More Christmas presents

I got some lovely things for christmas, here a couple more. This is a beautiful quilting caddy I guess you could call it, it was from my secret santa from my Friends in Stitching group, This is the inside, the embroidery is so delicate.

These goodies were given to me by Lillian, a beautiful lunch bag, a fabric postcard book and a book by April Cornall. I was spoilt wasn't I. Have a good day everyone.

Christmas gifts

We have had a wonderful christmas, the boys were up at 5am to open presents as my husband had to go to work so we didn't want him to miss out on present time. Bleary eyed I sat there and took photos of each of them opening their presents, it was good fun. I also got some beautiful gifts this year, below are some of my advent gifts I received on the days leading up to christmas, Sylvia was my partner for this swap and she sent me some lovely things. Sylvia made me this bag to open on christmas day, its so sweet and the stitching is perfect, thankyou Sylvia. xx

These lovely gifts I recieved from another christmas swap I was in, (yes i know I love my swaps) Chooky blue organised this secret santa swap and my gifts came from Melinda in the USA, I received this great bag made from pretty batik fabrics.

And these lovely goodies, the pin cushion is made from selvages, how cool it is, Thankyou Melinda. xx I'll be back tomorrow with more christmas pics.

Its almost christmas

We are on the countdown until christmas morning now, my boys are very excited and I must admit so am I. I love watching their faces when they open their presents. Yesterday I received my secret santa gifts from my Friends in stitching group, One gift I was allowed to open And it was this great banner, it really makes my loungroom so christmassey. (Is that a word)

Today I gave this gorgeous cushion made by me to my dear friend Cathy for christmas, she was thrilled when she opened it. I really enjoyed making this, its a Lynette Anderson design. Well I hope you all have a wonderful christmas and a safe and happy new year.

Advent gifts

Its such good fun opening a gift every day for my advent swap, Sylvia from Italy has sent me some beautiful things, here a few things I received last week, The fabrics are beautiful and the star pincushion is so sweet, it even has pins in each point. Yesterday I quilted my tumbler quilt, I'll show you a full picture tomorrow, it turned out so well, I think I'd like to make another one. My boys have finished school for the year now and I'm on holidays which will be wonderful, I'm planning on doing lots of sewing. My youngest son is unwell right now with conjunctivitis I took him to the doctors tonight and he said it was the worst case he has seen in 20 years. I just hope he will be better for christmas. Ok, thats all for today, happy sewing and christmas shopping everyone.

Table runners and painting

Its been another busy day, I have been sewing up a storm and doing a bit of painting. I have repainted my old writing desk, I chose black as i want the primitive look, then when the paint was dry I sanded back the edges to give it a worn look, what do you think? I just need a few primitive pictures for the wall and I think that space will look great,

I also made these table runners a couple of weeks ago and took them to work to quilt, I made the big one first and I didn't want to throw away the scraps as the fabric is my favourite ( Its Vine creek from Kansas troubles) so I made a smaller one. They look really lovely on my side board and kitchen table. I'll be back tomorrow to show you a few more of my advent calendar gifts, they are lovely.

Happy sewing.

Busy Days

Its been such a busy week with the lead up to Christmas, the boys are on the count down until school finishes for the year, they have 4 days to go. I'm counting to as then I won't have to rush around in the morning getting everyone ready. Earlier in the week my secret santa gifts arrived all the way from USA. Can you see the chicken ornament in the box, isn't he cute. I was allowed to open that gift now the rest are under our christmas tree.

I have also been having alot of fun every morning opening up a gift from my advent calendar swap, my gifts have come from Italy so its been very exciting. These are some of the beautiful things I have received so far,Thankyou Sylvia. I'm looking foreward to trying the wisper thread, I've never used that before.

And last but not least I found some sewing time, well ok, I always make time for sewing. I have started making this tumbler block quilt, I found a tutorial on Moda bake shop and then I saw a quilt made up on Christines blog so I had to join in the fun, I want to make it 18 rows long. I have only done 7 so far. I used all my navy and light reproduction fabrics. Its good fun. Well now its time to get my washing off the line so I'll say goodbye, have a good week everyone.

A Dresden day...

I have had the best day of sewing, I'm in a Dresden kind of mood so after many hours of sewing today here is what I have accomplished so far. I started out using a charm pack called Folklorique from Fig tree quilts, then I decided to try some Rounneries fabric I had. This is such a beautiful range. I have seen many designers using these fabrics. These fabrics are my favourite, I think I will make something for my antique dressing table with these.

I think I will make a table runner from these ones, I found a fantastic tutorial on Moda bake shop,

Well I have to pack up the sewing machine and start on dinner, talk to you all soon. Happy sewing.

Lots of mail

The postman and I are becoming good friends, he has been at my house delivering lots of exciting mail, yesterday I received my advent calendar gifts, look at the box full of surprises ready for me to start opening on the 1st Decenber, my partner for this swap is Sylvia and she lives in Italy so it will be exciting so have some gifts from her country.

Sylvia made me a present to open straight away and it was this beautiful sun bonnet Sue cushion, isn't she sweet.

