Little Joshua Henry

Our extended family grew again this week with birth of little Joshua Henry. James is our nephew and he and his lovely wife Sarah now have this very special little boy. He was born about 4 weeks early on Tuesday 5th March and is doing very well. Another great grandchild for Ma and Pa. So exciting!

But it is most exciting for Paul and Deirdre and their family who are delighting in being new grandparents and aunts and uncles.

Visiting Phoebe and stitching

Deirdre and Ma came for a quick visit to see Phoebe too. It was lovely to see the little one again and to see her and Lois with "old" Ma, their very special great grandmother.

 Here is Ma with little Phoebe and her family.

 I have been stitching and it is so good to be getting a few things done on my old UFOs. I so want to start new things but am actually enjoying working on these projects and seeing them progress. The top and bottom borders are on Scandinavian Christmas. I had been putting this off as "too hard" and it has been really quite easy.I have started on the side borders now.

 I have also completed the applique on the second half of the centre of Vignette. Now to do all those little satin stitch dots!

Phoebe, Ben and Sam

We were so pleased to visit and meet little Phoebe yesterday. She is our newest little grand niece (is that what she is?). She was born last Tuesday and went home on Wednesday! She is just so gorgeous.

 Here is big sister Lois and her Mummy.

 We also had special visitors at our house too. Sam and Ben, their Grandma and Grandpa, Mum and Dad and Lyndal and Nick came over to visit. We had a lovely time with them all.

 Aunty Lyndal had a lovely time with little Benny.

 Here is Grandma Sharyn with Sam. They live in Perth so have been having a very special week with the boys.

A bit of stitching and boys

I had bought these little suits for the boys to applique and thought I had best do them or they would be too small! 

 I also finished the little coin purse from Red Home. It is tiny but went together very well, even with the zipper.

 Finally felt a little motivated to work on my large ongoing projects and put together the other centre piece for the Vignette quilt. I have decided to just do little bits at a time but try and work on each UFO at least a little each month. Eventually they should then get finished. I feel quite motivated to start the applique now!

 These precious boys came to visit on the weekend and they are growing and changing all the time.

 Benny loves to roll over and then isn't sure he wants to be there. He is able to lift his head right up and then does try to move his legs into a crawling position but no success yet!

 Sammy on the other hand is so happy and relaxed and loves to play with his toys. They keep him amused for ages.

Stitching and a busy weekend

What not to do! I felt like getting a border ready for Scandinavian Christmas (haven't touched this quilt in ages), so I read the pattern and started to cut the stars to the correct size! Oh no! I cut too close to this side of the star. What is the saying....measure twice and then cut!

 I had to stitch another star!

 Here is the top border almost done.

 I also forgot to show you the lovely bag from Red Home that I finished after Christmas. It is such a good big bag and went together very well.

 These lovely little fellows came to breakfast at Rocksalt on Saturday morning as it was their mummy's birthday. Benny went to sleep like a good boy. He does look tired in this photo.

 Sammy was very good and loved looking at everything.

 Benny woke up later when Mummy opened her presents and enjoyed a bit of paper chewing.

I then headed off to a birthday party for Sue which was fun and then a lovely BBQ at friends' place in the evening.We have had the hottest weather lately but it was a lovely time out and about.

Stitching, a bike....and little boys

As you can see from my sidebar, I have joined Chooky's Stitch-a-long again this year and the projects are all smaller ones instead of a quilt. I am happy about that as I have too many large quilts to complete this year.  This little thread catcher was the project for January and it was so quick and easy. I did mine using squares of French general and some other reds. It is a project from the Red Home book.

 I have also been working on the pin cushion in the book for classes in Term 1. It has lovely little 1/2" hexagons on it. They are quite small but were OK to do with the glue pen.

 Here is the side with the appliqued house all quilted.

 This is the side with the words.

 Here it is finished! It is so cute and little.

 I have also been busy and quilted and bound this lovely, Anni Downs' hanging from the Homespun earlier in the year. It is ready for next Christmas!

 I popped into social stitching for just a few minutes yesterday and Doreen had this wonderful quilt to show the ladies. It is made from cotton shirting fabric and looks great. Doreen made 2 of these for her twin sons for Christmas.

 I also received my Christmas present in the post yesterday! I know it is a bike and means I will need to ride it. But it is so cute and just my size and very "girly" and I feel quite inspired to ride it!

 These little fellows were the reason I didn't get to stitching. They just popped in for a little visit. They are nearly 6 months old!

Happy New Year

How amazing to think that another year has flown but and here we are in 2013. Happy New Year everyone. We headed out and watched the 9pm fireworks and then saw the New year in at a gathering at the home of some friends. Hubby used his new camera to take a few good shots.

The new year certainly makes you think about the year just past. 2012 has been a great year for us. Luckily we have been in good health and have been able to go away and enjoy many good times. Of course the highlight of our year was the birth of little Sam and little Ben. We are so enjoying being grandparents to these little fellows. Can't believe that they were so small in hospital and now.....

 they are laughing and rolling and are such special little fellows.

The rest of the year was good too. There were some very special family days, Avril and Tim's wedding, Ma's birthday and then Ma and Pa's 60th wedding anniversary.

We were also so lucky to get to go on 2 wonderful holidays. The first was the cruise with Ma and Pa and Jeni and Paul early in the year. That was such good fun and it was so lovely that Pa was able to come and enjoy himself.

We also enjoyed our wonderful holiday to San Francisco and cruising all the way home. It was great fun and especially meeting our dinner buddies, Jenny and Jim and Jennifer and Gary.

It was wonderful too to share in Ash and Tim's wedding in December. What a beautiful wedding.

As always, stitching was very important. Fiona and I enjoyed running our stitching days and the "Stitching in the Hills" retreat was great fun. We also enjoyed Urban stitching in Melbourne and going to the craft show in Sydney too. 

I imagine 2013 will be a bit similar! I hope so anyway. I do wish everyone a very happy New Year and hope that this year is a year of health and happiness with lots of good times (especially stitching ones!).