Christmas comes again....

Hang on, this doesn't look very Christmassy !

But what is inside it certainly does....

It is a new fancy cow hide Christmas stocking from Texas full of goodies from Bonnie ( Calamity Jane's Cottage) Look at this Texan Christmas greeting. I don't think I'd ever be able to say it properly with my Australian accent.

The stocking was filled with lots of goodies....

But the most exciting thing of all was a Christmas checkerboard quilt ( being tested here by Colly)

The back - or is it the front - can just be a hanging or topper ...

And the other side is the checkerboard.

What a great idea! And Bonnie didn't know that I really like that range of fabric ( Cold Winter Noses) and I have some charm squares and fat quarters to match so I think I will have to make up something which goes with this wonderful quilt. Thank you so much Bonnie for everything - it is just perfect.

This was the Christmas in July swap run by Linda and Stephanie - Thanks so much girls for a wonderful swap.

For some reason this parcel took a bit longer - maybe it had to go via the North Pole to get Santa's approval, but it was certainly worth the wait.

Paper Bag Swap...

I had a wonderful swap experience with the Paper Bag Swap run by Maree. My partner was the talented Robyn from Daisy Quilts. I hadn't done one of these before so it was quite exciting trying to decide what to send to my partner and wondering what she would send for me to make something with. And just look at the wonders she produced. Aren't they just fabulous?
I sent the green fabric and this is what she made. Her name is Blossom and the first thing my children said was "Can I have her?" Can you guess what my answer was - yep, it was a big NO! This little beauty is mine - all mine.


Now Blossom came in her own matching bag which is also just perfect for me. I don't think that Blossom will get to live in her 'pouch' - I hope she is happy to share.

Now Robyn sent me a very different style of fabric - her fabric was from Moda Nell's Flower Shop line. As soon as I saw it I though of a bag pattern I have had for a while. It is called Cheryl's Bag from Leanne's House. Robyn had sent beads and covered buttons so the blank squares were just perfect for this. She had told me that this is one of her favourite fabrics so I just felt that I had to use fabric from the same line to go with it.

There was also a tassle in the things she sent so I had to make a zipper bag to attach to it, didn't I?

This was a lovely swap because we got to choose our fabirc but there was a big surprise to see what our partner did with it.

Thank you Maree, for running this swap and thank you Robyn for the wonderful Blossom and her bag. ( and the sneaky box of chocolates too)

You can see what Robyn wrote on her blog here and here. She takes much better photos than I do.

This has been so much fun.

Mrs. Martin's Quilt Shop Christmas in July...Thank you June.

Just before I went away I sent off a parcel to my swap partner, June C in Melbourne for the Christmas in July Swap run by Mrs. Martin's Quilt Shop. The plan was to open the gifts on July 1, but unfortunately I was away then and had to wait a few days. There were some specific things which we had to send. We had to include an ornament, something for the sewing kit, an unmounted stitchery, and something beginning with the letter of your partner's name and a bag to put it all in. Also included was a fat quarter, a button to go with it and a recipe. Here's what June sent me...

The "L" items for my name were labels ( quilt), some lace and a lanyard. ( June must have known that I needed one of those for work). Also there was a hand made card - mine was stitched and attached to a wonderful,very useful bag.

Look at all these wonderful examples of stitching. Aren't they great? Thank you so much June - I love them and I have been using the bag lots. A girl can never have too many pincushions either, can she?

Because I was disorganised as usual and we were going away I actually messed up and didn't take a photo of all the things I sent June in one photo. Luckily she did and sent me one. This is the stichery I did for June. It is a Leanne's House pattern which is similar to the ones she has just released. I wonder what June will make from it.

Here's the bag I made from some Winter charm squares - It is a Whistlepig Creek pattern - Charming Totes. ( It isn't numbered because it is the first in the series).

This started out to be a pincushion but I changed it to be a decoration

and then I included this pincushion which I would have loved to have keep myself. I'll just have to make another one.

I did include some other things - because June's name starts with "J" I also sent some Jaffas, and a journal.

