Hunter Valley weekend...

So, we had our first visit to the Hunter Valley since Zeb.B.Dog went off to Doggie Heaven, and I have to say it was a bit hard... I kept looking for her every where I went, and of course, the house was lot quieter without her.  Poor Zoe Dog was also a shadow of her former self, off her food, drink, off her game, slinking around looking for Zeb everywhere she went...


Next time we're up there I will go & visit the spot where she's buried, but this time I couldn't face it.... give me a month or so.


In the interim, I made a couple of cushion covers for Kaz, who was looking to cheer up her living room a little.  I used up some of my nice Joel Dewberry Deer Valley from here:

and co-incidentally, I had a piece of Amy Butler Home Dec weight from here:

and the colours were amazingly in synch - needless to say Kaz was very happy with the cushions - and they were a nice easy birthday present - Happy Birthday Kaz!

Holiday? What holiday?

So, at 6.28am, the clock radio switched itself on. My side of the bed, no less. Then the light came one. Ditto. Hmmm. Who's having this holiday, anyway? Then his nibs decides to get up at 7.00am, and by then, of course, I'm wide awake, so I reach for my book, hoping in vain for a cup of tea and toast from the 'working one'.. ha! Get it yourself, you're on holidays. It's no wonder I have the lawyer's number on speed dial. But that's only because he's actually a friend of mine. His. Ours.Anyway, I eventually staggered out of bed at 8.40, only, note you, once I had finished the book. It was good, I must say. My WMIL* lent it to me yesterday & I stayed up very late reading (because I'm on holidays, did I mention that?) and couldn't wait to find out what happened! Of course, I never doubted for a minute that she was innocent... ... ... that might be enough about that. Don't want to spoil it for anybody else!

Other things - little trip off to the stainless steel shop for the carabiners with the ring in them that nobody else in the known universe seems to sell, he had 23 hanging in the shop & I took 20. Didn't want to be greedy.

Also bought some stiff interfacing, they must have used it for wimples & veils in the 11th century, it was so stiff - I made a single pouch with it, but no more. It was so stiff I could barely turn the damn thing inside out - it actually made my hands sore, trying to manipulate it for the corners. I peeled it off the other

fabric I so efficiently ironed it onto this morning & have consigned it to the rubbish bin, to be fallen upon by builders looking for material to shore up falling down buildings, or maybe repair the space shuttle. Waaaaay too firm for me! Anyway, I've fallen back on the pellon & interfacing option, which gives a nice firm finish but is still soft - hopefully that will be okay with Miss Carmen, for whom all this effort was!

Other pieces of effort in the same burst:

And then this:

I have to say I love this combination of grey & rusty brown - I've never considered that they went together in real life before,

especially when you see a middle-aged man with a combover wearing a grey suit & brown shoes, but this definitely does not pop up that mental image! I'm really happy with the combo, and the lining just finishes it off nicely:

Very swish, and for sale, of course, here.

That's it for now, more tomorrow. Holidays are fun!

Happy Birthday Deb!

Thursday was the birthday of my oldest friend in this country; we met when we were about 9, and my family moved to the small town where hers had lived for generations.... we weren't always friends, and we haven't always been friends since, but I like to think people move in & out of your life as you need them. She has two gorgeous children who I like very much (and that's saying a lot for me, as some of you may know...), and her friendship is very important to me, so I wanted to make her something, rather than buying her something. Anybody can buy stuff, but very special people make things. Or so I'm told by people who know - I just read a magazine article about Amy Butler where she says how fantastic it is that people don't look down on handmade stuff anymore - and I think so too. I love it that people appreciate how wonderful it is to be given something somebody spent time making, especially these days when we're all so time poor... my favourite quote is by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, who have absolutely nothing to do with sewing, but instead write some rather fabulous science fiction - they talk of "the precious irregularities of hand sewing", like it was rubies and diamonds, rather than the slightly off-perpendicular corners of a (beautifully lined) box pouch...

Anyway, enough burbling. Pictures of the gorgeous (IMHO!) froggie, pouch and lavender pyramids here...

Happy Birthday Deb!

Hunter Valley birds

So last weekend we were lucky enough to spend time in the beautiful Hunter Valley, which is about 2 hours north of Sydney, with our friends Kaz & Az and their gorgeous dogs, Zeb & Zoe. Anybody see a theme here?

I found a reference in my friend Lulu Carter's lovely blog to a pattern for a bird, from Spool Sewing, so I downloaded it & made a couple for Kaz. I think she liked them!