Thursday, January 30, 2014

Gorgeous quilt and minding boys

We have had some busy Wednesdays minding the little men over the last few weeks. That finishes now so hope to get to Wednesday stitching again next week. It is a long day with 2 little fellows even with 2 adults! I am amazed at how Amy manages on her own! Being young must help but she must be tired at the end of the day....we certainly are. One good thing is that they love the TV, especially Playschool. What a wonderful show and one that their mum and aunt loved too many years ago. It is a good chance to take good photos too.

 We had a lovely night of stitching last Friday at Maree's place. It was so special to see this wonderful quilt hanging up. Several of us have a kit and were very inspired to start it immediately! I am not going to start as I must get some old UFOs done first. Doesn't the quilt look great? It is an Anni Downs pattern from her book The Simple Life


Only 2 weeks till Fiona and I head off on our stitching cruise to New Zealand. The kits and patterns are almost done. Can't believe that this time in 2 weeks we will getting on the ship!

Friday, January 24, 2014

A little stitching

My secret stitching is almost done so it was very nice to get out Block 8 of Chateau Hexagon and get it ready. It is now all traced and the applique pieces are ready to stitch.
 The secret stitching is still progressing but this is  little of my third project and I haven't much more to go till it is time to sew it together and then write the notes.
It will be nice to have all my cruise kits finished (almost there) and then these three done and then I can get onto a few other projects.....perhaps some of my UFOs.

Monday, January 20, 2014

Stitching and boys

Not much to show at the moment of stitching progress as I have been doing some secret designing for our next stitching days. That may sound crazy as they are in late April and May but as I am going to be away a bit this coming term, I need to get organised! I am feeling very good as I have stitched 2 of my 3 projects and have almost written the instructions (which really is the hard bit for me!). It was good fun doing a little cross stitch.
 You know how much I enjoy working with felt and this project has been fun to make.
 My only other progress is on this block of Scandinavian Rose. I must admit I lost my incentive with all the red stitching but am enjoying it again now. It is easy to pick up whenever as you don't have to find lots of threads. Not far to go on this block now.
 We have been having some lovely times with these little men. They came over yesterday for a little swim and a play on another hot day here in Canberra.
 Little Benny is now walking and he is so cute and happy with himself. So cool to just play in only a nappy!
Lovely cool day here today after lots of hot days. Great for getting things done, I hope.

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

A bit of stitching.....

It is holidays here and even though I haven't had classes there hasn't been too much time for stitching. I did manage to add the beads to the end of my scissor holder and to the little scissor keep on Monday. That makes this project, from last year's cruise, completely finished

 I have also been working on Chateau Hexagon as I so wanted to keep up with this one. Here are the 7 blocks so far. Adding the little hexagons to the background was time consuming and I think mine stretched a little. Must be more careful about the straight grain of the fabric!

 The other job that has kept me busy are these kits for the cruise that Fiona and I (and many other teachers) are teaching on in February. Not long to go now till we leave!

 We have been doing a little baby sitting too. This was last week when it was cool in the morning.
 Today we minded them all day and we stayed mostly indoors as it was very hot. Just feeling a little weary now after a busy but delightful day.

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Alix and Dave's wedding

We headed to Sydney last weekend to attend my niece Alix's wedding to Dave. It was a beautiful service and the bride and groom really enjoyed it all. Alix wore a 100 year old lace dress which had been remade a little. She looked amazing.

 Alix's youngest sister Lara was one of the bridesmaids and there were bridesmen as well!
 Lara sang during the signing of the registry and it is obvious that Alix and Dave enjoyed every minute. She sang so beautifully.



 After the service we enjoyed gelato in the shade of the trees around the lovely old church.



 The photographer was taking family photos so this one I took isn't great but has my brother and his family all together. Sadly one of the twins and her family couldn't make the wedding

Alix had decorated the church with fabric dream catchers, pompoms and bunting.

There were pompoms and bunting at the reception at Dave's family's home. 
 The backyard looked wonderful and the mexican feast was very delicious too.


 Here are Lyndal and I enjoying our drinks in our specially named jars!


It was all so special. Congratulations, Dave and Alix.

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all my lovely readers. Hope you all have a very special 2014 with good health, good times and lots of time for stitching and enjoying your families and friends. We have been very lucky to have had a lovely 2013 with plenty of great stitching adventures, holidays and wonderful family times. It has been great fun being grandparents even if the house looks like a bomb has gone off after they visit! They are such good fun. We are looking forward to a year of play with the boys, some holiday adventures, a stitching cruise for me and lots of great stitching times with friends.
Hubby has been taking some lovely photos of the garden. Here are just two.