Huge Weekend!!

PHEW!!! Who knew you could pack SO MUCH into one weekend! :0) I think my poor eyes are just about hanging out of their sockets on stalks today, but it really was a fabulous weekend. I'll see if I can condense my adventures so poor Chookyblue doesn't need TWO cuppas to get to the end of it! Tee! Hee! Hee!

OK ... so ... Mum and Dad arrived Friday morning so my Beloved Geek Boy and I could travel down the hill with them to my cousin's wedding so we only had to worry about parking and toll payments for one vehicle. We managed to get to the winery where the wedding was held without taking the 'scenic route' (our code for 'where the heck are we?!?!' Tee! Hee! Hee!) and as well as witnessing the beautiful wedding of my Cousin Samantha, we got to catch up with some of my mad rellies who had converged from all over Australia and another cousin had even flown in from New Zealand where she is currently studying. Talk about INSANITY!!! :0) I'm the shy quiet one of my family ... so that will give you all a little bit of an idea just how crazy the rest of the clan are! Tee! Hee! Hee! We piled ourselves back into the car to drive home after the reception, tumbling into bed well after midnight.

Saturday saw a frenetic round of shopping with Mum and Dad, who usually catch up on grocery shopping and errand running when they hit the 'big smoke' of Toowoomba. Then it was time to wave good-bye to them, re-make the guest bed, have a cup of tea and welcome my bestest-buddy-since-we-were-nine Lynette. We had dinner (Moroccan lamb  done in the slow cooker - YUMMO!) and enjoyed a short chat ... only about three hours without drawing breath! Tee! Hee! Hee! Then we hit the sack to get our beauty sleep before heading out to the Village Green at Highfields on Sunday morning to once again enjoy ...

YAY!! This annual event is hosted by the lovely Marion and her troop of hard-working elves at Quilters Angel and it is always FABULOUS!! This was the third year Lynette and I had booked ourselves in for a day of stitching, chatting and spoiling and we were NOT disappointed! In fact, we had a BLAST! :0)

This year's SDDO theme was "Christmas Wishes" and the guest designers were Lynette Anderson of 'Lynette Anderson Designs', Anni Downs of 'Hatched and Patched' and Natalie Bird of 'The Birdhouse'. Each of these lovely and clever ladies had designed two projects especially for SDDO participants and we started the day off with a welcome and a 'show and tell' from the designers ...

There's Anni, Natalie, Lynette telling us about her fabulous new fabric range and the lovely Maid Marion herself. And the projects we were treated to??? You're going to be jealous! :0)

This is the "Happy Christmas Cushion" designed by Natalie ...

"Dear Santa ... Table Runner" designed by Lynette ...

"Here Comes Santa Christmas Stocking" designed by Natalie and made up in some of Lynette's yummy Christmas fabric range ...

"Little Stockings" designed by Lynette ... also made from her yummy Christmas fabrics ...

"Christmas Stamp Pockets" designed by Anni ... aren't these just too cute?!?! This is the project both Lynette and I found in our goodies bag to work on for the day and the little stitcheries are not only fun to stitch, but quick to finish. Of course ... that doesn't mean I actually FINISHED one of mine, cos there was lots of chatting, looking, admiring and munching to do, too! Tee! Hee! Hee!

And last but not least was Anni's second design,  "Tree Of Christmas Cheer". See?? I TOLD you you'd be jealous! :0)

Once show and tell was over, Marion FINALLY let us delve into our goodies bags. Here's Lynette discovering her treats ...

We had some lovely ladies at our table to chat to, some stitching to do, so off we went. Here's everyone hard-a-stitchin' ...

As always, Marion and her merry band of hard-working elves had done a beautiful job of setting the scene for us. Each table had a stylised patchwork Christmas tree with our table number and there were festive decorations galore around the marquee, as well as displays of gorgeous project samples from our three clever-clogs guest designers. With an atmosphere like that, we couldn't help but be creative! :0)

Of course, throughout the day as well as enjoying a yummy morning tea, lunch and plum pudding and custard afternoon tea, Marion had organised HEAPS of lucky door prizes and competitions. It was during one of these ... sing a Christmas carol ... that we discovered I have Christmas-Carol-Lyric-itus ... put on the spot, I could not for the life of me remember ALL of the words to ONE single carol - just snippets from a whole lot of them!!! In the end, Anni nominated I sing "O Christmas Tree" ... let's just say I'm pretty sure the author of said song did NOT include "La, la, la, la, la, la, la" in the original version of the song! Tee! Hee! Hee! However, giggling fits and terminal embarrassment aside, it won me something rather special ...

A jelly roll of gorgeous "Flag Day" fabrics ... the same faded blue and red tones I'll be playing with when I make my "Rural Jardin" quilt! How spoilt was I?!?! :0) Thanks Marion!!

It was lovely to chat to Lynette, Anni and Natalie throughout the day as they wandered around the tables chatting and giving mini demonstrations and it was especially great to catch up with Lynette again, having enjoyed a dinner date with her and her beloved, Vince, during our beach holiday. Oh wait ... I now have a COLLECTION of Lynettes - which they both assured me was the NICEST sort of collection to have! Tee! Hee! Hee!

Lynette, Lynette and yours truly. Hmmm ... Lynette and I make Lynette look like an Amazon! OK ... THAT was a little confusing! Tee! Hee! Hee!

All in all, it was a FANTASTIC day as always. Thanks Marion, Steph and your team of exceptionally hard-working elves!! We had a HOOT! About the only complaint we had for the day was that it went by WAY too quickly! :0) Lynette and I have already decided we'll be back again next year for more stitching - maybe some of you would like to join us! The details are all on Marion's web site, so pop across and check it out. Next year's theme is "Down The Garden Path" ... should be GREAT!

There you have it - my HUGE weekend. I think it will take me a little while to catch up on some sleep, but having kicked my cold (thank you all for your well-wishes!!) and the onset of some warmer spring weather, I'm actually feeling pretty energetic, so who knows what I might manage to tackle this week. Hope your weekend was as enjoyable as mine ... even if it wasn't QUITE as action-packed! :0) Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!
KRIS

PS. The seven gals who won prizes at the start of September ... your prizes will be going in tomorrow's mail, so you can start stalking your posties! Tee! Hee! Hee! BH! KRIS

PPS. Hi Debbie! Couldn't email you cos you're a no-reply blogger, but thanks for sharing the table and lots of laughs with us! BH! KRIS