Melbourne Cup Racing Canival

Melbourne Cup is a racing carnival that stops the Nation. In Victoria it is a public holiday on Melbourne Cup day. Unfortunately my university has its own agenda, and we have to work that day and get an extra day at Christmas instead. A couple of Sundays ago was our monthly meeting for SBOV, and this month's theme was Spring Carnival so we were all wearing our hats. I was so thrilled because I have a prize winning hat I made years ago for this occasion and it won the first prize on Melbourne Cup day.

When we worked in Abu Dhabi, we had lots of giveaways and caps were abundant. I decided to decorate one of them to wear on cup day. I didn't know that there were prizes until I got a tap on the shoulder and was told that my hat won the first prize! I am so glad I can blog about it now because at the time I could only happily tell friends and family the good news. Now I can tell the world about it...!

Here is my prize winning hat. It is made up of a plain cap decorated with handmade felted flowers and buttons. The long trails were silk flowers. I got them from the local $2 shop. This hat was totally my original design.

This is us, the three musketeers. Lynda on the left was wearing her brother's hat and came dressed up as a Scottish lady. Lynette with her handmade hat and decorated with purple flowers and me with my prize winning hat...!

Sewing Basket of Victoria Monthly Meeting

The Sewing Basket of Victoria (SBOV) monthly meeting was last Sunday at Lynette's place. The theme was Natima's birthday. It was supposed to be the first day of Spring so Lynda suggested we wear something with flowers. It can be anything and so I wore my Flamenco scarf I bought in Madrid many moons ago. It a hand embroidery of red rose on black silk. Lynette organized an activity for us to make stamps out of styrofoam meat trays. I was really looking forward to it. And what we learned was amazing.

But first you have to see what Lynda is holding! This is Lynette's most beautiful Flossy. Flossy is a lady rag doll. I think she is about a year old. She is a sociable little lady. After her morning nap she joined us and checked us all out, and then she lets us cuddle her. We all had a turn to give her a cuddle.

These are the stamps I made that day. First I decided on the design I wanted to make and then I drew it out with ball point pen. When I was happy with the result, I cut out the shapes. To stamp I brushed it with acrylic paint and it is ready to be used.

This is how they look when you stamp them on paper. I tried different versions of each and also in different colours. They turned out great, and I am sure I will be using them in mixed media works (still to come!).

Lynette the hostest of the mostest and great friend. She greeted me with a beautiful cup of tea from her precious china set. Lynda baked the birthday cake for me. It was a yummy fruit cake. You might get a glipse of my Flamenco scarf. I will show it better next time!

There are only three of us in the group and we only meet once a month on Sundays which normally is a family day. But both Lynda and Lynette are very accommodating because I work and can't meet during the week. We were just saying the other day that the reason we get on so well is because we are left of center or outside of the square...! We share what we know to each other. Between us we are into so many creative crafts. I hope we will be forever sharing girls.

Christmas In July In August!

Every Sewing Basket of Victoria (SBOV) meeting has themes, and today's theme is Christmas in July, in August. We could not meet in July so we had our meeting in August. It was lovely because this way we have Christmas in winter instead of in the summer. It was very nice to have a heater on and to have nice warm clothes. I have chosen red for our theme today. We agreed to bring small handmade gifts for exchange as well as making something too.

This is us posing for a photo before we started our day. We all dressed up as Christmassy as we could. I was wearing this beautiful velvet dress that I only wore once at DS's wedding. It's red and warm. Lynette always wear a hat at every occasion and Lynda was with her decorated Christmas t-shirt.

These are the little gifts I made for Lynette and Lynda. Little pillow ornaments with cross stitches on the front and Christmas fabric on the back.

The poinsettia was leftover from last Christmas. The green shoots are starting to show, but the red leaves are still visible. You can see the table setting with unopened gifts.

