Mum's oldest friend

I would like to introduce you all to mum's oldest friend. They have known each other since mid 1951 and have spent many hours together "singing" along and enjoying each other's company.





This was the sewing machine that I learnt to sew on when I was about 8 years old and used up to when I got married in 1973. Mum made all my clothes - including my wedding dress, some of my brothers clothes and still makes all her own clothes today using her "faithful" friend. She would not trade her for all the tea in China.

The only maintenance needed is the occasional drop of oil and dad replaces the belt from time to time and she is ready to go again. I would love to know just how far these two have treadled over the last 59 years. I always think that sewing machines should be able to register just how far is sewn on them like a car is driven. I am sure there would be some interesting figures out there in sewing land.

They certainly do not make machines as sturdy as this one as I am onto my third machine which this one still "hums" away and even though it has no fancy stitches it does a nice even stitch and never "skips".

Happy sewing "girls".

How does your garden grow?

During the last week whilst on holiday I found time to do quite a bit of sewing. I am enjoying all stages of making hexie flowers from cutting the fabric, to making the petals and then forming the flowers. I have not done much hand sewing in the past always preferring the machine for speed and neatness however I am really hooked on these hexies and am happy with the look and speed with which they are going together.

I am happy to present to you my "hexie garden" which you can see in its various stages from papers, squares of cut fabric, individual petals and full flowers



With all this gorgeous spring weather and lovely flowers surrounding me I thought I would celebrate the season and create a bag to match the lovely soft colours. I have made this pattern many times and this time around I have used a variation on a theme and I am pleased with the end result. I will add this bag to my giftie box and hope to add a couple more before Christmas for gifts.


And lastly I have made good progress with my "planned" scrap quilt. All the blocks are now sewn together and the next step is the borders. Back into the stash I delve in order to find suitable fabric. I am going with a narrow white border then a wider blue border to keep in with the theme. Now that I look at it from a distance I could have balanced some of the yellow a bit more evenly but I have to remember that it is a scrappy quilt and I will have to learn to live with it.

The week that was....

My holiday - I have taken the last week off work to have some "me time" and enjoy the lovely Spring weather that Sydney is experiencing at the moment.

Just a couple hours drive north of us is the historic township of Morpeth. A step back in time and a lovely way to spend a Sunday meandering around the quaint shops. Of course the first thing on arrival is to check out the coffee shops and order a devonshire tea complete with freshly baked scones, jam and cream.



A wander down the street uncovers all sorts of wonders starting with this lovely old clydesdale.



And of course Morpeth is famous for its unique collection of teapots of all shapes and sizes. Tea anyone!!



The next day saw us on the bus into the City. This was the business end of the holiday - an appointment with our accountant. We thought why not make a day of it and make our way down to the area of Sydney known as "The Rocks". One of my favourite parts of the city. I love the juxtaposition of the old buildings in the front of the photo and the modern looming up behind them.



And of course an outing to Sydney would not be complete without a photo of the Opera House.



I have lived in Sydney all my life and until a couple of weeks ago I had not heard of Fagan Park at Galston. What a hidden treasure and only 1 hours drive from our doorstep. This park was donated by the Fagan family to the community for all the enjoy and enjoy we did. Lovely wide open spaces and beautifully maintained as you can see by the photos below.





Of course all this fresh air and driving around certainly works up an appetite. We stumbled across this lovely restaurant in a quaint garden setting which seemed to fit the bill admirably.



Today is the last offical day of my week off - where has that gone - and being the lovely day that it was we headed off to Balmoral Beach about 30 mins drive from us. This photo was taken as we drove down one of the very steep streets around the Mosman area



On arriving at the bottom of the hill - and paying the inevitable parking fee - we took ourselves off for a walk along the beachfront enjoying the view across the harbour



Of course it was getting close to lunchtime and what did we spot but the local fish and chip shop aptly called "Bottom of the Harbour"



So the decision was made - fish and chips it would be for lunch - and they were delicious.



