Bloggers, Tea Cosies and Finishes....

I had a fabulous outing today yesterday...a bloggy catch up meet organised in concert with the lovely Melody (The House On The Side of the Hill) held at Bundoora Homestead Art Centre, a gorgeous Queen Anne mansion built in 1899...I arrived to find Melody, Mistea, Simone (Quilts n Cats), Marina (Maisie and the Boys), Elyte (Tea, Fabric & Other Things) and Christine (MacDonald's Patch) settled in the cafe for the first order of the day...lunch!...I had the chicken and mushroom pie with salad followed by the lemon meringue pie and it was all yum!...food and chatter what's not to love...and during the coffee and desert portion Mistea's mum came in and joined us, always good to catch up with T's Mum as well...and you know, we were all having such a lovely time chatting and eating we all forgot to take foodie photos until the table was nothing more than empty plates and cups, not at all photogenic *LOL*...

The Homestead is also the City of Darebin public art gallery and the reason we chose to visit today was to take a look at the Tea Cosy Exhibition...

"Teacosy Tales

2 May – 27 May
Every teacosy has a tale to tell…textile artists, community crafters and teacosy enthusiasts join together in tribute to a treasured domestic icon! Curated by Marg Lanne and Maryanne Noonan, the annual teacosy exhibition is a vibrant display of handcrafted, beautifully embroidered teacosies with all proceeds donated to Cancer Council Victoria."

(source: Bundoora Homestead Arts Centre

Such a fun idea for an exhibition.  An initiative to raise funds as part of the Cancer Council's Biggest Morning Tea all the tea cosies were for sale - a condition of entry into the exhibition.

And this was Mistea's entry...Rumpelstiltkskin(oops! was reading a review of that new Once Upon A Time show focused on that character!) Rapunzel...cool huh...

After visiting with the tea cosies we wandered upstairs to check out the Melrose Art Pottery exhibition (photos not permitted upstairs)...two exhibitions for the price of one!...and given that the price was free, fabulous value for money *LOL*...

I couldn't resist taking photos of the quilting patterns pressed ceiling details...

 and the lovely applique ideas leadlight windows...

leadlight door detail

and how is this for a skylight...just fabulous...

And the finish?...the outing was also the debut of the prototype satchel bag (pattern: Large Tote and Satchel, You Sew Girl by Nicole Mallalieu) finally finished this yesterday morning...a slow process being worked on in very short bursts spaced quite far apart over the last couple of weeks...

There are a few "issues" as I tried a couple of different products for the first time - as well as using a new pattern.  Figured might as well put all the "tries" into one effort *LOL*.  The iron on vinyl that I used for the flap is awesome and I love it but it has ended up a bit crinkly due to being "over worked" because I turned the flap, then the bag had to be turned through etc, a time or two too many.  I also used a very very stiff bag interfacing and while I love the structure it gives to the bag...it stands up very well without external support....boy oh boy was it hard to turn...I had to use forceps to turn the tabs/strap supports...

A quick stop at Spotlight on the way home for poly fill and just like last weekend at Bendigo I met up with a friend I haven't seen in a long time....a friend from my previous working life, it was great to see K and her family...it's been a funny year, the universe keeps putting lovely people I haven't seen in a long time back in my path...I'm not complaining :)...so that poly fill, it was a need but I flagged last night (didn't even finish this post!) and it wasn't dealt with...maybe later today...

Have a great week, hope it is stitchy...


Happy Stitching...