Time to Stitch

Stitching ...

2012-01-30T11:43:00.000+11:00

I have managed to do a little stitching in between wedding festivities and trips to the coast. I have finished January's blocks for the SKOW Stitch-a-long. which is exciting. If only I could keep up with Fiona !

I have appliqued the parts of block 7 of In my Garden. Need to force myself into the sewing room to sew it together.

Woo hoo! The fourth border has been added to the Christmas Fun BOM. Now to get to the quilting

Most things have been set aside to work on some secret stitching and note writing for the stitching days Fiona and I are running in March and April.

Best get back to it!
Just a reminder to my class ladies that we start this coming Wednesday, 1 February. Looking forward to catching up with everyone.

Lucy and Peter's wedding

2012-01-29T16:03:00.001+11:00

We went to Lucy and Peter's wedding on Friday morning in the courtyard of Canberra Baptist Church at Kingston. The weather was so perfect for an outdoor wedding. It was a very special celebration.

The service was followed by morning tea which included these lovely cakes!

Australia Day

2012-01-27T14:49:00.001+11:00

We had the loveliest Australia day yesterday celebrating with Fiona and David on the beautiful South Coast. I am reading Anh Do's wonderful book, The Happiest Refugee, at the moment and there is often mention made of what a wonderful country this is. As a fellow migrant, I wholeheartedly agree. We headed to the coast on Wednesday and it was lovely to share yesterday with such dear friends.

We had a lovely walk on the beach.

Fiona made the whole day so special with lamingtons. Aussie serviettes and delicious prawns for lunch.

We even met little Nala! She is terribly cute (even for a non pet person like me!)

Fiona and I hadn't been able to catch up around Christmas so it was lovely to exchange our gifts. Fiona had made me this gorgeous Christmas hanging with Happy Stitching on it. So appropriate!

Fiona also bought me this delightful pattern by Lynette Anderson for some gorgeous stitched slippers. Must find time to make them!

We also had some time to organise our stitching days that are coming up soon and had a lovely afternoon of stitching too.

A little stitching

2012-01-24T08:35:00.000+11:00

Just a quick post before I head to work this morning. I have been stitching and here is a little progress! Chooky reminded us about keeping up on the Stitchalong blog and I thought I had better get started on this month's blocks as the month is almost over!

I have been doing some secret stitching on a little canvas work.

There are now 3 sides on the Christmas Fun quilt.

Stitching....

2012-01-20T17:31:00.000+11:00

Finally....a day at home to try and catch up on some projects and to do a bit of 'dreaded' housework. I did just the bare necessities and then started to get a little organised on some of my projects. I prepared the applique shapes for the last parts of block 7 of In my Garden.

I have been continuing to stitch this third long border of the Vignette quilt. I can see the end in sight now! I daren't try and time how long these take! Last evening, I stitched all evening and really only completed about 3 of the larger flowers!!!! I haven't even started the centre blocks.

I also did some cutting today ready for the outer borders of Christmas Fun. The sewing room was a little dark for photos!

Sometimes you think you will achieve so much when you have a day at home! Still, it really doesn't matter if you don't get all your list completed. It is sometimes nice to just take your time and do things at a more leisurely pace!

Summer stitching day

2012-01-18T08:24:00.001+11:00

We had a lovely day on Monday at the Summer stitching day. It was great to catch up with the ladies and to share a day of stitching. We also enjoyed the morning tea!

I forgot about photos till it was almost time to head home. Lynne had almost finished her little doll's embroidery.

Karen had fused and prepared the cushion.

These were the projects that they were working on. Looking forward to another of these days in February.

Busy times

2012-01-14T18:25:00.001+11:00

It seems like ages since I have blogged! I have had a very busy time. Ma and Pa headed home on Monday, I worked on Tuesday and Wednesday was stitching and lunch and then I put away all the Christmas decorations! It took quite a while and I was very tired when it was all over.

On Thursday, I headed to Sydney to stay with Ma and Pa and to catch up with my brother and to finally sort out my Mum's photos. They had been stored for years and it was really time to go through them and share them. There were some wonderful old photos amongst them as well as my own childhood ones. I have been enjoying looking at them and hope to scan them and also make an album of Mum and Dad's lives too.

Here I am with Mum on the ship heading to Australia! See, I liked cruising even when I was little!

I haven't had a lot of stitching time but have started a little secret stitching for the stitching days coming up in March and April.

Before I headed to Sydney, I managed to finish this block of Scandinavian Christmas.

Ma and Pa in Canberra

2012-01-09T09:41:00.000+11:00

It was so nice to be able to have Ma and Pa visiting this weekend. Pa hadn't been well enough to visit for a while but he has improved and it has been great to see him feeling better and able to do more. They head home today but we have had a very nice time with them. They came down especially to see our kids' houses as they hadn't ever seen them. Ma enjoyed a couple of swims in the pool too.

Yesterday, Ma and I went to the Renaissance exhibition at the National Gallery. It was very interesting and it is amazing to think the paintings has been done over 400 to 500 years ago. The colours were so bright on many of them.

We just had to have coffee and cake here and I took the posters as photography wasn't allowed in the exhibition.

On the way to the coffee shop we saw these amazing angels/space men hanging!

Last week, I was motivated to start the next block of Scandinavian Christmas. Here is Santa almost appliqued.

I have started the embroidery. I thought I would be almost finished then bit there is a fair bit of work on the borders!

My Town progress

2012-01-05T10:31:00.000+11:00

I forgot to show you this block of My Town. It is a bother when you take on too many BOMs to keep up and even to work out where you are up to! I finished stitching this block after Christmas and it just needs to be coloured. I am not sure about the colouring so may leave it like this for now.

Sadly there are lots of household chores on my list today so best get going so I can have time to stitch.

Still stitching...

2012-01-04T10:09:00.001+11:00

I have still been stitching but on my works in progress. I went to work after 2 weeks off and it was nice to catch up with our friendly customers at Hobbysew. I was tired though as the day had been busy. Not much energy to stitch last night. I don't think I have shown you my Vignette progress for a while. I have been plodding along and have finished the side blocks, 5 and 9. I am now stitching the other side! So many lovely flowers!

I have pieced Christmas fun and hope to get motivated to add the borders over the next few days.

Mostly I have been working on keeping up with the Some Kind of Wonderful Stitch-a-long. I have even been adding the long borders! I must admit this is a lovely project to work on.

Some progress

2011-12-31T11:58:00.000+11:00

It has been lovely to have some quiet days at home to get into some sewing...especially some machining. I made the last 2 tiny pieced stars for Christmas Fun and the last block is done.

Here are all the blocks ready to be sewn together and then the borders added. I didn't like making the stars but they do look lovely in this quilt.

I have progressed with my SKOW quilt. Today is the last day and I have done the jeans.

I am part way to finishing the piecing between the blocks.

And here is the suitcase. I left the places as they were as I have been to all of them fairly recently.

I hope to do a bit more work this afternoon and start cutting the border pieces. I hope everyone has a fun New Year even if it is just at home stitching. Thanks for reading this blog during 2011 and I am looking forward to another year of friends, family, gatherings, holidays and stitching in 2012.

Spoilt and SKOW progress

2011-12-28T16:27:00.000+11:00

I am a very lucky wife and mum and received some beautiful gifts this Christmas. Hubby gave me a gorgeous charm for my Pandora bracelet. It is the little one with a GOLD star on it.

The kids are great gift buyers. I received this spotty teapot which will go so nicely with my blue crockery.

Amy, with her sister's help, finally made me a wedding album for her and Gavin's wedding. It is so lovely.

