Odd bits

 I'm somewhat addicted to the Antiques Roadshow program on TV, and when I heard that there was an antiques fair in Geelong, I just had to do my own roadshow. So we headed down there on Friday, in reasonable weather, and found the venue, the Geelong West Town Hall, quite easily. It's in the middle of a rather nice shopping area too, might need to explore that sometime - sans hubby!
So the exbibition consisted of about a dozen stands, not very big, but excellent quality. At the very first stand I inspected, I came across this German sock mushroom. It comes from Mariazell, and is wood burned and painted. The inscription reads "Jedes Loch, ob gross, ob klein, moechte gern verstopfet sein", or "Every hole, be it big or small, would like to be darned". Well, that had to come home.
Then I discovered this amazing spool holder, Victorian I think, with a little man holding a candle, so ladies could sew in the evening. It's glorious - and well outside my price range. I could just stand and admire...
Several of the stands had items I would have liked (sewing paraphernalia), but were to some degree overpriced. There was also vintage clothing with                                                                                      gorgeous lucite handbags, fur collars, hats and

gloves. And a chap who sold furniture, all very high quality, including a 1850's Davenport from India, with leather and gold tooling, and beautiful wood.
Lots of old jewellery too, but that's not really my thing.
After that, it was nearly time for lunch and we headed to the Little Creatures Brewery. We like the place, it's very relaxed, and has nice food. Wayne had a burger, and I tried zucchini and corn fritters with herb yoghurt, and a salad. And of course a small glass of the IPA. Yum.
Then we drove southeast, to visit the Mill vintage and antique market. It was humongous, and I spent at least a couple of hours there, rummaging. In the end, I only came out with this pretty little Bo Peep needle booklet, which folds out to a 3D scene. Cute.
For a change, Wayne found something to take home, a Qantas first-day-cover, and an Anzac cookie tin with a scene from the war. Oh well, he was happy. Didn't see much else that grabbed me, it was rather like an enormous Op Shop, and the Mills at Daylesford and Ballarat seem to have better quality goods. Still, a good day out.

Busy week

  Blogger is doing weird things today, so I'm starting half way down the page. Whatever.

The week was mildly busy. My sister sent this cute photo of her with a barn owl. To think that, when she was young, she was scared of birds and animals in general, she's come a long way!

Also, While I was out showing Deb the delights of Bacchus March (and the fabulous greengrocers), Wayne got some help moving the Ikea shelf and my sewing table into the Owlery. Yay! Now things can get back to normal, sort of.

Went into town Friday, and found this awesome wool shop, Morris & Sons. It's full of gorgeous wool, sewing things, and a few fabric bolts. But the wool is really the drawcard. Its deadly expensive, with skeins up to $30 a pop, but oh so beautiful! I just had to get myself a few skeins, will have to think about what to do with them.
Unfortunately, Morris & Sons is right above Dymocks, and I just couldn't leave these two books behind. Will enjoy reading them in the Owlery, with a cuppa, sitting in the sunshine.
We had lunch at the Hophaus at Southbank, a German Restaurant. Thankfully, they've avoided the 'Hoompapa' ambience and serve a decent beer and good food. It was Wayne's birthday, and he really enjoyed his lunch and beer. I had a very well cooked Wiener Schnitzel, and marvelled at the many German beers on tap. Loved seeing the sun on the gold-fronted building along the river.

Quilty fun

 Trying to sort this messy room out, that is, removing everything from the shelf and then moving the shelf to the studio. So far, I've filled 4 large garbage bags - amazing what one accumulates! Happy to say,  I'm getting there. Slowly.
Then of course it was my birthday, and some of my friends spoiled me rotten. Sue gave me this wonderful raptor panel, showing owls and eagles. How beautiful! Will have to think of a special way to use it.

Sue also went all out (and probably all broke!) and gave me these amazing vintage spools and a very special twine winder complete with scissors. You know what I like, dear friend! Collecting a few things now in my vintage sewing utensils collection.
We went to a Quilt-in of the Geelong Quilters Guild yesterday, and I came home with lots of goodies. First up, these awesome batiks (yes, I need batiks. A girl can't have enough batiks).
Then my friends Marg and Tracee gave me some FQs of this delightful range depicting kitties, mousies and fish, aren't they gorgeous?! I can feel a kitteh quilt coming on.

Then I made the mistake of checking out the book store at the Quilt-in. Got some gorgeous books, one about African quilts, then the Impressionist Applique one, reminiscent of Sophie Standing's work, with explanations of how to go about making one. Hm, maybe one day. And I liked the Civil War Anniversary Quilts book because it has a lot of interesting stories in it about the  Civil War.
The last photo was taken in Ballarat, at Lake Wendooree, on a blustery day last week.

