In Sydney

We left Brisbane on Saturday morning & had an uneventful drive as far as Gloucester, New South Wales - it's a lovely drive down Thunderbolt's Way from Uralla on the New England Highway. Nothing much at Gloucester - an evening meal at the Roundabout Inn but it wasn't as good as we remembered last time we visited.  On Sunday morning through Dungog, Paterson, Maitland & on to Sydney arriving at our neices just after lunch.  My laptap does not want to recognize my bit thinggy from the camera & so can't download photos - will try to recitify that today - if not - will sort it when we get home.  Technology!!!!! It can be very frustrating.
 Hope everyone is having a pleasant Christmas break - I am sitting on the deck at my nieces, all is quiet - HofM has gone to golf with nephew - niece is as work, great-niece is still sleeping - the birds are noisy & the river is also quiet.  They have a magnificient view - photos to follow!

Pimp My Postcard

Received 2 postcards from Sherri & she invited me to join her MailArt call - Pimp My Postcard  - of course, forgot to scan the unaltered cards but this is what I ended up with.

Christmas Mailart

This lovely piece was sent by Helen - think it's wonderful!

This one is waiting to go out!

Christmas Break-ups

It's that time of year - Christmas break-ups!! For my OS readers - here in Australia it is now summer & most everything stops for a month or so - all groups that meet monthly will not meet over either December or January depending on what week meetings are held.  So - tradition demands that we have our break-ups - golf (HofM) at a Thai restaurant on Thursday night, Inner City Circle Quilt Group on Saturday breakfast at the Red Hen and yesterday (Sunday) brunch/morning tea for Purple Paddo Patchers at Forget-me-Not Tearooms.  This was my dessert - delightful mornings (both of them) with all my good friends.  Merry Christmas, everyone (there, I've said, ONCE!)

Suzanne showed us the Hawaiian quilt she has been making for a niece - it's a Christmas present so it has to be kept under wraps - this will be the lable.  It's hand appliqued & hand quilted - defintiely a labour of love. I think Suzanne will heave a sigh of relief once it's handed over.  The other niece has not been forgotten, she's getting a beaut hexagon quilt (large hexagond in purples) - again all hand work! You'll have to believe me when I say they are beautiful.

Playing Tourist

We took our English guests out for a drive around Brisbane & re-discovered a bit of out city. This is a view of the Brisbane River from the bandstand at Newstead Park. Blue river!!!!

Gondolas on Brekkie Creek - for your next romantic outing??

Mosaic armchair at a lookout on Latrobe Terrace.

View of the city from the armchair - not bad, hey!

Had desert at the Taiwanese dessert place at Sunnybank Plaza - thanks to Sue for introducing me to this little place - our guests were impressed!

Backyard Update

This large bromeliad has sent up a shoot from the middle - we think it's a flower - just have to wait & see.

One mango hanging on & getting bigger - there are a few more on the tree. HofM grew this from a seed - hope it tastes alright when we harvest it. 

We now have a pan piper in the yard.

Something flowering - sorry am not good with names of flora!  It's pinky/purple & looks pretty!

Quilting Update

Mum's portrait is finished - very happy with my first attempt at realistic portraiture - hope Mum will like it too.

Three little quilts finished - machine pieced, machine quilted - these will go to a couple of babies and one little girl.  The top one was a number of orphan blocks that ended up looking great with the lime green.  It's funny that as you work, you make choices & are usually quite happy with those choices, then once the quilt is finished (just labels to go), you think of a better way of doing something or a better design - hindsight - such a wonderful thing!

The middle one was started by my niece (now 16) about 6/7 years ago - I decided to finish it off - used charm squares for most of it.  The bottom one was also made from charm squares - all fabric used in the three was from my stash. No, can't see any difference in the amount of fabric I have.