Catching my breath

Sadly, I have no crafty goodness to blog about, I have been too busy wrapped up in 1920s glamour. Miss Fisher Murder Mysteries Costume Exhibition has come to Brisbane and I have spent a lot of time travelling back and forth, attending the official launch, volunteering as a guide and swanning around Old Government House at a Miss Fisher themed lawn party. All very exhausting!

In the dress-up closet at the launch (that's me in the red)

My sister and I at the Lawn Party posing in front of a 1928 Chrysler. The sunnies aren't exactly 1920s, but the sunshine made them necessary! By the way, my sister made her gorgeous frock from an authentic pattern. Isn't it stunning!

Getting into the spirit! There were lots of people dressing up and enjoying the day.

Such a lot of fun!

It's been a while

since I posted.. life sure gets away from you at times. I have no actual crafty stuff to share, I have the lazy bug these days.
Back in April, I went to the quilt show held every year in a local church. Through a series of coincidences, I met up for the first time with fellow blogger, Maria, who, I have since found out, is also known by a number of local bloggers I have been following for years. I had morning tea with Maria and her friends and a lovely time was had by all. Maria (through reading my blog) knew of my love for anything with a 'Willow Pattern' and very generously gave me a few embroidered pieces from her collection.

There were lots of lovely quilts on display, unfortunately they don't photograph well inside the church. A couple of favourites.

A close up of the one below.

Love those scrappy ones!

My volunteer work with the National Trust takes up a lot of my time, and as usual, I was involved with 'Great Houses of Ipswich' again in May. I spent the day at 'Notnel', built in the 1860s and very carefully restored and preserved by the family who had owned it for over 25 years.

The house has recently been sold, so it was a great opportunity for locals to see inside.

I am hoping to get back to crafting soon.. I have a project in mind for one of those embroidered pieces,

Sharing...

...finally! This is the quilt I have been working on to raffle this year for Wolston House.

In actual fact, it would be nowhere near finished if not for my sister, who pushed really hard and worked with me to get it done. It was a fun project because we did it together.

The block we used is a four-patch square in a square, and we sort of made up the rest as we went along! It was made from fabrics we already had, which is always satisfying. Here's hoping it raises a nice sum.

Making a mark

I have been browsing the Internet looking for ideas for signature quilts. Next year is the 50th anniversary of the National Trust in Queensland, and the 160th birthday of the Trust property, Wolston House, where I regularly volunteer. I have been asked to make something for these celebrations on behalf of the volunteers, so I thought that a quilt incorporating all our names would be good.
I found a few ideas...

Image found here

Image found here

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... but I thought I would like to include a picture of the house or in some way make it not just about the names. I suppose it would end up as a wall hanging; we have about twenty-five regular volunteers.

 Has anyone made something like this and have some suggestions for me? I need to make a decision about the signature block at least before we finish for the year as our Christmas get together would be a good opportunity to gather signatures.

A day at the coast

I spent today at the Gold Coast for this year's National Trust of Queensland Conference. We were at Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary (owned & operated by the National Trust in case you didn't know) for the two morning sessions and got to eat morning tea and lunch very close to these cuties.

After lunch we moved on to the Kirra Hill Community Centre which is in the former Coolangatta State School.

I wonder if this view was one of the reasons the school was relocated to the bottom of the hill?

A bit distracting for the students perhaps?

Way out West

I have just spent a couple of days in Perth. I was there for an education workshop, representing the National Trust. I have not been to Perth before and I must say I think it would be an easy city to live in. That's only a fleeting first impression of course but I thought it had some lovely old buildings.

This is His Majesty's Theatre, obviously built after Queen Victoria died in 1901.

The workshop was held in this building which was originally the residence of the Government Astronomer. The observatory where he worked has been demolished. This is now the headquarters of the National Trust Western Australia.

On Tuesday afternoon we went to Fremantle to see this house which belongs to the Trust. It was home to the Samson family.

Many of the neighbouring houses had towers like this, presumably to get great ocean views. I wonder how long they sat up there, gazing out? 

And this is the view they were looking at; the Indian Ocean. From the house we wandered down into the town with a very knowledgeable guide named Mike. This photo was taken from near the Roundhouse (the original Fremantle prison) just on dusk. Rottnest Island is out there on the horizon.

