Tassie Holiday

Thought I would show you some of the things we got up to in Tasmania. Our reason for going down was not only to attend the wedding of our niece but also to catch up with Chris's Dad, Ken. He is 92 now so we hope to visit a little more often. He is wonderful for his age. He still lives in his own home, does most of the work around the house himself, has a wonderful garden with lots of fruit trees and veges growing, cooks his own homemade soup weekly and Anzac biscuits and bread several times a week. He also stews his own fruit from the trees. It was wonderful to be able to go into the back yard and pick an apricot or a peach and eat it.

Peaches,apricots, plums and apples above. Also has pears and nectarines, all in a small suburban back yard.  

Some of the roses and hydrangeas down the side 

On Tuesday, we took a run up to George Town to visit Patchwork Plus. It was lovely to meet Sarah the owner and see her new shop. I managed to buy a few goodies including a roll of Zpagetti. Sarah showed me how to knit a scarf using your arms (tutorial on U-Tube). Now haven't had a go yet but it is on my to do list.
I also watched a quilt top being quilted on her Gammill. It is a wonderful shop so if you are ever up that way it is well worth a visit. Here's a picture of Sarah's shop below on the right.

Natalie Bird pattern.

Above are some of my purchases, ball of Zpagetti, a French General jelly roll, Cottage Garden thread and a few other things not shown are already in use.

We went a little further and checked out the lighthouse and surrounds at Lo Head before heading back to Hobart. A big thanks to my hubby who didn't complain once about having to take me up there. His family couldn't believe we went all that way to visit a quilt shop.
On Wednesday, Chris, Ken and I headed to Eagle Hawk Neck to join an Adventure boat tour down to Tasman Island. It was a bit windy with waves between 21/2 to 31/2 metres as we got closer to our destination. It was well worth the trip though as we saw 300 metre high cliffs with caves below eroded by the sea. We were lucky enough to see dolphins, seabirds and albatross. Also saw a couple of seal colonies on the rocks. It was amazing to hear the history of Tasman Island and how they  managed to get people, supplies, livestock onto the island so that the light house could be manned. The boat ride back through the waves was exciting.

We did look very glamorous in our outfits, don't you think?
Lastly we attended the wedding of our niece Kate and her now hubby Joe. The day was not the best and was the coldest of our stay. I'm sure the bridal party were freezing in their summery outfits. The wedding was held at Peppermint Bay and we caught the ferry down along with most of the other guests.

Chris and I in ferry, Nicola & Evie (niece and great niece), Kate  & her Dad, Joe &  Kate with Grand-dad. 

Bridal party

I think we were all glad to get inside to warm up after the wedding ceremony was over. I am so glad we were there to join them for their special day.
Well if you are still reading thank you for staying till the end. It is a very long post I know.
Must go now as I really need a cuppa. Till next time, happy stitching........      

Back from Tassie, FNSI.

We arrived back from Tasmania yesterday afternoon. We had a wonderful week catching up with my hubby's family and attending the wedding of our niece. I need to sort out my photos then I will show a bit of what we got up to while we were there.
On Friday night, I joined in with other stitchers for FNSI so here are the items I worked on. I started this Christmas ornament on the plane down and managed to complete it before commencing to work on another stitchery called Christmas Treats. Still a bit to do to finish this but  am pleased with what I was able to get done.

Country Keepsakes Christmas Ornament

Christmas Treats

Thank you to Wendy for hosting. To see what everyone else got up to, go to Wendy's blog and check it out.
Well that is all from me tonight. Have to be up early as the school year begins here tomorrow and my grandson will be starting Grade 5.
Till next time.......

  

Xmas Break, Initial Heart Swap, Xmas Stitching, Tassie Trip.

For someone who was going to post more often in 2014, it has not been a good start so far but I have some good excuses, I promise.
My hubby had some holidays so after the rush of Xmas, we spent much of our time cooling down in here.

Although just before New Year, we did get some large trees cut down in the back yard so spent a couple of days, Chris cutting up the branches,(as I am not allowed near the chain saw) and me helping load the Ute and trailer with all of this.

After 2 days and 9 trailer and Ute loads to the tip, our yard now looks tidy again. Sorry, forgot the after photo. All this was done in high temperatures so no worries about our extra Christmas kilos disappearing.
I also spent 2 days searching the sales for a dress to wear to a wedding but just couldn't find one that I liked. In desperation I looked in our local boutique only 6 minutes away from home, and found something I was happy with....amazing. Last week I went looking for shoes and a bag so now I am all set. We are flying off to Tasmania at the end of this week, to stay with Chris's Dad and to attend our niece's wedding on the 25th January at Peppermint Bay, then back on the 26th in time for Grandma duties and the start of a new school year.
I have managed to get into my sewing room and have a tidy up before commencing on some secret sewing for my Initial Heart Swap gift. I hope to have it finished before we leave on Sunday so it will be ready for posting when I get home. The stitcheries are completed, just getting the fabrics sewn together today.

Above is a sneak peek.
I have also completed the last two stitcheries of a  Michelle Ridgway Xmas design. I am a bit behind as most of the other girls who were stitching along, including Michelle, have theirs finished. I'm getting there Michelle.

For my thread, I used a Cottage Garden one called Mistletoe and am using Nancy Halvorsen fabrics to frame them. The stitcheries are very pretty so am looking forward to having this finished soon.  
Before I go, I want to show you a couple of gifts I received in the post.
I won this gift from Narelle for being part of 1 Xmas Item a Month. Thank you to Narelle for giving us the incentive to get some Xmas items done early. I can't believe I actually posted about a finish every month for the year.You can join again in 2014 so just head over to Pins and Whiskers blog to read all about it and sign up.

A diary, tea, coffee, a beautiful handmade card and a jotter pad that states 'I'm a Quilter I can always use more fabric' all wrapped in  fabric and tied with ric rac. Will have to show this to Chris when he next says "Do you really need more fabric?"
I also won a gift from Cath from Bits'nBobs for being a commenter on her blog for November. Cath also was my partner for the Santa Sack Swap so when I  got another parcel from her it was a big surprise. Luckily she had my address as I was a bit lax in checking out blogs at that time. This will be a good one for my next Xmas item so it is prepared and will journey with me to Tassie. The kit included the stitching fabric, all the threads and beads, just need to work out how to display it when finished. Thank you Cath.

Well must go and give my sewing machine a workout. Till next time ......Happy Stitching.

Sewing Pledge, Initial Heart Swap and 1 Xmas Item a Month.

MAKE THE 7 STEP PLEDGE

I Noela will try my utmost...

·        To always swap on time.

·        To always email a THANK YOU to my partner.

·        To be considerate and thoughtful when choosing a gift.

·        To give my partner the quality of gift that I would like to receive.

·        To communicate when it’s required.

·        To NEVER over commit and let a partner down.

·        To advise the swap mama when I receive my gift.

This I sewomly pledge....

As we are at the beginning of a new year, I have again decided to take the above swapping pledge found over on Cheryll's blog.

I have also joined my first swap for the year. It is the Initial Heart Swap hosted by Cheryll.

This is now closed and I have my partner so I have begun organizing what I am going to make. I joined this one last year and got this beautiful heart from De along with some chocolates. It has been hanging in my sewing room all year and is a great reminder of a wonderful swap.

I have also signed up for 1 Xmas Item a Month with Narelle from Pins and Whiskers. If you would like to join in and make one Christmas item a month, pop on over to Narelle's.

The computer is playing up tonight so I will finish here and see if I can post this.
Happy stitching till next time.     Hugs.......