Stitching with Friends.

Last night I joined in with Wendy from Sugarlane Quilts for Friday Night Sew In. You can go over and check out what everyone got up to by clicking on the link above. It is always a fun night knowing that lots of other people are stitching at the same time as you. Thank you Wendy for running FNSI,  encouraging us to finish off our projects or start new ones and catch up with some of our blogging friends as well.
I worked on my SAL blocks and continued to add the applique pieces to the April blocks. I'm always amazed just how long it takes me to choose such small pieces of fabric. In the end I'm usually happy with my choices but I guess all will be revealed when the blocks are put together at the end.

Oh dear, maybe a bit too much red here. Note to self, add more blue/brown to the other blocks.
I then decided to start my tracing for the In My Garden quilt by Natalie Bird. Now I am pleased to say I just have a few small stitcheries left to trace so felt I did well here.

These are the fabrics I am going to use so will need to sort out different threads to the list given by Natalie. May need to purchase one or two of the blue colour. As the above is a charm pack, have ordered some yardage from Patchwork Plus who fortunately had some of the range in stock. The fabric is called Rambling Rose by Sandi Gervais.
Well that's about it from me, had wanted to do more today but woke up a little sick, maybe tomorrow I'll manage to get the prep finished so I can make a start on the stitching.
Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend.
Happy Stitching till next time...............

What I'm Working On .....

I've been working on a few new projects lately so thought I would put some photos on here.
Firstly for the last couple of months I have been working on my Stitch-a-long (SAL) blocks. So far am up to date and am now working on my April blocks having completed my February and March ones on time. Yeah!!!!

Above February blocks

March blocks

I've left off some of the circles as I am thinking I may use buttons instead but if I don't will add the circles later. I am enjoying fussy cutting the fabrics which are French General in the most part although I have added a few 3 Sister ones as I didn't have enough for the backgrounds. The pattern is Natures Journey by Anni Downs. I have the blanket stitch border done on Aprils blocks just need to add the applique. I am blanket stitching mine not using needle turn.

Above is  the Easter Runner made for me by Inca from my Sunday Stitchers group. Isn't it beautiful. Thank you Inca for giving me such  a gorgeous runner. My runner to Inca is in a previous post.

I am also going to work on this project. In My Garden by Natalie Bird. My friend De has set up a Facebook Group so I can sew along with her and a few other ladies who have joined. I am using the above fabrics called Rambling Rose. Have ordered some yardage as the above is a charm pack. The background fabric is from my stash so now have to find time to transfer the designs so I can start stitching. Sixteen stitcheries in all though some are quite small.
Lastly, I must show you a photo of Ruby taken last weekend. She had puppy training on Saturday, then we had a vet appointment where she had a blood test. When she got home I found her taking a nap after her exhausting morning. Definitely not being a lady here. Today she is 5 months old, weighs in at 20 kg and is not biting so much now which is a blessing.

Well that's me for the moment.
Happy Stitching till next time.............    Hugs..............

March Catch-up 2015 Part 2

In mid March I attended my grandson Jacob's school parade where all the Seniors received their badges. Jake is a playground monitor and spends one lunch break a week helping the Grade 2 students who may have a problem in the playground. It's hard to believe he will be in  high school next year.

I also attended another retreat at Tamborine Mountain during March with the Beaudesert Quilters. This year the theme was Rhapsody of Roses and everyone did well with their place mats.

Here are only a few of them. Mine in the bottom right hand corner looks very plain compared to some of the others. Over 40 ladies attended the retreat. Well done ladies.
Below are some works in progress in my corner of the room. My Easter runner in progress (finished picture below), a jelly roll race quilt, a batik quilt and a dinosaur quilt for one lucky grandson.

Finally it was show and tell on the last night. Below are some of what the ladies had to show. Some very clever women in this group.

About 6 ladies did an overnight bag class with most of them making two. I cheated and bought mine as Sue the teacher had one for sale but I forgot to take a photo so will have to do that and show in my next post. In the photos above are some beautiful quilts, some are EPP pieced and the workmanship of these was truly beautiful.
Below is the finished Easter table runner I made for my partner Inca. This was a secret swap for my Sunday Stitchers group and the one shown in progress above.

I had  a lovely time while I was there. The above 2 photos are of our name badge on arrival and the little re-usable crochet rose washer given to us as a reminder of the camp. Thank you Beaudesert Quilters.

I returned from the retreat in time to celebrate this :-
20 years ago on the 25 th March, Chris and I were married.
We were introduced by my neighbour who worked with Chris. He thought we would be good for each other and he was proved right. Thank you for your love and support Chris, may we share many more happy years together.  

