Skip to main content

Handmade Treasures Sale 2011

Each year, on the Saturday close to the beginning of Advent, we hold an "open house"  Handmade Treasures Sale for charity. My husband takes care of morning tea/lunch, and I ask my creative family and friends to contribute to the sale. Last Saturday, we held our fifth sale and although the heavy rain probably kept many away, those who came seemed to have a good time . Most popular were the home made palmiers, chocolate cake and freshly made sandwiches , marinated mushrooms and feta cheese prepared by Jim. Other than the food,  there was an amazing display of really beautiful work by local artists, embroiderers and talented artisans - all handmade with love ... quilts, handbags, clothing, jewellery, cards, mixed media art, embroidery, dolls, crochet, smocking, knitting, textiles, sewing accessories, Christmas decorations, kitchen accessories, jams, pickles, home made chocolates, rum butter,  Christmas puddings and cakes .... and lots more.











We were also fortunate to have the support of the Hunter East Timor Sisters with wonderful handwoven tais made by  women in East Timor.


Together, we made a substantial amount of money for the charity "Give Love to Children" which is a locally based charity supporting programs for disadvantaged children here in Newcastle and abroad. The charity's current projects are to provide free vision and hearing screenings for primary school students in low income status schools in the Hunter area, and to support a school for street kids in the Philippines. Thanks to all who came to the sale, to those who helped, and to all the talented contributors - supporting children in need  is truly in the spirit of Christmas.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Thanks for reading my blog and please share your thoughts about my blog post by leaving a comment.Your comment won't appear immediately as comments are verified before publication in an effort to reduce the amount of spam appearing. Anonymous comments will not be published.

Popular posts from this blog

Is it a mutant? Is it an alien? It's an octopus - or is it?

Have you ever thought how strange a creature the octopus is?  This week's fascination started when I asked the question, "What colour is an octopus when it's underwater?"  The answer is  "any colour it wants to be " -  An octopus' coloration depends upon its surroundings.  An octopus possesses the ability to alter its coloration depending on its immediate environment. This defensive technique protects the animal from predators and entices prey to come close to the animal . ((from  https://www.reference.com/pets-animals/color-octopus-be94f74fcdc74ebe)    . Why did I want to know the colour of an octopus? Because I wanted to draw octopus tentacles as mermaid hair for my art journal! Then, I began to think it might be considered a little too weird and even perverse to give a mermaid octopus hair.... Facebook friends assured me that this was not so, citing Medusa and her snake hair as a precedent, and even one friend said that she thought it was l...
Post a Comment
Read more

Christmas Countdown Characters #22

So close to Christmas and it's getting harder to find Christmas celebrities but today here's  a wily W character.  W is for Wilma . Yes I am Wilma but I am NOT today's Christmas celebrity.  Wilma the weasel  is the one of the main characters  in  T he Flight Before Christmas , a 2008 animated movie    and its sequel   Little Brother Big Trouble: A Christmas Adventure . The Flight Before Christmas centres around the problem of Niko, a small reindeer afraid of flying, and in search of his unknown father who is one of Santa's Flying Forces (that is, one of the eight main reindeer who pull Santa's sleigh)  Wilma is a street wise fearless singing weasel, who Niki and his surrogate squirrel father, Julius befriend while saving Santa from a wolf pack attack .   Long story short, the climax involves  Niko, Wilma and Julius killing the wolf leader, the Flying  Squad saving themselves in order to save Christmas, Niko...
Post a Comment
Read more

Lilly Pilly

Today is Australia Day. I chose a photo of some Lilly Pilly berries as a celebratory image for this national day. Lilly Pilly is  a common name for a plant, Syzygium smithii which grows mostly in Eastern Australia, from the northern  rain forests of Queensland, throughout NSW to the southern Wilson's Promontory in Victoria. In New Zealand it is called "monkey apple, but other names used in Australia, besides lilly pilly, are Eungella Gum and Coast Satinash. The largest Lilly Pilly recorded was found in Dingo Creek Flora Reserve, near Tenterfield where I once lived.  The tree now growing in my garden was once a small seedling which I was gifted when I left Woolgoolga, a small coastal town in northern NSW. Its name  is said to come from the Aboriginal word 'weelgoolga' describing the lilly pilly which grows in profusion there. It is probably no surprise that the lilly pilly berries are edible as bush tucker, and make a beautiful jam or jelly. I have even seen re...
Post a Comment
Read more