Thank you "Anonymous"

I wanted to thank the anonymous person (aka Tamsin) who commented on my blog post from May this year where I talked about the death of my Brother.  Tamsin, your comment was such an encouragement to my family as we have often wondered if the plaque was still  where we placed it all those years ago.  I only walked up there once and did not enjoy the experience at all!  My Dad turned 88 this past week and the walk would be beyond him now....so we were all so pleased to hear it is there....I am so glad you had a lovely day...Mark loved animals so would have been delighted to have the wildlife frolicking around.  Seeing a Lyrebird would also have been a real treat.  Thanks again for taking the time to leave a comment on my blog.

To continue to blog or not?

Well, needless to say, I have been seriously neglecting this blog for some time now....so I am now asking myself the question...Do I continue to blog or not?  At this point in time, I am thinking NOT.  I find I have little to blog about at present, at least not stuff that I am willing to share with all the world...so at this stage I am probably going to say farewell blogging world....I may return in the future....but no guarantees.  Thanks to those over the years who have visited my blog and left comments on occasion....Lisa

30 years ago

Thirty years ago today, our family was altered forever with the death of my youngest Brother, Mark.  Mark was on a school camp and on a walk in the bush, one of his classmates fell and he went to assist her and hit his head, and died many hours later, in cold, wet bush, from a brain haemorrhage.  Today I give thanks for the short 15 years my beloved little Brother was with us, for the joy and delight he brought our family and remember him on this day.
Mark is pictured in the short sleeved, pale blue shirt...this is one of the last photos we have of him....

 Mark is on the right here with bandaids all over his knees!!

New household member

Back in March, I made a wedding cake for my hairdresser who was married at the end of the month.  When I moved out of home over 25 years ago, my mum gave me her old Kenwood Chef bench mixer.  Over the years, it has been a solid and study workhorse for all manner of cooking adventures.  Since seeing the Kitchenaid some years ago, I have wanted to buy one, thought could not justify the purchase when I had a perfectly good mixer which I felt would never die.
So, as I was making the second batch of White Chocolate and butter cream frosting for the cake, I turned off good old Kenny to scrape the sides and when I went to turn him back on again....SILENCE!!!!  So have I shorted out the power I thought to myself.....I kept trying and even the following morning I tried it again and still silence.  Mind you, as I was mxing, I thought to myself, how I would love a Kitchenaid.....perhaps I'll just buy one and give Kenny to one of my work colleagues who had offered to take him off my hands....the old Kenwood was very noisy and sort of freaked my cats out each time I used it.....so the weekend after Kenny died, I took myself off to my most favourite kitchenware/cookware store..."The Essential Ingredient" at Prahran Market and bought myself this little baby.....I opted for the white in the end as most of my kitchen appliances are white...though the array of gorgeous colours was overwhelming....I nearly chose the bright yellow which was ever so cheery...anyway...this is the one I bought.....

So clever!!!

Hey readers...and any Dr Who and David Tennant fans out there in Blogland....go check this blog out to see who made this incredible quilt....

For your amusement and entertainment

Saw this on another of my favourite blogs...."You Had me at Bonjour"and decided I just had to post it on my blog...hoping that it works...Enjoy!!!

Catching up

I recently had the opportunity to show some people I met whilst on my trip to Europe the sights of the Yarra Valley...we had a lovely day catching up.  I took them to Tarrawarra to the Museum there and we enjoyed the exhibition of wonderful art by Geoffrey Smart.  From there we drove up the Black Spur a little way and then popped in to a couple of wineries before stopping at Medhurst Wines for lunch.
Here are the tasting plates we shared....one with seafood/fish products and the other with cheese.....they were so delicious....

Not much else to report at present.....work is work.....the sewing mojo has still not returned....I think I am trying to get over the recent heat wave....and also trying to decided whether to do anything for a big "0" Birthday which I have coming up next month....if anyone has any bright ideas...let me know!!!

anyway....will return soon hopefully...have a great week!

Other new fabric

The friend whom I met last year happened to live in Sydney so I had a few trips up there between September and December.  During one of my trips, I absolutely HAD to visit the recently opened Marimekko store....and of course just HAD to buy something....the store has the most wonderful range of homewares, clothing and  fabrics.  I took this photo of the fabric wall....

 ...and this of the lovely packaging of my purchase

 and the actual fabric....I just love the zing of the yellow and orange against the navy...of course, I have no idea what I will do with the fabric...I did think I may stretch it over a canvas, but think I should actually make something with it...just need to get inspired

an end and a beginning

Well, here I am again to post...I alluded to a rough time I had been having in my most recent post...The story is, is that earlier last year I met a lovely man and we developed what I had hoped would be a long lasting friendship, leading to marriage.  Sadly this has ended and I am left feeling completely confused and heart broken....I won't go into the details as I do not wish to say bad things about this person, however I have been hurt.
So, as they say...when life gives you lemons, make Lemonade....which is my resolve to do....difficult though it may be....so I have resolved to re-energise myself by focussing on the things most important to me in my life...The Lord, family, friends and all of my creative pursuits. 

I must admit, last year I let my patchwork especially slip in the development of this friendship.  I continue to look at my stash of fabrics, WIP's, PNS's, kits etc etc and feel overwhelmed.  It doesn't help much when I keep seeing other projects which I would like to start...I recently purchased a pattern called Green Tea and Sweet Beans from a shop here in Melbourne called Amitie...they have the most wonderful fabrics and patterns...the one I have bought was designed by the owner of the shop....I have taken a photo of the cover and the starter pack of fabrics I also decided that I "needed".  I saw this on the Southern Cross Quilters group I belong to and I have also joined a Yahoo Group of others who also want to do this quilt...so hopefully it will help keep me on track!!!

Well, that will be it for now...I am hoping and planning that my posts will be a bit more frequent than they have been...see you next time