Finished projects

This is the finished quilt for my dearest bestest buddy Ness who is being induced with her first baby on Monday (lucky I finished the quilt early as bubs was supposed to put in an appearance in mid August!)

When Moda brought out the first collection of the Urban Sweet range I used it for my niece's baby quilt and I loved it so much that when the second range came out I bought a layer cake to do Nessie's quilt and our own baby quilt. The pattern is a hybrid of Leanne Beasley's "Quilt for Ruth" and Bronwyn Hayes' stitcheries from "Little Chicken Feather". Some of the sayings like "Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much" are favourites that mean something to me. I really enjoyed this project, I think because it was stitching from the heart - this quilt is for a really special baby and her/his really special mum.

I even put a quilt label on the back so that we can write a message once we know bubby's name - I was proud of this small detail as I'm normally not one for the finer details like labels! Now I can get started on our baby's quilt using a pinwheel pattern interspersed with stitchery squares - and yes it will have my favourite red spotty border as well!

Last photo is a finished UFO. This is a Melly and Me pattern, "Acute" who has been sitting unstuffed and unfinished on my sewing table until a recent clean up. He is a great pattern for using up small scraps. Did you notice the lovely pile of tone-on-tone fabric he is perched on? I was a lucky winner at Jane's Christmas Gathering last weekend - lovely to add to my stash. I felt thoroughly spoilt!!!

Must go and entertain the cherubs.

Keep smiling,

Nell

Some eye candy from Christmas in July

Finally some eye candy from the Xmas in July Gathering from last weekend. First is the stitchery that most of us worked on. Quite a bit of chain stitch and easy enough that I got it finished that night.

Jane and Rosalie had done a lovely job on setting up the hall with all of Rosalie and Leanne's beautiful projects (and Jane and her girls did an exquisite job of decorating with lovely suffolk puff tinsel and Christmas trees - there was even a little Christmas tree near the handbasin in the loo!)

I love Leanne's Merry and Bright wall hanging - so nice to see some contemporary fabric on a Christmas piece. She had also used part of the stitchery to decorate a linen tablecloth and napkins (which could be a good present for MIL if I wasn't so busy doing other things LOL)

Rosalie was just lovely, very down to earth and approachable. I got her to autograph my copy of her book "Gift" but didn't get a photo with her as it felt a bit too much like a crazed fan. I was trying to explain the significance of meeting Rosalie and Leanne to my hubby post-event and the best I could come up with was "it is kind of like you meeting Mark Webber!" LOL

Unfortunately Leanne's poor daughter was quite ill so meeting Leanne will have to wait until some other time!

Blogger is being very frustrating and doing strange things to my photos so I will have to post some photos of finished projects in a separate post.

No exciting stitching this weekend as I have to sew up two pairs of pants ready to put in fly zips at my alterations course on Monday night.

It is Woodpatch Quilters Exhibition day at the Lobie town hall tomorrow so I am looking forward to that!

Keep smiling,

Nell

Lovely Christmas Goodies and a progress report

I had such a good day yesterday. Not only did one of my loveliest customers decide to become a Creative Memories consultant in my team (great $99 business kit offer this month), but I also received a special parcel in the post from my Christmas in July swap partner Val. I was overwhelmed by the beautiful handmade goodies Val sent.

My very special favourite is this needlecase (even has my name on it and in my favourite colour too!)

Unfortunately a little mousie had a nibble on the package in transit so the beautiful handbag that you see in the top photo had a weeny mousie bite taken out of the bottom of it! Luckily I begin an alterations and mending course at WEA next week and hope to be able to mend it invisibly. This little bag is excellent timing as the handle fell off my current bag and I have been looking for a replacement - this one is just the right size for a bottle of water and my purse and keys and even has a phone pocket and leftover room for baby wipes and bandaids and little chocolate treats!

The cherubs were suitably impressed that Val had included a packet of jelly snakes for them (means they will leave my chocolate alone LOL!)

I love the little crazy patch turtle (which we all decided is lovely for the baby) and the teeny tiny little pocket doll (I remember making these pin dollies about a decade ago for a few crafty friends and being frustrated turning those tiny arms and legs so thank you for your patience Val and it is lovely to have one of my very own!) All in all I felt thoroughly spoilt. THANK YOU VERY MUCH VAL!

I am resisting temptation to show you my latest efforts until they are finished (only 1 side of binding left to go which should be knocked over tonight in front of the telly) Let me just say that I am somewhat in love with this latest effort!

