Look what I can do...

Here is my first attempt at quilting on the big quilt machine at the patchwork shop where I work, this is going to be my new job next year so I have been practicing on my own quilts, I don't think I did to bad for my first try. I enjoyed doing the stippling the best, it was easy to do once I got the hang of it. The quilt machine is beautiful to use and I can see I'm going to enjoy my new job ALOT. Who knows maybe one day I'll be quilting one of my Tassie blogger friends quilt.

Lucky me

Here are my beautiful gifts I received from Jacquie
I love these fabrics, they are my favourite colours,

Look at these fabrics cards, how cool are they. I love them

I just love this little quilt,

At the back of this photo is a beautiful table runner Jacquie made, I'll treasuure these always.

Thankyou Jacquie and thankyou chooky blue for organising this fun swap,

Christmas morning

It was an early start in our house on christmas morning, the boys were up at 5.30am to see what santa left for them, all you could here was the ripping of paper. Jacob got a basketball, he has wanted one for ages.

Nicky is a lego fan so he got star wars lego, he has the ship half built already

Daniel got an MP3 player, lego and lots of other things,

All my boys got lots of things, I'm sure it will keep them amused for a few weeks,

Santa was good to me and gave me a camera and part of season 3 of Little House on the prairie, thats my favourite show, I love to sit and watch these episodes by myself and do my quilting.

Paul got his BBQ so he's happy,

I have lots more to show but I'll save that for later.

Happy Boxing day everyone.

Christmas lights

Some houses in our street look so lovely at christmas time, here are a few at the end of our road,

Nicky and Jacob love christmas time, they never stopped talking when we were walking around the street looking at the lights, they were so excited. Thats what christmas is all about isn't it,

This house looked so pretty.

Merry Christmas

Gosh its been ages since my last blog, where has the month of Decembr gone. Its been so busy for me with end of year school functions and activities, finally its almost christmas. I have been busy doing lots of sewing but I'll save those pictures for after christmas when I take them with my new camera I hope santa is bringing me. My inlaws arrived from Victoria yesterday, they are spending 2 weeks with us which is lovely, we haven't seen them for 3 years. Today I have to work then tonight we have a christmas party so that will be fun, Tomorrow I will be preparing food for christmas day, I'm stuffing and cooking my very first Turkey so fingers crossed it turns out Ok, I'm not the best cook thats for sure, I'd much prefer to quilt than cook.
I wish you all a very happy christmas and a safe new year. Until next time take care and I hope santa brings you everything you wish for.

More finished projects

I love Anni Downs projects, here is a cushion I recently finished, I enjoyed making this. I think the ric rac around the edge really sets it off.

Bear quilt

My quilt for the shop is almost complete, just a few more flowers to stitch around and the final border. I enjoyed making this quilt alot, its a Libbly Richardson design called Rainbow bears,
I have also received my secret santa gift for chooky blue's swap, its still in the box so next weekend when I set up our christmas tree they can be the first gifts to go under, How exciting, I can't wait til christmas.

More of Ross

Merdith and I went for a walk to look at shops when were in Ross, we found a cute little nursery with a gift shop, I bought 2 cute little tin snowmen,

This is the project Merdith was working on, its a block of the month all done in wool, aren't the colours beautiful, this quilt will be stunning when its finished.

I sat opposite Rose from Threadbare creations and Isabella, both ladies were so nice to talk to.

Stitching day at Ross

I have had such a good day today, Cathy, Merdith and I headed off early this morning to meet our other blogger friends for a day of stitching and talking and fun. I met some really lovely people and saw some beautiful work in progress, It was all organised by Jo, The quilted Crow gave us some prizes which was so nice of them, thank you Leonie and Deidre and Thankyou Jo for organising such a wonderful day.

Ross has some beautiful old buildings, the history behind them is amazing.

Here we all are busily stitching
Some of us were in an ornament exchange and we swapped with each other today, these are what I made, I'll show you the others tomorrow.

Stitchers angel gift

Here is the gifts I made for Tine from Denmark for the stitchers angel swap, the redwork designs are from Rosalie Quinlan's book Gift, they were fun to make, the ornaments I cross stitched. I hadn't done any cross stitch for ages so I enjoyed doing them alot, I had forgotten though how slow cross stitch is. I hope you like them Tine.

