AWAITING NEW YEAR

 

After all the stitching, all the decorating, posting and receiving gifts and eating lots of things I shouldn't it is time to take a breath, drink lots of water and relax. I haven't done any stitching for many days now so I best get back to it before I lose my mojo. There were still a few freebie designs popping up but they can wait for next Christmas. Next year is exciting because I have joined a birthday club and another swap . I just hope I can keep up with it all.


Before I get on with it I need to show you a most beautiful little angel I received all the way from Norway. Hanne  has a lovely blog and I always enjoy seeing all her beautiful projects.

On Christmas Eve I opened Barb's pressie.  As Barb hasn't been to my place for quite a while I think she as taken note of my blog posts in the past because this beautiful cross stitch and frame are so perfect for my family room.  My furniture is a bit French so voila!

 

 

It came with the cutest little wooden owl which is hanging up next to a cornucopia Barb made me a few Christmases ago.

 

 

 

 

 

I have made some progress on one of my little Civil War quilts.

 

 

 

 

And I have started another one. So that is 3 tops I will most likely have completed at the same time. I so love hand piecing but need some variety heheheh.

 

 

 

 

I do hope you are taking the time to relax after the busy season. I don't know about you but I plan to stitch , stitch, stitch.

 

Angel Blessings.

 

 

 

 

IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS

I never used to bother about Christmas decorations once the children became teens and then adults. However, since I became an avid stitcher, patchworker and quilter I found that I rather like red and white and the many Christmas patterns created by our very own talented Australian designers. Unfortunately, I failed to complete the Wish Quilt which was a freebie from Red Brolly a couple of years ago. All the blocks are finished but I still haven't made all those checker board sashings. I also haven't made the beautiful freebies from Red Brolly this year. But, here are little pillows I made last year. This  very easy tablerunner was made using Lynette Anderson's fabrics and the little round candle holder was a gift from Barb one year.

 This table mat/wallhanging is a Rosalie Quinlan design and I have stitched the pair to it but haven't yet completed the piecing. It is now in my finishing drawer to be done soon. The Santa was a gift from a lady who was in one of my patchwork groups and passed away earlier this year at the age of 92. Such a lovely way to remember dear Lesley.

 

 

 

This candle mat and little quilt are both Gail Pan designs and the angel was a gift from lovely Cheryll.

 

 

 

 

 

This is the Fig 'N' Berry wallhanging I completed a while ago .

 

 

 

 

I made 4 of these Sashiko stars. So quick and easy.

 

 

 

 

There are a few other things hanging up around the  house including my favourite wallhanging quilt which was a free BOM of Gail Pan's many years ago and a few cherished handmade gifts from friends. I haven't taken pics this year.

 

My daughter popped around this afternoon asking for some passionfruit but the vine has no fruit. It does have these beautiful flowers though. I wish I could stitch it.

 

 

 

 

 

Once again, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year.

 

Angel Blessings.

 

"SEW" THIS IS CHRISTMAS

Have you all completed your Christmas stitching?  Believe it or not I am still steadily stitching the hours away completing some Christmas decos.  I had a few days where I couldn't stitch no thanks to my FMS ( Fibromyalgia) playing up rather badly and a night in emergency at my local hospital as a result of side effects from the pain killers I was taking. Grrrrrrrr. So, this afternoon I completed the last of 3 pressies for my great nieces and one of my great nephews. I made little dilly bags with their initial appliqued on the front and a gift inside. Originally I had intended to make the girls little handbags and the boy a wallet with pockets in it to put his matchbox cars in. Alas, I could not find any patterns in time so I decided to wing it and make some dilly bags instead. Even that was trial and error !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the things that went inside the bags were these. I cannot take credit for them, they were made by a friend. Great idea huh?

 

 

 

 

 

 

I posted small pressies to some lovely bloggy friends.

 

 

 

 

 

After much ado trying to find some wheat and discovering the smallest bag I could buy was 5kg, I made 3 wheat bags for my beauty therapist as a gift. ( I think I will be making a lot more or giving the wheat to my daughter's chooks! )

 

 

 

 

 

 

These little items were in one of those pressies but I cannot say who they were for until they have received them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And this was posted today to..............

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry about so many photos, I got all excited hehehehe.  Now that I have finished all the gifts I can focus on finishing those decos  so I can put all my Christmas things on display this weekend.

