Another year older

Another year of my life has flown by, there's been a few changes a new position at work, my son started High School, my husband changed jobs. All of these things have aged me a little more than I needed, I have a few more grey hairs to show for it. All in all it's been a good year though. My life has been blessed by lots of beautiful friends, I cherish every single one.

I received some lovely pressies, Fee spoilt me with a beautiful package of heart and flower yo-yo makers, a sweet handmade butterly fob and scissors, writing set, cutest little BiBi all wrapped in pretty fabric.

Sarah left a package at my front door, a lovely surprise to come home to. Inside was this book, full of lots of wonderful projects to make.

Thank-you Fee and Sarah, you made my day!

I've also received some beautiful fabrics in a FQ Birthday swap but I'll wait until they're all in before I post a pic. Thank-you to Jeni, Jan and Kate!! (PS I hope you're enjoying Paris Jan!!)

Also in the mail this week was this cutie who I just had to have in my dolly family

she's by Cath, isn't she just the sweetest.

I'm currently stitching away on a secret squrrel project so all other stitching is on hold apart from a swap that I have to squeeze in but I'm almost finished those things. Gardener's Journal is on hold but I'm still keeping an eye on the stitch-a-long and how much work I'm going to have to do to catch up!

Keep up the good work Stitchers!

Tuesday's Treasures

Can't believe it's Tuesday again, so here I am taking part in Clare's Tuesday's Treasures. This is so much fun going through my little box of mementos. I was going to take part last week in Curlypops' Flashback Friday but I couldn't find my high school formal photo. Maybe I'll find it for this week. So back to Tuesday's Treasure, I thought I'd share some childhood treasures. The little Chicken on wheels (minus it's comb, which I chewed off) is an old Tonka Toy, there's also my favourite story "The Three Bears" and a squirrel brooch my mum gave me for my fifth birthday. I can't believe these are nearly 40 years old!

Geez time flys by!

Yesterday I received a parcel in the mail, it was from "It's an Alien Life", I had won a prize on her blog and Valery-Anne had made this gorgeous little bag out of Japanese silks, it feels so soft and beautiful.

Thank-you so much Valery-Anne, it's now become one of my Treasures!!

So what Treasures will you reveal today?

The milestone is....

I decided to finish this giveaway earlier and put you all out of your misery. 6 of  you were in the ballpark, 2 guessed correctly so I decided to put all six in the draw.
Oh I hear you asking what was it, well I've got more than 100 followers! I did like the other ideas though like a half bloggy birthday, 30 months of blogging, maybe an anniversary of when I changed my blog title, all very clever ideas!
There can only be one winner and that is Dzintra, sorry no picture of me picking the name out of my red mug as my camera is at home. Dzintra please email me your snail mail addie and I'll pop your prize in the post!
Thank-you to everyone for participating, I'll resume to my regular bloggy posts soon!

Milestones come and go

Hey I've just surpassed a milestone on my blog, any guesses to what it could be? I guess I need to hand out a prize. You have until Sunday Thursday to leave a comment. If more than one guesses correctly I'll draw a name out of the hat. The prize will be a copy of my Trinket pattern and 2 FQ's.
Goodluck

Trinkets

Lisa from Cubby House Crafts bought my "Trinket" pattern from the Hobart Show and she's finished them already! You must go see, they're so pretty in soft colours and I can imagine they smell divine too!
If you'd like to purchase your own pattern there's a Buy it Now button on my sidebar.

Tuesday's Treasure

Today I thought I'd share a memory, it's of my beloved Grandmother "Marnie". Marnie was central to her family, we all congregated at a place to celebrate birthday's, xmas or just to get together. My fondest memory of Marnie was when I was little and joining her and her bowls ladies for morning tea. We used her lovely china, ate pikelets and cupcakes and I remember lots of laughing.

Marnie was born in Wales and travelled to Australia on a boat. She even met her future husband Donald (Pop) on that journey. They married in secret when she was a primary school teacher, the secrecy was so she could continue teaching as married women did not work. Her bridal bouquet was a bag of sausages her mother had asked her to buy when she went to town.

When I saw this quilt at the Hobart Craft Show it reminded me of her and of the women I saw when I visited her at a nursing home in her last year of life. I loved the story that accompanied it.

Marnie and Pop played a huge role in my life when I was little whilst Mum and Dad both worked full time, they cared for me, took me on trips, taught me to read and count. I love both of them and miss them. I hope one day we meet up again in another life.

Stitch in Time

Had a fabulous time at the Hobart Craft and Quilt Fair. I'm just catching up with fellow stall holder Rosemary from Stitch in Time and giving a bit of tuition on all things IT.

Rosemary will be at the Melbourne Craft and Quilt Fair, July 22nd - 25th so pop by and say Jo sent me and Rosemary will give you a free pattern.

I'll be back later with news from the show!

Trinket Winner

Thanks to everyone for your wonderfully supportive words for the release of my first pattern "Trinkets".

I've used Random Number Generator to select a winner and because I was so encouraged by your comments I decided to draw a second name. The lucky winners are:

Hanne

and

Joy

Ladies please email me your snail mail addresses and I'll pop them into the mail.

Tuesday's Treasures

I can't believe it's Tuesday again already, seems like only yesterday I was sitting at my desk and now it's that time again to show our Tuesday's Treasures as hosted by Clare.

After chatting with Kraftypanda last week about our Treasures we decided that this week we'd show our Opals. I received this necklace from my Dad when I was about 10. It's the only present I remember him making a big deal about because he had actually chosen it himself. I'm not sure if it's real opal but it's precious to me.

Dad passed away from cancer in 1995, he got to see one grandchild and now he has 8. I'm sure he'd be proud of how well his children and grandchildren are doing.

I miss you Dad!

July finishes and upcoming show

The weekend was spent back at the machine, sewing up another sewing tote.

I enjoy sewing thes little bags.

I still have copies of these patterns if anyone is interested. See the paypal button on my side bar.

I also finished one of Annie Downs' projects from her latest book

I used wool felt for the bird instead of needleturn applique, it's soo cute!

This weekend is the Hobart Quilt and Craft Fair, you'll find me on Mother's Cupboard stand this year, helping Fee. Fee's been making lots of preparations for this event and is going to have some gorgeous fabrics for sale. There will also be patterns by Ric-Rac and some of her samples on display too on the stand.

Be sure to stop by and check out Fee's lovely Florentine Doily!

Helen will be there too, flitting back and forth between the Snugglybug display to Fee's stand.

This quilt top amongst others will be on display at the Snugglybug stand

and on the Sunday the stand will be attended by a young recipient of one of the first Snugglybug quilts.

So we might see you there!!

My First Design

I've ventured into the world of designing, not sure if this is where I want to go but my dear friend Fee suggested I come up with something for the Hobart Craft Show. I thought I'd start small. I don't care if I don't sell any patterns, the process has been fun.

So here's my first pattern "Trinkets"

I love small quick projects, these include a little bit of applique, stitcheries, piecing, buttons and ric-rac.

I've used fabric from the French General range Lumière de Noël.

Each little pillow measures 3 1/2" square.

Tell me what you think and I'll pick someone out to win a copy.