I have also started an upcycled effort for Hannah - a long frilly denim skirt from a pair of my old jeans. Hope to have that finished in the next few days and if it goes well will give you a tute on just how I did it. My girlie girl just refuses to wear trousers and is freezing in little short summer skirts and dresses so this is my sneaky attempt to dress her appropriately!

I am two balls away from finishing bubby's shawl. It has become the "magic pudding" of all shawls (but not in a good way!) Seems like no matter how much wool I throw at it I still need more. We are now up to double the recommended amount plus an extra four balls and I am going on a trip sometime today to see if I can get a few balls to do the edging otherwise it will have to be in a different colour! I have included the latest snapshot of the little whippersnapper - apparently I have more than the usual amount of amniotic fluid (the report said "generous but not excessive liquor" which James thinks sounds like the little tike is getting quietly sloshed!) and this is making me seasick! Hoping the morning sickness goes soon!

This weekend is my 20 year Grade 10 reunion and I am disappointed not to be in Sunny Queensland with them all - would have been lovely to see and hear what everyone has done in the last 2 decades and how different our lives are from what we imagined!

This weekend is also the Gathering with Leanne Beasley and Rosalie Quinlan and I sooooooo can't wait for that! Should have lots of yummy stitching to show you next time!

Until then,

Keep smiling,

Nell

A Little Bit of Scrapping

I have somewhat lost my Scrapping Mojo this pregnancy and have been spending a lot more time doing textile/tactile things. This month Creative Memories brought out the most gorgeous range of paper flowers and paper ribbons (all 100% photo safe) so I have been having a play.

They really are yummy and lend themselves well to cards and altered gifts as well. For our unit meeting prizes I filled an altered coffee can with chocolates and also wrapped up a couple of chockie bars. The girls had a choice between these or new product and they chose the chockies!!! I've bought a few cheap cloth journals that I want to tizzy using these flowers and ribbons one day soon.

You may remember in one of my recent posts I mentioned that my Grandfather was quite ill and not expected to return home. Pleased to say that thanks to a wonderful assessor at the Noosa Hospital he is now home and they have got lots of support lined up for him. My grandparents have been inseparable since my Grandmother was 13 years old. In recent years Nanny has become increasingly forgetful and is probably not capable of being home by herself. On the other hand, Grandad's body has been deteriorating. Separately, neither of them works properly, together they are perfect. I just love these two (crazy as they are!) and I am so glad that Grandad is home with his sweetheart.

My sister sent this photo down to me. So glad that she was able to be there for them when I wasn't.

Must go, Hannah has absconded with one of my china teacups and some of the cutlery for a tea party outside!!! The things creative little minds think of while Mummy is blogging!!!

Keep smiling,

Nell

Christmas in July Swap

I have finally finished all of the bits for my Christmas in July swap through Mrs Martin's Quilt Shop. Bundled it up and posted it this week so now waiting to see what I receive back from Val. Two tricky parts to this challenge; my swap partner likes yellow fabric (not an easy colour to find Christmas fabric in!) and I had to give her something beginning with "V" - ended up with Vodka and Crushed Berry sauce but thinking about it afterwards I should have got a packet of violet or viola seeds!

The bag is adapted from Gail Pan's Christmas Block of the Month (I did an extra block with this swap in mind) Not happy about how the bag is a bit skewiff at the top but as a gift bag it is okay!

My friend Yvonne put me onto this ornament pattern by Marg Low - so quick and easy and I've made quite a few now. You can't see it properly but the felt has a glitter effect over it. Pretty kitsch for other projects but should be good on a Christmas tree to catch the light?

So anyway Val, I hope you like it. Now I can concentrate on getting Nessie's quilt finished before her bubby arrives in August (then better think about a quilt for our own bump!)

Last weekend was the end of my camera course (Yay!) and I also had a lovely morning at the Patchwork Apple with Sara, Vicki and Yvonne finishing off our Mystery Indulgences Project (would show you but it is still a "mystery") Sara is just the best teacher so we learnt heaps of neat finishing tricks (and all being Queens of Multi-tasking we girls managed to get plenty of talking and eating chocolate biscuits in between the stitching!) Quilting with Apple Piecers again this weekend so Nell is a happy camper!

Until next time,

Keep smiling!

p.s.blogger is being uncooperative and won't let me move photos so apologies that they are not in order where they should be!

A Picture Tells a Thousand Words...

Toilet training. Need I say more...

Thankfully that was last week. This week we have been wearing "red jocks like Gumpy (my Dad!)" and had two days of 100% success. Keep the fingers crossed that we are on a winning streak.

p.s. the green wool is more luscious dying for a crazy rabbit-and-carrot-kindy hat - more about that as the project unfolds!