SSCS and Happy New Year!

This is  SSCS Parcel I received from Terry this Christmas - very nicely wrapped in useful fabric. My ornament was a Danish style heart and Terry has directions on the sidebar of her blog. Cute isn't it?

 

 

And what was inside? A cute table topper I can use all year round.( The decorations were ones I had on the table - I just thought they made it look a bit Christmassy for now.)Thank you so much Terry! I love it!

 

I have some other swap photos to post but I will have to do that in the New Year. We are going camping in the morning - to Christmas Creek where we camped last year.
Thank you to all my swap partners for their beautiful gifts. Posts will be coming soon.

Merry Christmas to All !

 

 

 

 

The end of the year has caught up with me. I am grabbing a moment to wish you all a wonderful time tomorrow where ever you are.

Best wishes also for the New Year.

 From Lynda (bettsylyn).

 

Merry Christmas from Basil (our grand nephew puppy) too.



A message from Dale and Peg.

We will be heading out to sea soon and will have no Internet. So when we arrive back next weekend we will sort out our photos.
The sun did disappear but a photo will have to wait. In the meantime here's a photo from yesterday when we were in Cairns.
Hugs.
P.S. bettsylyn is looking after us well even if Mr. Heavens is saying that she is weird.

The adventures of Peg and Dale...part 2

Here we are waiting for a very important event. They say the sun is going to disappear in twenty minutes. Remember when Henny Penny thought the sky was falling, well, we think we can top that. Stay posted to see if it really happens.

The adventures of Peg and Dale.

Can you guess where we are? We are living the high life, and getting excited about a unique event tomorrow. More news soon if we can manage to find a spare minute. Love, Peg and Dale.

The top is done....

 I joined the Stitch-a-long blog back in 2010 when we were all making Anni Down's Gardener's Journal. I got quite a few stitcheries done but got a bit bogged down in the piecing. I managed to also do the next stitch-a-long quilt which was Tis the Season by Natalie Bird.

Fast forward to this October when our wonderful organizer Chookyblue challenged us to be finished by October 31.

 

 

 

Here's my finished top - all done with 12 hours to spare. I am not sure how I will be quilting it yet.

Even though it isn't a quilt yet I certainly have a great sense of satisfaction is getting it to this stage. It will be great when it is completely finished.

 



 

The design is an Anni Downs design and the fabric is Garden Party by Blackbird Designs.

F.R.I.E.N.D.S swap

A wonderful parcel was delivered at my house. It was my parcel from the F.R.I.E.N.D.S swap run by the very organised Khris. My partner was Katrien in Belgium so my gifts had a lovely European flavour.

 Everything was all wrapped up in yellow - very bright and happy.

F was for fabric....

 

 R was for ribbons. You can't see it but there is a very cute teddy ribbon in there which I love.

 I is for items from Belguim - lace and chocolate. And no one will be able to steal my bookmark because I am the only one in the house whose name starts with L.

 E is for Etui with some Extras. I just love this zippered bag.

 N is for Needlecase, needles and notebook. You can never have too many needles and needlecases.

 Doosje ( which means a box) with DMC threads and a thimble. ( Katrien collects thimbles so it is lovely that she shared one with me)

 S is for scissors - with a cute scissor case which is cleverly made from a circle.

All the lovely things together - thank you so much Katrien for the lovely goodies. I know I will be able to use all these beautiful things for a long time.

Our team finished! ( See previous post)

It was early in the morning when the team started. We had to go to a meeting point and then the team had to be taken by bus to the starting point for 7 am. They were all smiles when I dropped them - I don't think that it had quite sunk in that there was still 100 kilometres to go.

44 kilometres walked ( Third checkpoint and the first one the support crew could access) and it was time for cups of tea and food ( lamb and lentils and lasagne). Everyone's feet were starting to feel it. By this time it was late afternoon and there is still a full night of walking ahead.

There was another big checkpoint stop later in the night where I fed them all up on porridge, and more cups of tea. The support crew ( that's my SIL and myself) had a few hours sleep and then up again to see our team come home.

They took 23 hours and 28 minutes to complete the 100 kms and all four of them finished. They came in 44th. (out of 350 teams, although it isn't a race.)The first team were runners and actually took less than 12 hours to do the same course. Amazing !