 

Many thanks for all your lovely comments and friendship this year. I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year with an abundance of all good things. I may post again before Christmas Day depending on other commitments and my health status.

 

Many Angel Blessings.

 

 

MORE OF PLAY DAY

Want to see what I made at the Day of Play?  Some gift tags......

                                                              

                                                                   Stencilled calico....

 

 

 

Painted and stamped fabric......

 

 

 

 

 

And painted and stamped frame, box and little stars.

 

 

 

 

Ofcourse, I had to buy some more patterns. I looove Fig 'n' Berry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not to mention some Theodora Cleave buttons. Sooooo beautiful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The gorgeous Shez presented me with these lovely goodies. Thanks so much Shez, I shall certainly have fun sorting through all the yummy buttons and getting ready to stitch the patterns. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AND  this parcel arrived from lovely Barb in plenty of time for Christmas. I promise I won't open it until Christmas Eve. Can't wait for Christmas Day hehehehe.

 

 

 

 

 

The last few days I lost my stitching mojo as I have not been well but I got back into it today.

 

 

 

 

Gail's designs always cheer me. This is the 2nd time I have stitched this particular one. Gail has a lovely free Christmas design for you to print up and start stitching. Just pop over here to get it.

 

Sorry this post has so many pics, I got excited. Thanks for stopping by.

 

Angel Blessings.

 

 

 

GIFTING

Yesterday I attended Barb Smith's,( Theodora Cleave buttons ), " Day Of Play " in Baxter which was hosted by the lovely Karen from Mrs Martin's Quilt Shop. I was so excited knowing that I was going to catch up with my bloggy friends Shez and Melody who I had not seen for a year and I wanted to make them both a little something. I think I showed the works in progress as secret sewing so here are the finished pressies.


This one was for Mel as I , for some reason, thought it called her name when I found the design in an English magazine. I tweaked the design a little as it originally had a worm in the bird's mouth and said The Early Bird Catches The Worm. I got rid of all that and stitched stars freehand so it wouldn't be too bare.

 

 

This one was for Shez from Gail Pan's book "Patchwork Loves Embroidery" but I framed it instead of making it into something. 

 

 

 

 

 

I couldn't believe how much trouble I had trying to find 8 " wooden embroidery hoops. Apparently, I have been told, Birch are no longer making them. Is this true? Does anyone know for sure? I am now hunting around Op Shops incase I cannot buy them anymore as I really love framing stitcheries in them.  Anyhoo, mission accomplished, the girls have received them and now I am on to finishing  some Christmas pressies.

 

 

So, the Day of Play was tremendous fun. I took some pics of the beautiful displays. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shez, Mel and Cheryl oooing and ahhhing over all the buttons.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shez and I

 

 

 

 

 

 

I will put some pics up of the things I made at the workshop next time. I hope you have had a wonderful weekend . Thanks for visiting. Angel Blessings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

3 FINISHES

Who woulda thunk it? Yes, I have actually managed to complete 3 projects within the last few days. Yey me! The first one is the Gail Pan stitchery I started at her workshop back in August but I ran out of thread and had to wait for it to be reordered. Then I finished it but couldn 't find the right buttons to stitch on it. So, finally,here it is in all its glory. Hand quilted ofcourse.

Then I found this cute stitchery sitting on my sewing table amongst all the mess. I think I completed it at least a year ago but was too lazy to frame it. I found the frame at an Op Shop a few years ago ( I tend to collect them incase I need to frame things), but had put them both aside in the too hard section of the messy table. So, yesterday was THE day. I cut the lid of a shoe box to mount it on as I couldn't find any cardboard  in my stash thick enough. The result is this. I just love the painted wooden sewing machine button.

 

 

 

Remember Gail Pan's free pattern fussy cutting one of her fabrics? Finished! Unfortunately, I didn't purchase enough of her fabric range and had to use some of Lynette Anderson's but I think they go together quite nicely. I machine pieced it (I know, I know, don't fall off your perch), and was rather delighted to see it come together so quickly.  BUT, in all my excitement, I decided I would attempt to machine quilt it. (2nd time you have fallen off your chair?) So, I quilted in the ditch very very  s l o w l y and carefully and was rather pleased with it. So, a bit more adventurous now, why not do some free motion on the borders? Ummmmm, well, one can see why I should not have gone there. After struggling to attach the darning foot, lower the feed dogs, set to 0 etc, I began to wonder why anyone in their right mind would machine quilt when all I usually do is thread a needle! The stitches are irregular sizes and I unpicked stitches countless times before putting it all aside and starting again the following day. I persevered despite the perspiration , cussing and throbbing headache and this is the completed quilt. It is only for me and I do so love Gail's sweet fabrics.

