Gum Valley Patchwork

'Stitching by the Sea' Retreat

Last year I decided that I would like to run a weekend Retreat, but I knew that it just wasn't going to happen in 2013 with everything else that was going on in March.....ie the wedding! So I booked the venue for March 2014. Readers of my newsletter would have had just a little hint about the event and a few of you have been asking for more details. I have worked out the final details and am pleased to 'officially' launch my first (and hopefully not my last) 'Stitching by the Sea' Retreat. It will be held on Saturday 15^th March, 10am – 6pm & Sunday 16^th March, 9am – 4pm, 2014 at the Santos Room, Surf Lifesaving Club, Cairns Street, Port Campbell. The cost is $100 per person. Participants will  spend two days stitching with friends in the seaside township of Port Campbell. Enjoy the view from the upstairs function room at the Surf Life Saving Club, while working on your stitching project/s. You might even like to go for a stroll along the beach or take a dip in the southern ocean, but be warned we will all be watching you......lol! A two course lunch, with homemade morning & afternoon teas will be provided on both days. And what would a weekend away be without a special ‘Retreat Goodie Bag’ valued at over $20. And of course I will move as much of the shop there as I can! 

Places are limited to 50.....so book early to avoid feeling sad and left out.

Not included: Accommodation is not included but there are over 20 options available in and around Port Campbell in many price ranges. The Saturday evening meal and Sunday breakfast are not included, but again there are many options available for those choosing to stay in Port Campbell. There will be no tutors at this weekend.   

If you are interested, you can download a flyer here: Download Flyer for Retreat pdf

Or if you know that you want to come along, you can download a registration form here: Download Registration Form 2014 pdf

And if you need accommodation information, you can download the details here: Download Accomodation Port Campbell

Registrations are open now, so if you have friends who don't use a computer and would like to come along, please pass the information on to them.

Linda    :)

Stocktake Sale

Can you believe how fast this year has gone? We are almost half way through and we all know what that means......it's stocktake time......and that means it's sale time! 

The Sale will start at 11am tomorrow, Thursday 27th June and finish at 4pm on Sunday 30th June. There is 20% off all stock (excludes BOM's, class fees and purchase of Gift Vouchers).

So if you haven't been for a visit in a little while why not pop in and check out all of the new stock and grab some stitching for the cold nights ahead.

Linda   :)

Mulberry Lane

Mulberry Lane is the newest fabric range to arrive in the shop. After a missing "1 of 3" parcel arrived yesterday, I was able to see the full range in all of it deliciousness.

Designed by Sue Beevers for Northcott

And check out this pattern......

Wouldn't it be great for fussy cutting.....Hmmm I'm thinking hexagons of course!

I will upload them onto the website soon.

Linda   :)

The rest of the wee holiday

Well I am back to complete the holiday diary and hope that I don't bore you to bits!

On Monday morning we meet with some of the other stewards and officials to enjoy breakfast at a cafe at the new marina. It was chilly morning but the view was beautiful.

We headed into New South Wales to Wentworth and visited this site.

It is where the Darling and Murray Rivers meet.

We visited Orange World and took a tour with the witty owner Mario. I know that dairy farming is tight but getting paid 20c a kg for oranges is just wrong! We left with a big box of beautiful oranges, a bag of mandarins and an orange peeler and knowing that we never want to own an orange farm! On our travels back to Mildura I had to pull over and take this photo of these pumpkins stored on racks. 

Tuesday we packed up to commence our long trip home, but not until after we visited the Home Brew shop to pick up some bits and pieces for the next lot of cider. Red Cliff's Big Lizzie was an impressive sight.

The massive traction engine was an engineering feat.....Russell was very impressed.

We decided to take a different route home which just happened to pass through Harcourt and you can't go to Harcourt without visiting this place!

After rearranging the car, we left with 3 boxes of 'refreshments'.

Arriving home we quickly lit the wood heater to take the chill off the house, unpacked the car and climbed into bed.....our own bed.....there's nothing quite like it! It was only a short trip away but it was great to spend time doing other things........but I did do some of these.....

(This was in the car!)

Linda    :)

 

Just a wee holiday this year......part 1

Russell and I managed to get away from the farm and shop for a few days over the Queens Birthday long weekend. Russell is involved in go karting and was rostered on to be Chief Steward at the North West Titles at Mildura. Since opening the shop and working every weekend I don't get a chance now to go away with him......instead I usually stay at home, run the shop and then milk the cows on my own. When Russell suggested we both go and have a couple of extra days in sunny Mildura for our holiday this year I jumped at the chance (after checking with Jodie first if she could run the shop for me....and if our relief milker was available). It was quite a trip ....... 550 + km / 6 hours driving...... but we made it to Mildura by 8pm on Friday night.

