My Davine Day

My week was overall a pretty ordinary week but on Thursday I decided to have a Davine Day out and about doing things I have had on my to do list for a few weeks. So off I went at about 9.30am. My first stop was at a antique clock repairer to see if and how much it would cost to have my Mums antique crystal clock repaired back to working order. He advised me if I wanted to have the original mechanism repaired it would be around $200, but he could install a quartz mechanism for $50. Of course I am going to go for the $50 option because I just want the clock to work. I will share another photo of it when it is working.

Mums crystal clock - I have never known it to work

Then it was of to Kaisercraft, a scrapbooking store. I want to make a different art piece for my bathroom. I haven't totally decided what I want to do as yet but I know I want to have the word "RELAX" on it. So I was on a mission to buy the letters. I'll also share this with you when it's all finished. 

Letters waiting to be made into art

Next was off to a curtain/blind store to get some replacement parts to fix my vertical blinds that one of my granddaughters decided to pull down. We think it may have been Clare but seeing Mikayla is only one and can't defend herself (verbally anyway), Clare says it was her.

Then the sad part of my day happened. While in this area I thought I would call around to an old friends unit, as I hadn't been in contact with her for a while. Her name was Kath and I worked with her many years ago for around 10 years. She had no family as she didn't know who her parents were. She didn't know if she had any siblings and had never married. Although it sounds like she had a very sad life, she  was happy. She had friends and was passionate about her beloved Richmond football team and she did lots of trips with the Senior Citizen groups she belonged to. Because I hadn't heard from her for the whole time I was travelling around Australia I had the feeling that she may have passed away as she would now be in her 90's. I went to her unit and the girl now living there said she heard that Kath had been in a nursing home and had passed away. This news although not a surprise was so sad. I am just hoping she didn't leave this world alone, I hope she had friends around her. I feel so sad that I couldn't have spent time with her at that time, because she deserved to have someone who loved her there. I am on a mission now to try and find out about her last days and where she is buried. 

Kathleen Dunn

Next drive was to a jewellery supply store as I have a couple of upcoming markets and really need to get some jewellery stock made. The first one I headed to was not to far away. Prior to my 12 months away I would go there fairly regularly and they had been in business for a very long time. But to my surprise they had closed down - gone out of business!! Oh well onto plan B. So of I headed down the highway to another store I used to go to but had changed locations. As usual while I was there for 2 items I came out with way more. So now to create something out of this pile of stuff. 

OK now to make something?

After lunch and all this driving around I was to head home and put my feet up after my busy Davine Day. 

The Week That Was...

Well I've have a pretty good week this past seven days. My week started out fairly quiet doing some more unpacking of stuff I have had in storage. But that hit a sudden halt when I got to the last plastic box. This box is full of my late Mums crystal glassware. It been almost seven years since my Mum left me and I have had these treasures packed away not being able to confront them. So the time has come now to decide which ones to keep and which ones to send onto someone else who will love them. I am really torn as to which ones to keep and what to do with the others. Do I donate them, sell them, what do I do? I might leave these decisions until next week!!

Mums beautiful crystal glassware

Mid week I had a night of scrapbooking with Robyn. A few of us used to catch up each Wednesday night for scrapbooking before I headed of on my Aussie Adventure. So we thought it would be nice to continue it now. So my mission this week was to finish a couple of Christmas kits I have had in my craft room for quite a number of years. Yeah I have finally finished them and I am really pleased with how they turned out. 

Bring on Christmas

Christmas Advent Calender

I also had the joy of catching up with a long time girlfriend Gail. We have been friends for around 30 years but sort of lost each other for a while, although we always exchanged Christmas cards. We had a lovely afternoon talking over old times, new times and enjoying each other's company. It's so nice spending time with good friends that you have some history with. It definitely won't be to long before we catch up again. 

I also spent some fun times with my adorable granddaughters Clare and Mikayla. I just love the things that come out of little peoples mouths. Clare is very aware that GaGa (me) has a sore shoulder. As she sat next to me checking out and running her finger along the scare on my shoulder, she lent forward and kissed my shoulder. It was so cute and I just felt like someone was sitting there mothering me.  

Mikayla usually wears her sunnies under her chin

Clare doing some camping under the carport

Last night I finished my week with a yummy meal at my favorite Chinese restaurant in Melbourne. Jimmy at Diamond Restaurant is well known for his wonderful service and yummy food. 

How's your week been? Did you accomplish something that has been on the back burner for a while? What did you do for YOU this past week? 

Patchwork Passion

Most of my life I have done crafts, sewing or something creative with my hands. At school I loved it and felt most confident when we got to make something. As a little girl I remember sitting by my Mum as she sewed on the sewing machine. I also had an Auntie Jean (Mums sister) who was an incredibly talented dressmaker. I remember being in her sewing room and just being in awe of all her patterns, fabric and sewing paraphernalia. Then as a teenager I started making some of my own clothes. I remember I was going out one Saturday night with my new boyfriend and I wanted something new to wear, so that morning I decided to make a new dress. Yes, that evening it was finished and I proudly wore it out. I also remember making a formal dress to wear to a girlfriends wedding and still taking the hem up as we drove into the church car park. As I got older I discovered many more crafts I wanted to try. It got to a point where I had started so many things that I hadn't finished my sewing room was almost overflowing. I still do have quite a lot of unfinished projects (I think a lot of crafters do) but at least now I am either getting rid of what I won't finish or I am actually finishing them. One of my many craft passions is Patchwork / Quilting. I first learnt patchwork while living in Toronto, Canada back in the 80's. We then moved to New York and my passion not only continued but grew. There was nothing better than driving down to Amish Country and buying fabric and admiring some of the amazing work the Amish woman created. When we eventually came back to Australia to live my patchwork passion continued and I also started teaching patchwork at the local Living and Learning Centre and at home. At the Living and Learning Centre I used to teach a Quilt in a Night class. We would start the class at around 7pm, have dinner, quilt all night, have breakfast and finish up around 7am. It was totally exhausting but so much fun. Now at 61 I am still doing some patchwork but I like my sleep to much to do an all nighter again. I don't know how many but I have finished quite a number of quilts and have either kept them, but mostly given them as gifts. Here are just a few of my finished project I still have.

My first attempt at patchwork was my Maple Leaf wall hanging.
It seemed appropriate seeing I was living in Canada

I enjoyed dyeing fabric for my Japanese Lady

This was challenging but I am so pleased how it turned out

I loved all the different little blocks in my Country Quilt

This is my miniature Amish Quilt, it's actually only 6" x 6"

Are you a quilter? Have you ever given it a try? If so I'd love to hear your story and see some of your quilts.