Brisbane French Festival

Bastille Day, the Tour de France and this weekend's French Festival in Brisbane...it's hard not to think about France today!

We enjoyed another beautiful sunny winter's day here on Sunday at the Brisbane French Festival.

Lots of market stalls, French food, dressed-up folks and activities for the kids.

As close as I've ever been to Tahiti:

Churros with a warm caramel sauce:

What happens after you say 'no more churros':

And the grand finale - Pepper the French Bulldog:

I hope you're enjoying your Bastille Day, wherever you are!

Teneriffe Festival, Brisbane

Hey, you guys, did you have a good weekend? Was it warm? It's winter here but we managed 24℃ (75℉), which is not too shabby.

We had a fab weekend, due in part to attending the Teneriffe Festival on Saturday.

Several streets are closed off in the trendy inner-city suburb of Teneriffe and all sorts of attractions and activities are set up - from food vendors, markets, displays, music, petting zoos, fashion parades....the list goes on.

We arrived early and were treated to free popcorn for the kids while we wandered down through some nostalgic car displays.

I was very keen to catch Betty and the Betties, an acapella, boogie-woogie style group, who were performing at 9am. I was not disappointed.

Have you ever heard Gotye's Somebody That I Used to Know done Andrew Sisters style? I have now, and it was fantastic.

We browsed through some of the market stalls:

Why yes, I'd love a sample. Erm, what is it? Never mind: irrelevant. 

Next we headed down to the kids' area.

Face (and hand) painting

Spin-your-own painting

We gave the petting zoo a miss and instead secured a front row spot for the piglet races.

Talk about cute. Here they are snoozing in the sun before the race (I love how they're all snuggled up together.)

Then the announcer played the racing call and they jumped up and ran over to the start line all by themselves - they were keen to get into it!

The course took maybe 90 secs for the piggies to run, at most. And of course, it wouldn't be Australia if there wasn't a sweep to participate in.

The winner was the first piglet to navigate the gates, tyres, hay bales, pipes and ramps and make it to the feed bucket.

Once their little tummies were full they went back to lazing in the sun. Not a bad life for a piggie, considering the alternative:

Oink. (To be fair, I think these sausages say Moooo.)

After the big race, the mister and I were in need of refreshment. Low and behold, we happened upon a wee caravan selling boutique beer. There were high fives all 'round.

It was midday and very warm, so a cool beer was just the ticket.

They drank the beer and the beer was good.

There were deck chairs and leis and even Pimms for those not so keen on beer (such people actually exist, I hear.)

Sitting back in a deck chair with a beer, looking up at the lovely old converted buildings in the area:

This lasted a good 12 seconds until a child ran away and had to be retrieved. Oh well.

The Festival went on well into the evening and included many more things than I'm showing today (particularly for the grown ups). This 2 minute video on the Festival's website gives a great overview of it all.

We really had a most splendid day and we'll be noting it in our diaries for 2015. If you happen to be in Brisbane in July I hope you'll do the same!

 

Linking up with Design Mom's Love the Place You Live series.

A Red Letter Day with Camille Roskelley

As mentioned in my last post, Camille Roskelley visited Australia the past fortnight and I was lucky enough to attend one of her Trunk Shows and a quilting class the next day.

At the Trunk Show Camille spoke for about half an hour, telling us about her start in quilting and how it lead to her designing fabric and writing books.

In real life Camille comes across exactly as she seems on her blog: talented, funny and cute as a button.

Camille: kittens ain't got nothin' on her.

Camille's visit was organised by Di Mill, and she was accompanied by her good friend (and quilter) Holly - here they are holding up a couple of Camille's mini quilt versions.

The next day's class was arranged by the hardworking staff from The Quilter's Store. We all knew the class was going to be fabulous when we saw the (albeit dilapidated) mirror ball on the ceiling.

Margaret was kind enough to chauffeur me to and from the event (thanks Meg!) and we shared a common table with the lovely Catherine (from Cat and Vee) and Tracy.

There was a whole lotta sewing and chattering interspersed with a bunch of eating. A perfect, Red Letter Day, really.

Margaret let me use her Bloc Loc half-square triangle cutting templates and I am hooked. I put in an order for a set the next day.

Cat let us all use her handmade scrap container. Such a gorgeous way to use up those precious off cuts you might be hoarding.

Camille showed us her Red Letter Day quilt (and mini):

She also gave us an in-person demonstration of a clever way to chain piece the blocks.

It's a bit hard to explain in words, but you can see with Tracy's block below how all the rows are nicely connected - a failsafe way to make sure they get sewn together correctly.

Two points:

1. I managed to sew two rows upside down. DON'T ASK.

2. How gorgeous is Tracy's smile? She had such a good time and her joy was infectious. She even managed to con Camille into cutting out the fabric for one of her blocks with that smile. She was just so happy. But not too happy. You know how sometimes people are so happy you want to stick a fork in their eye? There was none of that.

By the end of class we had 40 blocks between us. They looked fantastic all laid out together.

I completed one block and had two more sewn into rows such that I finished them that night. My cunning plan at this stage is to sew a total of 12 blocks and turn it into a twin-sized quilt for one of my boys.

Margaret's will be the one to watch - there were a lot of 'ahhhhhs' when she unveiled her colour scheme:

Come on Meg, I want to see it finished!

If you'd like to see one that's already complete - check out Kirsten's over at Gemini Stitches. She sewed like the wind and had hers done over the weekend!

Phew. So that's what kept me out of trouble last week.

And just before I go, the first issue of my newsletter has been sent out. (If you'd like to receive it, you can sign up in the side bar on the right.)

The newsletter shows how to make this quilted baby mat

If you didn't receive it, please check your spam folder. And please add me to your list of safe addresses - I can't bear the thought of my newsletter rubbing shoulders with all those dodgy Nigerian emails and viagra spam.  Thank you!

Wishing you all a great end to your week and a weekend full of sewing.

A bientôt!