Wonderful helpers

Got to love having our Grandies around to help out around the place.

These Grandies were not going to miss out on the opportunity to help blow out the candles on my cake. They were very enthusiastic.

That was a bit exhausting blowing all of them out and then eating that yummy cake. Not a crumb was left.

But my daughter and I slipped out yesterday to have a quiet celebration on our own – she treated me to High Tea.

lime mint julep and rose mint julep. Yum. So refreshing. Yummy goodies to eat as well..

1 Christmas item for April

Another month is almost gone and once again it is time for 1 Christmas Item a Month.  This month I decided to finish off a wallhanging I had started towards the end of last year.  I was given the pattern some years ago and have always wanted to make it, but Christmas seems to roll around much too quickly and each year I didnt have time to make it.  Now this year it is finished and ready to hang.

Each tree has been embellished with braids and trims, beads, and other embellishments.  

To see what other clever bloggers have made for April's 1 Christmas Item, pop over to Narelle at Pins and Whiskers.  You will find a list of elves on her sidebar.  There are so many cool items to go check out, and you may get some ideas for your own Christmas decorations and gifts.

Lest We Forget

     D-I-L Cass 2nd from left at Gallipoli        Son Dunx and Sammy after march 2011.

A finished tablecloth and great helpers

I am afraid to say that I had  to be reminded by one of my daughters that "you havent blogged in over a week".  The time gets away sometimes.  My excuse is that last week I needed to do heaps of administration work.

 But -  I finished my tablecloth.  It is rather difficult to take a photo to show the colour correctly.  But if you click on the photo the enlarged one shows it a little better, I think.

This was started as a friendship round project with a group of friends in 2006.  Each of the 8 friends made an embroidered block and a 9 patch block for me.  My theme was garden and light to mid blues.  I provided the white homespun and lots of pictures for inspiration.  The embroideries were amazing.

It is a lot of photos, but I am going to post the photos of all the embroideries done by my friends, as a record for myself - for when I get old and my memory is not so good.  (hehe).

 Marilyn T.

Chris

Judy 

Bettye 

Pat 

Pam 

Ailsa 

Lorraine - this is the first embroidery Lorraine has done, and she had the others in the group teach her the stitches - she has done  beautiful work. 

This is one of mine - I placed it in the centre as it is non directional.  Each other embroidery faces outwards so it can be seen well  by the person sitting in front of it.

  

I did the remaining 6 embroideries over time, but the most difficult part was working out the size of the outside sashing and border to fit the centre section.  It finally went together well.

I have a very old table which had belonged to my Great Grandparents and would be at least 130 years old.  The tablecloth fits perfectly on it.   

Kai and Charlie had a sleepover on Friday night.  On Saturday they cleaned the outside area where their dog (who has a permanent sleepover with us) usually sleeps.

Such great helpers.  They also bathed their dog - and turned the hose onto me, which of course they thought was hilarious.  

Brisbane Stitching Day

Blogger stitching friends from Toowoomba, Ipswich, and the outskirts of all directions of Brisbane met up for a fun day of show and tell, chatting, laughter and stitching - yes, we did all manage to do some stitching.  It was our first official Stitchers Inc day, organised by Maree at the perfect venue - a Community Room.

  

Some of us took along our Stitch-A-Long completed projects - the April Bon Noel wall hanging, (photo by Teresa),

 and our March pin cushions.

As always, there were some amazing show and tell items.

 Susan's Sew Laugh Love is beautiful and was much admired.

 Debbie's butterflies are gorgeous and her stitchery below is so pretty and neatly stitched.

 Maria showed her wall hanging and the beautiful red scarf she is holding.  The scarf looked so soft and such a pretty stitch pattern.

I worked on the next section of my Butterfly Garden quilt.

It was so good to catch up with friends, and also to meet other bloggers for the first time.We will be meeting at this venue on a regular basis.  It will be great to meet up again next month.

Stitchy projects finished

At Lets Get Stitched in Adelaide last month,Vicki's project was this  gorgeous little wallhanging, "Monday is Washing Day".  This is such a fun stitchery to work on.

Another finish for this week is a quite old UFO which required just a few stitches to complete it.  I had made the scissor pocket in the same silk fabric as the outer, but as it had no interfacing or wadding to hold the shape it was quite wonky looking.   Its new pocket is not as fancy being made from cotton, but looks ok.   I also had to add the button and loop to finish it off.

I have also finished the first block of Butterfly Garden.  I have admired this quilt for so long.  It is such a happy quilt to work on.

Today I will start preparing block 2.  

My Friday night, and more family pics

I seem to have a number of stitcheries prepared and ready for stitching at the moment, which is a bonus when it comes to nights like FNWF, saving on a last minute rush to prepare something to work on.

Last night I finished the stitcheries for my Stitch-A-Long project, Bon Noel by Natalie Bird, from her book "Tis the Season".  There are such fun little stitcheries in it and we could pick the ones we wanted to include in our little wallhanging.  This morning I made up the wallhanging, which was very quick and easy to do.

    

I also did some more work on the stitchery for Vicki's project from Lets Get Stitched.  She designed a little wallhanging - Monday is Washing Day.  It is a fun little one to stitch also.

On Easter Saturday we had a houseful of family, which was so wonderful.  These boys were very absorbed in watching "Happy Feet" - Kai, no1 son Dunx, and his son Sammy.

Peta, being the only girl, chose to spend a few quiet moments by herself.

Latest projects and FNWF

Before Easter I made this Car tidy tub  for Kai and Charlie to keep their things in while travelling in the car.  There is a pocket on the outside of each side for their Ipods, and another for pencils, a pocket on the front for the charger or other things. The main part is lined with oilcloth, and I used stitch and shape to give stiffness to the sides.  There is a loop on the back to pass the seatbelt through so it cant fall off the seat.

Over the Easter weekend I finished off this quilt.I am not sure where this one will end up.  Will someone claim it or will it live on my quilt shelves? 

As well I have been working on some stitcheries, and also some items for my birthday stash.

Tonight it is time for Friday Night with Friends.  I have lots to choose from to stitch – think I will wait till tonight to decide on which of the many projects I want to work on – or will there be something new?  Decisions!!!

You can sign up at Gone Stitchin’ if you are able to join us while we sew up a storm tonight.  Thank you Cheryll for organising this time.  So far there are 46 people signed up.