Stitching and classes

I have made the bag! Here it is ready to be sent away on Monday for the winner of my giveaway. Don't forget to comment on the 2 February post to be in the draw. It is a rather cute little bag.

I also managed to put the churn dash blocks together and add them and the cross stitch stars to my Scandinavian Christmas block. I am so loving making this one! I was planning to do it very slowly over the year but am so motivated to start another block! Mind you I should be doing other things like some UFOs or starting to think about the Stitching day projects. Here it is.

Classes started again this week and it was so lovely to catch up with my ladies in the afternoon and evening on Wednesday. It was pretty good being in the airconditioned shop too as it was very hot. They were all busy starting some of the term's projects or finishing other things. Sue had been very busy over the break and had some lovely show and tell. Here is her summertime cushion.

She also made some of these Annie Downs' Christmas bags.

Last year Sue made these bags for gifts and she finally made one for herself.

And here is little Rudolph made using a Melly and me pattern. He is just gorgeous!

Blogiversary giveaway

Sorry it has taken so long to post about this little giveaway. I was hoping to have the little bag finished ready to photograph but ended up taking a picture of the pattern. I promise it will be finished to be sent by next Monday. The giveaway will be the little stitched bag, a "World as it should be" bookmark and 2 kits from the Stitching on the lake day last year. They are for 2 of my favourite patterns, the felt bird and the star hanging.

To be in the draw, just comment on this post. I will draw it on Monday.

Give a thought and a prayer for all the people in Queensland who are in the path of cyclone Yasi. It must be so terrifying.

A blogiversary and some lovely quilts

I can't believe it but today is the end of my second year of blogging. I started this little blog exactly 2 years ago today! Thanks, Fiona, for encouraging me to start as I so enjoy sharing my stitching journey and sometimes life journeys with my dear blog readers. I also enjoy reading many of your blogs and making many new  friends with similar interests. Thank you to everyone for reading my rambles and for commenting too. I have some plans for a blogiversary giveaway but am not ready just yet. I will post about it in a few days.
On Friday, Paddy and I went all the way to Tuggeranong to deliver some quilts to be professionally quilted by Robyn of Plain and Fancy quilting. I was very happy to be handing over my Gardener's Journal quilt as that means it is nearly finished! Robyn is a great quilter and it is always lovely to see what she has been making too. The pictures aren't great but it will give you an idea. I just love this scrappy one.

It is from this magazine from the US which looked very familiar. When I got home, I found that I have the magazine in my collection! The quilt is on the cover.

Here is another work in progress.

This quilt was in a bit of a dim hallway but I just had to show you the lovely needleturning and quilting on the four large blocks. I especially love the pieced neutral backgrounds.

I came home very motivated!

Stitching....

I have had a few lovely days at home over the last week and have been busy stitching. This stitchery was a project from the lovely Immerse stitching day in Melbourne and the kits came all printed on so it was fun to stitch. It is so not my colours but it will make a very cute little bag. This was Rosalie Quinlan's project on the day.

I have been very naughty and have disregarded all the UFOs and have had such fun stitching the first block of the Scandinavian Christmas BOM. I even enjoyed the needleturn as the shapes were larger and they were good shapes to needleturn. The cross stitches take a while to stitch but are easy. I chose to stitch the legs, face details and antlers with brown (DMC 3021) as I liked it better than using red.

Here are my birds. I couldn't find a really good fabric for the second bird so embroidered a few sprigs of holly onto the stripes.

Here are the reindeers. Aren't they cute? I wasn't sure about the fabrics I chose but am pleased with them now.

A start, a little finish and fireworks

I know!!!! I should be finishing things not starting something new but I just couldn't resist. I bought the lovely BOM, Scandinavian Christmas by Lynette Anderson last year and just wanted to start it. I have added the button to my side bar and yesterday I traced and traced to add the grogeous cross stitches that go around the edge of the blocks. I then raided my stash to find some suitable fabrics.

I think these will do! Can't wait to start. Maybe today!

I did manage to finish these 2 little bags from the delightful design by Anni Downs. I made quite a few before Christmas for gifts and just needed some for me!

I will leave with some of the great photos that hubby took of the fireworks last night. It cooled down a bit and we had a very nice evening picnic by the lake with friends.

Happy Australia Day and some show and tell

Happy Australia Day to all my lovely readers. There have been some lovely pictures and stories on some of the aussie blogs and they are well worth checking out. I think this is a very special day for Australians and as a  migrant who came to Australia as a child, I really appreciate what a special country this is. My brother, who was born here, and I have had really wonderful opportunities here and thank our parents for their very major decision to move to this country. It was very tough for them (and me too until I learnt to speak English) and I think they lost a lot by leaving their families in Austria but I know they enjoyed the climate and their home here too. It has been a special week too with hubby finding out his relatives came on the First Fleet.
I have had a busy couple of days with the Summer stitching day on Monday and then work yesterday. I had a lovely group of ladies on Monday and we enjoyed a pleasant day of stitching and yummy lunch and morning and afternoon tea. Thanks for organising the food, Cathy. Barbara came to the class on Monday and brought her finished her felt bookmark with the painted button to stitching at the shop yesterday. Looks great, Barbara.

Shirley has been finishing lots of lovely projects. She made this lovely gift pouch using a pattern and kit prepared by Terrie at Hobbysew.

Shirley also finished the stamped stitchery from the stitching day in October. I wish I had that many finishes to share.

We are celebrating Australia day this evening by taking a picnic to the lake and watching the fireworks with some friends, if it isn't too hot. We are having a very warm day here today.

Quick trip to Sydney

We had a quick trip to Sydney on the weekend to see Ma and Pa. Hubby has been looking into his family tree and has discovered that Pa and his children and grandchildren are directly related to a man and woman who came to Australia on the First Fleet as convicts in 1788. Even more amazing is that The great........grandmother and her son are buried in Liverpool. We think that John Fraser was the second child to be born here in the new colony. We took Ma and Pa there on Saturday morning and saw the gravestone of John Fraser, Pa's great great......grandfather and there is a ...

plaque to show that Ellen is buried here too.

How amazing is that. My girls are about 7th generation Australian on their father's side and first generation on my side!