Chooky's Blog birthday party and new stitchery and another present from the FQ birthday club

Chooky is celebrating her 3rd birthday! Actually, it is her blog's 3rd birthday. And to celebrate, we are having a sewing party.
I have been wanting to sew these stitcheries I have drawn----and finding time to do so ---- and have finally decided that this sewing party can be the time I sit and sew the stitcheries. These are the 2 I managed to finish. Thank you, Chooky, for hosting the party which allowed me to get them done.

Sea side themed stitcheries

I found this dumpling pouch pattern on IG by Michelle patterns.com. I decided to give it a go-- it was harder that I anticipated-- I am not much good with zippers. However, I am happy with the result.

Michellepatterns.com dumpling pouch

 

 

This was another of the Fat Quarter Birthday Club presents I received in the post last week. It was supposed to have one FQ of fabric. But instead, this large parcel arrived with 3 FQs, 2x skeins of DMC threads, a project pouch and some yummy chocolates. Thank You , Peg, for your very generous birthday parcel. As you can see, I have used 1 of the fabrics to make the pouch. Needless to say, the chocolates have all gone.

 

 

Parcel from Peg

 

 

Today is a cold, grey, overcast type of day here. I guess winter officially starts tomorrow-- so I cannot expect anything different.

 

Cheers,

Yvonne

A Birthday and the Fat Quarter Birthday Club

I celebrated my 6oth birthday yesterday. Age does not usually worry me, but seeing the 60 written down was a little bit daunting. I am not a party person and chose not to have a party as such, but there have been many mini celebrations with family and friends. The first started on Saturday, cake and coffee after my walk yesterday, dinner last night, dinner tonight, lunch on Friday and lunch again next Tuesday. I hope my clothes still fit me after all those meals!

For the first time, I joined in the Birthday Club, hosted by Cheryll. The parcels started arriving from 2 weeks ago-- and I kept them aside until yesterday. I thoroughly enjoyed opening the gifts, one at a time. Here they are:

from Chooky

from Sue B.

 

from Tarnyia

 

from Ondrea

 

from Claire

 

from Dzintra

 

from Simone H.

 

 

My Special gift from Simone

 

 

Thank you Chooky, Sue, Tarynia, Claire, Dzintra, Ondrea and Simone for the lovely fabrics. Simone-- I adore the special gift-- a beautifully embroidered cushion. The wording reflects my sentiments exactly.

 

 

I received a card from the local MP and it said that  turning 60 means I could be eligible for a Senior's Card. Therefore I must now be a Senior!

 

 

Cheers,

Yvonne

FNSI

I joined in with the girls for a night of sewing  in the FNSI hosted by Wendy. I sat and managed to get the wording all sewn and finished the hearts today.

Stitchery in Blue

Will have to add pellon and quilt it and then turn it into a cushion. A few blue stockings will be added-- all ready for Santa on Christmas Eve.

 

I had made a redwork one as a small wall hanging.



Stitchery in Red

Thanks, Wendy, for hosting another FNSI.
( By the way, I popped over to Wendy's for the list -- only to find that my name was not there-- I was so sure I saw it come up when I signed in on Wednesday or Thursday).
Enjoy the weekend

Cheers,
Yvonne

Victorian Holiday-- Part 2

 

 

The next stop was Bendigo. It is a great town built with the wealth from gold mining years ago. We went on the tram that runs through the old part of town-- well worth going on the ride.

 

Fountain in Bendigo

 

Tram in Bendigo



I found a patchwork shop in Bendigo. It is called Lil Blokes in View Street. I thought it was a delightful shop-- carried the sort of fabrics I love. I have added it to my list of favourite patchwork shops. I was so busy buying up in the shop, I forgot to take a photo-- very annoyed with myself for doing that.

A pennyfarthing in a café at Eaglehawk, decorated with poppies for Anzac Day.

 

In a shop window in Healesville

 

 

Marilyn, from The Patchwork Teahouse , has been stocking my brooches and buttons for years, and when we found ourselves in the Yarra valley, of course I had to go and meet her and visit the shop too. We arrived and had such a warm welcome and were given homemade scones with homemade jam and cream. They were delicious and I found out that Gary, Marilyn's husband, had made them that morning. We chatted and chatted, and of course I had to browse and needless to say, found lots of fabrics there. It is a real pity that it is not my local shop. It was fabulous meeting Marilyn in person. After that we found a delightful walk just behind the shop, called The River walk-- along the Yarra River. So if you do visit the Patchwork Teahouse, make sure you have either morning tea or lunch there, give yourself lots of time to browse (as it is a large shop with lots of goodies) and then take yourself for a walk behind the shop.

 

View inside The Patchwork teahouse

 

 

The Patchwork teahouse

 

The Yarra River behind the shop

Wildflowers growing on the river banks

 

 The next day we visited Mandurah Reservoir near Healesville, and did walks in the area.

Mandurah Reservoir in the morning with lots of cloud cover

Reflection in the Mandurah Reservoir

Donnelly's Weir

The autumn colours

We stayed in a B+B in Healesville. Every time we were home, we had this little visitor. She wanted to stay there the whole time including sharing our bed! We had to put her out at night-- felt bad as it was cold, but I am sure she had a lovely home nearby-- as she was well looked after.

A cat visitor

We drove to Avalon to catch our flight home to Sydney. As we had some spare time, we drove to Geelong and had fish and chips along the shoreline. There were lots of these carvings along the promenade.

The bollards on the promenade in Geelong

 

 

 

Here are the things I bought whilst in Victoria.

 

From The Village Patch in Maldon

From Lil Blokes in Bendigo

 

My goodies from The Patchwork Teahouse

 

 

 Wishing all mothers a Very Happy Mother's Day.

 

Cheers,

Yvonne