end of December......

Gosh this year went by so fast... I hope you all had a great Christmas time....

Thank you so much to Maria for my lovely gnome mug rug which was waiting for me when I got back.... I love the gnome quilt she made so this little one is just perfect...

We had family to stay over Christmas (still here) and we went to the coast for a few days....  3 little boys ((9, 7 and 3) and they had a ball....

exploring in the sand.....

paddling …..

climbing......

… adventuring.....

ballet????….

…. beach cricket.....

WE had a no gift for grown ups rule.... my children did not listen to me.....

I got a personal assistant.... and am learning just what her skills set are....

.. and a lovely reed diffuser (I love them) and a new mug for my car...

My son is skilled with irrigation and so the fernery has been dug up....

 …. and equipment as well as piping installed...

Just odd bits to do now and it will all be so lovely and easy to keep the plants happy....

A wrap up of December finishes for OPAM

3 pillowcases

2 birdie ornaments

12 Tree ornaments

and two scrubbie washcloths

(can't find the picture!)

Family are still here, no sewing is being done (except a little bit of handsewing at night) - the little boys are just delightful... full on and busy but very very sweet....

Righto, Gotto Go.. .there are dinosaurs to identify and ice-cream to eat!

wishing you a Happy New Year

Time for a break.....

Look at my lovely pear ornament and Ausi Christmas card that came from Karen....  I love all that detail on the pear.....  thanks Karen ….. and it's hanging on my pot plant with the others …..

I spent a day just cleaning up the last borders on a number of quilts..... things that had been waiting to be done and really don't take too long to do at all..

First on the rack is my Christmas quilt, a design by the late Vivian Robinson.  I just love it ….

It's not too glaringly noticeable but I did the A on the wrong side of the cream fabric!!!!  Aaaargh I only noticed when I put it all together!

I am thinking to be brave and do a light tea dyeing of the whole quilt top to 'age' it and make it less noticeable.... but then again I might just leave it to be part of the story!

Such a silly goose I am....

the ribbons on the bottom row of parcels was fun to do.....

Binding is made, backing is chosen and it is put in the cupboard with the others in waiting.....

Then I got out my fat quarter quilts and added the spotty border to this one.....

This grey one needed an outside border of grey first and then the spotty border...

So they are very similar 

Binding is made, backing is chosen and it is put in the cupboard with the others in waiting..... 

Then I got out my rail fence one which I wasn't quite sure... whilst I was looking for a backing I found this mustard/black shirting - there was enough to make a border as well as the binding... so I did that.... (I's a bit less stark in real)

 Binding is made, backing is chosen and it is put in the cupboard with the others in waiting..... 

So all in one day I got 4 quilt tops finished off! Sounds impressive if you didn't know it was just a matter of borders and making the binding....

Machines are serviced and covered, the room is tidied up and now it's time for a break...

Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas season, however you like to spend it.  We have family visiting and I will be taking a blogging break for that time, and catch up with you next year....

Tidying up.....

This year I made a number of these foundation pieced ornaments (12 to be exact) to send out...… Foundation piecing is not my favourite and takes me a while, but they did work out nice and the blue is all sparkly....

Sadly some of them seem to have got lost in the post.....

…. and a couple of these stitched ones.....

I got in the groove with my Christmas quilt...….

This pattern is by Vivian Robinson, I got it some years ago and I love it...

Righto, Gotta Go... I want to get this one sashed and bordered then I can tidy it away....

I also have a couple of others that need a final border...… it will be a hot and busy day

It's Christmas time!!!

Kris fancied up some pillowcases previously and whilst chatting to her a week or so ago I decided I could do some for young boys who will be here at Christmastime

I got out Toni's Happy Quilts book and printed out a few pictures.....

I wanted to do raw edge applique and so I threaded up my Sweet Sixteen and did it on the quilting machine....  saves turning the fabric round all the time and I just had to make sure I tucked in the bits of the pillow case...

.. we have a B for Blair ... 

 

…. and Jack for Jack ……

… and X for Xavier (widget)….

somehow we have got into a tradition with the children for a night before Christmas parcel... a movie, a book, pyjamas and this year pillowcases ….. 

Thanks for that idea Kris, they worked out well (I wonder if Hubz would like one too?)

I prepped these Christmas quilt blocks long long ago.....  I had done the applique in matching colours and then got out thread to do the embroidery... whilst I had the SS quilting machine threaded up I decided to carry on and do these in the contrast.... 

… and while I was doing that I decided to do the embroidery also on the quilting machine..

In this picture you can see I have sewn in a matching colour around the edges of the applique

… and here in a contrast black... as well as the embroidery

I like the look much nicer... informal and shows up well

I had a happy day yesterday playing with the other letters ……

On the handsewing in the evenings I finished off my fourth block for Flowerville - all I had left was to sew down the stitchery circle.....

My butterflies for 'Wings' have been done and the border is all sewn on.....

I have put this one away to work on next year now... but I just love it so far....  thank you Michelle for sharing this with me... 

I have an update on my African Violet leaves....

All 8 of them now have new little leaves... the second from the right bottom row only sneaked through yesterday so it is teeny weeny....

My lovely African violet big plant is dying a miserable death with the leaves slowly just wilting.. .there is some sort of fungus I haven't been able to get rid of and I am just hoping it doesn't get to these babies...

Righto, Gotto Go..... I am going to continue playing with those Christmas blocks...