It's Christmas !!!!!

Well, it's taken me long enough but I think at last I am getting the Christmas spirit. The tree is up and decorated, the cards have been sent and the presents are wrapped. Just the last minute shop for food, a quick house clean, then some preparation and I'm there. Our Christmas morning will be quiet but will give Chris and I some time to sleep in then enjoy a leisurely breakfast together to celebrate our birthdays before the family arrives mid afternoon. I love the fact that we share our birthday and this year it is Chris's 60 th, he hates fuss so no party, although it has always been hard to organize anything near Xmas anyway, every one's so busy at this time of year.

Before I go, must show you what I sent for Maree's Christmas Swap. Three of these I can add to my OPAM list for December.

Something for Xmas : An apron, a Christmas tree plate, a beaded Christmas tree ornament which I made, some choccies.

Something smelly: Lavender hand cream, exfoliating gloves.

Something to read : Tea or coffee, some chocolate and magazine.

Something Handmade : A handbag and notebook wallet.

Something for the craft room : 2 Fat quarters, scissors, buttons, Stitchery, DMC thread.

I really enjoyed doing this swap. I loved making the bag and wallet and I intend to make some more of these as gifts as they are quite quick to sew once the cutting out is done.

I was in a birthday fat quarter swap organised by Maree also and so I have 3 parcels that have arrived for that but I am going to wait to open them on my birthday.
Well, must go, to everyone who has taken the time to read my blog, I would like to...........

WISH YOU AND YOUR FAMILY A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR

I hope you will call in again next year. Until then it's bye for now. Noela

Snakes, storms and quilting....

An interesting thing happened to me yesterday as I went to feed my chickens. Opened the back shed and a red-bellied black snake slithered away from the door. Probably only about 3 feet but it got my heart racing. Needless to say I quickly shut the shed. Rang the snake catcher man and he came and caught it for me. I certainly got quite a fright. I know they are around but always imagine they are in someone else's yard not yours. Am going to buy a pair of wellington boots to wear in the yard in future and get some for the grand-kids as well. Scary..........
While waiting for the snake catcher, we had a bad storm and lost power for 8 hours so I think I have had enough excitement for this week, do you agree?

Earlier this year, I joined Maree's Xmas Swap and received the name of the person who I was to send my parcels to. Below are the wrapped parcels I sent last week. It is good to know the parcel arrived safely and Vanessa enjoyed receiving her gifts.

I also received my parcel and even though I promised myself I wouldn't open it until Christmas, I gave in after a couple of days. So here are my gifts sent by Marlene. Thank you so much, they are all lovely. I am looking forward to putting my table runner on the table Christmas morning. Included, something to read, something smelly, something handmade, something for Christmas and something for the craft room.

I will show you the gifts I sent next post.

Below is the label I stitched for the baby quilt my quilting group gave to the minister and his wife for their new baby due to be born very soon. We have been meeting at the church hall since our group was formed over 3 years ago so have got to know Dan, the minister, quite well. 13 of our members made a block each, Cindie put it together and quilted the top and Jan added the binding. We presented the quilt on our break-up day last week. They already have 2 little boys and as we didn't know if baby is a boy or girl, we included both blue and pink in the design. Safe arrival Baby Talbot.........hope you like your quilt.

Well must go now as I am going over to my son's to help him get the house ready for sale. 2011 will bring a few changes but hopefully they will be for the better.

Thanks for reading my blog, I will try to blog a bit more often next year. Have a great day, until next time...........

OPAM Finish, Love is Block

Just a quick post to show my OPAM finish for November and also Block 20 (above) for Love is. Only 4 more blocks to go now. Am working on Block 21 and have just printed Block 22 today, so some catching up to do. Where has November gone???? Only 2 presents bought for Christmas and no preparations in the pipeline for Christmas Day, so I will have to get a move on. Tomorrow, I am heading to the shops to hopefully get most of the shopping done. Only time will tell if that plan is successful or not.

I have been working on a variety of stitching things this month but some are for presents so I can't show them as yet. I can show you my finished dilly bag though, which I was going to make on camp but simply didn't have time. I got to use up some of the chicken fabric which I have had in my stash for a many years. I'm pleased with how the bag turned out and just how quickly it came together.

