Online Stores and a giggle

Two new e-mails with addresses for us to drool over. Both addresses have been added to the 'online stores' list in the sidebar.

Firstly, Hancocks of Paducah now have their catalogue online, as well as going directly to their site for specials you can peruse their fabric ranges at
http://content.yudu.com/A1qigv/Vol54Spring2011/resources/index.htm
Some really beautiful quilts and ideas.
Just noticed, If you order by Feb 5th you get 10% off, the Code is on the back cover of the catalogue.

 
The second is a forwarded e-mail from Kerry of WebFabrics  http://www.webfabrics.net/
clearing up some confusion and concern about an increase in U.S. shipping rates.  Kerry  tells us that their local P.O. has not been given any new restriction on the Flat Rate Envelopes they use for international shipping and that the U.S. Postal service claims that "if if fits...it ships".   Postage to Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia is now $13.95 (a rise of .50c) for a Flat Rate Envelope.  A Flat Rate Envelope has a 4lb. limit which 8 yards of fabric falls under.

Enjoy Shopping!

And just because I love a piccie and 2011 is the International Year of Forests, I thought you might enjoy this - given to me by a Dog Lover.

 'Another Problem Caused by Deforestation'

 

STEMM and SUNNY KIDS

Thank you Lorraine for re-sending the pics of all the lovely pressies and donations.

 

As you can see, a mountain of wonderful and varied gifts.

It's that time of year again....

...yep, not only is it creeping/rushing headlong into Christmas it is also the beginning of our Christmas Break.
The group will be back on the 2nd February next year, all enthusiastic and ready to throw themselves wholeheartedly into the business of our Quilt Show, so much to do, and only 6 months to go........no pressure, no pressure!

But in the meantime here is the wind-up of our year, Lorraine took some pics with her phone of the enormous piles of donations to both of our regular charities, the 'Empty Christmas Tree' for the Sunny Kids and lots of supplies for the Mum's and their Babies of STEMM.
Sheila, knowing the groups generous nature bought along 2 very large cardboard boxes, think table size here folks, but the gifts to both groups overflowed the boxes onto the tables.....really a tremendously generous donation to both groups.......so where are the pics??........dunno,... truly I don't, I have searched and searched, they have to be somewhere!, but where??, so  if when I find 'em I will post them. 

The Good news is I haven't managed to loose the collage Heather sent of the wonderful time had by all at the Christmas Luncheon.

 

The food was delish, the jokes many and Lorraine kept everyone on their toes with little jokes and a game that revolved around what you had in your purse........big disappointment from the Gals who decided to use their pretty, going out purses that only held their phone and lippy!! - no prize for them!

So wishes to you all, members and readers,  for a very restful, happy and healthy holiday season, filled with family, friends and of course, lots of yummy food. 

See you all in 2011.......yikes, almost 2011 already??!!...gotta go get that quilt finished for the Show....betcha I'm still doing the binding on the last day.....sigh

Patchwork at the Fair 2010

Popped up to the Christmas Fair with the Grandies, just for half and hour and a quick look.  Well that wasn't how it worked out, we spent lotsa time and even a few dollars.  The first thing the youngest clapped eyes on that his little heart desired was Pam's 'All around the Swamp' Dinosaur finger puppets, he just had to have......as soon as we made it home he couldn't wait to get them out of the bag for a play and is happy to tell all that the Pteranodon 'took 3 hours to make',he's very impressed with that bit of info.

For safe-keeping they now reside in their very own chocolates tin....no choccies of course, wrapped myself around those quite a while back.
We did a little shopping while we were at the Cottage, both boys bought a set each of 'Australiana' Place Mats for Mum, some lovely chutney for Dad as well as a pottery sculpture of a rich red Chilli for a splash of colour on Dad's computer desk.  They also managed to grab themselves a treatie or two from Fran and Jane at the Novelties Table.

Lots of time was spent admiring all the Patchwork creations, with the youngest getting quite carried away taking loads of quilty pics.

Christmas Stockings of all sizes and colours...

 Advent Calendars and Christmas Wall Hangings

 Another Christmas Wall Hanging, Table Runners, Decorations ....

 More quilts, tea towels, 3-D quilted Wall Hanging and a lovely quilted jacket

 Quilts for the younger set

 

and those a little more mature...

 Cushions, baby toys and bibs, sewing tidy and more lovely table runners

 Table piled with cushions of all styles and colours

 Quilts in black, white and red

 Quilts in the 'Brights section with some really cute 'Sunbonnet' Cushions

 The perfect Christmas tree, just the right size and lovely bright fabrics

 

And this was the boys favourite Corner, where they found the place mats for their Mum, along with a couple of table runners,they were very intrigued with the Cat Wall Hangings but so excited and pleased with themselves to work out how the spiral quilt was made.

Another successful Christmas Fair with beautiful, clever and innovative patchwork.

Its all so very exciting.......Our Christmas Fair Begins....

Our Christmas Fair has begun, yep, the doors are wide open.
Sheila snuck me in for a bit of a quick pic session this morning, aren't I the lucky one! and because I can't keep anything to myself, here are some tiny peeks collages of the lovely work that has been done throughout the year and is being offered for sale.

Nativities are all the go for the season, the clever girls from the Spinners and Weavers Group are offering this really smart knitted Nativity Set - complete with lamb!

 a few more samples of the Spinners and Weavers Group wares.

and the first thing you see when you walk into the Patchwork Group's room is this lovely Nativity wall Hanging,

followed by walls covered with some wonderful quilts and tables just groaning under the weight of patchwork goodies.

The Needlework Girls have a wonderful display of beautiful works, ranging from baby's singlets and bibs up to fully dressed dolls in cradles and framed Brazilian embroidery for your walls.

