How natty is this??

What a busy week! Not without it's screaming frustrations difficulties but all in all, a good week. Spent a fabulous day at the Brisbane Craft Fair with Bill the Builder's niece and bought a little silicon mould.

Not a very clear photo but it is a mould whereby you push a small piece of coloured fondant into the base and then some green over the top, then press the whole thing out and hey presto! Gorgeous little decoration for the best patty cakes in the whole world....mine, of course!

I made these cakes for the birthday party yesterday and they went down a treat. Also made some mini-quiches and you can see one peeking out on the bottom left hand side of the photo.

Started the day off at the fair with a crochet class on how to crochet a hibiscus! That left me open to scorn and derision a questioning look from Carolyn but it was a wonderful start to the day for me. There was one hour tuition, a bamboo hook and two balls of beautiful cotton so excellent value, to my mind.

And who among you does not need a crocheted hibiscus, hmmm??? It needs to be pressed so that the petals tighten up but I am just delighted with it! I was remarkably restrained very responsible with my purchases and even came home with $20! Here is my haul.

The soap mould at the back was a tad extravagant at $10 because I have seen them in the junk shop for $3 but haven't been able to find one for a while and I want them for Christmas gifts, so bit the bullet. Carolyn and I spent a half hour with the truly talented Helen Dafter who would have to be one of the nicest people I have ever met. We did a tutorial in ribbon embroidery and thoroughly enjoyed Helen's sense of humour. Janet Samson had a display of her beautiful embroidered quilts and so the show special had to come home with me. Janet's work stitches out beautifully and she has such pretty designs. They are not showing up very clearly here but take my word for it, they are just lovely.

It was a bit of a kicker that the car blew a heater hose and had great gusts of steam issuing from the bonnet as we pulled into the carpark of the fair but at least it didn't happen on the way in. We did the responsible thing and went to the fair any way so that the car could cool down. Long story short, we came home in a tow truck! I love RACQ! Tow truck driver was a delightful young man who described himself as a former troubled child and told us how he had turned his life around. Very inspiring story.

Only one SBS block done this week. Sickle block, which went together quite well and is traditionally pieced. Need to go back to Farmer's Wife Sampler too, as well as get a wriggle on with an embroidered quilt for gorgeous daughter-in-law. And the weekend ended on a high note with the 5th birthday party for the most adorable grandson in the whole world. I love this little guy so much. He brings true joy and happiness to my life. Happy birthday, Hannes!

Blowing out the candles on his Giggle and Hoot cake. What a lovely day we had in the park with family and all his little friends.



There's been a change in plans Barbie..........

I've spent the last couple of days making really slow great progress on Lily's quilt. With encouragement and phone tutoring from Lynda, I did away with the original 9 patch blocks on the quilt and replaced it with double Irish Chain.

I had to do a bit of deconstructing and reconstructing which I hate with a passion which I don't mind and have two more rows to sew together and add on.

I had to redo this squirrel (in the top right hand corner in the first photo) because I hadn't centred it properly and when I put the border on, the tail was in the border seam. Tried not to let it bug me and leave it there but.....nah. It bugged me.  I used this design twice. Just reversed it and changed the colours.

The embroideries are a mixture from the Sue Box designs 'Timeless Teddies' and 'Woodland Treasures'. I love her designs. They always stitch out beautifully and have excellent detail. I'm really pleased with the way the quilt is turning out. It's looking really pretty and will be a nice size when it's finished. My SIL has an obsession with washing which is the reason I've only done machine embroidery. Hopefully this quilt will hold up a bit better than the hand embroidered 'Little Chicken Feather' that I made for my other niece and which gets washed at least once a week. Yeeks!

Honey....I'm home

Blimey! Is it really so long since I last posted??  Life and all its complications got in the road of my stitching and I lost my mojo! But Lynda was right all the time. My mojo was sitting on Marion's back verandah all the time!

My gorgeous daughter shouted me three fabulous days at one of my favouritest places in the whole world (or any other big place). The Quilters Rest at Kingaroy, run by the wonderful Marion and Alan. Ang decided I needed a break away. I don't think it was because I was sitting on the floor in the corner of the lounge, drooling and jabbering, but I could be wrong. So I set sail on Friday afternoon, armed with a heap of stuff and a vat of wine and after a lovely drive up, arrived in time to have a cup of coffee and the best banana cake I've ever eaten. There were five other ladies already there and had been partying since the day before.  I finally quilted Little Chicken Feather for my beautiful grandson and finished the binding on Sunday.  Here 'tis.....

