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)...

A quilt finish.....

I had a happy weekend quilting and sewing....

I did this all over wood grain type design on the Tim Holst Fat Quarter Quilt I made....  I love the texture and feel when it's all quilted....

It doesn't show too much on the front which I wanted as the fabrics don't need any more added to them....

... then a couple of evenings hand sewing down the binding and the quilt is done....

... sitting waiting patiently on the chair to be posted to it's new home....

(actually it looks quite good there .... maybe it should stay!!!)

then I added some pieces to my pineapple blocks.... I have another row of reds to do and then the corners and these will be done.....

A stitching day with friends this week got some hand embroidery done....

This one was almost done and just needed a few more french knots to finish it off.... 

... and this one was completed too...

I hope you are having a lovely week.... we have Stitchers Dream Day Out hosted by The Quilters Angel this weekend.  Luckily still able to go ahead and lots of Covid 19 plans put in place to have a lovely and safe event.... I'm so looking forward to it... 

Righto, Gotto Go.... job job to do... lucky I love quilting!!

FNWF ...

Thanks to Cheryll for hosting us at FNWF last night...

I carried on with my EPP appliqueing them down to the borders.... this feels like it has taken me ages to do....

... but now that border is done....

The next round is a bunch of applique blocks and some pieced checkerboards so I have quite a bit of prep work to do....

I did get another of my sweet Field Journal blocks stitched.... lovely to do a bit of embroidery in between the EPP and applique....

Our King Orchid is flowering beautifully....

It looks lovely mixed in with the bright orange Crucifix orchids...

The gardener has some chores to do outside - the weather is beautiful.... I will supervise that while I do some of this.... pinning and quilting....

Have a lovely day....

Righto, Gotto Go... those pins are wanting attention.....

August is gone......

It is officially spring here now.... definitely warmer days but cool evenings... a wonderful time of the year...

We went on a road trip for the weekend... an annual meet up with friends from way back....

A new project was started for the trip....

We stayed at a cottage near Mt Barney, a national park near the border of Queensland and NSW....

Stunning views and river walks...

.. and even spotted the platypus living in this part of the creek.....  there is something about seeing a creature living in it's own environment.

Quite a few beautiful dams as well as mountains ...

The weekend went by too fast......

My August WOOFA project was this sweet little project bag and needlebook .....

A very sweet set designed by Anni Downs... I have made it before and I use my own often - lovely for a small project ....

Progress of my blanket after the road trip..... a long way to go but there is no rush ....

Righto, Gotto Go... as usual for a weekend away there is a pile of dirty washing that needs attention..... thank goodness for a beautiful day outside to get it dry!

Have a lovely week.....xx