On a very sad note, our plans for our special celebrations were put on hold due to the unexpected passing of our beautiful 21 year old nephew Tim in Tasmania. Chris made the journey to be with his brother's family in their celebration of Tim's 21 years of life. We love you and will never forget you.
                                                     RIP TIM.

Thank you if you have made it to the end of this long post. We are now well into April so I had better get a move on or I will never catch up with all the things that need to be completed by the end of April.

FNWF, Happy Easter....

I joined in on Friday night to sew along with many other ladies for FNWF hosted by Cheryll from Gone Stitchin. A big THANK YOU to Cheryll for doing so each month.
Firstly I spent about an hour trying to get some order in my sewing room, and after making a small dent in the mess, I then stitched the third hexagon  of 'C' is for Christmas by Michelle Ridgway before  finally starting another Xmas stitchery by Natalie Bird which I have had prepared for ages, didn't get much done on that one though before my bed began to call me.
I hope to get over to Cheryll's blog to check out some of your blogs later on today.

I hope everyone is having a HAPPY EASTER.We have been busy catching up with family over the weekend. I think lots of these were eaten for dessert.
I was very lucky as I don't eat much chocolate due to migraines if I over indulge so it was a lovely surprise to get this when I opened the Easter box.

A armchair pin cushion made by my son's friend Rowen. It is just gorgeous. Thank you so much Rowen, not sure I want to poke pins in it though.
Well must go as I have some hungry takers for lunch. This girl included. She has been having lots of fun with the wet weather and likes nothing better than rolling in mud. She will be five months old in another week.

Happy Stitching till next time.............

March 2015 Catch-up, Part 1.

March has been a very busy one for me this year. It started with Lets Get Stitched in Brisbane, only 50 minutes away from where I live. I chose to stay at the hotel with all the other girls and was lucky enough to share a couple of rooms with these girls.

Thanks roomies for letting me share with you, it was great fun. Wendy, me, Larissa and Dianne. Trish, our other room-mate is missing. We did have a few more beds just in case you were wondering.
This was a great few days run by Fee, Vicki, Dawn and Joy. All these girls are from a different state except Joy, whose turn it was to organize the event this year and let me say she did a wonderful job. Next  year it is on in Tasmania where Fee lives.
We went to a local pub for dinner Thursday night to renew old friendships and make some new ones.

Friday we were up bright and early ready for our bus trip. Our first stop was Bayside Stitchcraft where Joy works. We all enjoyed shopping here.

I bought a few things there, buttons, fabric, a couple of patterns and a bag handle.
Next we popped into Linen and Lace, which had lots of beautiful things as the name suggests. I bought this small butterfly container as a memento of the shop.

Our next stop was Nikki Tervo's Brandy Gully. She had lots of fabrics,buttons and patterns.

Above, the things I bought. Tilda fabric and buttons plus a  Bali jelly roll. Nikki was very generous and gave everyone on the bus a booklet with stitcheries in it.
We then stopped for lunch before heading to our last two stops, Fairies in my Garden and The Quilters and Embroiderers Store. A few more purchases and my day was complete.

I was looking for a metal hanger to fit a wall hanging I had been given at Xmas and on the last stop I finally found one to fit.  It was a fantastic day.
Friday night was pizza and games night held in one of the rooms at the hotel. Here we had a bring and swap table and a game where we exchanged paper bags containing a charm pack. We played some games, I had to sing a song from Mumma Mia but luckily I had some girls join in who knew all the words and helped me out.

Saturday was a free day so we ended up going to the cinema to see a movie in Gold Class and pretended we were ladies for a day. Saturday night we met for dinner at The Morrison Hotel across from the hotel.

Sorry these photos are a little fuzzy. Top photo The Nutters. Some of the girls sitting in front of the infamous nude wall paper, very interesting.
Finally Sunday was our stitching day. Vicki Joy Fiona Dawn and the two mystery designers.

Mystery designers on the ends. Michele to the left and Teresa to the right.

The whole stitching day group.

Above is our Goodie Bag and it's contents / a pattern and starter kit from each designer. Will show these as I make them up. Cheryl Goss was another mystery designer but she couldn't make it at the last minute. Her lovely pattern is the one on the far left.

Well it has been a long post and this only covers 5 days so will be back with the next instalment soon. Thank you if you have stuck with me and made it to the end.
Happy Stitching till next time............ HAPPY EASTER for tomorrow.........

OPAM finishes

This is the badge I made for Dianne at Let's Get Stitched. I forgot to take a photo without the name being hidden.

I made this place mat for the Rhapsody of  Roses Retreat I attended in late March.

My bunny runner made for Inca in our Easter swap at Sunday Stitchers last Sunday.

Three finishes for March. Thanks Peg and Kris for hosting.
Will be back soon with a summary of March, a very, very busy month.