Birthday celebrations and a quilt

 I would like to get excited about my birthday this year but it is a shock to realise how old I am!!! I do feel blessed as I have good health and lovely friends and family so mustn't complain at all!! The night and morning stitchers took me out on Tuesday to the Hyatt for high tea. It was so special. Thank you dear friends.

Yesterday was our normal lunch for the study group. It was lovely to share a birthday song and cake with Linley.

I was also spoilt with a gorgeous cake on Wednesday afternoon. Thank you Paddy. It was delicious even without the raspberries and cream! 

I have always wanted a quilt cupboard as they have been hiding away in the linen press. We got a quote for a timber one and then discovered this one at Ikea. Perfect size and price. Great birthday gift.

Finally after many years, Fairy Kisses is finished! It is a bit sad that I take so long to make things!!

An outing and some sewing

Amy and her family gave me an afternoon out at high tea at the Hyatt for Christmas. What a delightful gift. We girls had such a lovely afternoon eating delicious goodies, chatting and playing ladies!

In these quiet weeks, I have been trying to get on with my ongoing projects! Here are a few more blocks of the Splendid Sampler.

 I managed to finish the final blocks of Foxley Village. Just need to sew the blocks all together and start the pieced borders.

 Two more corners blocks made for Anderson's Farm then piecing as well!

 In between, I enjoyed stitching another block of United stitches. These are fun to do as they are printed on the fabric.

 Lastly, I was a little naughty and couldn't resist starting Dancing Chickens and Flying Pigs by Anni Downs. This is so much fun.

Afternoon tea and a finish

I had a very lovely time on Sunday afternoon at afternoon tea with some of the Friday night stitching girls. Thank you for taking me out for my birthday! I am feeling very spoilt, again. We went to Benedict House which is an old Refectory in Queanbeyan.

Here we are.

Here is the front garden.

There were little red berries or fruit on this lovely old tree.

I finally finished this delightful cushion which is a design by Lynette Anderson. As usual, it had been appliqued and stitched for ages! Just realised that I need to add a button on the ark.

Other than that, I have been busy making kits for the stitching days that are coming up so soon. Looking forward to seeing all the ladies at Stitching on the Lake.

A busy weekend

We had a very busy weekend here in chilly Canberra. It was Ma's and nephew Cameron's birthday on Saturday and some of the family came to visit. Here is a collage of the afternoon on Saturday. I had to go to a special afternoon tea for Donna for her significant birthday so I left 16 people at my house having lunch! I did feel a little guilty but the afternoon tea had been arranged a long time before. As I wasn't there all afternoon, I am glad that hubby took a few photos of the activities... sleeping, reading the papers, little Noah and dad playing with my girls' old duplo, eating, chatting and Cameron having his birthday cake.

Meanwhile I was having delicious afternoon tea with dear friends. Here is the birthday girl and Sue.

This is one of the presents. A lovely thimble with a special holder for your threads and needles and a little box to put it into and a few threads and needles to put inside.

After a pot luck dinner with delicious casseroles on Saturday night and then lunch of leftovers on Sunday, a few of us went to see the Hans Heysen paintings at the National Gallery. Ma is a lovely painter and does both watercolours and oils so she enjoyed seeing the paintings.

I got in trouble for taking photos! I didn't see a sign! 

Here is Ma enjoying the paintings.

And another naughty photo before being caught. Hans Heysen was such a good painter and painted all kinds of things. He painted in watercolours and oils and mainly did landscapes but he could also paint beautiful still lifes and portraits too. My favourite picture was of his wife sewing on her machine with the lovely light from the garden. Sadly I haven't a photo of that one.

Afternoon tea at Oatley

On Friday, we headed up to Sydney for a quick visit with Ma and Pa. It is always lovely to spend time with them. We decided to go out for afternoon tea and came over to Oatley to this delightful restaurant called "The Avenue Cafe". It was so lovely and warm (after such cold weather in Canberra) that we sat outside.

Here are Ma and Pa waiting for their iced coffees and cake.

Doesn't Ma look good in my hat?

This is the side of the restaurant looking back to where we had been sitting. The gardens were so lovely with herbs growing and lots of flowers. There were little rooms inside too for groups with old furniture and lots of character. The cakes and coffees were very good too.

Stitching day continued

Here is Penny and her cousin, Linda, who came all the way from Queensland to join us.

The three sisters, Carol, Wendy and Kay along with Stella and Margaret.

Here are some of my Wednesday night girls. I think that Linda looks very relaxed! She had been busy making Lucy the bear and needed a break!

This was afternoon tea!!!! On the left is buttercake with a date filling and on the right, strawberry shortcake. We were very spoilt!