Stitching on the lake 2 November

It was so lovely to catch up with all the stitching ladies at our first Stitching on the Lake day yesterday. Thanks to Lynne and Sammy for the delicious lunch and morning and afternoon tea. I didn't take any pictures of the yummy food so as not to spoil it for the ladies coming on the 23 November. Here is the hall all ready for the ladies to arrive.

 The kits were in the bags with the name tags attached.

The tables were set with lollies to enjoy throughout the day (not that we needed them with all the yummy food).

 Here are the samples.

 Thanks again to Najelle and Terrie for bringing a stall from Hobbysew. It is always fun to do a bit of shopping  in between stitching and chatting and eating.

 Here are some of the groups of ladies enjoying their day of stitching.

 Several people worked on the gorgeous canvas work. It was lovely to see the different colours being used. This canvas work could easily be done in any colours and be a scissor keeper instead of a decoration.

 Shirley managed to get her little felt decoration finished. Well done.

 There was some amazing Show and Tell. This is the cushion we made last year at the retreat stitched in beautiful blue thread!

 Jo and Pam amazed us by having this year's retreat (only in August) projects almost all done. Here  is Jo's quilt. It looks wonderful and I love the scrappy border.

 This is Pam's quilt which looks great too.

 Pam has also made her runner. The border fabric works so well.

Both ladies have also made most of the other smaller projects. Well done, Jo and Pam.

 Colleen from the afternoon class was at the stitching day too and showed her lovely bag made with beautiful blue fabrics. I love how she has fussy cut the flowers from the fabric and appliqued them to her background.

 Here we are with Judy yesterday. Judy reminded us that this is our 20th stitching day in Canberra!!!! Judy has been to every single one. She reminded me that that means we have done 120 projects over the 10 years!

It was a lovely day once again. Fiona and I are looking forward to doing it all again in just a few weeks.

Stitching on the Lake

Fiona and I have been busy over the last few weeks creating, cutting and making kits for our Stitching on the Lake days. The first day is coming up in just 6 sleeps! So exciting to show you our projects. Here are the stitched felt decorations to hang on your tree.

 This decoration is a little bigger and can be hung on the wall. It was fun to create using English paper piecing. Don't forget to bring your glue pen if you like to use one to do your paper piecing. Hobbysew is coming with a lovely stall and will bring some in case you need any supplies.

 This "All Hearts come home for Christmas" cushion lets you use your favourite small prints to create your little row of houses. Don't forget your fusible web.

Here is a little Christmas stitching bag, complete with coloured houses and stitchery. It is just the right size to put all your Christmas stitching into or would make a great gift bag too.

This gorgeous canvas work  decoration will look wonderful on your tree. The colours used are 221, 680, 936 and ecru.

Finally, this lovely Christmas stocking will look great decorating your tree.

Lynne, our wonderful caterer, is planning some delicious treats for us to enjoy on the day. It would be such  a help if you would bring your favourite mug with you. Must remember to put a mug on my list too!

Gorgeous runner

Sue came to class last Wednesday night with her runner, from the retreat in August, all finished. Looks wonderful Sue. Well done.

Best get organised to show the pictures of the projects for Stitching on the Lake which is on next weekend, 2 November. Can't wait to share another lovely day of stitching with everyone.

Gorgeous scenery

Kay Haerland taught a class on landscapes in patchwork at Galong. The results are amazing. Here are just a few of them and all the ladies are in the picture below. They are works in progress but the choices of fabric are amazing and you can see how good they will look once they are stitched and embellished.

Aren't they all very clever. Kay is hiding in the middle of the photo.

Galong weekend

Last weekend I had the privilege of being asked to teach at the Galong patchwork retreat. It was lovely to meet some new ladies and to share a relaxing weekend away. I had 6 ladies in my class which was very realxing. They were very clever too and the new stitchers caught on very quickly. Hazel has stitched before and did finish the front of her zippered purse.

 Julie did so well and enjoyed all the hand stitching.

 Here is Pam busy stitching.

 Three of my night girls came too and had a go at all sorts of projects while they were away. Deanna had a very successful go at canvas work.

 She also made a lovely bright front to the stash bag (Remember that pattern Fiona?). The original did look quite different.

 She also had a go with a special "Squedge" ruler. You can see the block she made in the group photo below.

Linda worked on this little painted house and background and it looks lovely. Great choice of fabrics, Linda.

 Here is a closeup of Hazel's finished stitchery.

 Anita worked on this table centre....I think we did it quite a few years ago at a stitching day..... Looks great, doesn't it?

 Here are the ladies with their works in progress except for Pam who naughtily packed her work.

 Hazel worked on the painted house too as did Julie but I didn't get a picture of her cute house.

It was a very busy weekend for some of the ladies as they made whole quilt tops. There were several other teachers teaching a variety of techniques and patterns. These quilts are very effective and make a real feature of the fabric. Maggi Shingles taught this class and the ladies could also work on their own UFOs.

A couple of ladies were doing some scrap booking. Di was making these lovely Santas!

 The class next door to us, with Jennifer Gimbert, were working  on free motion applique where you stitch the appliqued pieces down with several rows of straight stitch. Looked like fun. They were working on a pattern by Monica Poole.

Some of the ladies were making quick clever quilts too. How good do these look? The one below looks like it on point but it isn't.

Kay Haerland also came to teach her amazing landscapes. I'll share some of those tomorrow.

A bit of stitching, kits and some toys

Shirley has been so busy finishing off some lovely Christmas decorations. She has just completed her mini bunting from last year's stitching day.

 She is also making some lovely red stitcheries for another hanging. How cute are these?

 So hard to keep all the stitching day projects a secret but thought I would give you a sneak peak of this one! I have been stitching after all! I have packed a bit in my stitching bag for the weekend in Galong! Looking forward to a lovely time of friendship and stitching (and no cooking etc).

 I have been busy this week putting together some kits and cutting lots of fabric for the other kits. Only 2 weeks till the first stitching day so there are lots of things to do.

 Just thought I would share this photo with you. This is my eldest daughter with her soft toys when she was about 3. Her little sister ( Benny and Sammy's mum) wasn't even born yet. We got this picture out because I finally got down the boxes of toys I had kept to see what was stored away. There are so many special toys in the boxes and some are a bit sad. So hard to know what to do with memorabilia! Might keep some for the grandies to play with and then photograph the rest.

Not much stitching....a few pictures of the boys

The last week has been busy again. We had a lovely Saturday celebrating our brother-in -law's special birthday and also had Ma and Pa and Deirdre and Paul come for lunch before the party. It was very special as they were able to spend some time with the little men in between their sleeps. So lovely to see little Benny with "old" Pa, playing with one of Mummy's old toys.

 Ma had some lovely cuddles too but we didn't get a good picture of her.

 Paul and Deirdre with Benny....and a whisk!

 The little boys came to visit another day too when it was warm (as Benny has a singlet on). They are into everything especially Sammy!

The only stitching this week has been a bit of secret stitching for the stitching days and also some kit making. Looking forward to heading to Galong on Friday for the patchwork retreat. Perhaps I will have some stitching to share after the weekend.