Today I received my stitchers angel gifts all the way from Argentina. They are beautiful, Thankyou so much Lavinia.

Look at this cute little toy, he is a Japanese toy that has been knitted. He is quite unique. Thankyou for sending him to me.

Hooray its finished....

Working in a quilt shop there is always lots of things to tempt me to try, having sold many self covering buttons I thought I'd buy some and have a go. This is what I did, I bought a fabric I could fussy cut and I made these 2 buttons, maybe I can use them on a bag. They were fun and easy to make so I think I'll do some more.

I have been working on this quilt for some time, its called Living the Dream by Leanne Beasley. Today before work I quilted it and it looks so good. I changed a few of the stitcheries and wrote my childrens name just to personalise it a little bit, What so you think? Happy sewing everyone.

Stitching angel gifts

Here are the things I made for my partner for the stitchers angel swap, they went all the way to Norway. I enjoyed making these gifts. My partner Oddbjorg loved them so that made me happy.
Its always a worry when you make things for others.
I've been so busy making gifts for the swaps i have joined that I haven't done much sewing for myself lately, I like to get the important sewing out of the way first then I can relax and work on my projects.
Happy sewing to you all.

More of Campania

I took so many photos at Campanina on Saturday I thought I would share them a few at a time, as saturday was also Halloween the hall was decorated beautifully with quilts and halloween decorations, here are some of them...

This quilt is a design of Deidre's, it was in a Homespun magazine last year, it was great to see it close up.

And the day wouldn't have been complete without a few real life decorations, don't they look great. Tomorrow I'll show you Rosalie's projects, they are gorgeous.

Christmas gathering at Campania

What a wonderful weekend I have had. Yesterday I went to Campanina with my lovely friends Cathy, Meredith and Christine, The day was hosted by the Quilted Crow girls Leonie And Deidre. The guest designers were Leanne Beasley and Rosalie Quinlan. I was very excited to meet them, Rosie sat at our table for a chat and she was lovely,

These are Leanne's projects that she brought with her for her display, they are so sweet. I think I'll have to make a pincushion or three.

This was the project leanne designed for the day, I chose to do this one, its very pretty. I'll show you my version in a day or two, yes Cathy I have nearly finished. (And you thought I wouldn't, didn't you) Cathy is always teasing me about not finishing things.

I have many more photos to show you but I'll save them for tomorrow and I'll show you projects from Rosalie's new book, they are goegeous. Happy sewing to you all.

A couple of finishes

Its been another busy week, I have been working on my christams swaps and my stitches angel gifts, I have managed to finish a few things for me which is good. This is part of Rosalie Quinlan's pattern Little Patchwork Village, It is a sample for the shop, I only stithced 3. Only one more week until I meet Rosalie in person at Campanina, I can't wait.

This is a table runner I nade for a friend, I just need to quilt it now, I thought it turned out really nice.

I also finished another Lauras legacy mini quilt, this one is called Scrappy 4 patch, I just love reproduction fabrics.

Until next time, happy sewing to you all.

Lucky me

My lovely friend Jan who lives in the USA sent me these beautiful gifts for my birthday, the Halloween fabric is so sweet, and the Thimbleberries book is simply beautuful, Jan always sends me things she knows I will love. She also sent me a cute little scarecrow which I just realized wasn't in the photos, I'll have to take one to show you , he is so adorable.
I have been busy working on all my christmas swap gifts, I had 4 to make, 3 down one to go, On the weekend I plan on doing some sewing for me.

A lovely day off

It seems to strange having a day off from work on a Thursday, its show day here in Launceston and most of the shops and school close for the day. We took the boys to McDonalds for lunch which they thoroughly enjoyed then I spent the afternoon with my sewing machine. I made a table runner for my penfriend in the USA, I'll show a picture of that later on, I made 4 autumn themed postcards for my swap and then I sat for awhile and worked on my Sewing circle block which is the 1950's kitchen. This block was fun to do,

I thought I would show you a few more photos from the friendship sewing day I went to last Saturday, herer is everyone at their tables chatting and sewing.

I loved looking at the Dear jane quilt on display, those triangles sure do look hard but I'll be brave and try my best to make them properly.

I loved this idea of a Dear Jane friendship block quilt, each person made many blocks, signed the4m and sent them to each person in the group, I would love to do this but I don't know how to go about it, If anyone has some ideas please tell me.

Well my day of sewing is about to come to an end, I had better think about dinner for my hungry family, Happy sewing to you all.

Friendship day

Today I went to the Tasmanian Quilt guild friendship day, I had a lovely day of stitching, shopping and chatting to other likeminded quilters . The theme of the day was Spring and Dear Jane. I was very excited to see other Dear jane quilts as it has helped me to keep going with mine.

The lady who owns this quilt did a talk all about Jane Stickle and the history of her life and THE original quilt. It was very interesting.

Pauline was there from calicocrossroads with her shop, I bought a few pieces of fabric for my DJ Quilt. I had never met Pauline before so it was nice having a chat with her.

I took lots more photos so I'll share them tomorrow