Swap Pressies revealed

I don't know about the rest of you but I was very spoilt this christmas.

Firstly the trip away to visit my bestie from high school was meant to be my pressie but my wonderful hubby and son also bought me some beautiful perfume and beads for my charm bracelet. As for the trip I promise to do a post later about where we went and what we did.

The swaps I received from my cyberspace buddies Dawnie and Stina, are awesome and I just love them, here's what Dawnie sent, so much work has gone into these, can't wait to use the wine bottle carrier and the scented sachet is devine. There's a covered notebook, a chenille bag, stitchery pattern and a xmas door hanger too!

and Stina's gorgeous Tilda wallhanging and wire angel will be gracing my walls every xmas from now on....Thank-you ladies for doing a swap with me, I know how busy you both were before christmas and I'm amazed at how much work you've put into these gifts, they are fabulous!!

My bestie from high school is also a talented stitcher and she made me this lovely wallhanging for my sewing room....

Thank-you V!

My dear friend Sarah gave me a Lynette Anderson stitchery, button and a timber frame. Sarah's made one of these before and they're just gorgeous, can't wait to make mine!

and last but not least is my SSCS from Chookyblue's swap. My secret swapper was Renee from the US. Renee made me this paper pieced wallhanging out of lovely fabrics and also sent me a huge amount of fabric that I'm sure I can find many uses for. Thank-you Renee!Swaps have definitely made 2008 a great year. I've made so many new friends through blogging that my life just seems to be very fullfilled. I've got two major milestones coming up, one year of blogging and 100 posts so keep an eye out in the new year for a giveaway.

I hope you all enjoyed your christmas day as much as I did and I hope you all have a fabulous New Year!!

I'm Back

What an adventure I had! I went to the Barossa Valley to surprise my best friend I've known since high school for her 40th Birthday

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY V!!"

There's more to tell about my adventure later, got lots of work to catch up on first!

A package from Dawn was waiting for me when I arrived home, it's now under the tree!! Thank-you Dawnie, I know I'm going to love it!!

Xmas pressies galore!!

The beautiful blogger Stina and I have done a little xmas swap. If you pop over to her blog you can see what I made for her. Stina says there was a little hole in the package which grew and well she just had to open it. I however am going to be strong and wait until Christmas Day. Look at the lovely parcels she sent and some yummy sweets too, I'm eating them now!

My SSCS parcel has arrived too, it's from Renee in USA, another one for under the tree....

and my gorgeous friend Valerie (no blog) has sent me a pressie too, so that makes three pressies under the tree.

Thank-you ladies for the gifts, I can't wait until Christmas Day, I'm going to feel very spoilt this year!!

And that's it from me for a week now as I head off on a little adventure, I'll tell you all about it when I get back. Hope you all have a lovely week blogging.

More of Xmas Past

Just want to show you my two favourite christmas decorations, firstly is this reindeer I made, he's a cutie...

and this lovely xmas wreath made by my DS when he was in Grade 1I've kept all his ornaments he's made over the years and proudly display them each year.

I'd also like to apologise to those of you who have left comments and I've not yet replied, life is a bit hectic at the moment, I've been lurking around the blogs when I can squeeze it in.

I'll be offline next week and I'm sure I'll have alot of posts to catch up on when I'm back and hopefully I can find sometime to leave comments and reply to them too.

Bye for Now!

December must be my lucky month!

December must be my month, I feeling very lucky, last week I won a pattern for this beautiful bon-bon from Anni Downs

and today Lynette Anderson emailed me to tell me I've one a limited edition felix and hugo pin, isn't it gorgeous

Thank-you Anni and Lynette, I'm feeling very spoilt!

Christmas Past

Here's some projects I've made over the years, I love making christmas themed items.
The Advent calendar is a Mum's Moment design and I still have to put a few goodies on the last 7 days!Belvedere the reindeer I think was from an Australian Homespun magazineThe naughty and nice wallhanging is from Anni Downs' Christmas Story BookSanta was from Australian Homespun (I could dig through my issues and find out which one if anyone wants to know which issue)and the Wreath I made over 10 years ago with the help of my dear friend Row, she was a florist at the time and a very good one too! Row if you're reading this I miss you heaps.There's a couple of others to show you but I'll save them for another time.

