..... and where has the week gone?...

Is the time flying for everyone?????  I kinda feel shocked that it is already Friday....  

I have done all my stars for the swag......  

The mess in the middle is a bundle of gold ribbons and red bells to tie it all together to make a swag... I will need to be in the right mood for fiddly diddly.....

If there is ever any need to prove that I made these I have left some DNA on this one..... it will be a story for the great grandchildren....

I had space for two more circles on the linen I used (thanks Christine for the lovely linen) so I traced out birdies from Gail Pans free design a couple of years ago.... that can be found HERE

The birdie design would be perfect for trying out Shez's clever way of making decorations.... she has a tutorial HERE on how she does them....

there has been quite a few requests about the pattern ... it is by Nikki Tervo and the pattern can be found HERE .  The pattern is just for "Christmas"... a friend helped with adapting some of the letters to make "Merry".

In March I attended Girls Stitch In at The Quilters Angel and this was one of the patterns we got in our goodie bags... just gorgeous..... I am looking forward to Stitchers Dream Day Out in September - there is quite a few bloggers booked to go so I think more than one naughty table?????

I quilted a whole cloth quilt over the week....

.... just a small one.....

..recently I did a trade for some wool felt (old blankets) and received a wonderful selection of neutrals..... thank you ladies... I love them all (though there are a few of you who can't count one fat quarter!!) 

It did mean that I had no guilt chopping up some of the smaller pieces of neutrals from the scrap box, and I made up this bundle of HST's for my scrappy quilt.....

.. do you recognise that pumpkin fabric Marina... I think this is the last of it....

Righto, Gotto Go.. there are sitll more of those HST's that need the edges trimmed..... squares to crochet, some borders to sew on a quilt top and a stitchery to finish off..... 

I think I will start with some chocolate....

.... love these stars...

Awesome parcel....

Recently I took part in a Tilda themed swap organised by Peg and Shez.... they have worked hard to think of some original ideas and challenges for us....

I am a bit lost for words here but look what was waiting for me at home yesterday....

and it came from Cheryll.... also known as Dory.... 

I had to take a picture of how pretty the packages all looked.... until I started ripping!!!

this cushion is just full of detail and so beautifully made with such pretty colours.... Cheryll even custom made a filler for it....

... and a hoop bag... with hoops in it... I am a hoop user so this is perfect... I am always losing mine (having put it in a safe place!)... also beautifully stitched in that pretty pretty colour...

... not only that but there was a Tilda book in there (I never owned a Tilda book ... and really we should all have a Tilda book ... I think the cover girls reminded Cheryll of her and me)... a pretty lace zip (perfect for a zippy purse?) and some Cottage Garden to add to my pretty holder....

there was also treats to eat.... bubbly mint chocolate and camomile tea...

The cushion deserves some detail showing... this is the stitchery... perfect work and just the right saying for me...

applique on the other side with lovely detail of ribbon and lace....

.. the back of the cushion is beautiful too!

... here is my fabulous bundle of presents all together .....

Cheryll, you have really spoilt me.... I can't tell you how much I love all of these.... such a thoughtful parcel and beautiful hand made goodies and extra's....

Cushion has a home .......

Thanks again to dear online friends.... Cheryll  for the gifts and Peg and Shez for organising this fun swap....

Righto, Gotto Go... I need some camomile tea to calm down... I'm just that excited!

Friday Night Sew In

Thanks again to the wonderful Wendy ... did you have one of her lovely apple cream pastry goodies?  We had a bit of lamb done in the slow cooker with a glass of beer of course....

Yesterday was cold and windy... perfect for indoors and I had "The Good Wife" and "Chicago Fire" to catch up on..... I tell you... it is tough when it's cold in Queensland!!!!

... so a few more stars are done..... it's beginning to look like "MERRY CHRISTMAS"

... thought I would show you the size of these stars.....  (I thought they were littler!)

(61/2" ruler)

I had finished off the quilting from last week and wanted to play with my mini feathers... a 6" square quilted

this is a shiny stretchy fabric I have placed on double sided pellon ...

Now I can hear "Why?" and "What"  - I have no idea but I like doing them....

I cut and started to sew my Hello World fat quarter bundle.... 10" squares... 

