My Second Class this Week

How lucky am I?  Two lovely classes in one week. This one I had been looking forward to for some time, and was one I organised for the shop where I work. Our wonderful tutor today was Natalie Bird from The Birdhouse - a gorgeous, generous lady and an amazing designer and teacher.  I didn't want the day to end.  Here's our group - many of them holding their finished project (not me alas).

A display of Natalie's beautiful work.

Our project was a beautiful zippered sewing purse big enough to hold fabric scissors, rotary cutter, etc and a pincushion to match.  Now I am not one for zips but Natalie's method was easy peasy.

My stitchery front is nearly done.

Of course, it goes without saying I had to purchase a couple of Natalie's new patterns - thought they would make great gifts. Stitch n' Chat is a small zippered purse big enough to hold needles, thread and a small pair of embroidery scissors. Good value as this pattern also includes a very cute drawstring bag to hold your coffee mug. The other pattern is holder for all those necessary sewing bits and pieces and folds into three to purse size. 

Catch you soon. Cheryl

A Saturday Class

I have been very lucky over the last couple of months to attend several classes with some very talented designers, and so it was on Saturday when I attended a class with some amazing designers - Rosalie Quinlan, Leanne Beasley and Jodie from Ric Rac Designs.

These little angels decorated each table and the Christmas tree and were very cute - I would have loved to have one come home with me. 

One of my favorite projects of the day was this Christmas bunting pre-printed for us to stitch on the most beautiful red linen.

Jodie had brought along this most amazing dress she had made from selvedges - the skirt alone took over 700 metres of selvedges. Sorry photo sideways - was the only way I could fit it in.

A lovely way to spend a day and lots of new projects to finish. Have a great week. Cheryl

Arn't I Spoilt?

A work colleague has just returned from 23 days travelling in various parts of America, including (lucky her) the Houston Quilt Market.  And look what she bought home for me - she knows how much I love snowmen, and all things related.  I look forward to stitching this very cute snowman stitchery - think I may do it in redwork.  And I'm sure it won't be hard to find a project to fit the little snowman hanger.

And there was more (told you I was spoilt).  A gorgeous Jim Shore snowman ornament, the cutest snowman button and the little xmas tree which has been carved out of an old cotton spool.  They will all find a loving home here at my place. Cheryl

Some Santa Sack Parcels and Some Stitching

I received two more yummy looking parcels from Barb yesterday, my lovely swap partner in Cheryll's Santa Sack swap.  I most admit to a little squishing and rattling Barb lol. 

Apart from lots of secret sewing, I have been doing a little stitching on a project from my recent class - a cute little set of 9 stitcheries from Lisa of FignBerry Creations. 

I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to seeing lots of photos soon of all this secret stitching we've all been doing.  Anyone who loves vintage linen should check out the lovely outing Melody and Christine had yesterday at Melodys blog on www.thehouseonthesideofthehill.blogspot.com.  Cheryl

Berries and Bluebirds

I had been pondering what to do with my Berries and Bluebirds quilt, as it was my first effort at needleturn and was not sure how best to quilt it, so decided to send it off to be professionally machine quilted and was thrilled with the result.

A close up of the lovely quilting.  Way better than I could ever do.

The back is a work of art in itself.

Have a great weekend. Cheryl

Do you Remember These?

Did you read some of these lovely Enid Blyton books when you were a child?  I did, and they were my favorites - I would read them over and over.  Brer Rabbit particularly was a favorite, but also The Wishing Chair and Noddy of course. 

I came across a bundle of 8 different Enid Blyton books at a garage sale on the weekend for a very reasonable price , and couldn't leave them there. I'm hoping my granddaughters may enjoy hearing them one day.

A public holiday here in Victoria tomorrow for the Cup, so am hoping to get lots of secret sewing done. But then again hubby might have different ideas - he's hinting at a day in the garden. Cheryl

Some Fun Mail

Lots of fun mail coming and going this week.  Two more parcels wrapped and sent to Barb yesterday, my swap pal in Cheryll's Santa Sack swap.

And I was the lucky winner of this amazing fabric calculator over at Shez's blog - shez-enjoyinglife.blogspot.com. It calculates how much fabric you need for borders, backing binding, etc or how much you need for half square triangles and all sorts of other blocks, and more. How lucky am I?  Looking forward to having a play.

Lots of secret sewing still happening over the weekend for me. Have a great weekend. Cheryl