Monday, November 27, 2017

FNSI - November

I'm very late posting this - it seems all of a sudden Christmas is almost here. 
(I know that certain people have been warning me constantly on Facebook.)
Whatever sewing I did on Friday night was "Secret" so I can't show it...in fact it is so secret I am not even sure now what I did do - maybe I just slept!!!

I hope the rest of you were more productive than me - I have a long list of things to sort out - I had to create a list - add the "Due Date" then sort it into the order of when I need everything...so far - for next weekend I have 1 out of 2 things done...not so good - but I am always meeting deadlines at work so why any different at home???

Thanks Wendy for offering us the chance to be motivated!!!

I did have a busy sewing oriented weekend so there is a hope I will catch up.

Monday, November 20, 2017

National Agriculture Day

My friend Chooky posted about National Agriculture Day (November 21st) here.

She is a country girl - a farmer and also does "town" work - where she gets a regular pay cheque and paid holidays...(unlike her farm work).

I'm a city girl - born in Sydney eastern suburbs, now living in the 'burbs in Brisbane.  All the mod cons, minor concern over water usage (due to the water rates bill) and power usage, can shop whenever and for whatever I like (within budgetary constraints).
I go to the supermarket where milk comes in containers, meat on black plastic trays with Use By dates.  Fruit & vegetables are all "perfect" and uniform shapes and sizes.

Such is the good life in the 21st Century (even in the 20th Century, things were easy although not so pre packaged).

I have never been totally ignorant about where the food comes from and how it gets to me - I have had some small exposure to real life on a farm...but not a lot..however, it wasn't a big factor in my day to day life.


Since I have been following Chooky's blog and become a friend of hers, I am a lot more conscious of the struggle that our farmers deal with constantly.  The unpredictability of the weather is of course a huge issue - especially in Australia which is such a dry continent anyway. 
Then I started hearing "them" say how farmers should put away for the bad times - and I know that this is just hog wash for most farmers - of course they stack up hay and other produce when there is a surplus - but that is only going to last for n years - not forever.

And now we are hearing about the other extreme - huge volumes of crops being ploughed back into the ground because the bananas are too big, too small, too straight, too bent and don't fit the "perfect shape" that sits so prettily on the shelves in the supermarket.

And the milk with all the cheap house brands - which has no taste and is being procured from farmers at a ridiculously low price - making it hard or impossible for farmers to survive.  The same thing has happened to honey and no doubt many other food lines.
I do not buy house brands for that reason alone and avoid imported fruit & vegetables when ever I can.


To balance all that struggle Chooky does see some amazing landscapes, cloud formations and sees a lot more stars at night.  And of course there are often baby animals to be "oooh'd and aaah'd" over.

I have no wish to become a country girl at all...but I do tip my hat to all the Australian primary producers who work hard to produce the food we eat.  


A big thank you to them all.
(off my soap box now)

Saturday, November 11, 2017

Glenrose Retreat

Wow!!! What a fun time we had.

A retreat is always a great time - no domestic chores to distract you - nothing to do except sew or maybe some shopping & eating out.  There is always a lot of chatting and usually some fun along the way.   BUT this time beat all that.


This retreat is organised by the Tuesday Girls and I have been lucky enough to be included in the "Guest List".
We arrived Monday morning ready for tea and scones, 


then got set up and into the sewing.  Most of what I did this time was "secret" stuff so there are no sewing pictures.  
Tuesday morning we arrived back in the sewing room to find a Christmas elf had been busy - in fact Mrs Elf had risen early - dressed - snuck out of the cabin and set up all this - then went back to the cabin changed back into PJs and went back to bed...very sneaky!

During the day we had lucky dips to open a box from the Advent box Mrs Elf had supplied - originally a commercial collection of 24 boxes but each box and the container were "Christmased" as only Mrs Elf could!.  Each box contained little sewing treasures. We got 4 each and this is my collection.

We were given a challenge:  - Mrs Elf provided felt, laces, ribbons and beads and we had to make a Christmas Decoration.   We added them to the tree.

Mrs Elf also had a Christmas bag for each of us -- filled with more goodies - a couple of little pouches, note pads and bits & pieces:

We also had some games - threading popcorn onto string

Sucking up M&Ms using a straw (that was quite tricky!)

Tuesday was also Melbourne Cup day so we had a Christmas race

That was hilarious as none of those little wind up toys wanted to go in a straight line.

I didn't win any of the games but still got a prize (just like any kid's party!!!):

Mrs Elf justified all this by saying that she was just getting rid of excess stuff at her place...but a lot of work went into this and everyone had a fantastic time.

Each group at Glenrose get some food to share for a "Happy Hour" - cheese, biscuits etc.  This year we added Baked Camembert and Cauliflower muffins and Mrs Elf brought along a tub of Weiss Mango & Coconut sorbet and a bottle of moscato - slushed up the sorbet - added the moscato and we all enjoyed a drink - Oh My Gosh!!! - just lovely.

It was hard to say enough "Thank yous" to Mrs Elf to cover all the extra work and effort she put in.


Sometime during my 3 days, I did manage some sewing - but it is all for Christmas swaps or gifts so no pictures now.    

It's going to be a long time until next November when we do it all again.

Sunday, November 5, 2017

FNWF - November

Friday night I was busy preparing my "kits" for retreat next week.  I am not as prepared as I usually am - still some cutting to do - but everything is bundled up with the necessary threads, fabrics, pattern as needed...I hope...- but I am off to Glenrose Patchwork for the retreat - and there is a shop - so if I HAVE to buy...I can!!!

Here is my collection of projects - I have a lot of small things this time - it's getting near Christmas so there is a lot of "secret" stuff - so things are hidden and there won't be a lot of pictures after retreat...I will share what I can.


Thanks to Cheryll who is on retreat herself enjoying a FNWRealFriends- for hosting us and therefore making us commit to posting!