Gum Valley Patchwork

From sand to green grass

Saying goodbye to Dubai wasn't too difficult as Russell and I were both just a little sick of the constant heat, and we knew that we were heading to greener pastures......literally......we were heading to Ireland. After an extra day in Limerick, we joined a 14 day Globus tour of Ireland.

Hannah and I have been on 2 Cosmos tours in the US (and they were great!) and as Globus is part of the same company I was pretty sure that we were in for a great holiday. There were 44 on the tour.........made up of Americans, Canadians, New Zealanders and a few Aussies.......plus of course our tour director - the fabulous and knowledgeable Kathryn.  Here are just a few of the beautiful photos that I took while traveling around.

The Cliffs of Moher

...just a week earlier the weather was so bad that you couldn't see the cliffs.....but we were so lucky with the weather.

We saw castles......

lots of castles.....

and churches

lots of beautiful churches

Stunning scenery

that took your breath away.

Farming land that made you miss home...

and other tourists that just had to spoil a fascinating natural wonder at the Giants Causeway.

In Ireland there is always plenty of craic to be had....

and again....

and again.

Topped off with Irish Ale and Cider.

As you can probably guess, we really did love Ireland......such a stark contrast to Dubai. I have lots more to share but I will keep it for another post (or two!)

Linda    :)

Strange holiday habits

I have to admit to having a rather strange holiday habit. I like going into supermarkets and checking out all of the different products on offer and prices. I loved it in the US....Walmart is a very interesting place to go.......where else can you buy your breakfast cereal in bags the size of dog food bags, get your prescriptions filled and buy a gun, all at the one place. When we were in Mexico we worked out that it was cheaper to buy a can of mixed alcoholic drink than an energy drink, and that when you tip the bag boy he looks at you like he wants to marry your daughter....lol! So you can imagine how much fun I had in a couple of supermarkets in Dubai. The first was more like an all in one large convenience store that was just down the road from our Motel. On the ground floor there was fresh food and grocery items, with all fruit and vegetables imported from other countries.

There was also a separate area for bulk spices, nuts and chocolates........it looked so beautiful with all of the bags of spices lined up.

Upstairs was clothing, shoes and electrical goods. This fridge caught my eye.......I think that this would be extremely popular in some households!

A fridge with a lock and for only $305!

The other supermarket we visited was Carrefour.......you know you are in a great supermarket when it has it's own street sweeper cleaning the aisles.

We headed to the dairy aisle to check it out and saw a few familiar brands. Bulla Cream from Colac........about $4 for the Cooking Cream and $4.90 for the Whipping Cream......not that dear seeing it was half way around the world.

And then we spied Bega Cheese........about $5.95

And fresh milk for $3.60

I was amazed at the size of the egg display, and how almost all of the eggs were white shelled.....

but I was even more amazed at the expiry date........I'm not too sure about eating eggs 3 months after they have been laid!

There was a complete fish market at the back of the supermarket........a wide variety of fish

and some other less appealing aquatic animals

and some things that were just a bit too pricey....Abalone from France $126/kg and King Crab Legs from Australia $148/kg

It was great to see more Australian produce in the meat department with lamb selling for $50/kg

and plenty of Australia beef on offer.

I'm pleased to say that I wasn't escorted out for taking photos of weird stuff in the supermarket, but it did fill in an hour and I had fun......yes I know I'm strange!

Linda     :)

All of the news from the Frolic

Thank you thank you thank you to everyone who made the trip and joined Lenora and I for our third Friendship Frolic. This year we had over 100 people join in the fun and it was so nice to see happy smiling faces coming into our shops to see what we had on offer. As promised I had my 'the good, the bad and the ugly' display of some of my early work including class samples and projects.

I couldn't believe how many things I have made over the years.........and there were lots more that didn't even see the light of day!

I also had a little in shop competition.....Guess the number of Yo-Yos in the jar. Quite a few ladies were disappointed when they found out that they were the fabric kind and not the biscuit kind! This competition was won by Michelle Gristede who correctly guessed 143. Congratulations Michelle......you have won a $20 gift voucher from the Shop.

