OPAM...a new sewing machine...catch up with a friend and a postcard from Russia!!!

Wow...the end of August already and another OPAM (One Project A Month)...

how I am enjoying this project hosted by Peg and Kris!!!

Thanks gals so much for hosting this!!!

This month I have finally finished my A Christmas Wish quilt which was a free BOM (Block of the Month) by Gail Pan...

above is the front of it...

and here is the back...
After beginning cross stitch back in the 1980's...after my daughter did a free sample from Family Circle magazine...I went and bought another copy and did the same...and was hooked!!!
I still have many cross stitch projects here to do...
but slowly I fell into stitcheries...
now into quilting!!!

After over 30 years of the same sewing machine last week Mr Armchair and I purchased a new Bernina machine...(instead of saying machine now I will call it Nina)...with a built in stitch regulator...
This will allow me to do free motion quilting with Nina...that's the plan anyway!!!
I'm all keen to learn quilting now and perhaps some machine embroidery!!!

And here is Nina on our dining room table...
I am so keen I have also ordered a new sewing table and this arrives tomorrow!!!

And look Geo...here is the stitch regulator...

The sample from the shop...my bit is on the right!!!

And my gool old trust Husky which I shall keep and treasure always!!!

Hopefully tomorrow this will all be organized LOL!!!

And in the mail today this postcard from Sue...
showing The St Basil's Cathedral in Moscow...
Thank you Sue!!!

And last week my good friend Natima was in town and we caught up at our favourite bookshop and had a coffee!!!
Great catch up Nat...lovely to see your family again...and Happy Birthday!!!

Now I'm looking forward to tomorrow and starting to get organized...

Happy Quilting...Dzintra♥x

Surprise Gifts In Time For Halloween...A Christmas Wish Quilt Update and Delicious Chocolate Cups!!!

Last week JoJo and I had the best surprise...

a very special gift all the way from California from Vicki

Part of the gift was the very cute Owl from Harry Potter...

found in the box below...

(as you might already know from a previous post I'm a Harry Potter fan...

and have a collection of the stuff!!!)

This is the box we went to pick up at the local Post Office...

Opened up with a card and wrapped gifts!!!
How excited were we to see this!!!

But before opening them we set up our own little party to celebrate!!!
A glass of pink bubbles for me...iced coffee for JoJo...
together with some Rice Crackers and a dip!!!
All by candlelight!!!
Hubby was away overnight and it was just '2 girls' as JoJo calls it!!!

Amongst the gifts...a deck of Harry Potter cards...
Harry Potter glasses....wands...1 each!!!
Party favours...a hard candy kit...

Our very own Sorting Hat...
Boy were we blown away by all this!!!
Thank you so much Vicki for this very very special gift...
and your thoughtfulness...
We are over the moon !!!

This has really gotten us into the Spirit of Halloween...
Halloween is not widely celebrated here in The Land Down Under but I have noticed over the last few years it is slowly creeping in...with shops starting to stock costumes for the children...party treats etc...

So I thought I would research Halloween a little...find some of its' origins and a bit of history to go with it all...
A quick look on Wikipedia led to this...

Halloween (also spelled Hallowe'en) is an annual holiday celebrated on October 31. It has roots in the Celtic festival of Samhain and the Christian holy day of All Saints. The day is often associated with orange and black, and is strongly associated with symbols like the jack-o-lantern . Halloween activities include trick-or-treating, wearing costumes and attending costume parties, ghost tours, bonfires, visiting haunted attractions, pranks, telling scary stories, and watching horror films.

There is a lot of fun associated with this celebration...
so we are going to have our own fun here...
we have never done this before...
we are going to play the Harry Potter cards...
get dressed up for the occassion...
put some Harry Potter movies on...
and hope that the Trick-or-Treaters come again this year...as they did last year and surprised us all!!!
Yay...it's party time!!!

On the stitching front I have put the strips on to my A Christmas Wish quilt by Gail Pan ...
it's now ready for a border...

From the garden these beautiful roses...

it is our 3rd Spring here and I have never seen roses here this size!!!

And a special treat you might like to enjoy this Halloween...or any time that is chocolate time...Chocolate Cups...for the recipe hop on over to my other blog My Dolce Vita !!!

Bon Appetit...and Happy Halloween!!!

And Thank You again Vicki for encouraging us to do this...we are certainly going to enjoy our first Halloween celebration!!!

A Christmas Wish BOM...followed by a Pudding!!!

At the start of this year I thought I would do my first ever Blog BOM (Block of the Month) with Gail Pan...

some fabrics I already had...and a few new fat quarters...

All cut up into neat 128, 2 and 1/2 inch squares...and pinned together in lots of 10...

This was a mystery BOM...suggesting the use of red fabric one month...green the next...along with green/yellow/red/white thread...

I used a different fabric each month...except one fabric was used twice...

squares and fabric all ready...

4 rows of 16 squares...

12 rows of 4 squares...

laying it all out...

I hope to have the quilt top ready soon...not sure if I'll get the quilting done though!!!

I have thoroughly enjoyed this project...the individual blocks were quick to accomplish!!!

I hope to hand quilt this one as per Gail's instructions...basically going around the blocks and diagonally across the smaller ones...

