Dust...

There have been news reports of dust storms in Sydney which have closed the airport and other places. But here 1000 kilometres away in Queensland we are also having dust storms. So it is my guess that most of the places in between are as well.

These pictures were taken a short while ago (at midday ) from my back deck...

Five minutes later...

It is getting worse. I hope it all blows away soon. We are going camping tomorrow further west for three days, but I certainly don't want to go in this.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder....

Our Friday craft group had a challenge - an 'uglies' challenge. The rules were simple and started with all the participating people bringing a piece of 'ugly' fabric. There were no size requirements - just a piece. Then each piece was cut into the number of people joining in. I think we had 18 to start with so there were 18 pieces. The sizes were varied but everyone got one piece of each fabric. These scraps were to be made into something by last Friday. We didn't have to use all the fabric and we could add extra if we liked. ( I told you the rules were simple.) Here's the scraps before I decided to do anything with them. This really is a challenge...

and here are the results...



A flying geese table runner, a pincushion and a hot pad.

A bunny towel and an iris folding card.

This one isn't quite finished but is shaping up to be a collage picture - I think there are still some buttons to be added.

Some little ditty bags.

A pig and a purse. ( This reminds me of that saying about making a silk purse out of a sow's ear - seems like that's what happened here. Isn't that pig cute?)

Here's a bag - both sides shown.

Another purse.

And this was my contribution.

I used every fabric except one - it just wasn't long enough for my strips. It was a little pink and white check - I think it is what the pig's nose is made from and there is a yoyo flower on one of the ditty bags as well.

It certainly was a simple challenge and lots of fun to do, even if I did leave it to the last minute as usual. And now I have new bag - it even went on a picnic with me yesterday. It's not the prettiest bag but somehow I think it might be the one to end up in the car for quick grocery shopping trips. I think everyone rose to the challenge really well. Congratulations, girls!

More photos from Glenharrow

I just loved this window on one of the buildings.

There were beautiful flowers....

and a warm cosy atmosphere....

Lots of beautiful things to look at....

and lots of inspiration....

and new ideas....

Oops where is everyone? It must be afternoon tea time. ( and I am not responsible for all those empty chocolate wrappers on the plate - how do I know? Because I was responsible for the missing freckles ( chocolate with hundreds and thousands) which you can't see there. )

And here are Rosalie and Leanne at work. The lady in between them is Rosalie's mother Nel who is involved with things as well.

People who attended on other days have also posted about the wonderful day they had - seems it was perfect for everyone.

My day at Glenharrow....

The way to Glenharrow - or specifically Smuggler's Rest where our special day was held. It wasn't the warmest day... But seeing the projects from Rosalie Quinlan's soon to be released book soon brightened things up...

Here's our projects for the day....

and here's Cheryl, my fellow traveller from Brisbane, working hard on her stitchery.

The projects came in a lovely red bag with everything we need to finish the two projects...

And once again I seem to be showing a project which needs ironing, but I was using a hoop. And up in the left top corner you can see some lovely fat quarters of Rosie's new fabric range which just had to come home with me.

Another lovely aspect of the day is meeting new people - here's a hello to Sylvia and Fiona, who travelled back home to set up their own stitching day. Looks great, girls!

Thanks for a lovely day, Leanne and Rosalie. You can check out Leanne's blog for lovely photos of our day and the following ones.

I'm excited...and looking forward to going to...

the Spring Stitch-In at GlenHarrow Gardens. This is being hosted by Leanne Beasley and Rosalie Quinlan. Leanne has posted a sneak peak of the kits they have packed, and it all looks wonderful. I am going down with my friend Cheryl on Wednesday and we will be at GlenHarrow on Thursday! If anyone is reading this and will be there Thursday as well, please let me know. We won't be flying back until Saturday evening so if anyone has any suggestions of must visit places then I am very interested in that too. We have a car so who know where we will end up.You might remember that I went to a day with these same two wonderful ladies in March at the Nundle Girls Day out in the Country. And the photos which go with this post - well they are showing my progress of the projects from Nundle. Do they look finished? Not quite - and not ironed yet either. I had plans that if I was going to get new projects at Glenharrow I should finish the ones I already had. The stitching is done for Rosalie's - I just have to make it into a bag. Leanne's project involved stitching and applique - I am getting close but can I finish it before I go? We'll have to wait and see on that one.

Pincushion swap....

I think that with this post I will have finally caught up on all the swap news. I love being in the swaps but I find that it means that I have much less time to do things for myself. So for a little while ( until the Christmas swaps) I will be trying to catch up on some of the projects I have here which seem to have been here for a while waiting to be done.

I participated in a pincushion swap run by Sandra. Here's what Rose sent - you can see that customs decided to have a peek too - but all the contents were safe.
Here's the cute little bee and its garden (oops the wing got a bit bent) It's such a happy little bee - I hope that it likes the weather over here. Rose chose this theme because she is from Utah which I have learned is called the beehive state. And she also had two broken arms - I hope they are both healed okay now Rose. There were also some sweets to try - Bit-O-Honey, which of course would come with a bee, and some Pixi Stix which my kids enjoyed as well. Thank you so much Rose.

And here's what I sent to Nadine. This Pattern is from Melly and Me called Handbag Addiction.

One bag is the pincushion and one bag is a needle case.

I originally got a kit for these so I made mine first to work out the pattern and then made the ones for Nadine. I have to say I didn't find this the easiest pattern so I am glad that I made mine first because I certainly found it easier the second time.

Thanks for a fun swap, Sandra.