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

Happy New Year!!!

Hi all,  hoping my readers had a very Happy Christmas. 
I have been going through a bit of a rough time recently so have been feeling very unlike posting on my blog....in fact at times I have questioned why I really bother....and I still don't have an answer to that....but something keeps drawing me back to do the odd post now and then.  So for the time being I will keep doing that.

So wanting to wish you a Very Happy 2013..... and may your year be richly blessed.

Hope to see you again soon.

No name!!!

Recent times have seen me busy with lots of different things....a little while back, my work was very generous and gave the staff  Red Balloon gift certificates.....this enabled staff to get experiences such as fishing, massages, cooking classes and a huge variety of other activities....their website is worth taking a look at.  So, one of my colleagues and I decided to participate in a chocolate making class which was fantastic.  I decided to use the remainder of my voucher taking a friend for lunch at Sydney's Centrepoint Tower recently also.

Here is a photo of some of the chocolates we made...

Last month was my nephew's 5th birthday and he asked me to make his cake....this is what I came up with (thanks to a google search of Lego Birthday cake ideas).

Whilst in Sydeny recently, I went to the newly opened Marimekko Store and had fun looking at all of the beautiful products and also splurged on a piece of fabric.....there were too many choices, however I decided on this....and sadly, this is where the photos end.....somehow I have used up my quota of storage for photos on blogger.....so that said, I have decided to start posting photos onto Instagram.....it is so much simpler and quicker....especially for uploading photos...and I can also do it really easily on my IPad...given that, I may not be updating my blog as often (or not even, given my tardiness in recent months!!!)

Hello

sooooo....another 2 months has passed to the day since my last post....and a busy couple of months it has been...this week I have returned from a few days in Sydney for a work conference and catching up with a friend.  I had a lovely time, the conference was really worthwhile and it was a bit sad to leave....but I know I will return again soon.  In the meantime, I had better show you some photos of my time away...and perhaps the past couple of months....

this is a stitchery I made for a friend's birthday....she has recently acquired an Eames chair.....not such a great photo

the photo below is of the most amazing coffee machine I saw during a weekend away in Hepburn last month...and they also made good coffee

I made this "Orla Kiely" inspired cushion for a work colleague who moved into a new home some time back...she loved it....

This photo was taken when a couple fo work colleagues who were in Sydney the week before me at their own conference and we met up for dinner on the Friday night at Red Lantern and then again when we visited Adriano Zumbo at "The Star"...for those readers from overseas, Adriano Zumbo is an amazing pastry chef who appears regularaly on the show here called MasterChef and presents incredible challenges for the contestants of the show....can I just say that this creation below tasted even better than it looks....it is called "Happy Birthday"...here is a description....

Flourless chocolate biscuit, chocolate sabayon mousse, ultimate chocolate brownie, caramel mou, milk chocolate chantilly and cocoa nib nougatine with a White chocolate and Passionfruit glaze.

...the boxes in the background are his "Zumbarons" ie....macarons....also delicious!

and after we had cut into the cake.....

 the conference included a dinner cruise on Sydney Harbour....whilst the sights were lovely, the cruise itself was somewhat boring as I didn't know anyone else and it went for way too long and I could not escape!!!! but I managed to get this great photo of Luna Park...



and this shot of the Opera House... 

and finally a photo of the cake I wanted to buy Dad for his Birthday which was yesterday....but sadly, Zumbo's does not recommend excessive transportation of such a  masterpiece





well, that is all for now....will be back some time in the future...I am not going to make any more promises of posting on any sort of regular basis!!!





I am back!!!

Goodness me, is it really nearly 2 months since I did a post????  Life has certainly been busy....I have lots of personal stuff going on...but won't elaborate just yet....anyhooooo, apart from my personal stuff, here are a few other things which have also been keeping me semi busy...
Last month a group of us from work went to a cupcake decorating class....these were my results....

 

I have also been busy finishing of a couple of quilts...the greena dn cream is one for friends who turned 40 and 50 a year or so back.....it is a very good feeling to have finished this one.....the bright one is just one I made because I bought some very cute fabrics...and was prompted to get going to make it....just need to quilt it now.

This weekend I have done some baking...my favourite Bill Granger's Almond and Raspberry Slice...Yummmm

Last week I had a couple of days off work and did some sightseeing in my own home town...I didn't take many photos, however I thought the top of the Eureka Tower looked speactacular with the sun reflecting off the gold.....love the haze bouncing off it....

and a post would not be complete without a photo of my two "babies"  who are not so little anymore....tthey seem to have had a major growth spurt in the past week or two....