding a baby - two reasons for the pic....1) She doesn't often like to hold babies 2) The baby is only 3 weeks old, but look at that hair!!!!!!!!!!!
Moving right along, we are now in November so that meant it was Father-in-law Fossils 85th Birthday, so I thought I better make him a quilt :) Very easy one to do and I love the way they all turn out differently - "Disappearing Nine Patch". He put it straight on the bed, so I guess he likes it.
This is Tom with the great grand kids and grand nephews and nieces.
These are some of the lovely friends I have made through doing Encore. We get together for dinner every 5-6 weeks and its always a laugh.
The Adelaide Quilt and Craft was on this weekend. I had not been for a couple of years so was eager to go and see what was out there. The Eggers had a lovely display - so here is a few of what they did this year.
The quilt display was good, but this one caught our eyes (mine and Quilty Gals) cos its different. It is a Dragons back with a tattoo of a lady who has a tattoo of a dragon :) Congrats too to
Tara and
Lizzy for winning a prize with the Farmers Granddaughter quilt - just beautiful!
Well....that's about it for now folks, probably bored you enough at one time! Till later, I better go and do some more work!
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.
Many of the ladies have been making these cute Christmas trees - they are recycled Women's Weekly magazines (300+ pages ones) believe it or not!
There is even an angel to go on top a tree - altho I think she would be rather large for these trees! LOL
Another of the Grandmothers Flower Garden friendship quilts is nearly finished. This one is Jeans.
Lorraine has nearly completed hers too. She is very happy about it believe it or not!
This one is Netty's - I think it is about one of her first quilt projects! Well done!
I attended the Lyell McEwin Hospital Volunteers Christmas B-B-Q at the weekend - guess who should turn up???
And to end this short post with a note to say thank you to Nancy and Peter for the beautiful welcome home flowers!
We took a trip to Whitby, which is about 1 or so hours down the coast from where we are staying in the North East. Beautiful seaside resort, had the BEST fish & chips there! (Cod, fresh, yum!!!) Most of the streets in the main part of Whitby are old and as they were pretty much when they were built (except for electricity and running water I would say) This was one of them and thought it was really cute.
This red building is where Captain Cook lived while doing his apprenticeship.
We walked up to Whitby Abbey, this is the view of the beach and surrounding countryside.
Whitby Abbey, some of the gravestones can not be read, but we found a few that dated back to the late 17oo's.
This is John Freeman who has been painting for many years and does the most wonderful pictures of the Whitby area.
Another of the streets of Whitby.
You certainly would not need be tall to live here comfortably!!!
On the way home we stopped at Hartlepool and were crossing the road when this unfortunate chap lost his rear wheel! It missed us by seconds!!! Someone had loosened his wheel nuts in the car park of McDonald's just minutes before. Very lucky no one was hurt.
Next day was a beautiful day of 24oC (the locals didn't like the 'heat' tho), so we took a trip to the local beach and Marsden Rock. Here I found Beach Henge (LOL)
Marsden Rock to the left in the distance and Marsden Grotto on the right.
Inside the Grotto. It is an old smugglers lair and has been many things over the years. Now, as it has been for quite a long time, it is a cafe and restaurant.
Then it was off to walk the pier at Shields. Alas, it was closed cos there were divers doing their work :( But this is the Little Beach at Shields looking back from the beginning of the pier.
Next day trip was to Cragside. (This pic from the Northumberland Web as I could not get a good one of my own!) It was the home of Lord Armstrong who was a great inventor)
Of course! a miniature house was to be seen inside.
The formal gardens were a delight.
Tiles were the order for some of the hallways. Another quilt coming on???
This pic is a little yellow because of the lighting. It is red work on a cream and is very old.
This quilt was made around 1870. It has a fine net over it to keep it together along with a radiator and temperature gauge to keep it at the right temperature.
This Grandmothers Flower Garden is made of 100% silk. 95% of the items in Cragside are original to the house.
The pool room was as great as all the other rooms in the house. However, you are allowed to play on this table if you wish!!! So Dad and John had a go.
The Rock Garden.
There is a Labyrinth in the gardens which was a pleasant walk around with many carvings on the way.
This 'little' toadstool was hanging off one of the trees - it must of been about 10-12'' in diameter.
Back at Gloria and Johns and it was breakfast time - little Springer having his bran flake!
I will leave you for now with the sun glistening on the beach....
