Almost Month end.....

 Spring is well and truly here with so much growing and looking lovely in our garden and the lovely parks around town....

We went for a walk around one park on Sunday... sadly social distancing seems to be a distant memory... there were hundreds of people all mashed together!!  so we just walked around the edges a bit and I got some lovely pictures of flowers...

Once again our town did the parks beautifully.  This year the garden competition I think was online and there was a new initiative of shop fronts decorating in the CBD (initiated and organised by my daughter).  No parade or food and wine festival but I think we still got many many visitors to the city and the cafe's etc would have done well.  

Hubz went outside and left the door open.... and this magpie just strolled in.... (it is the rather tame one that comes to the back door for a treat most days)

he seemed to know where food is kept in my house....

had a good look around.....

....  " and where is the tea?"......

we persuaded him to leave the room.... his play area is outside!

One of our fuschia's is beginning to flower prettily....

.. and the hoya buds are beginning.... it is fun watching them grow...

The last of the banner stitcheries was completed this week....  I have packed them away as I need to think about whether to add some more or just back and join them up....

... end of month and Cheryll hosts WOOFA to help encourage working on UFO projects...

I was supposed to work on my Mouse quilt ... but it hasn't even got out the drawer!!!

But I did get 4 more stitcheries for Field Journal done....

... and complete all the blocks for the red and cream pineapple quilt....  (a project from the scrap basket)

It has been a busy month really with trips away, the Stitchers Day as well as quilting jobs so I'm pleased with what was done....

I spent most of Saturday prepping more stitcheries and cutting strips.... and joining strips and making 4 patches...

Righto, Gotto Go... I want to press all the rest of the 4 patches down... and I have a bunch of 1 1/2" strips to sew together....

Have a lovely week.....xx

A new flimsy.....

My red and cream scraps are all used up in this pineapple block quilt.....

I am really pleased with how it has worked out....

I did think consider borders but I will go with some red binding and leave it at that ....

I have done the next 10 blocks of Naive Melody quilt....  a SAL hosted by Lucy Engels on Instagram.

these blocks are surprisingly quick to do considering the needleturn applique... I think because they are fairly big shapes with gentle turns (the finished block is 6 1/2").  I am thoroughly enjoying it.

Embroidery in front of TV this week sees another banner block done....

 

There is one last block which is almost complete..... then I need to catch up on my Wish You Well BOM I have got behind on....

Righto, Gotto Go....  I am trying out a new free motion quilting pattern today....  an all over fun design on a kids quilt.....

I hope you have a lovely weekend ......

a lovely trip.....

I finished another banner block.... very sweet design

Last weekend we went to Hervey Bay (about 4 hours drive from home) and stayed in a unit just above the harbour

We were there to catch up with my cousin whom I have not seen for over 10 years.... he is here working from New Zealand  where his wife and daughters are and due to Covid19 they are away from each other.... 

Anyhow we still managed to get together and celebrate his 60th birthday with a special trip...

.... out in a Catamaran to see the whales...

I only have my iphone as a camera and pictures don't do any justice to what a wonderful time we had...

must have seen over 20 whales... who looped and splashed and breached and did everything to keep us happy...

The following day we had a nice walk on the pier which is one of the longest piers in Australia, about 1km long.... 

lots of fishermen and women making some great catches, and we could see lots of big and little fish as well as rays and sharks.....

I crocheted up a few more rows of my blanket while we travelled and read a bit of my book in the mornings....

came back home and our pots of orchids are doing their thing... masses of tiny little flowers.... just beautiful...

So a lovely weekend.... and now we are back to reality, food has to be cooked instead of just ordered ....

Righto, Gotto Go... I do need to defrost a burger for tonight....

Home happenings.....

Spring is such a fun time of year... I am always so surprised at how quickly things blossom and grow....

Another Field Journal stitchery has been completed.... this blue colour is called Bird Bath and is a lovely variegation....

my still small Wisteria is full of flowers... it just hasn't grown much in the few years it has been there but this year the bunches of flowers are just gorgeous and the scent is strong in that area of the garden...

A friendly magpie came to the door the other day for a chortle..... he/she follows Hubz all around the garden while he is working, hoping for an easy feed when he turns the soil......

... and I got tempted into a new project this month....

It's a modern SAL I found on Instagram .....

I am doing needleturn, which is relatively easy on the big bold shapes and using a range of Australiana themed fabrics ....

very different for me and rather fun

I have been working consistently on getting the pineapple blocks done and here they all are ready to be sewn together....

I love it

Righto, Gotto Go..... woke up in the early hours so I think I'll amble along back to bed now .... have a lovely rest of the week.....

A Stitching Weekend...... SDDO

A fun weekend at SDDO... a weekend of stitching organised by The Quilters Angel....

In spite of COVID it was able to go ahead albeit with a bunch of changes....

Water provided in bottles.... and sanitiser at lots of locations

lots of space between tables....

.... we still had angels dancing through ...

Pop up shop was set up at the back... bigger than usual ....

prepackaged food and snacks throughout the day

sparkles on the table... the theme was Celebrate..... (who would have guessed that last year when it was planned we would so need a reason to celebrate???)

you can see better in this picture how tables were well spaced this year....

.. and a bunch of lovely projects...

Each person gets all the patterns in their parcel and fabrics and preprinted pattern for one of the projects... so all ready to start sewing....

Debbie McGee, one of the guest designers sadly couldn't attend due to ill health..... 

Nicki Tervo was the other guest designer ...

Since Debbie couldn't make it for the weekend she sent up this other little freebie for everyone...

... a lovely little cottage needlecase....

I'm already looking forward to the next event....

Girls Day Out in March

with 

Kris from Tag Along Teddies

and 

Lauren from Molly and Mama

Righto, Gotto Go..... time for a cuppa..... (always cuppa time)...