Whoops, winter is heading our way!

Beautiful rain is soaking the east coast of NSW, and farming friends are celebrating the saturation of their dry farms. The rain has both cleansed the dust from our homes and calmed anxious souls....at least we know it hasn't forgotten to rain. Thinking of those farming friends...hopefully your tanks are filling tonight.
It has been a busy couple of weeks here (so what else is new for any of us?),


there has been some sewing time making a quilt for my special birthday boy,


A visit to deliver his gift and celebrate a special day for him,


When did he grow up, as I am sure I don't look any older!


A circle game completed, I am glad I persevered!


A trip home with rain in sight,


And some sweet fabric play that has brightened my day!
This weekend, I head to Sydney to sew with friends, some of whom I have "blog-known" for a couple of years....it is super exciting to know that tomorrow I will meet these lovely ladies and spend an inspiring weekend with them. It is amazing to look at the friendships that are formed through our love of sewing, I treasure my "imaginary friends",


and look forward to lots of show and tell, chatting and laughter...watch this space!
Cardygirl xx



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Another working week is about to start, and the house is quiet, the sun is just peeping its head over the horizon. I love the stillness of this time of morning, the birds are waking up and I have some spare minutes before I dash out the door and the problems of work greet me. Quiet. It is also nice at present because there is that slight chill of autumn in the air which I love, it never gets super cold here, but I do love a change of season.
Last week was a busy one, with several evenings out....being social of course! One Wednesday a month, we gather at Janette's house to stitch and save the world. It is always fun and definitely inspiring. The very modest Chris always drags out a beauty...this stunner has been languishing for about ten years after the centre toile was given to her.


What can I say? Gorgeous!


Janette is making amazing progress with her Big Bang quilt which reminds me of a fiesta.


And there was some beautiful paper piecing ready to quilt.
Well, by this time I was exhausted from just admiring and aspiring! Phew!


Thursday night saw me surprising sweet Shez who had travelled from the Deep South on her way to Nundle. She was staying with the always lovely Cheryll, and I met two new friends, Jen and Sharyn...we had the loveliest evening!
The end of the week saw me at Novocastrian Quilters where I helped sort blocks for the churn dash swap...


catching up with friends for coffee and rearranging my living area furniture! All the classic signs of my chronic bindaphobia were there!


This beauty was quilted and in need of finishing as It was for delivery to my son as a part of his birthday! When did that little boy grow up.....the mothers lament! Despite my good intentions, there were some impediments to my progress....


But I soldiered on!


It is looking fabulous...and the binding is almost completely stitched on...even DH is impressed! It will be ready a whole three sleeps before delivery!!! I am pretty impressed with myself!
Will post a pic when the binding is COMPLETE and the fur is removed!

Cardygirl xx

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Buying the BEST fabric first!

Last Saturday found Janette from fatquarterbird.blogspot.com and myself making a spur of the moment decision to head down to Sydney for the Avalon Quilt Show. We had a lovely day chatting our little heads off, those who know us will not be surprised! We were heading to Sydney's beautiful northern beaches...an area I had never been before...and the scenery is beautiful, what a fabulous place to live. Ever the opportunists we decided to visit Cottage Quiltworks at Warriewood on the way...seriously, how could we drive right past without popping in? And it was most certainly worth the effort! It has a great range of fabric and very helpful staff. I am heading there in a few weekends for a workshop, so it was good to do a re-con of the area and, of course, buy all the BEST fabric before the other girls get there!


Just kidding...I did leave a few morsels!
Then we headed to Avalon for a spot of lunch...there was even a yarn-bombed tree or two!


Tummies filled, it was time to meet the Avalon Quilters...and what a friendly bunch they were! Jan and Kerry were particularly delightful and we are looking forward to having a sewing day with them in the near future. This is Kerry's beautiful hexie quilt...


The lovely thing about ladies that stitch, is that we all make friends easily! After admiring their beautiful work...


And, believe me, this quilt by Jan was amazing with its quirky naïveté and spectacular quilting...



We said our farewells and headed home again, heads full of inspiration, and bags full of promise...oops I mean fabric!
Probably another highlight of our day was a friend phoning from tropical climes after she had noticed we were fabric shopping..a great deal of hilarity ensued and ended with her giving us directions to the quilt show from thousands of kilometres away...aah sewing friends...they are the best!

Cardygirl xx


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Doing the catch up dance!

February and March were always going to be busy months in Cardy world, and they have been true to their promise! Maybe it is the warm weather, maybe our energy has been replenished by the post Christmas/ January lull and we are all busy again, or maybe it is that I like to say yes to lots of things? At the prompting of DH (aka SB), I thought I had better start a series (sorry but I have been busy) posts to answer that question "Where's Cardy?".


Well, aside from the normal stuff like work and family, I have clocked up a few kms, but with nice activities and friends. The hardest thing about moving eighteen months ago was leaving my sewing friends, so at the end of February I was able to catch up with some of them and sew for the weekend. It was nice to have that time with Raelee of wish2stitch, Kylie of Red Raspberry Quilts, Lea of Fairy Floss Stitches, Caron and Julie. I can't seem to link to blogs on this program! Lots of lovely sewing was done, but I didn't take many pics...too much sewing and chatting was going on! The rain was pouring down and the company was good, what more could a girl ask for?


On the way there, I stopped at a shop in Muswellbrook owned by lovely friends, Susan and Karen, Finders Keepers.


It is a seriously gorgeous gift and FABRIC shop


...a real oasis in the Hunter Valley. It is actually a bit dangerous as there is nothing not to like here. Call in and say hi from me....it is well worth visiting!


My time was spent working on my Double Wedding Ring quilt, slow progress was made, but I am enjoying it.


Lea was assembling blocks received in a recent swap.


Raelee was working on her Violet quilt...and the finish line is nearly in sight!


Loved the photo opportunity!


Kylie was making some very pretty blocks, and Caron was working on a table runner.


A good time was had by all!


The rain eased in time for me to head home, loose gravel broke my windscreen about half way home....reminded me of one of the things I hated about those country roads!
More to come!
Cardygirl xx



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