I had just the best time away. Met wonderful people, found time to walk along the beach (twice) and sampled just a few too many yummy cakes (courtesy of my brother's bakery). The weather was glorious for the first three days. Beautiful sunny days with frosty mornings. Then it rained all day Friday, Saturday, Sunday, a brief period of sunshine Monday and more rain Tuesday. I can't remember it raining like that in ages (years): absolutely perfect and so badly needed!
The first stop was Blue Willow Cottage at Werribee. The girls made my new Christmas decorations Simple Pleasures.
Here they are working away very diligently on their decoration.
They look like a very quiet group of girls don't they?
There was a good deal of banter going on between them, making the afternoon very enjoyable.
And they achieved this. Most were finished or very close too. What a lovely way to spend an afternoon combining friendship with a little stitching.
The next day it was on to Fragrant Cottage at Warrnambool. Living inland I long for glimpses of the sea. Somehow I don't think I would ever tire of this.
The class at Fragrant Cottage. The girls were making a needlecase adapted from the Greeting Cards pattern.
It wasn't all work, Annette served a yummy dinner that prompted the girls to ask for more evening classes. A great way to spend a cold winter's evening.
My last class was at The Patchwork Apple in Woodside.
I'm happy to say the very wet weather didn't stop the girls from attending.
Wet days are the perfect excuse (if you need one) for staying indoors and stitching. The girls had a choice of a making either a needlecase, card or gift pouch. As much as I want to, it's not possible to sample a design in every colour or print. Watching the girls make theirs means I can have a little play without the work. I hope the girls enjoyed the day as much as I did.
Thank you to Rhonda & Chrissie (Blue Willow Cottage), Annette (Fragrant Cottage) and Jane (The Patchworrk Apple) for inviting me to teach and to all the girls attending the classes for making them so much fun.
My trips to Adelaide should come with a warning - not to visit the Old Reynella Town bakery. It's bad enough that left overs are brought home (where we stayed) but when your faced with this selection and have to make a choice!
Yes I am rather partial to pastry and cream, anything with fruit in it, chocolate, not to mention savoury. You can imagine how long I stood in front of the counter trying to make up my mind.
And there was more! It's probably a good thing that I don't get to visit too often.
At least I got the chance to walk some of it off at Aldinga Beach. This is one of my favourite beaches, we go there every visit. Lots of shells to look at, little rock pools. We'd planned to go there Friday but it was wet. When it was still raining Monday morning I thought we would leave Adelaide without the chance to walk the along the beach. But the rain stopped and the sun shone and we jumped at this unexpected opportunity. I felt very fortunate.
