Nundle 2011

Beautiful Roses

Rose covered  wool press

In the middle of the end of year turmoil some ladies from my quilt group, myself included took a trip to Nundle ( small town in NSW , near Tamworth,for those who dont know) to sew with the lovely Kerry at Cottage on the Hill. 


Of course there are all the treats that go with the word "Nundle" ; patchwork at Kerry's, stitching, friends, dinner at the pub , wine and cheese , roses and a  visit to the Woollen Mill (which was still open at 7.20pm. )  What a lovely weekend we had.


The trip home was a nightmare , it was truly the biggest storm I have ever been in, I thought I was a "storm chaser". The lightning and the rain were the most intense I have ever seen but we were on the edge and missed the hail .......in my new car ..eek!..................what a relief when we were free of it.

Our creations - not quite finished

The Essentials

Sewing with friends

Weekend of Sewing

  
I feel like i have been reading everyone's blogs and haven't said anything myself for a while. I had the best weekend we were home for once so I spent a lot of time sewing......finishing SS sewing...Sh...... . I have decided this year to try to make as many Christmas gifts as possible so I have made a start with bags , table runners and cushions .  Ok   I did say made a start.......... This morning  Monday ... before work I took one look in my sewing room which I am very lucky  to have.......and thought I wonder if very one who sews makes as much mess as I do when I just sew all weekend?????  I spent Thursday night tidying it up making sure everything was in place for my weekend of sewing......................

I just love bird houses

A Sally Giblin pattern- cushion

Does anyone else make such a mess????Oh creative space sorry!!!

My sewing friends and I collect thimbles for each other when we travel... fun

My creative space 

A Leah Paech Pattern Canningtown Patchwork  table runner . I love all things Christmas!

A page from Po's Kitchen She has the most amazing fabric pics throughout her cook book.  Inspirational!

Act your Age

I thought this might give everybody a laugh. especially you Chooky! Hope it is not too big to download. I am the green one.      Transform yourself....... back to some sewing next week. Thanks to my friend  in Blue,  Kathy for making the movie and our friend Steve for videoing it . The expressive arts week at our school is an amazing cultural event. All staff dress up on day one and every year the competition is bigger and better. The week is full of visiting artists, arts craft , music , dance , debating, burning poetry nights, stunt bikes and jugglers . Big Fun and exhausting. School is back to reality this week .
Our staff room decided to make a movie because we decided it would be too embarrassing for us to "park" ( at the end of the movie ) on stage in front of 400 teens. We may never get up .....

Transform Me

In my life as a teacher one of the craziest weeks of the year is expressive arts week. this is a week full of fun, art and culture. Each year we have a theme and for one week every lunch hour and break is full of fun activities. I think the girls in Art have topped it this year with the timetable of events. The week begins with all the teachers dressing up. Because I am a member of the art staff room we get pretty heavily involved.  We have spent many hours after work this week preparing........ Here is a snippet , more to follow after opening day Tuesday. I am sure I am too old for this ..LOL....

My Blog Story

I was a blog stalker, Kerry at Nundle and Designers like Rosalie and Leanne B, mostly I checked out Kerry's favourites and loved reading about what the ladies who love patchwork and stitching were up to. I have been to GDITC for four years but this year was different..........


 We were all at dinner and there was a real buzz. Then someone suggested all the bloggers identify themselves. It was exciting actually seeing the writers of the blogs I had been reading. The the amazing Chooky visited our table and convinced me to sign up. Email me as as soon as you get home and I will help you get started she said... well here I am and loving it.


 Oh, she also said you will have to think up a name so on our 5 hour drive home through flooded creeks and over very wet gravel roads and some slipping and sliding through alternate routes the name Bird on the Border was born............ I live on the Qld NSW border and I do love to see all the birds in my garden in the early morning. 


The ones making the most noise at the time was a pair of beautiful Kookaburras. You could set your clock by them morning and evening ...so the picture. Goondiwindi means resting place of the birds so Bird on the Border was born.

Family Weekend

Bargara Beach 

 What a nice weekend we have just had. Visiting our son and his fiance. Fish and chips on the beach with the complimentary seagulls, a little shopping ,a little dining. Sorry about the picture quality they were from my phone. It's cold and  raining  here today.  I cant believe it is October feels like winter. 

Bargara  Beach 

Everything looks so green after the rain.

Thelma's Day Out Bag

 So happy.... today finished a nice bag by Janelle Wind. I am planning on making a lot of my Christmas gifts this year. Perhaps a niece or a friend may get this one???




Berries anyone.....
There is a story to these wild rampant berries. My good friend Jill gave me a few runners a couple of years ago before she left to live in Darwin. 


 These magical berries seem to grow on  some water and little love almost anywhere. I moved a couple into what was my kitchen garden and now there is just a strawberry garden. The one in the tub did the same when I planted them there but they died out and are now regenerating from a couple of plants...I am no gardener what grows in my garden grows just because it does and these amazing berries just do...

