Over the weekend the Rotary Club of Mt Waverely held a quilt show

at the Community Centre.

This two day event not only featured quilts, there was some textile art work

including felting and embroidery. It was great to see such a diverse range

of work at one show by  many talented people. 

There were a number of stall holders offering

a huge range of products,  beading, basket making and of course a number

 of patchwork shops were in attendance.

One of which was Patchwork Passion from Cranbourne,

offering books, kits, fabrics and much more.

Last Saturday at the autumn gathering I purchased

a badge from the Phillip Island Patchworkers to add to my very small collection.

I chatted for some time to one of the local members about badge collecting

and through the week a parcel arrived at my door.

When I opened it, there was M’s collection of badges from

all over Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the U.S.A. 

Here are just a few, far too many to photograph.

They also came with a notebook with information about where they had come from.

I keep taking them out of the container to look at them and wonder

about this patchworkers travels.

I feel very privileged to be custodian of this collection

Today the Phillip Island Patchworkers hosted the autumn gathering

for the Victorian Quilters.

It is always a fun day catching up with old friends and making new ones.

With local shops to tempt you with new products, which I did purchase a couple of things.

The guest speaker today was Fran Batrouney on “Travels in India”.

It is always enjoyable to hear of peoples travels to other parts of the world

and Fran had bought with her today some of her purchases for us to look at & touch.

On the way there we stopped to take photos of a new quilt,

the binding of which wasjust completed very late last night.

You’ll have to wait to see the whole quilt properly

when the pattern is realeased.

Earlier this week I went to visit Julie at Sewing’n’Beyond in Rosebud.

A good range of patchwork fabrics, sewing machines, haberdashery

as well as other fabrics.

Julie is now stocking some of my patterns and has some

of my quilts booked in for  classes.

It is quite a treasure trove of goodys well set up for the people on the

 Mornington Peninsula. The staff are very friendly and helpful, so if you’re

ever down that way call in for a look.

Last weekend I was invited to tutor at a 2 day workshop.

Over the course of the weekend the girls learnt new tecniques,

 including bias stem making, needle turn applique and

some three-dimensional flowers or fabric oragami as some people call it.

It was interesting to hear the girls talk about live in the country,

  many of them live on farms which brought back  memories of my own chilhood.

So much has changed  with  technology and equipment.

Even with these commitments, everyone managed to complete some

homework on Saturday night in preparation for the following day.

I had forgotton about country hostpitality, with continual tea and coffee making,

also the home made sponges and slices. Mmmmm yum.

Saturday afternoon when class had finished for the day I took a stroll

around my host’s garden.

You have to imagine how this camellia would have looked

when in full bloom from all those petals on the ground.

Comquat tree

After one of the coldest weeks in May on record where they had snow 

to about 700m above see level.

We packed the car and headed to the other side of Victoria,

most of the way we had showers, rain and more showers.

Along the way we saw many fences like this. 

 As my chauffeur Hubby and I got closer to our destination

 some blue clouds started to emerge although no warmer when we stepped out of the car.

There are many beautiful old buildings in this country town.

Including this one, suprise suprise its a patchwork shop.

Terang Cottage Crafts at the Courthouse and is owned by four very lovely ladies.

Arriving home this afternoon, I spotted the very first flowers

on my tree dahlia for this season.

It must be at least ten foot high, Ican’t remember it being so tall

without being broken from the wind. There are so many buds still to open.

After unloading everything I grabbed my camera,

to see what else was flowering in the garden.

You might think that this photo of the tree dahlia is on its side,

no its just on a bit of a lean with the weight of all the buds.

A few Alstroemeria flowers.

Bromeliad

Anyway back to this morning, being the first Saturday of the month,

it was Laurel Cottage class. With most of the ladies there,

there was much to catch up on. Even though todays class was the

appliqued border, most spent time catching up on previous months

that they may have missed.

Helen’s 9 patch border coming together.

And with 2 sides of the 9 patch border on.

Just arrived home from an extended Easter Break

on the beautiful Ninety Mile Beach for some much needed R & R.

A spot of surf fishing.

Some empty shark eggs.

Often asked if  it is suitable for swimming, I have seen what they catch off this beach

and I wouldn’t swim there. Great for long walks though which we did every day.

Can’t get any fresher than catching dinner straight off the beach.

(Australian Salmon)

Every morning D was on the beach before sunrise fishing

 and always said how spectacular the sunrise was,

 so on the last morning I thought I sould see for myself.

As you can see I wasn’t disappointed.