A mixed up post of this & that

Hello there friends & readers,

Welcome to some new followers & thankyou all for stopping by to read my ramblings :-)

I mentioned last post about some owl orders for my friend Sandy.

Sandys daughter Abby was leaving school & wanted to give a gift to the boarding house she had been in for the past few years

Earlier, Sandy had commissioned me to make a bunting

she had chosen a lovely Owl print fabric as Owls were the theme

of the boarding house

It turned out perfect  -- the words "School House"

with a heart "flag" in the middle of the two words

Unfortunately I didnt get a pic as it was so large.

Because the School House's colours are red, green & blue

      this tartan blanket made up into such lovely Owl doorstops 

& continuing the Owl theme was perfect

This distinguished looking chap was for a friends son

who lives up in Auckland

    

At the end of last week I had the most wonderful surprise

I had a visit from a blogging friend

who lives on the other side of the island & was over this way for a few days & took the time to come for a cuppa :-)

The very lovely Catherine & her husband Rob from here

an angel in the garden   

it was so nice to meet up after corresponding lots

but the visit went by so fast & - as is usual -

I didnt get any photos + I thought of lots of things afterwards that I had wanted to share with her :-)

    Although we had'nt met in person before, it certainly felt like meeting up with an "old friend"  

that is one of the things I have enjoyed so much about blogging,

the friendships made. . .

A lovely lady contacted me via my blog to purchase one of my christmas stockings that I posted about 4 posts ago (Oct 20th)

I sent it off to her & now we have been corresponding

& she wrote the most wonderful post about it here on her blog

all things rusty and fabric 

& so I have gathered a couple of new followers :-)

thanks so much Michelle for your thoughtfullness   

& it is this sharing of likeminded interests that I so love about the blogging community  

 big old suitcases filled with flowers to you all out there :-)

Yesterday in Hamilton I filled my last stall commitment for the year

I took part in the Hamilton Creative Fibre A.G.M. Open Day

It was another full on day - some stall snaps (sorry you must be sick of these)

I found myself positioned next to a lovely lady

who sold the most amazing soaps under the label -

cheeky monkey soaps

  It was really fun to be next to her & our combined stalls smelt so delicious with her soaps & my potpourris  

The guest speaker for the day was a lady called Priscilla Lowry

& her subject was "is it art or craft"

Gosh what a interesting speaker & some of her "art work" that she bought along to show was just mind boggling

she often has shows in galleries - this was her quilt

that depicted a journey she took along The Silk Road

The above is based on a full size quilt she made & then remade it in miniature version & mounted it in a recessed frame

the detailing in her work was exquisite!

A very fascinating speaker & she had us all mesmorised!

My friend Donna that I posted about back in October had been asked to speak about a spinning course she had done

Donna had received a scholarship to do this course earlier this year

I snapped some of her display items

spun fleeces from different wool types

PLEASE can I go home to live at Julies house!!??

    A teddy Donna had made from homespun fleece & then knitted

- I could've pinched this chap - I loved him :-)

Because I work mainly in fabric, then being around fibre & fleece takes me right out of my comfort zone

which I think is a good thing for us all to do from time to time 

& makes us think "outside the square" a bit more.

The garden has shown lots of growth this past week

Earlier pic above . . .  then about 10 days later below

lavendars coming into bloom

I planted a big patch this week with helichrysems & cornflowers

to be a picking garden for my potpourri

when I came to check next morning

most of it had been eaten off completely by the rabbits :-(

I was too busy ranting & raving to take any pics ! ! !

I commented to Catherine last week that our nights have still been extremely cold

& so normally, my pansies would've succumbed to mildew by now

It is odd to have them still flowering away - but so enjoyable

After my stall yesterday I had to collect my new D.L.E cards

from the Printers in Hamilton

The green one on the right is the old version

do you like the new "vintagey" version on the left???

If I told you of the hours of agonising over these & the headaches & the tears & the rants & raves . . .

you would either not believe me,   or lock me away  !!!!!

I tried to photograph the other side but my camera is having a "moment" so gave up  . . . 

Thanks again folks for taking the time to stop by & reading my posts  - a couple of Peles pics to finish off today. . . 

Matryoshka cushion image

embroidered heart detailing on cushion

note-books covered in vintage linens

    Have a lovely weekend out there - take good care everyone

Love/hugs/friendship, Julie Xoxo