Christmas Eve

                           MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL

                               STAY SAFE

        AND ENJOY THE FESTIVE SEASON
               
                 From sunny Tea Tree Tasmania
  
         

Tangled Web Quilters Xmas Luncheon

              We all decided to go to the Patchwork Cafe at New Norfolk, which has only recently opened, for our Xmas luncheon. It was a lovely mild summers day as we all arrived separately around 12.00. After a look over the fabric, patterns and books in which is a good selection and growing all the time, we sat outside under a large shadey tree and ate a lovely lunch with good company

                As a Christmas swap we had to wrap the fat quarter in a creative way. Here is mine

                     It is a Christmas decoration with a fat quarter inside,   well actually its a balloon with a fat quarter inside it with a pretty chrissy ribbon on top. I fold the FQ very small and  stretched the balloon over it and the blew the balloon only half way up, so it would not be too fragile. It did survive until it needed to be revealed.  It was a lovely afternoon and Im sure everyone enjoyed themselves.

WHAT A SURPRISE !!!!!!

Well here is my entry in the "Bring a plate" Challenge 2010, It won 1st place yesterday at the Xmas Guild meeting in Launceston. I was thrilled and shocked to have won and received alot of lovely compliments from a lovely group of women. Here are some photos

Great Global Christmas Swap

  Thank you Teresa for your lovely Christmas Swap. It has been good to correspond with some one on the opposite side of the world.

CHRISTMAS TREE

Well here is this year Christmas tree and some of my quilted decorations

What a home coming!!!!

  Well we arrived back to Tassie and it was lovely to be back home but we had a lovely suprise waiting for us.

Glenn (our youngest) and his fiance Sarah did a garden make over for us and installed our fountain as well. Just to set the scene I have had the fountain as a feature in the entry with glass wishing stone as the water and glass tear drops as flowing water but we had recently talked about putting it outside, little did I know I was being secretly questioned mmm sneaking buggers. Also Sarah's mum had propagated plants for them. Richard and I would like to THANK everyone concerned especially Glenn and Sarah who suffered with sunburn to get it all finished Thank you guys.... Here are some photos

Fountian and all the planting out.

All blue metal, pinebarked and weeded

all pinebarked

This was all blue metaled pot and planted out

At the Dubbo Plains Zoo

   We ventured off mid morning to Dubbo, travelling thru Wellington, which has a lovely patchwork shop and from the laughing and chatting out the back a good quilt group as well. You can always tell cant you when women are enjoying themselves. :-)

Here are some photos

Our transport

White Rhino with a calf

Giraffes

The elusive hippos....

Bath time.. where's the bubbles

Yes this Elephant is also having a bath .....but he has a few bubbles

Sea Otters

Black Rhino...check out the armour

Tiger trying to hide

Lioness... she feels so close

Zebra as if you didn't know

Richard having a chat with a very old friend

Meerkats doing their thing

   Well I hope you enjoyed our photos, notice no wire cages to shoot thru they seem so close you could touch them. It was a great day except I still didn't see a Hippo.

Oh I want one......

Check these little fellas out ain't they cute

   

Travelling

   Well we sent off yesterday morning and flew into Sydney at 8.30am, collected our hire car (not the one I booked by the way not happy). Off we went driving thru to Orange to see Nick and Tegan. The weather was appalling and some drivers are lucky to still be driving.
  We stopped at Katoomba for lunch at the 3 sisters restaurant. The scenic view was hidden by low cloud and rain so off we went to Bathurst. Richard decided to take the Getz around Mount Panorama mmmmm. I didnt like it at all he had fun and we were only doing 60k and NO I'm not doing it again.
   We finally arrived in Orange about 2.30pm, met Tegan and went to their new home.
Today is Richards birthday so we are off to Parkes Telescope..  (from the movie The Dish).
     Hope you all have a good day as well
Alison

Girls Day Out

              I have been doing Girls Day Out with two of my best friends and it has taken almost 2 years it is finally coming to an end. We all used different fabrics and the results where quite amazing. See for yourself....

I used muted pinks, greens and yellows and a touch of mauve.

Lisa is a few shades brighter again with a maroon touch.

Shelley used blues and whites with a touch of yellow

 

                  They all look different but the same. They all need binding and the buttons sewn on but I wanted to share them with you. When they are truly finished I will post some close ups of the detail.

Hope you have a lovelly week

Alison

Dancing Daisey Workshop

   
       Well I attended a lovelly workshop today at Kempton, a small country town about 45mins from Hobart. It was a Helen Stubbings workshop with colouring techniques. It was a very relaxing but informative class. You dont expect colouring in to be too taxing do you???  Well I have been drawing for quite a few years and I still learnt a few different technique. Helen is a wonderful teacher, if you get the chance to do any of her classes you wont be sorry. Helen has her own varied techniques and a wealth of knowledge on products and tools.

Helen showing some detail work

              .

Firstly I coloured in the leaves and add medium and left it to dry,

 

This is my work I still have to do the stitching around the petals and leaves.

          While waiting for the leaves to dry we all went off and had a lovelly lunch of soup and sandwiches made by Vicki and Roxy. Also some lovelly butterfly cakes, scones and biscuits. We all were truly spoiled for choice. Then we returned to finish our colouring in. When all that is done you stitch around the edge with a matching thread.

          I used the Derwent Inktense pencils so mine is a bit brighter than some of the others. Every one used a variety on pencils from Artist to student pencils, any can be used but quality pencils are softer and give better results. I also found that using the Folkart Fabric Medium instead of Jo Sonja textile medium made the end result a lot softer and less plastic in the finish. Folkart medium does bleed slightly so testing on fabric first is a good idea but I used it on 100% cotton and it was okay . I was pleased with the results.
 Here are some of the other ladies daisies....

                                 

                      It is lovelly to see so many different colours  and the results were a rainbow of choice.
  So being an adult and colouring in is definitely okay with me, have a go you just might enjoy yourself  :-)


 Hope you enjoyed your day
Alison