Farewell 2013

Just a quick post to thank you all for sharing another year of stitching, friendships and new ideas. Who would have thought that one little blog could bring so much friendship and inspiration into my life.

I hope 2014 brings you creativity and adventures, and the time to enjoy them.

Susan x

SSCS sent

I absolutely love Chookyblue's SSCS. Its so exciting to think of all those handmade gifts being sent around the world My partner was Laila from Norway. I really wanted to make a gift that Laila could use all year. I had a lot of trouble deciding until I noticed that she had bought some fabric from the Everlastings range, and I just happened to have a charm pack. So I made Anni's sewing bag......and sent some other little goodies to open in the lead up to Christmas.

It's such a cute little bag and so easy to adapt for different fabrics and people. Thank you Chooky and Googy for making it all happen again, and for spreading Christmas cheer all round the world.

I treated myself to a Bordeaux Berries runner kit for Christmas, so I have been indulging in some needleturn appliqué since Christmas.

Are you stitching your way through the holidays?

Susan x

FIS Gifts sent

I was thrilled to find that I had to make for Dawnie in the Friends in Stitching swap. I had so many ideas of what to make. At the time I also had a lot of little red 3/8" hexie flowers with no project in mind. A mini quilt in reds and creams!

I loved every minute of making this little quilt. The finished quilt is 10". The only problem I found with making such a small quilt was that the slightest fraction out is magnified. There was quite a lot of reverse sewing! White quilting on dark red fabric was also a challenge.

We also had to send five small gifts to open before Christmas starting with each letter of SANTA. I couldn't resist putting them in a Christmas selvedge pouch!

In fact I loved this mini so much I am using my 1/4" hexie flowers to make myself one. It will be 8" square. I think 2014 may be a year of mini's for me.

I am really enjoying seeing all the Christmas swap gifts sent and received. So many clever bloggers out there!

Susan x

Online swap

My partner for the online Christmas swap was De. We had to send five small gifts for early opening S-A-N-T-A and one main present for Christmas Day. This is the beautiful table topper De made. It is too lovely to be put away yet.

And the gifts of solar Santa, cloth reindeer, Toblerone treat and and nativity.

I love these peaceful days between Christmas and New Year.

Susan x

SSCS

After a very early start we have had a wonderful Christmas Day, made even more special by the cool weather and rain.

I just love my SSCS gift from Anne Lise, a set of beautiful Christmas placemats. Thank you so much, they looked fantastic on my red tablecloth.

Anne Lise also sent a kit for this reindeer cross stitch. A sweet little project for the lazy few days before New Years.

Thank you Chookyblue and Googy Girl for making the SSCS happen again this year.

Hope you've had a great Christmas Day......time to relax!

Susan x

Christmas mail

I have been lucky enough to receive some lovely goodies in the mail this week. Elyte from Tea, Fabric and Other Things sent me a delightful and unexpected gift. I think I almost have a collection of sweet calico bags now, and the fabric is very much my cup of tea. Thankyou!

Sue (no blog) sent me these cute potholders, I think they may be cousins of Peg and Dale.

And last but not least, my Friends in Stitching Christmas package arrived from De (not too happy with Australia Post but that is another story).

Feeling revived today after cooler temperatures overnight and today. Wishing everyone a happy, safe and peaceful Christmas.

Susan x

Crochet stars

Nanna (my MIL) turned out to be an excellent crochet teacher, and had me making stars before I was even out of my pj's yesterday. The large white ones were the first ones, then she made me try some finer ones. Once I got the hang of it, crochet was quite relaxing. I think I might make some bunting with the smaller ones.

After a little excursion to the shops yesterday, we finished with a visit to Euro Patissierie........gorgeous cakes which just happened to be two doors away from a patchwork shop! Patissierie and patchwork......a perfect combination. Quilt-Essentials was a lovely shop, lots of fabrics I liked, and very friendly staff. A few little bits of red fabric followed me home.

Today while the boys were fishing, Nanna and I discovered THE BEST markets I have been to in quite some time. The Olive Tree Market at The Junction was fantastic, really wish I hadn't already finished my Christmas shopping. Beautiful handmade goods, superb quality and presentation in a lovely location. Will definitely visit again.

