End of November

Parties and Presents .....

At the weekend one of the Tuesday stitching girls hosted us for Gingerbread house making and cookie icing....

Here is proof I did my own!

... not the most dainty of houses but I can assure you it will not fall apart..... haha

we had them all in a row with a sprinkling of snow icing sugar...

She was so good and kind - we made a lot of sticky mess in her home.....

We also learnt how to soften the icing and make iced gingerbread cookies....

Of course there was a glass or two to celebrate our efforts.... and lots of yummy snacks - we each got given one of those gorgeous wooden Christmas trees (the man host made them)

Lunch at a pub was an early Christmas lunch for us on Tuesday - no pictures but we were the table having the most fun!  When we ordered we were down as the noisy table!

We also had a meal and pressies with the family here who of course we won't be spending time with these holidays....

we got this lovely Christmas tree made by a local person with disability - I love it and it will be pegged in the garden whilst we are away..

I received this pretty tea cup and saucer.....

I have been knitting..... daughters cat who is temporarily living with us (only 1 year temporary so far) has finally decided he quite likes me.....  he doesn't look at all comfortable...

... anyway I made this twisted headband from a nice chunky yarn which will keep my ears nice and warm....

there are 3 grandiegirls to see, I am hoping they might be interested in some stitching.  I got these mandala panels from The Quilters Angel and cut out 4 of the squares... some 6" hoops and some bright threads from a friend who was cleaning out and needles...

Today I stitched some fabric borders so that they can fit into the hoops a bit easier.  I will take some felt too so that we can make them into hoop pictures....

I also have a bunch of the cookie icing stuff on order to take so we can do those....

I have some promised sewing and quilting for others to do so that is keeping me busy in between parties and shopping....

Righto, Gotto Go.... trip to town to collect tickets today.... and we need a bit of food!

4th week of November.....

This week has been busy doing some organising for our trip overseas for Christmas..... never done a Northern Hemisphere Christmas and I think we will be in for a cold shock ... but its very exciting to have this occasion with family over there.   I do find this time of year stressful so it's lovely to have a trip to look forward to.

Thick socks, Christmas jumper, new undies..... all those important things to think about!!!

At Quilt group I attended a 'Funky Pouch' workshop led by one of our members.....  I didn't really know what to expect but went with an idea of what picture I wanted...

This was my one by the end of the day....

as you see I didn't have a lot of applique but had fun with scribbly drawing.... used some sweet Tilda fabrics

Here are some of the others that were produced (there were 14 of us but some went home early)

I had a free day on the longarm so set up my 'K Drama Drama' quilt .... which I think I may consider a Wild Party....

I did a fairly tight quilting in the light grey, a loose meander in the black and left the colours alone....

Took me most of the day but I got it done....

Binding done by machine and it's all put away now.... not sure where it will live....

Hand sewing has seen another set of 4 Sashiko style blocks done.....

... and last thing in the evening with tired eyes, (or when car passenger) I am working on a moss stitch scarf in a chunky wool.... it's more of a fawn colour than grey

So that has been my week....... 

Righto, Gotto Go... want to draw up a few more grids for Sashiko .....

Have a lovely weekend.....

3rd week of November

This week I have made progress on my Table runner embroidery.....

Slow but steady...

On Tuesday one of the girls walked us through making folded stars ..... these are the ones I made...

The next day I wanted to do a couple of Tilda ones... so my cluster grew....

Then I couldn't resist one more......

It just happens it's little.... but took twice as long!!!

If I keep going there can be a constellation.... or even a galaxy....

Righto, Gotto Go.... stinking hot so I'll go and hide ....

Have a lovely lovely weekend.....xx

2nd week of November.....

The Avenues is now a quilt top..... I do like that thin scrappy border made from the left over Liberty fabrics

I love love it.....  but now it has to wait for a while before it gets any more attention....

  I would like to hand quilt it... not sure if I am brave enough....

Another 4 Sashiko blocks have been sewn.....  all variations of the same basic crosses ...

At machine sewing with friends this week I worked on the final 6 blocks of K Drama Drama...

(I did the green one the wrong way around but I will live with that at this stage - if it really gets in the way of my final setting I will make a new one....... 

The quilting for Gossip is done - but put away now till I can work on the binding.... and some crochet has been done but not much.  The nearby fires are out - we have had a bit of rain... the weeds are growing....

We have blocked this down pipe which takes rain water to the tank.... if you look just at the roof above the pipe you can see a brick ....

A closer look and in the catching box there is a dove nesting!!! She has 2 eggs... we have done what we could to stop them being flooded out when the rain comes.... silly bird!

Hard to get a good picture - I didn't want to go too close and upset her....

Righto, Gotto Go..... a few things to tidy up then we are going to night time Rugby 7 to watch Widget (who is no widget) play - so no stitching will be done tonight!

Hope all is well with you..... x

First Week of November ...

Oh my gosh, we are seriously on the countdown to Christmas now!!!  This year has gone so fast...

The air is very smokey where I live, no fires threatening near our home but there are lots around.... I think they said 84 fires in Queensland this week.... our firemen and women are doing such good work and a lot of people have lost homes and had to evacuate...  hoping for some rain this weekend...

As per usual a few different things being sewn here.....

Some unfinished blocks were handed in to Community Quilting - needleturn applique.  I was asked if I could make another the same as one triangle block - no pattern so I had to trace off and there was lots of available fabrics...

The top one was what I was given and the bottom is what I managed to make.... reasonably similar... Now the next person is adding stem stitch to highlight bits... and hopefully sometime soon we will see what they make with it all

I also brought a couple of community quilts to quilt - only took a picture of one but I did big loose designs on them - next person is doing the binding....

One of my own quilts is on the frame now - Gossip in the Garden and I am doing quite heavy quilting on it so it's taking a while - but it's great fun....

I always love the look of those bubbles so I gave it a try.... 

Slowly adding a few stitches on my table- runner.... 

here is the progress this week!

The Sashiko style blocks are a bit quicker ......

not much crochet was done this week but I did sew ends in so these 7 have been added to the KOGO pile.....

I did work a bit on The Avenue... finished sewing down the trunks and started putting them in lines.... then I noticed one was being obstructive so I had to do a bit of unsewing and resewing!   I still looooooove it though!

That's about if for my crafting this week.... a rugby game was watched, hunting and gathering done and a couple of social outings .... 

Righto, Gotto Go - I'm out all day and need to get ready.... coffee first...

Have a lovely weekend.....xx