Mandala!

 Last Saturday our crafting group got together
for another day of craft and friendship.

The project this time was to paint a Mandala plate.
This is the "before" photo.

Some progress.

 Then it was time for lunch! We had a wonderful spread.
Didn't take a photo of the scones at morning tea or the dessert!

 My finished plate.

 Here are all the plates (minus one as Helen had already left).

This is the kit we used in case you would like to make one too!

Ahoy There, Me Mateys!

 This is a quilt I have made for our great nephew who is due next month. He will have a bit of a rough start as he will be transferred to the Royal Children's Hospital as soon as he is born for major heart surgery. But we know he will be in good hands.

 I went looking for a charm pack but couldn't really find any suitable for a boy 

(there plenty of girly ones to choose from though!). Then I remembered seeing

 this "Pirate Mateys" layer cake at Clair's Fabrics in Warrandyte.

I just backed it in matching blue fabric and quilted the squares.

Couldn't really find any pirate fabric that matched nicely. 

The blue is more like the blue pirate ship square in the photo. 

Friday Night Sew-In

 After finally making a trip to Spotlight to buy more thread, last night I stitched the last three bees. Now I'm all set to put my table runner together.

Thank you to Wendy for hosting us last night. 

You can see what everyone else got up to here.

First Finish For 2018!

"Santa's On His Way!"

This is a pattern by Marg Low. It was a nice quick project to do as I stitched over 2 nights (in between watching the tennis). The longest part was trying to find a 6" hoop!

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Off To Work He Goes!

 It doesn't seem that long ago that Nelson headed off on his first day of school.

Before we knew it, seven years went by and he was off to his first day of secondary.

 Today he headed off on his first day as an apprentice roof plumber.
After several weeks of sleeping in since finishing school, this morning he had an extra early start - 5.30am! He was pretty excited as they were heading down Geelong way.
When he was working with them as part of his VCAL, he never got to go to the beach jobs. Although I don't think they'll be going down to the beach.

My baby is now officially a tradie!

 Just because he is so cute, thought I'd share a couple of photos of Rex and Molly.

 Waiting patiently for Nelson to get his shoes to go on a walk.

A busy Monday afternoon!
These two get on so well. They divide their time playing,
running around the back yard and sleeping. 

First Friday Night With Friends For 2018!

 It was lovely to join everyone for the first FNWF for this year. I was on a roll 

and hoped to finish the stitching for my bee table runner. 

Unfortunately, I ran out of thread with just three little bees to go.

Thank you to Chez for hosting us last night. 

I'm looking forward to another wonderful year of stitching along with friends. 

You can see what everyone else stitched here.

Shakespeare Like It's 1614!

 

 Last night, Noel and I headed into town to see 

"Much Ado About Nothing" 

at the Pop Up Globe Theatre.

 

The Globe is a replica of the theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon in England.

 

The above is the one in Stratford-upon-Avon.

 

We were seated in the Lord Chamberlain Room.

Which was right next to the stage. All those people are the Groundlings! 

They had to stand the whole night.

 

 

 There was lots of interaction with the audience. Noel was picked out 

as he did a woohoo when no-one else did, they only clapped. 

The guy came over and shook his hand and made a point 

to everyone that only one person commented on his good work! Go Noel!

Taking a selfie with the Groundlings!

They are all bubbles coming down from above.

It was a fantastic show and so funny. If you get a chance to go, you should.

Happy New Year!

 Wishing everyone a very Happy New Year. 

I'm looking forward to another year of bloggy friendship.

Do you remember this little wall hanging I finished in November? Well, I found it in my sewing room yesterday! Even when I did my 2017 finishes review post, I didn't even realise that I hadn't hung it up with all my Christmas hangings! It was only when I was tidying the sewing room up that I found it. So it looks like this will now be my first new Christmas decoration for this year!