Last year we had the Frolic Car Trial and this year we decided upon the Frolickers Forage. The list of 10 items to collect was handed out at the first shop visited to the Frolickers, and I believe that much fun was had gathering all of the items ready for handing in at the second shop. There were stories of people collecting rubbish from the sides of the road; near misses of almost falling in ditches; and one Frolicker who popped in to the Changing Seasons Clothing Shop in Timboon to get a pin and came out spending $72.....lol! We loved the fact that people thought outside of the box........check out just some of the red items.....

Apologies to whoever had the red geranium in their garden.......I don't think that there are any flowers left on it!

We also had sewing pins, safety pins, Anzac pin badge, and bobby pins!

and 3 panadol tablets that were from the something round category........maybe these Frolickers thought that Lenora and I might need them after the huge crowd on Saturday....lol! Another of the categories was a 10c coin. All of the money from this category will be donated to Beyond Blue. It was wonderful that so many also used coins in their something round category, and others who added extra coins to their bags, and even a $5 bank note from the something starting with B category. I'm so happy to announce that $31 was put into the Beyond Blue tin on the counter in the shop......in memory of James 'Goose' Guy. Thank you everyone!

From the 42 entries in our Forage, we have drawn 2 winners. The first winner of the $20 voucher from the Timboon Railway Distillery is Wendy Pye, Di Sharples and Sharon Neal. Congratulations ladies, you will be able to have a lovely day out together again, this time minus gathering up things and popping them into a plastic bag! The second winner for the $20 voucher from the Timboon Provedore is Jenny Ackerley. Congratulations Jenny, I'm sure that you will enjoy spending it.

Now onto the winners of our major prize draw of 2 x $150 vouchers.....one from Lenora at Elm Grove Patchwork and the other from me. Congratulations to Michelle Brugman from Bushfield. We are sure that Michelle will have lots of fun spending the vouchers and stocking up on supplies for all of her stitching projects.

Our second prize of a $150 voucher for machine quilting from Barb Devine at Devine Quilting was won by Tammy Renwick-Patterson from Warrnambool. Tammy tells me that she has quite a few quilt tops that need quilting and I am sure that Barb will do a wonderful job for her. Congratulations Tammy!

Many thanks go out to Josh at the Timboon Railway Distillery and Tracey at the Timboon Provedore for joining in and offering special deals for the Frolickers who dined with them, and also for providing the vouchers for our Frolickers Forage Competition. Thanks again to Barb Devine for her voucher, and also to everyone else who came along and frolicked.

If you missed out on the fun.....and don't want to wait until next June for our next Frolic, you can always come for a drive and make your own fun. Visit both Lenora and I, lunch in Timboon in between, and make a day of it. Maybe even stay a night and see what our lovely district has to offer.

Linda    :)

Another week is over

The last 5 days have been a bit of a blurr for both Lenora and myself as we have been looking after all of the lovely people who joined us for our third Friendship Frolic. Lenora and I are going to meet up tomorrow to draw all of the prizes (and possibly have a chat!).........so I will be back tomorrow night with a complete wrap up of the Frolic.

Tonight I thought that I would start my holiday blog as it has been a week since we returned from our 4 week holiday. Usually when I holiday blog I go through it all day by day, but this time I am theming my posts on locations and activities so I hope that it will be a little more interesting and less 'boring'. So I guess I should start with why we decided to go away on a holiday. Russell has been eyeing off a cider making course in the UK for a couple of years now. Last year it didn't work out....by the time we thought about it, the course was booked out. So in January Russell took the plunge and enrolled in the 5 day course in Hartpury, Gloustershire, England. I said that if he was going I was going too. Then I said if we were going all that way then we should go on a holiday......makes sense doesn't it? So a 5 day course turned into a 4 week holiday. The first 3 days / 3 nights were spent in Dubai.....to break up the long flight and to experience something different.......and different it was. We flew out on the 22nd May.......yes the day after the Craft Alive event in Werribee......that was a hectic time, and arrived in Dubai early in the morning. We expected it to be hot.....very hot indeed.....but it was so relentless. The days are long, nights short, and the heat is 24 hours a day. But despite this it was an very interesting place to visit. The old area was near where we were staying so we chose to walk when we could.......always seeking out the shady side of the street! We visited the Old Souk, the textiles were beautiful....

