The Sydney Olympics - Was it really 10 years ago?

The Opening Ceremony of the Sydney Olympic Games took place on 15th September 2000, and I was fortunate enough to be invited.



It was a wonderful time to be living here in Sydney.  Complete strangers even laughed and struck up conversations on the trains and buses.  It was as if we were all at the same big party!

Some of our friends left town, determined to avoid all the fuss, but many months earlier I had made up my mind that I wanted to be part of the fun as an official volunteer.

Allocated to Protocol, I spent the weeks leading up to the Games at the airport meeting and greeting athletes and officials. Here I am with some of my fellow volunteers, just before the big parade through the city streets afterwards, where we were cheered and clapped for our efforts as “the best volunteers ever” (to quote Juan Antonio Samaranch).

 
I even went to a post-Olympics celebration where Susie O’Neill (“Madam Butterfly”) let me try on her gold medal.
So many changes since then…. My hair is whiter, my face a little more ‘lived in' - and look at that HUGE mobile phone clipped to my belt!

David Jones Flower Show (1)

This beautiful show, always held in the first 2 weeks of September, has heralded spring for us in Sydney for 25 years. Come on, let’s take a wander around the spectacular displays.  

David Jones Flower Show (2)

 

 

Don't you just love spring?

Just a little prettiness from my garden...

She's a winner!

To 24 Stitchin' Mission 'graduates' here at St Mark's, Darling Point, Linda has always been a winner, with her gift for guiding beginners through the basics of quiltmaking, and the natural way she shares her faith as she goes. 

Now it's official!  Linda's Stitchin' Mission attracted a record 2519 votes in the Iowa Dream Big Grow Here contest and she's won $1000! 

With this money she plans to produce a DVD and a manual of her complete 5 lesson beginner quiltmaking course so that Stitchin' Mission can spread beyond the limits of where she can travel.  Soon quilters worldwide will be able to pop in the DVD and learn from Linda.

That's wonderful news for us here in Australia where so many of my quilting friends are waiting to make the picture below (from the final day of St Mark's Stitchin' Mission last year) a reality at their churches.

Congratulations Linda - and a huge 'thank you' to everyone who voted.  You're the best!

..and more beading!

This time the clever crafty person is my friend, Di, who made this delicate hydrangea wallhanging to match the birthday quilt she made for her mum, Margaret.  

Fancy machine quilting and some strategically placed beads make it something rather special, don't you think?

But wait, there's more!  Di combined some hydrangea leftovers with sunshine yellow florals to make a cover for Margaret's Kindle.  That girl's such an over-achiever :-))

Beautiful beadwork

Look at this gorgeous bookmark my very clever daughter Sarah made for her BFF who left yesterday to work in Africa for a year. She used a graph from a cross-stitch pattern and wove the tiny beads on a loom to create this wonderful image of the tiger drinking at a waterhole.

Yes, yes, we all know there are no tigers in Africa, but these two girls are complete and utter animal-lovers (they’ve both completed PhDs in Vet Science) and Sarah in particular is crazy about tigers!