Pets & patterns

This is our new resident. Jasper the Cockatiel. My fur baby tolerates birds as she has been brought up with them. She is the only cat of my 3 that we will put the birds near though.

Here she is with my daughter's Peachface, Bubbles on her back. The bird kept running away when i was trying to get a photo so my daughter had to hold it. :)

Finished Shell's latest heart in her lovely BOM. Today i received a parcel from Shell. I'd recently ordered 2 of her gorgeous patterns & the Valdani threads to go with them.

 Shell always wraps things so lovely.

& includes lovely choccies & a teabag. I've eaten the choccies & i'm drinking the tea whilst typing this.

Shell also included a special gift for me - 2 pieces of weavers cloth. I'm so lucky. Thankyou Shell, Harrington & Hannah.


Happy Stitching,

Fun Day Out.

Wednesday night my friend Pammi asked me what i was doing Thursday. "Nothing" i replied. She then asked would i like to go & have a stitching day with Joy. "Yes, sounds good" So off we set on our road trip down to Joy's house. On arrival we found that Nikki had dropped in for a visit as well. The morning was filled with laughter & chatting. Nikki had to leave before lunch as she had stock to make. I guess you are wondering did any stitching get done after lunch then? I can tell you no that the afternoon was filled with more laughter & chatting.

Whilst at Joy's i got her latest pattern,

Her gorgeous Doctor's bag. Though i really think she should've given me the beautiful black one she made. :) hehe

We then went for a drive over to Nikki's home where she has her shop situated. I purchased a few things there,

Some lovely patterns &

fat 1/4's plus gorgeous cat & birdhouse buttons. Then we had more laughter & chatting with Nikki. Such a fabulous fun day. Thanks girls.

As you saw in my previous post i'm in an online group who swapped Christmas stockings. I can now show you what i sent my partner Jenny,

The front. I used either running postman or hugs n kisses Cottage Garden thread for the embroidery.

The back.
Happy Stitching,

Exciting mail today.

I was busy sewing when i heard the front gate bang shut. Went out to see what was delivered & saw it was only a book i'd been expecting had been pushed through onto the verandah. As i picked it up i happened to glance out onto to the stairs & there sat another parcel. Ahh excitement now as i knew the stockings from a swap i joined were due to be sent this week - could this be mine from my secret partner? I looked at the state on the addy & wondered if it was from who i thought if was or who else in the group maybe from Tassie. I knew as soon as i opened the outer wrappings & saw the envelope. Yes it was from the lovely Fee. In the excitement i forgot to take a photo of the parcel all wrapped up so had to take it after.

Gorgeous dogs & a lovely blue ribbon.

Here is my beautiful stocking & goodies Fee sent. When i opened the tin i got a further surprise as Fee had put buttons in there too. Thankyou so much Fee i just love the stocking & goodies. Can't wait to Christmas now to hang my stocking. :)

Happy Stitching,

another finish.

This little hanging should have been finished last month but at least it's done now. It was the first pattern from the Christmas club i'm in.

The 2nd pattern arrived last week & Sandy included a lovely fat 1/4 as a gift.

Happy Stitching,

1st finish for August

I finally managed to get back to my machine. I've spent a lot of time lately going back & forth to the Dr's & to have x-rays & ct scans done. Tomorrow it's back for another ct scan to have a cortisone injection. That should be fun. NOT. I was hoping to have more sewn today other than the 2 projects i worked on but 1 of the kids dropped in & that cut into my sewing time quite a bit. :)

This is what i did finish - a cushion cover made from one of Shell's gorgeous pattern. The other project needs to have a bit of quilting done & then the binding sewn down. Hopefully that will be done tonight. Can't see much being worked on at all tomorrow.

Happy Stitching,

One Flower Day

Been a while since i posted about my flower garden quilt. I'm slowly making progress.

I think i only have 1 or 2 more rows to go & then all my flowers will have been added. Not sure what i'll do with it then. Whether i'll add more flower & stones or just leave it the size it is & make a lap quilt out of it or use it on a table.