We decided to catch a boat across the Dubai Creek to the Old Gold Souk.....at just 1 dirham each (about 35c) it was great value.  While Russell and I waited for the 'driver' to collect our fare, I joked that I didn't have the change, with that the Emirati lady that I was sitting beside offered to pay for our fares. I thanked her but said that it was fine as I had notes in by purse but she insisted. Dressed in her hijab and long black dress, I couldn't help but think how hot she must have been as the sun beat down on us. We chatted as we boated our way to the other side. We helped her off the rocking boat and again thanked her again for her kind gesture and she disappeared across the street to the busy market. We walked off to the Old Gold Souk.......Oh my goodness......so much gold.....so much bling! With almost 250 traders there was plenty to choose from.......but I chose to save my money on this occasion.

In stark contrast to the old Dubai was the new area. The development and progress of the city in the last 50 years is nothing short of phenomenal. We caught the train.....a driverless train at that.....to the Dubai Mall. Although it looked cold and inviting, we chose not to partake in the skiing.....

There were some fantastic water features inside the Mall.....this was one of them.

And no visit to Dubai is complete without a visit to the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. We opted to go way up to the 148th floor for the best view of Dubai. The haze of the heat didn't make for the best photos and the glare from the glass made it impossible to get an even half decent photo of the part of the city and beach. The skyscrapers are either side of the railway line and this is the Financial district of Dubai.

The shadow of the Burj Khalifa is in this photo. It is currently the world's tallest building (since 2008), standing at 828m, however construction is currently underway in Dubai for a new building at 1000m.....it's hard to imagine a building 1km high!

A little trivia fact for you.......it takes 36 workers three to four months to clean the entire exterior facade!

The Wednesday afternoon / evening was spent on a desert adventure.......dune bashing with our driver......a photo stop.

Sand, sand and more sand...........and me.

We had a delicious BBQ dinner, drinks and some entertainment.....alas no Belly Dancers as it was close to Ramadan and in respect this activity wasn't available.  The guys all seemed a little disappointed!

Spending 3 days was long enough for us both............we were definitely looking forward to seeing some green grass and cooler weather again.

Linda    :) 

Ready to Frolic?

I have a little confession to make. For the past month while you have been reading my blog posts, I have been overseas on a holiday with Russell. I know that some of you already know this but I really didn't want to make it Blog, Facebook, or Instagram news. The main reason was for security. Letting the whole district know that your home is open pickings from unsavory characters is not ideal, especially as a neighbour down the road had their 4 wheel farm bike stolen just a couple of weeks ago.  So we arrived home Sunday evening to everything intact, although the lawn was starting to look like no-one cared.....and how do those weeds grow so fast! Jodie did an amazing job of running the shop for me and looking after all of customers and our one chook! I am certainly lucky to have her as my friend and shop assistant. 

Don't worry though....... I have lots to share from our holidays but I will save it for now.......there is too much going on with our Friendship Frolic ........which starts tomorrow! Talk about launching straight back into work.....certainly no time to ease back into it. Well I had better get back to putting the final touches on my display and try and find where I put those Frolickers Passports!

Linda    :)

A little bit of vintage

Winter is here and I have pulled out my crocheted cardigans to start wearing again. I have two of them.......Mum crocheted them in the 70's and last year when I was cleaning out her wardrobe I found them. I asked Mum if I could have them and, lucky for me, she said yes. Actually I think that she was quite happy that they were going to be worn again....and I love wearing them because Mum made them. I wear the tan one with a tan and black dress that I have, along with black boots it looks great.....well I think it does. The green one usually ends up being teamed with a black top and a pair of jeans.....but not any longer. I have found the perfect fabric for a skirt.......Elaine from the gorgeous Outback Wife range.

So the rest of the bolt is now in MY stash waiting on a spare afternoon so that I can make a skirt. I had originally planned to make a coat from it......but there might still be enough to do that as well.....fingers crossed!

Linda    :)

Strawberries.....by the hundreds.