Along with all the great silk scarves, silk bags, silk covered note books etc. etc. the Fabric Art and Surface Design girls also have a large range of  beautiful clothing/wearable art.

The Potters set up their display way back on Wednesday, so no one was around to ask for photography permission, however we were lucky enough to get permission to show Ruth's Gum nut babies and her other work.

Fran was busily setting up the Novelties stall while we were there, she had the cutest little wine glass coasters, just slip them over the glass base and you know its your glass, stops the drips and looks pretty too!

Porcelain Painters have a large range of lovelies, including some Christmas Designs on their cake plates.

The Lace making ladies have another wonderful range of hand made lace for sale, including a table loaded with baby knits!, lovely soft little cardies and jackets and beautiful lace trimmed linen handkerchiefs.

Machine Embroidery Group has some rather different wares on offer this Christmas, great wall hangings as well as the prettiest patty cake pin cushions, aprons, keepsake boxes table runners, quilts and more.

One of the Silversmiths was wandering around, sticking red dots on stuff - I kid you not - (Sheila and I had a bit of a go at the red dots too!!) -  she very kindly modeled one of the aprons, adorned with the brightest red lips and the words 'Kiss the Cook'

And why was she wandering around, well it was time for the Silversmiths to be setting up their display, got you some pics of the wonderful goodies available, including some that had to get a bit of a quick polish!!, nothing like using your hem to polish up your goodies!

There are 4 other groups with wonderful goods for sale, the Painters, (Oil and Water, not House). Life Drawing, Mixed and Multimedia Art - some really innovative designs there -, and the Calligraphy Group, who have the cutest tea towels penned with words of wisdom, hand crafted cards for all occasions, little note books and other goodies.
So if you are on the Sunshine Coast this weekend, pop along and bag yourself a goodie or two.

We are open from 5 to 8 tonight, Saturday 8a.m. to 4p.m., and Sunday 9a.m. to 12 noon. and you will find us at 5 Main Street Buderim, Parking off Church Street.
Couldn't embed map or directions from Google, so to view a map pop over to the Buderim Craft Cottage site at  http://www.buderimcraftcottage.com.au/ scroll down to 'Where to find us' and the map is there for you.

The Lions Club also joins us in our Christmas Fair, they have many stalls in the Memorial Hall, corner of Main Street and Church Street, as well as outdoor stalls on the lawn between the Hall and our Cottage.
Hope to see you there!!


Our kitchen will be open and serving hot cuppas and lovely munchies for morning and arvo tea and lunches.

Christmas Fair and our Blog's Anniversary

Well there was certainly a lot of excitement in the air today, mountains of patchwork goodies were arriving for the Christmas Fair, fabric leaves were being cut out, and hopefully the cotton ends snipped off those that needed it (sorry girls, bit slack there) and Sheila had a big surprise for us all,

This wonderful cake to celebrate our blog anniversary.
Can you believe it, another year has rolled around, and over us, honestly I have no idea where the last 3 months disappeared to.

Heather and Sue, busily snipping those leaves apart for Caity to count.
Gwen, Wendy and Marcia stitchin up a storm.
The cake getting it's first cut.........can you make a wish when cutting a group cake? I did, for a very successful Christmas Fair, well, it was a no brainer really, I love to say I made a wish and it came true! don't you?
Betty telling Sheila all about her flimsey she bought in to share with us, since retiring as Cottage Treasurer and the myriad of jobs that that entailed, Betty now has time to make lots of quilts, and a good thing she has lots of time too, this little treasure was created after Betty discovered that she had cut a whole pile of squares ....the wrong size, dontch just hate that!

Lyn bought along her finished friendship quilt.  It didn't get finished in time for last Christmas due to a packed calendar - read gadding about on a wonderful holiday - but its all ready to go for this Christmas.

Sheila had a great idea for a Christmas gift for her Grandies, Pillow cases to match their quilts!
Some of the inspiration came from one of our recently acquired library books, lovely kisses on a case to go with the hugs and kisses quilt for one Grandaughter.

  7 pillowcases made, and only one to go, brilliant idea.


Betty and the troublesome flimsey, Betty shared that she has made a pattern for the next attempt, and it will be right!

Jackie shared her latest quilt, made with wonderful Kaffe Fassett Fabrics,  and all ready to have the binding attached, a little job for the holiday break.

Last week we all thought it was pretty impressive to have your long arm quilter deliver your finished quilt, well guess what,  same happened this week, yep Judy bought Jackie's quilt along to the meeting, now that's service!
Showing the girls the  floral quilting design.

and here is a bit of a closer view.  Judy used a lovely variegated thread in reds for the quilting.

Jackie had another quilt to share with us, a lovely soft 'Shabby Chic', simply quilted with a cross design

Sadie stitched these lovely Princess skirts with glitzy tiaras as a donation to Val's charity group.  Val and her Monday group have been making charity quilts for some time now.

A couple of weeks back Lorraine gave us a demo on QAYG methods, Wendy, who is also a member of the machine embroiders group, decided to have a go at the technique using some lovely Babushka doll stitcheries that she has created.  Showing us how easy it is Wendy had to pause to remember just how to deal with those corners.

Lorraine's demo pics and instructions are on one of the 'stand alone' page links just under our banner, just click on 'Tutorials and Directions from Members' and scroll down.

If perchance you will be in our neck of the woods this weekend, please pop in and say 'Hi' to the Patchwork Girls, we would love to see you.  The Fair gets off to a start on Friday night, and will run over the Saturday and Sunday.  With 13 groups of crafters and artisans there is always an enormous range of quality goods for sale.