The Mission has started.... finally!

Well the day (well night-time now) has come for us to head off on our journey to Western Australia. Although 4 days behind schedule we are packed to the roof and more and ready to go oh yeah and the dogs are in the back in their cosy beds. 
We managed to empty the house and tidy the back yard - its finally looking good!

 

 retaining wall and garden

new retaining wall next to garage

the lovely view from the back door!

Leaving home for the last time, for a while!

 One more stop at Paul, Vicki and Batu's place

Last stop in the Mountains is Mt Victoria Caltex service station for a sausage roll for dinner and a full tank of diesel and we are heading west.


Where will we end up in our swags tonight?

My 12 month holiday starts.... NOW!

Well it's official. I am now on holidays (leave without pay) from my day job for the next 12 months.

I had a lovely last day with work mates and was given a great card with a hand drawing of us in our 4wd and a book to keep us busy for at least the next 12 months while travelling around Western Australia! Oh and a gift voucher for a seaside tavern in Bunbury - a great treat when we finally get to our new place to go out for a meal.

 

Thank you to all for your well wishes on our adventures west!

Hopefully it won't be long until I start posting some photos of our holiday starting with our trip across the Nullarbor!

My Creative Space...

I have had a very creative and CHARMING day today stretched over 200km of travelling.

As my current creative space looks like this...

I was relieved when I boarded the train at 6.08am today in chilly Katoomba and found this to start my day....

I had prepared myself for a train trip of stitching and it was going to happen! It was fairly quiet for most of the trip so I was amazed with how much I got done.

It is free hand so it's a bit wonky but that's what hand made is all about. I should warn any of you thinking of stitching in trains that they are quite shaky and I had to make sure at times that I was placing the needle into the fabric and not into my fingers!

But today was really about screen printing! It has been nearly a year since I first met Cath and Kirsten from Prints Charming at the Sydney Stitches and Craft Show and sat in on one of their embroidery classes. Unfortunately I haven't picked up any embroidery since, until today. And what a most appropriate day to do it as I was heading down to Prints Charming Studio at Annandale for a screen printing class. 

I must thank Cath and Kirsten again for a wonderful day of playing with fabric, paint shapes and colour! I was like a kid in a candy store grinning from ear to ear all day! Starting with plain white paper and plain white fabric I was amazed with the result! I can't wait to make it into something! The class showed us all how to design and print our own fabric as well as how to go about things if we wanted to set up and do some screen printing at home.

where to start...

more designs...

background...

some colour...

drying...

my finished fabric!

Christina was also in the class today. She designed and screen printed this fabulous peice today! It is amazing how there were four people in the class all using the same techniques yet we came out each with totally unique designs!

Cath and Kirsten are having a book launch this Saturday 8th May at their Sydney Studio with an open invitation to all. So if you are in the area you should pop by and say hello and check out their creative space!


So what's your creative space? For more creative spaces head to kootoyoo or share your creative space.

Birthday Brilliance

A couple of weeks have past but I am still in (my) happy birthday mode. Here are some of my birthday!

High Tea at Bygone Beautys and the Treasured Teapot Museum at Leura

My friend put up with my excitement over sugar cubes and the musical trolley that rolled out to serve High Tea with cucumber sandwiches and delicious sweets. It must be done, if only once! Plus you can check out the insane collection of teapots!

 The Tea Rooms                  The musical trolley 

What we started with...

  The sugar cubes

What we ended up with...

Fab present from my Sister

"Sew Darn Cute"A great book full of inspiration and creative sewing projects. After a quick look I had to pack the book in the box straight away as we are packing up the whole house including all my fabric, books, sewing machines, needles threads - the cupboards are bare! Luckily Cath has already done a book review of Sew Darn Cute for you to check it out! 

Flowers from a wonderful friend! 

On Sunday I spent the day with Nat from Natalie Bailey Photography at Bathurst Bridal Expo. Nat is a wedding and portrait photographer based in Lithgow that I have been working with for a while. The following day I had a special delivery of flowers to say happy belated birthday and to say thanks for helping out at the expo. They are not only beautiful flowers but the fragrance is amazing and is still filling the house! It's not until someone gives you flowers that you remember how wonderful they are to have in the home - The just put a smile on your face! Go on, go out and get yourself some now!

A fabulous handmade card from a lovely friend, which has since been packed away for safe keeping until it is unpacked on the west coast!