Biggest Afternoon Tea

The lovely Cathie hosted a "Biggest Morning Tea" at my studio today, to raise funds for the Cancer Council. She did it with loads of style and deliciousness....
Gorgeous gifts were raffled...Craft books were riffled... (GOTCHA, Bec!!)

And the finer points of patchwork skirts were discussed. (You can spot a group of craft bloggers anywhere!!)

Cathie did an AMAZING job to coordinate and cater for the event. Lots of wonderful people chipped in with prizes and donations, 30-plus women came along to enjoy the afternoon and nearly $900 was raised. Great day!

Upstaged by an octopus and bewitched by a teapot....

We were invited to a lovely girls' 5th birthday party today. Inspired by Ms Curlypops' handmade present, I decided to make a hat as a gift. While I worked on the hat, the wee one designed a toy octopus for the birthday girl. In between hat seams, I helped the designer to transform the fabric-crayon-on-calico kit-form cephalopod into something more cushion-like. She chose scrap fabrics to back the body and each of the eight legs. She even coloured in a long strip of calico to make a shoulder strap.
I sewed, she stuffed.... and I was so blown away by the result, I forgot to photograph the hat I made.

The wrapping paper for the birthday present was equally handmade-with-love. It included a drawing of the birthday girl with a party blower and... knuckles.

(The wee girl is playing around with perspective drawing, methinks....)

The card contained the obligatory cat drawing.

So how do you impress a girl who thinks she can make anything? You make "The most beautiful cake in the world". The wee girl was mesmerised!

The teapot cake was a triumph, Cathie! I think everyone was SERIOUSLY IMPRESSED!!! (It was also delicious).

Believe me, by comparison, the hat really wasn't worth a photo.