Another lovely stitching day

Fiona and I enjoyed our  last stitching day for this year on Saturday. It was a lovely day full of chatting, eating delicious goodies, a bit of shopping and some stitching. The samples were all arranged including a new little dresden plate decoration that I made last week using Anni Downs' lovely Christmas fabric. I will show you a closeup later.

 The tables were all set up ready for the stitchers.

 Terrie set up a lovely stall for Hobbysew and it had lots of beautiful fabrics, patterns and other goodies to tempt the ladies.

 Lynne, our lovely caterer, brought this beautiful Christmas bush up from the coast to decorate the table. I forgot to take pictures of the food again so check our Fiona's blog for some of those.

 Here are some of the ladies busy stitching.

 Brenda had fused on her little houses and I love the fabrics that she has chosen.

 Janet was going very well with her canvas work.

 Shirley had hers already made as they had done this project in the Bay last week.

There were some lovely versions of the Dresden plate decoration. This is Samantha's and she is stitching the little snowflake below to put in the centre.

Paddy has used some of Lynette Anderson's fabric to make her centre. Looks great and I think I might have to make one of those.

 The show and tell on Saturday was amazing! Here are just a few of the wonderful stitched items that I photographed! Will have to do another post for the others. Judith has used some of the projects from earlier in the year to decorated these folder covers. Great idea.

 Jeanette had also made this lovely little owl scissor keep from one of Lynette Anderson's books.

Stitching on the lake and a Christmas party

Our second "Stitching on the Lake" day is on this coming Saturday, 23 November. So looking forward to another lovely day of stitching, delicious food and friendship. For those coming, the projects we are offering can be found here. Hobbysew is coming once again with lovely fabrics, patterns and lots more so you can stock up on things you need or want! Please bring along a favourite mug for your tea or coffee to help with the washing up.
Amazingly, Christmas is getting closer and closer. Where has this year gone? Hobbysew had their Christmas party early this year and it was on last Friday night. The show and tell was amazing and and there was, of course, some delicious supper and lots of specials too. Here are just a few pictures of the party.

 These lovely little girls had made up some no stitch kits from the shop and had done a wonderful job.

 Then the ladies showed some of the work they had done throughout the year. Many had been to classes at the shop.

 Sherry came to my Christmas class a few months ago and had finished every project!

 The supper looked good and was delicious!

Show and Tell and some stitching progress

Colleen has been busy stitching again this week and has finished her stocking from the Stitching on the Lake day a few weeks ago. Looks very good.

 Sue has also been busy and has created this lovely hanging using the stitcheries and appliques from the Stitching in the Hills retreat. She chose to use the 5" blocks in the charm pack and the quilt has turned out very well.

 I have been slowly stitching my Scandinavian rose redwork blocks but had become a little tired of all the red stitching so got out this kit I had bought a while ago. I had all the gorgeous buttons and this hanging was one I really wanted to make ONE DAY. It actually didn't take that long to stitch once the appliques were done. It is from the Nancy Halverson book, Tidings.

 I have also finished the stitchery and applique on this project from the Christmas day in Melbourne last weekend.

 This gorgeous little angel was a special gift from Rose, who we caught up with for dinner, last weekend. She surprised us with this little angel and a lovely little kit to make a little elephant pin cushion. Thanks Rose. They are both very special.

Christmas stitching day continued...

Just a few more photos of Saturday's stitching day in Glen Waverley. Here is a close up of Leanne's runner.

 There was some amazing show and tell. Here are just a few of the wonderful quilts that were shown. Very inspiring.

 This was a lovely version of Some Kind of Wonderful quilt adapted for the maker's daughter.

 Leanne also demonstrated some of the techniques she learnt in Hawaii.

 We were also treated to a cocktail demonstration. He was making a supposed "quilters" cocktail. We all got to have a little taste too.

 After a busy day of stitching and socialising, Fiona and I continued on to dinner with Rose. We had a delicious Indian meal just around the corner from our hotel. It was lovely to catch up with Rose again.

Christmas Gathering

Fiona and I had a lovely weekend in Melbourne attending the Christmas Gathering with Leanne Beasley and Gail Pan. We flew to Melbourne on Friday morning and then headed to Glen Waverley where we  headed to the shops for a delicious lunch. We just had to have a glass of champers too!

 Food in Melbourne is always special and this taster plate was delicious. We also enjoyed a bit of retail therapy.

 The next day was a delight. We headed into the room to be welcomed but this reindeer, candle, a bonbon and our bag of kits.

 Here we are ready for a day of stitching. We shared the table with the ladies in the picture below. I missed a couple of them in my photo which was a shame.

 Here is the room full of excited ladies.

 Gail and Leanne showed us the 2 projects and then we enjoyed a day of chatting, stitching and eating.

 Here are the 2 kits that were in our bag.

 As always the room was full of inspiration with lots of Gail's and Leanne's samples everywhere.

 It was a lovely day of Christmas delights.

 Morning tea was this lovely gingerbread man, lunch was a delicious array of savoury and sweet food and afternoon tea was a yummy truffle.

What a special way to spend a day.

Lovely work and a little stitching

Great to see some lovely finishes at the shop this week. Colleen has been busy again and has completed her pin cushion. It matches the gorgeous bag she finished last week.

 Anita brought in her daughter, Deanna's canvas work to show us on Wednesday night. This is the one I showed you last time done in soft colours and here it is all finished. Looks great!

 Sally has been busy too and was binding her retreat quilt on Wednesday night. Sally made it a row longer and it looks terrific.

 I have a tiny finish to show. Here is block 5 of the Chateau Hexagon BOM with Lynette Anderson. I am so enjoying this one and had a good time making the suffolk puffs with a Clover "puff" maker.

Best head off and pack as Fiona and I are off to Melbourne for Leanne Beasley and Gail Pan's Christmas day on Saturday. Looking forward to a great day of stitching and perhaps some shopping and eating too!