300

...no not the movie...or how many days it feels like I've been on holidays..
It's the number of blog posts I've blurted out over the last few years!

This calls for a celebration...of some sort...

But this post isn't just about a number...it's also about the lazy days of summer, where things get done at a very slow pace and the days turn into weeks without trying.

Since the market a little over a week ago, we've have been away for a few days up at Tea Gardens...a cute little hideaway on the mid north coast of NSW. The apartment looked over the river. Peaceful is an understatement.

...so laid back the kids are allowed to steer the ferry on the trip across to Nelson Bay

Spent time with my newest obsession...

The starfish is finished and the snail well on the way to being done. It's funny how these reduce even the most hardened adult to mushy squeezers and huggers of woollen toys! The are really, really, really cute!!
This book is brilliant...I've seen some mixed reviews, but as a novice/not very good knitter, I found the techniques really clearly explained...and I'm pretty chuffed with my new skills...

Of course I found a quilt shop...or two...
Blackpossum in Tea Gardens and  Belmont Patchwork Heart (just south of Newcastle)
I found a thing called "shrinky" which was new to me, but has apparently been around for a while. It feels like a nylon and after quilting it to your fabric, you carefully hold an iron above it and it 'melts' and pulls the fabric in along the sewing lines. I'm going to have a go at making a bag with these...the pattern in the shop looked great and after my success with amigurumi...I'm game to try any new technique (famous last words indeed!).

 I found a fence button and some other cute fabrics and a couple of patterns

 
 and there may or may not have been a secondhand bookshop with an old magazine...

...with the perfect idea for what I want to do with my charm squares from the rainbow swap...

Well that's a long enough catch up...
...so what am I going to do about my 300th post...well you'll have to come back for the 301st to find out!!

thanks for taking a peek over the fence...