All goods things must come to an end and after my week of holidaying and eating it is back to work on Monday with my packed lunch. I know when I open my lunch on Monday I will be thinking of my fish and chips by the beach.

I have been bitten by the bug.....

Well it was inevitable I suppose that this was going to happen. I have been bitten by the "hexie" bug. For sometime now on the Craft Forum the ladies have been doing a framed hexie swap and a flower hexie swap and I have been drooling over these gorgeous creations for weeks. I was awake in the early hours of the morning...which I believe is the time when we are at our weakest point... and it hit me hard. When I woke the next morning it was still with me and I knew that I could not ignore this and had to act straight away.

I had signs all around me pointing me in this direction. Yesterday Google featured a picture of the buckyball - hexagon shapes - and one of the patchwork books given to me as a birthday present had hexies on the front.

Off I went to my sewing room knowing that I had to follow a few rules (my rules)

1. I was going only to use what I have in my stash
2. All the centres are to be white
3. Only using small/medium floral prints
4. Backgrounds with not too much white as I wanted the centres to stand out and be a contrast.
5. Equal number of light, medium and dark hexies flowers

Bearing all of the above in mind after couple of hours I had cut out quite a few flowers and centres and sorted out the dark prints which need to be washed before cutting here is my progress to date.




At this point I have to give an honourable mention to my dear hubby - a very patient man - who I have seconded into cutting up hexie shapes for me. As you can see he has made a good start with only a few thousand left - but I won't tell him that at this point! I will just keep adding a couple of sheets to his pile each day. I don't think he will notice - do you?

Thunder and lightning and

What started out as a lovely sunny morning with a line full of washing swinging around in the wind suddenly changed to banks of large black clouds chasing the sun away, a mad dash to grab the washing off the line and a sudden clap of thunder followed by hail lots of hail



I am glad I closed the glass door on my sewing room as I dashed between the raindrops to grab the camera. Could have been a very wet mess to return to.

This picture was taken from our bedroom window looking out to the road



Not sure who owns the car out the front..I am only glad it was not ours..as there could be quite a bit of hail damage. Mother Nature doing her work again.

Quilting retreat

Last weekend I was lucky enough to be invited to attend the annual quilting retreat of the Eastwood Patchwork Quilters which was held at "The Hermitage" Mittagong. Setting off on Friday morning after breakfast we headed south across the Harbour Bridge which as you can see is hidden in all the fog which shrouded Sydney until mid morning.



After arriving in the Southern Highlands and fortifying ourselves with some lunch and of course some retail therapy in all those lovely patchwork shops we arrived at the Hermitage mid afternoon.



After setting myself up - or should I say spreading myself out - as you can see I have claimed a couple of chairs I made a start on my weekend project which involves using up my ever increasing scraps.



I cut up 6 and 3/4" squares of flannel (80 of them) on which to stitch and flip 1 and half inch strips. Each block has a medium blue in the middle and it goes out dark to black on one side and light to white on the other.



And looks something like this when pressed, squared and cut in 6 and 12" squares



I surprised myself just how quickly these sewed up and I managed to get just on 30 all sewn up and cut into neat squares.

After a day of sitting, sewing, eating and talking I took myself off for a walk just on dawn to have a look at the surrounding countryside and catch up with a few of the locals.






I know that I had a great weekend away and I am sure that all the other ladies that attended do so as well. I was even lucky enough to get some expert advice and tips on free motion quilting which I will have to put into practice sometime this weekend.

Thanks for stopping by and happy sewing to you all

Lucky me

My next door neighbour was doing the mail collection duty while I was away for the weekend and has just handed me a parcel. On opening it this is what I found





All these lovely goodies were sent to me by Barb of http://barbscreations.blogspot.com/ when I left a comment on her lovely blog. I will have to get my thinking cap on and come up with a project to do justice to all these gorgeous goodies. I am sure I will find something to fit the bill inside that delightful book.

Thank you once again Barb I feel very spoilt indeed.