Some progress..

I have been enjoying my stitching lately. The next block of Here There and Everywhere came and I just had to start. It is such fun to do.

I finished off my cross stitch last week. I did enjoy making this very much. Now to decide if I will invest in the buttons that decorate it or leave them off. 

 There has been a little hand quilting being done on this Marg Low Christmas quilt. I am also very slowly quilting Scandinavian Rose.

 I also spent a few evenings stitching the binding on My Town. This quilt just needs a label and it will be all finished.

Stitching...

Lovely to see great work at the shop last Wednesday. It is so motivating to see everyone's progress.
Lynda is doing an amazing job on this tree skirt for her little grandie. She is using a quilt pattern by Bunny Hill Designs and adapting it.

 Roni is always amazing us with her wonderful Christmas finishes!

 Lovely to see Lynn back at the evening class, She was working on the binding on this beautiful sewing pouch. It is a design by Lynette Anderson.

 I have some progress too. I did do some minutes in the sewing room and sewed together this little Christmas quilt and then hand quilted it. It is a pattern in a book, Festive Stitches, by Marg Low.

 This BOM, My Town, from the Homespun magazine has been professionally quilted and now is ready for binding. It was in the magazine years ago and the blocks were done each month but then all progress stopped. So good to have it at this stage. Thank you Terina for the beautiful quilting.

Lovely work and a few finishes

Lynne wowed us once again with her beautiful stitching last week. We just loved this beautiful cross stitch rose and the lovely zippered pouches! Lovely colours and so beautifully made.

 I have mostly managed my 10 minutes of sewing room time and here is the proof. My town is almost a "top"! Just some borders to add.

 I have also managed to finish this great pattern for an Ipad case, by Anni Downs. It went together so well.

 My other finish is this little zippered pouch by Lynette Anderson. I must admit I did sew it together a little differently to the pattern but am very pleased with the result.

 I keep running out of hand stitching (what a problem) . It is fun to dig through my many patterns and kits and just choose one to start. It has been lovely working with woven felt wool to make this little purse but Anni Downs.

School and some stitching...

Last week the big boys headed off to school. How that 5 years has flown. They are in yellow and green just like my girls were when they headed off to Sunshine Bay Primary so long ago!

They seem to be enjoying it!

Over tthe last few weeks I have had some fun knitting a cardigan for Alice. Such fun.

I have continued to head to the sewing room for my 10 minutes as often as possible. My plan is to get the My Town BOM top done. Here is the top row.

Show and tell

It was lovely to catch up with the class girls again last week. Paddy brought in her Foxley Village which has been beautifully quilted by Terina.

 Ronnie has been busy too and completed her Hugs and Kisses pouch. Looks lovely.

Lynne has been busy cross stitching too! How amazing is this lovely scene. It will be perfect in her sewing room.

I have been enjoying the applique on this little Ipad case, designed by Anni Downs. There were some very small pieces to needleturn.

 Mind you the stitching was a real pleasure.

 My 10 minutes per day at the machine is slowly paying off. Here are some of my "My Town" blocks with their first borders on. I so loved appliqueing these and am looking forward to finishing the top.....eventually.

Some stitching and crochet

I have been stitching a bit these last few weeks. Hurrah....I have finally fused a centre block for the My Town quilt that was in the Homespun years ago. I have decided to make the centre the same size as the other blocks so my quilt (when it ever gets finished) will be smaller than the original.

 I have appliqued and stitched block 2 of the Yoko Saito Mystery quilt. I love working with these Japanese fabrics. I just have to do the patchwork on the lower edge.

 A bit of canvas work was fun to do when we went away a few weeks ago. This is the lovely scissor fob that Fiona designed for our retreat.

 I have also been having some fun crocheting these flowers with some very cheap thread I bought in the Japanese 100 yen shop when we were away. Wish I had bought more balls!

Shopping in NZ and Hobart and stitching...

We had so many opportunities to shop....at the ports and on the ship. It was great fun stocking up on kits and patterns. These kits came from The Quilted Crow.

 These kits and bits and pieces were from the ship classes and from some of the shops along the way.

 Judy Newman gave me a lesson in hand piecing so just had to have 2 of her gorgeous patterns.

 Here are a few of the patterns bought at Rotorua and at the Quilted Crow and some cross stitch designs from the needlework shop in Sandy Bay. The shop had some great specials.

I also stocked up on some woven wool felt, wool felt, some paper piecing shapes, some scissors and a few other useful notions.

 It was lovely to get Gail Pan's latest book and another Yoko Saito book for my collection.

 I also bought a crochet pattern and a few bits of wool along the way.

These gorgeous French buttons came from The Ribbon Rose in Wellington.

One of my class ladies, Cathy, gave me this lovely bag for being her tutor. How very kind.

I did manage to stitch some of my projects in my spare time on the cruise. So good to have this town hall all appliqued and stitched.

I stitched this little stitchery for the bag in Natalie Bird's latest book, In the Garden.

I have also stitched the last block of Chateau Hexagon.

Here is my little Japanese pencil case all stitched and quilted

I bought these little fluffy sheep for the little men and they really liked them. I didn't buy many other souvenirs but these little notebooks and sticky notes were good to buy with my leftover NZ cash.

                                         
Here are the little men with their sheep (Baas). It was so special to see them again and to see how much they had changed even in 2 weeks!