I also quilted another quilt for my gorgeous daughter-in-law (still to finish binding, so photo to come) for her birthday next month. Was really chuffed with the quilting. I used the new Pfaff 18" quilting machine and I must say, the big throat area really made the job quick. The quilt above is 65" x 72" and it was done in about three hours (allowing for regular injections of red wine). I just did a loose meander on this one. I do love doing feathers though and learned the fast and easy way (which I am heavily into) from this book.

As I was getting ready to pack up and come home on the Monday, I received the dreadful news that the river was up over the guide rails and I would not be able to leave that day. You can imagine how I felt about having to stay longer but I put on a brave face and proceeded to make two long strips of this...

which will be teamed with this.....

to make this.

I bought all the fabric as listed for the pictured quilt and am marginally disappointed that the fabric is quite a bit brighter than shown in the magazine. However, I still like it and will be making it while my embroidery machine chugs along on some Sue Box embroideries. I am making a quilt for my newest niece, Lily and have done these so far...

The pink and cream 9 patches are not as dark as they appear in this photo so I am going to redo them, probably whack a pale green border around this lot and then maybe slip into a 2 1/2" square frenzy to make it bigger......or not. I also prepped three applique blocks of Teddlywinks Tea Party for my other niece, Charlotte, and have started on those as well. So it is all systems 'go' in this neck of the woods and today is cold, wet and dark........perfect for stitching!

Another Christmas finish......

Ooops! Not a great photo! This is the little pin cushion I made for the mini-gift in my Early Bird Christmas Crafting. I am so happy with it. I got the pattern from here and as a very beginner, it took me a while to get the hang of it but then it was very easy. The photo shows more of my flowers than the pin cushion, but you get the general idea. It didn't take me very long to make it and I'm going to make one for myself as well. I love it! So that is two gifts ready for Christmas. Cannot believe it! I am becoming hooked on knitting and crocheting but Lynda says I have to back off a bit or I will be in strife with another stash - i.e. wool! I am also knitting a pair of slipper socks and another beanie.

And speaking of flowers, this gorgeous rose was waiting for me this morning. It is just beautiful and gets bigger and bigger as it opens up. The perfume is so strong that it will waft into the lounge room occasionally. How special is that?

Hmmmm......Now what in the world could this little stash be for???? It is going to be my next project for my Christmas Crafting! The embroidery was done on my 300E and turned out perfectly. I was so happy with it. Can't wait to sew this one up. I love the colours and it turns out that the pink fabric is a perfect match for the embroidery, even though it doesn't really look like it here.

Totally excited about my visitors who will turn up some time tomorrow! Yaahh!! It is still cold here so we'll have jail food for dinner. I am thinking stew and sticky date pud (not in the same bowl though!). Saturday we'll visit some patchwork shops and maybe go to the movies. Sunday and Monday will see us road tripping! What an excellent way to spend a long weekend. Better go buy some food to feed the hungry travellers and then put the fire hose though the house!

It's been a while......

After much nagging from someone who shall remain nameless (but whose initials are Lynda), I am back in blogland! I have found so many new blogs and I get such pleasure from reading them, that I've been shamed into resurrecting my own blog.

It has been a busy few months - some birthdays, a trip to the USA, a scrapbook retreat, a Christmas, a road trip down south, some more birthdays, a quilt retreat and another scrapbook retreat.

I am now unemployed and only just starting to get used to that and enjoy it properly. It is a learned skill, just as being employed is a learned skill. I thought I'd have a lot more time for quilting, sewing, reading and the other good things in life but it seems like I have less! Note to self - get a grip and get organized!

I embroidered a set of 7 "Days of the Week" tea towels for Angela's birthday (yes, she did want them!) and they turned out really well. Bought cotton/linen blend towels from here which were just a treat to embroider. Service was amazing and the towels arrived the next day! Then I used designs from Embroidery Library. They turned out beautifully and Ang was delighted. The last scrapbook retreat was also part of her gift.

Our trip to the States was just fabulous! San Francisco, New York, Boston, Washington, Los Angeles and heaps of other places because Bill the Builder is obsessed about car hire and we always do a lot of driving around.  This results in nasty slurs against my navigational abilities, even though we had the trusty Tom Tom on board. We were driving from Washington back to New York, hopefully via Philidelphia but ended up alarmingly close to Canada!! MUCH abuse as we got further and further away from New York!

Oooops! Turned out I had left the "no toll roads" option on and all roads from Washington to New York must have been tolls! We chose "no tolls" so that we could see something of the countryside. It was a fabulous holiday and we are thinking of going again around the same time this year.

Bill the Builder says I have to get a job if I want to go anywhere, but I think..................naaah!