With ages ranging from 40 to 64 we are very proud of our team. A lot of teams finished with less than four but I think that everyone who participated should hold their heads up high. One million dollars was raised for Oxfam and all the volunteers and organisers should be congratulated for a great effort in putting on this event.

P.S. No one is discussing doing this again next year........yet.

What I will be doing this Friday....

There has been a lot of posts about going to the Sydney Craft Show and having a blog meet up. I went last year and had a great time and had fully expected to be going again this year. Sometimes though, life doesn't quite always work out the way we hope.

So instead of going to Sydney and having a great time with friends I will be part of a two man support crew for a team doing the Oxfam trailwalker walk in Brisbane. It is a 100 km walk through bush and on fire trails to the west of Brisbane.

http://trailwalker.oxfam.org.au/brisbane

My husband Richard (left) and his brother (right) with two friends are doing the walk and are starting at 7 am tomorrow from Mt Glorious and anticipate finishing at Mt Coot-tha 24 hours or less later. My sister-in-law and I will be available during that time to be called on, also we will be at some of the checkpoints with changes of clothes and shoes along with food and anything else they need. We have to have them there to register between 4 and 4.30am so think of me in the dark and cold.

There will be work to be done in the middle of the night too so it could be a full on 24 hours for me too.

You can see their page here....

http://trailwalker.oxfam.org.au/brisbane/teams/team/?team_id=12117

These photos were taken on a training walk going up Mt. Maroon - they've done lots of preparation.

 and here's my husband on the top of Mt Maroon.

So while I dream of being in Sydney seeing and doing lots of crafty things and meeting up with bloggy friends,I can't be there.... Hope you all have fun.
Think of me out in the bush in the middle of the night waiting for my team to come in and pass though the checkpoints. Ah, the things we do....

Blog Meeting

It seems some people who shall remain nameless ( in other words - me) are late in posting photos from the Brisbane Blog meet we had a week ago. We had so much fun - there was show and tell with lots of discussions and oohhs and aahhs.

 There was lunch and lots of photos - check out the lower photo - this seems to be what was happening all the time.  We all seem to get on so well., whether longer time friends or new. After all with blogging and patchwork/quilting in common it is a winning combination.  Extra special thanks to Susan for organising the lunch and also to Michelle and Mary for our special gifties.

So Kayly ( my patient travelling companion),Michelle, Teresa, Helen, Marilyn, Noela, Susan, De, Mary and Fiona, can we do it again sometime please?

It's a finish even if it is small...

So far this year I have managed to finish something each month. The items aren't very big but still need to be finished, and would probably still be unfinished if I didn't have a bit of motivation from the Sew It's Finished blog.
This bag has been sitting in two pieces for probably nearly a year and it was time to finish it. It is made with two triangle shapes which when sewn together make two pockets inside as well. It was a hard one to photograph because it is quite big. I'll probably use it as a project bag rather than a shopping bag becuase it is so roomy.
The pattern is from a local quilt store - The Quilter's Corner and is called The Market Bag.

I know I have been a way for a while - the every day stuff just gets in the way. I have penty to talk about but I thought as I was changing my blog template I would say hello for now and chat properly later.
But while I am here I will introduce you to the love of my daughter's life - Maggie, our dog.

This is the dog who doesn't like having a bath or being in the rain.......but if there is a puddle to jump into she will find it, and want to stay there all day. In this photo she looks all black but she is half border collie ( the other half is labrador) so has a white chest and paws. She is a very much loved member of our family.
Talk soon....

The adventures of Peg and Dale.....

After a long day at Nundle Peg and Dale needed to relax with a hot chocolate. Will they stay awake at Sue Daley's trunk show tonight?

oh dear.....

There are some things that you just hope will never happen.....


And there are some things which I am sure the neighbours at the back ( down the hill) wish would never happen either.

But some things just happen anyway.....

It didn't take long for 36,000 litres to empty out.

I was quietly doing something inside when I heard my husband say...."That wasn't meant to happen."

I agree.

( Thankfully no neighbours or neighbour's houses were harmed during this event.)

