I'm excited...and looking forward to going to...

the Spring Stitch-In at GlenHarrow Gardens. This is being hosted by Leanne Beasley and Rosalie Quinlan. Leanne has posted a sneak peak of the kits they have packed, and it all looks wonderful. I am going down with my friend Cheryl on Wednesday and we will be at GlenHarrow on Thursday! If anyone is reading this and will be there Thursday as well, please let me know. We won't be flying back until Saturday evening so if anyone has any suggestions of must visit places then I am very interested in that too. We have a car so who know where we will end up.You might remember that I went to a day with these same two wonderful ladies in March at the Nundle Girls Day out in the Country. And the photos which go with this post - well they are showing my progress of the projects from Nundle. Do they look finished? Not quite - and not ironed yet either. I had plans that if I was going to get new projects at Glenharrow I should finish the ones I already had. The stitching is done for Rosalie's - I just have to make it into a bag. Leanne's project involved stitching and applique - I am getting close but can I finish it before I go? We'll have to wait and see on that one.

Pincushion swap....

I think that with this post I will have finally caught up on all the swap news. I love being in the swaps but I find that it means that I have much less time to do things for myself. So for a little while ( until the Christmas swaps) I will be trying to catch up on some of the projects I have here which seem to have been here for a while waiting to be done.

I participated in a pincushion swap run by Sandra. Here's what Rose sent - you can see that customs decided to have a peek too - but all the contents were safe.
Here's the cute little bee and its garden (oops the wing got a bit bent) It's such a happy little bee - I hope that it likes the weather over here. Rose chose this theme because she is from Utah which I have learned is called the beehive state. And she also had two broken arms - I hope they are both healed okay now Rose. There were also some sweets to try - Bit-O-Honey, which of course would come with a bee, and some Pixi Stix which my kids enjoyed as well. Thank you so much Rose.

And here's what I sent to Nadine. This Pattern is from Melly and Me called Handbag Addiction.

One bag is the pincushion and one bag is a needle case.

I originally got a kit for these so I made mine first to work out the pattern and then made the ones for Nadine. I have to say I didn't find this the easiest pattern so I am glad that I made mine first because I certainly found it easier the second time.

Thanks for a fun swap, Sandra.

More Christmas...

I just realized that I hadn't shown what I sent to Nancy in Linda and Stephanie's Christmas Swap - shame on me.

I was really pleased with this topper - it is from one of the Anka's Treasure's books. ( I can check which one if any one is interested) The fabrics were from a charm pack I had - Maison de Noel by Moda I think. I love the extra bit of blue in the range - one of my favourite colours. This is the bag that I made to put everything in - it is quite large and I thought it might make a good Christmas Swag.

I made a needle book with a stitchery taken from the Twelve Red Robins pattern by Cinderberry Stitches but the pattern for the actual needle book was from a project by Rosalie Quinlan. I borrowed some scallop scissors to cut the felt and I just love the effect - just a bit nicer than pinking shears.

And then with a few other things I wrapped them all up and sent them on their way. ( I made a gift tag too from the same Cinderberry Stitches pattern.)

Merry Christmas in July Nancy! ( You can read what Nancy thought here - it's absolutely wonderful to see the things you send in their new house. Don't you love her table and the topper! )

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...