Stitch the Day Away

It was very exciting to head to Queensland on Friday for Stitch the Day Away on Sunday. We caught the bus and then the plane to lovely warm Marcoola. Brenda, Caroline, Paddy and I shared a lovely apartment with a pool and near the beach. We did try our the pool, even me, and check out the beach.

 On Saturday we had our swim and then coffee and cake. We caught the bus then to Maroochydore and had a lovely afternoon browsing the very extensive shopping centre, Sunshine Plaza. We had lunch there and then bought supplies for a delicious grazing dinner! On Sunday we headed just up the road to our stitching day. It was very special to catch up with Fiona there.The day is organised by Lynette Anderson and her special guest was Anni Downs.

 We were given two lovely projects and starter kits but there was plenty of temptation to get us shopping.

It was a very lovely way to spend a day though not that much stitching was done!

Christmas stitching day continued...

Just a few more photos of Saturday's stitching day in Glen Waverley. Here is a close up of Leanne's runner.

 There was some amazing show and tell. Here are just a few of the wonderful quilts that were shown. Very inspiring.

 This was a lovely version of Some Kind of Wonderful quilt adapted for the maker's daughter.

 Leanne also demonstrated some of the techniques she learnt in Hawaii.

 We were also treated to a cocktail demonstration. He was making a supposed "quilters" cocktail. We all got to have a little taste too.

 After a busy day of stitching and socialising, Fiona and I continued on to dinner with Rose. We had a delicious Indian meal just around the corner from our hotel. It was lovely to catch up with Rose again.

Friends in Stitches

On Saturday, we headed to Glen Waverley for the Friends in Stitches day with Leanne Beasley, Natalie Lymer and Gail Pan. It was a lovely day of stitching, sharing, chatting and eating! The name tags were ready for us as we arrived.

 The samples of our projects were on display too.

 This group of friends had made matching tops to wear on the day with all that they were going to enjoy printed on them.

 We shared the table with these lovely ladies.

 Our kits were in the blue bags. There is Meg joining our table for a moment with her cute red hat on.

 Gail, Leanne and Natalie telling us about the day and the projects.

 There were inspiring displays of the ladies' wonderful creations around the room.

 We even received a beautiful gift in this little box!

 It was a lovely necklace with "I create" on it.

 The food was very good too especially dessert after lunch. There were lots of choices and some were tiny little desserts like this. It was delicious.

 In the afternoon there was a show and tell session and it was so inspiring. Look at all these wonderful quilts.

 In the evening we headed back to the city and met Rose for dinner. It was lovely to catch up with Rose. We had met on the stitching cruise earlier in the year.

We then headed back to the apartment for our last night. On Sunday, we enjoyed a sleep in and then a little shopping and finally flew home in the afternoon. It was a lovely few days away.

Stitching day kits and old tools

I am heading away this weekend but don't have much to post about stitching progress as I have been working on a few secret projects for later in the year. I have also been making lots of kits like these for the stitching days coming up in just a week or so. There are still some places on the 20 April if you want to come. The first day is fully booked. We will be posting the pictures of the projects on Monday.

I had a wonderful birthday yesterday and will post about that next week.
Just thought I would leave you with these lovely images of Bruce's grandfather's tools. He was a builder and these were his precious tools.

 Hi made 2 of these buses for Bruce and his brother Paul.

 If you look carefully at the handle of this saw you can see Bert's name.

Best go and pack lots of stitching and even a little crochet to take away. I am hoping to get lots done.