To Market, to market..

I've been quite for a while but with good reason- as of yesterday, our house is officially on the market!  Just a few short weeks after finding out DH has landed a permanent full time job interstate.


The house is looking really great inside and out- our first open homes are this Sat and Sunday.  I especially enjoyed seeing the transformation of the garden with dramatic improvements and the freshly washed and painted house looks cleaner, tidier and shiner than it has ever been. These pretty pansies sit at our front door make me smile!

Inside our rooms are pruned of their clutter, new paint in parts, drapes in some rooms, new soft furnishings where required, and pretty quilts on beds.  Household jobs have been attended to. We have been scrubbing, washing walls, windows, and surfaces all over the house, so basically all the big  house cleaning jobs are is DONE when it comes to moving out, it will be a matter of a quick clean of bathroom, kitchen and vacuuming.  How great is that?  Thanks to both sets of parents mucking in,  and all of us slaving, plus the hired help of a gardener to supply hard manual labour and dump the pine bark,we have transformed our house.
And thanks to skippy we had somewhere to toss the damaged or dead items that weren't suitable for donation.  A big truck arrived with groovy equipment to grab onto the skip and lift it onto the truck. to my children's entertainment.

In the middle of this I had Retreat. Booked months ago before I knew we could be leaving.  Yes, a quilting retreat with my old friends.  We take over a B and B near a lovely beach and river, filling the country style kitchen with our own foods and working a shift in the kitchen to cook or serve up  anything from an elaborate meal of many dishes and desert to soup and sandwiches with a fruit platter for lunch.
Meals are prepared by others according to a roster,  and additional things such as slicing, chopping, washing up and setting tables happens as well at times by the kitchen crew.  But once the assigned shift is over, retreat is just as fun as ever, although for me a little sadder because it may be my last if I cannot get back for next years.  I want to boomerang back if I can and feel in a way I am not really truly leaving the group as my heart will always be there- friends have met together for nearly 12 years now most fortnights, even if not all of us can or do attend each meeting. I will miss them all and hope to find an equally fun and nice group of ladies through Canberra Quilters to make new friends with.
On Saturday night we always have a dress-up themed dinner night and this time was a PJ party. Suffice to say it was VERY funny and no photographs will be published anywhere by me (so as to retain my friends!!)  Oh how we howled laughing at the antics.  I know that those of you who have been to quilt retreats can probably imagine some of the fun and mischief that goes on- not to be explored here!Very silly!!
I did have a good time, but I also worked the whole weekend on a piece that is underway I needed to make a dent into.Quite a lot of quilting out of the way.

I found the sea air restful and refreshing, look at the view we enjoyed from the outside covered decking!



There was a little bird intent on nesting - after all, it is spring.  It had discovered someone's quilt  left on a table outside.  It cheekily came back for beak full after beak full of batting!
Some ladies had set up a hired quilt basting frame on the outside decking, under cover, to the bird's delight, as they left pieces of batting scraps  that disappeared over a few hours one afternoon.  Bet those babies will be the most pampered, warm little birds  in their batting lined nest!
Of Of course, the girls pack and drag out  half their sewing rooms- the amount of STUFF we seem to need as quilters is probably quite shocking to the average person.  My friend Judi lugs hers long in this baby!:
Now isn't that a great idea?  She can sit on it too, its a big toolbox with removable sections, on wheels.  Mine usually gets tossed in a plastic box on wheels or a suitcase.
There are machines at intervals, cutting gear, bit of fabric, loads of gadgets, people erecting design boards and basting frames, spreading half their sewing library of magazines and books on the coffee table for others to enjoy reading..or in my case spreading out baskets of scraps to find new homes with others in the aim of decluttering my sewing room. It sooooooo worked!!
Some quilters were working on the friendship blocks we are making for each other this year.  The group's parting gift to me was early to receive my blocks for the friendship quilt we are working on. I chose Jacob's Ladder from a selection of allowable blocks and wanted to mix berry shades with the light milky chocolate bamboo print that I supplied.  I don't know how I will set them yet, maybe like this.  Maybe not!
They are all beautiful!
I have 15 blocks with another 7 to come in that are still to be made.  The others swap in December and I will be leaving my finished blocks with the group's organiser so I dont' have to worry about sending them back.  Just have some embroidery of names to go on some of the blocks.
 I plan to do this after the weekend's open homes and get some sewing time in before the following weekend.
The group also gifted me a beautiful  card hand made by my friend Rebecca, who also loves scrapbooking.  It is a clever card with room for lots of photos with flip out pages and areas for signing as well.  What a treasure.
Along with an exquisite Huon Pine box with an inlay of Musk Burl in the lid. Rarer than Huon Pine,  it grows to 15 feets and was made by Darryl Freestone of TAS.  The box is lined with felt and closes with a three part intricate and pretty latch.
 
What a lovely way to carry my blocks until they are made into a quilt top in, and the card from my friends.  I feel very  lucky indeed to have been given such a unique gift.

Happy Quilting,
Stephanie

I have had some really good news as well which should only be a few days away until a big reveal.  Keep ears to the ground, more to come shortly!