Happy New Year friends

A bit of my life in 2013

Here I am!

Looks like I have been MIA for such a long time,  I must mend my ways.... Instagram, get thee behind me lol.

Monday I went for a brisk walk down to the docks at lunch time to have a look at the Tall ships that arrived in Hobart last Friday en route to Sydney where they are taking part in the 100 year anniversary of the Australian Navy first entry into Sydney. 

Wow I would not climb up those masts!
 

All the fun of the fair, the children were having a fantastic time on this!

Science Week

We had a belated science week morning tea this morning and my goodness there was some interesting food. Everything had to have a science theme and imagination ran wild.

Penguins on an iceberg....my contribution to the feast.

Lab rats - if you like them don't look at the last photo!

Caterpillar - not the hungry one, that was us! The macarons were delish!

H2O - although the 2O is a bit hard to see, one is hidden behind the H

Science experiment with smarties - what a waste!!! As well the experiment failed dismally oh well, maybe too much water??

the answer is! Well as if we bothered to measure and it was gone before I could find a ruler :) (Apparently Square area = 615.8 square cm and the volume = 923.6 cubic cm)

Now here is a little test for you - literacy in Science, don't think I really want to read about the nutritional value of these lol... 

Well I did warn you, here is the dissected lab rat, see no brains at all!

  Can't imagine why I couldn't eat any lunch!!

Bibs and bobs

Will have to really have a better catch up soon but am just dropping by to show a couple of items finished this week.
Tonight I made a little purse from the Moda site. Really went together quickly. 

 

Finished another Red Brolly stitchery from the Le Jardin quilt. Not even sure if I have shown the others on the blog but here is the latest! 

Rainy day blues

It was a very wet day here yesterday, just perfect for a sew-in. The blues are Indigo Crossing by Minick and Simpson, a little impulse buy when I was in Melbourne last month and I decided they would make a lovely bag. The pattern is Teacher's pet by Sweet Jane's Quilting & Design. Lots of cutting and sewing but I know I am going to love it.

 

 

 

Here is the big pile of blocks ready for a lot of ironing before I can put them together! The material used is Mulberry Lane and the pattern is Disappearing 4 Patch.

 

 

Hope you could find a positive in the weather and spend your weekend sewing! 

So warm

It was so warm this morning I just needed it on record! How good is this, right in the middle of winter!

 

 

On the sewing front I finally got my act into gear and started on a quilt for a future great niece (well it had better be!). Very happy with my points and it is all going together well.

 

 

 

 

Hope everyone has a great sewing weekend! I know I will

Sashiko

I bought this kit at the craft fair, so quick and easy to stitch.  Can't wait to put the borders on.

Craft Fair 2

Just popping back to show the lovely quilts that were on display at the DEC at the weekend.

Here is a compilation of some I liked.

 

 

 

 This quilt was beautiful the colours really shimmered.Not a great photo of it but hopefully you will get the idea!

 

 

This is my friend Faye's (no blog) quilt, she entered as a beginning quilter. The quilt was titled 'On the Plus Side' - clever. It is to go to the Dunalley Fire appeal when it is returned. I couldn't bear to give it away.

 

 

Just loved the Christmassy look of this quilt, the pointsettia material is lovely. 

 

 

I enjoyed looking at all the quilts wish I had taken more photos to share with you.

Craft fair

On Friday I went out to the Craft Fair at the Derwent Entertainment Centre with my friend Marie.  We had a lovely time wandering around and going to a few workshops.

 

It was great to see a couple of my favorite suppliers there including Bebe Bold and Patchwork Mariko.
 

I managed to buy a few of sewing projects. Just love the shashiko stars and Christmas banner. Bought other things but they might be surprises, so better not show them just yet!

Looking forward to doing some shashiko stitching!

 

I bought myself a few more toys as well :-)

 

Excited to see this cutter so that I can make this...maybe....one day. Love my new rulers too!

 

How about this little baby, used it for the first time tonight, love it!

 

I must take some photos of some of the things I have been doing over the last few weeks, finally got my new phone so will have to round up everything and have a photo shoot lol.

 

 

Rain

It has been raining most of the weekend (and a tad cold!) so I thought a perfect sewing weekend until I looked into some cupboards.... Yes I spent most of yesterday and part of today creating chaos then cleaning it up.  Now have two bags of stuff to recycle and a bin full of rubbish.
 

I did get some stitching done. Finished two more bits for my Wish Quilt.  Don't get too excited though they are both pretty small oh but so cute. ONLY ONE MORE TO DO WHHOOOO HOOO!!! Then I can start putting it all together.
 

 

Here is my attempt to get a photo of the DARK MOFO column of light.  I can see it from my place but it is so cold and wet I only took a quick shot. The light can be seen on the cloud and just a hint of the column going up.

 

Finished

Another Red Brolly stitchery done for my wish quilt.  Quite pleased to get this out of the way because I didn't enjoy doing the basket at all. The bear is very cute though and I do love the scissors and other things in the basket. What do you think?
 

 

I am having a night off tonight and curling up in front of the heater with my magazine that arrived today.  Sarah popped in a little free project card that will have to go on my to do list. I do like making pin cushions and haven't made any for a while. Hmmm very nice chocolate slice in there as well......
 