Last Day in January - something finished!

One of the lovely things about keeping a blog is that you can put dates to events and remember when things happen. However... there is an embarrassing side as well. I found the first post I made about this project back in December 2007. There is another one a little bit later and then a third one in January 2008. In that one I said I wasn't going to put it away because it won't get finished. Well guess what? It didn't ....until today. I put the last stitch in today. And here is my version of Trees on the Table, designed by Marcie of Patchalot Patterns. You can find the pattern and a gallery here. The lovely thing about this pattern is that it has a variety of different borders. It is just lovely and I am cross with myself for leaving it so long.

I also want to issue a warning about leaving things so long as well. I made the top back then and misplaced it for a while. Then I found it, sandwiched it and did a bit of quilting on it, probably about a year ago although it could be longer. When I got it out to finish I found that there must have been some damp and some of the pins I had left in there ( yes, I know we are told not to do that) looked like this.......

They were hard to remove and one or two just broke when I tried to get them out. In most spots it is okay but there is one which is a problem. These holes are not made by the pin but the corrosion from the pin has eaten the fabric.

So I hope this is giving you a little bit of incentive to get things finished. Not only do you prevent bad things happening over time but you also get to actually use them ( I would have loved to have used this last Christmas).

And finishing also gives a sense of achievment - now I feel all fired up to finish some more of my older projects.

My lovely little wallet...

I apologise to Stacy about the lateness of this blog entry. Before Christmas I won this lovely Little Wallet and pattern (by Valori Wells) from a giveaway on the Circle Retreat Quilter blog. I love that there was not only the pattern but a beautifully made example as well. How lovely is that?

Stacy owns the Circle Retreat in Buderim ( to the north of where I am) and it looks perfect for some time away. Now I just have to find some.... time,that is.......

Camping by the river....

After packing up our camp in the bush we set off further south to Yamba which is on the mouth of the Clarence River. This time we were at a caravan park where the children could spend hours at the provided water park and giant jumping pillow ( meant to take a photo of that).

We had a view of the Clarence River

And a good space to play cricket.

And a perfect place to go kayaking.

There was still no stitching going on but I did find some places to go shopping. So much for trying to keep the spending down in 2012.

Camping by the creek...( no stitching content at all)

In the past post I mentioned that we were going camping. For the first two days of the year we were at Stinson Park at Christmas Creek.

It really is a beautiful place and the creek is so much fun for the kids.

The next photo is looking up the creek to the edges of Lamington National Park and the rugged area you can walk to go to find the Stinson Wreck. Some of the family did a tiny bit of the walk ( it certainly isn't a walk for anybody who isn't experienced at bushwalking).

Now doesn't this look fun?

and here's how my daughter chose to spend her time.

Lucky her.... I took stitching and a book ...... and nothing saw the light of day except when we needed a pair of scissors.

Hopefully I can achieve more now that we are home.

SSCS and 2012...

Happy New Year! Here's a wish that 2012 brings you everything you hope for.

My eyelids are drooping as it is now New Year's Day where I live. I should be in bed but I need to post this because we are going camping for the next four days and I won't really have internet access. (I might try again with my phone though).

The photo below shows what I received from Gracie in Chookyblue's Secret Santa Christmas Swap. The main present was a cushion with a beautifully stitched cactus on it from Arizona. Now I've seen this type of cactus in real life and I don't think I would want to decorate one of them, so this must surely be the next best thing. There were some useful things as well - some needles and cottons, some pretty tissues and a chocolate Santa which of course is very necessary.

At the back of the picture you can see a pretty shopping bag - I think Gracie must have been stalking me as I remember saying that I liked shopping bags a few months ago. Thank you so much, Gracie. I loved everything you sent.

And talking of bags, here is what I sent to Ulla. I fell in love with this bag pattern when I bought it back in March from Anni Downs. When I cut this one out I cut out a second set of strips so I can make one for myself. Ulla likes knitting and I thought it might be a great bag to hold whatever she is working on. 

I sent a few extra little goodies as well.

Thank you to Gracie for your gifts and thank you to Chookyblue for running the swap for another year. Check out her blog ( if you haven't already) and see all the wonderful gifts which were travelling around the world.