Sunday markets at Windsor

Had a lovely relaxing morning at the Windsor markets. There's lots of great reasons to include it on your 'to do' list - one being that Windsor has the best fish and chips in Sydney! Just look out for the talkative parrot outside...

There's so much happening, with live music over at the pub and the amazing shire horses clopping past. That would be interesting, to dine in the restaurant as you tour around the area.

Windsor is home to a real working water-wheel that the kids like to stand and watch just at the top of the mall.

Time for a hot chocolate....

...and so to the shopping - ahhh, someone has to do it! I recommend starting at the English lolly shop, all my favourites here.

- and onto the markets. Some great stalls, from dolls houses, to home-made soap (the best in Sydney - super-size bars; if you can't make it to the markets get your supply from 'Backyard Abundance').

Organic fruit and vegetables..

..and lots of homemade preserves.

A great way to spend a Sunday morning, especially with the lovely sunshine we've been having just lately in Sydney.

Stitches & Craft Show, Sydney

Had a great day on Sunday at the Stitches & Craft Show at Darling Harbour. I have only been once before a few years ago. The show has many more stalls and the quilt display was totally awe-inspiring. Some extremely talented people.

Many different styles of patchwork and quilting. Incredible designs and colours, here's just a sample of the work on display. I love the design here...

..and the colours chosen for the quilt below.


I am still a great lover of the scrap quilts though, and the whole idea of 'making something out of nothing' as was the original concept to use up old scraps for bed covers. I'm sure many of us started a quilt like this one with cardboard templates, only to run out of patience and decide that patchwork wasn't for us!

How far they have evolved now though, to become works of art that you wouldn't dream of using as a simple bed cover.

Some very inspiring Australiana designs....

Some beautiful Japanese designs and fabrics.

This owl quilt was incredible.

A beautiful three-panel quilt which looks like a tribute to mothers everywhere..

I did spend alot of time looking at the 'fantasy' themed quilts.. can't imagine how many hours of intensive work they took to complete not to mention the creativity involved. Alot of them used different techniques and mediums which combined to produce a stunning work of art that was hard to tear your eyes away from.

There's no doubt at all, from the level of talent featured by HSC and TAFE students, that the boundaries will continue to be pushed in all area's of textile mediums to produce even more incredible designs.

Finally, I couldn't end the post without making mention of my absolute favourite quilt of the show - if I really had to decide. Wendy Bailye was the Guest Artist of the Quilt Show (presented by the Quilters' Guild of NSW).

The quilting detail as you can see below was awesome. Being a potter myself, I love the theme and the research that obviously went into the design of the pots.

Here's Wendy chatting about the quilts and her designs. Incredible to think that she's only been making quilts for 6 years. Prior to that, she was an artist in other mediums. The one featured above was created by bleaching out area's on black fabric, then heavy quilting over the entire piece.

It was well worth attending the show just to gaze in awe at Wendy's quilts which featured many different theme's, from Australiana to a beautiful African inspired quilt, and to hear her talk about her work. Very inspirational.

But of course, we ran out of time. So we headed back out of Darling Harbour with a head full of fresh idea's and newly inspired to dig out the sewing machine....

..past the ferris wheel...

..past Chinatown...

..and trying to remember where we parked the car!

Scents of Christmas

This was my Kris Kringle pressie from work - so of course, I had to make a special trip... to the candle shop in Leura. (one of mums favourites too)!

Vanilla & Nutmeg candles for the table.

...And these lovely Berry & Honey Sorbet candles for the glass votive.

Glenbrook Market

Had a lovely time on Saturday browsing around the markets. This is my garlic plant from the organic fruit & veggie man. I buy garlic bulbs from him aswell every month, and use in just about everything. I tried growing it last year by planting some of the bulbs - not sure what happened to them though! I'm not going to miss these in the garden...

Lovely bars of soap from the Hemp stall - hemp and olive oils with wonderful essential oils. Stuck them in my chest of drawers until needed so they make everything smell great. I've been meaning to make some more, but haven't quite got around to it!

The vegies are grown out at Orange; I love the Fuji apples and they have heaps of potato varieties.

The plant man. Love roses, but don't have anywhere to put them. Got some dianthus for the window boxes instead, and a lovely deep pink geranium and a climbing plant.

The bread man. Love the organic wholemeal sourdough.

Glenbrook - home of the.......gnomes!! The market is held at the primary school on the 3rd Saturday of the month.

Open Gardens - Hazelbrook

I've been meaning to go along to see some of the open gardens which they have in the Blue Mountains every Spring - my incentive this year was that one of the featured gardens is where I'm doing a permaculture course in a couple of weeks. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven!! No pictures here yet though as I'd forgotten my camera - but here's some of the cottage gardens that I visited the following day....

This wasn't the actual house by the way.... it was just the studio in the garden!!

Wisteria looks lovely at this time of year - pity it doesn't last longer.

Ahh, sweetpeas - reminds me of a little book I still have from my childhood on the flower fairies of the garden.

There was some very imaginative garden 'art' like wall plaques, bird baths/houses and fountains.

One of the interesting things to note and to get some ideas, from is the layout of the gardens - having different 'rooms' or areas with little meandering paths and other features to make a small garden seem larger, to add interest, variety and mainly to provide relaxing and tranquil spots to enjoy the surroundings.

There were lots of different water features too, all integrated into the natural landscape; some as simple as an old sink or bath 'sunk' into the ground; but still as effective in attracting necessary wildlife to act as natural pest controls and adding to the charm and tranquility of the gardens.