Friends, family, flowers ... and plenty of cake!

This week it was my turn to clock up another year of living, loving and creating, but my birthday was relatively low-key compared to the pizzazz of my amazing 90 year old mother-in-law's celebrations I wrote of in my previous post.

On my actual birthday I enjoyed lunch with four very dear girlfriends I've known for many years. Four of us have birthdays within 5 weeks of one another, so we added to the fun by celebrating together, at the home of one. 

From our table this was our view of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and across to the Sydney Opera House. The sun shone, and even the clouds arranged themselves obligingly to look like cotton wool!

I thought that it was quite appropriate that the cake was decorated with tiny pieces of gold leaf, given my friends and I are approaching "golden oldies" status!

A few days later came another happy, though noisier family dinner with my son, daughter in law and grandchildren, Mr J and Princess 2. I'm sorry, but with these little "moving targets" I didn't manage any photos, except for one of the birthday cake which stayed put, even if it did threaten to slide off its shiny base.

A last minute rummage in the recycled birthday candle jar drew a blank on either of the digits of my real age, but with a choice of 40 or 82 I was quite relieved that the decision-makers settled on 40, the age I feel (at least on good days!).

The final birthday stop was yesterday, for afternoon tea with my sister and mother. 

If you look closely you'll see that this "cake" is actually a lemon tart, my very favourite dessert (when Key Lime Tart isn't on offer!). 

How about those gorgeous flowers, perfectly coordinating with my outfit? I don't want to take away from the cleverness of my mother's and sister's choice of flowers, but actually, I'm so darned predictable because I just love pink!

In rather more substantial ways my sister is predictable too: always positive in the face of life's adversities, always generous, and always forgiving, loving and compassionate. 

These little Willow Tree figurines, part of her birthday gift to me, are a treasured reminder.

Blessed.

Two books and a birthday

Books have always played a big part in the life of our family.  From youngest to oldest, we all enjoy turning the pages. Some of us also listen to audiobooks, one edits bestsellers, another is the head book buyer for a national chain.

And now we have not one, but two published authors! 

 

A couple of weeks ago I attended the Sydney launch of Wish You Were Here, a seriously entertaining memoir by my talented sister-in-law, Sheridan Jobbins. 

Sheri has been writing for many years, first as a journalist and then as a filmmaker and scriptwriter, but with this book she's turned the spotlight on herself, taken a period when life threw some hefty lemons her way, and made delicious lemonade. 

Basically, after her first husband broke her heart, she broke some china before running off to America to find herself, on a road trip across the country in a red Chevy Camaro. Of course I know the ending, but I'm still enjoying being taken along for the ride as I read this positive, life-affirming and insightful 'rom-com'.

A few days later we celebrated my mother-in-law Joy Jobbins' 90th birthday with another book launch - Life at the Palace.

 

On her 80th birthday Joy, Sheridan's mother, had published Shoestring, a memoir of her experiences as a working mother of five, 'tycooning' as an advertising executive in the male-dominated fashion and wool industry of the 1950s, while living 'on a shoestring' in the rural bohemia of Eltham, Victoria.  

Life at the Palace, A Necklace of Anecdotes, is the second of a trilogy she has planned, this time set in Sydney's Elizabeth Bay in the 60s and 70s, where the family found themselves living (for a peppercorn rent) in Berthong, an enormous harbour-side mansion that could not have been more different from Shoestring. 

The cast of colourful characters who lived there, or visited (I was one!), along with Joy's wider professional encounters with the likes of Prince Phillip, Pierre Cardin and Patrick, Earl of Lichfield, makes for an entertaining romp with a touch of the bittersweet, periodically 'interrupted' by other members of the family for a tiny reality check.

 Along with the book launch it was a wonderful afternoon of celebration and dancing, which of course included Joy's theme song "Fly me to the Moon".

Joy's another positive woman who knows exactly what to do with the lemons life gives her. Margaritas, anyone?

* * * * * * * *

Wish You Were Here, by Sheridan Jobbins, is available at all good bookshops in Australia, as well as online through Amazon and Book Depository if you are overseas.

