Birthday gifts and little boys

Fiona spoilt me so much for my birthday! She bought some gorgeous liberty fabrics to finish my dilly bag and for other stitching. The liberty buttons are gorgeous too.

 She also gave me this great crochet pattern using perle 8 balls to make a scarf. Couldn't resist starting it!

 There was also this lovely necklace in the package too!!!!

 We ordered these lovely liberty fabrics too. They are so beautiful.

 I am in a fat quarter swap with some lovely stitching sisters and received all these beautiful French general fabrics.

 There were some lovely cards, a little pattern, a magnet and a chocolate too.

 Here are just a few photos of the growing little men. Over Easter they enjoyed a little chocolate! We missed them lots while we were away so it has been lovely to see them in the past few weeks.

Stitching on the Lake Day 1

It was so special to catch up with lots of lovely stitchers at our first of two stitching days. This year is our 10th anniversary of Stitching on the Lake days in Canberra. It is hard to believe that we have been organising these days for that many years. Can't show you too much as that might spoil the surprise for the ladies coming next week.
Here we are all ready for another lovely day of stitching, delicious food and fun.

 Here are the projects.

 Najelle and Bec came along with lots of goodies from Hobbysew. This was much appreciated by the ladies.

 Lovely as always to catch up with many stitching friends.

 The show and tell and even just the lovely sewing bits and pieces were so inspiring. This gorgeous pin cushion was made by Doreen. It is so beautiful.

 Doreen is also working on Sue Spargo's latest BOM and these birds are looking so lovely. Just check out the variety of stitches and threads used to embellish the birds.

 Pam had finished her book cover from Stitching in the Hills and had made it into a very useful folder cover.

 Jenny had made the retreat quilt much bigger and it looks wonderful.

 Brenda had finished her lovely canvas work.

 Roni had completed her cushion using DMC 115 red and it looks great.

 This lovely bag was just so special with great fabrics and the suffolk puffs work so well.

 One of the ladies had put her dresden plate decoration onto a folder cover. Great idea.

 Pat came along with some of her wonderful stump work pictures to show us. Isn't this just so beautiful?

 Beppie, Carol and Wendy have been coming along to our stitching days since the first one in 2004! They helped us celebrate our 10th birthday.

Stitching on the Lake

Can't believe that our first Stitching on the Lake day is next Saturday. It will be lovely to spend a day of stitching together. Fiona and I have created six lovely projects for you once again. There are still a few places on both days if you would like to come but we would need to know today!
Here are the projects. This gorgeous thimble pip is just perfect for keeping your favourite thimble safe and sound.

This lovely pouch will be so useful for all your sewing bits and pieces.

On this lovely zippered pocket, Fiona has appliqued some gorgeous little houses from the new Lynette Anderson range.

You could also have a go at some cross stitch to make this very handy book mark.

 The next project is a lovely little evening purse, appliqued with some felt and fabric flowers.

 The last project is this little embroidered purse.

I have been feeling a little muddled from being away so long but am now back to normal and so looking forward to next weekend and our stitching day. Hope to see you then.

Nara and then home!

We headed to Nara from Kyoto on Monday 15 April. Nara is Canberra's sister city so thought it was worth a visit. We had a lovely wander around and enjoyed the beautiful sunny day, the deer wandering around Nara Park, the Kofukiji Temple and especially the Todaii-ji Temple. It is the largest in Japan and has the most amazing large Buddha too. There were even some turtles in the lake.

 On our last day in Kyoto we visited a lovely temple just near where we were staying in Ishiyama. It was really a delightful place to visit with hardly anyone there and gorgeous gardens.

 We then took the train to Nagoya to be close to the airport as we left on Wednesday morning. We then quite a few hours in Kaula Lumpur so headed into town (after waiting nearly an hour to get through security). We went to the city centre and had a delicious dinner and viewed the Petronas Towers.

We then headed back the the budget airport by train and bus and boarded the plane for our night flight to Sydney.