They also gave me this great cook book and a set of Kikki K letter stamps. They will be fun to use. Lyndal stamped our initials on serviettes when we went there for an early Christmas lunch (ie a week before Christmas).

These last few days have been fairly quiet and I am enjoying working on my Some kind of Wonderful blocks. I am almost finished the jeans and have been organising the suitcase just now. Might go and do a little appliquing soon!

Christmas time

2011-12-27T19:49:00.000+11:00

We enjoyed a very special few days celebrating Christmas. On Christmas eve our little family had dinner together and exchanged gifts. We enjoyed a hot meal and yummy dessert and ate far too much!

Even the kitten, Dexter, received a little mouse to play with....it is really a pin cushion!

We were all very spoilt! On Christmas day, after church, we headed to Sydney and some of us had lunch with Ma and Pa. More delicious food and a fabulous pavlova with mango! In the evening we continued to celebrate with the extended family. Here we are with Ma and Pa.

Here are all of Deirdre and Paul's kids and wives and husbands and one husband-to-be in February.

It was so special to catch up with everyone and to share another great meal. I will need to add the photo of all of us and the Lamonts as we didn't take those.

Christmas eve

2011-12-24T10:29:00.001+11:00

Last minute shopping was done yesterday and lots of baking ready for tonight and for Sydney. Today feels a bit more relaxed as there is just dinner to organise for the 6 of us. We've decided to have a hot meal tonight and most things can't be done till closer to the time. I was a bit tired last night but managed to finally start my Some Kind of wonderful quilt! Only a week to go and there are lots of blocks to do but I am pleased I have begun. Might just get another block ready today!

Hope you are all ready for Christmas. I just love this gorgeous mat (not sure I am brave enough to put a hot dish on it!) that I was given as a gift by a dear friend. It looks very complicated!

The gifts are wrapped!

The baking is done...shortbread, florentines, truffles, peppermint crisp meringues and there are lots of goodies in the pantry, probably too many.

Have a very happy and relaxed Christmas enjoying your families and friends.

Christmas is so soon!

2011-12-23T10:38:00.001+11:00

Just a few more pictures before Christmas comes! I wrapped a few gifts this morning and will bake a bit this afternoon and then should be fairly ready. We will celebrate on Christmas eve with our little family and then head to Sydney to party on with Ma and Pa and the rest of the family on Christmas Day. Hope all your preparations are going well!

I finished a bit of secret stitching yesterday and it is good to know that that is done!

Great Santa and gifts

2011-12-21T10:14:00.000+11:00

Barbara had this amazing Santa to share on Tuesday. He is stitched on the embroidery machine and he is so special. I did try to steal him but failed!

Went to a special dinner last night with the Friday stitching girls and received a lovely Secret Santa gift from Maree. These tiny little dolls fitted perfectly in my old printer's tray. Don't look too closely as you can actually see the dust!

There was also a decoration and a lovely pattern in the gift!

I have been stitching a little and have been making these decorations from a pattern by Marg Low.

I also made this little cushion for a friend to send away using a pattern from one of my favourite Nancy Halverson books.

Can't finish a post without a few more Christmas pictures. Here is my Crazy Christmas quilt hanging up for its' first Christmas.

This wall is where I hang some of my favourite embroideries.

Hope you are all getting organised now! Not much cooking happening here yet! Maybe this afternoon.

Yummy lunch and more decorations

2011-12-19T08:38:00.000+11:00

It is raining and dull here today but last Thursday was a beautiful day. We had a delicious lunch at Marion's in Tuggeranong on her deck and it was warm!

Dessert was an array of delicious goodies!

The view was amazing.

Here are two of my favourite Christmas quilts.

Here is a tree with some cute little bears.

What a lovely time of year. We enjoyed a lovely lunch at Lyndal and Nick's place on Sunday and then sang carols at "Carols in the Park" which became Carols in the church courtyard due to a little rain. Must get some bits and pieces finished, wrap some gifts and cook some goodies!

Christmas decorations

2011-12-17T09:11:00.000+11:00

Christmas is close now! Here are a few more decorations. Here is the tree collection.

Some favourite special decorations always go on this tree.

These ones are new this year. This little picture came from Hatched and patched.

These little wooden decorations were bought in Rothenburg, Germany.

Gorgeous quilt and a party

2011-12-16T08:45:00.001+11:00

Paddy brought in her "Sunny Days" quilt to show us on Wednesday. It is so beautiful and she has done such a fantastic job of the needleturning! It is beautifully quilted too by Robyn.

We had our night class party here on Wednesday and it was lovely. Such a nice evening of friendly chat and delicious food. So sorry that Barbara, Anita and Margot couldn't be with us. My photos are a bit blurry but nice to share them anyway.

Thought it was time to share a few Christmassy pictures too. It is all similar to the years before but still nice to see all the friendly Santas each year.

This metal tree is one of my favourites and it is fun to put some special decorations on it each year.

Summer day

2011-12-15T08:24:00.000+11:00

Last week was busy as I HAD to get my Summer stitching class at Hobbysew,which is on in January, organised. I had put off making the samples as there were so many other things to stitch. Anyway, I worked hard and stitched and wrote notes and took pictures and here they are. I think the January class is almost full but we plan to do the day again in February. Here is the appliqued cushion.

I had a lovely time stitching this little carpet for the keyring.

We did this little doll a while ago but the little garden on her dress is fun to stitch.

This gorgeous canvas work is one of Fiona's beautiful designs.

I am busy at the shop now making up the kits for the class. Now to get back to some Christmas stitching and probably doing a bit more of my many UFOs.

Hobbysew party

2011-12-13T08:07:00.001+11:00

On Saturday there was a Christmas party at Hobbysew. Lots of ladies and one man attended and it was lovely. The show and tell was inspiring and included amazing machine embroidery, quilts and hand embroidered projects.

There were also great specials for the ladies and delicious morning tea, of course.

Christmas Parties

2011-12-12T12:51:00.001+11:00

What a busy week. There were some lovely parties. Book group had a lovely night with yummy pudding and great chat to end a year of lovely times. Then there was a beautiful high tea out at Gininderra Village with the Wednesday morning stitchers. The food was delicious and we had Secret Santa with some gorgeous gifts.

Here are some of them. Made me feel very Christmassy!

Janet knitted these precious little decorations.

This is a hand made glass ornament. Just gorgeous.

A couple of the ladies made my little bags as their gift. This the one that Jan made.

It was a very lovely time. Thanks to Jan for organising it all.

Treasures and summery stitching

2011-12-08T09:29:00.001+11:00

On Sunday we went to the national Library to see the new Treasures Gallery and to see the wonderful exhibition of documents they have on display from Berlin. The treasures were very special and included these not too wonderful pictures. This is an original sketch of the first settlement where Bruce's great great's would have been.

Some words penned by Jane Austen.

This book was printed by William Morris with his wonderful scrolly borders. Well worth a visit and it is free.

We then looked at the amazing documents at "Handwritten: ten centuries of manuscript treasures from Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin". It was wonderful to see manuscripts written by Mozart, Einsten, Bohnhoffer, Cook, Curie and so many more. Well worth seeing though you do need to book even though it is free.

I have been busy stitching this week to get some much needed samples finished for a class I am teaching in January. Haven't been at all motivated but now there is a deadline! I am stitching a little carpet of flowers to go in this keyring.

This will be a cushion.

This lovely canvas work is one of Fiona's and still has a few rows to go!

I have been making a few Christmas things too that can't be seen yet. I have also decorated! I will take some pictures soon.

