Summer Garden With Creative Women

I spent some time at my friend K's last night, and didn't get around to doing the post about the weekend workshop as promised, but here it is.

Saturday morning people started arriving early, and the hall was soon buzzing with happy voices - eager to begin working on the beautiful projects presented by the designers.

The four ladies had made such gorgeous projects for the workshop!

From left to right the projects were: the lovely quilt Fresh Breeze and the pretty bag Blossom & Bloom by Natalie Lymer (Cinderberry Stitched), lovely Summer Garden table runner by Rose Johnston (Threadbare Creations), the cute Sally doll and beautiful Summer Garden cushions by Rosalie Quinlan (Rosalie Quinlan Designs), and gorgeous quilt Summers Bouquet and the really pretty bag Saturday Morning by Gail Pan (Gail Pan Designs).

Sally from The Country Quilter opened the workshop and presented the designers, and they presented their projects,

and then everyone got to work! In the bag we got when we arrived we received the patterns for all the projects and a piece of fabric and some cotton floss to get us started. We could choose freely what project(s) to work on, and the designers walked around the hall, chatting with us and guiding us while working on their projects. It was all very casual, and it was a wonderful way to spend time with these wonderful and creative women!

Here is Gail Pan and I

Natalie Lymer and I

I shared a workstation with a lovely woman called Pat, here she is with Rose enjoying morning tea on the Saturday:

It was also great to get to meet blogging friend Christine! She is just as sweet in person as she is on her blog. Here she is with Rosalie Quinland getting some support on making her Sally doll:

and here she is showing her gorgeous red and cream stitchery cushion during show and tell on Sunday morning

What projects did I work on? On Saturday I worked on one of the stitcheries for Rose's beautiful table runner - Rose had given me a crash course in french knots on Friday evening, and her table runner is perfect for practicing them (believe me, it is a gazillion of them!). This is how far I've gotten on it:

Hope I can get more done on it soon, it is such a pretty project, and I want to have it finished so I can use it! And sweet Rose was generous to let me dig into her left over fabrics, so that I could have my table runner just as hers :o) ('cept for the binding).

On the Sunday I worked on Rosalie's Sally doll - here is Christine and I working on our dolls:

I actually finished my doll this weekend - this is how she turned out:

I didn't have any pink ric-rac for the hair, so I gave her cotton floss hair in different shades of pink and braided it, and in stead of painted shoes on her feet I stitched her some socks/shoes from some of the left over pinafore fabric - I think she looks ok and I'm very happy with my first attempt at doll making. She is now hanging next to the mirror in my hallway :o)

The weekend workshop gave me lots of inspiration - I want to make the other projects that were presented as well, and several of the projects in the display will be on my to-do list for the future, and will be keeping my hands busy for a long time.

I'll soon be back with some more pictures and memories from my days in Tassie.

Until then, take care!
Sincerely, Anne Ida

The first days in Launceston

Tuesday we traveled to Launceston, and the home of "my aussie family" :o) We all felt a bit tired after the days in Melbourne. Rose and Les' children was to begin school on the Thursday, so we took some quiet time. I got to meet some of Rose's family members, Les did a BBQ, and on the Wednesday we went down to The Country Quilter. I got to meet some of the ladies, and we picked out some fabrics for our quilt project (we'll share more about this soon!)

Most of the Thursday and Friday morning we spent in Rose's studio :o)

Friday afternoon we went to Summerdale Community Center to help set up Threadbare Design's part of the workshop display, and to pitch in wherever Sally needed us. It was fun to get a bit of a peek behind the curtain on how a workshop comes together!

I'll be back tomorrow with some pictures from the weekend!
Till then, take care!
Sincerely, Anne Ida

Our days in Melbourne

I'm home again from my wonderful holiday down-under, a bit jet-lag'ed, and missing my friend in Tassie! I know quite a few of you have been following my adventure in Australia on Rose's blog, but I thought I'd share some of my pictures and impressions.

Saturday night I finnaly arrived after a loooong flight. Rose and her family had flewn in to Melbourne and met me at the airport, and it was so great to finnaly meet them in person! We had a lot to catch up on and stayed up and chatted till two in the morning :o)

Sunday we took the tram into the centre of Melbourne

and met up with Leigh (formerly Cinamonsticks) and her husband Ross outside Flinders Street Station

We had a wonderful long lunch with them at Federation Square and chatted away the hours. Leigh is just as sweet in person as she was on her blog :o), and it was so great to be able to spend some time with her!

In the afternoon we all had a lovely walk along the Yarra river,

and while Leigh and Ross started their drive home, the Johnston family and I went to the Melbourne Aquarium where we saw lots of beautiful water creatures, and both kids and grown-ups enjoyed themselves!

Monday we headed out of the city, towards Dandenong, and to Tecoma, to visit Sandra and the Sylvia's Bridal Sampler group at Foothills Fabric and Threads. The quilt shop is so beautiful, and a wonderful place to get inspiration.

Sandra is just as sweet in person as in her e-mails and on her blog. She made us feel at home right away, and we had a lovely time with her and the ladies. It was so great to see all the different fabric choices and to hear about how they aproach this project! It was also great to finnaly have the oportunity to meet with some of the ladies I have "met" through the SBS mailing list. Tallented designer Gail Pan dropped in while we were there as well, and it was great to meet her before the workshop in Launceston.

Of course we also did a bit of shopping before we left *lol*

Before we made our way back to Melbourne we also drove out to Monbulk and popped into Mrs Martins Quilt shop where we had a lovely chat with Karen, and of course I shopped a bit more :o)

On Tuesday we found our way back to the airport and headed for Launceston, Tasmania. I'll be back tomorrow with my tale of our time in Rose's home city :o)

Till then, take care!

Sincerely, Anne Ida

Hello from Tasmania :o)

Just quickly signing in to say "Hi!", and that I'm having a wonderful time in Australia. On Saturday after a really long flight I met up with Rose and her family, they are such wonderful and sweet people, and have made me feel so welcome! Thank you so much, sweetie!

For a report on our first days together, check Rose's blog :o)
Sincerely, Anne Ida

PS! Those who read Australian Homespun: check pages 90-94 in the current issue!!!!!!!

And the winner is....

Thank you so much everyone for your sweet congratulations on my 1 year blogiversary! Unfortunately I haven't gotten around to replying to everyone - because I have been busy planning my trip to Australia; Tasmania and Rose in just a few days! And because a lot still come up as noreply-comment, meaning I can't reply via e-mail. So to everyone: thank you so much, and I hope I will be fortunate enough to be able to spend lots of time with you in Blogland in the future!

My friend K did the draw for me tonight (I did take some pictures with my mobile phone, but for some reason the Bluetooth won't connect my phone with my computer - grrr!) - and from a bowl containing 79 paper strips she picked: TRACEY at Ozcountryquiltingmum! Hope you'll enjoy my little goodiebag, Tracey!

Thank you all for playing with me :o)
Sincerely, Anne Ida