School Holidays

Yes, I know you folks in the Northern Hemisphere are out of school, period. Here in the Southern Hemisphere we're in the throes of winter but at least we had two weeks' school holidays to break up the season.

We headed north (which equals warmer down here) for a week at the Sunshine Coast.

I must set you straight about winter in the state of Queensland, lest you are feeling sorry for us. Being a sub-tropical/tropical state, winter is rather delicious. Here in the vicinity of Brisbane we get an average of 20℃ (68℉) during the day and 12℃ (54℉) at night, and that's the cooler end of Queensland. It only gets better the further north you go.

Our week at Perigian Beach started a bit dreary but ended with sunshine and 22℃ (72℉). Sublime.

We also spent a rainy afternoon at the Yandina Ginger Factory with its tropical gardens and little train:

Scones with cream and ginger marmalade

Another damp day was spent at Underwater World:

Rows of sharks teeth within a Great White's jaw bone, waiting to be called to duty

Otters look so cute, but I reckon they could easily chew your hand off. Probably squeaking adorably as they did so. 

As the weather fined up we got in some beach time and a nice walk in the Maleny Rainforest.

There was also time to enjoy a bakery take-away lunch at the Noosa Botanic Gardens, where the kids had a ball:

There's no shortage of meandering paths to wander:

Or picturesque picnic points:

Alright, enough of the Sunshine Coast and on to the giveaway for the latest issue of Down Under Quilts.  The ole random number generator tells me that the magazine will be heading over to Austria:

making its new home with Needle Little Balance.

(I always hate leaving the first comment for a giveaway because it never comes up. Until now, hooray!)

Almost Friday - I hope you've all got something fun planned for the weekend. Might be a spot of gardening for us here. We had a new deck put on the front of the house (it's a highset house) and the garden underneath it was pretty much destroyed by the process. Time to remedy!

La Rentrée, Again

It's back to school again, this summer has gone far too quickly for my liking. At least we're still enjoying gorgeous weather.

We had our neighbours around to meet the new baby. I thought about baking something for about, oh, 3.7 seconds, before I headed down to our local patisserie:

There's no way I can compete with this:

The baby also got another lovely package in the mail this week:

Pages from an old children's book = clever wrapping

Some darling handmade items all the way from home.

Thank you so much Michelle.

Honestly, could they be any cuter? Look at those teeny weeny carrots.



And they're reversible.



I was lucky enough to win the Accuquilt giveaway on Lisa and Sarah's blog A Spoonful of Sugar a few weeks ago - my loot arrived this week as well:



I'm being strong and not opening the box until I finish off my current little project:



A new cushion cover. A very yellow cushion cover.



And because we haven't had any French music for a while, here's a song by Mika I'm hearing everywhere this end-of-summer. I challenge you not to dance around your living room as you listen.

The lady in red is a well known French actress, Fanny Ardent. She's gorgeous and has that French je ne sais quoi by the bucketload.



I also love the grey haired, bearded character you first see shaving. He has some banging dance moves; the hips don't lie.

Hope you're all having a great week!

P.S. For those who like to watch men speaking French, here's a link to a Mika introducing the song. He's as cute as a button.

Rainy Days

We've had a few.

Olive tree in flower

Of course we need rain, but it's always a bit of a bummer when it's over a four day long weekend.

Cherry tree

We still went away for a few days - those photos to come soon.

Mulberries

Doesn't rain always make the garden look fantastic?

Lavender in bloom

It's the same old garden but somehow... better. I guess we all look better after a good wash.

Not too sure what this is...

Could it be a type of Spanish Broom?

And anyone know what this star-shaped mushie is? 

I must also say a big thank you to Karen at Sew Many Ways, who had a giveaway to celebrate her one millionth (!) visitor and I was lucky enough to win this delicate sterling silver necklace.

When her package arrived I thought it was very big for a little necklace - this was because she'd included a gift for each of the kids, even the one still in the oven. What a sweetheart.

The kids were all very excited and glad to have some new playthings - especially this past rainy week.

Elmo was sent for the toddler; lucky he doesn't mind sharing. 

Thank you Karen!

The Practical Guide to Patchwork

Those of you diehard quilters out there may remember Elizabeth Hartman of Oh, Fransson! fame had a blog tour in November to celebrate the release of her first book, The Practical Guide to Patchwork.

Somehow, out of a list of some 600 names, I won my first ever blog raffle over on Rossie's Blog. Yippee!

Elizabeth popped some fabric in the mail for me tout de suite, and two weeks later I received this lovely little bundle.

The publisher sent me a new copy of Elizabeth's book, which somehow (not looking at you France Post) got lost in the mail. After some email comms problems I finally got a message through to Elizabeth who kindly chased it up for me. Fortunately her publishers sent me out another copy.

When I returned from our holiday the other week I finally got my mitts on the book.

Nearly everyone who has read the book comments on how thorough and clear Elizabeth's instructions are, and I wouldn't disagree. If you have ever thought about quilting but weren't sure where to start, this book would be a great place. There are plenty of interesting projects for differing levels of competence, so it's not just a newbie book.

I'm keen to give this string quilt a try.

And if I ever get over my fear of appliqué, I'd love to try one of these too.

Thanks to Rossie at Rossie Blog for hosting a stop on the blog tour (and working some random raffle magic in my favour). And of course a huge thank you to Elizabeth and her publishers, Stash Books, for this wonderful prize! (And for making sure it got to me.)

Up later this week: I went to a big ole craft show in Marseille on Saturday morning and have some photos to share. Saturday afternoon we took the kids to a visiting circus. Have you ever seen a salivating camel running in circles?  I sure you'll be on the edge of your seats until I post those photos.