Flitting from one side of the continent to the other in a couple of days is a bit tiring, but I had a great time... oh.. and did a bit of work too! 

Tuesday treasures

I'm back for Tuesday treasures with Melody after a bit of a break. By the end of Blogtober, I was totally 'blogged out', but it's good to be back.
Last weekend I travelled to Toowoomba for the National Trust conference and would like to share as my treasure the fabulous B&B where my friend and I stayed. It is called Vacy Hall and was built in 1899 after a previous house on the site was destroyed by fire.

This is the room we stayed in. You could practically dance the tango in here without bumping into anything.

Image found here

The garden was delightful to walk around in, and there were all sorts of little touches to make you feel like a very welcome guest.

Our breakfast was delicious, served on the verandah just outside our room. Bliss!

Vacy Hall is a real treasure- as is Toowoomba in general - with lots of interesting places to see and things to do.

Don't forget to drop in on Melody to see who else is sharing today.

Day 21 - Blogtoberfest

Image from here

In Brisbane today helping out at National Trust  Head Office. Preparation for the Annual Conference meant lots of envelope stuffing to get the news out to members. This year's conference is being held in Toowoomba at the City Hall, with lots of visits to historic places on the Sunday. Looking forward to going as Toowoomba is less than an hour's drive from my place. I will be posting more about it after the visit in a couple of weeks time.

Tuesday treasures

A couple of weeks ago I visited this historic treasure with a group of National Trust friends. Bellevue Homestead was rescued by the National Trust in 1975 when it would have been covered by water in the Wivenhoe Dam. It was moved to a site which was actually the original entrance to the property and care was taken to map out gardens etc so the original layout could be replicated in its new home. Sadly the Trust was unable to afford to continue with the restoration and the property was sold in 2002. The present owners open the homestead on Sundays and offer tours and refreshments.
Although the day was a bit drizzly, we all enjoyed a yummy morning tea and an interesting tour with the owner, John. The first photo is of the original part of the house, built in the late 1800s.

This section was built in 1905 as a guest wing and has a beautiful timber panelled dining room, as well as a ladies sitting room and a smoking room for the gentlemen. The Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII) stayed here in the 1920s.This is the bedroom where he slept.
Hard to believe that his meals were probably prepared in this kitchen!

Don't forget to pop over to Melody's to see who else is sharing today. Just click the link at the side.

Queensland Day

Monday is Queensland Day here in the Sunshine State. Tomorrow, in honour of the day, Government House in Bardon has an Open Day. You can tour through the house or picnic on the lawns. I will be there for the National Trust, handing out brochures etc. If you pop by, you could go into a draw to win High Tea for two at Wolston House.

A lovely day out

On Friday I had a lovely day out in the Fassifern Valley also known as the Scenic Rim, not far from Ipswich and a very pretty area indeed. I travelled by coach with a group of National Trust members and friends. We headed first to the little town of Kalbar (pop. 900) and had a delicious morning tea at the Art Cafe. As well as food there was art for sale along with some very pretty china and bric-a-brac (no, I didn't buy anything- I was tempted though).

After morning tea, we wandered around the corner to the Wiss Emporium. This building is over 100 years old and traded as a general store through to the 1980s. The present owner has restored the building beautifully, (she even won a Heritage Award for the restoration) and it is now open as a boutique gallery, selling hand-crafted jewellry, patchwork quilts, unique rocking horses and felted items as well as a lovely range of clothing. Well worth a visit. After browsing and listening to a talk on the history of the building which also has a restored cottage next door built in the 1890s, I strolled up the road for a quick peek at an antiques & collectables shop housed in an old Melbourne tram. Still no purchases but I can see a Sunday drive in my future.

We then boarded the coach and were off to have lunch at the Roadvale Hotel, a real country pub. After rolling out of there and back to the coach, we then attempted to walk off our lunch by a stroll up the main street of Boonah, the largest town in the area. Just by chance we spotted a gorgeous vintage car parked near our bus and a chat with the owner informed us it was a Model A Ford.

I'm afraid when I got home I really needed a nap. Amazing how tiring it is having a good time!