The Inspector - 4 months old and lots of fun

Barney, also known as The Inspector

a third generation beautiful shitzhu maltese cross

often in trouble

frequently demoted

Sometimes known as Barney Trouble he is still to learn that others live at our house too!

Christmas 2010

Charles Dickens Village

Christmas 2010

Ssssssssssshhh! The Secret Friends have tip-toed in!

The Secret Friends have had a busy year and now we get to swap hugs and gifts and enjoy this special day! As usual, we were pretty blown away with the industry that has been quietly and happily hidden away during the year. Our little circle of friends have been together for a long while and it is tradition to pick a name from the envelope and immediately scheme and plan the next project for the coming year! We add some laughter with guessing who our 'friend' is, and not surprising, we often hit the mark first time!

Jacqui found the time to make this gorgeous bag and pin cushion - despite whipping up quilts for her newest grandaughter!

Coral reckons she's never seen one as big as that before!
It's a pin cushion, girls!

Jenny was delighted with her surprise - a white decoration with the obligatory touch of pink

Now Jayne - you don't have to share! Just let us have a little peek!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lyn discovered that Dimitri was her Secret Friend - these appliqued place mats just kept on coming...........and coming ..................and coming!

Margret will always know how many days till Christmas!

Coral has been very busy in her spare time - the colours are lovely! They look great in Sandy's lounge room too!

We were blown away when Dimitri showed us her bag - Jayne - you are a soooooo clever!

Judy J's Birthday & just look at Sandy's Bookshelf!

Judy J has a Birthday


Whatever happened to the birthday Cake- the girls must have eaten it before I got there with the camera!

Sandy's sister is a very lucky lady. The bookshelf quilt had us in stitches - we enjoyed the quirky titles and funny anecdotes as they literally came out of the woodwork!

We were not surprised to hear that it was the big hit of the night with the family when rolled out! Sandy had thought of everything and had even included a bottle of champers for the occasion! (see top shelf - left) Thoughtfully she had included a cup of tea for the next morning!

And another birthday -they just keep on coming around, but this one was extra special too!

Happy Birthday Jenny!

We had plenty of time to get stuck into this quilt because Jenny was still freezing to death in Albury! However, I knew she would be coming home soon and was beginning to feel a little edgy when the girls kept on asking me - 'when'? It was a relief when it was finished and ready for the day and I didn't have to keep on mumbling about 'probably fairly soon - I'll have to give her a call' etc

Maureen, Lyn & Sandy working on the 'pink' quilt - we all know that Jenny loves pink and that the quilt was destined to go straight into 'THE PINK ROOM' at home!!!

A Special Birthday Girl!

Our Lyn had a Very Special Birthday on October!

We took advantage of her holiday and pieced a blue and white quilt for her!


To make her day even more special, who should turn up but Jenny, our absent member who quietly returned from eighteen months 'down south' in Albury, N.S.W. I made her promise to keep mum and give all of us a great surprise! Welcome home, Jenny!

Margret brought in another Phd - it looked spectacular with the colours she had chosen - the savannah hues of gold and brown with black. Stunning!


My hand pieced hexagon quilt coming together at last! Using reproduction fabrics - (of course) - been working on it all year - on and off!

and then ............................................ along came 'the committee' and 'another coloured border please! And just when I thought I was nearly there!!! To my shame I had to go around and take back some of the 'left-over' (not) hexagons previously given away (with relief) and carry on! Will it ever end?

close up view of fabrics

Inspector Barnaby Rubble

The Inspector

Our newest family member - such a cute little fella! He is third generation shitzhu-maltese and at nine weeks of age, just an adorable and very cheeky bundle of delight!


Unfortunately he failed promotion boards and eventually found himself on probation and tagged as Inspector Puddles!

Spot the Dog

Eventually, as we learned to understand him, he lifted his game and the puddles diminished (a little) Help arrived in the form of a crate - had never heard of crate training - and his promotions back to Senior Constable have been remarkable!

Week in Melbourne & Visit to the Craft Expo

This Naomi Miyaki Quilt won Bernina Best in Show Award
by Happy Magic

With much anticipation I ventured down to Melbourne for an enjoyable week of Melbourne weather - as instructed, my sister ensured that the weather was picture perfect - great to get out and visit the old haunts and just generally chill out! Bought the UGG boots in Mordialloc and my walking shoes at Southland. With that out of the way, we were able to concentrate on the real reason for choosing a winter trip - the Melbourne Craft Expo!!

Having bought a couple of tickets in the Civil War Bridal Sampler Quilt, I offered (as apparently had others) to save on postage and just take the quilt back home in my bag! Alas - this was not to be and some other recipient will now have the joy of it in their home! Unfortunately I didn't take a photo of the raffle quilt, but then I spotted this magnificent Bridal Sampler made by Ronnie Heagny of Glen Waverly! It was exhibited in the mainly applique amateur class!!!

It was the first time that I was able to sit in for the announcement of winners and the presentations for the various quilting sections! I had permission from some of the exhibitors to take some photographs and add them to my blog

Chris Sarong was delighted with the red ribbon adorning her "Jacobs Coat with Buttons" quilt. It is hand pieced and also traveled to Houston for the Quilt Exhibition there! The colours are stunning and the quilting was very much admired!

This quilt caught my eye - called 'The circles of Friendship' it was designed and made by

Margot Pritchard of Corowa, NSW

Then I was ready to do some hunting around for the 193o's fabric I have been collecting, in readiness for a hand pieced quilt - design not yet decided. I enjoyed chatting with various stall holders - and of course couldn't resist adding to my stash of civil war fabrics!

Catching up on 2010

Hello everybody- it's been sooooooo long since I blogged that you've probably all forgotten me! I have a lot of catching up to do but must hasten slowly as my shoulder is still in its repair stage! Thought it best to back track a bit and slip into the latter part of 2010 and when the weather was still glorious

Our Judy had a great year working on her Phd's. We particularly loved this quilt, she whipped it out and just flung it down for our approval - a big gold star, Judy!

But wait - there's more

Judy's embroidery is to be envied. This Bronwyn Hayes quilt suits her talents and we just love to ooh and aah over her beautiful stitches

Don't you just love this portrait of one of us?

Happy Birthday Dear Jacqi

Well done, Secret Friend! As usual, we all enjoyed celebrating Jacqui's Birthday - leftovers for dinner tonight!