Saturday morning I dropped Russell at the track at 8am for the start of a very long day for him.

Usually race meetings are held during the day but this meet was different as racing continued into the night under lights, until just after 10pm. So while Russell was at the track I went shopping and sight seeing. Lucky me that the Farmers Market was on.....

And what a great market it was! I could have come home with heaps of things but I didn't :( . I did buy some of the best tasting sultanas ever, a bag of new seasons walnuts, a jar of cumquat marmalade, some limes and a little treat for Lister from this stall.......a packet of doggie biscuits.

I went back out to the track after dark and tried (unsuccessfully) to take a photo of karts racing under lights......

you get the picture though.....the blurry bit is a go kart!

The next day, while Russell was back out at the track, I 'found' a craft market and made a couple of little purchases. I then decided to take a short drive into New South Wales and visit the Australian Inland Botanical Gardens. This fantastic sculpture was just outside the entrance to the gardens. It is made from old metal grape picking baskets.

I really wanted to see the Rose garden. Comprising of 1,624 roses in group plantings, although it is almost at the end of the flowering season they still looked lovely.

It would be absolutely stunning when they are all flowering....I can only imagine the smell.

I also checked out this little Australian Summer House

with it's spectacular ceiling made up of dried seed pods.

It was difficult to get a photo......I did everything I could apart from lying on the picnic table in the centre of it.....I didn't want to freak out the other garden visitors too much!

The Wollemi Pine is one of the world's oldest and rarest living plants that dates back to the dinosaurs, with less than 100 adults plants known to exist in the wild. It was only discovered in 1994,  north of Sydney. This young tree will hopefully be around in many many years to come. It certainly looks like it is growing well.

To finish this Part 1 blog post I will leave you with a photo of the mighty Murray River in Mildura. The river has dropped 3 metres but this is due to some works being done on one of the weirs.

Linda    :)

 

Raggy Quilt Kits

Check out these quick and easy Raggy Quilt Kits.

The squares are pre-cut and ready for stitching, and come in three colourways.....Pink, Blue, and Green/Yellow.

You will just need to add your wadding. It is an ideal way to use up scraps of wadding from other quilting projects. Raggy Quilt kits are $66.00 each.

Linda    :)

Bakers Twine

New in......lots of colours......22 yards per reel......only $4.50 each.

Linda   :)

A tour of the shop

Today I thought that I would take you on a little tour of the shop.

As you walk in the front door you will be greeted by the new display of 'Wintergreen' by 3 Sisters.

There is also the new display with all of the paper hexagons from Paper Pieces.

The display of all things wool is growing and will soon be joined by lots of lovely Moda Wool basics in about 6 - 8 weeks.

The range of flannel fabric will be expanded in August when the 'Dog Gone Cute' flannel arrives but in the meantime there are still some lovely prints available. And check out all of the different sized hangers back in stock.

There is also still all of the 'Paint Box' range to select from.

Don't forget the complete range of Cosmo stranded threads ......(also available online)

Jodie's menagerie of all things softie

And of course fabric

and lots more

I hope that you have enjoyed this tour of my little shop......maybe I will see you one day soon.

Linda    :)

 

 

 

 

 

Making the most of limited space

I am always on the lookout for new and interesting ideas for displaying items in the shop. As I don't have a lot of room I need to be able to use what I have got wisely.....especially now that I have a lot of stock in. Last year while I was in the US attending Spring Quilt Market, I saw this fantastic idea for displaying patterns.

It was in one of the Patchwork Shops that Roseann, Kelli-Ann and Melisa took Gail and I to........two old doors hinged together with mesh instead of glass.

I then saw this when we were leaving after packing up at Market.....another great idea.

So when I got home I was on the lookout for something suitable that I (and that usually means Russell!) could make. I found 4 old narrow sliding doors on one of the facebook buy/swap/sell sites. They had broken glass which was just fine as the glass wasn't required and for the cheap price of $15 how could I go wrong. Well they have sat in the garage at home for about 9 months collecting dust and getting in the way.....that was until a fortnight ago. I went to our local hardware store......bought some mess and hinges.......and started on the transformation of the doors. After a second trip to get longer staples for the staple gun, we were almost finished. Just a few tweeks and Russell delivered them to the shop yesterday.

We only used three of the doors, which worked out quite well. So I have now have somewhere to display all of my paper hexagons, plus room for some other things.

I am very pleased with how it has turned out!

Linda    :)

'Wintergreen' by 3 Sisters

'Wintergreen' is the new Christmas range of fabrics by 3 Sisters for Moda.

It arrived on Wednesday.

After a little bit of a rearrange it is now all on display.

 

Check out these gorgeous prints.

I still have some fat 1/4's to fold and bundle up, and I need to upload it all onto the online shop ......that will happen this week.

Linda     :)