After the storm

Christmas has come and gone - lovely day with in-laws for Summer Fruit and Croissant breakfast at our house, then a late lunch at my parents of Turkey, Ham (and Pork for all the little piggies who needed more on their plate!), roast vegies and oh so yummy Plum Pud!  Have I told you about my mum's Pud?  We had the 'old' one!! hehehe It was The BEST!  I also love cold plum pud for snacks for days after oh yeah!

Well we still have the tree up and various pressies under it, cos certain members of the family can't seem to get back to us as to when they are 'free' for us to pop over with pressies for them and the kids.

How many times do we need to ask?

Would it be wrong to do a drive-by and THROW the presents onto their porch!!!  

'Fraid the Christmas spirit is flying away here....

Some photos of a present for my pasta-adoring DD1 - so she can have pasta coming out her ears!!!

Hubbie loves making Lasagna - and we love eating it!

A long overdue photo of DD1's textile project at school:  a request for fabric was given the all-clear to raid the stash and she chose some zebra print (an oppy find that was just waiting for her!), and some Scotty dogs for the internals.  

I think she did a fantastic job!

Fabric Stash Just Increased

Some wonderful people, namely hubbie extraordinaire and new friend Janellybelly, chatted for aproximately 30 mins last week. In Perth, Western Australia.

At a Fabric Store: Textile Traders.

Apparently the other women in the store were agog that a man was there, buying metres and metres of fabric for his woman back home!

What a honey!

Janelle very kindly got some lovely AB Midwest Modern together and then via phone, chose some gorgeous AB Chantelier fabric for backing and some other spots and stripes.

8 m of AMH - for D2's bedroom curtains:

8m of AMH for seaside curtains:

Great choices Janelle!

She was very naughty and gave Me a present - I mean, the girl did all this work for me, and then decided that that wasn't enough!

What a gorgeous bag - love love love the label inside too!

Sunday Stash....& a bit of Cath....& a bit of oohlala

I keep (accidently) deleting my photos from this post - but I will prevail - Bag of Cath will be shown!  Now it is out of order and all mixed up, but anyway.....straight off the plane (see below)..

It's going everywhere with me!

Found this lovely piece of info about French toile......Oh, French General please move to Melbourne! 

Do any Melbournians know of any shop similar?

 Here are some lovely french textiles from French General.......

My Mum came back from a London trip with lots of goodies for Moi!

Under strict instructions to visit the Cath Kidston store conveniently located in the village she was staying in!!!!  she bought me these......(I actually gave her a list of things I liked from the online shop and just said ...you choose!!

She chose GOOD!

Little egg cosy - love it!

Tea towel and oven mitts - love love love!

My Sunday Stash......(Sundays are tooo busy for me at the moment for any talk about stashing, but better late than never)

I promised some photos of my toile stash:  

This one is probably my Very First piece of quilt fabric

She'll be apples

Remember I mentioned 'dogS' in my last post; well, this is our second bundle of joy (fur) for 5 weeks, as neighbours travel around the world (sending us cruel emails about french pastries)

Gemma

A great big bundle of soft black fur, power-walking -arm-dislocating, hungry-as-a-hippo, cat-staring, guinea-pig cage herding, hand-pushing-want-a-pat, lovely dog.

Her owners gave us 'happy' pills to give her for the first few days of home-sickness - I am happy to say that she is now a fully recovering addict and has stopped sighing and moping around the house.  Her funniest trick so far has been 'apple-bobbing'; a stray piece of dry dog food ends up in her water bowl and she 'bobs' to get it out! She snorts and coughs, but keeps at it, until Score! Classic!

Get a long bit of this.....

with a touch of that......

add some whimsy.......

and you get a ........

Very Simple Pressie for someone to sling across their back as they wander down the shops - love its vintage roots.  Hubbie thinks it's my best one yet.  I might just agree.

A little bit of Australia in a Quilt

'Quilt Australia' was in the op-shop window, calling my name softly!

This book is a great showcase of talented quilters in The Quilter's Guild, in 1988. The collection of quilts came from the Guild's Exhibition, and has some remarkable pictures, stories and a sad postscript.

Australis by Fiona Gavens, Whiteman Creek, NSW

Both my mum and hubbie were pouring over this one, to work out the pattern.

Aerodrome by Jan Irvine, Sydney NSW
'The light in the Australian landscape is, at times, arresting and timelessly beautiful'.

Peninsula by Pamela Timmins, Sydney NSW

Barrier Reef Quilt (2) by Cynthia Morgan, Brisbane, QLD

A Sunburnt Country by Judy Turner, Canberra, ACT

I love the birds.

But I Like A Happy Ending by Sue Rowley, Wollongong, NSW

Monday, at Work on the Willoughby Bicentennial Banners by Margaret Maccioni, Sydney NSW

Bicentennial Birds, Beasts and Blossoms by Star of the Sea College, Melbourne, VIC

Impressions of Broken Hill by Margaret Maccioni, Sydney, NSW

Landscapes by Beverley Sach, Canberra ACT

Landscape - Eternal Summer by Batik Association of ACT, Canberra, ACT

Emma's Quilt by Sally Evers and Betty Brown, Kettering TAS

Unchanging Hues, by Dianne Johnston, Kingaroy, QLD

The Postscript: my heart was gripped when I read that in

"Nov 1987, a group of the exhibition quilts were gathered from around Australia to be photographed for Quilt Australia. Tragically, there was a fire at the studio and 17 quilts were burnt.....The recurring reaction of those whose quilts had been burnt was an incredulous 'but my life was in that quilt'.....Everyone shares in the loss'. Dianne Finnegan

Can you imagine if this was your quilt? Hands reaching out of the ashes - quite symbolic.



Now for something nicely ''kitch' - a tablecloth - is Hungrary's head on backwards?





I read a snippet of this book and must have it - perfect for the 'home from school' questions like what was the name of Captain Cook's ship; who was our first Prime Minister; how many stars are on the Australia flag and so much more!


My Pillowcase Tote from Creative Kismet and Green Mumma - thanks Girls - I have used it many times already and had compliments!