Heading North for the Winter....or part of it....

I've packed my bag and headed North for a week or so

 with No. 1.......

I'm taking on the role of unpaid roadie/relief driver as he heads North gigging on the way up to 

Blues on Broadbeach  

music festival on the Gold Coast.

Before I left home I needed to whip up a few Owlies for the local gallery, stock was getting low....

My last sewing fix hope it lasts till I get home......

So here we are in Byron Bay we've had 3 nights here and it's been lovely and relaxing.

Today was a little overcast and cool but nothing like the weather 

I left behind.......

We've spent time in cane country, surrounded by walls of green....

Where the rivers are wide and the bridges are hooouuuge.....

I've spent time crocheting and trying out a new pattern thanks to Ale over at Homemade at My Place

I've enjoyed the most beautiful scenery.

Views that have made me smile, made me happy. 

You all know how much I love Winter and rugging up etc. but it's just gorgeous here.

 I have to be honest and say that I'm not looking forward to heading home to colder temps......

I can understand why folk hitch up their little home on wheels and head North for the Winter.

Our view from the hotel room in Yamba

Breakfast at Caper Berry Cafe

Ashby Market...Saturday morning

A quick change of pace......

Mr Foxy Loxy here is a quick little brooch I stitched up last week.

You know one of those ideas that you get when time is limited but you can't leave it till later......

Sorry the pic is a little fuzzy but if you want to see a great fox post head over to Knatolee's World.

She's been watching mama fox and her brood of cute as offspring......

And finally some sweet birdy love.....

A Wonga Pigeon snapped in my sister's garden last week.

This lovely, birdy is fluffed up against the cold and believe me it was cold!!

They don't live in my neck of the woods, so I enjoyed our meeting and

 yes and I know what you're all thinking!!

She/he would make a nice meal...

  

Whilst away I've kept an eagle eye out for op shops.

My search thus far, has yielded nothing more than a sweet little hand embroidered serviette.....

I'm looking forward to getting back to my sewing machine and working on a few new ideas.

I've also bought my crocheted blanket away with me and have been hooking a round or two....slowly getting closer to finishing it.

Think I'm going to need it when I get home, hehe.....

So what have you all been up to?

Love to hear what's going on with you.

Any new discoveries, ideas, creations?

Thanks for visiting, it's lovely to have you here,

Take care,

Claire X

Let's Make A Deal.........

Cooee Possums, sorry have been watching an interview with Dame Edna.....

Well, Sunday evening and I'm yawning my head off, time for bed.

It's been a hectic weekend with 2 early starts and I'm a tad wearyo..

My first market stall for 2012 in Bright was a rip snorter ( a success!!).

It started off cold, grey and slightly gloomy, but that didn't deter my excitement as I do enjoy running my little market stall.

I set up and sorted,played and primped and and then waited for people to get out of their nice warm beds and head out into the bracing morning and come down to the market.

My little Owlies were sitting patiently in their little case wondering if they were going to find a new home.......

A bunch of beautiful Zinnias brightened up a corner of the table until the sun decided to show itself.

The lovely yellowy, green foliage are actually Parsnip seed heads.....

They were growing up next to the Zinnias and I couldn't resist the striking contrast of colours......so I snipped a few heads off.

I know I've been productive when I can stack up my makes ready to pack for the market......

A few of the hottie huggies I hope will find new homes and toes to warm in the cold evenings........

......and they did, so it will be back to the sewing machine and hope that I have enough blanketing left to whip up a few more.

It was great to be back at the market, meeting new stall holders and chatting to customers.

Bright is a beautiful tourist destination and I spoke to people from all parts of the countryside who were there on holidays

They head up to Bright to enjoy the mountains, the beautiful Autumn colours and in Winter the nearby ski resorts........

Heading home the warm car and sunny afternoon, had me feeling quite weary, so a 15 minute power nap was needed to keep me going past 8.30pm.

Plus, I had another early start Sunday morning as the first Makers Market was being held in my town this morning.

I arrived bright and early and snapped a couple of pics...

Sunlight, shadows and no one in sight.......beautiful.

Having sold quite a bit of stock at the Bright market I needed a little something to fill an empty spot on my table so I whipped up some sweet birdy brooches Saturday evening, while I could still keep my eyes open!!

The other stall holders were all crafty locals and Judy the organiser of the market makes some beautiful stained glass pieces as well as jewellery and other wonderful things.

Check out these two gorgeous pieces.....beautiful Blue Wrens.

Arent' they just stunning and as I stood there mouth open in awe I just knew that blue glass piece was coming home with me, hehe.....

Unfortunately, our windows are of the wind out variety so I can't hang it so the sunlight shines through BUT I have found a spot on the wall where it can be admired and as Judy pointed out if you don't place it directly against the wall you will get a lovely shadow.....

Anyhoo, Judy and I conducted a little business transaction....she acquired an Owlie and a hottie cover and the little Blue Wren is now hanging on my wall..........

I also conducted another of these business transactions in Bright, Sandy from another craft stall was after one of my 'Bgurk' brooches so I swapped for one of her knitted phone socks. It's lovely and colourful, so hopefully, I will no longer have to search too hard for my phone......

Continuing on .....next to me were Lauren and Chris from Indigo Ink.

They make screen printed, hand bound journals amongst other things

They have an etsy shop and you can click on the link to have a look at some of their wonderful makes.

It was interesting sitting there watching them fold and stitch paper for pages for more journals. They run bookmaking bookshops, think I will have to sign up for one of them......

Round the corner was Megan selling her wonderful crocheted beanies, washcloths, cushions and the most gorgeous baby blankets. Love those granny squares with their beautiful colours. Megan blogs over at Indigo Midge and she tells the story behind this fab cushion in her latest post.

Pop over and say 'hi'

Little did I know that there was another blogger living nearby, so it's been fun chatting about our fave blogs and wonderful things we've seen on the net.

Once again another little transaction took place.....I now have a beautiful, blue crocheted wash cloth and Megan has one of my Sewing Needle books with an Autumn leaf and saying on it......

Another great market and although there were only a handful of stall holders you know what they say 'from little things, big things grow'

When we weren't laughing, drinking coffee and scoffing yummy bikkies, we were all working away at our individual crafts.

A true Makers Market.....

So that's my weekend in a nutshell.......tomorrow is meant to be a day spent in the garden. The whipper snipper is now back in working order, so I can't put it off any longer and have to whip those weeds and edges into submission.

Hopefully, a little later in the week there will be time for some stitching fun and then next weekend is the annual

Yackandandah Folk Festival

We're looking forward to a weekend of great music, fine weather and lots of fun.

I hope whatever your week brings it's enjoyable.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit and thank you all for your lovely comments on my last post, it's always great to hear from you.

Take care ,

Claire♮♬♪♩