Special days

2011-12-05T08:53:00.001+11:00

Our lovely Thursday Bible study ladies has a beautiful lunch at the Botanical Gardens to farewell Anne. We have been lucky to have Anne join our group over the last few years and will miss her as she heads back to Victoria.

Couldn't resist taking a few photos in the gardens as we wandered around. Wild strawberries...

flannel flowers

and some lovely fluffy flowers with bright pink edges. We thought they had been coloured in with a highlighter.

We also met this lizard on the path.

On Saturday we attended the wedding of Debbie and Dan at Canberra Baptist. It was a perfect day and they had the courtyard beautifully decorated.

Here are Deb's proud parents.

The afternoon tea was so delicious and looked fantastic.

These strawberries, cream and toffee were absolutely delicious.

Here are the decorated cupcakes. A few of us baked the cupcakes and Heather decorated them so beautifully.

Here is a picture of Deb and her sisters and sister in law.

December is here

2011-12-02T08:34:00.001+11:00

Oh dear. It is the 2nd December and I have hardly done any of my decorating. Might have to get going today! But I do have some Christmas goodies to share with you from the shop this week. Some ladies have been very busy getting ready for Christmas. On Monday, I had a Christmas day at Hobbysew and we had a very lovely day stitching, painting and chatting along with a little eating too. I should have taken some photos of the ladies but forgot! Barb had these wonderful cross stitches to show us. They are 2 gorgeous cushions to decorate her home this year.

This isn't Christmassy but I was so impressed with Barb's curtains on her little painted house we did at the May stitching day. How impressive are they and how tricky to get them in just the right place!

Roni had made these great felted trees! They have wire in the centre so you can bend them however you like.

On Tuesday, Coralee impressed everyone with all the projects she had completed for Christmas. It is exciting for me to see my patterns all made up too. Here is starry Santa.

This great tree is made with folded fabric and looks fantastic.

Then check out all of these decorations made into a hanger.

Coralee also made a few hexagon decorations...just a few!

Sorry for the blurry photo but here is the felt decoration and the canvas stocking from the last stitching day.

These are lovely coasters.

Lynne has been making hexagon decorations too and has used the most amazing fabric that fits perfectly into the centre of each hexagon!

Helen has just finished this beautiful stitchery.

I do feel fairly inspired now to get my decorations out and at least make a start!

A great weekend and a bit of stitching

2011-11-30T08:29:00.001+11:00

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

2011-11-25T08:07:00.001+11:00

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

2011-11-21T08:26:00.001+11:00

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

2011-11-18T08:35:00.001+11:00

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

2011-11-16T08:11:00.001+11:00

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

2011-11-12T09:54:00.001+11:00

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

2011-11-10T09:45:00.000+11:00

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.

Tis the Season done!

2011-11-07T09:04:00.000+11:00

Here is Tis the Season finished! The quilting is fairly rough but I am pleased it is done. Remind me to get things quilted in future! I haven't the patience and don't enjoy the process enough to do it perfectly!

Here is the label too.

I have also been working on the Florist from the My Town BOM. Just need to stitch on the felt flowers.

Last week

2011-11-05T11:42:00.000+11:00

There was some wonderful Show and tell last Wednesday at social stitching and at my classes. Janet has completed another beautiful blanket. What a lucky baby this will be!

This tree was so beautiful with Turkey stitch (I think) leaves.

There were two more elephants as well.

Penny had her quilted Gardener's Journal to show us. She now has to fit it into her luggage to take home next week. We will miss you when you go, Penny. It has been beautifully quilted by Robyn of Plain and Fancy.

Sue had completed her own version of the little Anni Downs' basket. I love the use of grub stitch around the outer border. Just looks like a special braid.

In the evening, Audrey showed us the lovely quilt she has made for her little fellow's birthday. It turned out so well and I am sure Nate loves it.

Christmas Fun update

2011-11-03T17:06:00.001+11:00

The only BOM that I have been able to keep up with has been Christmas Fun by Lynette Anderson. I am pleased that at least one of my projects is being done on time! Here is Block 6 with some very cute reindeers.

And here is block 7. I had block 6 appliqued and stitched but just needed to add the little patchwork squares. Block 8 came a few days ago.

I have also begun to quilt my Tis the Season today! Hope you are reading this, Chooky!!!!

Slow progress and Some Kind of Wonderful fabric

2011-11-01T07:31:00.000+11:00

I have finally pinned my Tis the season quilt and hope to quilt it soon...perhaps this week. The quilting is always the thing that takes the longest for me as it is the bit that I like the least!

I have been collecting some fabrics for my Some Kind of Wonderful quilt. I bought these lovely ones, which are used in the original quilt, at Hatched and Patched last week.

Then I have added a few more. I am not sure if I will use them all but they all seem to tone.

Here are some of my backgrounds...they are a bit lighter in real life.

I am looking forward to starting but I promise I won't start until my Tis the Season is done!

The Home Patch

2011-10-30T18:10:00.001+11:00

Penny and I were lucky enough to have time to have a quick trip out to Bathurst to visit Anni Downs' shop, The Home Patch. It is full of the loveliest fabrics, patterns and so many inspiring samples. We headed off on Thursday and came back on Friday with all Friday morning and a little of Thursday afternoon to shop! Here are some pictures of this wonderful shop.

It was good to see the In My Garden quilt too and get motivated to make some more blocks.

So much to see!!! It was a special treat to see all the Some Kind of Wonderful samples again too.

Stitching progress

2011-10-29T10:33:00.002+11:00

I have managed to get the church appliqued and stitched over the past week. Now to get organised for the Florist!

Karen brought her blocks to class yesterday and she had finished her school block and I thought you would all like to see it too.

Karen has also fused her church.

I have been stitching steadily and trying to catch up on a few of my BOMs. I am working on block 6 of In my Garden and the applique pieces are very little!

I have managed to get 2 of my Some Kind of Wonderful projects made up. Must get onto the others.

Wednesday Show and Tell

2011-10-27T08:01:00.001+11:00

So much lovely stitching to see at the shop yesterday. Paddy had finished her hexagon decoration and it has turned out so well.

Lynne had hers to share too and it looks lovely. Well done girls.

Janet had some wonderful stitching to share. She is making the most beautiful things for a very special little person who is coming soon. What a lucky little one. Janet has made some gorgeous stitched blankets including this one with elephants.

She has also designed and created this wonderful felt circus mobile. It is so special.

Just look at the details on these animals.

So very clever!
Penny and I are heading on a little trip to Bathurst today to visit Hatched and Patched! How exciting. Best go and pack my bag!

Stitching on the Lake again

2011-10-23T17:40:00.001+11:00

It was so lovely yesterday to catch up with another special group of ladies for our second Stitching on the Lake day. We had a wonderful time again stitching and chatting and eating delicious food. Thanks to Lynne and Maree for the wonderful food. We set up on Friday night and it was all ready!

Fiona and I enjoyed catching up with all the ladies and meeting some new ones too.

Terrie came and set up a very tempting corner of tables so the ladies could shop.

Here are some of the projects being worked on. The stitchery and

the canvas work.

Here is Fiona with one of the groups of ladies.

Quite a few had a go at English paper piecing using hexagons.

Here is one of the decorations already finished!

The food was very good and this Lemon and Almond Polenta cake was delicious.

We also enjoyed seeing the Show and tell from earlier stitching days. Joanne had done a great job on her felt needlecase.

Jeanette had almost finished everything! Here she is with just 2 of her almost completed projects.

One of the ladies even finished her canvas work.

