Pressies & flowers.

My lovely friend Sheila, sent me a gorgeous table topper for Christmas along with these pretty purple blooms.

Another lovely friend, Lynda(no blog), sent me this project holder for my birthday. I just love it & have a project already in mind to store in it. :)

Here is a full view of both outside & inside. Along with the holder was included some hexagon templates. Lynda must’ve read my mind as i need some 1” templates for a project from Natalie Birds Tis the Season stitchery book. Aren’t i lucky to have 2 such lovely friends. :)

As it is Thursday i’m a day late with posting my hexies. I was going to stop at 100 with the 1” hexies & decide whether to add a path or not. I’ve not counted the hexies for a while & decided to do so today. The count for the 1” hexies is at 107, bit over the 100 i know. :) The 1/2” hexies are at 66 & the 1/4” are at 22.

The 1” & 1/2” hexie blooms,

& the 1/4”.

I decided this year not to make a gingerbread house but to make a star tree. I really hate the recipes supplied with the cutters. I managed to get the dough to work in the end but the stars didn’t cook properly. I think my oven was going out on strike with all the cooking it did on the 24th. Lol. With a bit of determination & luck i managed to get the stars stacked & decorated.

Merry Christmas

Hope everyone has a fabulous Christmas Day & that the New Year brings you all you wish for.

My busy days.

Yesterday i was determined to finish the Christmas Wishes BOM from last year. I was managing to keep up with Gail’s  posting each month but towards the end i got behind. :( At the start of this year i completed the stitcheries & then put it all together & that’s the way it stayed until now.

I needed to wash the hanging but today turned out to be rainy unfortunately so it’s hanging here wet. Hopefully the hanging will dry out quickly.

Of course being Wednesday i also have my hexagon update. Didn’t think i was going to get any done this week but i squeezed them in. Lol. Above are the 1” hexagons.

3 x 1/2” hexagons. I didn’t set out to make the checked one turn out like it did. Just luck when i saw it after i sewed it together. :)  The red one is out of Christmas fabric.


The baby 1/4” one.
Recently in mentioned about visiting Bronwyn’s Red Brolly shop and that i was waiting eagerly for my goodies to arrive. Monday was the day they arrived. :)

2 lovely purse patterns. Bronwyn also had the handles for sale.

Another purse & a Little Carryall for your sewing needs.

The Stitchers Mat. Told you i splurged. :) My Christmas present to myself. :)

Plus i visited Joy to buy one of her new patterns & the lovely Joy sent me a copy of her Tabletopper  pattern as well. Isn’t she sweet? Thankyou Joy.
Lastly i succumbed to joining in the stitch-a-long for next year. This is what we’ll be stitching:

A Christmas stitchery by Natalie Bird.
Jeanette

Storms & Patchwork.

 Yesterday afternoon a storm hit Ipswich. The wind was blowing the rain every which way.We had to shut up the whole house & then we were so hot despite the coolness of the rain. The poor Christmas tree on the front verandah was blown over & was so soggy when i went to stand it back up again. The dog didn’t like it all either. With the rain being blown everywhere it was even going in under the verandah where she usually sleeps. I took pity on her & put her on the verandah that was reasonably dry.

My daughters stood on the back landing taking photos letting the wind & rain in. :)

Just a few shots of what it looked like outside. Inside i set about preparing more things to make. :)
The table topper that matches the little embroidered hexies. You can’t really see them but there is traced patterns around the edge to embroider.

Thought i’d done last years free Christmas stitchery from Gail Pan . Then remembered that i didn’t find it until January because we were without internet all of December and i then put it in a folder & promptly forgot about it. :)


This years design from Gail.

Lovely little stitchery from Lisa,

and this cute design from Catherine,

and these were from a stitchery Christmas decoration offered last year from Vicki. I know i won’t get them all stitched up & finished by Christmas but at least i’ll have a head start for Christmas 2011. :)
Jeanette

My Blooms

Yesterday i set to preparing more hexagon templates for my 1” petals . Got them all prepared & fabrics chosen when i went to get the 1/2” ones out. Damn remembered i’d run out of templates. So an internet search was in order. I didn’t find the original web site i used but found another that had 1/2” templates. Only down side of this web site is that it doesn’t fill the whole A4 paper up.