Heading home tomorrow afternoon, and thoughts will turn to Christmas cooking.

Susan x

Much more my style

I made this purse for a special friend of my son. I have the tiniest bottle of perfume to pop inside it. I hope she likes it. He drew the little birds and I stitched them with a single strand of thread.

We are off to spend a few days with Nanna and Pop. I have packed a ball of white wool and a crochet hook........hopefully Nanna can show me how to do this. Go to Attic 24 for the instructions.

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas, but the reality is sweltering hot weather. Hope you're keeping cool.....or warm.....depending on where you are.

Susan x

FNWF and more bags

I was the lucky winner of the draw for Friday Night With Friends....look what came in the post today. Thank you so much Cheryll, they will definitely be put to good use.

I have turned my fabric from Finders Keepers into a bag........but I think my foray into "brights" is coming to an end, it just doesn't look right to me. Think I'll stick with what I know......bring on the rusty reds!

And just to prove that miracles do happen, I managed to coerce my boys into having this photo taken last weekend.

Last day of school tomorrow......let the holidays begin.

Susan x

Road trip

I spent a lovely Friday with Lea and Julie (still no blog) in Muswellbrook. After a guided tour of Lea's amazing house we settled down to some stitching. Silly me didn't take a photo of the sweet elephant baby quilt that Lea is working on, or of the necklace that Julie was rethreading after a mishap with a preschooler.

We had a great lunch at Milkwood Teahouse. Lani was a generous hostess and we enjoyed having the place to ourselves.

I have been wanting to visit Finders Keepers for some time. Imagine a combination of your favourite gift shop, a Maxwell Williams store, and some of the brightest fabrics you've seen. It was almost too much for this repro, rustic girl! Just a couple of small purchases, I absolutely love the red fabric.....Blitzen by Moda.

And to prove that I did actually do some stitching yesterday I have another Irish Circles block finished. I am still struggling with colours for the blocks in this quilt. I'm not sure if this green one will make the cut, will see how it looks laid out with the others.

Hope you find some time to stitch over the weekend.

Susan x

A big day

So proud of my littlest boy. This is Mr 12 on his first day of kindy.....

......fast forward seven years. He won Student of the Year for his class at presentation day today, and went to the Year 6 farewell tonight.

 

                               

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are so proud of him.

 

Susan x

 



Paper ball

Well the flowers were easy peasy, but sticking twelve of them together to make a ball was somewhat more challenging. Pretty happy with the results though.

Susan x

Naughty, naughty

I am so naughty, I've been cutting paper with my rotary cutter!!

Thanks to Sharon I have followed a Facebook link to Sarah Fielke and a tutorial for a gorgeous Christmas decoration make from old books or sheet music. I paid $6 for a hot glue gun at the Reject Shop and now there's no stopping me!

When I've made 12 of these they all get glued together in ball. Wish me luck, last time I used a hot glue gun (about 9 years ago) I ended up in a rather sticky mess. I do feel a bit guilty about cutting up an old Enid Blyton book, but it wasn't a favourite, and may well have ended up in the recycling anyway.

I also had a fun trip to the post office today. I wonder where these are off to.......

Hope you have a great week.

Susan x

Fnwf

I thought I'd start the night by attaching the binding to Floral Beauty.....for some reason it just wasn't working the way I wanted it to so I put it aside for another day. I think I might need to quilt closer to the edge before I bind it.

So instead I worked on some tiny Christmas stitcheries which will end up with magnets on the back. It's a combination of ideas from Anni Down's Christmas Story and Simple Pleasures.

Some fabric loveliness came yesterday too.......the vintage fabric club mailing from Carolyn's Quilt Room. The range is Vintage Shirtings, and will work in beautifully with my Irish Circles.

Hope you're having a lovely weekend.

Susan x

FNWF

I've signed up for FNWF tonight. I think I'll be doing some festive stitching whilst watching The Santa Clause (again). The way it feels this morning it could be snowing by tonight.....good sewing weather but crazy for December.

