Tea Cozy

We had a belated Christmas lunch for my quilting group, Connected Quilters, and I made (another) tea cozy as my Kris Kringle gift. The pattern is called "Afternoon Tea Party" by Nancy Green of Pink Sand Beach Designs. The only tricky part with the pattern is sewing the circular base to the two rectangular sides, the rest is very straightforward.

As luck would have it, my Tea Cozy was drawn by by the most teapot owning member! Enjoy, Lisa.

One of these days I will get my own cozy made ...

Knitting hats

I have started my fourth child's knitted hat (or beanie) for charity donation. My friend Philippa started me off during our time in Tasmania for the orienteering championships. The pattern is very simple in 3x3 rib and easy to do in the car (as a passenger!) or in front of a TV program. Here are the latest two hats.

A Beaut New Seam Ripper/Quick Unpick

Look what Santa brought ... a beaut new seam ripper (or more typically called a "Quick Unpick" in Australia). These are made by quilter, Amy Friend's, husband and are available now and again in her Etsy shop but they sell out fast. Amy has the blog "During Quiet Time".

It is bigger than the usual ripper and fits nicely in my hand ... should I ever need to use it!

Christmas Treats

I saw these little mini Christmas puddings on another blog (Wendy's) and made my own version. Aren't they cute? We are having our quilting group's get together today for lunch. The puddings are made from Dark Chocolate Royals biscuits, royal icing, Jaffas and sliced green "musk" sticks. *Another version I have seen uses red M and Ms and snipped mint leaves with white choc melts instead of icing.

I aslo made a fruit cake for each of my friends from a recipe gleaned from the Glen Innes CWA or Anglican Church catering ladies (many of whom are, or were, one and the same!). They are steamed in "soup" tins, not baked.

Gifts from Osaka

My husband has just returned from a short business trip to Osaka. He has been buzzing with interesting observations about the city and culture. One novelty that he brought back was this water bottle - read the label below! It is actually bottled TAP water from the city Water Board.

He also brought a selection of gifts - lacquered rice bowls, chopsticks, the most fancy package of teabags ever seen (from a department store) and a furoshiki (wrapping cloth) from the City of Osaka. His major purchase was a new camera but that was from Hong Kong.

Alas he had no luck finding a shibori item, despite many time consuming enquiries I fear.

He did come back keen to visit Japan again ... which definitely suits me fine!

Goodies for Mum

Yesterday I whipped up an apron from two beaut fabrics I picked in Bowral at My Place. The apron is for my Mum and I will include some pickles and jam as well.

Excitement at Scquilters Retreat Kiama

Sorry for the gap in postings but I'm back!

During the week I returned from the Scquilters annual retreat which was held in Kiama this year. I had a fun time, learned quite a few things and experienced great company and lovely scenery.

I was also the lucky winner of a quilt in the raffle. It was hand made by Rhonda Lehwess, one of the committee, and is called "Snowflakes". It is made using reverse applique and has lovely workmanship.

Isn't it pretty?

Sewing Tidies

The other day I ran up three new sewing tidies on the machine. One was for my quilting group's Kris Kringle gift and it came out of the lucky dip for just the person who wanted one! How good is that?!
The others include one for me (finally) and one for Vickery Quilt and Craft Retreat.

Kris Kringle Gift

My artistic friend, Colleen, gave me this photo montage of yellow flowers as my Kris Kringle gift and I have it in my sewing room where it is especially welcome as I have a very limited view from my window!

First Etsy Purchase

I received some cash for Christmas from my mother in law and decided to purchase online from an Etsy store I had been browsing. These two lovely fresh tea towels came from Susie at Flower Press. They are hand printed on natural coloured linen. The service was great so I could certainly recommend her.

Hand made coat hanger

Here are a couple of pics of a hand made coat hanger my crafty auntie gave me for Christmas. She made three in different colours for her "girls" - daughter and two nieces.