All templates now prepared & fabrics chosen i sat down to start making flowers. Here are my 1” blooms,

the 1/2” blooms,

and the baby 1/4” bloom.

I’ve been busy preparing more Christmas decorations. I finally managed to get a start on Bronwyn Hayes’ Sugarplum Tabletopper.

Only a little applique to go & then it’s on to the embroidery.

If it doesn’t get finished for this year at least i’ll have a head start for next years Christmas time. :) Lol.

Jeanette

Finishes, Patterns & Books

I’ve managed to get 2 finishes so far for December & well in time for Christmas. :) 

I framed my redwork stitchery. The pattern is a freebie from Kaaren from last year. I didn’t get round to making it then so i changed the date to 2010 when stitching.

2nd project finished is these cute hexagon stitcheries by Nikki Tervo. I didn't get my blooms done this week for my flower garden so these are my hexies for this week. :)

Couldn’t resist these gorgeous patterns by Natalie Lymer.

I was just about to order these 3 books when a fellow blogger offered me her copies to read. The offer was much appreciated & as you can see of course i said yes. :) I’ve read all 3 & enjoyed them immensely.
Forgot to take a photo of this decoration the other day. It was a free pattern offered last year by Gail Pan.

Lastly my daughter decided i need to by this Rachel Hale coffee mug whilst we were out shopping. Like i need another coffee mug. :)
Jeanette
PS: You can see on my right sidebar i've added Bronwyn's link to her new shop Red Brolly. It was dangerous for me to visit as i came away with quite a lot of goodies. :) But then Bronwyn is one of my favourite designers & it is Christmas. :)

More Christmas Decorations

The green tree all decorated on the verandah.

Covered in twinkling fairy lights.

Not a good shot. :( Damn camera takes age to actually take the photo after press the button. The icicle lights flash in different sequences.

Santa,

the reindeer & sleigh except the go in different directions. :) Maybe the reindeer is running away. lol The other light is a star. Didn’t seem to matter how many photo’s i took they just didn’t come out clear enough. Really hate the camera. A new on seems to be in order but it will have to wait as i’ve finally got my new computer. YAY.

My daughter decorated the front doors with tinsel & wreath. She hang all sorts of decoration along the verandah too.

The black Christmas tree with the pumpkin light all aglow.

And last but not least a wallhanging my son forgot to take a photo of.

Jeanette

Christmas Decorating.

Saturday was the day to bite the bullet & start with the decorating. My daughter wanted a black Christmas tree. Don’t know why as we’ve a perfectly good green one. I told her i wasn’t paying $100 but in the January sales this year they were marked down really cheap. Was a lucky find really as the black trees usually sell out. So we’ve 2 trees up now. The black in the lounge & the green one on the verandah.

This tree got all the handmade decorations that i received last year & that i made. I run out of spaces for my little village so on the floor it went. And yes i’ve pumpkin lights rather than Christmas lights. Why? Because i can. :)

Just hope no-one bumps this little collection off the coffee table. Hate to see the nativity get broken.

Christmas bags all in a row. Honestly i didn’t know where to put them all & decided under the windows was a good place to hang them.

Wallhangings & hearts,

the Christmas banner with Santas all in a row & Mr Snowman hanging around.

I’ll be back tomorrow with photo’s of the verandah.

Jeanette

Flowers & Books

 

Since i was busy yesterday finishing some projects i didn’t get to my flowers until today. I put Letters to Juliet in the DVD player & proceeded to sit & sew.

1” blooms,

1/2” blooms,

1/4” bloom. I also watched Book Of Eli whilst sewing. Great movies. Recently these 3 books arrived in the mail. Great reading all 3. The Thorn is book 1 in a trilogy. I have to wait until March i think for the next installment. :( 

Jeanette