And I'll post it up when complete...perhaps I'll aim for Christmas in July LOL!!!

Thank You Gail for this delightful pattern!!!

A few weeks ago I posted this pic from one of my TAFE classes...

Steamed Golden Syrup Pudding with Anglaise Sauce...

Clarity has requested a copy of this recipe and I have posted it on my Food Blog...

My Dolce Vita...I have slightly altered it and made a gluten free version...and I'm in 'pudding heaven'...not being able to remember the last time I had a regular pudding!!!

If you get a chance...hop on over to Clarity's Wonderland...Clarity's use of words is just dreamy at times...

And here's a pudding of a different nature...a free pattern by Joy Patch...

one of the many talented Designers over at Gum Tree Designers

so hop on over and grab a copy!!!

Enjoy your pudding...be it stitched or from the kitchen...Dzintra

BOM Hanging On The Line...And Spreading The Love

Hello dear Friends on this very hot Friday leading up to the weekend...but I'm not complaining...I'd rather the heat than the cold anytime!!! Here are my centre blocks for Gail Pan's Block of the Month (BOM) Mystery Quilt entitled Christmas Wish...click the BOM on my sidebar for more details. I tea-dyed my calico, hung the little squares up...went back inside...and when coming out I thought how cute do they all look hanging on the line...will have to blog that!!! Have never done a mystery quilt before but after seeing all the girls on the various blogs showing their ones completed...I thought...mmm...maybe give it a go!!!
Only knowing that Gail suggested using red around the centrepiece I used what I had...
...and then when I went to my local Patchwork Shop to see the new premises...I bought 2 fat quarters thinking they will somehow fit in with the Mystery Quilt!!! If they don't it won't matter...they will look nice sitting on the shelf anyway!!! Pictured also are the threads used so far...I used the colours Gail recommended


A couple of pics of the interior...everything looks so nice and new...the colours are all fresh and bright...there is a buzz about it all...and there were some very pretty quilts hanging!!! The colours are all pastely and soft...something I'm not used to...coming from the country to the coast. In the colder mountain/country areas where I come from I lent towards the country/darker colours...still do sometimes...and all these lighter colours are a whole new world for me...but I think the trend these days heads towards the pretty lighter shades anyway!!!

And then...a surprise from Andrea one morning... The Spreader of Love Award...to be shared amongst 5 Lovelies!!! Thank you Andrea for thinking of me...I accept this with...Love!!!
I would like to share this Award with:
Ann...Catherine...Fer...Kath...Micki and Simone (okay that's 6)
This heart made me think of a Valentine's Day Chocolate Heart...can't believe Valentine's Day is only 2 weeks away...so to all the chocolate lovers out there...and especially to you dear Catherine...please enjoy!!! I check in with all these Lovelies regularly...so please pay them a visit when you have a chance!!!
Enjoy this very warm week my Friends...and keep cool, if you can...and to you all in the Northern Hemisphere...I assure you the sun is on it's way...Our mornings are increasingly getting darker very quickly as are our evenings!!!
Thank You for your Visit!!!

A Bit of Holiday Stitching...

Hello my Friends...and first up thank you so much for visiting and leaving your wonderful comments on the Sea Fever poem!!! I am well and truly stoked... After the birth of my new little Grand-Daughter Lidija (pronounced Lydia) in July...she came nearly 2 weeks early...I made a little pram quilt for her...by Leanne's House...I hadn't even started but I had purchased the fabric...and then, fate stepped in and I was on a break from TAFE and my cookery classes...and I put it together in 3 days!!! An accomplishment for me!!! I have my 20 year quilt and my Tulip Quilt on the side bar...they are my only completed quilts...I do have another Work in Slow Progress (WISP)...which I will do a post on soon...I had some strips left over and thought...mmm...enough there for something!!! So...2 little bags...one for my Daughter Jacqueline and one for me...baglover that I am...can't have too many I say...like most of us gals!!! So...after my surgery Jacqueline helped put the strips together as I was only good for sitting, chatting, sipping...and here they are above and below...my one is on the right!!!
...and ta...da...all completed together with the little quilt!!! Me being me...more is more...had to embelish with red buttons and ric-rac. Jacqueline is enjoying hers as the quilt folds up nicely in it...and then she will use it as a stitching carry bag...mine will sit there looking pretty and awaiting the next project...which will probably be Gail's Block of the Month below...

Quilt in reverse...quilted by me...diagonally, my first attempt by machine!!! My 20 year quilt was professionaly done, and the Tulip Quilt by hand...

Gail's Mystery BOM...on the sidebar...quite a few of us have taken on this challenge, including my Blogging Friend...Simone...it's going to be fun and I am looking forward to starting!!! Only thing is I take so long choosing fabrics!!! Not sure whether to make sure I have enough fabric for the whole quilt or just work from the stash...but thinking...use from the stash...adds more to the mystery!!! And Jacqueline...how about it!!!

Amidst all this thinking on the weekend...Christmas was packed up back into the old shipping trunk...awaiting the once a year opening next time around...

...and then to freshen up after the packing away...some Parfum pour la Maison...just a refreshing scent for the New Year and following blissful summer days...All is well in my world!!!