Pop over to Cheryll to join us.

Susan x

Something different

I've been thinking about my Christmas shopping list today. It's going ok so far but I needed something extra for my 14 year old niece, maybe a cute little bag or purse. Had a quick look around the shops, but couldn't find anything I liked at a price I liked. Home to Google free patterns......dig through the stash......and tada!

The print is actually a nice bright purple. There's two pockets inside, and I added the wrist strap and magnetic closure (very shocked to find these in Mudgee).

The really amazing part is that I started cutting this out at 4.30pm, helped with a school assignment, cooked tea, and finished the purse by 7.30pm! It measures about 7.5" x 5", and the pattern was a free tutorial at Positively Splendid.

There is something wonderful about random surges of unplanned creativity. Maybe now I can move on from zipper pouches!

Susan x

It's here!

My SSCS arrived yesterday, all the way from Norway. Inside was a set of lovely crochet ornaments. Perfect for me as crochet is not one of my talents. Annelise has done such beautiful, neat work.......thank you. There was also some yummy chocolates and a very tempting present to put under the tree.

I've had a great morning wandering around the first Mudgee Vintage Markets, the Farmers Market AND the Makers Market. So much passion and creativity in every stall.

I'm off to clean up my sewing room.

Susan x

So predictable

Of course my Christmas selvedges were for a zipper pouch.

This one just has linen on the bottom. I like how it turned out.

I had to do some of that "other" kind of sewing yesterday. I took the plunge and cut the bottom off a long black dress, and then had to hem it. I do not like sewing slinky, satiny fabric at all....or black for that matter! I'm wearing it out to a Christmas party tonight (thinking of all the money I saved not buying a new frock).

I feel like I'm making good progress with the painting. I started putting things back in the laundry cupboards today, I hope I can keep it so neat and organised. My sewing room needs the same attention I think.

Have a great weekend.

Susan x

Bathrooms and stitching

We've had quite a lot of mess and inconvenience while our bathroom and laundry was being done, but I still found time to do some stitching. As much as I enjoy painting, my poor arms need a break. With secret sewing under control I've been working on another Irish Circles block. I really love this one.

And indulging my new found love of selvedges. These ones are Christmassy.

Better show you a pic of the bathroom. I am so happy with how it turned out, it was a bit nerveracking choosing the tiles and fittings, and hoping they would all work together in the end. Unfortunately we will need a lot more rain for our tanks before we have too many baths!

The laundry is almost done too. The walls are finished but I have 7 doors and architraves to paint yet.

Have a lovely day, hope you find a moment to enjoy some stitching.

Susan x

Look what came today....

.........a beautiful collection of nine patches from the Traditional Nine Patch swap. I'm looking forward to planning a layout for them. Thank you Trish for organising it all.

It's been a busy week with our renovations. The builder has finished the bathroom and laundry, and now there's a lot of painting ahead (and not so much sewing!).

Hope you have a great weekend.

Susan x

A night out

I'm usually a bit camera shy when it comes to pictures of me on my blog, but we have just had a fantastic night out at the Mudgee Public School Great Gatsby Ball......it was a great fundraiser for the school, and a nice way to see out our last year in primary school.

Maybe a sleep in tomorrow!
Susan x

Cassilis Stitching Day

What a beautiful day we had in Cassilis yesterday. The weather was perfect, and Linda set our table up under a lovely shady tree.

One of the locals is obviously a fan of vintage cars. They were so well kept. I wish I could borrow one as I'm going to a Great Gatsby themed ball tonight.......would have looked very flash arriving in style!

Julie had a special quilt made up of her Dads ties for show and tell. It's hard to see in the photo but the bow ties made from ties really sparkled in the sun.

Lea's "forgotten" quilt........almost finished.

I was working on a redwork Christmas stitchery, and another Irish Circles block.Yes that is a layer cake of Midwinter Reds in the background, delivered by the lovely Kylie. I think I might put it in my Christmas stocking.

We have just had a sudden downpour of rain and hail, a blackout, and 17mm of rain......makes for a quiet Saturday afternoon.

Enjoy the weekend.

Susan x