Here’s why my my pants are now 2 sizes too small…

I adore living in Canberra and on the weekend I had the immense pleasure of attending Eat Drink Blog. It’s a national conference for food bloggers. I know, me a food blogger – ha! But at the time I purchased my ticket I actually met the criteria because I used to include a regular recipe in the blog post rotation. However over the past few months I’ve been so focused on sewing instead of baking (which is kind of sad in some ways) that the recipe posts are few and far between.

Anyways, this weekend I got to live it up as a (honorary) food blogger and experience some amazing food adventures in my home town. Friday night we were treated to dinner at The Hamlet which is a fabulous outdoor space that is made up of a collection of food vans that all serve different styles of food. I ate so much it was ridiculous. I think the highlights for me were the ginger beer with passionfruit from Mr Papa, organic chicken and vegetable pie from Pie Day and the chilli fries from BrodDogs. We then went on a walking tour of 3 establishments, the highlight for me was the Lemon Myrtle ice-cream from Frugii.

On Saturday we had a mixture of learning lessons on blogging and more yummy food. We had lunch at Westside Acton Park, I had Pho from Miss Van’s and it was sublime. I was lucky enough to be able to sample some food from Daana’s (Indian Cuisine) and it was so light and yummy and made me wish I’d been able to eat more of everything. We had a decadent dinner at A.Baker and the highlight for me was the Pork Belly and Veal canapés.

On Sunday we had more classes and more sampling of local foods. I had the nicest juice from The Fix which was really surprising for me as I’m not normally a juice kind of girl. I’m seriously considering ordering the juices to replace my lack of breakfast habit. I really need to start looking after myself. It was so nice to spend the weekend with some great blogging friends old and new. I just wish it hadn’t happened when I’m so busy that I couldn’t really relax and enjoy it all. 

Canberra is such an amazing place and we have so many cool things to do here (not to mention amazing people!). I can’t wait to share all my new food finds with my boys and our friends. It’s one thing that I came away from the weekend convinced I needed to do; catch up with our friends. I’ve been so busy the past 6 months and we’ve just not been seeing anyone because of it and I hate it. So my resolution for this week is to book in some much needed socialising (and not just so I can have an excuse to eat more of all the foods I had this weekend!).

FUN THINGS TO CLICK ON

• I love Cathedral Windows quilt blocks and finally there’s a tutorial I think I can follow. Click here to get the tutorial.
• I’m a sucker for a yummy chocolate cake and I’m adding this one to the must-bake list. Click here to get the recipe.
• Looking for a way to jump start your day, click here to check out 6 simple steps to starting your day right.
• Love this fabulous free quilt pattern called Window Panes. Click here to get it.
• If you love Doxie’s then check out two new patterns available from the Tartan Kiwi. Click here to read more.

COMMUNITY CORK BOARD

• Tiny Sparks WA are looking to provide 200 Christmas quilts to neonatal nurseries right across Western Australia and need your help! Quilts measure 16″ x 24″ so perfect size to master the art of the mini quilt. Click here to find out more.
• If you are a “modern quilter” located in South Australia, please join this new facebook group where we are working to arrange regular sewing days and coffee meetups for members. Country members are very welcome, although currently we are only planning Adelaide meetups. Click here to join SA Modern Quilters.
• Jackie Gillies (@jackiegillies) is asking those who can (and want to) to make and donate Tic Tac Toe blocks to help make quilts for women’s refuges in Australia. You can find out more by clicking here.

Want something included on the Community Cork Board, then why not drop me an email and if it’s applicable to the GnomeAngel community I’ll share it. It can be anything from a local fate, a charity raffle, a class you’re teaching, a pattern you’ve released, a sew-a-long you’re involved in to a community event that’s happening. Be sure to send me as much detail as you can and links to any applicable websites.  Click here to email me.

SPONSOR MESSAGES

• If you’d like to take a class with me, then why not check out my class list by clicking here or maybe you’d like to work with me to help promote your brand/business/store/product, click here to find out more about partnering with me.
• Entries are open in the 15th Annual Brother International Quilt Contest. You could win $2,400 worth of Brother quilting products and have your quilt displayed at the Tokyo International Quilt Festival in 2016. To find out more click here.