The Toy Society

Thanks to a link supplied by TrashCan, here's another project some of you might like to be involved in called "The Toy Society". It's a great idea, make a toy, put a tag on it, place in a plastic bag and drop it somewhere for a stranger to pick up and take home. They're currently running a xmas toy drop (see the button on my sidebar) and I've decided to participate. I've gotta get stitching though, has to be dropped the last weekend before xmas day!

Oh and by the way, you must visit Trashy's blog to see the twin monkeys, good monkey and evil monkey!

Ross Goodies and a giveaway

I just want to show you the lovely things I got at the Tassie Quilting Bloggers and Friends Gathering, yes I've got my camera back, about time too!
This is the fat quarter I received for the secret santa, a beautiful piece of At Water's Edge by Blackbird Designs, it's so pretty, Thank-you to the blogger or friend who put this in the basket!

I bought this cute snowman from the local nursery and gift shop, I think he can sit on my shelf all year round, he's too cute to put in a box!

Sarah from Sarah's Prim Treasures and I did a swap and this is what she made for me my very own desk tidy, I love it and it has been christened already, Thank-you Sarah!

Here's a close up of the top....
Isabella from I Just Love to Stitch made a few of us these thread/pencil holders, I think she's converted me to the special gadgets for DMC threads, just have to start using them. Thank-you Isabella for being so generous and also for loaning me a camera!

Here's the lucky door prize I received, one of Hugs 'n Kisses beautiful notepads, some lovely fabrics for the Quilted Crow and a cute little wire hanger! I knew what was in all these little parcels and I'd have been happy with any of them!!

And my lovely Mum gave me this cute little tin that she picked up from the same nursery and gift shop that my snowman came from, isn't it pretty. I've put some of my favourite buttons in it!
I think I did well for the day, rather pleased with my lot but the day was really special as I got to share it with my blogging buddies and friends!

Visit Daisy Quilts for a beautiful giveaway celebrating 1 year of blogging, drawn New Years Eve!

The Stitching Cow

Have you seen this gorgeous quilt popping up over the place, it's called Cottages in Common and is a BOM by the Stitching Cow. Lenna's going to giveaway an epattern and videos on the 24th December so be sure to visit her blog. And what a big surprise I just had when Lenna told me she is also a Tassie Quilting Blogger, so to all you Tassie girls, bloghop over and introduce yourselves!

Snugglybugs & Quilts4Hearts

Helen Stubbings from Hugs 'n Kisses organises quilts for ill children at the Royal Hobart Hospital under the banner of Snugglybugs. This is the third quilt I've contributed too (ignore the date, photo was taken with the work camera), it's on it's way now to be assembled into a quilt with the other donated blocks for a 14 year old girl.
It feels so good to be able to contribute in this way and hopefully bring a smile to their face and warmth to their bodies.
I also hope to tackle more projects like this in the future for another charity Quilts4Hearts , maybe this is something you'd like to do to, just click on the picture on my side bar.

Edit: Please bloghop over to a new blog and say Hi, tell her Jo in TAS sent you!

Bloggers meet and other goodies

What a fabulous day us Tassie Bloggers had on Saturday. We gathered at the small town of Ross at the bakery for a day of fun! I made everyone little parcels with a surprise inside.I also gift wrapped 19 lucky door prizes that were kindly donated from The Quilted Crow and Hugs 'n Kisses and were well received by all!Check out the Tassie Bloggers on my side bar for more posts about the day, without them the day wouldn't have happened and I'd like to thank all of them for coming and our friends too that joined us Meredith, Bronwyn, Sarah, Polly, Kerrie & Tali. Plus big thank-you to my dear friend Sarah for driving us there!!

I'll post some more picks later in the week (when my camera comes home) of the beautiful gifts I received at the gathering!

Now onto other things, here's some sneak peeks of my gifts for the SSCS 2008 that are winging there way across the globe, are they coming to your door?And when I popped home for lunch today a lovely parcel was in the mailbox from Embroideroo. Sandi knew I was drooling over the Macadmia Bliss Bar and offered to send me one so in the end we did a little swap of xmas ornaments and sweets. Sandi sent one of her own designs of a Roo, isn't it the cutest kangaroo you've ever seen!, and a lovely felt snowflake, some buttons and of course the bliss bar...no I haven't opened it yet but it's calling me saying "EAT ME!"Thank-you Sandi, I'll be putting my tree up soon and they'll be on it!

Almost forgot to mention but two of Ric Rac's creations joined us at the gathering, Marita's Henry and my Jodie, they enjoyed catching up too! Thanks for the pic Sarah!!!

