A different Tuesday .....

My usual Tuesday girls sewing day has been suspended for a couple of weeks so I was thrilled when Brisbane Tuesday girls drove up the mountain and we had a coffee together...

Helen was collecting a quilt she had kindly let me play with.....

Here we are chatting about it.... such gorgeous colours and Helen's stitching is perfection....

... so kind ... Helen brought me up this pincushion... more of her gorgeous stitching and it's filled with walnut shells... lovely weight to sit by the sewing machine and not run away!  Thank you so much...xx

... we all needed some breakfast .... and here we are afterwards.... I pointed them in the direction of a quilt shop and off they went...

So lovely to see you Helen, Noreen and Teresa..... 

When I got home I finished up this project that I had worked on at our weekend retreat....

The embroidered top was done last year.... I just loved doing it

This lime green linen was just perfect for the backing (matching just a bit of that colour used in the front)

As it is an unusual shape I needed to make the inside cushion....

... and here is the new cushion

A lovely day out and a UFO finish......... yay...

Righto, Gotto Go......overcast damp day which is just lovely for sewing....

FNWF... and a bloggy friends meet up

Thank you dear Cheryll for this months FNWF sewing.....  

I spent it with the stitching group of ladies at The Quilters Angel and worked on some hand stitching for a friendship block - part of the sampler quilt I am doing

Sampler block sewing this week has been on my own.... the others have gone off to Tassie for holidays leaving me behind!!! but that's ok as I am off on my own holiday later this week...  

Gentleman's Fancy (25 pieces)

Glorified 9 patch (13 pieces)

Follow the Leader (29 pieces)

Last year I took part in a monthly series of Free Motion Quilting hosted by Darlene at QuiltShopGal (do you remember all the cushions I made)

I was so lucky to win a gift voucher from Gotcha Covered Quilting.  When I went online I was concerned that the postage was going to be the cost of mailing whatever I bought and the Aus$ is pretty week at the moment so I wrote and said thanks so much but I wouldn't be able to use it.  

Carrie from Gotcha Covered quickly got back to me and said she would try and put something together that would be less costly to mail.....

What a lovely surprise when this parcel arrived in the post.... there is a metre of the plain grey and she added two half metres of the others that match.... how amazing..  Thank you so much Carrie and also to Darlene who had heaps of work putting together the tutorials and prizes the whole year..

They are gorgeous high quality fabrics and I'm dreaming up what I might make with them

these lovely bulbs have started floweing in a number of our pot plants we inherited here.... they are crocus plants (thanks to instagrammers for letting me know!).  So pretty and delicate and I have been promised some pink ones too!

Here is what they look like in the pot with another plant... lovely and they have flowered and flowered for ages

  

Saturday brought along a road trip.... Hubz dropped me off for lunch and he went and did a few chores in a shopping centre....

I met up with Michelle and Raewyn who is visiting all the way from New Zealand....

Raewyn brought along her gorgeous Calender Bears quilt (Michelles's design) for us to admire... of course I got some quilting ideas from her too!!

It was a lovely few hours that sped along far too fast for my liking ......

(thanks Michelle I stole the pics from you as mine all came out too dark! xx)

Righto, Gotto Go....  the grass needs to be mowed before we go on our holiday....  but I'll chat before that ....xx

FarmFest

We have an annual FarmFest just 3km away from where I live each year and Narelle from up North and her Hubz come down to it every year......

... so it is now our annual get together ....

... we met in blogland....

... we wandered around and purchased a few items (I got Hubz lovely bamboo socks but I didn't take a picture... socks are socks)

We did find a girlie place amongst big machines, dust, farm tools, big hats and tight jeans .... 

this cute little shed....

here is Narelle.... look at her shopping bag.... I meant to go back to that place and get one too!!!

inside the She Shed was lots of pretties....

... and we spotted a local celebrity trying to be incognito....

... Lee Kernighan, a local country singer was special guest for one of the stands

(you can take a guess at which one.... Lee is the local bloke ....)

... here are the groupies ....

It was such a fun few hours... I love this annual catch up... luckily this year we are having a bi-annual catch up as Narelle is coming to The Quilters Angel Stitching Day Out in September this year ....

I sent off this picture last week and it has arrived at Marina's... (it was her birthday).. luckily the glass survived the journey ....  I've always loved this saying and have made this before for pressies....

Righto, Gotta Go... the girls came for sewing here today and made a right mess of the place!

The Weekend that was....

Widget came visiting...

I found some old pillowcases and gave him a lit candle to drop drips all over....

(PS  it was Pirate Widget - which I was assured was a nice pirate.... not a scary one)

and whilst he did that I tied a few up in knots and string....

Whilst the pillowcases were in the machine with some blue dye Widget got to the other important stuff.....

Once dyed and dried we needed to do a bit of stitching....

Then stuff with some pillows....

.... and we have his very own special mattress ....

here are the tie and dye designs and his lovely candle wax drips ..... 

... he didn't even want to use the bed that night .....

SUNDAY TREAT

Sunday was Hubz and my 34th wedding anniversary.... I told him I was lucky to have him and made him a special cuppa coffeee...

.... then I said "Goodbye..... I'm off to lunch with my blog internet friends......"

Chookyblue was passing through the area so Kris and I managed to meet up with her.   Here we are.... in a quilting shop.... of course (that's one of Kris's designs behind us!) ..... Chookyblue first got me interested in blogging and gave me so much help getting going - she also hosts a magnificent swap and stitchalong so it was extra special to meet her......  A long road trip so thanks for stopping in here - fantastic .....

... I didn't forget my love and took him home a chocolate...

SWAPS COMING UP ..

I am trying to limit my swaps at the moment but I do love to do some... Here are a couple that require fairly small items coming up ....

Sheila over at Sheila's Quilt World is going to host a postcard exchange..... I am going to join in as it is a small item and  a bit different ....

I have had some postcards before... these are what I have received ...

Anyway, if you're up to something a little different go HERE and let Sheila know you'd like to join in...

Cheryll over at Gone Stitchin' is hosting another mini quilt (12" square) with a winter theme .... I am enjoying gathering a little collection of these for my stand too....

there is more information about these HERE... and sign ups are HERE on Cheryll's blog....

Righto, Gotto Go... July is here for us to enjoy.....

A fun day.....

I worked on a couple more of my sampler blocks this morning....  trying to keep going whilst the motivation is hot hot hot for them...... I am enjoying these Paris Flea Market fabrics more and more - I guess I really am a lacy pretty pretty kind of girl ...

Then I went off to Toowoomba's huge big Agricultural event "Farmfest" .... land of big trucks, big dust, big mud and all sorts of other big farming thingies.....

Hubz wasn't working there today but I caught up with someone special....

Narelle was down to look at all the big farming thingies with her husband... so she dumped him with the dogs (literally - can you believe that????) and we went and put our feet up and had a cuppa coffee then a wander and lots of lovely chit chat... 

You can tell in this picture I am a lacy, pretty, pretty kinda girl can't you.... we both are.....

Tonight we both can stitch whilst our relevant Hubz's are watching the most important State of Origin footy stuff game 

I am going to continue with playing with these 1/2" hexies....

I am was neither a hexie maker nor a hand quilter but these are really quite fun

 Righto, Gotto Go... footy plus cold weather means some lovely seafood laksa is required....