Show and tell

2011-10-21T09:18:00.001+11:00

It was great to catch up with my lovely class girls again on Wednesday. They had some beautiful show and tell to share. This is a bit of a picture heavy post but worth it! At social stitching in the morning, Penny had her little bear from the stitching day to show me! He looks great!

In the afternoon, Jill had a lovely quilt she is working on to show us.

Bronwyn had been busy too and has finished her hexagon decoration from the stitching day.

In the evening, Margaret was the "high achiever". She has been so busy and has finished the lovely bag from 'Some Kind of Wonderful'.

She has also quilted her Garden quilt by Lynette Anderson. Oh dear, mine is still waiting to be quilted. I just love the fabrics she has used.

Margaret also brought in this quilt that her son bought her in Canada. What a special gift.

Danni has been finishing things too and had her stitched canvas work picture all finished and framed. Looks good, Danni.

Tomorrow is our second Stitching on the Lake day and Fiona and I are looking forward to seeing everyone and sharing another great day of stitching together. If you want to see the projects check the post on October 7 called Stitching on the Lake.

Beautiful wedding

2011-10-20T08:36:00.003+11:00

On Sunday we headed to Sydney to attend the wedding of our neice Emma and Marc. It was a lovely wedding. The service was held in a lovely old church in Newtown and the reception was at the Sebel Hotel at Pier 1. Here are the bride and groom.

Emma and Marc with Deirdre and Paul, Emma's proud parents.

The grandparents!

The beautiful bridesmaids.

My two lovely girls with their dad.

The reception venue was delightful with wonderful views over the harbour to Luna Park and the Harbour bridge.

This was the view from Ma and Pa's room. We stayed at the hotel too and it was a lovely. It was nice just to head back to the room after the wedding instead of driving home.

There were great views all around.

Busy weekend

2011-10-19T09:01:00.000+11:00

We have just had the busiest weekend! Then the computer needed work so it was a bit difficult to post. Last weekend we had a great time though it would be good if sometimes things were a bit more spread out. On Friday, Fiona came to Canberra and we set up for our first Stitching on the Lake day on Saturday. That night our daughter, Lyndal, had a wonderful 70's party at her "new" 70's house. It was a great night. Here is the wonderful castle cake for the princess made by her very clever sister in law.

Here we are all dressed up in our 70's gear. I actually wore my poncho in the 70's!

The next morning we were up early for our stitching day. It was a wonderful day of chatting, delicious food and stitching.

Here are the projects.

Here are some of the ladies busily stitching.

It was a lovely day and we are looking forward to seeing this Saturday's ladies too. It is so lovely to catch up with everyone at these days. I must take a few more pictures this week.
Then on Sunday we headed to Sydney for our niece's wedding!

Stitching progress

2011-10-12T08:25:00.001+11:00

I have been trying to catch up a little on my many stitching projects! My little people now have shoes which makes this School block finished for now.

It was fun to fuse the church as I have been looking forward to doing this block. But....yesterday the Homespun came again with another block to do. That means I am four blocks behind!

On Monday I had a free afternoon and forced myself to cut and sew all these little bits together that will make the pincushion.

the zippered work bag,

and the needlecase from Anni's book, Some Kind of Wonderful. I think they are going to be lovely so I hope to get them together soon.

I have also finished the last few rows of my scarf! I just love the colours in this hand dyed wool.

Tis the Season progress

2011-10-09T16:37:00.000+11:00

I am trying to catch up with my Tis the Season quilt and have pieced the last blocks, stitched the blocks together and added the borders. I did do some crazy things with these blocks as I forgot which were A and B blocks and so joined some together incorrectly! Oh well, you can't notice from a distance.

Now to the quilting!
Can't wait to start the new SAL so must hurry up with this quilt.

Stitching on the Lake

2011-10-07T11:21:00.000+11:00

It is only a little over a week until Fiona and I will hold our first of two stitching days in Canberra. We have been busy creating our projects and making kits ready for these days. We can't wait to see everyone and are looking forward to two great days of stitching, chatting, sharing and enjoying some delicious food too. Here are some pictures of our projects to help you get organised.
Here is the Felt Decoration.

These decorations are made using English paper piecing with a little applique and embroidery.

This stitchery can be framed or made into a cushion.

Here is a delightful canvas work piece that can be a decoration or a bookmark.

This precious little bear is fun to make and will look great on your tree.

And lastly, a very lovely cross stitched decoration for your tree.

Looking forward to seeing you all on the 15th or the 22nd October.

Holiday stitching

2011-10-06T14:20:00.000+11:00

I DID stitch while I was way. I took lots of easy stitching to do whenever and wherever possible! I wanted to get started on the gorgeous projects in Anni Downs' new book 'Some Kind of Wonderful'. We are doing them in classes next term so it would be nice if a few were finished. Now the stitching is done, I really need to get going on the "putting together"! I was hoping to do some today but haven't yet!
Here are the stitched bits. These little stitcheries are on the zippered project bag.

This is the pin cushion stitching.

This one goes on the travel folder.

I a looking forward to putting this lovely bag together

and this needlecase too.

I managed to finish block 5 of Christmas Fun.

This little purse was a delight to stitch and I quickly put it together to give to my daughter for her birthday on Tuesday.

The only stitching I have managed to organise since I have been back is Christmas fun block 6 (I have already received block 7!).

All the other stitching, including the TTS stitch-a-long are waiting to be done. I am so far behind with everything!

We are home

2011-10-02T18:06:00.000+11:00

We got home to Canberra on Friday after several days of losing time and trying to sleep. Thankfully we managed a little sleep on the first night flight and then had a good sleep in Singapore so haven't been too jetlagged. Must admit that daylight saving made me feel tired today! On our last morning in Berlin we took the train to the Botanical gardens and checked them out in the rain!

It was fine in the green houses where they had all sorts of plants including some Australian ones. They also had a large selection of cacti, which are very odd plants!

Even the cafes at the Gardens weren't open so we headed back to the town and found a bakery for coffee and cake.

We were a bit damp!

We then headed back to check out of our room and to spend a long time catching trains, a bus and a plane to Frankfurt and then finally on the plane to Singapore. It was a long day! It is nice to be home and to have some time to settle back. It is freezing here, like winter, and raining!

Potsdam and more of Berlin

2011-09-27T05:19:00.001+10:00

On Sunday we decided to head to Potsdam and see this lovely area of Berlin. Potsdam was a popular place for the kings and queens of Germany and they built lots of palaces and gardens. We took a Hop on, Hop off bus and really enjoyed seeing Schloss Cecilienhof.

There were so many fancy buildings here. We climbed up to the top of the Orangerie at Sanssouci to check out the view and also went through the rooms inside.

This is the view from the top.

Today we went back into Berlin and climbed the 253 steps to the top of the Victory Tower. It was very misty but the view was great.

This mosaic around the monument was amazing.

This is how high up we were!

Here is the monument and we were up the top!

We then wandered around and saw the Brandenburg gate again.

Here I am on our walk through the Tiergarten.

We then walked up one of the shopping streets and visited the food court in the Galleria Lafayette. Just had to have coffee and cake!

Here is the view down to the pastry and cake section.

In the afternoon we visited the Pergamon Museum which has an amazing collection of ancient antiquities.

Tomorrow is our last day here and we fly home in the afternoon. We have had a great holiday but it will be lovely to come home too.

Berlin

2011-09-25T16:26:00.001+10:00

We had a great day in Berlin yesterday. We headed into town and walked past some amazing sights on our way to the TV tower to join our Fat Tire Bike Tour. I know...I rode a bike!

