William and May Morris in Adelaide Events!

I have finally made the commitment and I am thrilled to announce our inaugural "William and May Morris in Adelaide" events for April 2018 and April 2019. At the top of this blog you will find a page with some initial details listed with much more to follow. Send me an email if you would like to be put on the 'expression of interest' list! Now that I have stopped travelling to the UK it will be our pleasure to host you here in our home town where we can finally reveal "the biggest collection" of Morris furnishings outside the UK!! So with that excitement over it is back to the happenings at home. Christmas Day has been and gone and of course the little ones are what made us smile.......the day was the hottest Christmas Day in Adelaide for over 71 years but inside with the air-conditioning on one would not have known (not quite the same for others that suffered power failures and ruined days)...........

It was lovely to have the whole family together for a hot traditional lunch - something we haven't done for many years...........

 The weather has now turned very humid and we are seeing visions of Uluru flooding on the news - another once in 50 year event and sadly some people are missing........

Photo Source

 The garden is loving the drenching at home and it makes for some nice time stitching inside........

 

 This was this afternoon's project that was the result of a beautiful gift I received in the post from Jill in Western Australia. I was so excited when I opened the package that I had to search the internet to find her phone number to say thankyou  Jill machine embroidered the very cheeky Peter Rabbit for me and I've now appliquéd it onto fabric and made myself a sewing purse. Thankyou so much Jill for such a lovely and thoughtful gift......I love it!.........

 I also helped Sophie finish this fabulous cushion today. This was my biggest surprise on my 60th birthday......the design was created by Sophie (my 32 year old daughter), and to say I am chuffed is an understatement! If you look carefully there are butterflies with a number '6' and a '0' on the wings. Thankyou Sophie - I had no idea you had this talent! x Now I just have to work out where it looks best!.......

 So while I am in the sewing mood I need to start designing a new series of quilts but this time with a difference. I am planning on playing with some of Morris's carpet motifs but with a modern twist and in colours that Morris might not have approved...but with my new love of the limes and aqua on the outside furniture these colours are inspiring me! More of that soon......

Birthdays are a blessing

I feel so blessed to reach the 60 year milestone and yesterday I received an unwelcome reminder of that! I have a couple of food intolerances and it looks like one of them has now led me down the anaphylactic reaction path! Very, very scary to feel your windpipe close over but after 7 hours in emergency with loads of adrenaline and cortisone all is well. I do have to take an Epipen with me at all times now and will have some serious allergy testing done in the New Year. But I also feel incredibly blessed that we have such a great hospital emergency department so close to home. So today it felt wonderful to return with a basket load of our famous Haighs Chocolates to thank the emergency team personally. So a brief summary of my special day on the 18th where we had the most fabulous lunch at Serafino's winery with the family..........

 Presents are always exciting.........

 There was a fabulous jazz pianist playing in the background and best of all hardly any Christmas decorations - apparently they don't put them up until Christmas Eve. I think that is so thoughtful for those of us who have birthdays so close to Christmas........

 Some of us had lamb fillet, beef, duck and salmon........

 The grounds are gorgeous.......

 Love the suspended lighting........

 And the look on my face as I was unwrapping was the result of these gifts......very special with co-ordinating art work from Beau and Maisie.......

 During the week I also received this gorgeous glass sculpture from Kay and I adore it (thankyou Kay x)...

 So the house is decorated with Christmas and birthday cards........

 and also flowers from family.......

 and these from Jude.......thanks Judy - they are still going strong x......

 And gifts from Dot in the mail are always exciting!! A necklace in my colours and the most delicious strawberry that she tells me is a cord weight. I think it might be for making twisted thread cords? Thankyou Dot x........

We enjoy watching the birdlife that bathe frequently and have been observing a new family of blackbirds learning life skills........ ....... 

 but this life skill of digging went a little too far with the remains of a little succulent growing in my Morris cup upended and left on a seat..........

 This past week we have had some spectacular sunsets reflecting the colour in one of my roses.....

 So only a few days to Christmas and we are expecting a very hot day of 40C (104F to those of you in the Northern hemisphere!). So I hope wherever you are that life is treating you well. We'll catch up again soon x