Saying goodbye

Today we say goodbye to our friend Tania who passed away last Sunday after a year or so of illness, we shared many happy memories of sewing days, road trips, group gatherings and teaching sessions.

visits to the city

sewing days at the Gisborne Quilt shop..

playing tricks on Shez..

..

on the road to Echuca, yes we had a stop at the quilt shop in Rochester..

we met on FNWF evenings and helped each other make the Underground Railroad blocks 

summer gatherings at Tracee's house...

the friendship quilt we made for Tania when she was first diagnosed.

Thank you for the many happy memories Tania.

Rest In Peace.

Yesterday I went up to Gisborne for a sad event, even though it was a celebration of life, the funeral of Margs mother, Betty. Betty passed away suddenly last week......Tracee, Tania and I went along to say our goodbyes and to support Marg.

After the event we went in search of some geocaches I had spied in the vicinity...the first one at Gisborne train station we could not find, the second I forgot to take the camera, but it was at the Steam train club and Tania spotted it after a cold walk along the muddy path...us in our good clothes and shoes too I might add!!..... the third Tracee had spotted before we had stopped the car.........here she is putting it back before anyone saw her! Sorry Tracee I had to!! lol!!

...being quick before anyone comes along....

...the next was near the Macedon cemetery.......while we were there we looked at this beautiful sculpture..

...isn't she beautiful??? It is called Asleep.

...the cache was over the road, we were being watched by some of the locals....Tracee (aka Eagle Eyes) spotted the cache first.....

...time to get out of the cold and head for home.....I stayed overnight with Tracee and family and enjoyed a wonderful roast dinner and much ranging conversation......

and this morning went with Tracee to let the girls out of their night time boxes and shed and out into the yard. it was lovely waking up here,the kookaburras were laughing, the magpies chortling.....I even heard a rooster telling us it was time to get up!!

Back home now after a lovely lunch at the Port Arlington golf club......and off to the Geelong Patchwork and Quilt Guild meeting tomorrow.....never a dull moment here!! Lol!!

Happy sewing.

Sunday.....

..for me was  a day of cleaning, walking the dog,  a little unpacking and then off to visit Tania, but wasn't a beautiful day?

..when we left Gisborne I gathered a heap of daffodil bulbs the rabbits had dug up and planted them at St Leonards.....they are starting to flower already....I have seen lots of bulbs in flower around this area....it seems to early to me, but maybe that is what happens on the Bellarine.

the camelia is looking beautiful....

Ollie in his favourite place...right next to his Mum!!

dinner!!!! Yum!!! Tania cooked roast

pork and yummy roast veges.....spoilt wasn't  I??

then we settled down to watch the movie The Waterhorse.....I hadn't  seen it before.....lovely movie, I really  enjoyed it. 

and some secret quilting was completed!! Yay!! 

Tomorrow Marg and I are off to the hospital with Tania for her oncology visit and then off to visit Marina for a sit and sew...and chat!! 

Happy sewing.

Catching up with friends

I had the best day today, drove up from St Leonard's to home to collect a few things, watered the plants, a quick visit to the supermarket and then to Tracee's place...I ended up travelling in convoy with Marg and Mel, the other car load of lovely people including Marina, Jo, Annie, Robin and Elyte...I bet lots of laughing was going on in their car!!! We all brought along bits and pieces to eat but Tracee had made baked spuds with all kinds of wonderful toppings...you should have seen the spread!!  Well I can show you some of it!!

Tracee had the tables set up and beautifully laid ready to go....

mmmmm.....

don't these look amazing....

passion fruit flavour pavlova's with whipped cream!! Yum!!

problems of the world being solved here!!

Tracee made a beautiful fruit tea, with frozen blueberries in it....love the cover on the jug, it reminds me of the ones my grandmother had....

Mel ready to tuck in to desert....Marina made her special baked cheese cake....

guess who was hanging out in the kitchen....me, Tania and Marina...

I grabbed Annie and Elyte while they were looking at Tracee's sewing area upstairs....good fun sitting the camera on something and then waiting for it to take the photo....you never quite know when the 10 seconds is up!! Lol!!

