Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

 Happy Australia Day… to celebrate, I made a koala plushie. I bought a fabric panel of an owl and a koala at the Wallsend Community markets last month, so thought today was the right day to make this Aussie icon. Australia Day was a rather lazy day. . A morning walk and then we retreated quickly back inside to escape the heat. I put a small indoors thermometer outside to test it out – it gave up! Obviously over 40degrees! We only went outside because we had to. We celebrated Australia day tonight by cooking, taking and sharing a slow cooked lamb dinner with my friend and my sister-in-law, both patients in hospital. Much better we’re told than hospital food! Here's a special thought for Australia Day: "Close your eyes... and think of the land that gave you life and breath, and think of all the reasons you are glad to be there, with the people you know, with the people you love."  from The Double Comfort Safari Club by Alexander McCall Smith. This week has been a slow c...

  On Sunday, 14 February, we will celebrate the Chinese New Year and welcome the Year of the Tiger.  So many of our family were born in the Year of the Tiger , including me, so we think it's a special year. Tiger people are known to be loyal, courageous, enthusiastic and generous, but of course there are some negatives - selfish, excessive and impulsive. Anyway, all the Tiger members of our family are really wonderful people!  Like lots of other family celebrations, it's a time to prepare and eat lovely food, and just enjoy being  together.  Happy Chinese New Year!    Exchange students preparing dinner at our place Grandchildren visiting our place. It will also be Valentine's Day on Sunday, so I wish you all a really wonderful day and am sending you all a big heart... Please also remember that there are only a few days to enter the ONE WORLD ONE HEART giveaway . Just scroll down to the blog post entitles One World One Heart ...

To celebrate February - the month of Valentine's Day, the Down Under Street Team (DUST) has a theme of "Roses are red, violets are blue" for its Etsy sale. I didn't really have anything in my shop which fitted this theme, so last night I created this little violet petal pouch just for the sale. I  searched my fabric stash for fabric with roses, but found this violet fabric which I forgot I had. I also adapted the pattern from one of inspirational books, Omiyage - Handmade Gifts from Fabric in the Japanese Tradition by Kumiko Sudo. I rediscovered this book on my shelf recently. It was a Christmas gift from my mother in 2003. I made little pouches like this previously and used a polymer clay face, but on this one, I covered a shank button with fabric and drew and coloured a little face. I was trying for " sweet and pretty" so I think I almost got it! The kiss curls were an afterthought. I have always thought fabric "beads" were a bit special, but t...