Sunday 22 February 2009

Pay It Forward

PIF recipient Ann from Enbellefrance emailed me a fortnight ago and asked if rather than send a gift to her that I donate her gift towards the Bushfire Relief. After a few emails back and forth we chose to donate some sewing goodies to a fellow stitcher. Tomorrow I will be sending a package off to a member of the Victorian Quilters Guild to give away.

Imade a sewing caddy, covered tape measure and scisssor fob (an OPAM finish for Feb!)
and included, some calico, two fat quarters, tin of buttons, cotton thread, dmc threads, pincushion and needles and pins.


I hope this small gift helps someone as they start to rebuild their lives! Thank-you Ann for giving away your PIF gift.

Thursday 19 February 2009

I'm leaving on a jet plane...

....but I will be back again.
Next Thusday, Sarah, Helen and I will be winging our way to Melbourne for AQC
We'll be there for three days, helping out the lovely girls from The Quilted Crow on their stand and also shopping and doing some classes or workshops. I'm also going to meet one of my favourite bloggers Ric Rac . If you find yourself visiting AQC please pop by and say hello, we would love to meet you too and maybe we can tempt you into purchasing some lovely goodies!

Tuesday 17 February 2009

Welcome a new blogger!

I'd like to welcome a new blogger, please pop on over to Judith at Creative Studios and say hello!
Judith is having a giveaway to mark this occassion, a gorgeous pattern by Bronwyn Hayes for one for an Aussie and one for an international visitor! Please tell her Jo in Tas sent you!!

Sunday 15 February 2009

Camping and Fossicking

This post is all about our camping trip, we drove up the Midland Highway, took the Fingal turnoff, called in at Mum's at St Marys, drove to St Helens where we had fish and chips for tea and then drove onto the designated fossicking area on the Weld River at Moorina, just passed Weldborough.

The midlands is very dry at the moment, not much water in central Tas but it's still beautiful.

We set up camp, had to work quickly as it was getting dark.Not a great picture, it was taken the following afternoon, can just make out my DS lounging on one of the chairs.

The river is very picturesque although it's not as beautiful as it once was, some development nearby has pushed trees across the river.


That's DH in the blue, checking out a dig site.

Sieving for sapphires is hard work, DS and I had our own spot while DH worked away at triple our speed.

Firstly you shovel the river gravel into a set of sieves, we use 3 sieves. The top sieve collects the large river rocks, we never find anything significant in this sieve but one always hopes.

The second sieve collects rocks bigger than 8 mm and the 3rd sieve collects anything smaller.

After a shovel load of gravel is put in the sieves you wash them through in the water

You look through the top two sieves to see if your fortunate to have a good find, then the third one you wash through some more, there's a real technique to this because when it's finished and it's up ended onto a dry area it looks like this

All the heavier stones have fallen to the bottom and when it's tipped over they end up on top. The black stones are spinel, large ones of these can be used in jewellery and are also good for putting in rock tumblers to help polish rocks. The sapphires, topaz, zircon and quartz are heavy too and can be found amongst these. The blue ones really stand out on a sunny day.The job then is to find them with tweezers.

Here's what DS and I found, DH had heaps compared to us but I can't find where he's hidden them so I could take a photo.They're not all gem quality but they look very pretty in glass bottles. The big dark one under the 5cent piece is a good sapphire although the photo doesn't show it.

DS also tried to find them using goggles and snorkel, no luck but he had fun.

DH also had a go and came face to face with an eel!

One of our walks back to the campsite we spotted this little fellow rummaging around the forest floor, an echidna.

I get very excited when I see native animals in their own habitat, haven't seen a Tassie devil but we've heard them. There were possums around our campsite at night that upset my dog, she slept in the tent and growled whenever she heard them. I didn't see any snakes! Tassie has 3 snakes and they're all venemous, we usually see one but thankfully they stayed away.

There was a total fire ban in the North East of Tasmania which meant no campfires, so we used the gas cooker for meals. The sky was clouded over at night which meant I couldn't count Satellites or wish on a shooting star. We had a lovely time away from the gadgets and the TV. I did a little sewing but not much.

It was sad to come home and hear all the news about fires and floods. One of my PIF ladies, Ann, has asked me to donate the PIF article I was to send her to the Bushfire Relief. Ann and I have decided I'll make up a bag of sewing goodies and send it to a representative of the Victoria's Quilting Guild to find a person in need of such items. Thank-you Ann for suggesting this, it's a very generous offer! I'm feeling very warm and fuzzy inside just thinking about how we've all come together over such a terrible event to help out, the world feels so much smaller now!

Hugs to all!

Jo

Wednesday 11 February 2009

I should feel so lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky!

Maree's auctioning items on her blog, proceeds are going to the bushfire appeal, please give your support where you can.

Now before I do a post about our camping trip I have to share with you some goodies I received this week. I one two prizes recently, yes two! I was on a winning streak.

I won Isabella's 50 th post and also Julia's 1st Blogoversary and they were gorgeous prizes too.

Isabella sent me a beaut sewing caddy, it's a fabulous size it has zipper pouches either end so I won't lose anything and a place for all my needles in the middle

Isabella also sent two patterns and a packet of embroidery needles (not shown)

Julia sent a beautiful doll quilt, I'm going to hang it in my dining room, the colours are so pretty.and she also sent a coffe cup holder and some yummy sweets! Love the chocolate with black peppers, it's so different!Thank-you so much Julia and Isabella, I love my prizes they are fabulous!!

Another package arrived in the mail today too, the latest installment for the Pincushion Club, hosted by Quilt Fabric Delights. I love this one, looks like lots of fun! Gigi from Pinks and Needles has injured her arm so until she is fully recovered we'll have to wait patiently for our pin toppers.

I promise the next post will be about our camping trip and what we found!

Tuesday 10 February 2009

I'm back...

We're back from our camping trip but I'm not going to do a post about it today, after hearing about Victoria's devastating news I just haven't got the heart to write a happy post. I can't imagine what all those families affected by the fires are going through. The loss of lives is tragic and with 5000 homeless it'll take along time to rebuild these communities.
To help assist please pop over to Melly and Me's blog and take part in a silent auction, it's a marvellous idea and some great items up for grabs generously donated by Rosalie and Melly.
You can also check out the Handmade Help button on my sidebar for other items being auctioned for this cause.

Wednesday 4 February 2009

I'm disappearing again!

I'm heading off tomorrow camping with my family, a final trip before school resumes here in Tasmania. Hopefully we get plenty of fine weather. I'll show some photos when I return of our favourite spot which is just a short walk to a river which is really a creek where we fossick for sapphires, topaz, zircon and spinel. Hard to find stones worthy of cutting but it's all about having fun, spending time away from the gadgets and gazing at all the stars and counting satellites as they whizz by. I usually take some stitching but I never end up doing any.


Anyway I hope to catch up with everyone's blogs when I return, so make sure you give me plenty to read!


I've also received a parcel from Isabella, whose 50th post giveaway I won over the weekend, I'll show pics of the goodies when I return! Thank-you Isabella!!