One of the girls from our group has made several for her family and friends and is going to fill them with goodies and nicknack's for Christmas which is a great idea. Must keep that in mind for next year.

Well must go and write a list for tomorrow. Till next time...........

Boonah Quilting Retreat

Above is a photo of our group taken on the verandah of our accommodation at ' The Outlook' Boonah. Two of our members who couldn't come for the weekend joined us on Saturday for morning tea and lunch.

We hold our Quilt Retreat twice a year in March and Oct/Nov. We arrived early Friday morning and returned home Sunday before dinner. All who attended had a great time as usual, enjoying each others company and sharing our knowledge and skills with those who needed it. Sewing, stitching, quilting, talking, laughing, staying up late and of course lots and lots of eating which included our Happy Hour each night was the order of the day.

We each had to make a place mat to take along so that we could use it to brighten our table on camp. Below are some of the one's made by myself, Jan, Nancy, Clare and Viv. Will show some more next time.

Below is what I did at camp. I started a Stack & Slash Quilt which several others in the group made also. Cindy, who joined our group early this year, kindly taught this to us. I used aqua and brown colours and am using a star fabric, used in the blocks, for the second border. I didn't have enough of any of the browns to use for the first border so couldn't do any more until I buy some. I also did Block 19 of my Love is..... quilt and the first block of the Layer Cake Quilt Along. I am using a layer cake called 'Fruitcake' by Basic Grey which is a Xmas line. I also started a bag using the two leftover blocks from the stack & slash quilt and will add a photo when I complete it.

Well that is all for today. Hope to post again soon. This weekend we are off to a Hot rod Camp at Yamba so my quilting will be on hold until after that. Our little yellow Model A roadster has been cleaned and polished ready for its journey. Have a great week everyone..........

Blush Quilt Top, Love is.... Blocks

Above is the finished top of my Jelly Roll Stitch A-long Quilt. I am so pleased with how it looks. I was a bit worried that it was going to be too pink after I added the sashing, but, with the final dark borders on, the pink was toned down a bit. What do you think? Anyway my hubby who is a man of few words, said, and I quote "That looks really good, you are a clever girl" so I have to be happy with that especially the girl part.

Here are the next 4 blocks of my Love is... quilt. Only 6 more blocks to go. I have the first 4 rows together so not much work at the end when its time to finish it. Blocks 15 and 16 in the first photo and Blocks 17 and 18 in the next.

I have finished the second block for a Gardeners Journal and have the stitchery done for two more blocks. It was slow going with this house block as there was lots of straight line back stitching.

To finish, thought I would add photos of my 2 youngest grandsons taken when I went with my son to Gayndah to see Tom and pick up Jake who had been staying there during the school holidays. I haven't seen Tom in a while and he has his hair much longer than he usually does so he looked quite different. It was lovely to see him and I got the biggest hug and kiss. I miss him lots.

We took the boys to Maryborough to see a movie and have McDonalds (at Tom's request as they don't have any fast food places in Gayndah). Then we stayed the night in a motel. Here is a photo of his brother Jake pretending he was going to go to sleep early. The boys had a great time and so did Dad and Grandma.
Well that is all from me. Am off to the Craft Show in Brisbane this week so excited about that. Bye for now.......

Blog Buttons.

Have added two new buttons to my side bar. The first one is a Layer Cake Quilt-Along similar to the Jelly Roll one I did earlier. It is again run by Konda from Moose on the Porch Quilts and starts on 2 November. Blocks will be made available every two weeks and will be by a different designer each time. Pop over to the blog to see what materials you will need to have by November or to read more about it if you think you might be interested. It is a good way of learning how to use the different pre-cuts that are on the market today.

The next button is for Simply Christmas where Kerryanne of Shabby Arts Boutique hopes to encourage us into putting handmade and hand-baked back into our Christmas giving. This will run from the beginning of October until Christmas. Pop over to her blog and check it out. Kerryanne has also provided lists that can be printed out to help you get organised and will have a give-away each week. The gift for the first week is a hand painted Christmas folder with the organisational lists already in it.

