mill rosie friends ~ september 2013.....

Our third get together for the year, meeting at the gorgeous Mill Rose Cottage in Ballan (as we always do, hence the name of our group, the Mill Rosie Friends), was soooo much fun, as always.

Mill Rose gorgeousness 

There were (I think) 16 ladies this time, and much laughter was enjoyed, sharing of crafty doings, eating, drinking, and having a wonderful time.  There was a lovely swap of designs made from Michelle Ridgway patterns, and although I had opted out this time, once again some of the ladies had made really beautiful swap gifts.

such beautiful and generous swap gifts

Some time after our last get together, Sue, Marg, Tracee and myself saw a mug rug book, and as we knew how much Shez loves mug rugs - NOT - we bought it for her, and also each made one of the patterns out of it.  It was a fun and cheeky joke, and Shez played along so well.  Sue and I laughed so much our faces were hurting in the end, and I think everyone else really enjoyed our joke.

doesn't Shez look thrilled....

After lunch we had our usual session of  show and tell.  My goodness, these ladies are talented; we saw some of the most beautiful crafty makes, and were very inspired by these lovely and clever ladies.

Elyte's gorgeous minis - I LOVE mini quilts

just a few of the amazing and beautiful show and tell items

We all again indulged in a bit of retail therapy - actually I don't think it is possible to leave Mill Rose without buying anything - and I was very happy with my purchases, some William Morris fabric and some taupe, red, and dark blues I am collecting at the moment for a couple of future projects.

a William Morris fat quarter bundle, very cleverly presented

All too soon our lovely day came to an end; but we are soooo looking forward to the next one in November.

Thank you ladies for such a wonderful day xxx

fnsi september '13.....

Well, I did have a lovely evening, enjoying my first FNSI.....

I started earlier in the evening before dinner, quilting, trimming and machine sewing the binding on this mug rug for Shez ~

After dinner, with FNSI now in full swing, I hand sewed the binding down.  I must admit, I love this; this pink floral is some of my most favourite fabric ever.  I might just have to make one for myself!

Next up was sewing these hexies for Sue ~

Sue was asked to repair this quilt below for an acquaintance, but it has turned out to be a HUGE job, which has now gone on for a very long time.  She is on the last stretch now, but it has become a bit tedious, so I have been helping her out a little with making some of these hexie flowers using 1/2" hexies.  I actually really enjoy them (in fact, I can see a 1/2" hexie flower quilt or two somewhere in my future...), so these were sewn on Friday night.

and lastly, I made these hexies, ready for glue basting and sewing at our Mill Rosie friends get together tomorrow - more on that to follow.

I really enjoyed my first FNSI - it will definitely be in the diary from now on!

friday night sew-in.....

Tonight I will be playing along here for a lovely evening of sewing,

snuggling with Ollie and generally just relaxing and enjoying the

end of the working week.

Plans are afoot for some quilting and binding, sewing a few hexies, and sewing for a group challenge.....

Have a lovely evening, whatever you are doing!

xxx

crafty hijinks in ballarat

We all had the most brilliant day yesterday at the inaugural Crafty Hijinks get together. 

Superbly organised by the fabulous and hysterically funny Gillian and Jodie, it was a day filled with fun, friendship, sharing, and generosity.

gillian & jodie 

Giveaways and raffles were organised with fantastic items generously donated by some wonderful people, classes given in colour theory, rag rug making (a hilarious tutorial given by Jodie) and Bec showing some of the ladies the technique of making hexie flowers using the glue method (which incidentally is my favourite way of making them too).

There were several stalls selling all sorts of crafty goodness - Emma of Ballarat Patchwork (who will soon be closing the doors of her lovely shop for the last time, sadly), Nicole Mallalieu of You Sew Girl, Camille Condon of Curlypops, and Claire Gee of Matching Pegs.  

I won this gorgeous pattern in the giveaways, generously donated by Claire of Matching Pegs - thank you Claire!.

I was actually astounded by the sheer volume of items donated for the giveaways and raffles, and the generosity of the people who donated them.  Not that I should have been; quilters are among the most generous people I have ever met.

Bec

Marg and Tracee concentrating hard on learning to make hexie flowers

Sue enjoying her day

a room full of crafty ladies

our friends Christine and Melody, (great photos of the day also on Melody's blog) from our Mill Rosies bloggers group 

Marg and Tracee having a great time

 Morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea was provided, and there was more than ample for everyone.

