'Le Tour De France......With A Twist' and a Postcard from PARIS

Recently at The Batemans Bay Writers Festival I came across the above little brochure for 

'Le Tour with a twist'

and all without a bicycle in sight

I hung onto this gem for a couple of weeks and thought on the morning of 27th June I'll go to that

So organised Mr Armchair to watch JoJo (after he dropped me off at the venue of course) so I could partake in the Wine Tastings

We don't often attend events together spontaneously due to caring issues etc so a lot of the time one of us only get to go

On arrival on every table was a map of Le Tour

and I thought this is going to be so good

and it didn't let me down.......it was such a lovely couple of hours there

talking........tasting........eating........talking.........tasting

A little plate and French Flag on the table

Not long into the slides it was time for our first refreshments hence Drinks Station 1

I didn't partake in the Beer Tasting as I was not sure if the Beer had gluten in it as it often contains Barley/Malt but I did try the Cider

I did think of you here Fiona at Bubz Rugz lol

These little sweets were apparently made by accident back in the day and turned out to be very popular hence they are still made today

Oh time for Drinks Station 2

The next Taster......very nice too

All wine served in petite glasses, of course

This Malbec was particularly delicious

I don't have the paperwork for the next Drink Station but it too was very nice

mmmmm the whole night just flowed so smoothly and I'm so pleased I decided to go even if it was by myself

 The following week my Sister-in-Law made a day trip down to visit and brought a bottle of French wine and cheese to share

I'm looking through Shannon Bennett's Paris book as well at the moment

Meanwhile a postcard arrived for me all the way from Paris from my Friend Lindee

Thank You so much Lindee........I was so excited to receive this

I'm spending less and less time here in Bogland due to my upcoming *Paris* holiday with my Son

I'm still reading everyone's blogs but just a tad pushed for time to comment on all of them

JoJo's had some health issues........I've got stuff happening but that's typical isn't it when something big is happening

But I will get there!!!!!

4 weeks and 4 days to go........

Love Dzintra xo 

~Braidwood Maker's Market~

Lots of twine from Michelle at material drawer

Yarn from Helen at Waratah Fibres

 Margaret spinning......

all at Braidwood Maker's Market hosted by the gorgeous Jen from Little Finch at Braidwood

I met a delightful French lady........Isabelle from La Source

Isabelle had on display her new 'Braidwood' cards

 a tea towel I had to have......

Tags from material drawer

and OMG this made me   *S T O P*

A Hogwarts sign by Anna at swallowtail

Aren't these signs just fabulous!!!

Headbands for the little misses

 Hair accessories

the most beautiful music

and here's my beautiful sign at home

the first package I opened

all set to join my Harry Potter collection......

A great Market Jen.......just fabulous quality hand made items

Looking forward to the next one

See you then......Dzintra xo

~Sewing Kit for Bushfire Appeal...threads and latest projects~

The above pic is of a postcard of our local area that was sent to Tasmania

and here is the Sewing Kit that was put together to donate to sewers at Dunalley

A lot of people lost everything in the bushfire devastation there recently and my Online Stitching Group Friends in Stitching (FIS) put out a call to see if anyone could donate certain items

The brief was ~ a pincushion, threadcatcher, 2 fat 1/4's, packet of needles, scissors, 3 DMC threads, a pattern and pellon, a surprise and a stitching bag to put it in

Helen Stubbings from Hugs'nKisses has donated patterns to this cause

Helen has been rewarded for her generous nature by being named Barnardos Mother of the Week. The nomination, prepared by her eldest daughter, highlights Helen's passion for helping others.

Thank you so much Helen and thanks to Jo for organizing this

Pic from Jo's blog shows the bridge and area that is now cut off from mainland Tasmania

Meanwhile when I go to a patchwork shop now and I have JoJo with me I ask her to choose a few nice colours of threads for me....and above is what she has chosen this time....

My latest kit from Anni Downs of Hatched and Patched

I saw these quilting threads on a wooden spool and had to have those

After hanging on to this fabric for ages it's nearly time to cut into it

My Daughter knew that I wanted some blog cards and she ordered these plus a pen as well...

Thank you so much Jacqueline......they are great

How cool are they......look out now everyone when I see you next!!!!

~Update~Canberra Show...a gift, Pirates and Halloween~

A little post here that I've been meaning to do for a while now

I've actually got a few that I would like to get in this year so I'll start with the Canberra Show that we went to back in February

Click here for news of the Show for 2013

I couldn't resist the above air brushed tattoo of a Faery

there was even a Faery Quilt on display

It was an extremely hot day

this is at about 9am in the morning heading down to the Ferris Wheel

nearly there....

JoJo loving every second of the ride

View over to Black Mountain Tower with the mountains in the background

Having a little fun with getting the balls into various number slots

Great for her as she aims for certain numbers

(I love these too)

An interesting little hut here

We imagined this had water in it

if it had of we would've jumped into it I'm sure!!!

We stayed the night at our Daughter Jacqueline's

Happy Birthday Mr Armchair on this very hot evening!!!!

A little fruit platter for breakfast

And here's little GD Lidija in the car with her dolly!!!

Jacqueline quickly picked a rose for us as were leaving to come back home 

A surprise gift in the mail from my dear friend Susie over in Western Australia

All wrapped in gold (she knows me too well)

....a cross stitch design book and a Guest Book

The verse on the cover says

'Our happiest days are found in the joy we share with those we love

These are the cherished moments of life'

~Adele Basheer'

and a postcard from Monkey Mia

Thank you so much dear Susie...I love the books and I will get over to see you one day xoxoxo

Now over to Pirates of Penzance currently playing at The Bay Theatre

Here are 3 of the gorgeous daughters of the Major General played by Tatjana, Madie and Jenna

Don't know whom I'm after in this pose ha ha!!!!!

The play is doing really well

On Sunday the Moruya Hospital Auxiliary wanted the cast to autograph a copy of the programme and there have been a couple of requests by some groups in town for our appearance.......how cool is that

Not much happening with needle and thread here just a bit here and there but I will have something to show for OPAM (One Project a Month) for October

And in time for Halloween tomorrow here is little Lidija being a 'scary witch'...