sewing ....

I've been having a lovely social time with family and friends lately .... good fun....

I have also been doing some sewing though!

All the blocks went together for this top at my last 'ChooseDay" girls catch up.... there is still a thin border to add in the grey and the binding will be grey too....

And I have cut up my Anthology left overs and added some backing fabric.... I am making flying geese here.... I am always surprised at just how far left overs go and I think there will be a lot of geese for my backing.... 

This wall quilt has been waiting for ages to be finished... it is an old UFO and I quilted it some time ago... it just needed a hanging sleeve and binding to be sewn down.  With a bit of cooler weather last week I finally did it.....

 I had a bit of play with the quilting....

... the pictures are very sweet... panels are great for a bit of practice FMQ ....

Dutch Treat blocks continue to be done..... 

.. .and the circles don't take too long once I have them prepped and ready to go..... they are a lovely pick up mindless project to do.  I do find some of the batik fabrics harder to sew... some seem to have a much tighter weave than others and I guess the dying process affects it... 

Righto, Gotto Go.... now I finished that panel I need to sort out another UFO to finish off ....

Magpies.....

Magpies chatter and chatter...... and so did we.....

... we met up at Spring Bluff cafe for the most delicious Devonshire Tea - I do love it when the scones are crunchy on top ...... 

Shez and Chez were up for a Brisbane stitching weekend and Michelle brought them up the hill for a visit on their free day....

Up the hill we visited my favourite LQS "The Quilters Angel", where a little shopping might have happened ...... 

... and went over to my house for chatter and a light lunch .....  Hubz is still talking about the noise!!! haha

We have been special friends for a long time so this was a wonderful treat 

.... of course there has to be a silly pic.....

Michelle brought a birthday gift for me..... bee themed and just so pretty...  That cross stitch on the front of the sewing case is teeny weeny and must have taken days to do..... so precious...  One of her beautiful hand made cards, some lip balm, CG thread and just gorgeous fabrics - I will need to think carefully what I will make with those....  Thank you Michelle - I love it all

Even though we have a no pressie rule Shez arrived with some of her beautiful home made Beetroot which I can't wait to try... and a roll of happy spotty dotty fabrics.... I do love spots.... Thank you so much Shez ..... love it.  I need to think of something spotty to make too

 Easter Bunny must have dropped these Easter themed goodies in Michelle's car - we all got a sweet plate and roll of easter ribbon...... how sweet is that plate?

Of course the biggest gift was seeing all three of these special friends - we live too far away to get together very often so there was lots to catch up in a short time..... thanks so much for making the trip up the hill... 

Righto, Gotto Go... Monday morning and there is a couple of quilting jobs waiting to be done!

Prettiness ...............

There are not a lot of things I really really really want but I do love these chairs and have heard lots of good reports about them.....

So this is what I got from Hubz...... 

I don't think he knew it was going to have a secret stash hiding place!!! haha

I do admit so far so good - it is my main quilting chair and nice and firm for the legs and that short back is supporting the small of my back well..... and it rolls so nicely - I can zoom around the room!

I was also gifted this lovely set of creams from Marion and Steph at The Quilters Angel - very sweet of them.

The creams are just lovely and feel very silky and not at all oily - and a perfect size to have in the handbag, sewing bag and by my chair..... 

... well I have put the creams in a special place and the lovely little bag has found another use!

These clever little bags with see through are great to know what is or is not in there....

I've continued with sewing up some tags for the No Fuss SAL - Living the Dream 

They really are fun and pretty.....

On Tuesday with the ChooseDay girls I sewed up some more of the tags I had done into strips and joined them together ....

There is still a few rows to do - the quilt is much bigger than I thought it would be and I just love it....

February.....

I'm a bit late for this post..... but visitors and beach trips took precedence for a few days!

My OPAM finishes for February are these 6 mug rugs....

Thanks Peg and Kris who are hosting OPAM for another year ...... 

They are also from my UFO drawer so count in for Finishing Stitches completed projects.

Joy hosts Finishing Stitches and we can include blocks towards any UFO projects that we are working on.... thanks Joy - keeps me going on them

In February I did these blocks towards my Anthology quilt....

... and these ones....

... then sewed all the blocks together.....

I also did the cottage block for Holly Cottage ....

and a couple of reverse applique for Dutch Treat.....

... as well as some tags for the No Fuss stitch-a-long....

I decided I did want a small border on my Anthology quilt .... so I added one in the same colour as the sashing....

... just tidies it up a bit and I will bind it in the same red as the corner stones....

So that's a wrap for February.....  I do enjoy looking back and seeing what has been done.... sometimes the month seems to go so fast ...

Righto, Gotto Go... it's Tuesday and that means sewing with the Tuesday girls...

A weekend away.....

I had a fun visitor last week.... who took over my design board......

... do you recognise that gorgeous smile????/  yes it's Chookyblue....

We had a day of stitching and an evening of stitching - but I forgot to take more pictures!  silly me....

I worked on my Japanese blocks... there are 6 completed ones now.... (3 more to go)

On Saturday morning I met up with my daughter and widget (Hubz had a work thing on this weekend) and we went to my most favourite place...... 

The beach.......

Here is widget on our first walk along the Esplanade at Burleigh Heads on the Gold Coast....

Saturday night was Eat Street Markets (Miami Markets)

.... where we shared a mixture of Asian and Turkish.....

... and a splash of something nice.....

On Sunday I spent some time chatting to one of the locals....

... whilst doing some stitching.... that's DD and widget on the paddleboard in the background....

Evening walk at the end of the weekend......

I managed to finish one tag for the No Fuss Stitch-a-long.... isn't it the perfect one....

Righto, Gotto Go.... back home there is laundry to be done, quilt jobs to be done and maybe a bit of stitching to be done.....