Gourmet Wednesday and family night.

Wednesday the 18th March was a celebration of family and friends. A long acquaintance and friend  of mine since the early 1980's has left work at NETS to go into semi retirement. NETS has lost a great consultant, who not only took the time to triage emergency cases as well as being a very important member of our NETs family. So.. a great way to celebrate Tom leaving, was to have  a get together  with many  NETS friends from past and present, and join my family on gourmet Wednesday. There was 15 in total.  Two was sorely missed, one my wonderful daughter in law Cara who flew out that morning to philadelphia to present, at a conference, her thesis (as part of her PHD),on preschool bullying and Arieta our NETS CMO, who has been at NETS as long as me. Girls you were with us in spirit.

A great evening was had by all.

 Two days of planning and prep work went into a very successful evening.

Entree :Zuppa Di Pesce 

I made my own fish stock for this dish, well worth the effort, an amazing dish.

A very successful entree, enjoyed by most, minus one allergic to shellfish... Tom!

Main consisted of an assortment of salads, exotic mango salad, roasted vegetable salad, coleslaw and Greek salad, baked barramundi, snags, rissoles and eye fillet steak and marinated chicken wings.

Dessert

Iced Vo Vo slice, white chocolate rose water mousse, Portuguese tarts, hazelnut chocolate cup cakes, chocolate and coffee syrup  pancotta, made by my dear friend Sandy, most ended up on the floor, accidentally  dropped out of a very packed fridge, but what was left was delicious.

 

Hazelnut flourless chocolate cakes, delicious, well done Nicola.

I also made Sangria, I am not sure who enjoyed it the most, me.....or Janet.

Our outdoor dining area and table, set ready for guests.

All set.

Enjoying the food and company.

Our intimate gathering

Farewell Tom you will be missed at NETs.

Thank you also to my two wonderful sons, Alex for cooking the BBQ and Nigel for putting his butcher skills into practice and also my long suffering DH who did a wonderful job of entertaining and all the washing up.

What have I been up to lately in quilting land...

Attempting to get my last 12 months worth of quilts completed.

This is my version of MSG! Anne Levens quilt, 1640 hexagons, now for the borders,

Borders nearly completed, measures 113 inches, this is a big one, only one side to go. When did I say that I was going to make normal sized quilts, must have been after this quilt.!

Love this fabric so made a skirt, just love the flamingos.

My skirt.

My noodle box, http://chrisquilts.blogspot.com/borders to be added, then off to the quilter. 

Now for the scalloped border.

That's it for now, less than a month till we fly off to France for Pour L'Amour Du Fil in Nantes.

Mittagong, Bowral, Moss Vale and friends.

What a fantastic day to end a very busy week of sewing, three UFO's completed and now the fourth soon to be sent to the quilters after another border has been added. More photo's will be posted shortly of the completed quilts,  I seem to have been on a roll since late January, completing my UFO's, out of seven, only three more to go!!!!, not counting the ones that I am working on at present. Today I drove down to  Mittagong to visit an old friend! Di, we have had a friendship that has lasted for over 35 years and a friendship that is greatly valued.  On arrival into Mittagong, we drove to Moss Vale, a neighbouring town to vist a reviva recycling centre at the " tip", let me share with you, what we got for free! quilting magazines and some great books, photos below! After spending a good hour at the tip, we then drove to Berrima, which is another historical town in the Southern Highlands to have morning tea and visit the Berrima patchwork shop, of course fabric was purchased. We then drove back to Mittagong  for lunch and retail therapy, as well as a visit to the Village quilt shop. Mittagong is a quaint little village in the Southern Highllands which holds a lot of charm as well as spending the day with Dianne, I took the opportunity to catch up with another friend,  Jessica, who lives in Willowvale, a suburb close to Mittagong. What a delightful afternoon with lots of show and tell, cake, tea and loads of fun.

Jessica is making the "Fun Girls Quilt by Bronwyn Hayes! very similar to the Polka Dot girls quilt that I have just completed, back from the quilters and putting the binding on at present.

 The reviva centre at the tip in Moss. Vale and below, just some of the books that were free!

Berrima patchwork shop.

Mittagong Village Quilt shop.

Jessica, cake, tea, show and tell, what a great afternoon, below the "Fun Girls "Quilt that Jessica is making? just love it and well done to Jessica!

My Polka Dot girls, before being sent to the quilter.  I resisted the urge to make it bigger, small in comparison to my other quilts only 71 inches square. I am very happy with the quilting, hearts and roses, will show more photos when binding is completed.

One more border to be added to my appliqué quilt and then off to the quilters, this quilt has been a combination of Chris Jurd, centre, Kim Mcleans appliqué and my borders with the  bird appliqués. By adding extra borders, this quilt is another large one.

"Batik Beauty" completed with quilting and binding, made for my neice, Rhiannon.

In a very happy place with my completed quilts, cannot wait to start other projects that I have in mind,  oh so much to do and so little time!