Happy Stitching,

1 Xmas item

 Today is Narelle's 1 Xmas item day. Here is the Santa sack i made for Sheryl in Cheryll's Santa sack swap. I had hoped to have a few more things done but the month has got away on me. :)

Happy Stitching,

Bits & Pieces

One of my cats loves to squeeze into small or unusual spaces. The other night found him under the computer table. The shelf is very narrow but he slept for hours there without falling off.

 Every year we make a trek to a bush lemon tree that we found beside a road out in the country. They make the best lemon butter. Recently we picked the last of them.

The lemon butter doesn't last long in my house. I manged to get a photo of a bottle from the last batch. I'll be making more tomorrow as i've had requests for a bottle of it.

A friend grows lemonade fruit & recently gave me some.

I squeeze them to make lemonade although they are quite delicious to eat.

Very refreshing lemonade. Pity it wasn't summer as it would be great then.

A couple of weeks ago Bec mentioned on her blog she was selling off fabrics, patterns & books. I bought her stash of Civil War/Repro fabrics. :)

Lots of yummy fabrics. :)

I've been working on this pattern from Shell

And bought these patterns & Cosmo thread.

I need a new armchair caddy as mine is years old now & wearing out.

Happy Stitching,

Happening's on my patch

 I've been busy stitching these. The BOM"s from Shell & Paula. The Christmas stitchery is the first project to arrive in the Christmas club i joined.

 I bought this name tag a while back but had forgotten to take a photo.

 Admired these at Joy's & when she said about getting them off eBay of course i had to have a look & found a set to buy for myself. It make a great shelf to sit my little iron & now my rule steady as well.

The rule steady which i recently purchased & the cute little needlecase from Marg

Closed,

Opened.

Patterns i've recently bought,

fabrics for projects & these 2 great books i found.

I've read them both & enjoyed them immensely. The Goodbye Quilt is about a Mum creating a memory quilt as she journeys across America by car with her daughter to deliver the daughter to college. The Healing Quilt is about a group of women in a small American town that get together to make a quilt to raise funds for a new mammogram machine as theirs is outdated & it's reported that there is a high rate of breast cancer in the their region. As they piece & then hand quilt the quilt you learn of their stories & how getting together to talk as they quilt heals their wounds & why they name The Healing Quilt. I must admit i cried a lot. lol

Happy Stitching,

2 more finishes

 Despite having my day shortened by having to go to the Dr's & then sit there waiting for ages to get in i did managed to finish 2 more bags yesterday. I really don't know why they make appointments at Dr's i've yet to get in on time. :(

One side of "housework". Another lovely Joypatch pattern

& the other.

This bag pattern of Joy's is called "shopping". Lovely big bag to hold all my goodies.

Oh yes. I told a lie yesterday. :) I actually bought 3 things from the Hand made market but i forgot all about this one.

My charm bracelet. Next time i go i'll get beads to go in between the charms. I chose a teapot because i love all things tea, a seahorse because they are so cute, the battle axe because i play World Of Warcraft, the cat because i love cats :), the rose, well i love them too & the leaf because i liked the filigree look of it.

Happy Stitching,

2 finishes & things

Last week was a washout for anything. I had plans too as it was the girls first week of the school holidays. Went down with a severe migraine & nausea. I normally don't get the nausea with migraines but this year i started to & it's driving me to distraction. I couldn't eat & hardly drink for several days this time around. All i managed was a little handsewing on a few days. Yesterday i sat down to finish a couple of things. One i can't show you as it's for a swap but the other finish i can.

"will power" bag pattern by Joy.

A couple of weeks back Pammi & i went to the local handmade markets. Lots to see & i only bought 2 things.

This gorgeous little bucket which resides on my cutting table to throw scraps into & the cute little owl is just for decoration.

Last week saw the arrival of the first pattern in the Christmas club i joined. Sandy also inlcuded the lovely Cottage Garden thread to stitch the pattern with.

I have some especial good news. Yesterday saw the early arrival of my great Nephew Thomas Eli. He is one special baby. You see my brother, Ian Thomas, was killed in August 1982 8 weeks after his only child was born. His daughter named Thomas after her dad's middle name.

Happy Stitching,