Busy weekend

We have just had the busiest weekend! Then the computer needed work so it was a bit difficult to post. Last weekend we had a great time though it would be good if sometimes things were a bit more spread out. On Friday, Fiona came to Canberra and we set up for our first Stitching on the Lake day on Saturday. That night our daughter, Lyndal, had a wonderful 70's party at her "new" 70's house. It was a great night. Here is the wonderful castle cake for the princess made by her very clever sister in law.

 Here we are all dressed up in our 70's gear. I actually wore my poncho in the 70's!

 The next morning we were up early for our stitching day. It was a wonderful day of chatting, delicious food and stitching.

 Here are the projects.

 Here are some of the ladies busily stitching.

It was a lovely day and we are looking forward to seeing this Saturday's ladies too. It is so lovely to catch up with everyone at these days. I must take a few more pictures this week.
Then on Sunday we headed to Sydney for our niece's wedding!

Stitching progress

I have been trying to catch up a little on my many stitching projects! My little people now have shoes which makes this School block finished for now.

 It was fun to fuse the church as I have been looking forward to doing this block. But....yesterday the Homespun came again with another block to do. That means I am four blocks behind!

 On Monday I had a free afternoon and forced myself to cut and sew all these little bits together that will make the pincushion.

 the zippered work bag,

 and the needlecase from Anni's book, Some Kind of Wonderful. I think they are going to be lovely so I hope to get them together soon.

 I have also finished the last few rows of my scarf! I just love the colours in this hand dyed wool.

Tis the Season progress

I am trying to catch up with my Tis the Season quilt and have pieced the last blocks, stitched the blocks together and added the borders. I did do some crazy things with these blocks as I forgot which were A and B blocks and so joined some together incorrectly! Oh well, you can't notice from a distance.

Now to the quilting!
Can't wait to start the new SAL so must hurry up with this quilt.

Stitching on the Lake

It is only a little over a week until Fiona and I will hold our first of two stitching days in Canberra. We have been busy creating our projects and making kits ready for these days. We can't wait to see everyone and are looking forward to two great days of stitching, chatting, sharing and enjoying some delicious food too. Here are some pictures of our projects to help you get organised.
Here is the Felt Decoration.

 These decorations are made using English paper piecing with a little applique and embroidery.

 This stitchery can be framed or made into a cushion.

Here is a delightful canvas work piece that can be a decoration or a bookmark.

This precious little bear is fun to make and will look great on your tree.

And lastly, a very lovely cross stitched decoration for your tree.

Looking forward to seeing you all on the 15th or the 22nd October.

Holiday stitching

I DID stitch while I was way. I took lots of easy stitching to do whenever and wherever possible! I wanted to get started on the gorgeous projects in Anni Downs' new book 'Some Kind of Wonderful'. We are doing them in classes next term so it would be nice if a few were finished. Now the stitching is done, I really need to get going on the "putting together"! I was hoping to do some today but haven't yet!
Here are the stitched bits. These little stitcheries are on the zippered project bag.

 This is the pin cushion stitching.

 This one goes on the travel folder.

 I a looking forward to putting this lovely bag together

 and this needlecase too.

 I managed to finish block 5 of Christmas Fun.

 This little purse was a delight to stitch and I quickly put it together to give to my daughter for her birthday on Tuesday.

 The only stitching I have managed to organise since I have been back is Christmas fun block 6 (I have already received block 7!).

All the other stitching, including the TTS stitch-a-long are waiting to be done. I am so far behind with everything!

We are home

We got home to Canberra on Friday after several days of losing time and trying to sleep. Thankfully we managed a little sleep on the first night flight and then had a good sleep in Singapore so haven't been too jetlagged. Must admit that daylight saving made me feel tired today! On our last morning in Berlin we took the train to the Botanical gardens and checked them out in the rain! 

 It was fine in the green houses where they had all sorts of plants including some Australian ones. They also had a large selection of cacti, which are very odd plants!

 Even the cafes at the Gardens weren't open so we headed back to the town and found a bakery for coffee and cake.

 We were a bit damp!

We then headed back to check out of our room and to spend a long time catching trains, a bus and a plane to Frankfurt and then finally on the plane to Singapore. It was a long day! It is nice to be home and to have some time to settle back. It is freezing here, like winter, and raining!

Potsdam and more of Berlin

On Sunday we decided to head to Potsdam and see this lovely area of Berlin. Potsdam was a popular place for the kings and queens of Germany and they built lots of palaces and gardens. We took a Hop on, Hop off bus and really enjoyed seeing Schloss Cecilienhof.

 There were so many fancy buildings here. We climbed up to the top of the Orangerie at Sanssouci to check out the view and also went through the rooms inside.

This is the view from the top.

Today we went back into Berlin and climbed the 253 steps to the top of the Victory Tower.  It was very misty but the view was great. 

This mosaic around the monument was amazing.

 This is how high up we were!

 Here is the monument and we were up the top!

 We then wandered around and saw the Brandenburg gate again.

Here I am on our walk through the Tiergarten. 

We then walked up one of the shopping streets and visited the food court in the Galleria Lafayette. Just had to have coffee and cake!

 Here is the view down to the pastry and cake section.

 In the afternoon we visited the Pergamon Museum which has an amazing collection of ancient antiquities.

Tomorrow is our last day here and we fly home in the afternoon. We have had a great holiday but it will be lovely to come home too.