OH DEAR, so much for not joining anymore things........

More Tamborine camp photos, OPAM finish

Above is the place mat I made for the camp and is my OPAM finish for this month. Below are a couple of photos of the tables with the place mats being used. They made our meal times quite festive.

Below are photos of some of the quilts the ladies brought along for show and tell. The first two were part of a previous challenge where participants were given 2 mens shirts and were asked to make a quilt out of them adding 1 or 2 extra fabrics supplied by them. The results are quite amazing when you think what the ladies started with.

This quilt was made using scraps from the quilters stash.
Lovely rain here at present so hoping I might get some UFO's finished as well as a tidy up of my quilting room. My grandparent duties are not required on this lot of school holidays as my grandson is up north visiting his mother and brother for the 2 weeks. I hope they are all having a wonderful time together.

Great Weekend !!!!!

The Red Hatters Retreat last weekend was enjoyed by all who attended. We spent the 4 days sewing, sharing quilting tips and knowledge, talking, laughing and of course eating lots of yummy food. With all the meals prepared by Nick, our chef, we could concentrate and enjoy spending uninterrupted time at our sewing machines. I managed to get a few things done as well as gather lots of wonderful ideas that I hope to make in the near future.
Here is the table runner top I made using a Patisserie charm pack.

Above is my Pinwheel quilt that I added sashing to and then the border and below is my Jelly Roll quilt. This photo is before I attached the sashing and final borders so will update a photo next time.
On Saturday night for dinner, we all dressed up in red and purple. Some of the outfits were very funny. It always amazes me the ideas some of the girls come up with. In the second photo I am in the middle with my friends Liz and Chris. Liz won best outfit of the night. She is the one on the left of the photo.

The challenge we had to make for the camp was a place mat (to be used at camp) in the colours of red/purple (if over 50) and mauve/pink (if under 50) so I combined all colours in my effort. Bronwyn Hayes stitcheries got quite a workout in lots of the place mat designs. I somehow deleted the photo of my place-mat so will add that to next post as well. Here are a few examples of other peoples work.

My friends Chris's above and Liz below.

Teresa's, very cute. The lady has been painted using acrylic paint, the lettering is stitched.

Not sure who did this one.

Sue's place mat. Sue was one of the ladies on the committee who organised the camp. They all did a great job.

Well, will add a few more photos in the next post of our show and tell session. Some truly beautiful quilts have been made by the ladies. Having a few problems loading the photos so won't try my luck with anymore just at present. Till next time........

Tamborine Quilt Camp

Tomorrow I am heading up to Tamborine Mountain for a 4 day quilt camp with the Beaudesert Quilters group. This is my third camp with them and I just love it. They are a great group of ladies and the weekend is always filled with fun and friendship. The theme for this camp is Red Hatters Retreat. I have been busy the last few days preparing things to take. As a challenge for the camp, I had to make a place mat using the camp's theme. I have stitched some Bronwyn Hayes ladies for mine and used red/purple (for over 50) and pink/mauve (for under 50) fabrics to accentuate the theme colours. I must say it is very, very bright. Will post photos when I return home. Well must go and finish packing.

Sorry I haven't been blogging much lately but have had a few on-going family issues which have had to take precedence over other things. Hopefully things will settle down soon.

Progressing slowly

I haven't been doing too much lately. Time is passing much too quickly. Here is another block in the Love is series. Still got a couple more to go to catch up but will get there eventually.

My Gardeners Journal blocks are going slowly but have managed to get the stitchery finished on these two blocks. I was extremely pleased when I finished the house as it took a very long time to complete. Have the next 2 blocks ready to stitch although they will not take as long I hope.

Here is my big boy's rug. Scott was a bit upset that he missed out when his two boys got there's so I made this version for him. Instead of making it square, I purchased 2 metres each of the blue and grey polar fleece to make his rug a bit longer.

It is certainly breezy here today after a couple of days rain. A nice day to catch up with some stitching I think. Hope you are having a good day too. Till next time.......