The tour was great even though it was on a bike. Made me realise that we should be having at least a week here to see more great museums and sights.

Here we are at the Berlin wall. So amazing to see all the fairly recent historical sites.

The memorial to the Jews.

There is a marathon here today so there were so many people around.

Here is the proof! I am riding a bike.

Each bike had a squeaky toy on it and was named so you could get your own one each time. I managed the ride without falling over or running into anyone!

In the evening we went to the amazing restaurant at Potsdamer Platz where they cook the pasta dish on the spot. We had to wait in a line for ages but it was a very interesting experience and the pasta was good.

Volendam, Marken and Edam

2011-09-23T22:51:00.003+10:00

We have had a very busy morning travelling...tram, train, plane and several more trains! I am having a bit of a rest this afternoon. We are in a nice hotel about a half an hour from Berlin. Bruce has finally managed to go for a ride and I am planning a nap or a read! Just thought I would catch up on my blog first. Yesterday the sky was blue so we headed to Volendam on the bus. It is a pretty seaside town.

We caught one of the ferries above over to Marken. Marken is a very quaint town with an interesting history involving lots of water (like all of the Netherlands). We enjoyed hearing about its history at the little museum.

There was some lovely old embroidery on display in the museum.

We also caught the bus to Edam which was another lovely town with nice waterways and leaning houses.

Leiden

2011-09-23T02:07:00.001+10:00

Yesterday we headed to Leiden on the train. We bought a guidebook and did a walking tour of the town. There were lots of attractive housed and canals.

It was exciting to see a windmill!

Rembrandt was born and educated here and the house lasted until the early 20th century and then it was pulled down to extend a building. What a shame. This plaque marks the spot!

Saw a little bit of patchwork in one of the shops.

We climbed up high to the citadel to check out the view.

We were lucky and it didn't rain! We enjoyed morning tea in a little cafe on our walk and just had to try the dutch apple pie!

Cologne and Amsterdam

2011-09-21T16:51:00.001+10:00

On Sunday we walked into Cologne in the light rain. It was good to see the cathedral but as it was Sunday it was only possible to have a short peek inside as there was a service. We enjoyed wandering through Cologne's amazing museum with so many Roman and medieval bits and pieces.

We arrived in Amsterdam on Monday on the ship and went on a tour of the city. We enjoyed seeing the Rembrandts at the Rijksmuseum and went on a canal boat ride. Yesterday we walked and walked!! We loved seeing all the Van Gogh paintings. There were so many to see including lots of earlier works. Mind you, we had seen the best ones in Canberra just last year.

Look at all these lovely blue and white goodies.

It was good to see the "wonky" houses and the canals too. We did see a few "coffee shops" too with lots of people enjoying the experience. It has been "fun" dodging the many bikes!

In the afternoon, I went to the Anne Frank Museum which is in the house where they hid and where Anne wrote her wonderful diary. It was so sad but also wonderful to see the photos and the actual house.

Sunday in Cologne plus a summary of the last few days

2011-09-18T23:26:00.002+10:00

We had a lovely day yesterday cruising along the Rhine and enjoying all the castles! We have seen come wonderful sights along the way. On Wednesday we visited Rothenburg, which is such a lovely place. We had perfect weather too plus there are Christmas shops to enjoy! I came here in 1997 with Mum so it brought back good memories of our trip.

We walked around a part of the old city wall.

On Thursday 15 September we visited Miltenburg which was another lovely German town.

Instead of visiting Frankfurt we chose to go to Heidelberg. We did drive around Frankfurt which was interesting. Heidelberg was beautiful!

On Saturday we visited Rudesheim, then sailed past so many castles on the Rhine (check Bruce's blog for good pictures) and then had a lovely short visit to Boppard. In Rudesheim we went to a museum which has an amazing collection of music machines!

We headed up on this cable car to see the misty view.

Check out these beautiful cakes! So tempting even after a delicious breakfast on the ship.

We had a very pleasant afternoon of scenic cruising past the castles and then enjoyed a glass of new wine and a beer for Bruce in Boppard.

We have been in Cologne today and have seen the famous cathedral in the rain.

Regensburg to Bamburg

2011-09-13T22:37:00.001+10:00

It is Tuesday here in Germany today and we have spent the morning in the lovely town of Bamberg. It has a nice old town and some spectacular churches. We managed to puchase some delicious hot chocolates and a piece of yummy torte with our limited German. It was a bit rainy but it wasn't too bad.

Over the last few days we visited Regensburg and Nuremburg. They were both very interesting cities. It was unbelievable to stand in Nuremburg on the Zeppelin field where Hitler held his huge rallies in the 1930s. The city had been very damaged in WW 11 and they have rebuilt the old town and the fort as they were before the war.

This is where Hitler stood during those rallies, on the centre platform behind the small fence. Pretty amazing to see!

We also enjoyed Regensburg which was a very pretty town. At each place we go on a walking tour which is very informative. It is fascinating to hear about the history of each place.

The river cruise is lovely. We are eating far too much as there is so much choice!

Vienna, river cruising and Linz

2011-09-11T02:21:00.003+10:00

We had 2 lovely days in Vienna wandering around.

We really enjoyed these icecream sundaes! They looked a lot smaller in the menu!

That night we found a lovely Austrian restaurant and Bruce has schnitzel and I enjoyed bratwurst and sourkraut. Yum!

We wandered a bit more during the next morning and then went onto our river boat and settled in. It was lovely to unpack! On the first day we went to Schonbrunn palace and then spent a lovely afternoon of scenic cruising.

Bruce ran up the top and he is there somewhere. We also went into the palace which was lovely.

Today we visited Linz, which is where I was born many years ago. We went up the tallest mountain/hill and checked out the church and the view.

We wandered around the old town.

We also sampled some linzertorte at this lovely bakery.

The boat is lovely and the food is wonderful.

Cirencester

2011-09-08T16:18:00.000+10:00

We are in Vienna but I must catch up on the last few places we visited in England. After visiting Upton House we headed to Bourton on the Water which was such a pretty place and we also found a yummy cream tea too!

We then drove through some lovely small villages to get to Bibury. These cottages are from the 16th century.

This B&B was named after William Morris who thought this village was one of the loveliest in England.

We then had a wet, cool morning in Cirencester checking out the museum and the town. We enjoyed seeing it all again. We visited over 30 years ago!

The parish church was beautiful. I am always amazed at the stitched cushions. They would be such a lot of work.

We head onto our boat this afternoon, which is exciting.

The Cotswalds

2011-09-07T01:28:00.000+10:00

We have had a few lovely days in the Cotswalds. There is so much to see here. We visited Snowshill Manor on Sunday and it was fascinating. Bruce has written a bit about the eccentric owner of this house. He used the main house as a place to show off his collections and then lived in the priest's house next to the manor. The collections were amazing. He collected all sorts of things- armour, tools, spinning wheels, samplers, weaving looms, dolls and toys, paintings, old bikes, keys, model sailing boats and lots more!

The gardens were lovely too and well worth a wander around.

In the afternoon we headed to Chedworth to see some Roman ruins but the site was undergoing some renovations so there wasn't too much to see. On Monday we headed to Upton House. This was another fascinating place which had been renovated in the 1930's. Walter Samuel made his money through Shell Oil and spent lots on the house and on the extensive art collection inside. His wife's bedroom was amazing and she had a fantastic big bathroom, which was unusual for the times.

The gardens were amazing.

Here are some pictures of the kitchen.

There was an amazing collection of art and porcelain as well.