... and that was Friday.... woke up to a goodly frost this morning and ice on the birdbath... queensland birds don't understand about ice skating poor things.... but it does mean it's going to be an outstanding day....

Righto, Gotto Go... whatever you do I hope it's a load of fun....

My big fright .....

Some progress with my swag of stars

I will be doing "Merry Christmas" and had a bit of extra linen so have done a couple of Gail Pan birdies

(The star swag pattern is by Nikki Tervo (Brandy Gully Designs)

.. and crochet edges have progressed too... I try and do a couple a day at least....

In my sewing/computer space I have a lovely big double window... lots of natural light and a great view of the bird feeder...

sometimes the birds are silly and fly into the window.... this week one flew extra hard ....

.. the bird flew off, I picked myself off the floor having thought my neighbour had fired off a shot at me!!!!
... and now the window is taped up well!

That's the view I have for when I am doing this ....

We have had some freezing mornings and beautiful days.... this was a sunset this week.. the view over the bird feeder.... (on the other side of the broken window!!!)

I wish I could pick up the colours like they really were ...

Righto, Gotto Go... still sewing .....

Progress

This last week has been one of those weeks... happy, creative, sad, busy, reflective, social .... etc....

I have made progress, albeit not that much on all sorts of different projects....

This rather fun mixture of blocks has been put together and now needs quilting....

(a friend asked me to do one in pink and brown, horses, dogs, flowers)

the needleturn for the star swag is going along nicely.....

I needed some mindless machine work so I have put together 30 of these 9 patch scrappy blocks...

.. they will eventually morph into these blocks....

.. and I have started to crochet around the edges of my soft and pretty blocks...

... so you can see I haven't been entirely idle... just not finished anything off.... 

Righto, Gotto Go.... chores to do....

Hope you have a  lovely weekend..

FNWF ... July

Thank you so much Cheryll for hosting FNWF last night.....

A cold damp day over this way yesterday ... perfect for stitching with friends and I was lucky enough to be spending the morning over at The Quilters Angel with a couple of friends... including Kris ... a great time to catch up .. and maybe a touch of retail therapy????

I handed over this lovely quilt top I made for them...

It's called Mystical Mountains and is the exact fabrics in the pattern.... they are just gorgeous in quality and design... I thought it was like jewels .... you can see it laying on my queen size bed that it is a great size too.....  kits are soon to be available at The Quilters Angel...

... are you a kit person or a make up your own person?  I'm a bit of both....

I continued working on my Christmas Stitcheries for my star swag and carried on with them in the evening.... there's a lot of stitching in these little pretties....

I found just the right fabric to make the background stars.. the backing will be the green which will just show on the edges of the stars....

... this collection called "Hello World" just grabbed my heart and squeezed it.... and then jumped into my bag.... just like that.... 

I simply adore the quirkiness of the designs and the mix of colours... just large squares for this quilt... 

(so much for only buying fabric to finish off projects)

On the machine this week I have been doing some applique... I rather like this bright pink and chocolate brown mix..

Righto, Gotto Go.... there is left over cake from yesterday.... time for a cuppa.... the sun has come out and it's a stunning day ....

Mini Quilt .....

Imagine my delight when this piece of art arrived in my post box today....

My secret sender is De... and I just love all the detail that is in this mini quilt....

such pretty fabrics and those buttons and special flower really add to it

beautiful stitching on an old doily and quilted with crosshatch to set it off.... perfect

De also spoilt me with some little extra goodies in there.... isn't that card a hoot....

.. the mini is up on the frame and it looks perfect ...  thank you so much De... I just love it ... very very much...

I am still enjoying collecting up mini quilts for my little stand.... 

The mini I put together used one of Michelle's drawings (with a slight adaption... she was a Quilting Angel and I changed it to a Stitching Angel)

.... I love all the detail Michelle adds in to her drawings

I quilted carefully around the edge of the stitchery and then some wiggles in the background and cross hatching in the border....

This mini quilt went to Melissa ..... hope she likes it as much as I enjoyed making it for her.....

I found out after I had sent it that it was supposed to be Inspirational words in embroidery.... maybe we can be inspired to be more angelic????

Righto, Gotto Go... I have some choccies to eat....