Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

 My annual Handamde Treasures Sale is over again for another year - a lot of work setting up but worth it. Thanks to very talented friends and family there was an array of high quality beautiful work for sale and we raised a substantial amount as a donation supporting the women's and children's refuge and domestic violence centre here in Newcastle. The first customer arrived on the dot of 8.30am and the last left at 5pm. We served tea and coffee throughout the day with delicious home made treats - crispy coconut cookies,Anzac biscuits and one of Jim's specialties -  olive palmiers. Even the creative need sustenance! Thanks to the many valued supporters for making it a great day - Christmas shopping for a Cause. ... And a happy birthday to our youngest grandchild, Amy - one today!

With the weather becoming a bit colder, I decided to finish a scarf I started last year. I loved this pattern when I saw it in a Patons book, and a few of us at one of my dollmaking groups decided to make it - so you will probably see various versions of this around Newcastle this winter.     I enjoyed knitting the flowers and the leaves, but I did not enjoy the sewing up, so that is why the fifteen flowers and thirty leaves were all finished but not assembled. I wanted to wear this to my friend Connie's birthday last weekend, so took a couple of nights in front of TV to sew the flowers and leaves together.   I chose some sunflower fabric at Dollies last Saturday and had a pattern in mind . It's been made up into a little drawstring bag, constructed from a square, folded diagonally, and then the corners are folded in to create a pocket. What I love about this bag is that the lining and pockets are all made in one - the folding means that the outside fabric is also th...