 

 

 

 

 

Now I can get on with more finishes this coming week. Oh yeah, I have cut out the pieces for another little Civil War quilt but haven't started stitching it yet as I need to complete the other 2. Not far off  now. Thanks for visiting again. Angel Blessings to you all. 

ANGEL DELIGHT

It is true. Angels do descend upon us. I was so thrilled to discover a parcel in my letter box yesterday. It was a gift I won from Cheryll's 400th blog post. Cheryll lovingly made this beautiful angel wall hanging for me in the colours of my choice. Isn't she adorable?

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was looking forward to receiving my wall hanging but got a complete surprise to find 2 more beautifully wrapped parcels included.

 

 

 

 

 

Lo and behold another angel appeared!

 

 

 

 

...... and then some cherubs on beautiful notepaper, with 2 packets of star buttons. I neglected to take a pic of these unfortunately. Next time.

 

 

Drum roll please...... A finish!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Thankyou so very much Cheryll for your beautiful  thoughtful pressies. Cheryll is an amazing lady who brings many bloggers together around the world organising heaps of awesome swaps and she also finds time to sew for charity. Please go and have a look at Cheryll's blog for some incredible inspriration and enjoyment.

 

Angel Blessings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

QUILT SHOW

Last weekend one of my patchwork groups had their quilt show. I was there all day Saturday being a quilt angel , greeting people at reception and selling raffle tickets . Despite the cold, wet and windy weather we had quite a few people attend . Unfortunately, I wasn't there on Sunday and I missed Melody! If you pop over to her blog you can see heaps of quilts she took pics of. Just click on her name for the link. I only have a few pics. The first pic is a beautiful hexie quilt which is a variation of the Insanity quilt that I am doing.  I love the way the borders have followed the zig zag of the hexies. and the stitcher has also appliqued all the little hexies along the edges on the back. I can't remember the lady's name but shall put it up on my next post. Apologies. Yes, that's me in the oversized apron and wrinkly white gloves. Apparel wasn't provided for my height deficiency. Hehehe.

 

 

 

This next one is Rae's hand pieced quilt which she stitched and finished waaaay before me! She saw the copy of the pattern I had, decided she liked it and did it. I completed all the rows of hexies  a couple of years ago and have made 2 central borders of the stars but that is as far as mine got.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This next one is Brenda's fan quilt that I would dearly love to  make. Hubby took all these pics for me so I apologise that they are not close ups.

 

 

 

 

 

Since then I have done another little stitchery for a pressie.

 

 

 

 

 There is also one in my hoop.

 

 

 

 

 

I know, I know, I need to finish things before starting more.  My excuse is that these are for pressies, secret stitching.  In my sewing room I have the binding ready to stitch down on the Christmas wallhanging and the Gail Pan one too. So, hopefully I shall get those completed tonight.

 

I hope you have enjoyed the sunshine today. I picked some flowers.

 

 

 

 

Angel Blessings to you all.

MORE TO FINISH

Oops! I did it again! Another stitchery to go into the finishing drawer.

And a little fussy cut quilt top using a free Gail Pan design from her blog with her gorgeous fabrics.

 

 

 

This past weekend one of my patchwork groups ( Westernport Quilters). had their quilt show in Tyabb. I have a couple of pics to share from my hubby's phone but he hasn't uploaded them yet so I shall put them on my next post.  We had a few stalls there selling their wares and I bought some little birdhouse buttons for a stitchery quilt I have been intending to complete for a few years now.

 

 

 

 

 

I was doing the happy dance when my Primitive Quilts mag arrived in the mail last week and I also have  Daphne's Diary to drool over with a cuppa.

 

 

 

 

 So now I must get back into that sewing room and finish off a few things . Hmmmm need to trace more stitcheries too.  I hope you get a chance  to relax as much as Clay does.

 

 

 

 

 

Angel Blessing to you all.