Mid of March 2015

You all know without me saying how fast time is flying by this year! Mid March already? It has been a good year for me so far! I have been busy doing everything from work stuff, creative stuff, physical stuff, planning stuff and all the life stuff! Life is beautiful (some of us says booful)! 

So with the colourful expression in my life at the moment. I'm going to post something lively and colourful for you here! 

My colourful stuff!

Colourful vintage Japanese silk I have stashed away.

A bit of creative blue stuff I have been working on lately is this Furoshiki cloth for my bag. I posted about here. It's not much closer to being finished, but I do pick it up and add a few stitches every so often. I've also bound a handmade book for a colleague who's leaving us this week. During the week Mr Notjustnat and I went to see Richard Thomson in concert at the Recital Centre in Melbourne.

Three red hearts and indigo moon for
Furoshiki cloth.

Stash of vintage indigo cotton. 

Coptic stitch binding.

Recycled book covers and cords.

Melbourne city

Also this week I finished another Scallop basket. I used the canes I dyed with coffee that I posted in February.

I finished it with a coat of vanish. 

Attaching the handle 

Last Saturday I helped my friends moving house. I didn't have to do much except driving back and forth between the old and the new house 6 times! He is a collector of vinyl records and he had so many of them to be moved. For a treat we had a lovely coffee at Market Lane Coffee, Prahran Market, Melbourne. 

Single estate Costa Rican 'rapadura' sugar
is best for coffee

The end of the move treat was green tea and cake

I found a wild fig growing at my Campus. It has plenty of figs if you get there before the birds. I was lucky to walk past it when the figs were just ready to pick. I got enough for a batch of jam.

Chopped, soaked in sugar and sat overnight

Next day boiled and bottled

An interesting ending for this post is this handsome vintage vehicle. Don't ask me what make it is. I stopped at the traffic next to this gorgeous looking red truck. I had my camera right by me so I took a shot of it. The driver was so happy that I took notice of his vehicle.

I have been working on many projects, but none is finished enough to blog about yet. I even got inspired lately by The Civil War Quilts newsletter that I subscribe to. The result was that I dug out the Civil War blocks I did many years ago and posted here. I hope to finish and put together a quilt top before we leave on our trip. I wanted to get it machine quilted in New Zealand by Donna while I'm away and to collect it on my way back. It's exciting to think that I will get a new quilt in 2015! I always need an incentive to complete a project! 

Until next time

Nat

High Tea for the Queen of Tea Cosies

Last week I hosted a high tea for Loani Prior, the queen of tea cosies. The event was in planning for the last six months. I love high tea, and this was a great opportunity for me to perfect my high tea hosting skills. In the past I only hosted small groups of family and close friends. This was the biggest group I have ever hosted. A lot of planning went into organising this, starting from securing the date for the guest of honour, Loani. Next was sending out the invitations; I got all that confirmed and reconfirmed. Finally the day came. Here are some photos from the big day...

I set Loani at the head of the table with a special tea set I have been collecting for years. I found this cute tiara to go with the setting. If you haven't already known Loani, she is the author of the Tea Cosies books.

My dinning table only sits eight, but with my weaving table I managed to add three more. Everyone came with a plate of goodies to share. Thanks to the old Aussie's tradition of "bring a plate".

I made English scones, cucumber sandwiches, strawberry chocolate dipped brownies, and dates filled with almonds. My daughter Kitiya made us delicious lemon tart. 

I was glad to get a chance to use all my tea cup collection that afternoon. There weren't a matching set, but I'm not a matching kind of girl myself! 

The afternoon went like a whizzzz! There was lots of chatter; old friends and new friends were met and made. All in all, it was a good afternoon even for the hostess herself! A group photo was in order. It's always great  to keep these photos for memory. Oh, I do love my friends! 

I asked if everyone could bring their tea cosies for show and tell. I was surprised to see how many there were. I unintentionally had a show and tell of my own. Some of the guests were missing and I wondered where they went. They found their way into my very messy work room. Having cleared up the house for the tea party I had thrown everything in the room including the loom. Ha, they had fun trying to step into it with stuff all over the floor! 

Thanks ladies for coming. It was an honour to have you at my house Loani. Your work is so inspiring to us all. We can't wait for your next book of more tea cosies! 

Until next time.

Nat