Friday 31 December 2010

End of 2010

My New Years Resolution for 2011 is to get Lucy some boots to wear camping. A trip to the vet today to remove 3 grass seeds has depleted the finances even more...

...but it's easy money to part with and Lucy will be back to her old self before I know it.
At the moment she's still a bit groggy.

2010 has been an expensive year, we've spent an absolute fortune on everything from concrete, gravel, pipes, tradesmen, kitchen and appliances.
My wish for next year is that life becomes less unpredictable and we all are happy and healthy.
That wish extends to all my bloggy friends, I hope 2011 is a prosperous year for you all and that our friendships continue on throughout another year of this fun journey together.
See you in 2011!
Hugs
Jo

Thursday 30 December 2010

Camping and Xmas Swaps

I have much blogging to catch up with after escaping to the bush for the last five days. We camped beside the beautiful Ringarooma River amongst fox gloves which played havoc with my hayfever but it was so relaxing. The sound of the river and birds was wonderful for my soul.
 
We did spend Xmas morning at home and I was so excited as I opened all my gifts.
These are the gifts I received from Marie of Wonderwoman (Not!) in Chookyblue's SSCS 2010


Gorgeous decorations to adorn my house every xmas, Thank-you Marie for the beautiful pressies and to Chooky for hosting another great swap.
These are the gifts I received from Carol - Narromine Quilt Club in Marie's (On My Verandah) Xmas Swap




Thank-you Carol, I felt so overwhelmed with all these beautiful gifts, it made me cry with delight!
Thank-you Marie for another fun swap.
I posted gifts to Maricarmen and to Gai in both of these swaps.
That's it from me for today, I'll post some more pics tomorrow and in the meantime I have loads of washing to do!
Cheerio!!

Friday 24 December 2010

One More Sleep...

...Till the man in the red coat and white beard squeezes down tiny chimneys or magically opens front doors to put pressies under trees. My son tells me he's going to wake up at 3am, I have news for him!

Thank-you for reading my little corner of the blogoverse and becoming my friends even though most of us have never met in person. It's been a wonderful journey so far and I look forward to continuing on in 2011.
I hope you all have a magic day tomorrow with family and friends and the man in the red coat and white beard leaves you something special.
Merry Christmas!!
P.S. I'll be back online after New Years to show you what I received from Marie in Chookyblue's SSCS and from Carol in Maree's Xmas Swap.

Wednesday 22 December 2010

Lunch for busy girls

H and I are both busy ladies and it's hard to tie us down for a casual lunch and chat but we managed to find sometime today that suited us both. We lunched at a local cafe, caught up on what's been happening since we last met and exchanged gifts, H now has her own little stitching tote and I received a gorgeous box of  6" squares in xmas prints. I'll show you them next post I do.
I love this little bag, so quick and easy to make and handy for sitting on a table full of all your sewing bits and bobs, mine goes everywhere with me.
I've only got two patterns left of this project then there'll be no more. ***SOLD***
I'll be back tomorrow with a couple more pics then I'll be signing off for the Xmas Period.
Cheerio!

Monday 20 December 2010

Simply Christmas

Kerryanne from Shabby Art Boutique has been hosting Simply Christmas and has had some wonderful guest designers and giveaways and I've been so lucky to win two of them! Arriving today is this gorgeous plum pudding painting by Kerryanne herself, isn't she so talented. I love how she has achieved the glass dome effect!
The second prize will be here soon so I'll show you it when it arrives.

Thank-you Kerryanne for hosting Simply Christmas and to all those designers who contributed!

