Inspiration & Update

Hi to all who have been following the fire updates here in Victoria. Thankfully I have not been under direct threat where I live, but it has been a tense few weeks as I work in an area which has been directly threatened by the fires. I also visited a client the other week who had lost everything and to see the devastation first-hand was inexplicable....but the determination and courage shown by my client and many thousands in similar circumstances is really humbling and makes me extremely thankful for my own situation.

Last weekend my local group of patchworking buddies organised a 2 day workshop with the wonderful Gloria Loughman. If you ever get the opportunity to do a workshop with her, go for it....it was so inspiring. It was also a most welcome relief for me to stop listening to fire updates on the radio and to actually create something.
The workshop we chose to do was called "Layer by Layer". We could use one of Gloria's patterns or interpret our own photo or inspiration.

So here is my starting photo.....I took this photo when I visited "Cloudhill" earlier in the year.

and here is my interpretation of it....

Enjoy your weekend !

Amazing Photo

With all the devastation and heartbreak around Victoria at present, I just had to share this photo which is currently doing the rounds....and yes, it is real. The link to the whole video footage is here.

Just felt the need for a little encouragement...

Weather Extremes!

Thought I would do a quick update, especially for those of you living overseas who may be wondering about the Bushfires currently happening in Australia at present. I live in an area on the outskirts of Melbourne which is commonly known as the "Urban Fringe". This generally describes where the suburbs abutt bushland. There has been a long history in Australia of bushfires and with the extremes of weather we have been experiencing, this means that those of us on the fringes are at much greater risk of bushfires.


I have been prepared for some time if fire directly hits my home, and yesterday with temperatures reaching the mid to high 40's (that is celsius....) I kept checking at the back of my property where I have a bush trail to see if there was anything happening. In Melbourne itself yesterday it reached 46.4 (115 Fahrenheit)...and in the outer areas and inland it reached up to the high 40's...

Anyway, late in the day, my neighbour came in and asked had I seen what was happening out the front.....and the picture above is what presented itself as I stepped onto my front verandah....needless to say, it was pretty scary.... thankfully though (for me) the wind was blowing the smoke in the opposite direction to my area....but I did spend the night waking regularly to check the news....Sadly there have been many lives lost throughout these fires and many many homes and even whole towns lost to these fires....I think it will particularly affect the area where I work as it is even further out from the city with much more dense bush....A couple of towns within relatively short distances from my work have been devastated and my thoughts at this time are particularly with some of my work colleagues who live in or close to these areas.

In contrast though, are the major floods currently being experienced in the far north of our country, particularly in Queensland....Talk about extremes.

Anyway, I would ask that those who are inclined, to please pray for our country, the amazing job the Emergency Services Personnel are doing and for those who have already lost loved ones and property and those still under threat. May God bring relief to the devastating drought conditions and fires here down south....and also relief to those suffering loss from floods up north.

Coping with heat and stuff

I realise that my posts have been a bit thin on the ground the past couple of weeks.....having returned to work and getting through a heatwave that we are experiencing here in Melbourne has meant that not much sewing has been done.....I have managed to do a bit of reading which has been nice..

Staying Cool.....I am blessed to have an air-conditioner in my bedroom....I find that if I can't get to sleep, am pretty much a write-off the next day....so this has been a great relief in the night time...

I am also a huge coffee fan...I don't drink lots of it, but I am very snobby about drinking good quality coffee....well, it has been too hot to have my regular lattes, so one of my favourite's is to make an iced coffee....you basically make one shot of espresso, stuff a large glass with ice-cream (about 4 scoops) and pour the espresso over the ice-cream...I must admit though, I do let the espresso cool down to room temperature or even pop it in the fridge to get really cold if I am not in a hurry.

I mentioned in my last post that I have been doing some pattern testing for Melly and Me...well here is a sneak peek of the fabrics I am using for the latest things I have been working on.....