My Secret Santa is not a secret any more...

That secret present I had here is now open and I can tell everyone who my secret santa was. It was May Britt from Abyquilt . She made a lovely bag with a Christmas stichery of snowmen on it and included a Tilda stitchery design which I love and will probably start working on very soon. Here's the snowmen who have come from Norway to cool me down - don't you love their noses? I do!

And here's a better view of the decorations May Britt sent - they are on the tree and looking very festive.

Thank you so much May Britt - I love everything.

And thank you to Chookyblue who organized everything so beautifully again.

More Advent swap...

Well, all my advent presents are opened and I have to say that I had a lot of fun and surprises. There was lots of pretty things like fabrics, ribbons and lace. And special things for me like tea bags, bath items and a beautiful needlecase.( That's the heart shaped item at the bottom left. ) There were some waffle weave hand towels too. The final present was these lovely cushion covers. I had just the right sized cushions to put them on and so they decorated my couch for Christmas.

And see this little angel from one of the days - her smile matches the one I had from this swap. Thank you Marina - it was a wonderful package and so much fun to open.

Ornaments....

In the Secret Santa Christmas Swap run by Chookyblue we had to include an ornament, which was to be opened when the parcel arrived. The good news is that my parcel for Shiree finally arrived and this is the ornament I chose to make for her. I thought this little koala was just too cute and couldn't resist making him. And here's the back.......

I used to do lots of cross stitch and counted embroidery but somehow in the last few years I got more involved with fabric. So it was nice to go back to one of my early crafty loves.

And this is the ornament I made for Maria over in Western Australia in the ornament swap run by Robyn. This is the first time I have combined stitchery and felt and I really enjoyed making it up. Maria made the lovely angel I showed in a previous post for this swap.

And some good news is that Marina has received her advent parcel and hopefully is enjoying all the goodies. My next post will show you some more of the lovely things I have been opening every day. Thank you Marina.

So now it is just the countdown to Christmas. Have I finished shopping for everyone ? - no, but I've still got two days, haven't I? That should be plenty of time....... I hope.

Secret Santa Christmas Swap.

My Secret Santa Christmas Swap has arrived safely here too. This secret Santa wants to stay a secret until Christmas Day when I open my gift. The only clue is that this Santa is from Norway. You can see the special Norwegian ornaments which were included. We haven't quite finished decorating our tree yet but there will be a place for these sweeties there.

Thank you Secret Santa from Norway - this is to let you know that everything has arrived here safely.

And thank you to Chookyblue for running this swap.

Handmade Christmas Ornament Swap.

My partner for this swap was Maria in Western Australia. Look at this cute little angel she sent me with a beautiful Christmas card.

She is so tiny - I don't know how you turn seams so small. Isn't she sweet?

I won't show a photo of the ornament I sent Maria until she lets me know that it has arrived. I hope that she likes it as much as I like my little angel.

Advent swap!

I signed up for an advent swap with Fiona of Mothers Cupboard and my partner is Marina in Italy. My parcel arrived in a huge red Christmas bag. Lots of smaller parcels were inside...

and here are the first weeks gifts - lots of smelly girly things and fabrics and lace. Thank you Marina.

Here is a photo of some of the packages I sent Marina. The sad part of this story though is that she has written to me to say that they haven't arrived yet. This is really dissapointing as she hasn't had anything to open. I am hoping that they will still turn up. I have asked at the post office and they say that I probably should have registered the parcel - but they didn't tell me that at the time I posted it.

I am in the process of putting together another parcel becuase I don't want Marina to miss out but I doubt I can get it there before Christmas. And you can be sure that I will register it as well.

I am so sorry Marina - let's hope that it still arrives.

Very Quick Christmas Fabric, Button & Trim Swap 2009!

A very quick swap was run by Jenny and Vicki. We had to send two fat quarters, some ribbon and some buttons or trim. My partner was Silke in Germany. I was so excited to receive my first card like this that when I photographed it I didn't do a very good job of getting both fat quarters in. And here's what I sent.

It was a simple swap and east to do. Thanks, Silke - I love everything but the card is extra special. And thanks Jenny and Vicki.

A bit of family time needed....

Meet Ollie - he's our new grandpuppy. ( about 10 weeks old in this photo) He is a groodle - a cross between a golden retriever and a poodle. He came visiting last weekend and was just too cute.

There hasn't been much time for anything this week as my 17 year old son is in hospital. He has had to have some surgery on his jaw which has been quite major. He was operated on last Monday and won't come home until Saturday. Then we have to feed him blended food for 6 weeks. It was his choice to have the operation now - but it has meant that he has missed his very last week at high school and also his graduation and school formal. He also gave up going to 'schoolies' at the Gold Coast. ( For anyone overseas Schoolies is a time for students to let their hair down a bit(?) after finishing high school. )

My week has been spent visiting and travelling. The hospital he is in is situated in the city, and parking is a real pain. The good part is that the hospital is air conditioned and with our hot temperatures at the moment it is a good place to be.

So I have taken a bit of a break from things just to support my boy - next week we will be at home a lot so hopefully I can catch up on things.

Finally something to show....

There's been quite a bit of secret crafty Christmas stuff going on in this household but because it is for swaps and presents I can't show very much.

I made this for a friend's birthday over the weekend. I don't think she even knows about my blog so I think I can safely show this here ( she hasn't been given it yet but her birthday was two days ago). It is a runner made from border fabric, which I have had here for quite a while. I wish I had bought more than a metre because it would have been nice to make it longer - just something I'll need to remember for next time when I see a suitable fabric.