Long weekend

We had a holiday in Tasmania today so enjoyed a 3 day weekend.  It gave me a chance to get some things done in the garden that I have been neglecting for quite some time. 

I decided to get serious about the weeds. Just imagine me running around with this on my back, I can see the weeds quaking lol.
 

 

As well as spraying I also spent quite a bit of time pulling weeds out as well. How come they keep growing through winter!!!

While out in the garden I found these flowering away so picked a few to brighten up the kitchen.

 

Love this daisy in my garden,  not so long ago I cut it down to the ground,  now flowering beautifully, such a sunny flower for winter.

 

Saturday night I went to my Greatniece's 21st birthday dinner.  We had a lovely time with family and Emily's friends, have to say it was an early night for me but the girls did the rounds of the nightclubs :)
 

Emily and James (+ her present from me)

 

My nephew Jason came over from Melbourne for his niece's birthday. here we are at the dinner table. 

 

I also managed to get some more done on my Wish quilt stitchery but have to admit I am up to a part that I am not enjoying. Do not like doing the basket!
 

 

So nice to have a long weekend to enjoy. Hope you had a great weekend doing all the things you like to do as well.

Friday night with friends

I didn't realise I was stitching with so many friends. I really got a lot done tonight.  Thanks to Cheryll I have had  such lovely company tonight while I have been stitching my next block for my wish quilt. 

My lovely little sewing bear with her basket full of sewing goodies. Can't wait until the next Friday night with friends, on the first Friday night of each month. Don't forget to pop over and see what everyone else has been doing tonight.

 

P.S just back to say I didn't realise how the basket in my stitchery is so like the one for the Friday night with friends logo!!

Cherry Shed sewing day

Last Saturday I set off REALLY early to pick up Faye for a day at the Cherry Shed in Latrobe with all the quilting bloggers or are they blogging quilters?   Here are some of the beautiful quilts bought along for show and tell.  I am in awe of the awesome talent,  aren't these just beautiful! Don't you just love those owls?

  The friends in stitching group and material girls had been very busy making a surprise quilt for Christine.  As you can see she absolutely loved it.  What a lovely thought,  I forgot to take a photo of the label but you can see it on Sarah's blog.
 

There was plenty of chat, eating and a bit of sewing.  The Cherry Shed is a fantastic venue, we get the upstairs area all to ourselves, we are waited on by the lovely staff and the food was delish.  It is a long drive but Faye and I talk so much we don't notice the time pass and of course there is always the compulsory stop in Campbell Town for coffee and maybe, just maybe cake.  It was fantastic to meet up with everyone from all over the State;  Swansea, Burnie, Penguin,  Launceston and George Town .... oh and of course Hobart.

OK I confess, I also went to both Patchwork shops while I was in Latrobe and managed to buy these lovelies from Wells, Latrobe. Wonder what I am going to make with them. My secret and I'm not telling... 
 

 

Thanks Vicki for organising again, I had a great day. Be back soon to show the sewing I did on the day.

Sunday sewing

I had a lovely day today making myself a tote bag.  I bought the pattern and material in Paris at a gorgeous little patchwork shop called Le Rouvray.  The material is their own design and is called Romance de Paris. 

It has only taken me a year to get around to it but ♥ it.

First there was one

but I couldn't waste the material so I had to make another.  I bought the kit thinking I would make one but the contents were very generous so suddenly there were two. 

Two very cute giraffes from Bunny Hill Designs. 

Last minute

Made this last night for a work colleagues birthday today. Why do I always leave things to the last minute! 

Just popping in quickly. ..

To show you my current WIP. I know I have been MIA recently but will be back before the weekend with some of my finishes.

I bought this material about 3 years ago so decided that it was time I did something with it. The easiest pattern I could think of was the disappearing 9 patch that I originally saw on Sarah's blog but now all over the Internet.  Some good YouTube videos too.

Here are a couple of shots I took last night.

 

the pile ready to be pieced, went from LARGE squares to tiny ones!

Taking shape, maybe some sewing needs to be done tonight!

So BBIM, BDIB and BFRB happy now I have put something up, lol!

Where do I start

So much has been happening, just where do I start.
 

Exciting day today as my very draughty back door has been replaced by a double-glazed door.  Unfortunately I couldn't retain the sliding doors but I now have parliament hinges so the doors open right out.  Still work to do as unfortunately there was a floor board missing underneath, one thing leads to another, leads to another *sigh*.

From the inside, looking out.....

 

 

 

From the outside looking in with one door right open.

  

Now in all this time, I haven't been entirely slothful even though I have been managing to do lots of lunching in the Hunter Valley with my daughter.

Oh it really is a hard life!

 

 

BUT I have managed to get on with some sewing.

Helen's project is nearly finished with the hexies now sewn on!!!

 

 

This is the second project from the Lynette and Helen sew-in a few weeks ago. Nearly there, sorry the photos are a bit awful but I was being lazy.

 

 

 

 

And just how cute is this gorgeous elephant, a Bunny Hill pattern. This was such a quick and easy pattern to make up and the perfect gift to wing it's way to Queensland to welcome little Miss M into our world.

 

Did you really need to see this, probably not but covering my lttle op I had today. Not huge but a bit uncomfortable. I know I am a sook!

 

 

The last photo is just because, a beautiful David Austin rose from my garden.

 

 

Hope your week has been busy and everyone had a lovely Easter break.