April Showers Quilt and April 2018

Back in April I finished this Quilt named April Showers for my DD

the back, all umbrellas

I had some blocks leftover so I made a little bag to put it in

This Quilt was such a joy to make!!!

I obtained permission from birdsnest which is a clothing store in the Alpine Village of Cooma in the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales to photograph the Quilt on the red bike out the front

I had a Birthday and JoJo make a beaded Eiffel Tower for me on a white tile

Good Job JoJo

I even get to make my own cake on my Birthday lol

This little chook was part of a Quilt for Chookyblue

My Chooky is on the second row number 6

Whilst I was working on the Quilt on a Saturday evening My Armchair brought in a glass of red wine for me

And check this out

I saw this on the net

a perfect drink holder on the sewing table lol!!!

Whilst driving around in the Mountains I saw this Pie Shop at Nimmitabel

Mountain scenery on the way  home

and back at the beach

Its going to be a challenge to leave here if we do but hey maybe we are ready for a new adventure!!!

Finished projects FEBRUARY 2018 and Goings On

Here we are 29 December and I feel quite the stranger here on my Blog

I've had a few things happening with allergies here namely coughing when I eat plus feelings of heaviness and other issues

This all appears to be due to the environment,  and living at sea level

These all but disappear when I go up to higher ground/altitude

Consequently we are looking at moving up to higher ground but its all such a big deal as we have to take JoJo into account and look into new disability services 

In this case we can see where Health becomes No 1 as it would be hard being how I feel as we are getting older

Thank goodness I have spoken with other people and quite a few have similar issues and have moved for similar reasons

And I thought I was a Beach Chick but looks like I could be a Mountain Girl as per my maiden name!!!

First one is a block for Chookyblue for a Quilt that was being organized for her

Seeing she is into chooks and her favourite colour is blue this was my contribution

Next a little pouch using Japanese fabrics and 3 headbands using fat quarters

I also got around to pinning 2 Quilts

The top one is Past Times using from my fat 1/4 stash

and this one is one of Thimbleblossoms patterns

Next up is a block from York Plains by Hat Creek Quilts which I think will go into being a Table Runner

JoJo brought home a little Valentine's gift that she made for us 

A lovely set of Coasters

And of course she requested a special dinner for Valentine's Day

Chicken, Bacon, Tomato, Sweet Potato, Snow Peas all together

And a Dessert to top it off......Apple Snow

And I made Manu Fieldel's Pear and Almond Tart......mmmm, so delicious

I thought I would work on this Stitcher's Roll which is from a Girls Day in the Country Day

Pattern by Anni Downs of Hatched and Patched

February also took me up to the High Country for an experiment to see how I fared up there

These comings and goings went on for the whole year and the results are very encouraging!!!

I set myself up with my sewing machine and relished the time alone during the day at a relative's place

I talked with a real estate agent in the area and he said he had moved about 15 people who had moved to the coast back to this small Alpine town due to asthma, allergies, humidity etc

So far so good for me

We will see what Fate has in store for us!!!

So my Friends I'll see if I can catch up with Goings On for this year.......see how I go lol

~OPAM (One Project A Month) August 2017...'Whanau'

My blog posts have been few and far between this year for various reasons

but I did manage an OPAM for August YAY

A little Farewell Mini Quilt for a Friend going back to New Zealand whilst her Father is not very well

My Friend is a Florist so I thought it apt to take some photos of the Quilt in the Camelia Bush

Little Quilt amongst a Camelia and some Sea Shells

Even though the back doesn't exactly match the front I thought it depicted our coastal area very well

'Whanau' is a Maori word for Family which is what this is all about

I even attached the Camelia to the gift and she just loved this

Many thanks to Sweet Peg and her Partner in Crime Kris for hosting OPAM again this year!!!

~A Meeting with SSCS Partner Dagmar~

This is the little gift I received from Dagmar as she made her way down the Coast a couple of weeks ago.  Dagmar was my Secret Santa Christmas Swap Partner a few years ago.  SSCS is hosted by Chookyblue.  To read the post go over here

Dagmar and me together

Dagmar and Husband Werner

Together with Mr Armchair

We had a look at a map of Germany and Dagmar's area whilst she was here 

This is the Mini Quilt I made for Dagmar.........an Anni Downs of Hatched and Patched pattern.

We had the best time meeting each other.......so much fun!!!

Thank you Dagmar and Werner for coming to see us..........Wunderbar

A Surprise Gift

Last week I received a very unexpected surprise from Kim

Kim has undertaken a world-wide venture to celebrate her 60th birthday this year

She sent out 60 gifts to 60 people and I was included

Above is a card of an oil on porcelain entitled 'Ziva' painted by Kim (McCool) herself

The back of the card

The gifts......a cushion, card, beading kit, fabric and thread

A little cross-stitch cushion

Fabric and threads

Thank you Kim for these absolutely delightful unexpected gifts......they made my day!!!

I hope you had the Best Birthday with many, many more to come!!!

Happy Birthday.......love Dzintra xo

~Floriade Canberra and Tuliptime Bowral~

We recently took JoJo to Florida to see Rick the Organ Man at Florida

Rick is the Proprietor of and operates the Australia Fair Organ 

JoJo is fascinated by this Organ and she talks about it every day even down to the drum on it

Here she is with Rick after she handed over a drawing of the Organ to him

He was tickled pink and is going to put it up in his Workshop

She has built up such a lovely relationship with him over the years

Helping Rick hold up one of the books for playing

Rick kindly gave JoJo a printed Tea Towel and she was just so stoked about this

Thank you so much Rick!!!

You are her Hero!!!

Watching the Organ in action with her Dad

Rick's little Tea Corner which JoJo had me asking him what he has in his Tea.....what he has for lunch etc.....

We took a trip up to the Southern Highlands and also saw Tulips in Corbett Gardens there

All so very, very pretty

down to the Tulips in the bricks!!!

Dzintra xo