Guess who came to dinner?

My son and his partner have adopted a dog from the RSPCA - apparently my grandson! Clay is so cute but decided that at my place he just might sit on the chair...not for long Clay!

 Who could resist!

He is quite big (English foxhound we think)and could hardly fit.

We think he may have been left a couple of times - why I don't know because he is such a good dog as we found this on the web http://www.petrescue.com.au/view/84789

Entally House or Cradle Mountain continued...

Saturday morning after a short walk we went to have a look at Entally House. I hadn't been for years so was great to go again. One of the bedrooms had a quilt on the bed donated by a the 'Patchwork 16" sewing group in 1986/87.

 Hexies again! Hey I found some older than mine!

We stayed in Launceston at Peppers Seaport Hotel and was sad the next day when N and C left for home. Oh well time to plan the next visit :)

Cradle Mountain

Last Thursday I drove off to Cradle Mountain to spend some time with my daughter and her husband. N and C had come down from the Hunter Valley the weekend before and now was time for me to join them. I was very excited.

We stayed at Cradle Mountain Lodge, what a fantastic place. The accomodation was absolutely tops and the meals were just superb.

 This 'splash' is a platypus who delighted us every morning as we went down to breakfast by popping up in unexpected places around the lake. 

 Wild life everywhere, this potoroo was beside the boardwalk between our cabins and the main lodge.

 This cheeky bird came down onto my deck as soon as I opened my door and no I didn't feed him!

 This was the interior of N and C's cabin, just luxury.

 N and C on a rock overlooking Dove Lake. Snow everywhere.

 On Friday we walked around Dove Lake which was very challenging for me as there was a big pile up of snow on the boards making it very slippery. Luckily I had N to help me though!

P.S. Thanks N and C for a lovely birthday present.

Birthdays

My good friend M and I had a great day sewing on Sunday. I made a laptop bag for my brother's birthday.....rather late  as his birthday was on the 10th July but that happens :) and an eco bag for my friend S whose birthday was on Sunday so not quite so late. Marie bought her quilt to show me, she made it for her granddaughter who chose the middle panel.

 The eco bag for Sue, I think this is the best one I have made.

The bag has a pocket so you can fold it all up and pop it in your handbag to have on hand for those little things you just have to buy. 

 This is the laptop bag for MBBIM, I went out to buy a manly material for him and this one popped into my hands instead, oh well lovely and cheerful!

I had a great day chatting and sewing and love what I have made.

Sydney, Mary Poppins, Whales and MBD

Last Friday I flew to Sydney to meet up with my beautiful daughter N for a fantastic girlie weekend.

Of course the first stop from the plane was Peter's of Kensington - well why break with tradition. We had a lunch on arrival, another tradition and saw this table on display. WOW

I did manage to resist :) 

We settled into our hotel(Sir Stamford - highly recommended, the staff were absolutely fantastic, nothing was too much trouble) and set out to find dinner (yes eating again) and the movies. We went to see Oranges and Sunshine and enjoyed it but not one to see twice.

 Here is N dressed against the cold. Oh did I say we also did a little bit of city shopping as well.

 This is the view from our hotel window!

 Whale watching! Saturday we boarded a boat to find some whales and were we lucky! Just passed the heads in Sydney and we came across a couple.

 This believe it or not is a whale, long way away but I was very excited....as other than this I had many shots of water!

Saturday night we dressed for the theatre and off we went to see Mary Poppins, we had a delish Thai meal next to the theatre. The show was great and our seats were FANTASTIC, well picked N!

 Sad Sunday, my last day with MBD. We went for a wander around the Botanic Gardens, can you believe the bats in this tree, they were everywhere through the gardens.

Busy weekend

The sunset tonight and last night looked magnificent even though the cause (ash from a volcano in Chile) has disrupted air travel to Tassie, including my poor brother and sister-in-law who now have a confirmed flight......due back today and the confirmed flight is NEXT Tuesday over a week later and only the offer of one nights accomodation.