Playing

 Having some fun in the Owlery, playing with sprays, pens, stamps and stencils. Started this one in a class in Sunbury last week. A bit whimscal, but fun to do!
Mr. Brown brought me a bunch of flowers the other day; he likes to brighten up the place sometimes. There were some pretty asters(?) in it, so I took a photo. Then I played with Smart Photo Editor for a while, and this is what I came up with. This program turns your photos into amazing pictures. I love the mixed media effects, and will print them out to use for an art journal page.

Autumn days

The autumn weather has been glorious, and even the kangaroos are lazing around in the sunshine.
Meanwhile, the building of the studio is completed, and I'm in the process of furnishing it. It's a slow task; I'm waiting for tables etc. to be delivered, and then a handyman to assemble everything and hang things up.
My iron board awaits, and my art trolley is ready to stock with pens, paint,s and papers.
My little kitchen corner is operational, with a little fridge, kettle, and tea caddy. I've also stocked the cupboard with some new mugs, I thought these looked pretty

arty!
The Bunnings cupboard needs to be set up, and a few shelves installed. I also bought a curtain rod to hang quilts. The window blind and flywire screens will come in a few weeks, as will my comfy chair (need somewhere comfortable to sit and admire the view!). Once the cupboard is up, I can start to move all my goodies in. I shall try to be patient.
Meanwhile, I felt like knitting, so I started a two-colour cowl. Sadly, I made a mistake (did a knit row when I should have done a purl row, duh!), and couldn't be bothered to undo everything, so it will probably go to Kogo. Anyway, it was good to learn a new pattern.

A beautiful rainy day

You're probably thinking "she's nuts', but there's nothing nicer than an overcast day with gentle rain falling, especially after a period of extended drought. So I welcome every drop!
In the meantime, here's my 'Batikats' quilt, from the 'Katthult' pattern by Solbritt & Maria. It was fun to make, and I already have another one in mind. All machine made, which is highly unusual for me; Im a hand quilting girl. (Old girl!).
The studio saga continues, after I sent a firm request to the builder to finish off the project this week. He promised faithfully to do that. Maybe I should have been firmer earlier! Once that's done, I'll do a big clean and then I'll post some pics.

A day to myself

Today, DH went into town to follow up on some genealogical matters, so I had the day to myself. After a restless night on Thursday, I felt like sleeping in and woke refreshed around 9am. I started the day slowly, with coffee and my usual perusal of Facebook, hotmail, news and Pinterest. While posting to my last board on 'Flapper Dresses' I  came across more fashion photos and started another board, 'Edwardian fashion'. I think I like it almost better than the 20's look. Such a pity we don't wear silk, lace and velvet any more. I think the fashion of the 'belle epoque' was so flattering for women  of all shapes.
Later, I headed to Sunbury and dropped into the market, where a friend of mine was selling some jewellery. We had a coffee and then I went to Bunnings (yes, I know I had boycotted them, but I had to get certain things I could not find at Masters). Now I'm addicted to stationery shops, but I'm finding I rather like hardware shops too.
After lunch I watched a couple of episodes of 'Spooks', one of my favourite series, and found two large male kangaroos, one on the front yard, and one in the back paddock. I think the one out front (below) is Big Jack, but the other one was quite impressive too.

Meanwhile, Pretzel was sleeping the day away under his blanket, with one ear, some paws and a little bit of tail showing.  He had the right idea.
At Mary's the other day I discovered some new wool, so I got these balls for a scarf. The colours look a lot brighter than they actually are, and go well together.
I'm about to unsew some quilting on my (not so) secret quilt project, grrr! Anyway, it's not too much, and I don't really care if it looks a little wonky. Tomorrow I'll sew the binding and hanging sleeve on. Then for the great reveal.

More of this and that

 Gosh, must be getting garrulous in old age - here I am blogging again! I've been looking at blogging tips on Pinterest and they recommend to blog regularly and often. And when do you start to bore your readers to death?
Still, I see you're all still sticking around, nobody seems to have dumped me yet, so I'll carry on.
First up, some books I received and found recently. A friend gave me the Parisian Cats book and the "I could Pee on This" book. Love them both, the Parisian cats sure lead a life of sophistication in the city of (cat-) love. Lovely photos and stories to while away an afternoon. Similarly, the 'French Cat' book is about felines, and the houses and countryside they inhabit. For a bit of a laugh, the cat poetry in "Pee" is perfect, and yep, I recognised some of those behaviours. I won't tell names though.
I finally unpacked and hung my special Venetian mask that I carried all the way from Italy last year. I wasn't sure where I wanted it, but eventually decided to hang it over the bed. I'll probably dream about it tonight, or get a shock waking up in the morning. It's beautifully made though, and

 compliments my bedroom furnishings.
It's taken a while, but yesterday I finally subscribed to Foxtel. Three months of free viewing was a good offer. And already I've watched two great old movies. One was "The Cardinal" (starring one of my favourite actresses, Romy Schneider), and tonight I watched "In the shoes of the fisherman", which was a great book by Morris West. (Note to self - re-read more Morris West books). Both from the 60s, and satisfyingly long movies. I'll probably get square eyes from watching too much TV.
In order to get away from the screens for a while, I dug out a UFO and finished most of the top. Just a sneak peak for now, I'll try and get more done over Easter. But yes, batiks feature prominently. Stay tuned.

