Fabric & goodies

Here is the fabric I bought when I was in QLD. These ones were from Bargain Box, great buys for only $12 meter. Also found some "Aussie Quilters Muslin" - feels lovely and soft, perfect for stitching.

These are the gorgeous fabrics from Patches. Some "Darla" FQ's and some "Clementine" FQ's - both ranges I have never seen here. And she had some lovely linen, so of course I had to stock up on a bit more of that!
These books & patterns I bought from Cath, been wanting to get these books - so glad I did they are just beautiful.
These were my prizes in the games we played, some lovely patterns and a cute recipe card booklet and some kitchen knick knacks. Thanks Khris for putting all of this together.

This was the bag & wallet I received from Khris in the secret sister swap, her and I have very much the same tastes! Her & Naomi also gave everyone a cute little notebook holder and credit card holder, and a little zippered pouch with some first aid essentials in it. If you click on the picture you can see the cute fabric with bandaids on it!

C-R-A-F-T Retreat

Now, this is going to be a really long post with lots of pics!!

Last week I flew to Brisbane on Friday and met up with 10 other members of a Yahoo group that I have been part of for a couple years. I flew up from Sydney, Khris & Naomi from Adelaide, Sharon all the way from New Zealand and the rest were from Queensland. Helena picked me up from the airport - thanks Helena! - and we drove to Ipswich where we met up with Khris, Naomi, Sharon and Jeanette for lunch.

We went to Mt Alford Conference centre about 1.5 hours from Brisbane. What a gorgeous location!!





We spent the weekend dabbling in some crafts ( I learnt to crochet!) and just hanging out and getting to know each other.




The food was all catered for and was absolutely delicious!!



There was also some frivolity with some games organised by Khris . Thanks Khris! As you can see a great time was had by those who joined in!

We had a Secret Sister Swap and here are some pics of what the girls received.





Of course Khris never wears pink or lace!! LOL - but she is obsessed with Owls HAHA

Here is my crocheting, it is 3 times bigger now!

It was hot enough for a couple of swims in this beautiful pool:
On Saturday afternoon another dust storm came through with incredible winds. Even after the dust cleared the winds howled all night, no one got much sleep!
This photo below was taken with the flash on and you can actually see the light reflecting off the dust particles.

Helena came prepared!!
After we left the retreat on Sunday afternoon Khris, Naomi, Sharon & I headed back into Ipswich and stayed in a motel for the night. On Monday we went shopping! Here we are at Bargain Box in Ipswich. Great shop with all patchwork fabric for $12 metre!! Needless to say we all left there with large bagfuls!!
(It was the 2nd visit for the other girls who went here before I arrived LOL)

We also went to Patches at Indooroopilly, a beautiful store, with all the latest ranges. The lovely lady there was kind enough to take a photo of us all together.

I had the best weekend, thank you to everyone who put the effort in organising it. It is amazing how you can become such good friends just by chatting on line and then when you get together it is as if you have known each other forever!! Thanks girls!!
Oh, and C-R-A-F-T stands for Creating Really Amazing Friends Together!!

Sydney Dust storm

Here are some pics of the dust storm at our place here in Sydney.
The car is Tim's and it is normally dark green!!
I think we drained the dam cleaning up!!

Completed sewing

First up here is a wallhanging I made for Sharon from New Zealand. She has come to Australia for a retreat we had last weekend in our Yahoo craft group. We had a secret sister swap at the retreat and she was my partner. Her favourite colours are purple & green!


I also made an bag for Khris as a thank you for organising the retreat and for driving me around! Khris is owl mad!!



I have also sent off my PIF gifts but unfortunately I have forgotten to take pics. Cath got hers at the retreat, so hopefully she will put a pic on her blog!

Lots of Posts to come!

I have lots to show and tell, some family stuff, some crafty stuff!

First cab off the rank for posts is Tim's 20th Birthday. We went to a mexican restaurant called Tequilas on Main that Tim goes to a lot with his friends. Was a great night out with some of his friends and their families and some family friends as well.