When I first made it I thought it was waaaayyy too busy but really it has turned out quite well and I certainly will do more. I have some ideas of how to adapt the pattern for two fabrics - that should be fun too and I already have something suitable in my stash.

Here is the runner on my dining room table - I hope my friend likes it, she always likes decorating her house for Christmas.


And this is outside in the garden ( I thought the light might be better.)

When I went to the craft show a week or so ago I treated myself to a new 60 degree ruler so I could have a play with one of the new Anka's Treasures patterns. Now I already own at least 2 rulers of this shape but another one (bigger) will always be useful, I'm sure. Then I realised that I could use this runner pattern as well as it is the ruler suggested in the pattern. The pattern is one that used to be on the Timeless Treasures site but it isn't any more which is sad, probably because the fabric it is written for is out of production.

Here you can see the ruler and the pattern and the leftovers from cutting out the runner. I think I can make something else out of the cut offs - that will be great to have as an extra for someone's Christmas stocking.

I really enjoyed this one.

Just a few hours left....A giveaway with a cause.

I'm always doing things at the last minute. But I figure that maybe I might catch someone with this post. Julie at Bush Baby Jag is supporting a worthy cause and this is just a little bit of support from me. There's still time to help this cause, and there's a nice giveaway too.

If you have a minute click here and read about it.

Two photos of the same thing....

I have mentioned The BQL (Britsih Quilt List Yahoo group) Challenge before and I realise that I haven't posted my little quilts each month. I must catch up on that but for now here is my quilt for October. The focus is the folded fabric pinwheels. Now, I am not really a pink person but these fabrics just seemed to want to all go together and it was fun and quick to make.
I took this photo on my back deck, I like the rustic look of the boards.


I then walked in the door, put the little quilt down on my dining room table and took this photo.

There in only a minute or so between taking these and really only about two metres between the two spots where the photos were taken. But they both have a very different look due to the light. I like them both - I like the background roses showing in the first one and I like how the quilting shows up in the second. I just couldn't decide which photo to use.....

Dust...

There have been news reports of dust storms in Sydney which have closed the airport and other places. But here 1000 kilometres away in Queensland we are also having dust storms. So it is my guess that most of the places in between are as well.

These pictures were taken a short while ago (at midday ) from my back deck...

Five minutes later...

It is getting worse. I hope it all blows away soon. We are going camping tomorrow further west for three days, but I certainly don't want to go in this.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder....

Our Friday craft group had a challenge - an 'uglies' challenge. The rules were simple and started with all the participating people bringing a piece of 'ugly' fabric. There were no size requirements - just a piece. Then each piece was cut into the number of people joining in. I think we had 18 to start with so there were 18 pieces. The sizes were varied but everyone got one piece of each fabric. These scraps were to be made into something by last Friday. We didn't have to use all the fabric and we could add extra if we liked. ( I told you the rules were simple.) Here's the scraps before I decided to do anything with them. This really is a challenge...

and here are the results...



A flying geese table runner, a pincushion and a hot pad.

A bunny towel and an iris folding card.

This one isn't quite finished but is shaping up to be a collage picture - I think there are still some buttons to be added.

Some little ditty bags.

A pig and a purse. ( This reminds me of that saying about making a silk purse out of a sow's ear - seems like that's what happened here. Isn't that pig cute?)

Here's a bag - both sides shown.

Another purse.

And this was my contribution.

I used every fabric except one - it just wasn't long enough for my strips. It was a little pink and white check - I think it is what the pig's nose is made from and there is a yoyo flower on one of the ditty bags as well.

It certainly was a simple challenge and lots of fun to do, even if I did leave it to the last minute as usual. And now I have new bag - it even went on a picnic with me yesterday. It's not the prettiest bag but somehow I think it might be the one to end up in the car for quick grocery shopping trips. I think everyone rose to the challenge really well. Congratulations, girls!

More photos from Glenharrow

I just loved this window on one of the buildings.

There were beautiful flowers....

and a warm cosy atmosphere....

Lots of beautiful things to look at....

and lots of inspiration....

and new ideas....

Oops where is everyone? It must be afternoon tea time. ( and I am not responsible for all those empty chocolate wrappers on the plate - how do I know? Because I was responsible for the missing freckles ( chocolate with hundreds and thousands) which you can't see there. )

And here are Rosalie and Leanne at work. The lady in between them is Rosalie's mother Nel who is involved with things as well.

People who attended on other days have also posted about the wonderful day they had - seems it was perfect for everyone.

My day at Glenharrow....

The way to Glenharrow - or specifically Smuggler's Rest where our special day was held. It wasn't the warmest day... But seeing the projects from Rosalie Quinlan's soon to be released book soon brightened things up...

Here's our projects for the day....

and here's Cheryl, my fellow traveller from Brisbane, working hard on her stitchery.

The projects came in a lovely red bag with everything we need to finish the two projects...

And once again I seem to be showing a project which needs ironing, but I was using a hoop. And up in the left top corner you can see some lovely fat quarters of Rosie's new fabric range which just had to come home with me.

Another lovely aspect of the day is meeting new people - here's a hello to Sylvia and Fiona, who travelled back home to set up their own stitching day. Looks great, girls!

Thanks for a lovely day, Leanne and Rosalie. You can check out Leanne's blog for lovely photos of our day and the following ones.