Assorted

The weekend was taken up with a day in town, while Pretzel acted as watch-cat. Hmm, maybe he did have his eyes closed there fore a while!
Shopping is exhausting, so when I came home I relaxed and looked up some recipes on Pinterest.
One of them sounded just the thing for a cool evening, namely Mulligatawny Soup.
I hadn't made this before, so I had to get a few things from the supermarket. But the recipe is fast and easy to make, and the results were yummy. And I have some left for a couple of lunches.
I also finished the Prim table runner, and am pleased with how it turned

out. Just in time for autumn.
This morning, one of Pretzel's stalkers came to visit. I call her Minnie, and she was happy to slurp up a little bowl of Whiskas milk. I'm sure she belongs somewhere, she's in good condition, but something for elevenses is surely welcome.
Waiting for the cabinetmaker to install the shelves and kitchen cupboard in the studio. The builder said it should all be finished this week. Fingers crossed!

Early morning

This morning I woke up at the ungodly hour of 6:30am, goodness knows why. Still, it afforded me a view of our foggy paddocks, still rainsodden from yesterday's weather. Our little mob was here too, and the joey was out of the pouch, hopping around like a mad rabbit, before diving back into mum's pouch upon seeing me. I love seeing fog, and the rain was so good!
I also finished a small challenge quilt wall hanging, called "Paula's challenge", because Paula gave us all a panel from Japan. My design is extremely simple, I'm finding 'less is more' a good principle at the moment. The few bits of bling I attached give it a bit of a lift.
On the studio front, we will have a floor complete within the hour. I chose vinyl planks for ease of cleaning, and they looked nice in the shop. I didn't realise how thin the planks were. But I think it'll look ok.
Now I'm onto the quilting of my Prim runner.

I blinked

Yes, I blinked, and it's March! No idea where February got to. Didn't achieve much, either. The building works have slowed, and I'm getting toey! The concrete needed testing, and was found to be only borderline dry, so apparently we need to apply some liquid to make sure the vinyl doesn't warp. But I'm told the floor is going in this week, and I believe the cupboards aren't far off either. The painting is done, at least, and looks good. This needs to be wrapped up by Easter,
In the meantime, I've been working on two things, one is my 'Prim runner', which is ready to quilt. I enjoyed doing this, got the idea from a picture in Pinterest and did my own version.
The other is a challenge ( in more ways than one!), and I can't show it yet, need to finish it this week.

Pretzel had an interesting morning, with TWO kitty visitors! The other day, we had 5 kangaroos near the windows, and when they saw Pretzel, the all sat up stared at him for a while, before hopping away. You're a scary cat, Pretz!

Goings-on

 My friend Chris John visited last week. After a very satisfactory trip to a few art and papercraft shops, we settled down to some serious crafting!
We started with the cards. Chris had brought some of her card making equipment along and we had fun trying out some designs and new inks and powders. I had bought a small book of blank watercolour paper postcards, so we gave that a try, with Chris' inktense blocks! Ooooh, I liked! One of those is definitely on my Xmas list. The colours are so intense, and the hues are divine. Finished the little watercolour landscape. Then we tried some stamps, and distress inks, glitter pen, and paper cards to make more cards. The little owl is so cute. I'll have to finish some of these off before I can use them.
The next project was a little steampunk box, inspired by a YouTube video by Einat Kessler. Einat does awesome things, and I love steampunk, so this was by way of an experiment, as I hadn't attempted anything like it before. I had collected a whole lot of steampunk itty bits for another project (see the Alice in Wonderland Quilt), so there were lots left. Then I raided hubby's garage and found a few more bits to use (and if you want to donate any little metal bits from your hubby's collection of stuff, please keep me in mind). We first painted the boxes with a mix of black gesso and umber acrylic, a nice dark colour, then dried them. Next, we used glue to stick on the metal bits and left them to dry overnight. The next step was to repaint everything with the acrylic/gesso mix and dry it.Then we went wild with all sorts of sprays and mica powders and paint and inco gold, building up the layers.A final drying and voila - my steampunky trinket box! Such fun.

In the meantime, things are moving - slowly! - on the building site. The plumbers were a little flummoxed today because they couldn't find a convenient connection to the main water drain, so after ripping up one of my pretty white dwarf aggies (I hope they'll put them back!), they ran a direct trench over to the septic. Hopefully that will be all the digging required. The next job will be the plasterwork, possiby starting tomorrow. Here's hoping!