'Tis the Season....

... for parties....

A Friday evening sewing group I attend at The Quilters Angel had their Chistmas party and Kris so kindly hosted us at her gorgeous new home 

... so prettily decorated ....

..... for gifts .....

... where gifts were presented.... home made cordial and a bag of treats.. patterns etc.

(how cute is that little bag)

... and Kris gave us each a lovely handmade boot to hang on the tree... I do love my special decorations...

The FHFS swap group I am in is opening it's 12 days of Christmas presents and these are what I have had from Shez.... some Christmas cards, a photo album, hand stitched deer picture (oh it is dear).. and today a set of 3 handmade ornies... they are on the tree already...

Thanks Shez... gorgeous gifts...

We had a few lovely cooler evenings so I hand stitched down this binding... so we have a new quilt...

"Baby It's Cold Outside" is one of Toni's patterns.... I love the freshness of this one

.... for family....

... well... I am excited for Christmas but my big count down is for my eldest daughter and family to arrive from the UK... including these 3 elves..... this time next week they will be waking up to their first morning in Australia... those lovely jumpers will not be needed....

I CAN'T WAIT..... but I have to... so I better keep busy

Righto, Gotto Go ...  lots to sort out.....

Today ....

... is my youngest childs birthday

this is the widget's mother... and we will all have lunch together to celebrate

Today .....

....we are allowed to start opening our FHFS presents

mine are from Shez and today I got a pack of very nice cards .... we ALWAYS run out so thanks Shez... perfecto....

Yesterday .....

I opened my box of decorations and our tree is dressed

lots of handmade ornaments .... I love them all

baubles and lights

a little bit of magic

... filling corners with Christmas quilts ....

Last night.....

.... it got quite cool after our hot weather so I didn't mind sitting with a quilt on my lap doing some binding .....

Last week ......

I had some lovely mail with Christmas lovelies... 

This lovely tag came from Marina .... so clever with her colours and a rusty bell on the bottom

Michelle sent me one of her embroidered angels.... those bullion roses - oh my

Thanks to Maria for a fat quarter of beautiful Christmas fabric.... it is pretty and strokable....

(Japanese made... such lovely quality)

a Michelle Palmer original drawing on fabric from one of Santa's elves

Clever ladies, wonderful ideas....  it's beginning to look like Christmas over here....

Righto, Gotto Go.... the thing about decorating is you move things ... and find dirt (well I do... I'm sure others don't!!)

No sewing......

... whilst the widget has been staying.... but we have had a lot of fun and the postie has been...

Chookyblue hosts SSCS and we are matched up with people from other countries... Grace sent me a parcel all the way from Arizona, USA.... I love the Arizona card with the coyotes and cactuses looking out for Santa..

... very clear instructions about the next part....

... and look at this beautiful ornament ... cross stitch and so beautifully finished off ... I love it.. thanks Grace ... I will be a good girl and hide the rest... so great to meet you too!!

I have also had some lovely ornies thanks to lovely bloggy friends.. and I will show them all another day

I have glued together plates before but my hot gluing wasn't too successful... I saw Jeneta had done some HERE  with really pretty plates... but she did let me know she used a Weldbond glue with good results... so the young widget and I got them out to work on together....

... when he saw me taking pictures he did too on his leap-pad.... (future blogger?????)

we made this 3 tiered one.... I think it will be perfect for the Christmas table this year....

.... these mushrooms had been done before but needed a clean and regluing.... I will put little solar lights under them and they go in the garden....

.. another couple that were fixed.... great for cakes and snacks....

... then it was time for Christmas cake and making wishes....

I also baked some of Christine's almond bread....  put away for slicing and drying next week

The Christmas cake has been glazed with butter and sherry and left now for icing next week too

... on our way into town we pass these fields of sunflowers... they are so much fun to watch....

.. that is the sun going down behind... now a mystery ... I thought sunflowers followed the sun.. these ones are always looking East whatever time of day.... sunny or cloudy ... 

Oh.. and this word verification thing that is messing around our blogs..... this link seems to help...

Thanks to Kathy and Terry for sharing

December FNWF.....

... and that's the last FNWF of the year..... thanks so much to Cheryll for hosting us all year long... most months there are about 50 of us sewing ....

We have the widget staying with us at the moment .... so the days are filled with bits and pieces ...

Widget helped to build the tree
(see ladies... I am trying to get some decorating done.....)

... and up it goes....

.... so Friday night after the widget was tuckered out and tucked into bed I collected up some sewing...

I gently stitched some pink into mouse ears....

... and finished off the needleturn scallops on this block....

... and did the stitching on the Holly Jolly bird - sewed the leaves and berries on the ric rac and added the borders in the morning

(design by Michelle Ridgeway)  

This is a gift I sent off to someone special a week or so ago....

... a little wallhanging ...

....it's a design by Kaaren from The Painted Quilt..... it is called Summer Sampler and can be find if you look down the right side bar of her blog along with lots of lovely freebies she has generously shared

Righto, Gotto Go.. there still seems lots of little fiddly things to get done around here.... hohoho

Welcome to December.....

Woohooo.... December has started..... 3 weeks till my eldest daughter and her family arrive all the way from UK.... more than 2 years since I had a cuddle .....

First up is the December Charming Stars hosted by the Terrific Terry...

(ok... so I made these last month as I was on a roll!!!)

... now we are 16....

that's all the star blocks... sashing and corner stones is next....

It's going to be quite pretty I think.... and those stars will be fun to quilt...

Talking about quilting... I worked on my "Baby It's Cold Outside" quilt by Toni this week...

(have a look at the sneak peak of her latest Foxy quilt HERE)

In the ditch .... slowly but surely as I don't want the quilting to show in this one....

round the edges of all the details.... I used a grey thread in the colours

.. and white on the white so to hide it all....

I had bought some white damask on line... not realising it is printed on white (as opposed to woven in) .... can you see the holes it leaves where the needle goes in??

so I haven't quilted on the border either... just around the squares....

.... modern wadding doesn't need a lot of quilting to keep it together.... this design is fine just having the pictures highlighted and I'm happy with the texture that white gives without any additional holes added to it....

I used some wool (home felted) for the hats and scarves.... and there are buttons for the eyes so it's quite a textured and fun quilt.... I have the binding made up already in the blue star fabric...

I join up with Chookyblue's SSCS Christmas swap when I can and this year I sent off a parcel to Sylvia in Germany.....  she was allowed to open the ornament and this is what I sent... a candle mat of angels (she loves angels) and a bon bon full of chocolates.... lucky they didnt' melt before they left our land...

it's a fun swap and a great way to meet new people from around the world

 I have to hand stitch in the evenings ... not possible to sit still .... and this is one I have done on some linen .. a cute little stitchery by Michelle (she has hers displayed in her header - I love how she finished it off)

... now I am slow to decorate.... I think I got blessed with grinch genes???? last year we didn't put any up ... so this year I have started (since we have young visitors I should make the effort????) .. and I bought some sticks with lights on... and they have gone into my giant jug.... they look pretty... 

grinch be gone..... AND I have taken down the box of christmassy stuff.....

Righto, Gotto Go ..... I'll sew on that binding today... and hang up another decoration???