Three days of fun and friendship!

That's what I've just enjoyed! I have been visiting my best friend Lynette in Brisbane for the last three days and we had a blast!! Now before going any further, I'll warn you that we packed a LOT into three days, so perhaps you'll need to make yourself a cuppa and get comfy before reading on!!

Now to continue ... I'm very pleased (and VERY proud!!!) to report back that after slaving over a hot sewing machine ...


Lynette finished her goal of making two bears - Duncan and Danae! Since this was her first attempt at making bears, I think she did a BRILLIANT job!! And I'm not just saying that cos I know she'll read this! Tee! Hee! Hee! See for yourself!


Don't they look great! I love the bright, funky colour combo of Danae's dance outfit. Lynette was (justifiably!) very pleased with herself, and she has a new appreciation for what I do, as she had sore fingers and hands by the end of two days stuffing bears and thread-jointing with a large doll needle that sometimes had a homing beacon for her fingertips! Lots of 'Ouch!' yelps! It led to her striking a dramatic pose and claiming she was suffering for her art! Tee! Hee! Hee! Yep, she's as silly as I am, how do you think we've stayed friends for almost 30 years!!

Now, you may recall in my last post I lamented the fact I had not completed my "To Do" list, which included finishing a couple of dolls. While Lynette was busy on the sewing machine, I was also hard at work - between issuing orders and instructions! I finished two more Cupcake Katie dolls - one as a surprise for Lynette (she knew I was giving them both away, just didn't realise one was to her!!) and the other to be delivered the next day - more about that in a moment! Here are the completed dollies.


The pink and green clad Katie is now living with Lynette, while the blue and pink Katie joined us for an adventure!

For a while now, I've been chatting via email and blogs with the Lovely Linda and Laura of Lilly Cottage and I was VERY excited to find their shop is in Brisbane - the opposite side of town to Lynette! However, being intrepid explorers and having come 2nd in our year 7 orienteering challenge (we'd have been first if a team of boys hadn't run the entire course!!!) Lynette and I decided to set out on a mission of exploration to visit Lilly Cottage. Step one: consult the refedex.


With directions in hand, off we went! The hour's drive went quickly, full of chatting and laughing, though anyone listening would have needed an interpreter for our shorthand conversations! We've known each other so long and are SOOOOO on the same wavelength, that we don't always finish sentences or fill in names because the other just KNOWS what is being said! And it's not unusual for one of us to say somthing out loud just as the other has opened their mouth to say the same thing! We joke about sharing a brain!! So ... an hour in the car - more opportunity for chats!

After a couple of 'scenic detours', we found Old Petrie Town, home of Lilly Cottage - and what a wonderful place!! There's a lovely, atmosphere in this little 'village' and though we didn't get to explore it all, we enjoyed the old buildings, gogeous tall trees - and managed to avoid troublesome wildlife! (You'll have to browse through the Lilly Cottage blog archives to find the stories behind that comment!!)

We soon spotted a sea of pink - Lilly Cottage! So out we hopped and were greeted with an enthusiastic hug from Linda!! How lovely!! And Laura made us feel just as welcome! While Linda popped the kettle on and Laura found some hot cross buns for morning tea (it is almost Easter, after all!!) Lynette and I had our first browse around Lilly Cottage. Lots of 'oohs' and 'aaahhs' and 'look at this!'. So many pretties!!!! Some were DEFINITELY going home with me - after morning tea!

The four of us found a nice spot in front of the shop and spent a very pleasant 2 1/2 hours chatting, laughing and drinking tea, with Lynda's Mum popping in and out to see what we were up to. I just love meeting people you immediately feel comfortable with and that's how both Lynette and I felt meeting Linda and Laura - similar interests, similar tastes, similar senses of humour and a taste for tea and buns - a sure recipe for new friendships!! Here we are enjoying morning tea.


You can see some of the pretties in the background! There were just tooooooo many items I wanted to take home with me. However, I did keep my promise of trying to be good and only bought a few goodies.


While this cupcake isn't to eat, it's so pretty I had to bring it home! It now has a home with my green and white Ashdene tea set, where it looks just right. And ...


I loved the delicate roses on this set, even though the cup had a little crack in it and I knew I didn't want to drink tea out of it because I wanted to sit my new little bear friend in it! Meet Pippin. I saw him on Linda and Laura's blog badly outnumbered by Easter bunnies, so thought I would adopt him and bring him home to live amongst the numerous others of his kind who live in every room of our house!!

We had the most WONDERFUL time with Linda and Laura at Lilly Cottage and I will definitely pop back whenever I can, not to mention continuing the online chatting with them both and enjoying updates on their blog! Thanks heaps, Linda and Laura - and Linda's Mum! - for your wonderful, warm hospitality and growing friendship!!! It will be even more fun to read Linda's blog entries and emails now that I can put personality and picture with the fun writing!!

I also left a little bit of myself behind (almost my bag of goodies when I visited the shop next door for a look!!) as I left the second Cupcake Katie shown earlier to keep Linda and Laura company at Lilly Cottage. While I didn't get a photo, Linda did, so I'm sure it will soon be on the her blog! Katie is a friendly dolly so I'm sure she'll settle in quickly and feel right at home amongst all of the prettties at Lilly Cottage!

So, then it was time to hit the road again, back to Lynette's place, where she surprised me with an early birthday present (birthday's next week!! Uh, oh another year older and a new age to try to remember!!)!!


It's such a pretty set - and I AM a green girl!! Lynette has been buying me the trio sets and the tea pot for my birthday and Christmas presents for the last couple of years - aren't I lucky!!! She also bought my lovely (and very handy!) plate stand that appears in lots of my photos. Yep, I'm spoilt!!! Thanks, Lynette!!!

But all good things must come to an end - so they tell me, though that seems very unfair!! And it was time to pack my port (bag, suitcase!!!) and head back up the range to my OTHER best friend (see "Two Best Friends For Valentine's Day"!), Scott and catch up on some sleep!! A household with three kids gets going MUCH earlier in the morning than I'm used to! Tee! Hee! Hee! Lynette and I agreed we had so much fun with this mini craft retreat that we will DEFINITELY have to plan more - Lynette is already starting to write a list of projects she'd like to tackle so stay tuned for the continuing adventures!! Tee! Hee! Hee!

See, I told you it would be a long post and you'd need a cuppa! However, it's me who needs a cup of tea now, so I shall sign off and go and admire my new pretties! Til next time, Bear Hugs!

CHEERS!
KRIS