Tassie Quilting Bloggers & Friends Gathering 2008

This Saturday I've organised for some of the Tassie Quilting Bloggers to meet in Ross, a lovely town, located in the middle of Tasmania. We're meeting at the Ross Bakery in the Stables that are set up as a meeting room.

There's 13 bloggers coming along and a few non-bloggers. Some of us have met at other gatherings. We're all looking forward to a fun filled day of stitching, chatting, eating and of course sharing a little of that blogging knowledge.

So if you're a Tassie Quilting blogger and we've missed you out this time round send me an email and who knows we might just do it again next year!

A special giveaway by Debra Facer

Please visit Debra's blog for a special giveaway, helping to raise awareness of the symptoms of ovarian cancer.All you have to do is scroll down and read the information that Debra has kindly provided, find four symptoms for ovarian cancer and leave a comment under the Giveaway post listing these four symptoms.Please help her reach as many people as possible.

I should feel so lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky!

I've been so lucky these past few days, with wonderful suprises in the mail and last night I won Hilltop House's Giveaway, a pattern for Santa Babushkas, very cute. Wonder if I can squeeze them in between now and xmas!! Thank-you to Evonne for hosting the giveaway and her lovely dqughter for drawing my name out!

Close Ups

Simone asked for a picture of the inside of this

the lovely gift I received from my Stitcher's Angel Lieve Huys .so here it is

It's shown here with the stitchery inside. A great way to keep those "Works in Progress".

I also want to show you a close up of Stina's beautiful stitching on the PIF she sent me, her poor hand must've been aching after all this work. I'm still smiling from ear-to-ear, blessed to receive such lovely gifts.

Red Delicious Mystery BOM

Esther is hosting a Mystery Bom called "Red Delicous". On the 15th of each month a new block will be released with the old block being removed. Red Delicious is designed for Applique or Red Work . We're very lucky to be receiving this free BOM, Esther's work is beautiful. The first installment is up and it is everything I had hoped for from such a talented designer, so get in quick before it disappears!

It must be Christmas!

Well today it feels like it!

As DS was heading off toschool he came back in the house with two parcels, to his disappointment they were both for me!! I felt like a little kid all over again.

The first parcel is from my Stitchers Angel, the beautiful Lieve Huys (No Blog) who owns a quilt shop in Belgium

Oops need to unwrap it....
Just look at these beautiful goodies a scissor keep with a little pair of scissors (from French magazine "Quilt Country"), a pincushion (from May Britt's blog), a lovely stitchery and stranded cottons and a gorgeous roll to put my work in!! I've always wanted one of these rolls!! I know Lieve has read my blog because she knows about my addiction to pincushions!

Lieve, you have truly spoilt me, you are one generous angel , thank-you so much I'll treasure it forever!

The second is my PIF from wonderful Stina. I know she's had a sore hand and I'm just amazed at how beautiful her work is. Look at this lovely wallhanging I should've ironed out the creases before I took a photo but I couldn't wait, just had to show it to you all....

it's beautiful Stina, Thank-you so much!! By the way I ate the chockies and they were scrummy!!

Thank-you ladies you made my day, I'll be smiling from ear to ear all day:-)

I better make a start on my PIFS for Ann J, Karol-Ann & Trashalou!!

Firsts plus some more

I'm going to post a few photos here.

First up I'll show you my firsts, my first teddy and my first quilt, wallhanging actually.

I worked with a girl in Brisbane who was a mad teddy bear maker, Yvonne and she was the one who really started off my love of craft. I told her I wanted to make a minature bear and it had to be blue, I think she thought I was insane tackling such a difficult project. I did and here's the result, not perfect but I still love it. I've taken the photo next to my mug just so you can see how little it is.

The wallhanging is from a magazine and I made it in 2002, no idea which magazine or who designed it. I'm much better at keeping the details these days.

Mum taught me how to use a rotary cutter, told me why I had to sew a 1/4 inch seam and how to do applique. It was from this I was totally hooked.

I made a few more teddies, like Hamish who I've posted about previously, Marnie who I made and sadly finished just after my grandmother (Marnie) passed away

and Ted, who I think is pretty handsome

I'm also a scrapbooker and this year I joined a "Book of Me" class just so I could do some girly layouts, here's a few, they're just a bit of fun. They're all on 8 x 8 pages.

And this week I've been doing this

it's an online class by Jessica Sprague. I've made the journal and now I hope to learn a bit about how to best write my life stories and put some down on paper!

What were the first things you made?