I really enjoyed this swap, and I apologise to June for not posting about it earlier. Thank you so much, June. I loved everything and I am looking forward to making your little stitchery up in the pattern you sent.

And thank you to Karen of Mrs. Martin's Quilt Shop for organising this swap.

Holiday snaps...

Well, it seems that I had a bit longer holiday than I thought, at least from blogging. We did go away for nearly two weeks but we have been back for a little while and I do have to do some swap update posts. All the wonderful people who have sent me things - don't worry there will be news of them soon.

So on the last few days of June and the beginning of July we went up north. ( It's the only way to keep warm.) The destination was Airlie Beach which is the mainland centre which is the doorway to the Whitsunday Islands ( where the best job in the world is).

But we did stop a few times on the way and especially at one of my favourite places - Clairview. This is where the highway and the coastline meet. There's not much there, which is probably why it is so wonderful. It is a great place to look for shells. Most of them are very tiny but still very beautiful. It is a perfect place to stop to stretch legs and get grumpy children out of the car.

And we finally got to our holiday unit at dusk. Who would believe that it was Winter?

A rambling sort of everything post...

Hasn't been a lot of posting going on here, has there?

We've had two birthdays in the house - one son turned 20 and Colly turned 7.

Here's a quick update for June -

We've all been sick. Poor little Colly has been absent from school for nearly a week and even having his 7th Birthday last Sunday didn't quite do the trick of cheering him up. Everybody in the house has also been sick at some time or another this week so there hasn't anything creative going on. We seemed to run out of bed linen and it was raining too so nothing was drying. I still have two wet doonas...

One thing I did learn is that you shouldn't operate rotary cutters when you are sick. Why? Well for the first time ever ( and I know there is always a first time) I sliced my finger with the rotary cutter. I'll spare you the gory details but it did prove to me that when they say don't operate machinery they don't always mean the big things.

Here's a photo of my partner's paper bag swap items. It isn't a good one because when I got the package I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it and started cutting it up. Then I remembered to take the photo so had to do it with the flash which never looks as good. Can't show you what I've done yet though...

It's school holiday time next week here in Queensland.

We're off to the Whitsundays ( Airlie Beach to be precise). I might manage a post before then but if I don't - see you when I get back and am ready to bore everyone with holiday snaps.

This month's BQL challenge....

This month the challenge involved doing a trapunto piece.It measures about 12" x 12". I'm afraid that I didn't really get a good photo here but as I had just uploaded it to the group site I thought it would be a good idea to post here at the same time. Originally I didn't really feel that I got a good definition around my 'puffy' bunnies so I stem stitched around the outline to help. That brought the design out a bit more. Another part of the challenge is to improve our free motion quilting. I am getting there but would like to get a more even arrangement.

I used one of my favourite fabrics this time - it's a Lakehouse fabric with embossed spots. It's one of those fabrics you just want to use in everything. When it came to the binding I wasn't sure and then I remembered that I had both the pink and blue Lakehouse rabbit fabric which also has embossing as well. I had enough to do the binding in either colour but I decided to do it scrappy. Unfortunately you can't see much of the bunnies in the binding.

The idea each month is to challenge us to try new ideas. While I don't always love the task at hand it certainly is achieving the goal of pushing me outside of my comfort zone.

Do I spend too much time on the computer?

A little group of four friends get together every fortnight. We share ideas, solve the problems of the world and and do just a little bit of nibbling yummy things. A few weeks ago Robyn had put together a quilt top for her daughter...


And Dianne had finished a quilt for a 21st birthday present...

Cheryl had made a bag for her mother for Mother's Day.

It is reversible. ( and the pattern is from Whistlepig Creek called Six Pack Stack)

And what did I have to show - I think I had one of my signature squares - and no doubt some new and exciting information I had found on the net. I wonder if I am spending too much time on the computer and not enough time sewing. ( no, don't answer that - I think I already know.)

Time flies by..

Oh dear, it's been a while.....

I've sent in my siggie blocks And made Happy House blocks

and just made it in by the skin of my teeth with the BQL Calendar Challenge.( Each month has a deadline at the end) You can see I used some of the leftovers from the Happy Houses to make the handbags. The colours are just lovely on this range ( Objects of Desire - Moda).

