The Swags are done.......

I am so pleased with the Christmas Swag which is now all finished with all the fiddly diddly ribbons and bells .....

The pattern for 'Christmas' is by Nikkie Tervo .... Each star is about 6" so the swag is quite big .. And it is all stitched by hand ....

And I finished off a couple of single decorations too using a stitchery design by Gail Pan

I have one of Toni's quilts here to play ... If you love moose keep an eye on her blog for when the pattern is released - it is just gorgeous.

I have a large light box with a nice big piece of Perspex so I take that off and put it over the quilt and draw out what I am thinking of for the quilting ... I can then take a picture and send it off for Toni to check she likes the plan .... 

any clear firm plastic would do for this

Righto, Gotto Go.... play time with a moose or two....

Quilting......

So the Hello World blocks have been quilted....

the fabrics are delicious so I did a gentle all over design .....  it's hard to do large bold designs on the domestic machine but I didn't want to do something too tight .... these loops are about the largest I can successfully manoevre my hands to keep the curves curvey.....

... it's a bit like a swirl with a single feather....

I found this video tutorial by APQS which helped me learn this one HERE
(though my curves are not so curvy! - story of my life!)

... stitch in the ditch around the narrow green border...

and a soft feathery edge around the border.....

It's quite a loose design... the quilt is soft and cuddly  .. will be lovely for a young someone to wrap themselves in....

(An elder sister needs a big bed quilt)

I wanted it to have the quilted feel and crinkle look but not take anything from the fabrics

ON ANOTHER MATTER

word verification has been playing tricks ....

... how on earth are you supposed to get these... I don't think robots or non robots can do them

 Righto, Gotto Go... you know what I need to be doing now.....

FNWF ......

Thank you Cheryl for hosting us at Friday Night With Friends....  it is always wonderful to link up with so many others and visit a few different people bloggily.....

I love lemon flavour and remember a lovely pudding my mom used to make... I lost her recipe but found this one by Donna Hay which is very similar... and easy peasy yummy scrummy!

It's like a very light cake on the top and lemon curdy sauce on the bottom... very yummy with a blob of thick cream!

I managed to loose my wedding band this week after over 35 years! (cold hands and it must have slipped off somewhere!!)  aaaaaarrgggghhhh... anyway I have both my grandmothers and my mothers wedding bands so I am very proud to now be wearing Mom's on my hand as a replacement - it is finer than mine was as she had worn it down quite a bit ....

.... well... as for sewing on Friday night....

I sewed a mouse.....

This is a very sweet pattern from Joy of JoyPatch and I got mine from a magazine (but I don't know which one because I tear patterns out of magazines!)  I love that mouse's expression and is sortof what I felt after eating lemon pudding!!   

The pudding is sewn in Cottage Garden "Mossipot" (what a lovely word!) and then a plain mousey coloured DMC for the mouse.... (thanks to Christine for helping me decide on that....)

Then I started working on my stars....... I learnt to tie bows with 3 different ribbons together in the morning (I needed instruction since I am not good at fiddly diddly things) .... so I started joining the stars together, sewing the ribbons down and adding the little red bells....

There was footy on TV so I concentrated hard on the bows and bells whilst Hubz and the dog watched  intently ..... 

I carried on this afternoon whilst watching Mrs Marple and one word is done....

Christmas is a longer word so it might take a few movies to do that one!!  Looks like the cold is coming back so I will need to stay indoors????

Righto, Gotto Go..... start on the next lot of bows and bells..... have a lovely weekend and I hope you get to do something fun....

Hello World and some Scrappy Blocks....

I decided to add a couple of borders onto the "Hello World" squares

(that is the name of the fabric range... which I just love love love)

12 fat quarters cut into 10" squares... (4 squares per fat quarter)

it looks much better with the borders I think and is going to be a nice single bed size quilt

the green border is 1" and the wider flowers 4"

you can't see the colours well in this picture... I will do a better picture when it is quilted

today the quilt and I spent some time chatting together... while we listened to the birds warbling outside....

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.. the HST's and I kept company over the weekend....

..it was a good project to go and do a few minutes of in between chores, gardening, book club, visitors, BBQ and general loafing around

... we have a bit of a production line thing going here.....

(blocks in various stages of development!)

I did get about 14 of these blocks done (this is 4 of the 12" blocks that were supposed to be stars but I put the points the wrong way so they are going to be squares in squares in squares!)

..... and this sweet stitchery is from a design by Marilyn..... it's very sweet ....

Righto, Gotto Go.. I found some Beef, Cheese and Jalapeno sausages we are going to try out ...  I really hate having to think about what to cook EVERY STINKING DAY!

..... 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!