First week of December.....

It's really hard to believe it is already a week into December....

Hand made ornies have been received...  I haven't put my tree up this year but I so love hand made ornies so these will add to my collection...... (grinch (from Michelle) is not handmade but he makes me laugh with his patchwork bag) The angel arrived today from Susan, the others are from Tuesday sewing girls...

Today I cut up Field Journal into hexagons for self framing - I have been procrastinating doing this but want to have it all ready for next year ....

Hubz has been trying to do this 2000 piece jigsaw! Apollo the cat is never interested in lying on the table unless there is a jigsaw....

I finished commitments so put this quilt on the frame... a ribbon meander which is quick but also makes it soft and looks pretty....  I used a quite bold orange thread.....

I was given a partially made quilt pack.... the EPP had all been done (by a friend who has passed away) and most appliqued to the background.  I had 3 hearts to applique then I found sashing and borders in my stash which is why it is a bit scrappy but I'm happy with it....  Sadly there wasn't enough final border to do mitred corners which would have been nice but then I would have had to fiddle to make the lines meet properly....  Robyn's stitching was very very neat ....  This quilt is about 43" square - will be quite a nice wallhanging.  I was so pleased with finding that pink sashing which I was able to fussy cut with minimal waste ... pity there wasn't more....

I did the binding (all by machine) and now StarPop is a finish (StarPop designed by Quilty Love).  I've made it before and I will make it again....

Some of the Tuesday girls are going to do a UFO challenge next year..... number the UFO's and each month someone will draw a number... we work on that number.  I got the idea from Sunday Stitchers in Brisbane (thanks ladies).  

I'm supposed to be coordinating it but will be away till late January so my list is prepared.....

I love this notepad!

Meanwhile handwork has been doing a few more Sashiko style blocks.... 

I made white Rocky Road to take to sewing on Tuesday.....  I love this mix...

1 bar white chocolate

1 cup mini marshmallows

1 cup pistachio nuts

1 cup cranberries

Melt chocolate and pour in the rest... mix and pour into baking paper lined container to set in the fridge ...

Easy Peasy Yummy Scrummy..... though I think I will add coconut flakes too next time....

Righto, Gotto Go.... I will be taking a break from blogging but will read and comment when I can .... may even do an odd blog post too... Daughter and Grandson are looking after 'their' cat and our house - great to have them here.  One bag is packed ..... fly out very early Sunday morning.....  half past 12 early!   Means that we leave on the 10th, fly 24 hours and land on the 10th....

Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas break... xx

The next stop....

After Phillip Island we started moving northwards again till we got to our Parliamentary Capital Canberra

We spent a couple of days doing the touristy things as much as we could...

Old Parliament House..... where you can follow the story of Democracy and the offices are all set up as in Bob Hawkes Day.... very interesting few hours spent there...

 Then New Parliament House..... big, bold... also interesting - they haven't been able to keep up with the pictures of recent Prime Ministers (we kinda been changing them rather rapidly)

View from the New Parliament Building, Old Parliament and then War Memorial on the other side of the lake (far end)

We did go up the Telsta Tower... so cold and windy but lovely views....

I have forgotten what this building was... big man made lake which is used well and has lovely walks around it

Art Gallery..... 

 Some lovely Parks, winter time so dry and brown from frosts etc but the locals were friendly

We visited one small museum which had this gorgeous Australian themed wood burnt work... I liked this little one  which housed doilies.... (or Doyleys)

We also spent hours at the War Memorial... so much to see

There is lots to see there.... 

Hubz and I have succumbed to head colds..... we had these already this year!!! grrr

Anyway chicken soup was called for... this is a recipe that I do follow as it makes it just right and has a squeeze of lemon at the end which just makes it perfect...

Very easy to make …. this is the one I made but there are choices on the internet of course

I finished up this embroidery.. there wasn't much more to do

Its 12" square....

I haven't before done such an intensive embroidery project before....

A pattern by Faeries in My Garden....

… so much detail... I nearly gave up a few times....

Now to find some pretty fabric to finish it off....

Righto, Gotta Go....  I hope you have a lovely week....

An empty box....

I have had this box of half done projects sitting in my sewing room for ages..... this week I determined to empty it....

First up was this mug rug which needed binding ….. sweet pictures on fabric which I couldn't think what to do with them.  

 Originally it was to be a zippy pouch but I realised I would spoil the picture by putting the zip over the top

Then  I did the binding on these two coasters.... perfect for the table next to the chair where I sew in the evenings.

… and finally I did make some zippy pouches with the last 3 vintage sewing machine pictures I had 

Great to have that box out the room now and some quick finishes done..... all these were made using up fabrics from my stash which is even better!

On the hand work side I have got behind in a project Thursday sewing group has been doing so I decided to do homework and do these bullion roses which I have been procrastinating about...

I'm not sure I really enjoy doing them!

I didn't make soup this week but I did prepare a bunch of toasties (my standard weekend lunch food)

A whole loaf of bread is made up and prepared then I put pieces of baking paper in between  so the butter doesn't stick (yes I like butter - it tastes nice)

Then I freeze them and quick and easy take out and toast. 

Righto, Gotto Go..... I'm going to tackle hundreds of French knots next.....

Hope your weekend is going splendidly.....

This week.....

Lots of talk this week about it being 50 years since man landed on the moon.....  who can forget those words 

"The eagle has landed" 

and

"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind"

I remembered we have a scrap book with some bits of newspaper from years ago....

I was 10 years old and at boarding school in a little village called Melsetter (now Chimanimani)

Do you remember where you were?

It's quite fun looking at other articles and advertisements in the papers too.

This week I promised myself a bit of time each morning doing some piecing so I got the sashing and borders done for Flowerville....

It looks pretty hanging on the board next to Wings..... 

… but I have folded it away with the binding.... ready for my quilter to get to it in due course....

This week I made cauliflower and bacon soup (thanks Jennifer for the heads up on this one)….. just totally deeeeelicious.  I made a big pot so there is several more meals in the freezer for those don't feel like cooking days (which happen a bit too frequently!)

This week I finished up the next four postcard stitcheries.... they were supposed to be done in June but that time disappeared too fast for me.... 

The design board now has the postcards spread out (there is still plenty more to do) so that I can do a bit of chopping of fabric and try and piece those for my morning piecing treat.

The deciding what colour goes where and cutting the pieces seems to take me ages....

Righto, Gotto Go.... I need to iron out the pieces of flannel first....

Have a lovely weekend.....

Newness.....

New to me is a flower....

Another of my African Violets grown from leaves has burst it's first flower....

The pinks are fairly close but are a bit different....

It's looking quite a pretty corner now - gets the morning winter sun....

The next one will be white... there are some nice fat buds coming along....

I am the caretaker of these plants… pretty impressed as usually I torture houseplants to a slow death....

New to me is this latest finish......

My sewing machine has it's new home!  The front has this machine stitchery

.. and the back is this lovely sewing machine fabric....

… it looks quite at home....

(and no, my sewing space is not usually this tidy)

.. and a new to me meal.....

This weeks soup is lentil and vegetable.... (thanks to Janice for sharing the recipe)

a bit of curry powder in it and it warmed us up perfectly... as well as filled the belly

Righto, Gotto Go....  Friday is here to enjoy

Have a lovely weekend.....x