Lovely stitching, chocolates and a little progress

We had a lovely night of stitching on Wednesday night. Barbara had finished this very special little Easter bag. It is so gorgeous and you can get the pattern for free on the Red Brolly blog. 

 Sally had finished her Garden quilt. Doesn't it look wonderful?

 Sue very kindly brought along these tempting chocolates to share with us!

 I realised that I hadn't shown the progress on my "never ending" (it feels like that) BOMs. I have been plodding along with In My Garden. Here are some of the parts of block 8.

 Here are the carrots.

 These strawberries are on the last applique part of this block.

 March is nearly over so I have been trying to get the blocks done for the Some Kind of Wonderful quilt. Here is the house. I have the flowers prepared to applique so I might just make the deadline!

Great weekend away

I have just been away for a delightful weekend with my dear friends from my Bible study group. We go away each year to Batemans Bay and this time we had 3 nights away. The joke was that eventually it might become a week! It was a lovely weekend of relaxing with great food and beautiful surroundings. We enjoyed fish and chips in town enjoying this view. 

 Denhams Beach is a very nice beach and we were just walking distance away.

 We tend to just relax and do whatever we feel like. I stitched of course and read a little. Some love jigsaws so several were completed and quite a few fun games were played. We chatted lots, watched a few movies, slept in, went for walks and just generally had a good time.

 Several of the ladies love to swim and even the chilly (around 20 C) outside temperatures didn't deter them. They said the water was lovely but I resisted!

 If you look closely at this picture you can see dolphins near the canoe!

 Here we are as we are about to head home.

 We stopped in Bungendore for coffee and cake (have the lime curd tart if you go there...as long as you have someone to share it with as it is big!) and wandered around the woodworking gallery. I just love the embroideries in these beautiful wooden boxes.

Show and Tell

Just had to share some Show and Tell from the stitching day and from Wednesday's classes. These lovely zippered bags and pin cushions were made by Joanne for her stitching friends for last Christmas. How lucky are they!

 Jeanette had lots of show and tell and I just loved her hexagon decoration from last year's stitching day.

On Wednesday, Karen brought in this gorgeous jacket she is making for one of her grand daughters. It is looking so beautiful.

 Check out the embroidery.

 Karen has also been busy and has finished her little purse from last Saturday's stitching day.

 In the evening, Sue had completed her stamped Noah's Ark cushion. She'd used flannel to frame the stitchery and the cushion is so soft and cuddly.

Sue has also finished this Bareroots felt mat for easter.

 Barbara has been busy too and has made up her lovely cushion.

Holiday stitching

I did manage a little stitching when I was away in between all the swimming, eating, playing trivia, watching shows and reading! I had almost finished stitching another of these little sheep scissor keepers as my original has been lost.

 I did the stitching on these appliques for one of Anni Downs' needle/sewing books.

 This little stitchery in one of the Christmas quilt ones from the Birdhouse. I want to make the lovely bag in the book.

 This is for little stitching bag and needlebook from Anni.

 This will be the label for my Christmas Fun quilt if "someone" ever finishes the little bit of quilting that needs doing!

 These cross stitched stars are part of one of Scandinavian Christmas borders. Now everything just needs to be made up!

Had a lovely read of the latest Vignette magazine this week. It is a lovely issue but did remind me to get started on my centre blocks of the Vignette quilt.

March Stitching on the Lake

Fiona and I thoroughly enjoyed our first Stitching on the Lake day for 2012. Here we are just before all the ladies arrived.

 The bags, full of kits, were ready on the tables.

 The samples were on display.

 There were also some yummy treats on the tables.

 Terrie came from Hobbysew and set up a beautiful stall of fabrics, notions and patterns for us to enjoy.

 It was a delightful day of stitching and chatting and enjoying the delicious food prepared by Lynne and Sammy. Here is Helen's start on the little needle roll. 

 Tash was busy stitching the little Noah's ark stitchery.

 The room was full of busy stitching ladies.

We are looking forward to catching up with more stitching friends on the next day in April.

Cruising...

There are so many photos it is hard to choose ones to share. In Port Vila a few of us hired a taxi and had a very good trip around the countryside. The highlight was a swim here in this gorgeous freshwater lagoon. It was cool and clear and the locals were having a great time swinging on a rope into the lovely water.

 There were so many gorgeous colours everywhere.

 

 This band welcomed us to Fiji!

Here are Ma and Pa enjoying one of the ports.

 

 One of our favourite stops was at the Isle of Pines. The snorkling and swimming was great and it was so beautiful.

 Bruce and I took a little tour around and visited the church.

 a fishing village,

 and this memorial.

 Lots of these photos are Bruce's, not mine, and he had fun "stitching" the pictures together. I thought stitching was a pretty good thing to be doing!