When we were down in Canberra on the weekend, we went on a little antiques crawl through Fyshwick and surrounding suburbs. At the Canberra Antiques Centre, which is a large shop divided up into smaller “shops” each one operated by a different second-hand dealer, I enjoyed visiting Needlewitch.
Bernadette Thomas, who I met a few years ago at the Sydney Craft and Quilt Fair, operates Needlewitch, with a focus on antique needlework tools. I was hoping to pick up a few little items that I might be able to use in future photo shoots of my needlework.
I came away a very happy customer with some antique paper needle packets. I did admire some very lovely mother of pearl thread winders too, but they were WAY out of my price range!
Even if you’re not in Canberra, you can “visit” Needlewitch at its website. Bernadette has much of her stock listed and photographed online. She is happy to send domestically and internationally.
White Threads is the blog of Yvette Stanton, the author, designer, publisher behind Vetty Creations' quality needlework books and embroidery products.
BBC Two in the UK are running a series about the Olympics at the moment called Faster, Higher, Stronger. On Tuesday it featured gymnastics. I don’t know if you can access the BBC website from Oz but I thought Rainbow Girl might like to see it if possilble.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00v9fr9
Thanks Carol, I’ll see if it is available to us! We saw a great documentary earlier this year which followed some of the girls vying for spots on the British team for the last Olympics. I enjoyed it very much, and as a gymnastic parent, it was interesting to see what the girls went through in terms of overcoming injury, struggling through hard days, and then the rollercoaster of being chosen for the team – or not.
On the local news programme they were following a team of syncranized swimmers hoping to make this years Olympics. I was amazed at the amount of training they put in and how much of it was not in the pool. Their dedication was inspirational. I did not see the outcome, so I don’t know if they will be representing Team GB at the Olympics or not!
Whatever your child’s interest, I think it is difficult to get the balance right between support/encouragement and being overly pushy but the most difficult part is seeing their disappointment when things don’t go the way they hoped.
Hope you are able to watch it.
Beautiful items – went there with an eye to Christmas presents – but yeow, the prices!
I know what you mean, Elmsley Rose!