happy birthday fiona!

The birthday girl was having her face painted when we arrived

Fiona turned 60! A fabulous friend here in Daylesford had a birthday this last week and the party was great. A big Italian dinner cooked and delivered by friends from all around, plenty of champagne to toast the woman of honor, and our favorite face painter, Phoenix.

Sarah (in a fabulous vintage suit) and Ange

An over the top cake creation from a friend

The real action was in the kitchen

Rina's turn to be transformed

Rina, Fiona and I all decorated

With our creator, Phoenix

good morning

Enjoying some green tea in my new mug (a little treat to myself, couldn't resist that face!), and a sneak peak from last night's party. We're just packing up the car now for the first leg of our drive to Canberra. I'll blog from the road if I can, otherwise, see you next week!

hobby

Super simple, encased elastic waist, perfect for all seasons

So I made a skirt. There's a great fabric/sewing store in town, and after eyeing this fabric I knew I wanted to wear it. So I bought two meters, and some of that was put into this. Took about 5 hours of hand-sewing what would have been about 15 minutes on my machine back home, but it was worth it. A study in patience and control. And I might love it even more for the fact that it was cut with kitchen scissors (and with no pattern other than an idea in my mind's eye) and sewn in little intervals over a week or two. Really love how it turned out, and thinking of doing a top with the leftovers. Get creative!

The fabric is by Amy Butler, what my friend Robert calls "blue onions"

Finished with some bias tape and yellow thread, because why not?