My last ever William Morris Tour!

 It seems fitting to be thinking about our links to the UK with the funeral only yesterday of her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth 11. We watched the BBC coverage for about 7 hours with all of the pageantry and emotion. A moment in history and a time of reflection for both the past and future. And of course the iconic British Morris & Co designs have such a personal connection for me. Back in 2010 Larry and I had the wonderful opportunity of viewing the Royal Yacht Britannia in Edinburgh and you can read all about that visit on my blog HERE. Many rooms onboard were furnished in Morris fabrics...such a treat so I would like to think that the late Queen had a fondness for Morris designs too! 

So this leads me to the reason for my post. Renaissance Tours contacted me yesterday to update me on progress of the next William Morris in Adelaide tour. As you know this is my very last tour and I would love it to be an extra special week so we would be delighted to add to the list of guests already in line! If you've been thinking about it I would love you to join us to make it all happen....after-all it is not often here in Australia we get to see Morris furnishings 'insitu' like onboard the Britannia! 

The tour is more than just Morris. We explore the Morris & Co connection to Adelaide and the underlying British settlement here in Adelaide. Adelaide had a large Arts & Crafts school and with some very prosperous founders the style and architecture can still be seen. Also in November the gardens are glorious, especially the roses and we will see lots! The tour is in just under 8 weeks (November 13th-19th), so there will be plenty of sunshine and fun.......here is just a little from past tours in no particular order......

And speaking of roses......the World Rose Convention is being held right here in Adelaide just before the Morris tour so the roses will be at their very best for the world to see! I know the National Rose Garden here and also Carrick Hill have been working hard for many months in preparation, so what a perfect time for us.......

I hope all is well in your part of the world and maybe I might see you in Adelaide x

William Morris Tour news and more...

 Greetings to you all! I so rarely blog anymore that I almost forgot my password this morning! So first of all my most important news....... for a number of reasons I have asked Renaissance Tours to postpone the August William Morris in Adelaide Tour to November (13th - 19th). I am so sorry to those of you who were already booked into the August tour but I just know from previous years how awful the weather can be in August and the gardens are definitely not at their finest. November is a fabulous time for the first flush of roses and we will see several magnificent rose gardens in bloom on the tour. November will also be my very last tour, in fact it will be tour number TEN so I plan to make it as exciting as we can! So if you have been thinking about coming this will be your last chance.......

The last four and half years have not been easy for our entire family and as many of you know life changing experiences do really change your outlook on life. I don't believe you can overrate the cliche to live like today is your last and I truly understand how true that is following a cancer diagnosis. I had a scan recently and my specialist reminded me that life can never be the same and I cannot truly celebrate until I hit the five year mark....but that fear still lurks in the background. So we have started the packing and decluttering as we look forward to special memories living in a  small country town at the end of the year. Our last big move was packing up the family home of 26 years and I thought we had got rid of a lot then but I think not! Larry has really struggled with letting go of some of his books but last week someone came and took a few boxes for us...........

We would love to sell the house right now as prices are so strong, so our fingers are tightly crossed that interest rate rises and fears of looming recessions can wait just a little for us. In just 3 months we will go on the market and the biggest change so far is the bare walls! Our real estate agent has said to pack away a lot of what we have on display so the blue plates are gone from the kitchen wall while a few rest on shelves in a corner.........

The kiddies room walls no longer have quilts hanging on them..........

and the hallways are very bare............

We will be finding new homes for a lot of our furniture as our small cottage will not accomodate any of it especially the big couch and large armchairs..........

I will be sad that we can't take the piano that I have played since I was a young girl. It belonged to my grandparents and we have no idea where it will go as we've been told you can't even give them away.......I do hope that it finds a home somewhere.......

I wonder if I will have to take the tapestries off the wall before the house goes on the market? For now they will be staying.......

The very chilly winter days are well and truly upon us and we have had some very stormy days along with high seas so we've enjoyed being indoors.........

 I'm in the midst of creating 40 sewing project pouches to donate to Faye for her up and coming fund raising workshops. These will be filled with gifts for participants and I am glad I have a very large old button collection to complete them.......... 

Last month Emily once again organised the Cancer Council's Biggest Morning Tea Event at Flinders Private Hospital so I had few days of baking to help out..........

Baker's Delight continue their own fundraising by baking the annual pink fun buns in May with all proceeds going to the Breast Cancer Network Australia and this year they also sold these delightful fun buns (that I called boobies!!), that the kiddies just had to have!.......

Wade is growing so fast and it is hard to believe he will be going to school next year. I made him a quick and simple quilt last week using some of his favourite super hero fabrics and he was pretty chuffed.........

We enjoy all three of them every Friday but it is hard to get them away from screens at times.......

 Maisie and Wade are generally good at playing hide and seek as that is always a favourite. Beau will be 11 next birthday and he is almost as tall as me! They do love reading and Emily took this great photo last week with a comment on how heavy their school bags were....full of library books.....how wonderful is that? And another lovely photo after a haircut.....handsome boy enjoying his favourite hot chocolate I suspect.......

Well that was a quick catch up so I will finish with some more Morris that I've seen these past weeks on Instagram. It looks like Harrods now have a Morris & Co Emporium.........

and how wonderful is this leg wear that you can purchase from the Huntington Store.....

and socks from the William Morris Gallery shop..........

But I wish Susan from Chameleon Clocks would stop the temptation! I also wish she wasn't based in the UK as I can't imagine postage of a clock being very realistic.........but I will continue to admire her skills in repurposing old clocks.........

So that is it for now. I hope wherever you are you can live each day as though it is your last 😃