..this is what happens when you set the camera up on the stair well and say run quick photo!!! Love these ladies!!

relaxing in the lounge...

we had a wonderful day...thank you Tracee for hosting us and thank you Annie, Elyte, Tania, Mel, Marg, Robin, Marina, Jo and Tracee...you are an amazing, fun, supportive, chatty, wonderful group of ladies, I am very proud to call you my friends....we had the best day!!! Long may it continue!!

Treasure your friends!!

Sit and Sew

This afternoon some of us sewing girls gathered at the Gisborne patchnquilt shop, kindly organised by Donna....I had planned to reveal secret sewing tomorrow but as there were several of us together we went with today when Tania called in after a Dr appt.  I had asked 15 people to make a 14 inch star square, plain in the centre so they could stitch in their name, and in a fabric Tania would recognise as them.
So with in 10 days I had 14 blocks and off we went.  The lovely Tracee came over (secretly) on a Friday afternoon and squared up all the blocks, then we crawled around on the floor for the best part of an hour arranging the blocks in the 'best' way....that is always hard isn't it, deciding where to put things!!
 I then started sewing blocks together and then attached them to the backing and wadding in a quilt as you go method,  then had a play with some free range quilting (secretly) .........Marg popped in to see how I was going as I was finishing the quilting and very kindly cut and attached the binding (secretly).
 I took it to sewing group on Wednesday evening and Donna and I (secretly) did the hand sewing on the binding and then Donna sewed on the label. Tracee emailed me the words for the label, and they are beautiful!!  Tania has some health issues so we thought we could all go with her when she has appointments! I thought I had left my camera at home today (I think it was my brain!!) so Marina kindly took photos and I have pinched some from her blog tonight!  So here we go.....

taking the quilt out of the bag....

one happy Tania......

label on the back....Tracee's beautiful words....

this was the second photo Marina took...I have managed to get them out of order....Tania trying to take it all  in....

she is a bit over whelmed and speechless!!

..this is an amazing machine embroidery made for Marina by a friend, Marina has added the stitching...you can seethe reference to this and her cat Maisie here, isn't it cute!!!

Marg busy stitching names on her last Underground Railroad Sampler block  (that is exciting!!)

Donna stitching away..Marina concentrating on....

what Pauline was saying!

I would like to say a huge thank you to all the wonderful ladies who made a block for Tania's quilt, Pauline, Anette, Jenny (NZ), Marina (Gisborne) Carol, Anne, Annie, Robyn, Marina, Tracee, Marg, Donna, Shez, Chez and of course the lovely Elyte. Thank you for responding positively to my ASAP PLEASE!!!! Makes you realise (yet again) what  wonderful people there are in the quilting world.

I have to say a big thank you to Marg today too...she gave me a beautiful wall hanging...

my very own Chow Chow!!!! I love it Marg, thank you very much!!

Happy sewing!

Birthday lunch

We had a lovely lunch with the birthday girl today, Tania felt up to coming out for a short visit and Marg made wonderful pumpkin soup, the birthday girl brought a varied selection of bread rolls, some orange cake and bee stings....I hadn't come across bee stings before....kind of a bun with custard and honey???? Not a painful bee sting which is good!! Lol!!  Marg had also made some scones and had jam and cream to go with them....we had a feast!!! I took along the balloons and some chocolates...a must for the birthday girl!!

Let the birthday lunch commence!! Waiting, waiting for the camera to go off....always hard when it is on the timer!!

Any for me????

Or me???? Please.......

So nice to see the lovely Tania out for lunch.....

Yummy soup......

ready to feast.....

Marg was aware of me trying to catch her going for a mouth full of scone, jam and cream...so she waited!! Lol!! She knows me well!! Lol!!

We couldn't get a laughing photo 'cos we were laughing too much so tried for the more serious look....like we were thinking....no, sadly just trying not to laugh and guffaw!!!!!

Happy birthday Tracee...I hope you enjoyed lunch as much as I did!