Ledbury and Tewkesbury

2011-09-06T05:04:00.000+10:00

On Saturday we farewelled Penny and John's lovely home and we headed off for a lovely day together, visiting Ledbury and Tewkesbury.

Our first stop was in a lovely town called Ledbury and there was a parade on. All the dignitaries were all dressed up and there was a band,sailors and soldiers.

This old sailor and his dogs came dressed up for the event.

We then headed to Tewkesbury which is a lovely place. We spent some time in Tewkesbury cathedral, in between weddings! It was beautiful...very old and very big.

In contrast, we also managed to visit the old Baptist Chapel which was fascinating. It was so simple and plain in comparison with the cathedral. It had been started in the 1600s.

We also visited a museum and a tudor merchant's house which was fascinating. This is the little back door....perfect for short people!

We also fitted in yummy lunch and afternoon tea with cream teas as well. We then said farewell to Penny and John and headed to our B&B near Cirencester.

Stitching and a castle

2011-09-05T03:19:00.000+10:00

On the 1 September we had another lovely day starting with the morning in Hay. It was market day and the fresh vegies, bread, cheese and all sorts of other goodies looked delicious. Penny and I had been tempted on our previous visit when we had visited this lovely little wool shop and bought some wool, a pattern and some knitting needles (I know, Paddy, I was tempted again). The wool had been dyed by the lady in the shop and she had created the patterns too.

Here is my scarf! It is a bit longer now.

I have been stitching a little in between doing touristy things. I am trying very hard to stitch the rest of this border of the Vignette quilt. Nearly there!

I did manage to finish the stitching on this Christmas mat from the Jukejema retreat.

In the afternoon we went to Hereford which was a nice town. The next day we headed into Wales and visited Dinefwr Castle, Newton House and Park. It was a beautiful house to wander through.

Here we are in the gardens.

It was a fairly long uphill walk to the castle but worth every step as the view was spectacular. It was fun climbing around the castle walls too.

Ironbridge and the Victorian Village

2011-09-04T04:11:00.000+10:00

Last Wednesday we headed on an adventure to the Ironbridge on the Severn Gorge. This area is famous for lots of activity during the Industrial revolution. It was fascinating to read about this area. On the way we found a furnishing fabric shop and just had to have a look.

This is the Ironbridge. The area had coal, clay and iron. There are so many museums here that we will have to visit again!

Here we are on the bridge.

One of the museums here is a wonderful Victorian village which was a delight. I loved all the old things and there were people dressed up and working in the shops.

Penny and I loved the haberdashery shop! It was full of lovely laces, trims, old sewing notions and even fabric.

In one of the cottages two ladies were making rag rugs and paper piecing a decoration. Here pieces are below.

We loved the old school room too. There was a teacher too telling the "students" to be good and accept their working class lives and not try to improve themselves as that would be a sin!

Check out the quilts on these beds.

It was a great place and there was so much to see.

Hay on Wye

2011-09-02T07:24:00.000+10:00

We are so lucky to be able to spend time in Hay on Wye. What a lovely part of the world! Our friends, Penny and John, moved here last year and we are enjoying spending some time with them here. On Monday we drove here and then spent some time exploring the town on Tuesday morning. Hay on Wye is famous for its many book shops and its yearly Hay Literary Festival.

There are lovely shops here and we enjoyed looking through one of the large antique shops.

On Tuesday afternoon, Penny asked me to prepare some kits for the stitching group that she has joined here in Hay. We had a lovely afternoon of chat and stitching. The ladies brought along lovely examples of what they enjoy doing to decorate the room. I didn't take any pictures of the afternoon but there are some on Facebook at Threading.Notions. Judy brought along some amazing cross stitch! This one is done on 40 count linen over 2 threads! The stitches are so small!

Here are two more! Aren't they beautiful?

Imperial War Museum

2011-08-31T16:26:00.001+10:00

On Sunday we headed to the Imperial War Museum which was very interesting. There are some amazing exhibits including a large Holocaust one which is so sad and certainly makes you think.

The part I liked best was in the Children's war section where they had a 1940's house as it would have been during the blitz. It is fascinating to imagine life in this home during these difficult times.

These dolls were amazing. They were made after the war to show what the little girl's family had looked like during the war. They are all hand made and the clothes were beautifully made.

There were some wonderful photos that had been taken of the children during the war.

Harrods and a show

2011-08-30T16:48:00.000+10:00

Our first day in London had to include a visit to the food court of Harrods. It is so colouful and beautifully presented. Everything looked so tempting.

We bought some delicious baguettes and then sat on a damp seat as the rain had eased and ate them here in Hyde Park.

In the afternoon we managed to get some cheap tickets to Yes Prime Minister. It was really good . My eyes wanted to shut a few times in the dark as I was still a little jetlagged!

We're in London!

2011-08-29T02:27:00.000+10:00

We flew out of Sydney on Thursday and arrived in London on Friday. Friday was a long day of flying! I did enjoy watching all the movies and the flights were really quite OK. Lots of time to stitch! We are having 3 nights in London so have just planned to see a few things this time. My priority was to visit the Victoria and Albert Museum and spend a day checking out the textiles....but, they weren't there! They have been removed and won't be seen for ages. That was disappointing. I did enjoy checking out the William Morris designs and searched out a few other bits of stitching. They did some wonderful embroidery, lace making, tapestry etc in ages past. Here are some examples.

It was hard to get the pictures as it was dark and most things were behind glass.

Look at these amazing stitches.

This is one of William Morris' designs. There were some amazing pieces that he designed and made. He created rugs, hangings, wall paper, tapestries and furnishings too.

I loved this piece of art above our heads made with "squashed" musical instruments.

This amazing coat was beautifully hand quilted.

Here is another superb piece of embroidery.

This lovely baby's dress was knitted with really fine thread which almost looked like sewing cotton.

We did manage to spend a very nice morning at the V & A even without the embroideries.

Stitching....

2011-08-24T23:07:00.000+10:00

Just thought I had best post quickly as there was some lovely stitching to share from yesterday and today. Just before I do that I thought I should show you what I worked on at the retreat. I started Anni's table centre and here is my progress so far.

I also appliqued the lovely woven wool felt onto the pocket that will go on my bag eventually.

On Tuesday, Di and Sandra had brought their finished runners in to share. It is interesting to see how they look using different fabrics and colours. Here they are!

Just loved these little felt animals that Janet was creating. She is making them up herself and they look wonderful.

Paddy was working on this lovely block which will be part of the Quiltaid quilt that will be launched soon. Hobbysew is one of the shops that will be involved in this project this year. I stitched a block and then forgot to take a photo!

This afternoon, it was great to see the stitching that the class girls had finished. Ronnie is still working on her Christmas bag.

Karin had framed her little nativity stitchery.

Barb had finished her canvas work and had made it look so lovely using beads.

Best head off to bed as we are heading away tomorrow. I wonder where I will post from next!

Some more of the stitching retreat

2011-08-23T08:06:00.000+10:00

We had such a lovely time at the retreat. We did do some stitching, though some stitched more than others. Sue drove me to the retreat and it was great to share the weekend with her. Here she is with her felt bag almost done! Sue brought along her 1952, I think, machine to use and it is so beautiful. I stitched the little felt applique for the pocket but didn't feel like machining so enjoyed the hand work.

Here are some of the bloggers before dinner. Me, Sandy, Kate, Sheree, Fiona and Sue. It was so special to meet up with these lovely girls.

In the evening we had show and tell. It was tricky to take photos but here am I showing my World as it should be quilt.