Pond House

I know I don't need yet another project to start but who could resist Lynette Andersons Pond House, I saw this at the craft fair in Hobart and just had to sign up for it as a block of the month, I look foreward to starting block number one, I'll show you my progress soon.

Children

How does my number 2 son earn extra pocket money?? He bakes scones and sells them to his 2 brothers for 30 cents each, yes, Jacob loves to cook and after nagging me for 2 days to bake I gave in and let him have the kitchen. He didn't do a bad job, he set up his own bakery in the loungeroom then the other boys came in with their hard earned pocket money and bought a scone. It was so funny to watch them when they thought I was doing something else.

Another special gift

While I'm showing you all my presents I have received recently I thought I would show you a Quillow Quilt my penfriend in New Zealand made me for my birthday, it has New Zealand animals all over it and its so warm. Just what we need for winters here in Tassie.

Presents from my angel

Well here they are, all my wondeful gifts from peggy in Canada, Peggy was my secret angel in Helen Stubbings "An Angels Stitcher swap", it was good fun, we all had to make at least 3 handmade gifts to send to our partner, Peggy spoilt me and sent a few extra goodies, I'm one lucky girl thats for sure.

Such a sweet bag, its all quilted as well and feels so nice.

Don't you just love my scissor holder, Peggy even sent the scissors.

Some reading material when I need inspiration.

Gorgeous autumn fabric, these colours are my favourite.

The big box the postie delivered.

Some christmas stitching

This week I have been busily working on my Rosalie Quinlan christmas decorations, they are fun to do, I will make mine into little cushions and put them in a cane basket in the centre of the table.
This week I also received a very special parcel from my secret angel stitcher, well its not a secret anymore. I got some beautiful gifts all the way from Quebec Canada, Peggy the Canadian made me lots of pretty things, I will take photos and get them on here as soon as I can. Thankyou so much Peggy my gifts you made are very special.
I sent my angel gifts to Denmark so when I know they have arrived safely I'll show you what I made.

Daniel's quilt

Here is a photo of Daniel's quilt I made for him, made from Civil war fabrics. I had it quilted at Esme's and it turned out lovely, Some of the fabrics are from my penfriends stash so its kind of extra special.

More postcards from across the sea

These are the postcards I made and sent to America to the same ladies who sent mine. They are fun to make. The ones I Have received have actually come through the mail with a stamp on the back of the card which makes them a real treasure, I asked at the post office if I could send mine without an envelope but they said the cards would probably not get through customs so I send mine in an envelope.

I'm sure by now for all of you who read my blog you know how much I enjoy making and swapping fabric postcards, I wanted to show you some I received this week, they are all from America but different people. I just loved the beetle card, its so cute.

My new toy

Here is my beautiful singer sewing machine my husband bought me for my birthday, isn't she a beauty, its around 1930 and still works. I just need to find some time to have a play and test it out.

New patterns

Goodness me, where does the time go, I can't belive its been so long since my last post. I have been busy sewing though so I have a good excuse, I'm working on a few things as we do, I have started making a few christmas things which are coming along nicely, I'll post piccys soon. I have finished my gift for Chookyblue's secret santa swap and I have finished my gifts for the Stitchers Angel group ran by Helen Stubbings so I'm well on the way to being very organised.
These new patterns arrived the other day, they are postcard quilts and for those who know me well you know how much I love my postcards so I thought these would be a bit of fun.
Until next time... Happy sewing

Out with the old and in with the new... kitchen that is

After living with this crappy kitchen for 2 years we finally had enough time and money to get a new one, My husband Paul and our neighbour ripped out the old one and put in the new cabinets in just one day.

The end result is wondeful, I have lots of bench space, I had none before and it makes the kitchen look so much nicer, we just need to tile under the window sill now. Thats when we can agree on the same tile, lol. I enjoy spending time in the kitchen now.

Christmas Gathering

Yesterday my dear friends Cathy, Merdith, Fiona, Alex Sue and I headed off to Campaigna for a fun day of sewing hosted by The Quilted Crow. Natalie Bird of The Birdhouse and Anni Downs of Hatched and Patched were there. Anni sat at our table and showed us her project she is currently working on, I was lucky enough to get a photo with Anni, (thankyou Cathy for taking it)

We caught up with our blogging friends and I even met some new ones.

I started working on the christmas wall hanging, its so cute and quick to do. The photo is the original made by Natalie.