Secret santa has arrived

I was very happy yesterday when the postie delivered my secret santa gift all the way from Sabina in Austria. I couldn't wait to get into the box. First were all these goodies wrapped up in celephane, there was even a plate and a matching gold candle which are lovely.

The chocolates were an usual taste but once you ate a couple they were pretty good. The snowman is so cute and the lovely beaded angel,

These are my beautiful gifts hand made by Sabina, such a beautiful bag and accessories. I will treasure them always. Thankyou Sabina and thankyou chooky blue for organising such a fun swap.

Happy New Year everyone, I hope the new year is all you wish for and more.

Home for Christmas

We have just retuned from 10 wonderful days at my in -laws house. My husband and I grew up there and lived there until we got married so even though my parents no longer live there its still like going home. We all had such a good time.

Paul's parents live out of town in the bush as my boys would say and we were very amused with all the letter boxes on the side of the road.

The boys kept themselves amused by running around the bush with their new nerf guns they got for christmas, I even had a go as well.

I went walking nearly everyday and saw my first fox. I don't know who was more scared, me or the fox. The bush is beautiful, so many birds to listen to and see.

The boys had a turn at sitting on Pa's antique Fordson tractors, I was playing with my camera and found it takes sepia photos, so I had to try that out. I've only had my camera for 2 years. Just goes to show how much I know about modern technology. lol

We even got to see a baby possum, it was so cute.

The boys finished off a hard day in the spa with their cousins.

I'll be back later on to show you my purchases from a quilt shop I found and my christmas presents.

Christmas stitching

When looking at blogs I always admire the christmas quilts people have on display. It always makes their rooms looks cozy. I decided to make one for us, although it won't be ready until next christmas. Its a Natalie Bird pattern and as I absolutely love stitchery I will enjoy making this quilt,

The fabric I am using is the new French General called Maison De Garence, its beautiful.

I decided to use my scraps and make some hexagons, I have a quilt planned for these, more to come on that.

I hope you all have a good week leading up to christmas. Until next time, happy sewing.

Sunday sewing

I have had a great weekend doing lots of sewing, here is some cute little cushions I have made using my new Jo Morton reproduction fabrics. I haven't put the filling in them yet which is why they look a little flat. I have put some of Lynette Anderson "My Garden " blocks together, they are now on display in the shop. These little blocks are fun to do.

This one is my favourite so far. I hope you found some sewing time. I'll be back tomorrow so share with you my new christmas stitching project.

Lots to show you

The last day of school for the year has finally arrived for my boys, they are happy to have finished such a busy year. I made their teachers a bon bon each filled with treats, I'm sure they will like them, I made one for Daniel's teacher but as he is in year 8 I was told its not cool to take the teacher a present. Typical boy!!! Yeserday I received a parcel from my Crafty goodness box swap, all the way from the UK. Angela sent me some lovely things.

Of course these patterns and the reproduction fabrics are my favourite. I will have fun with those over the holidays.

I also received this beautiful bag from my penfriend Sandy who lives in America. Its made from Judie Rothermel fabrics.

Sandy also sent me these lovely fat quarters which are so nice.

Today we are going to Jacob's grade 6 leavers assembly at school. He is really looking foreward to it. All the grade 6 kids stand up on stage and receive awards and then there is a slide show showing all the kids photos from when they first started school til now. Its a very teary time for us mums.

Have a good day and I hope you find some sewing time. I know I will.

Its looking alot like Christmas

During the week the boys and I set up our christmas tree, I'm sure as the boys get older our tree looks smaller than the year before. Its decorated beautifully with bought and hand made decorations. Some are very special as they were gifts and others are made by the boys at school and I made some to.

Nicky made this reindeer from pegs, isn't it a great idea. Its very cute.

This is a cross stitch ornament I made a few years ago,

I also made this one from a Marg Lowe Pattern and Theodora Cleave buttons.

Do you have special ornaments on your tree?