I took these tonight but you can see last night's sunset at Mike's blog.

 Finally decided I needed to get onto the cushions for my daughter's sun lounge, they are so big and heavy to handle. The bad news is that I had nearly finished cutting them out when I realised that the pattern is directional; so the bottom is the wrong way and I have managed to just scrimp the tops out of the rest of the material after going to Spotlight to see if they had any more only to be disappointed.

Would have been fine if the right way - see zip this is really at the back :(

 I have started some wool embroidery as well, maybe a gift if it works out right, first time I have done any...

Don't ask

when I started these but I have the bug again. Mumble, mumble it is more than ten years ago. I know I am so slack but the shoe box came to light and I have started again.

193 done, maybe another 700 before I have a quilt top.....

I really love the material in the hexies at the front. I think I bought it about 15 years ago and this is the last.

More parties!

Breakfast and lunch! My baby brother will be 60 this week and we celebrated with our big brother and their partners at breakfast at the Smith Street Store Cafe in North Hobart. It was great to catch up, we hadn't been together for a while. Then on to Marie's ummumm (no I am not going to give a number!) birthday for lunch. Her grandchildren were there and insisted on some party games unfortunately I was late and missed my favourite, pass the parcel. Marie and I even managed to get a bit of sewing done later on in the afternoon.

The lucky dip was very popular, now let's play with our prizes!

 I took these photos of the garden yesterday, the yellow plants were tiny bits I stole from my brother's plant. Haven't they done well.

There are three here but don't they look good and in winter too!



Close up of the flowers.

Found on the doorstep

Came home last night and found this package on the doorstep

 I have been so busy at work that I completely forgot it was on its way. Barb rang me earlier in the week to say that she had finally managed to get everything ready after a very eventful move! You can see all about it on her blog or buy some lovely buttons at http://www.theodoracleave.com/.

Aren't these just beautiful, I love them! So lucky to receive an extra one as well, thank you Barb!

Home again, home again

I had a fantastic time catching up with family in Melbourne on the weekend.

These are the eco bags I made for all the "girls"

 Busy Saturday morning collecting lebanese pastries for the party and of course we had to stop and watch the day pass with a coffee at the A1 Cafe in Sydney Road. Well it is tradition. Then 50 filled balloons were somehow squashed into the car and off to the party!

Grandpa was really into the swing! Caity is not so sure!

Lots of fun things to do, aren't I clever!

I knew it was going to be a fairy party!

Yumm my favourite - ice cream cake!

Sunday was Krissie's 40th birthday (she will kill me now!) so we went to breakfast to celebrate. We had a fantastic breakfast at the Fine and Dandy Foodstore Cafe, and were their first booking ever! It was great to catch up and see Vivi and Kieran as well. But all good things must come to an end and back to reality today.

It's a party!

My invitation

Saturday is party day and I am invited, how exciting! Especially having the invitation mailed to "Great auntie Libby", how did the postie know it was me? Lots of sewing done to take with me. More photos of what I have made after the weekend ☺

Lunch bag and other things

I have had a great day today sewing and talking (yes quite a bit of that went on) with my good friend Marie.

I made a 'lunch' bag for my Great Niece's 5th birthday - I am off to her party in Melbourne in a couple of weeks. I bought the kit at the Launceston Craft Fair and I am quite pleased with the result.



Here is a little peek at the bag, filled with gorgeous goodies for a lovely girl.

The kit came from Bebe Japanese textiles, I could hardly drag myself away from the stall and bought quite a few other bibs and bobs there.


I also started some beautiful dolls, from a pattern by Rosalie Quinlan that I just couldn't resist when I visited the Quilted Crow this week. I now have little legs, arms and bodies as well as some clothes but I was so frustrated with not being able to find anything that I left that to do a big tidy up!
Till next time!

These are sooo tiny, an art to turn them...but I am getting there, filling will be interesting.



Update

Couldn't resist putting this up; only a week and here it is all put together, wonder how long it will take to finish?

Doesn't it look fantastic, haven't decided what to do with it yet.