July finishes and upcoming show

The weekend was spent back at the machine, sewing up another sewing tote.

I enjoy sewing thes little bags.

I still have copies of these patterns if anyone is interested. See the paypal button on my side bar.

I also finished one of Annie Downs' projects from her latest book

I used wool felt for the bird instead of needleturn applique, it's soo cute!

This weekend is the Hobart Quilt and Craft Fair, you'll find me on Mother's Cupboard stand this year, helping Fee. Fee's been making lots of preparations for this event and is going to have some gorgeous fabrics for sale. There will also be patterns by Ric-Rac and some of her samples on display too on the stand.

Be sure to stop by and check out Fee's lovely Florentine Doily!

Helen will be there too, flitting back and forth between the Snugglybug display to Fee's stand.

This quilt top amongst others will be on display at the Snugglybug stand

and on the Sunday the stand will be attended by a young recipient of one of the first Snugglybug quilts.

So we might see you there!!

Just in the nick of time!

Talk about cutting it fine, I've got a few projects to add to my June list for the OPAM challenge.

These projects, both Marg Low designs, are samples I've made up for the Quilted Crow.

The first is "Aunt Ivy's Sewing Basket"...

it includes, a scissor keep, pincushion, needlecase and a cute little basket.

and the second is two more "Dressy Hangers"

wouldn't they make the sweetest gift and they're pretty quick to whip up.

Thank-you to my Mum who helped me out too.

Now talking about The Quilted Crow, they're having a sale so be sure to pop by, it ends the 1st July!

They're all Pretties!

My hubby has returned from his little trip to the Gemboree which means I have my camera back and I can share some photos with you.

Here's the great package of goodies Elyte sent me for the Ugly Swap. Elyte teamed up my greenish and brown print with a rich brown and gold to make a zippered pouch, covered notebook, needlecase and pincushion plus she included a beautiful tea cosy! Don't you think Elyte has done a fabulous job!! I love them all, thank-you Elyte you've been a wonderful swap partner!

At the recent gathering Helen challenged a few of us to turn a 1/16th piece of fabric into something by tomorrow. My piece of fabric was striped so I teamed it up with a floral print that I picked up at Fiona's on Saturday and using the link that Elyte found created a zippered pouch.  This is a great project to practice stippling and zippers, two things I fear most in the stitching world. I think I've done a pretty good job just don't look too closely at the stippling, I definitely need more practice.

I've also finished two BOM blocks, the first is from Cori's new free BOM Baby Bracelet Blessings

and the second is Block G from A Gardener's Journal, with a slight variation, can you pick it?

I've got the whole week off work, hopefully I'll have a few more finishes to show you soon!

Hope you all had a visit from the Easter Bunny, I'm all chocolated out!!

Finishes and a teen

Helen and Fiona joined me on Saturday for a bit of stitching. It's always lovely to catch up with friends.
Sorry but no pics, we were too busy chatting.

I started a cover for my work diary and finished it on Sunday. It was inspired my Marg Low's gorgeous journal covers.

I also put the finishing touches on another little sewing bag

and I have to mention "Happy Birthday" to my DS who turned 13 recently. I organised a surprise birthday party and a sleepover with 5 of his friends. They had a great time playing basketball, throwing water bombs and playing computer games. It was a long 24 hours for me with lots of food preparation and cleaning up but it was worth the look on his face when we all yelled out "SURPRISE!"

So he's now a teen, a 6 foot tall one too, he's taller than me now so apart from my dog, Lucy, I'm now known as the short one :-(

They grow up too fast, enjoy every minute of them while they're babies.

One thing I do love is that I still get cuddles :-)

Hi, Ho, Hi, Ho, it's off to work I go!

Well my holiday is over and it's back to the old grindstone. It seems nothing has change, no fairy has come in and finished off all those uncompleted tasks from 2009. Ah well at least I still have a job.

My time off was great, I got in heaps of relaxation and a bit of sewing too. We went camping and fossicking, celebrated DS's 13th birthday and enjoyed plenty of time together as a family.

I've already got 3 finishes for January, Rosalie Quinlan's gorgeous Bucket Bag and needlecase

Marg Lowe's  Beautiful Christmas Stocking

and another Rosalie Quinlan project, Nellie's Bag

I enjoyed making all of these!

The advent swap is complete and was successful for some with only a couple who were dissappointed. It's a shame when people sign up for swaps and then don't complete them, it's so disheartening.

Anyway my resolutions for 2010 include no swaps, oh apart from the FQ Birthday swap I signed up for but that doesn't involve hours of work. 2010 is going to be all about me and finishing off projects that I've started like An Angel's Story, The Quilt Aid quilt, Gardener's Journal and various other quilts in different stages of construction. I'm going to endeavour to reply to all emails and blog regularly and try and keep up with all those blogs I follow.

I hope 2010 is a great year for you all!

Hugs

Jo