Stitching around the block

I finished my part on Lillians quilt for our Stitching round the block, the flowers are sweet to stitch, I should have pressed it before I took the photo but was in a hurry to get it to Kate so she can stitch the next round. I am really enjoying this little project.
I hope you found some sewing time.

A lovely weekend

I have had a lovely weekend, the weather was beautiful and I got so much sewing done. I quilted my mini basket quilt, now I just need to sew on some binding. I also spent some time hand quilting this baby, I love this quilt and I'm so happy how it turned out. Reproduction fabrics are definately my favourite.

I decided to hand quilt some flowers in the red squares, the design is just the right size and really adds interest, they are fun to do, I think I have quited 8. Only 12 to go.

I also sewed the binding on my first Prairie womens sewing circle quilt, this quilt is so cute.I hope you found some sewing time.

A lovely weekend

Why do the weekends always go so fast, I guess we try to fit in as much as we can. I know I do, I had to work yesterday morning so while I was away my husband built this bird house to put in our garden, I think it looks lovely and hopefully it will attract some birds. Today was such a lovely day I sat outside and did my stitching, I worked on my Down in the garden block,

I even had a cushion so I could be comfortable. It was lovely listening to the birds and the water trickling in the fish pond.

For dinner tonight I tried a new recipe, we had salmon fried rice, my boys gave it a 7 out of 10, I thought it was definately a 10. lol. I've never met such fussy eaters as my lot.

I also baked savoury muffins, these are Bacon, cheese and spinach and they are yummy. I hope you had a lovely weekend to.

Lots of sewing

For me the weekends are a good time to get lots of sewing done, yesterday was no excpetion, I decided to trace the block for Leanne's house new block of the month which is in her new magazine called Vignette. It has some beautiful projects in it. I also finished a mini quilt that is a Laura's legacy design from The Quilted Crow, the browns and pink reproductions look so pretty together.

Then last night I did some more stitching on Down In the Garden, this quilt is beautiful and I love doing the stitchery.

I had to show off my first rose blooms for the summer, they are just so pretty. I hope you found some stitching time.

Plenty of progress

Remember When quilt is coming along nicely, only 3 blocks to go, I put the 6 blocks that I had done together to display in the shop where I work and I have had so many lovely comments from customers. It makes me feel proud of my work when they say how neat and perfect my sewing is. This weekend has seen me making good progress on my christmas gifts, I have a few to make including my secret santa swaps. I had this little mug bag cut out ages ago so I whipped that up for myself.

I have also been stitching my Down in the Garden block by Leanne's House, My friends Cathy and Meredith are also making this quilt so we are working on our blocks when we have our sewing nights. Its such fun when you have friends to stitch and laugh with, I hope you found some sewing time over the weekend.

More camp pics

I thought I would share my last few pics with you of our quilt camp, I had such a good time. I took part in a swap we had, we had to make a sewing accessory, this is the beautiful gift I recieved, made by the lovely Jo, thanks Jo, I love itI took this quilt and a few others to sew the binding down, I was glad to get that job out of the way, There was so much food, here are just a few deserts. Yummy

Now its back to normal and time to think about getting a few more projects finished. Happy sewing.

Quilt Camp

Over the weekend a group of Tassie Bloggers got together for our first quilt camp, it was held at Hagley farm which was a beautiful spot. The views were lovely and it was so relaxing and pieceful. We sat and stitched and watched the sheep from the window.

Jo and Fee were busy sewing all weekend, Jo was making a beautiful table runner for christmas.

We were given a goodie bag when we got there and each of us made an ornament designed by Marg Lowe, the buttons are Theodora Cleave and are just beautiful. This is my ornament.

Here is all the other ornaments and us with our slippers on all taking photos at the same time. It was a great weekend and I can't wait to do it again next year. I'll share soem more photos tomorrow, right now I must get to work, I hope you found some sewing time over the weekend.