18 September, 2025

Silver Threads & Golden Needles!

Last weekend I was lucky enough to spend 
three days in Ballarat attending the 
Silver Threads and Golden Needles Sovereign Hill Retreat 
hosted by Chrissie of Chrissie's Timeless Treasures 
with my sister-in-law Silvia.
 
We received two kits to work on.
  
The first project was a Christmas bag. 
My bag is the one on the right.
 
 The second was a pins and needles case. 
I managed to get the stitching part done.
  
My finished pins and needles case.
 
 In between stitching, we would explore 
different parts of Sovereign Hill.
 My favourite place is the Criterion Store. 
 
There were so many lovely goodies here.
 
 Silvia and I thought it would be fun to 
have an old fashioned photo taken. 
We just had to pose stitching!
Don't think I'd really like to wear 
these dresses everyday!
We also made some little lavendar bags like 
they would have made back in the day.
I celebrated my birthday on Saturday 
and Noel surprised me with a special 
delivery of these beautiful flowers.
 
I was also lucky enough to win this sewing case 
(on my birthday too!), together with a toffee 
apple that are a specialty at Sovereign Hill. 
Mitchell has claimed that! LOL!
Before dinner on Saturday night, we walked 
the whole way around Lake Wendouree.

For my birthday dinner, we decided it 
would be nice to go to 
Craig's Royal Hotel which was built in 1853.
How beautiful is this staircase!
They were booked out for Saturday 
night so we went on Sunday.
Ballarat has beautiful gardens along the 
main road. I really liked these butterflies.

We had a fabulous time.  
There was lots of laughter, chatting, eating, 
exploring and shopping and we even managed 
to get some stitching done too! 
I'm actually surprised with how much we actually 
got done as we kept wondering off.

6 comments:

kiwikid said...

Looks like a fantastic time away Christine and great projects. Sovereign Hill , love the old fashioned photos.

Maria said...

What a fabulous weekend away and a great way to spend your birthday.
Love your new header.

Janice said...

What a delightful way to spend your birthday weekend. You were very spoilt. I think we are fortunate to be able to wear more user friendly clothes these days, but you both looked very fine in your vintage attire.

Karen S said...

First of all, Happy Birthday.
What a great way to celebrate. It looks like a wonderful retreat with plenty to see and do. The projects looked lovely, too.

Lianne makes stuff said...

What a great weekend Happy Birthday

Crystal Digitizing said...
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