Wednesday 15 December 2010

This 'n That

Fee and I had our xmas lunch yesterday at a local hotel, can't go past Chicken parmy, chips and salad. It was scrumptious, especially with a Cascade Blonde great thirst quencher on a hot day. We exchanged gifts, Fee really spoilt me with a beautiful handmade pouch and needlecase
and two books I've been wanting to buy
now I can definitely part in Chookyblue's Stitch-a-long for 2011
but I do need to finish the Gardner's Journal top first.
Awhile ago I won a giveaway on "It's and Alien Life's blog" and in the mail arrived Punkin, she's so cute and is now feeling right at home amongst some of my other raggy dolls (She's the one in the middle!)
Thank-you ValeryAnne!
Arriving this week was a Xmas package from one of the Club Quilt Narromine ladies, Carol.
This swap was arranged by Maree from On My Verandah
I was only allowed to open one gift and I must say I was blown away, Carol's stitching is so beautiful!
I feel so spoilt!! Thank-you Carol, I can't wait to unwrap the rest on Xmas Day!
My parcel was also recieved by Gai, also one of the Club Quilt Narromine Girls.

I haven't done a great deal of stitching the last few weeks, work has been happening around the home which has disrupted life a little.
Thank-you to my darling husband for the endless hours you have put in to getting the room ready for the installation of our brand new kitchen!
After Xmas we'll arrange the splashbacks and tiling but in the meantime we have hallway walls to paint and more cement sheeting to nail down. Oh and blinds to hang back up on the window and a corner to be fitted around the top of the cupboards.
That's our christmas present this year and I'm enjoying cooking in my new kitchen.
Have a lovely day everybody!

Thursday 9 December 2010

What's come in and what's gone out!

 What a lovely surprise to come home to find a parcel waiting for me from my blogging buddy Maria (Wonderwoman [Not]!). I opened it wondering what would Maria be sending me and what a great surprise to find she was my partner in Chookyblue's SSCS. Everything so beautifully wrapped
We're allowed to open the ornament gift but the rest must go under the tree until xmas day...can I be so strong!
This is the beautiful ornament Maria made, I wonder what she's put in the other parcels?
Here's the goodies I've sent to ..... for Maree's Xmas swap
They only have to fly across Bass Strait and one more state to reach their destination.

Tuesday 30 November 2010

Scrapping Intermission

I've joined Jessica Sprague's Inspiration Everywhere online class.
Our first task was to create an Art Journal cover so here's my creation
I might tweak it a little bit as I'm not 100% happy with it yet but it was fun pulling out the scrapping stuff and doing something other than stitching.
Our next task is to create a dedication page on the first page, that will require a bit of creative writing.
I've done a few of Jessica's freebie classes now, they're well structured. There's alot more classes available that I'd also like to do one day. I love learning new things and being inspired by others.
Happy Creating!

Friday 26 November 2010

It's time

Time for quilting bloggers to rally behind another tragedy and do what we do best, create!

29 miners lost their lives doing their job and left behind family and friends. As a wife of an ex-miner who put himself at risk each day he went underground it breaks my heart that these partners, husbands, fathers, sons and brothers will not be walking through their front doors again. Such a devastating loss. We all expect workplaces to be safe and our loved ones to come home each day.

Shirley from Dyeing2Design has sent a call out to show our support for those affected by this tragedy, can you help? Click on this link for all the details.

Thursday 25 November 2010

SSCS is in the mail!

SSCS parcels are winging their way all around the globe and lots of bloggers are full of excitement as they wait to open xmas packages full of surprises. My packages are off to ........., here they are all wrapped.
I've blanked out the name on the ornie so no peaking just yet!
Chookyblue has once again done an amazing job at keeping us all on our toes, thank-you Chook!

Next package I'll be posting will be to .... for Maree's Xmas swap, not long to go until that postage deadline.

In between catching a cold, renovating the kitchen, working and being mother and wife I'm still managing to stitch but not for myself just yet.
And I'm also pleased to say that outside's disaster is over, concrete now covers what was once a mud pit and I can put my Barina (aka the shopping trolley) back in it's garage!

Thursday 11 November 2010

xmas and rememberance

I've finished putting my Christmas swaps together,
I've finished Round 2 of Stitching Around the Block
(sorry Dawnie no peaking!)
and now I'm deciding which UFO project I'll finish next. Will it be Gardeners Journal, quilting Angel Story or sew together Gail Pan's Xmas BOM. HHmmm tough decision, I'm so thankful that that's the toughest decision I'll make today.

