Gum Valley Patchwork

Christmas is.......

just so exhausting......especially when you are a little dog.

 
Linda   :)

Christmas Trading

I just wanted to pop by and wish you all a Merry Christmas. The Shop will be closed from 4pm Friday 24th December and will re-open on Thursday 30th December at 11am. Normal operating hours will then resume.

If you are desperate for sewing supplies during this time, please contact me and I will see what I can do.

Linda    :) 

Cherry time

One of the first things I did when we started building the Shop was to plant an Orchard. The idea was that when we eventually live there we will have large fruit producing trees. Well five years on the fruit trees are growing well, with even a few new additions last season which included another couple of varieties of apples, a walnut, a pomegranate, another apricot and another black mulberry.

Last year I had my first crop of cherries. I was so excited but when I went to check / pick them I found that the tree had been completely stripped by birds! This year I vowed it would not happen. So last week I noticed the cherries had started to turn red so off I went to our local hardware store and I puchased 6 metres of bird netting.

 
Not pretty but hopefully it would do the job.......and it did! Look at these beauties.

 
 
Yesterday I decided to pick the ripest of the crop. The recent rains had caused quite a few to split but it certainly hasn't impacted on the taste......yummy! I also noticed that the pear/cherry slugs have found my tree.....will have to try and exterminate those little pests before they do too much damage to the tree.

I will pick the remainder of the crop tomorrow but in the meantime we will enjoy these.

 

Linda     :)

 

A letter to Santa

Look what I found tucked away in my wardrobe.........

 
Hope Santa didn't buy any boring books in previous years!

Linda   :)

You're kidding me........aren't you?

Guess what email I just received? A listing and PDFs of all of the new MODA Christmas ranges for 2011.........yes that's right! We haven't even had Christmas this year and I have to start thinking about next Christmas. I think I will just flag it and read it all next week.

Linda  :)

Once a year

A week until Christmas means one important thing in our house…..it’s the bosses birthday…… and that’s ME! Although I had to work yesterday I still had a lovely day. I got a phone call from Emma at 8am before she headed to work, a visit from Mum to the Shop in the afternoon, Hannah came home and we all went out for tea in Port Campbell, I didn’t have to milk in the afternoon so I spent some time stitching instead, and I will never forget the visit from Lenora and her children who say Happy Birthday to me in the Shop.  I don’t think anyone has sung Happy Birthday to me since my 21^st….which is a long time ago!

Linda   :) 

A short break

Sometimes it's nice to get away from home even if it is only for a couple of nights. Russell and I stayed in the city (Melbourne) on the Thursday night and this was the view from our window.

 
That's Parliament House. We went out for tea.....Mexican.....and although I had only had it a few weeks earlier when Lenora and I were in Melbourne, Russell was keen to eat at Taco Bills. The next day (Friday) we had lunch with Emma and Ryan which was really nice.........Ryan shouted as he had won vouchers at Poker. Friday night we attended the Victorian Karting Association Annual Presentaion Dinner at Taylors Lakes. As Russell is Vice President (and looks like being State President next year) we were guests at the function. It was a great night the band was fantastic......one of the karters is in the band - 'The Palace Gypsies'.

Back to reality and the shop on Saturday morning........and to a parcel of fabric left on the doorstep. Inside were some extra bolts of the popular 'Maison de Garance' fabric by French General. A few days earlier the Crazy Corner Wool arrived ......... yay! It's been on order for several months and was due to arrive in July. I still have one bolt on back order but here are the colours that have arrived.

 
I have cut up some fat 1/8ths......they measure 65cm x 25cm....and are $6.50 each.

Also in stock are some of Sue Daley's (Patchwork with Busy Fingers) Playing with Papers packs. Choose from 4 designs - $23 per pack, includes plastic templates, pre-cut papers and instructions/pattern.

Linda   :) 

PS. The table runner in the photo above is Lenora's 'Footpaths in the Forrest'....pattern is available for $15

Shop closed

....but only for Friday 10th December. I'm off to Melbourne, and NO I'm not going to see Oprah.....even though she will be there at the same time......I'm just too busy to squeeze her into my schedule! The shop will reopen at 12noon on Saturday.

Linda   :)

'Wild Rose'

The lovely new range from Blackbird designs – ‘Wild Rose’ has arrived. I have the complete range plus jelly rolls, layer cakes and charm packs. It is now sitting on the pew looking very beautiful.

 
This range has been used in Homespun’s 2011 ‘My Town’ Block of the Month which starts next March. If you are interested in purchasing your fabrics for this project please let me know as I have the requirements list and can put together a pack for you.

I will be running two Block of the Months through the Shop in 2011. The first is Lenora's new yet to be revealed project using Rosalie Quinlan’s ‘Sweet Broderie’ fabric range and the second is Gail Pan's new ‘Berries and Bluebirds’ in the ‘Wild Rose’ range. Here is Gail's version.

 
If you are interested, please let me know and I will forward more details when I get organized……. early in 2011 I hope!

Linda   :) 

All over red rover

WOW! what a hectic week that was……….my legs are having a hard time dragging my body around at the moment!  My annual Christmas sale was a huge success with lots of ladies purchasing supplies for their summer holiday sewing fix. It was lovely to catch up with many of you even if we didn’t get a chance to chat for very long. The ‘Christmas cards’ on the tree were a hit……I have about a dozen or so left so I will continue with them until they are all gone…….spend $50 or more and get a prize card from the tree.

My last class for 2010 was held yesterday……the Christmas Club girls were back – this time making some ornaments to hang on their own Christmas trees. I really enjoy the Clubs (afternoon & evening)…..lots of laughing, talking and sewing…..fun with a capital F!

I will be back soon to show off some new arrivals in the shop.

Linda  :)