Stitching on Tuesday and Wednesday

Tuesday and Wednesday were busy days with work and classes. Barb brought her lovely quilt in to show that she made in a class at the shop. Looks great.

Josie is a bit like me and loves Christmas. She has just finished this beautiful hanging using some gorgeous buttons.

On Wednesday evening, Audrey brought her quilt again and it has been beautifully quilted.

Just check out the lovely stitched label for her 90 year old Grandma. So special. I am sure she will love this gift.

Heidi also brought a quilt to show us. The fabrics work so well in this quilt.

Gorgeous flowers and Vignette progress

My house is full of the most beautiful flowers given to me on Saturday for my birthday! I have been so spoilt.

Vignette Progress! Here is the beginning, middle and the end of the block 2 and 3 border. Whew! What a lot of lovely time spent stitching. I think I need a break now while I catch up on some other projects.

A very special Birthday Celebration

As you may have guessed, I am about to reach a very significant age tomorrow! Yesterday, I enjoyed a wonderful afternoon tea party with my family and friends. It was so special. I have had some lovely celebrations before but never a party. Thanks to my lovely girls, and their supportive husbands, who catered for most of the food and the gorgeous weather we enjoyed a really special time. My "naughty" (naughty as there weren't to be gifts!) night ladies gave me a special gift along with with this beautiful handmade card made with a gorgeous stamp.

My daughter. Lyndal, had this cake made but decorated it herself with a stitching theme. Fairly appropriate! Isn't it wonderful? Not so sure about the 60!

There was lots of yummy food.

Some people left lovely gifts and flowers. I'll share the gorgeous flowers tomorrow.

This special card plays music when you open it! Just love the picture.

A dear friend who couldn't come sent this fantastic pop out card.

There were so many beautiful cards and I have really enjoyed reading them all.

It was such a special afternoon. 

Wednesday stitching

It was so nice to catch up with the stitching ladies on Wednesday at the shop after missing a week. Karen had been so busy and had finished her appliqued and stitched bag using some Japanese prints. It has turned out so well.

She had also finished this lovely bag from a pattern by Cinderberry Stitches. She attached the handles with fabric bows so they can be removed if the bag needs washing. What a great idea and also so practical.

It was so nice to have Audrey with us in the evening and she had made two quilts since we saw her last! This one is from a book by Melly and Me. It is so effective.

I loved this one as she has used the gorgeous Blackbird designs fabric, Wild Rose. Audrey has made this quilt for her Gran who is turning 90 soon.

Barbara has been REALLY busy. Look how many blocks she has made of the Tis the Season quilt. They look so lovely, Barbara.

I have been stitching and stitching on the Vignette border and it is nearly finished! 

Stitching progress

Finally, I have time to post again! I have come home today after a delightful weekend away at the Bay with some very special friends....again! I am so lucky to have so many lovely friends. My Bible study ladies have a retreat every year at the coast and it is always great fun. Lots of yummy food, laughs, swims (for the brave ones as it was cool out), relaxing, chatting and some great stitching time. Sadly, I forgot my camera but will try and get some of the others' photos to share with you. While away the previous weekend, I had almost finished the first block of the "My Town" BOM from the Homespun magazine. Here it is just about finished. There are just a few stitches to do as one of the threads ran out.

It was easy to stitch on my Vignette blocks while we all chatted. It is almost done!

Just before I went away, the next block of "In My Garden" came in the post. I hope to start it soon.

I also couldn't resist getting the "Christmas Fun" BOM by Lynette Anderson. I enjoyed stitching the My Garden one so ordered this one too. Oh dear...I do have a lot to keep up with this year.

Lovely break in warm Queensland

We headed off on Saturday for a 4 night family break on the Gold Coast. We haven't had a family holiday for quite some time so it was lovely to have this time with the kids.We had three apartments near the beach and had a great time. We had some delicious meals.... pancakes for breakfast, Mexican, Thai and some delicious meals at one of the surf clubs. It was very relaxing though we did walk a bit as we were about 2 kms from Broadbeach and the same from Surfers. We had rainy weather for the first days but then were so lucky with the next two days. Here is the misty beach. I had a wild, very rough swim in the lovely warm water and the boys went down and enjoyed the surf a few times.

Here is the view from the balcony. This is the rainy view.

Here is the almost sunny one.

The complex had a great pool and the water was a perfect temperature. It was also quite warm so a swim was lovely.

Some of us went to Movie World where there were lots of rides and some shows. It was a very hot day but we had a good time. Some of us, not me, went on the big scary rides.

I did go on this one and also the Wild West ride where you get rather wet! It was quite nice to be wet when it was so hot.

Nice to be home again though it is quite a bit cooler. Didn't get much stitching done while I was away but did enjoy reading a couple of books.

Couldn't resist

I know!!! I should be binding my Gardener's Journal quilt and doing lots of other things but as I am at home today it was just too tempting! I just HAD to fuse this lovely block from the My Town BOM in the Homespun magazine. I have changed the fabrics a little but am using mostly the Wild Rose fabrics as I do love them. Just a little hint, make sure you trace as many of the details as you can (like on the windows, the sign and on the notice board) before you fuse them to your background. It is too hard to see them afterwards. You still need to draw some of the details freehand as it is tricky to see through the fabrics.

Thought I would share a couple of better photos of the Vignette stitching progress.

Sue brought in this delightful stitchery on Wednesday night. How lovely are these ballerinas. She is making a cushion for her niece who loves ballet.