Lynette is showing off her Granny rug that she rescued. She re-purposed it with her handy work of crochet around the edges and some hand crochet flower motives. It's Lynette's pride and joy. It looks such a happy and colourful rug.

SBOV Monthly Meeting

Today was our Sewing Basket of Victoria (SBOV) monthly meeting and today's theme was Teddy Bears. It is also Lynette's birthday this month as well. I was running a mini workshop on miniature bears. The first time I made these miniature bears was over ten years ago, and I always bring them out at Christmas, so both Lynette and Lynda saw them then. When we were looking for something to do, I suggested miniature teddy, and that what we did today.

The birthday girl Lynette with all the teddy bears lining up for the teddy picnic. I baked Lynette a fudge chocolate cake for her birthday and I have enclosed the recipe here for you as well.

These are the pieces of miniature bear work in progress. They are really quite small. The bear's actual size is about 2.5 inches tall. Today I used specially made cloth for the miniature bear, but I have used felt and other types of cloth to make them in the past. These babies are really fun and addictive to make. By the way, I am making this bear for DGD for her first teddy bear!

Here is a photo of the bears from last Christmas. I have this small chest of drawers that I use as decoration at Christmas time. It is perfect for the bears to pose on and around it. Enjoy.


And this is the fudge chocolate cake I baked as Lynette's birthday cake. The recipe was given to me by a grandmother of four. She told me she got it from a children's cook book and it is very easy and quick to make. It is another one of my never fail recipes. Do try it and you will like it.


Fudge Chocolate Cake


1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
3 tablespoons cocoa
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon white vinegar
6 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/4 teaspoon salt


1-Turn over to 180'C (350'F) Grease well a 20cm ring tin.
2-Dust the inside of the tine with a little flour.
3-Put flour, cocoa, sugar, + water in a bowl.
4-Add vanilla, vinegar, oil and salt.
5-Mix it all together with a whisk.
6-When smooth, pour it into the tin.
7-Bake 35-40 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes then take out of tin.
8-When cold mix:
1 cup icing sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons cocoa
1 tablespoon butter
With hot water to mix till smooth. Spread over cake.

SBOV

My friend Lynette with her crazy quilt bag. We had our monthly get together for SBOV at my place today. The theme for today was Thailand to celebrate Lynda's trip to Thailand later on this month. It was a fun filled day packed with activities:
-We swapped our 2009 suitcase challenge today.
-We worked on finishing our crazy quilt bags that we started last year.
- And Lynda and Lynette put together their Natima's garden applique quilt.

Here are our crazy quilt bags in progress. I am working on my second bag. Lynda and Lynette have completed theirs and only have to attach the handles.

Lynda's applique quilt top is finished. She needs to add border and then she is on her way to quilting it.

Lynda was in her element playing with the Poly Pocket. Lynda is a miniature maker and collector. The Victorian Association of Miniatures Enthusiasts annual show is on the 11-12 July, 09. Check their web site for more details. It is highly recommended.

Enjoy

Australian Bath-Box Suitcase

My Australian bath-box has a friend. This is Lynda's, she cover hers with the
dress pattern tissues.
It looks very affective...! Now we are ready to get on with our challenges.

I was given a couple of suitcases to play with. I decided to collage it before I use it for our 2009 challenges. I was experiment with paper collage method at the moment so I decided to give it a go on the suitcase. Being Australia day weekend when I worked on it, I've chosen an Australian bath-box on the top and Australia map on the bottom of it.

Australian Map. It looks roughly like a map of Australia?

Last SBOV in 2008

The last SBOV (Sewing Basket of Victoria) meeting in Dec 2008. It was Kitiya's birthday on the 7 Dec. I took in the birthday cake and Lynda's birthday was in Nov. too so, she blown the candles for both of them. The day was bustling with creativity. We gave Lynda her birthday challenges. We had to dressed a miniature beds and I made mine into Sultan Suleiman the magnificent bed and Lynette made hers in a cottage style. It was a fun challenge, thanks Lynda.