Only 1 minutes to go until Rememberance which  marks the anniversary of the armistice which ended the First World War (1914–18). Each year Australians observe one minute silence at 11 am on 11 November, in memory of those who died or suffered in all wars and armed conflicts.
Lest we forget.

Tuesday 2 November 2010

Hip Hooray all is revealled!!

Way back in July my lovely friend Helen asked me if I was interested in making up a sample quilt for an American shop and of course I said yes.
The project: Quilt Aid USA
It runs just like the Australian Quilt Aid but with 6 American and 6 Austalian Designers and only 6 shops involved. The Aussie designers are Helen Stubbings, Lynette Anderson, Annie Downs, Sue Daley, Bronwyn Hayes and Natalie Lymer and the Americans art Kathy Scmitdz, Anne Sutton, Bari Sue, Brenda Riddle, Robyn Pandolph and Terri Denkenholb

The Fat Quarter Shop supplied all the fabrics and a finishing kit pattern and I pieced it, stitched all the applique and embroidery and had it professionally quilted. I worked every spare minute I could to meet the deadline. Thank-you Kimberly for allowing me the opportunity to make this quilt and to Helen for suggesting I do it.
So here she is....

not the best pic, so much nicer in real life!
The theme is "Heart and Home" and the fabrics are Collection for a Cause "Hope" by Howard Marcus Dunn for Moda, simply gorgeous!
Here's some up close snaps, can you guess whose block belongs to who?












Head on over to the Quilt Aid USA website for all the details of where you can buy the blocks and a finishing kit to help a worthy cause!

Thursday 28 October 2010

more from the Retreat and what I've been working on.

Thought you'd like to see what I purchase from Esmes, Calico Crossroads and Patchworks Plus
This little cupcake was in the goodie bag I received at the retreat, they were kindly donated by Lovely Fee
and the Quilt Card I won in the lucky number prizes!
Whilst at the retreat I was working on my xmas swaps so I can't show you them yet but here's a stitchery
I've just completed for H who is off to Market in Melbourne in November,
wish I was going too :-(
If you're going be sure to say Hi to Helen and Lori!

Monday 25 October 2010

Retreating

 I've just had a weeks leave from work which ended with a wonderful retreat with my Tassie bloggy friends plus a couple of ring-ins.
While on holidays I made some peg magnets, some of these will go to my son's school for the fair
I completed the first "Stitching Around the Block" which is winging it's way to Kez for Part Two
On Friday Fee and I headed up to Hagley, about two and half hour drive from Hobart but we went via Launceston and Exeter so we could visit Esmes and Calico Crossroads. We also did a little op-shopping.
So it took us all day to reach Hagley School Farm.
The farm is attached to the school and has been a major part of school life for many Tasmanian children over many years. Lots of grown ups said they had been there when they were at school.
It's a great facility in beautiful surrounds and suited us quilters perfectly. Great choice of venue Cathy!
Although the outside looks a little bit tired the inside is clean and kitted out with bedrooms, bathrooms and kitchen plus extra rooms for little classes and a bigger gathering room where we spent most of our time stitching and chatting.
Here's Fee busily stitching away in one of the little workshop rooms.
Sarah put together a fabulous goodie bag and unfortunately the freddos and koalas have disappeared and the fabric cupcake is still in my suitcase but I did whip this ornament up, so quick and easy to do, another fab design by Marg Low and beautiful painted button by Theodora Cleave.
Some of us even took part in a sewing accessory swap, pop on opver to Sarah's and see the lovely pincushion I received. Leanne ended up with the one I made, keep an eye out, I'm sure she'll post a pic soon
For more photos and stories visit Fee, Sarah, Cathy, Lizzie, Vicky, Razzy, Pauline
So Moo Cow, I'll see you again next year!!

P.S. My apologies if you've been waiting for an email from me while on holidays our internet connection was on a go slow thanks to my DS who used up our limit while on his holidays!!