The day was concluded with a visit to The Crafty Squirrel, the gorgeous shop of Morgan Wills, who opened her doors especially for our visit.  This shop is absolutely well worth a visit if you are ever in Ballarat.  Morgan is very talented, and the shop is a small but fascinating place with so much to look at, and of course buy, and we all could not resist bringing something home with us - for me some gorgeous red and aqua buttons (including the cutest little red squirrels), some plastic sewing needles for rag rug making, some beautiful Valdani thread, a babushka gift tag which I plan to use as a bookmark, and a bag of buttons for use in some future crafty doings.

The consensus was that a wonderfully fantastic day was enjoyed by all, and we would all be back next year - with bells on!

Thank you Gillian and Jodie!

crafty hijinks.....

Tomorrow, Sue, Marg, Tracee and I are off to Crafty Hijinks at Ballarat.

I am sooo looking forward to it - it sounds like it is going to be a great day!

another weekend away ~ part 2.....

So, on our wonderful weekend away, although I didn't end up sewing all that I had planned, I did get a 'Blanket of Love' mini quilt quilted, and made a few blocks for Sharon's 'I Spy' quilt which she is so kindly and thoughtfully putting together for a very sick little boy.

We had a really gorgeous walk along on the beach on Monday, seeing pelicans, starfish and jellyfish in our travels. 

 

The beach textures were really interesting ~

We did hope for some dolphins, but sadly none were to be seen.... 

The day was really hazy, and it was hard to see where the sea ended and the horizon started.  It was just the perfect day - I felt like I had a little glimpse of paradise..... The little dots are boats in the distance ~

Although Ollie is not a rescue dog as such, he did have one home where he was badly mistreated, and is now a very timid and nervous little doggie, even though he has come out of his shell a lot in the two and a half years I have had him.  All the same, I was not sure how he would go on the weekend, as I hadn't taken him away before, but he surprised us all, and even got his feet wet in the sea water on Monday. 

doggies contemplating the ocean.....

Sue's Toy Voyagers had a lovely time enjoying the sun too, relaxing in their deck chairs ~

All too quickly it was time to go home.  Sadly, Ollie has quite a phobia about going in cars, shaking, whining and whimpering even before he gets in the car. You wouldn't have known that though, looking at this photo ~

Luckily he did cope better than I thought he would in the car, both there and back.  Tupai just snoozed his way home in the back of the car.....

We had a quick stop to stretch our legs on the way home and found this beautiful scenery late in the afternoon, not far from home ~

and, sadly, that was the end of another gorgeous weekend away...... 

another weekend away ~ part 1.....

I am incredibly blessed and privileged to have a friend like Sue, who is such a generous and kind person.  Sue invited me to go the beach at St Leonards with her a couple of weeks ago, where we had also spent a great weekend a few weeks ago along with Marg and Tracee.  It was just Sue and I this time though, and our dogs, Tupai and Ollie. 

It was the most wonderful weekend ~ 

We enjoyed a walk along the seafront, looking at the bollards, in Geelong on the way ~

and a lovely walk along the beach at St Leonards each day ~

Tupai just loves the water, and can't wait to just dive right in ~

Ollie had me up early on Sunday morning, and the sunrise was beautiful ~

We had lovely food, wonderful company (two and four legged!), did some sewing, lots of reading, and generally just relaxed and enjoyed life.

I did have big plans for lots of sewing that I wanted to get done, but silly me managed to pack my cutting mat and rotary cutter into my car, but then forgot to transfer them over to Sue's car for the drive to St Leonards.  I did still manage to get some sewing done, but best laid plans......

more to follow.......

friday night with friends - 06/09/2013.....

OK, I know this post is RIDICULOUSLY late, so I was not going to worry about it.... but I had a change of heart and decided I would still like to post the photos as a reminder of my friends and the lovely night we had together.

Sue, Tracee, Marg and myself had a fun evening at Tracee's home - such an interesting home too, with some of the walls painted with scenery, lots of quilts on display, and gorgeous decor.  As always, we had a lovely time together, with lots of yummy food and drinks, and lots of laughs.

Tracee's dog Harmony was loving all the visitors ~ cuddling with Marg here ~

While Sue amused herself - and us - trying to turn Harmony into a lion ~

Tracee's other gorgeous dog Isis joined in too, but somehow did not make it into a photo, sadly

Marg worked away on her kangaroo quilt - I think this was the very final kangaroo on the whole quilt ~

Sue worked away on some hexies - tiny, little 1/2 inch hexies, mind you - to go on a quilt she is very kindly repairing for a friend ~

Tracee worked on some knitting ~

and showed us some absolutely gorgeous embroidery she had done ~

and I continued working away on my hexie flowers.....

It was a lovely night, spent with lovely friends