Life at the Palace (A Necklace of Anecdotes), by Joy Jobbins, is available in Australia here

Happy birthday, Di B!

It's my colourful quilting buddy Di B's birthday today, so this post is all about her.

She's far too modest about her amazing quilt making talent, and doesn't have a blog of her own, so by way of a birthday surprise I'd like to share her latest, and greatest, quilt finish.

For her version of Julie Herman's Jaybird Quilts pattern, Arcade Game, Di carefully chose fabrics from Karen Lewis' Blueberry Park range in shades that would combine to accentuate the 3 dimensional effect of the baby blocks.

The day of our photo shoot couldn't have been more perfect, with plenty of sunshine to light up those colours and reveal the fabulous custom quilting by Linda Billett of Artisan Quilting.

With Sydney Harbour's deep blue water glinting below a perfectly cloudless sky it was this photographer's dream setting. 

In an effort to be a little "arty farty" we draped the quilt over a garden bench.

We tossed it nonchalantly over the rails of the jetty.

We spread it over a table.

And I imagined it as an inviting tablecloth with a party of friends gathered around for brunch in the sun.  

This quilt, however, was destined for something much more special. Di made it with great love for her grand-niece, Annemieke, who lives in Holland.

Faced with many colours, and wondering which one to pick for the binding, Di chose this fun stripe and used them all!  

All that Aussie sunshine has now been wrapped up in this beautiful quilt, and it's settled into its new home, on a little girl's bed  on the other side of the world.

Did Annemieke like her new quilt? 

No ....... she LOVED it!

Take a bow, Di B, you deserve it. 

 HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Bright

Our St Mark's Quilters haven't been twiddling their thumbs between monthly workshops. Look at this lovely pile of finished quilts!

Margaret made this sweet Blanket of Love with a cute centre block of Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail and Peter Rabbit gathered round Mother Rabbit. 

Di B made this one in her favourite colour.

"The S Team" (Sophie and Susan) quilted this panel of owls to make a bright and beautiful kindy quilt.

They also finished off this story book panel, adding jazzy borders to make it even more eye-catching.

Susie was very clever with her free motion quilting and created a gentle 'breeze' wafting those white fluffy clouds on her Blanket of Love.

Another pretty pink confection from Perdita...

...and another, just as pretty and even paler and more delicate.

I love the way Di C has used multiple fabrics in pale lemon to add a little sunshine to this quilt.

Gillian took on the challenge of finding a way to use a fairly uninspiring piece of donated bird fabric. Wow! Look at the result! 

By taking her cue from the bright colours in the birds themselves - gold, orange, emerald, scarlet and cobalt - she's made a stunning kindy quilt.

As usual, the hall hummed with the sound of sewing machines, chatter and laughter as fabrics were transformed, in the hands of our skilful quilt makers, into comforting quilts for grieving parents, tiny bubs, or preschoolers.

Di C, always so methodical, pinned and labelled her blocks.

Wow! A little preparation saved any later unpicking (aka frog-stitching). 

She didn't have to "Rippit" "Rippit"   :-)

Liz was a careful block labeller too.

Sue W's latest mini is looking out of this world.

And Gail was playing with pandas.

Gillian did some heavy lifting and created a quilt that's going to be a favourite with a little truck-lover at The Marcia kindy.

We haven't made these for a little while, so Sue M decided to stitch up a cheery humidicrib cover for the Newborn Intensive Care Nursery at RPA. 

Can you imagine what a difference it makes for families sitting beside a seriously ill bub to see bright, pretty colours like this amid all the medical machinery.

I'm loving the happy look of that polka dot binding Susie was about to apply.

With such perfect springtime weather I thought I'd take a group photo. 

At least, it seemed like a good idea at the time. 

Unfortunately the sunshine that was so welcome was just too bright for that perfect shot.

Still,  there's no mistaking the smiles on the faces of our wonderful St Mark's Quilters

But the brightest spot of the day was when we celebrated Di B's 60th birthday!

It was actually the launch of the two week "Festival of Di", the first of many birthday celebrations being held by her friends and family for our generous, warmhearted and talented co-leader.

Happy birthday from all of us, Di B, and may there be many more!