Friends...

When we arrived in Melbourne 15 months ago I had one person I could call friend who had also recently moved from Sydney. Just prior to moving the lovely Cass introduced me to Karen at Sew It Together Sydney 2011, we arranged I would call Karen when we settled in and organise a craft catch up.

Little did I know that Karen was in the process of organising a new craft group Stitch and Yarn (SAY) and I arrived in time to make the first get together. Over the last year through SAY I have been so priveleged to call these four women my friends. Karen, Judy, Cas and Wendy meeting through our shared love of all things crafty and thrifty has made my Melbourne experience so much sweeter and I can't thank each of you enough.

These very special women made me the most amazing gift as a farewell to Melbourne.

Can you believe it.....a quilt!!!!!!

This is made even more special as Karen described it "they crossed over to the dark side" as Judy and Karen had never quilted before! The ever convincing and extremely talented Wendy assured them a Wonky Stars quilt was achieveble and they secret squirrelled away on a few nights without out me to create the most coveted quilt you ever did see! Using their combined stash scraps of pink and green (my all-time favourite colours) the blocks were made and pieced together and then machine and hand quilted by these gorgeous gals! Some fabrics were even purchased right under my nose...on an Op shop adventure I commented to Judy the pink and green apron she just purchased was gorgeous...not knowing it would become part of my quilt.

Here are some shots of my reaction when opening this beautiful gift!

Gorgeous label made by Karen

 This quilt is...

more than a very generous gift...

more than beautiful quilting...

more than thoughtfulness...

more than crafty creativeness...

more than kindness...

more than friendship...

more than something to keep me warm on a cold winter night...

it is a beautiful representation of four amazing women I am so proud to call my friends.

Thank you...treasured forever.

Also, loving the panel in the centre back with pictures of all things Melbourne!

What beautiful gifts have you received from friends?

December/January Holidays... Part 1

To record our holiday antics and remind me how many wonderful activites we participated in over Dec/Jan I thought I would do a few blog posts.

Here is Part 1.

The start of summer hailed the need for some new nighties. I located a tutorial online for pillowcase nighties and a couple of hours later...Ta Da!!! Pretty nighties for 2 gorgeous girls! A couple of crafty gal pals have also been creating these in the past few weeks... here and here.

Then Grandma arrived in her new motorhome for a stay. When you hit the big smoke what else to do but head out for a cino...

Nothing as exciting as finding an Elmo ring in your cupcake!

Last day of swimming lessons for the term and Squirt (from Finding Nemo) made an appearance!

What a gorgeous way to spend the day...a backyard picnic with a lovely friend!









The Hottie Challenge....heats up!

When I read that my friend Cass and her girls were joining in the group entry of the Hottie Challenge organised by the very talented CurlyPops I thought I should join in too!

I dropped mine off in person at Open Drawer on Friday morning.... nothing like a last minute creative flurry the night before the due date! Open Drawer is a beautiful place for all things hand made with a lovely gallery space upstairs which was showing amazing felt pieces by local Melbourne artists.

Note to self: Need to take the camera out with me more often to capture all the new and exciting activities in Melbourne!

The Grand Opening of the Exhibition is on Friday July 1st from 6-8PM and runs until 24th July.

Here is a picture of my entry. I have seen some of the entries and know that mine has no chance of being a winner... but a lovely contribution to a very worthy cause as all proceeds from the sale of the Hotties are donated to the Margaret Pratt Foundation.