Owls and Flowers

Today I finished the little project from "Stitchers Dream Day Out" by Julie Lovell . A little owl project bag. Cute... I thought I would photograph it with some gerberas I bought home from the Carnival of Flowers in Toowoomba. I also brought home from Toowoomba a ladder to hang my quilts on. I was so excited I have wanted one for ages. Lucky for specials at carnival time although it was a squeeze in the corolla.... Might add, I think it might have to move out of my sewing room into the lounge if I want to get into my fabric stash.

What's around Me

I had time to have a little play with setting up my blog. I drew some inspiration from all of the green wheat fields around me at the moment. So lets hope we get a little rain soon to keep them that way .

Carnival of Flowers

Add caption

We just had a lovely weekend at The Toowoomba Carnival of flowers. I have been wanting to go for years and I was not disappointed.  I thought I would share some lovely pics with you. Girls if anyone out there can help me .. I was playing with the design of my blog and now the last post doesn't come up first what have I done????

Dream Day Out

What a great weekend I have just had. My friend  Gail and I travelled to Toowomba to "Stitchers Dream Day Out" run by Quilters Angel at Highfields. The desigers were Natalie Ross, Libby Richardson and Julie Lovell. All the designers provided beautiful projects. I was given on of Julie Lovell's owl project bags. So cute!  I love owls.    Of course ladies can dress up but we made the Hootie Owl bags designed by Natalie.
It was soooo.. windy there and quite cold but warm inside with all the ladies.



Dress up contribution - love these colours



project bag by Julie Lovell



I was able to share the quilt I made with the designer

Gail and I



Designer projects for the day

 Yeh! school holidays start Friday I might get some projects finished . I aim to garden and sew and go see our lovely son and daughter in law to be for a few days.

Week-end in for McIntyre Quilters

This weekend my quilt group had a weekend in. We were working on a block quilt by Lessa Siegele called "Little Boxes". I have decided to use a kids print I picked up in Tassie last year. Cute I think ! Yes, something from the stash....

Pretty strips

Prepared to sew 

A finished one by one of our group

Hubby was off to Hong Kong on Sunday so I thought I had better stay home Saturday.  I did't get as far as the other girls ,however, it will happen???

Present for a Friend

Well wasn't it lovely to actually sit and sew. Felt a bit jealous of  Shiralee Stiches new sewing room . It was on my mind as to what I could do to revamp mine. I used bits and pieces from my stash to make the "Vintage Sewing Cushion "(by Debbie Magee) for my friend Gail's birthday.  We had a lovely stitching night last week 2 birthdays so we didn't get as much sewing done as we should have.  I am off to school camp for a week, are you not jealous???.It is in a beautiful location though in the hinterland and ranges. Sorry the photo is not that great but it is from my phone. forgot the camera....

A Lazy Sunday Afternoon

Our first try at a deep pan pizza .. Yumm.

Barramundi and prawn pizza with lime

 Sunday we decided to invite a few friends over and fire up the pizza oven to celebrate 12 months since we built this outdoor space...well lunch turned into dinner.. you know how it is!  I think I showed you the space on one of my first blogs. It was a beautiful sunny winter's day,perfect to stand around the wood fired pizza oven  with a wine or two and hubby's best deep pan and seafood pizza.

Stef's beautiful cheese platter - the honey on the Camembert was  a nice change 

Crazy Curry Cook Up

Last Thursday the girls from my staff room at work came  over for a curry night. Mmmmm Mmmm !!!

The Indian Table ....

Thai Chicken , Lamb Korma, Rogan Josh , Prawn Curry and I made an Indonesian Baked custard for entree. This lovely dish came from a visit to the "Spirit House Restaurant" and cooking school, a beautiful Thai restaurant at Yandina on the Sunshine Coast in Qld. The baked custard has chicken, shallots, bean paste, Chinese wine and soy and then the egg, soy sauce and chicken stock mix is poured over the top and baked as you would a baked custard, truly unusual but delicious. 

Stacey's at the Gap

Me (left) with my quilting buddy and good friend, Gail

Hi all my blogger friends, sorry I have been out for an extended time but I am back. We had the most fantastic trip to the Northern Territory and back through the Dinosaur trail via Richmond, Winton then to our son in Alpha and then home . A lot of kilometers but such fun. Remember all of those little squares cut out on the accuquilt machine. After a weekend retreat at Stacey's at the  Gap near Warwick it has grown to a quilt. What a lovely place to go. At the top of the great Divide just east of Warwick. We enjoyed sewing all weekend from 7.00 am until 10.pm and they provided the most beautiful food for us, good home cooked meals, a big fire to keep us warm and very friendly hospitality.

All busy finishing UFO's

Another finished quilt top from my sewing table. Sad you cant see the lovely little birds in each circle.

The view over the floodplains

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Crocodiles

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UBIRR

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The view over the floodplains

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Fwd: Our Central Australian Tour

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>> Please go to
>> Centralaustraliatrip2011.blogspot.com
>> Ifnyounwould like to follow my adventure..
>> See you all again in a couple of weeks.
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