A Wonderful Day Stitching

Well last Saturday finally came around. Shez and I and my friend Sandy had been counting down the days to the FignBerry Soiree.  This time Lisa had organised Melissa from "One Day in May" to be the guest designer/  Spoilt we were, with six most amazing patterns - all Christmas themed (my favourite) -

On the way we had breakfast with Carol and her lovely family, and it just so happens Carol was my partner in the Friends Having Fun Christmas swap, so I was able to hand deliver her 12 gifts.

This beautiful wallhanging was one of our projects from Lisa.

And the other two projects from Lisa were this cute xmas stocking which I started stitching on the day and the gorgeous felt mat.

And this beautiful dove was a project from Melissa - she suggested either a candle  could go in the centre or a mason jar with candy canes.

This project from Melissa was also adorable.  She uses a lovely technique for double sided flowers and holly leaves which gives a great 3D effect.

 

My stitching companions - not sure what Shez was making a point about here lol.

And we finally got to meet Dawn, as I follow her blog, so that  was just lovely

Just had to show you Lisa's new quilt "Penguin Parade".  Well it was such an amazing day. Can't wait for the next one. Cheryl

My Gorgeous Parcel

I belong to a lovely swap group "Friends Having Fun" and this time was a wool or wool felt theme.  I had been joking with my gorgeous friend Keryn that it was sad we didn't have each other in this swap this year, knowing that I had her as my partner and never imagining that she would have me,  but low and behold who should my parcel arrive from - yes Keryn. To say I was blown away was an understatement. I have been smiling for days -

How beautiful is he - so much detail in my sitting snowman.  He will have a permanent home in my loungeroom. No just bringing him out at Christmas time.

And he had a gorgeous little mate. I just love him also.

Told you I was spoilt rotten - Keryn also sent me the cutest little hessian bag with some pretty bells and buttons, a beautiful gift tag, some pretty xmas trims and the most gorgeous bundle of wools to play with.

Love working with wool - such yummy colors too. 

And these may or may not have been eaten in very quick succession.

Thankyou gorgeous friend for spoiling me and for my most amazing parcel. Cheryl

Vintage Retreat

Well Shez and I had the most wonderful day on Saturday when we headed off to Warracknabeal for a day of stitching with a vintage theme.  Our tutors for the day was Leonie from The Quilted Crow, Marg Low and Shelley Kelly.  I was very excited about the first two tutors, but knew nothing of Shelley's work but loved all her beautiful projects and quilts also.

Marg and Leonie having  a chat with Del, one of the co-owners of Quilters Harvest.

Love Marg's designs and it was so lovely catching up with her once again.

How spoilt were with - the most amazing projects for the day

You will be extremely impressed when I tell you I prepped and worked on three projects on the day - one from each tutor, including the gorgeous little flower doorstop in beautiful dyed wools from Leonie.

These were the other two wonderful projects I worked on - Marg's gorgeous Christmas stitchery (of course) and this beautiful needleroll from Shelley. 

My stitching budding in crime Shez listening very intently to Leonie's wonderful hints on working with wool.

And I just had to show you Leonie's beautiful basket quilt - all the baskets are in different colored wools on a cotton background. Just stunning.

And just as stunning Marg's gorgeous sampler quilt.

Lots more photos, but I'm sure this will be enough for one post. Cheryl

A New Book

Now you probably don't know this about me, but I love Christmas. No, I hear you say. So today I just had to purchase this new book that came into the shop -

"Handmade Christmas Cheer" by Pat Wys.  The stockings on the front cover were a drawcard, but there were several other lovely projects.

This was a favourite in beautiful wool felt.

And this lovely stitched table centre

The little hexie wreath quilt is stunning.

And I know Shez loves mug rugs. Thought I could make her one of these lovely ones for xmas lol.
Such a beautiful book - it will get lots of use I'm sure.

And I've done a little more on my Nature's Journey - had hoped to have all the borders finished this month, but made some progress -

Cheryl

Secret Sewing and Some Finds

Think my camera is playing up -

It's taking funny photos. No not really - only secret sewing being done at the moment, so really can't show you too much.

And some more - think you will guess the theme from this one.

Don't often get time to go to garage sales, but we did today seeing it was such a gorgeous morning to be out -

I had been talking to Michelle about being a bower bird lol.  Just had to bring these goodies home.

And there was more - $20 well spent I thought.  Cheryl

Enjoying the Sunshine

After a long cold winter down here, it has been the most amazing weekend with temperatures in the mid 20s so what's a person to do - garden, a lovely walk in the Grampians and today GD2 pleaded for a chance to test out her new fishing rod she got for her birthday recently  -

Such a cutie pie - can you see the pink fishing rod. Alas no fish, but she had fun.  And nan got to sit and watch and do some stitching.

I also spent some time on these -

Cutting lots and lots of 2" squares - 200 down, 200 to go.  These are for my Natures Journey border. Cheryl

Friday Night with Friends

Well it is the first time I have been able to join in FNWF for ages so I was very excited to be stitching away with everyone. 

First off I stitched all my little xmas decorations onto their backgrounds in readiness to put them together. These were from the class we did in August with Lisa from FignBerry Creations.

Then a bit of stitchery was in order -

So all in all quite a productive Friday night.

Now I havn't shown you the centre block for my Natures Journey  stitchalong I am doing with lots of others -

 Very pleased I have managed to keep up (so far). It's a bit hard to see but there are lots of diamonds handstitched on around the outside of the border.  Next part - cutting and sewing together 400 x 2 inch squares.  Need I say more lol.

It has been a busy week or so - two gorgeous friends, two gorgeous daughters and one gorgeous sister all have birthdays.  I ran out of time to make something for dear Shez, but when  I saw this pattern I knew I had to make it for my other lovely friend, Keryn as it reminded me of her gorgeous sheep  -

And finally, a couple of weeks ago I had a lovely win over at Buttermilk Basin. These were the three lovely patterns that arrived -

 

Very lucky indeed. Hope you all had fun stitching Friday night and a lovely weekend. Cheryl