Last year I bought and planted some new strawberry plants, and while I initially had problems with birds and blue tongue lizards helping themselves to MY strawberries, I did end up with a good crop. Some of the plants sent out multiple runners so I hit on the idea of growing some extra plants and establishing larger strawberry beds so that I can freeze and use them throughout the year. Now because I can be a little impatient and didn't want to wait until the cooler Autumn months, I decided to propagate them in February. This photo was taken just after I planted them......but about a week later Russell took one look at them and told me that they would die. Yep the 70 plants didn't look too good.....a bit wilty and dry. Well they didn't cost me anything so I wouldn't lose anything if they did.

Well here they are now.......they have gone crazy.

I will certainly have enough plants to establish a new Strawberry garden.....I am thinking nice rows, with built up mounds......just have to work out how to keep the birds and lizards out come Spring!

Linda     :)

Are you coming a Frolicking?

In a fortnight's time Lenora and I will be almost ready to fling open our doors for the first of the Friendship Frolic Frolickers. It is always fun planning the Frolic which has become a yearly event on many stitchers calendars. Lenora will be blogging about special things that will be happening in her shop, Elm Grove Patchwork, so keep an eye out for that. Today I thought that I would let you in on some of the things that will be happening here at Gum Valley Patchwork.

Over the past two Frolics I have had a special display set up in the classroom of the shop. The first year was a display of items made from selvedges, some made by me, but the spectacular items were made by Jodie Carleton from Ballarat. Last year I had a display of quilts made by my Mum, and I also had her wedding dress on display. This year I had a couple of ideas, but I decided on a display of my early quilting endeavours.........it will be titled : The good, the bad and the ugly! I think that it will show everyone that we all have to start somewhere with our quilt making, it will show how our tastes change, and also how fabrics have changed. I am hoping that everyone will enjoy and maybe even get a laugh out of some of the quilts.

My little guessing competition this year will be "Guess the number of Yo-Yos in the jar". If you guess the correct number (or are the closest) you will win a $20 Gift Voucher to spend next time you are in the shop. It's free to enter so you really have nothing to lose!

I will also be having a massive double discount on all packaged 'End of Bolts'. My usual End of Bolt discount is 20%......but if you purchase any of the 'End of Bolt' pack you will receive an extra 20 % off the pack at the register. There are over 150 packs to choose from and they vary in size..........but rest assured, they won't last long! And don't forget my Bargain Bundles.......they have been so popular since their launch at the 2016 Frolic.........are a permanent feature in the shop, so check them out too.

And of course we have our Frolic wouldn't be the Frolic with out our very special Frolickers prize. All you need to do is spend $20 at both Elm Grove Patchwork and Gum Valley Patchwork, get your passport stamped and you will go into the draw for 2 x $150 gift vouchers.......one from Lenora and one from me.......I'm sure that $300 worth of goodies would not go astray!  But wait there's more! When you hand in your completed passport, as a thank you for supporting us, we would like to give you a special FF gift. There are a limited number of these gifts, so once they are gone that's it.

The lovely team at the Timboon Provedore have jumped at the chance to join in the fun and they will be offering something special if you would like to stop in for lunch with them on the way through Timboon. We also have the Timboon Distillery back with us for the third year, so there will be plenty of choice for Frolickers this year.

There may also be a little game to play while on the road.......but you will have to wait for the details on this.

So I hope that this little snap shot of what is happening at the 2017 Friendship Frolic has got you all excited and ready to hit the road.......grab a friend and have a fun day out.

Linda    :)

Dates are Wednesday 21st June to Sunday 25th June.

Maisons de Noel

If you think that this sounds like a name for Christmas fabric then you are absolutely correct. Way back when the weather was hot and we were still eating Christmas leftovers, I placed an order for this new Christmas range by French General. Although I have had quite a few French General ranges in the Shop, I realised that I have never had one of their Christmas ranges. And while the fabric hasn't arrived yet, I am expecting it to be in the shop later this month or possibly early July. But in the meantime you will have to be content with this little Moda promo shot.

I can't wait to get this in and start making Christmas projects!

Linda      :)

Lil' Red

This panel was first released over 12 months ago, and due to popular demand Moda has released it as a basic......which means that it is available all the time. That's great news for those who missed out first time around........and that included me.

One panel will make Lil' Red, her skirt and cape, quilt and pillow. It will also make a little wolf.....who doesn't look the least bit scary. They are fun to stitch and would make a great gift for a little (or big) person. The panels are available for $22 each.

Linda     :)