May has been busy so far with secret swap things ( shhh!) and I am working on my BQL Challenge for May at the moment. I don't want it to be rushed at the end.

Another parcel... Spring Swap.

It's been very exciting here with parcels arriving. This one was from my Spring Swap partner Melinda. Ooh, lots of tissues paper wrapping...





And inside one package was a wonderful note book and cover. ( Melinda must have heard me thinking that I needed to have something like this for beside my laptop to jot down notes.)

And there was a cute tin filled with fat quarters and squares. I've got a few ideas here already but I haven't actually made any final decisions.

And check out this fabulous roomy bag with lots of pizazz. It's one of those mesh bags which I've spotted around and loved.

So if you are going to the Brisbane Stitches and Craft show at the end of this month and you see this bag, no doubt it will have me attached to it. Do you think I can fill it?

Valentine's Swap...

I have an apology to make to Jill (no Blog) who was my partner in a Valentine's swap run by Dandelionquilts. I promised Jill that I would post photos on my blog and show everyone. Somehow though the photos were deleted from my camera and didn't quite make it to the blog. So I took some more today and have them here to show. I am so sorry, Jill, that this is so late.
Look at all this lovely sewing love...
In the left corner you can see a page of photos. Jill made a photo collage of the area she lives in, her sewing room and some of her projects. What a great idea! I wish my sewing room looked like hers! Jill, I think you need a blog to show all these beautiful things off.

Here's a cute wall hanging...

And some lovely things for the table... Thank you so much Jill. I loved everything.

and on the subject of the Valentine's swap here's what I sent to Maria .

Sorry that this has taken so long...

Variations on an Easter theme...

2008...
2009...

When you have a good Easter hat design all you need to do is adapt it from

one year to the next.

Easter Swap received...

Here's the parcel I received in the Easter Swap... It was from Shari on the other side of Australia. Look at those lovely Easter ribbons !

And what a great idea - sweet fabrics hidden inside matching eggs.

And the cutest of all was the little house with bunnies,

and look who is peeking out...



There were cookie cutters too but somehow they didn't get into the photos. Thank you so much Shari. I love it. Happy Easter.

Easter Swap...

A few months back I signed up for an Easter Swap run by Julie. The person I was to send to was Vanessa. I wasn't quite sure what to send but I found this cute Easter fabric and had to use it. I just love those bunnies. ( The pattern was from Happy Hour by Atkinson Designs and is one I will be using again)

And speaking of cute bunnies...


it can be found on this..

The button is a Giggle Button and is so cute I couldn't resist using it for an Easter bag.

I hope you enjoy everything Vanessa.

Charm Square Bolster Cushion...

My friend Kathy, who does yoga with me, was having a birthday. I had actually planned this for last year's birthday but didn't get it done ( why isn't that a surprise?) So I decided to get it done for this year.

So to make one here's what I did...

Sew 20 charm squares together ( 4 x 5). This will vary depending on the size of the cushion you want to make, or you can cut them to size later. The insert I used was 51cm X 51cm which would be around 20 inches X 20 inches.


Sew into a tube and hem the ends...

I left a small opening in my seam so I could thread the ribbon through...

Now here's a hint..

I bought a square cushion insert because it was bigger than the bolster insert the shop had. All you have to do is leave it rolled up - But it does help to leave the plastic on at first to help you get the cover on. You can see it is a bit of a tight fit, which is good to make the cushion firm but this helps get the cover on more easily. It still is a bit tricky getting the plastic off but I cut it when I was half way in and pulled it out that way.

Tighten the ribbons at the end and tie up tight.

The end result - one bolster cushion.

In my case the next thing I did was hand it to Kathy as she walked in the door right at the moment of completion, so I couldn't hide it. I suppose you could say it saved me wrapping it.

She took it to yoga the next week and I may have orders - arrgh...


Note : this method really doesn't allow for regular removing and washing as the seams are not ended off inside and I tied the ribbon with knots first. It could be made to do so though with a bit more lining and preparation.