A great weekend and a bit of stitching

We had a wonderful weekend away at Mt Victoria on the weekend for a family reunion. We normally get together on Boxing day but as each family has grown this has become a huge gathering. It was decided to have a lunch earlier this year and it was mainly for the "older" members of the family. We had a wonderful time at Bev's guesthouse, Closeburn House in Mt Victoria. Here are Aunty Shirley (90), Ma, Pa and Uncle Alan. Aunty Dorothy would have been looking down from heaven and wishing she were there!  

 Here are nearly all their children and their husbands and wives. We enjoyed a delicious Christmas lunch and had a great time catching up on all the news. A few of us stayed overnight and enjoyed the guesthouse. Must go and visit it again.

 I have been stitching a little. I am very pleased with my little stitching bag from Some Kind of Wonderful. It was a bit time consuming but it went together well except for the times that I didn't take care with my measurements!!!

 As we were travelling I did a bit of secret Christmas stitching in the car.

 I also managed to applique a few pumpkins on Friday for the In my Garden quilt.

 Here is the last stitched block of Christmas Fun. Now to make the pieced blocks and put it together.

 It was very exciting at Hobbysew yesterday as the new Vignette magazine arrived! I wanted to shoo the customers away so I could read it! Hobbysew has them now if anyone wants one in Canberra.

Show and Tell

Wednesdays are always inspiring as the stitching ladies bring their lovely Show and Tell to share. Great to see Bronwyn and to see these lovely pieces she has finished. Isn't this a beautiful stitchery?

 Bronwyn has also finished her Christmas cross stitch from the stitching day.

 Karen has finished her Florist from the My Town BOM and it looks great. She is now busy working on the Teahouse. I am still stitching mine as there is so much stitching to do on that block.

 In the evening, Barbara has been busy and has been making some lovely Christmas decorations. This little linen stocking is just so gorgeous. I think it is a Natalie Bird pattern.

 Barbara has also finished two of the little stitched bags by Anni Downs.

 She has also made some cute ones using that lovely Christmas panel. Must make some of those as I discovered a bit of that fabric in my stash!

 Sue wowed us all with her Melly and Me reindeer! She bought the fabric last week and here he is all finished. He looks so cute and cheeky!

A finish and some progress

I am so pleased to show you My Garden BOM all finished. Even the label is sewn on! I stitched the binding and added the buttons on Friday and am pleased with the result. My quilting is "OK" and will do! I will be able to put it on the finished list.

 The buttons really add a lot to the finished stitcheries.

 I am plodding along with the Teahouse and have worn a finger out over the weekend stitching the lettering. Will add a picture of that soon.

 Last week I started block 7 of In my Garden and here is the potting shed.

 Yesterday I appliqued and stitched the tomatoes and stakes.

 I also headed into the sewing room and put together blocks 5 and 9 of Vignette and traced the stitching on the pieced border. There is so much stitching on this quilt.

Inspiration

Lots of photos today as there was so much inspiration at Wednesday night's class. The ladies have been so busy. Just have to stop my ongoing projects and make some lovely Christmas things like these! Margaret had used some delightful fabric to make some gorgeous hand towels.

 Margaret also used some buttons and fabrics to decorate some easier little bags using Anni's pattern.

 Audrey has finished so many things! Well done. They look so wonderful. I just love this hanging from Nancy Halverson. Maybe I might have it done for next year.

 Check out Audrey's beautiful stitching!

 Audrey has also finished her canvas work.

 She also completed this beautiful cross stitched bag. Sorry the picture is blurry!

 And this lovely hanging too!

 Danielle was working on finishing this bell pull from Nancy Halverson's newest book. The buttons on this projects are so lovely and Danni has done a beautiful job.

 Isn't the hanger special? Think I might need one of those.

Progress

I have actually finished another block of the Vignette quilt. This is block 4. The stitching has been done for ages but the putting together has been a stumbling block! Blocks 5 and 9 are partly done and I haven't even started last issue's blocks but if I keep stitching it will get done eventually. I now need to do a bit of tidying up at the stitchery seam.

 Here are blocks 2, 3 and 4 together. Block 1 is hanging up at Hobbysew.

 I also put together block 6 of In my Garden. It is a beautiful block with very small applique pieces!

 Here is proof that the quilting is happening on the My Garden quilt!

Busy Friday at home

I had the whole of Friday at home this week and it was lovely. I did have lots of things on my list including TOO much housework. That last bit was mostly disregarded and I enjoyed a day of stitching organisation. I decided to get my next blocks organised a bit. I traced the Teahouse ready to fuse.

 I sorted the fabrics and backgrounds for block 7 of In My Garden.

 I forced myself into the sewing room and sewed together 2 of these for my Vignette quilt. I am still way behind but this is a bit of a help.

 Lastly, I appliqued Santa for the last block of Christmas Fun. All these projects mean lots of stitching but it is good to have them ready to go for when I have the time.

 Last Wednesday, Karen brought her finished church to show us. Doesn't it look wonderful. I think this is one of my favourite blocks in the My Town quilt.

 Lynne has her little Christmas decorations to sow us. They have turned out very well.

 Barbara came to work that afternoon and had her finished bookmark from the stitching day poking out of her book! Doesn't it look good?

A bit of stitching progress and some mail

Here is my Florist all decorated with felt flowers. I ended up "borrowing" some of Kate's ideas and did just  daisies, a handle on the trolley and apples on the tree. I just loved your block, Kate! Hope you don't mind.

 I also spent a little time putting together block 5 of the My Garden BOM. I do love the fence in this block.

 The postman delivered my 2010 blog book. It was so exciting to see the year in print and I spent some time this morning reliving 2010. It was a very special year with 2 great holidays, great times and lots of stitching.