Family..and some stitching

The little people are growing up so much. It was a bit of a shock to see Sammy's haircut this week. Both boys have lots of hair and it grows so fast that he had a "number 2"!!!! They are also in the process of toilet training and loving "undies". I remember all that with my kids as a very tough time and having two makes it even harder.

 Little Alice is growing and changing so quickly. She is now sitting well and trying so hard to move and crawl.

I have been busy making up a few more Anni Downs patterns for classes this term. I do love her work so it is fun to make these projects that I have wanted to make for a long time. I had already stitched the pocket for this so it was a bit of machining and some hand quilting to get this bag made. I used an old charm pack to make the strips. It was fun to rummage through the buttons to find some old brown ones for the handles.

 Last night I did a little stitching on my felt birds from the Wendy Williams class.

 A customer brought in this lovely quilt top on Tuesday. It was a great use of 2 charm packs. I have always loved starry quilts.

Two quilts finished.....

It is hard to believe but after about 4 years these quilts are completely finished! Vignette and In My Garden are bound and labelled! Whew!

My runner finished

This runner pattern by Anni Downs was fun to make. The windows (all 28 of them) took quite a while to satin stitch!

Lovely class with Wendy Williams

Last Sunday, Fiona and I headed to Berry (organised by the Berry Patchwork shop) for a delightful class with Wendy Williams. We had such fun playing with felt. Wendy's samples were so colourful and inspiring! Feast your eyes on some of these pictures.

Here is Wendy with Fiona and then with me. Sorry, Wendy.....your eyes are shut!

Even Wendy's pin cushion was colourful as were the perle threads she often uses.

I chose to work on this lovely bird applique to embellish a sewing case. The pattern is in Wendy's lovely book, Wild Blooms and Colourful Creatures.

 Here is my version, which I started on the day.

Some stitching

So nice to have a bit of time to finish a few things off. Yesterday I finished off sewing my "Judy's Dilly bag". I pieced this one using papers and enjoyed stitching them. I also loved using the very pretty Tilda fabrics.

 This little Christmas cross stitch was one of the projects from last year's stitching day. I really enjoyed the cross stitch after not having done any for a very long time. I made it up into a little cushion.

 My current project is this lovely table runner by Anni Downs. I have had the pattern for ages and decided to start! Choosing the fabrics for the houses, doors and roofs was good fun!

I am trying to get a few of Anni's patterns made (mind you I have made many in the past) ready for first term's Stitching for Pleasure classes at Hobbysew. Anni has so many gorgeous books and patterns to choose from.

two small finishes and baby sitting

I managed to do a little stitching and to finish off two small projects. The first is Christmas Wishes, which is a free design from Anni Downs' blog and it is the January project for the Stitch-a-long this year. I decided to make it into a little hanging with rusty bells.

 I have also put together this little needlecase, which is another of Anni's patterns. I had completed the stitchery ages ago so it was nice to get this UFO completed.

 We have been busy here as these little men came on Saturday for a sleepover while their Mummy celebrated her birthday. They were a delight but it was busy!

Gorgeous gift, the Stitch-a-long and some sewing

The postie brought a lovely surprise to our door yesterday. It was a beautiful Christmas gift from Fiona. I was very spoilt. Fiona made me this lovely zippered pouch and gave me a beautiful pattern.

 The buttons on it are just beautiful.

 I have also joined the Stitch-a-long that Chooky is organising and was so pleased that Hobbysew had the pattern in stock. I have lots of other stitching to do but had to fiddle with fabrics for this. I do like Anni's colours so will try to be a bit similar but use some of the stash (will probably buy lots too!)

 I bought a few blues yesterday for backgrounds. Not sure about the front stripe. It might be a bit bright.

 The only other stitching I have been doing are these hexies for another Judy's Dilly bag using Tilda fabrics.

 They are together now.

 We were in Moruya last week on holidays (grocery shopping) and I just had to run into Stephs to look at the shop. It was a delight.

At the Beach

We headed to Broulee for a week after Christmas and had a lovely time. Sammy just loves the beach but little Benny isn't so keen! We had to build castles and draw pictures and "eat" to keep him happy. It was such a special time away with the family. Little Alice and her Mummy and Daddy came for a couple of days too. Our photographer (Bruce) took some great photos. Here are some on the beach.

 We also had a lovely morning at Candlagan Creek.

 We also had a lovely time at the Botanical Gardens on one of the cooler days.

 It was very special to share this time with the little ones.