This was my favourite quilt. It is one of Anni's patterns (the BOM patterns are in my collection!) and it was appliqued using woven wool felt as well as fabric. It was so beautiful.

Here is Sue with her bag almost finished.

We had to have a picture with Anni.

Fiona decided to "pretend" that she had finished several of Anni's projects which was really funny. Anni wasn't too keen to give up her beautiful samples. I am so inspired to make up all the patterns and kits that I have collected after being surrounded with Anni's gorgeous samples.

Here are our tutors with Kim, from Jukejema, who organised the retreat. Thanks, girls, for a wonderful time.

Stitching at the Water's Edge Retreat

2011-08-22T12:38:00.000+10:00

It is hard to decide which pictures to show first as there are so many from this lovely weekend away. Thanks to Kim of Jukejema Quilting Barn for organising this lovely retreat. The weather wasn't perfect but it didn't matter to us as we were stitching and enjoying meeting lovely new friends and sharing a very special time together. This is the view from the verandah at the venue.

Kim had invited 3 wonderful tutors to come to the retreat. We were so pleased to meet and spend time with Anni Downs, Janelle Wind and Natalie Ross. They had designed some great projects for us to do. Anni made these great bags using woven wool felt.

Her other projects were Christmassy! Some cones and....

a lovely stitched mat.

Natalie had designed a lovely block keeper and a chair cushion with nifty pockets on the sides for all your bits and pieces at retreat.

Janelle had designed some lovely bags in different sizes and also a delightful flower made from fabric to decorate your bag, a headband or even a journal cover.

Here are Fiona, Natalie, Janelle and Shirley.

Here they are again with Karen and me too.

Then we added Sheree and Colleen who came to the retreat all the way from New Zealand. We had a great time with these girls.

We spent a delightful couple of days laughing, chatting, stitching, eating and just enjoying every minute. I will share a few more pictures tomorrow.

Lovely show and tell

2011-08-18T19:17:00.000+10:00

Some of the ladies at class on Wednesday have been so busy. Paddy and Karin have both finished their punch needle Santas.

Karin has been unbelievably busy and has finished so many projects. Her show and tell was very inspiring. Here is her Christmas canvas work,

and her felt needle case.

She has also finished her Christmas hearts and

the little felt Santa.

But that's not all. Karin had also finished this lovely canvas work from the recent stitching days. Well done, Karin.

Ronnie has been busy too and has finished her Christmas canvas work.

Ronnie is hooked on punch needle now and has completed this wonderful design from Anni Downs' book, The world as it should be. This isn't the little punch needle design that is in the book but she has used the larger one that was to be appliqued. Great work, Ronnie.

Last week, Barbara had finished one of these gorgeous little bags by Anni Downs.

Can't wait for tomorrow as Sue and I are heading to Nowra to catch up with Fiona and some other lovely friends at the Jekejema stitching retreat. I haven't been to this weekend before so am looking forward to a lovely restful weekend of stitching, eating and chatting! It will be great to see Anni Downs again and also to meet Janelle Wind and Natalie Ross.
If only all the things that need doing....were already done!

More quilts from the quilt show

2011-08-17T22:24:00.000+10:00

Here are some more of the lovely quilts on show last week. I loved this one using French General fabrics.

This great Dr Seus quilt was made by our own Linda. Looks great, Linda. When you get close you can see that her quilter quilted Dr Seus characters!

This one was a favourite. Great houses!

The winning quilt was this wonderful one by Helen Godden. She is so amazing.

Check out the quilting.

This was another special quilt.

Helen Godden had made this quilt with 2 other clever designers and it is very special.

The detail in the quilting is wonderful.

This was an interesting quilt too. There are so many ways to create an amazing quilt. We do have some clever quilters here in Canberra.

Canberra Craft and Quilt Show

2011-08-15T18:13:00.000+10:00

The Canberra craft and quilt show was on last week and on the weekend and there were lots of stalls and quilts to view. I put two of my favourite quilts in the show this year and won a second place in the Professionally quilted quilt category. How exciting is that! This is my "Journey of a quilter" quilt which is a design by Leanne Beasley and was beautifully quilted by Robyn of Plain and Fancy.

Here I am with my first ever ribbon. I am so lacking in sporting ability that I didn't even get any ribbons in Primary school!

I also put in my other favourite, Your home or mine, which is a design by Lynette Anderson.

There were lots of inspiring quilts. I loved this penny rug one.

Check out the lovely old buttons and the great fabrics.

This was another gorgeous quilt. Beautiful applique and quilting.

A farewell party and some stitching

2011-08-10T08:49:00.000+10:00

I completely forgot these photos from our farewell at the shop for Cathy from a few weeks ago. We will miss her very much at Hobbysew but are glad that she has a great new job. Najelle did such a lovely job organising this little party. We had yummy pizza and Najelle's delicious cupcakes and slice.

Speech time was a bit interesting!

Here are some of the Hobbysew girls who came to the party.

I have been stitching over the last few weeks and finally put the borders on July's Tis the Season blocks.

My "In My Garden" house has some lovely, though fiddly, trees!

Di brought in her finished runner to show me yesterday at the shop and it looks so good. She has used lovely batik fabrics for her patchwork and stitched her flowers to match.

Stitching slowly

2011-08-05T14:42:00.000+10:00

I have been slowly working on my BOMs and although quite behind, I have a little progress to share. I stitched the little squares on block 4 of Christmas Fun the other day. The next block arrived and it is just stitching so that will be a pleasure.

Block 5 of In My Garden now has a house. I might try and start the trees this afternoon.

My Town has been slow going too as there are so many kids at this school. I have decided to change the hair a bit and to stitch the legs and arms with chain stitch instead of using string.

My vignette progress is very slow too though I love stitching all the flowers. I have stitched block 4 but need to do the patchwork. Blocks 5 and 9 make up another of the very long sides of the quilt so it is taking a while to stitch.

There is still quite a way to go!

Stitching Days update

2011-08-03T17:11:00.002+10:00

Just letting you know that the 22 October is now full for Stitching on the Lake. There are still places available on the 15 October.

Stitching last week

2011-08-01T17:10:00.000+10:00

With all the sadness of last week, it was actually really good to keep busy with my classes and other activities. Thanks to all my dear friends who rallied around me and kept me busy! I am also pleased that I always have some stitching on hand to busy my mind. Thanks especially to the Christmas class ladies on Monday as that was a very tough day. They were so kind and considerate. It was lovely to see my Wednesday girls too both social and in the classes. They had lots of lovely show and tell too. Can't remember who had made these canvas goodies but they look great.

Karen had her store to share. She has added her own special touches and the block looks lovely.

In the evening, Sue has fused her church. I am so motivated now to start this block. Must get my little children stitched first on the school block.

Margaret and Danni had these great quilts made for Danni's little fellow. What a very lucky boy. He will have a quilt at Grandma's and at home. Margaret made this Spot quilt. Those Spot books are wonderful and were my girls' favourites too.

Here is the lovely animal quilt that Danni has stitched. This is such a lovely pattern by Natalie Bird.

Sue showed us this lovely pin cushion that a friend had made for her. Love the pins!

Ma's 80th

2011-07-29T10:19:00.001+10:00

Last weekend we headed to Sydney to the National Park in the dark and pouring rain to celebrate Ma's 80th birthday. The weir was closed so we winded along a much darker and longer road to get to the Anglican camp site. Thankfully the family all made it safely from far and near to celebrate our very special Ma's birthday. On Saturday the rain had eased and we saw these views from the campsite (we weren't thankfully in tents but in rooms). It was a very special weekend.

