We had a good Christmas – celebrated with my family for lunch and Mal’s for tea -both at Sewjourn.  The studio was ideal for fitting everyone in – quite a few trips back to the cottage for ‘forgotten’ items but that was OK.  My brother-in-law did try to set the place on fire while cooking the potatoes and pumpkin in the Weber but everything escaped unharmed and the spuds had a nice ‘smoked’ flavour!

Since the big day we have just been taking it easy……..have done lots of weeding and parts of the garden are looking lovely – still lots of plans and ideas (and work needed) for the rest though!

Mal’s cleaned out the workshop/storage area…….

And been for a couple of bike rides.

I’ve spent quite a few hours here reading this………….

(great book by the way – highly recommended!)

And the girls have been to the Lancefield Pool every day – sometimes there is hardly anyone else there so it’s almost like having your own pool. (Almost!)

But without a doubt LOTS of hours have been spent playing this………….

Most of all though it’s just nice to be here all together and enjoy this beautiful place without pressure of having to renovate, paint and be in a hurry to get things done!  (There will always be more things to do though…………………)

Wishing everyone a lots of joy and blessings at Christmas time.  Thankyou so much for all your support this year whilst we’ve been on the journey of creating Sewjourn.  We look forward to lots of exciting times in the New Year…………meanwhile enjoy the break with your families and friends.

It’s not quite as good as having Amy come and visit you in your shop but there’s some pics of An Evening with Amy Butler over here and if you scroll half way down and look on the right hand side that’s a photo of me having a chat with Amy whilst she signed a card for me - it reads ‘Especially for my friends at Sewjourn!  I want you to Relax……Create and ENJOY!  Amy Butler’.  You can imagine how excited I was!!  The plan is to frame it - haven’t decided whether to use her fabrics or scrapbooking paper yet but it will be hanging in the studio ready for all the guests next year to see.  There’s a few other crafty bits in progress that will be there for next year too.  We’ve had lots of enquiries and quite a few bookings already for next year so if you are planning a ‘Sewjourn’ make sure you work out your dates and let me know soon!

Unlike Lara and Bronwyn I didn’t manage to post Sunday Stash on the correct day this week!  Partly because I didn’t get back from Lancefield until after 10pm last night.  Had a great weekend though - while Mal went on a Golf Weekend with 15 other dads from school a friend and I (and 6 girls) took advantage of the fact that Sewjourn was free this weekend. 

The plan was to make (and write) all our Christmas Cards - and the girls were so keen they were over in the studio in their pjs on Sunday morning.

Well, I didn’t get all my cards made but did make some good progress………

As for my stash - here’s a pretty one that I bought from Foothills Fabric and Threads a year or more ago.

A few weekends ago a group of talented ladies who call themselves the ‘Calico Cats’ stayed at Sewjourn.  Each year they set themselves a Challenge Quilt to work on and unveil their finished products at their retreat.  This years challenge was to make a quilted article with an ‘Ethnic’ theme - no particular country, just not your own and this is what they produced.

Top Row - Maureen’s Japanese Lady - Diane’s Japanese Hexagons - Tricia’s Amish - Judith’s Japanese Lady

Bottom Row - Leslie’s Tahitian Tifaifai - Linda’s - Civil War Underground Railroad Signal Quilt - Fiona’s Tahitian Tifaifai

Good work girls, can’t wait to hear what your challenge is for next year……….

I’m amazed at the fantastic coasters some lovely girls have made whilst they have been at Sewjourn…….no ‘just follow the pattern’ for these ladies!  Mal has suggested mounting them on a board to display them….maybe?  Thanks so much everyone, I hope you had fun making them.

Just had a wonderful long weekend here

We did a bit of gardening (but much much more needed) - a few spots are looking good though……..

Went on a family bike ride to Romsey (8kms but a great bike track all the way) and everyone did really well, even in the rain on the way home!   The fit one in our family didn’t have much sympathy for my sore backside given that he’d riden from Melbourne to Lancefield the day before (and back today). The girls and I also went for walks every morning which is one of their favorite things when we are in Lancefield.

Mal couldn’t resist doing a few more ‘handyman jobs’ - and we have a sliding fly screen door at the back to show for it…………

I also got some much overdue ‘crafty time’ - luxury having the whole studio to myself!

I would have finished this simple quilt top (fabrics purchased this day) had I not left one of the fabrics at home!  Got some more yoyos done for the curtain in one of the bedrooms - only about half way along though…………

………and made some ‘Welcome’ cards for the next few lots of guests to stay.

The much-promised before and after photos got pushed aside in the midst of Blogtoberfest and Sunday Stash and lots of other tid bits.  But here’s a couple of the kitchen - I won’t bore you with the details but just think lots of painting, polishing boards and replacing benchtops - I’m happy with the transformation.

Thanks for all the lovely comments on the giveaway post - don’t forget to go and enter if you haven’t already done so.

PS This is theoretically yesterdays post in Blogtoberfest - and it would be if my computer was not so slow due to having used up our download quota for the month (due to reading too many blogs!) - can’t blame the kids this month as they are back at school!

If it was 100 years that I was celebrating then I would get a letter from the Queen…….but it’s not!  It’s 100 posts since I started this blog in February this year, (It’s been given a boost by participating in Blogtoberfest for the last 26 days), and I’m hoping to get lots of comments instead.  Of course, that means there is a giveaway.

 Why not start the new year (well the new school year after the holidays are over) with a day at Sewjourn?  Four people will get the chance to come along to relax, create and enjoy for the day - and each will get to bring a friend!  It will be a day of crafting in the studio (bring your own projects to work on) with morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea provided, to be held on Saturday 31st January, 2009.

Just leave a comment on this post by lunchtime this Friday (31/10/08) to be in the running.  We’ll randomly draw the winners on Friday afternoon.  If you mention this giveaway on your blog then let me know and you will get a second entry in the draw.

I had a great afternoon today at a ‘Girls Afternoon In’ to raise money for Breast Cancer Research.  It was hosted by a lovely lady at her gorgeous house in St Kilda - yummy food, good prizes and time to sit and talk to two of my favorite girlfriends made it perfect!  The girls were creative whilst I was gone……………

And to finish off the day……..this is my Sunday Stash.

Last weekend the ladies who stayed at Sewjourn did a lot of dressmaking so……………….Mal spent a bit of time on eBay this week and the latest addition is this.

This afternoon a friend and I went to ‘Quilts in the Barn’ which was lovely - if you are in Melbourne and have some spare time tomorrow it’s well worth a visit - and the $5 admission goes straight to Breast Cancer Research so you are supporting a good cause also!