Monday, April 30, 2012

A bit of stitching

I have been trying to do a little stitching and piecing over the last week. I had stitched the little stitchery from Tis the Season for this lovely bag so spent a pleasant afternoon playing with hexagons and Lynette Anderson's gorgeous "Scandinavian Christmas fabric.
 Here is the front of the bag.
 I also couldn't resist continuing to stitch this lovely block from Some Kind of Wonderful.
 These little chooks were appliqued too ready for my last block of In My Garden. I would love to get this block done by the end of May and that quilt would be almost finished!!!!
 Lastly, I headed into the sewing room and finally, after much procrastination, put the patchwork border on this side of Vignette.
It is nice to see a few things getting done. Classes at Hobbysew start again this week. Looking forward to seeing everyone again.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Anzac Day and stitching progress

Yesterday was a holiday here in Australia for Anzac Day. It is a special day to remember the men and women who have fought in past wars and of course those who are still serving our country today. Many attend dawn services and march in parades. One of the traditions is to have Anzac biscuits and after reading Fiona's post, I could almost smell them. I haven't made any for a while and mine ended up as Anzac Slice instead. They still tasted good.

 Last week I had a bit of time and I finally finished the little pieced blocks for the last block of Scandinavian Christmas. I then proceeded to put the centre together. I didn't heed my usual advice to my class ladies of measuring twice before cutting and ended up cutting the Santa block too small!!!!!
 I wasn't going to stitch it again to added a little strip and will stitch a little heading there!
 I also managed to get April's blocks of SKOW together and made the strips too.
Then I became very motivated and started the sewing block for May. I am going away in June so hope to get May and June done before I go.
 In between I have been stitching away at the bottom border of the Vignette quilt. I know we are not up to it yet and I haven't started the centre blocks but I needed some hand stitching to do and this certainly has lots!

Monday, April 23, 2012

Autumn leaves

We had a quick trip to Sydney this weekend to see Ma and Pa. It is always special to spend time with them and sister-in-law, Janelle, as well. On Saturday night we were able to catch up with Paul and Jeni too. Family times are so precious. After we came home on Sunday, Hubby had a good time playing with his camera and capturing the autumn leaves. The trees are all turning so winter is coming!



 Last week, on Wednesday, I headed off to stitching as usual. Donna had this gorgeous tin full of delicious rocky road to share with us. I felt like getting the paints out to paint this scene.
 Gwen was very pleased to show us her finished needle roll. Hasn't she done a lovely job.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Stitching progress

I really have been stitching over the last few weeks! I have been slowly working on block 8 of In my Garden and here it is. Only one block to go! I really so love this block but it was very time consuming to stitch.
This week I have been focussing on my April, Some Kind of Wonderful blocks. Here is the tree. Thanks,  Anni,  for the very tricky needleturned flowers! 
 I am now working on the stitching on the rainbow block.
These are such lovely blocks and it will be a delightful quilt.

Monday, April 16, 2012

Gorgeous gift and another stitching day

I am so spoilt! Fiona gave me this gorgeous gift for my birthday. It is from Lynette Anderson's book "Country Cottage Quilting. What a special gift. Thanks so much, Fiona. I am so looking forward to using it for all my bits and pieces.

 Fiona was here in Canberra for our second Stitching on the lake day. We always enjoy these days and it so special to catch up with so many lovely stitching friends. Here is the hall all ready.
 The ladies enjoyed a great day of chatting, stitching and relaxing.

 Najelle came with a lovely array of goodies from Hobbysew.

 We were also spoilt with the food once again thanks to Lynne and Sammy. We were treated to yummy muffins, fruit, soup, juice and even delicious cheesecake.

 The ladies were very busy and one even finished one of the projects. Sharon worked on the needle roll and
 here it is finished!
 Sharon is a lovely embroiderer and had stitched this beautiful needlecase for her friend, Jenny.
 Jenny showed us her beautiful embroidery too.
 We had show and tell and there was quite a bit but I only managed to take one photo. This is Denise's Christmas cushion from last year's stitching day.

Monday, April 9, 2012

Stitching on the Lake

Can't believe how quickly the time has flown. The second Stitching on the Lake day is next Saturday, 14 April. Fiona and I are so looking forward to another special day of sharing, delicious food and stitching. We thought we had better show the projects again so the ladies who are coming this week can get organised for a wonderful day of stitching. Here is the little zippered purse.
 This little canvas work scissor fob will be handy to attach to your favourite scissors.
 Here is the Noah's ark cushion.
This needle roll is stitched on lugana linen, which is in your kit.
This coloured and embroidered sewing pocket will be very useful to keep all your stitching bits and pieces together.
Lastly, two lovely shoe bags for all the travellers amongst us.

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Happy Easter

I do hope you have all had a happy Easter break and have enjoyed plenty of chocolate eggs and remembered the true meaning of Easter as well. We have a few naughty eggs to share here too. Can't have Easter without chocolate!
 We headed off to church and there was a lovely symbol of the Easter story using this cross. On Friday it was just a bare wooden cross and today the congregation decorated with flowers to represent new life and the resurrection. It looked beautiful.
 I must admit that I love to head to the Folk Festival each Easter here in Canberra. It is always great to hear all the wonderful musicians and to enjoy the stalls and especially the delicious foods. I made sure I had my German sausage and some Turkish Gozleme as well. I only went for one day so made the most of it and stayed till quite late.
 Saturday's weather was perfect!
 It is hard to take pictures inside but we enjoyed some Spanish music with dancing too.
One of our favourite bands was Dry Bones from Canada. They were terrific musicians and very funny too.

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Gorgeous knitting and March SKOW

I headed off to my Book Club last night which is always a pleasure, even if you are tired from work! Vicki was hosting the meeting and she is the most amazing knitter. Vicki joined a knitting group, like a BOM, but you received a kit and knitted one block a month. This photo is just half of the blanket she will make with her blocks. Lots of different stitches and techniques were used.

 She is also working on the borders for this lovely knitted blanket. It looks just like a patchwork quilt!
 After seeing all that knitting......here is what I have managed to do! Here is the top border of Some Kind of Wonderful. I don't always feel like sewing the borders but know that I will be happy later on when the quilt can just be sewn together and quilted.

Monday, April 2, 2012

Christmas Fun and SKOW progress

I am so excited to show you my Christmas Fun quilt, Lynette Anderson's mystery quilt from last year, all bound and finished. I did enjoy stitching this quilt but it took me far too long to do the quilting and the piecing! I am thrilled with the result.
 Here are all those little appliques and pieced blocks all hand quilted and the buttons sewn on. I ended up machine quilting around the outer borders.
 Here is the label sewn on and ready to write on. It looks lopsided in this photo though it isn't as bad in real life.
 I also had yesterday afternoon in the sewing room and put together March's part of SKOW. I just need to sew the top borders and I will be up to date.
 I changed "gardening all day" to just gardens as I really don't like gardening at all. I like looking at gardens and love to embroider the flowers but don't like the work involved in actually gardening.
I went to the pictures on the weekend and saw The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. It was such a wonderful movie.