Here are Ma and Pa enjoying the sunshine. I love how they wear these thick jumpers that my mum had knitted many years ago. It is a lovely remembrance of Oma.

Everyone gave little talks about their lives which were lovely. Ma enjoyed hearing them. Some of the grandchildren live in far off places and don't see each other much so this was very special too.

Alison actually has 4 kids and we had the two littlest with us at the celebration.

Lyndal and Nick told about their adventures overseas.

This lovely little person is Sophie and she is the youngest great grandchild at just 5 weeks old. Ma enjoyed giving her lots of cuddles.

We had the biggest sponge cake ever seen!

There was lots of this happening all weekend.

We then took some very special family photos. Here are Ma and Pa with their children.

Here they are with the wives and husbands as well.

And this is the result of these two very special people! We are just missing 3 great grandchildren, one grandchild and his wife who are returning to Australia this coming weekend and one husband. What a fabulous family. I have been so privileged to be part of this special family for so many years.

Here is our little family with Ma and Pa.

You may have noticed that I haven't blogged recently and this post is such a happy one but sadly on Sunday night, my lovely daughter and her husband found that their precious baby girl, expected in December, had stopped breathing. We have had such a sad time this week as the babe had to be delivered on Monday. Little Ava was so very wanted and loved but us all. Thank you to those of you who have given me a hug, sent an email, have rung or who have sent up a few prayers and thoughts for us this week.

Stitching on the Bay and some progress

2011-07-20T09:00:00.001+10:00

It was so nice to see the ladies on Saturday but also to admire the things they have been stitching. There was lots of show and tell but here are just a few of them. Renate was using this lovely felt pocket she had stitched ages ago. I love the applique and the colours.

Maria had stitched these felt items at classes at Stephs in Moruya.

I think this stocking is Maria's too. The colours she has chosen work so well.

I have been trying to keep up with my many projects. Here are the angels from the Christmas Fun BOM.

I have been struggling with all the needleturn on this fence on block 5 of In my Garden. I have block 6 waiting so must get going!

I had a day at home last Thursday so managed to make up the last few churn dash blocks for this third block of Scandinavian Christmas. I am loving working on this BOM.

Stitching on the Bay

2011-07-18T10:41:00.000+10:00

It was lovely to head to the Bay on Friday to set up for our stitching day there. It was a chilly day but the sun came out after we had set up and while we enjoyed lunch outside.

Fiona, Karen, Maree (one of our lovely caterers), David and I enjoyed a yummy lunch in the sunshine.

We headed to the hall early on Saturday to start the stitching day. Here are the samples and the lucky door prizes.

Here we are ready to start. We didn't plan to be colour coordinated!

It was a lovely day of chatting, eating delicious food and stitching too.

Here are Karen and Lynne busy painting.

These ladies enjoyed the painting too.

This very special friend painted several of the houses for her fellow stitchers!

I really enjoyed catching up with everyone from the Bay. Thanks especially to Maree and Lynne who made such delicious food for us. Fiona took some pictures so go to her blog to check them out.

Wonderful lunch, and some quilting

2011-07-14T08:33:00.001+10:00

Time to catch up on a few events from last week. I know this picture looks very odd but my bible study ladies had a very special lunch last Thursday (mind you we have yummy morning tea every week and a lunch each term!). We had been watching Babette's Feast so decided to have a feast for our end of term lunch. We had all the courses but didn't really have turtle soup or quails in vol au vents but these little birds did decorate our delicious vol au vents!

It was so nice to see Terri's version of the school block in the My Town BOM. It has motivated me to get going on my block.

On Thursday night, I went to the Canberra quilters meeting and the speaker was Brenda Smith of Serendipity Patchwork and quilting. She is an art quilter and has just taken part in several wonderful collaborative quiilts called Twelve by Twelve and there is a book with all the quilts in it. The quilts were made by 12 artists and are 12" square and are based on a given theme. Brenda had lots of her quilts to show us and pictures of the other artists' quilts too. They were very interesting and used so many different techniques, including embroidery and printing. Here are just a few.

Some stitching

2011-07-11T11:18:00.001+10:00

It is about time I posted a bit of stitching progress. I have been busy over the last few weeks working on the designs for our next stitching days in October. Here are some little sneak peaks of two of the projects! I need to be super organised as I am going on holidays before the days and need the notes and kits to be done hopefully before I go.

It was bitterly cold this weekend in Canberra so it was a good opportunity to work on the above projects and to also do a little on one of my BOMs. Here is block 3 of Christmas Fun. A usual it was stitched but need the pieced stars done!

I also had time to get Block 4 ready to applique and stitch and couldn't resist getting started. I gave my little angels some hair and appliqued faces which is a little different to the original pattern.

Stitching on the Bay

2011-07-09T10:26:00.000+10:00

Fiona and I are looking forward to Stitching on the Bay next Saturday. We are doing these lovely projects that we did in May here in Canberra so you have seen these pictures before. Here is the stitched table runner.

This little project is the painted button but bring along some fabrics to create the background if you wish.

This little felt needlecase and scissor fob is great fun to stitch.

The next project is this beautiful canvas work pin cushion.

Some lovely embroidery to stitch to make up a useful bag and...

a delightful biscornu with a painted wash and some embroidered flowers.

I am looking forward to catching up with the Bay ladies and also to enjoying the delicious food that Maree and Lynne are preparing for the day.

Anni Downs' Christmas projects

2011-07-08T08:18:00.000+10:00

Next term we only have a few weeks of classes as I am going away so we are making some of Anni Downs gorgeous Christmas patterns. I have had fun making this tree recently.

I do love Anni's patterns and had made some for last Christmas. Here is the little bag and the bonbon.

These little bags were a hit as gifts last year and so I made some for me too.

Here are the lovely felt mats. Anni's patterns are so lovely to make. I must dig out the quilt from her Christmas Story book to show the ladies as well.

For those of you who are coming next term, please note that we are starting on Wednesday 27 July, which is a week earlier than in the newsletter.

Christmas class and a little stitching

2011-07-06T16:39:00.001+10:00

Last Friday, I taught a Christmas class at Hobbysew. There were 8 ladies but I seemed to have missed one when I took this picture. She must have been shopping! It was nice to catch up with some ladies that I know and also to meet some new stitchers.

Here is one of the ladies busy working on her canvas work...

and another busy beading her felt bird's wings.

I managed to put the borders on June's Tis the Season blocks this week. They were just a little late.

Ma's birthday and some stitching

2011-07-04T08:51:00.000+10:00

We have has a quick trip to Sydney over the weekend to celebrate Ma's 80th birthday. We had planned to take Ma and Pa out but poor Pa wasn't well enough so we had a nice lunch together at home on Sunday with some delicious leftovers of Deirdre's and a few bits from the deli up the road. We are having a large celebration in a few weeks but it was nice to be with her on the day. We had a few little gifts for her too. Here she is opening Janelle and Rick's gift. She loved the gift, Janelle!

Paddy sent Ma a gift too and Ma loved it too.

She had knitted Ma a gorgeous scarf.

Ma had received some lovely flowers too.

It is a rainy day here today so it is nice to stay in and write my blog and hopefully get a bit of stitching done. I didn't get around to showing the lovely stitching from last week at the shop so here it is. Coralee has been so busy and has stitched the lovely bag from the stitching day...

and has made the runner too!

Barb showed off her lovely quilt she has finished.

Judy is our hexagon specialist and has been working on another large quilt. All those hexagons are amazing!

Paddy made a lovely pencil case as a gift. The fabrics work so well.

Karen has also finished her Post office from the My Town BOM and it looks great.