Leura Garden Festival

Was were hubs and I ventured to on the weekend to hunt down some blossom trees and we were not disappointed.    The streets around the area are full of blossom trees

 I enjoyed walking among the gorgeous trees and taking photos

The photo below reminds me of ballerinas in their pretty dresses

Tulips and bluebells seem to enjoy the cold climate of the area

Time to head home and we found that we were not the only blossom hunters on the road.   Cannot go forward

Or backwards

Oh well turn up the music, sit back and reflect on the enjoyable day.     We eventually reached home safely.

Happy birthday

Yesterday was a big day for bubs.      It was her 1st birthday party and she enjoyed every minute of it. Being a 1st birthday and the only grandchild on both sides of the family she scored very well in the present department.

  
Checking out what is inside some of that wrapping paper with the help of mum and dad

The theme of the party was the Hungry caterpiller

Mingling with the guests.    In the photo below she is having a conversation with her great grandmother

At the end of a big day a girl needs a cuddle and  some downtime

Little dresses

This is the result of my not being able to  get out the door while the tree loppers were busy.  Four little dresses for my granddaughter.     I used the same basic pattern and put a different sleeve on each one.    Everytime I visit the fabric shop I manage to find a piece or two that would look pretty made up as a item of clothing for a little girl.

I have to say that I cringe when I look at what  shops charge for children's clothing.     All that it takes is less than a metre of fabric and a couple of hours to complete each dress.    I have a couple of other items that are cut out and ready to be fed into my machine.    

This weekend is the beginning of daylight saving and I am so looking forward to darker mornings and brighter nights.  

Back soon with a piccie of the other items and in the meantime happy sewing.

Native trees are not for suburban gardens

When hubs and I bought our house well over 30 years ago we "inherited" a large watergum tree which was very close to the end of our house and our next door neighbours.    At last commonsense prevailed and a new regulation was just passed through Parliament a couple of months ago allowing for such trees to be removed without permission.     A phone call to our treelopper and the  date was set for the tree to come down.

As you can see it is VERY CLOSE to our house and on the fenceline

Stay clear man above working

And 5 hours later all gone

All that was left to do was feed it into the chipper

Seeing as I was not able to get out my front door I took the opportunity to do some cutting out

And I am pleased to say that I have just about finishing the sewing up part also.

I am going to take my sewing machine outside  and enjoy the beautiful day while I put in some buttonholes.   Back real soon with some photos of what I have been doing.

In the meantime happy sewing.

A country railway station....

Is where I found this manual indicator board.   It took me back to when I was little and travelled to school each day by train.   Now all indicator boards around Sydney are computerised.

Hubs and I headed off to Bowral for the day to see the tulip festival.      Each year a  lovely display of tulips can be found in Corbett Gardens but this year the tulips were a little light on - not being an expert on tulips - I can only think that it was due to so much rain during August and lack of sunshine.

While passing through the city we stopped off to see the annual flower festival at David Jones store which is a must to do each year.   The flowers were stunning again as can be seen below.

  

Hubs and I are just back from a drive to West Head  and of course at this time of the year the wildflowers which line the side of the roads are well worth stopping to have a look at.

At the end of the road this is the view from the lookout.   The building on top of the headland is Barrenjoey Lighthouse.

And looking north the island is called Lion Island and the Central Coast can be seen behind it.

I am pleased to say that with all this joy riding around I did pre-wash some fabric today and even cut out an item or two.  

Back soon with some photos of my sewing efforts and in the meantime happy sewing all.

Escape to the country

Which is what hubs and I have been up to over the last few days.    We took ourselves off to the mountains for some R & R and wandered along country lanes

Saw pretty blossom trees

Walked along bush tracks to find spectacular waterfalls

Unusual rock formations.   This one is called "Boars Head".

Vast valleys

Not much further to the top and back to the car.

Time to check into our hotel.

And walk down to the lake for a pre-dinner drink and nibble.

Being the bad sleepers that we are and cannot sleep in even on a break saw us both up and drive to Echo Point just in time to see the sunrise hitting the cliffs.

After breakfast we headed off for a drive around some of the mountains towns.   We stopped off at this cafe in Blackheath for a coffee and hubs can recommend the caramel with macadamia milkshakes.  

Memory Lane is right.     The cafe is set in the 50 and 60's era and sadly I can remember most of the memorabilia.

  

We also called into what is known as the "Grand old lady of the mountains" - the Carrington Hotel.

 As you can see from the photo below the hotel was built in 1880 and if you look to the right of the photo you can see a statue of Laurel and Hardy.

As I walked around the hotel I found a ballroom.    Whilst taking the photo I was visualising the lovely gowns that would be swirling around the room many years ago.  

Well all good things come to an end and we thoroughly enjoyed our few days away.  

I am pleased to say that before we left I had sometime to make a start on sewing up all those strips that I had been cutting and I hope to be back soon with a photo.

In the meantime happy sewing.  

Creative Challenge

Last month Clare from  http://clarescraftroom.blogspot.com.au/ issued a challenge which I took up.  It involved a picture and a colour.     When I received my email from Clare I must say I was a bit stumped on what to do with what I was given so I sat on it for a few days and suddenly in the middle of the night I remembered that I had some fabric which would go admirably with the picture and some fabric that would go with the colour.      Here is my colour

And here is my picture

And this is what I decided to make

I like a good size potholder to grab off hot lids with and also one that you can put a casserole dish on straight from the oven.

Thank you Clare for issuing a fun challenge and now I am off to see what everyone else has come up with.