WHERE HAVE I BEEN?????????

There is only 1 word to answer that question .....

and that is BUSY.

Our youngest graduated from Trinity College

here in Colac at the end of November, so

I was busy making her graduation dress,

which I was very pleased with the end

result.

Then last weekend I went up to Wagga Wagga

to visit my Dad and my sister and hr husband, who had come

down from Port Macquarie.  So, that was a lovely family catch

up before Christmas, as we cannot be togetherfor the big day.

Sorry, no photos, but we did have fun.

Last night we had a Christmas Function to go to,

and we had to wear a Christmas Hat.

I made this plum pudding hat.  I found everything

in the cupboard to make it.  Thank goodness we keep

things sometimes.

This is me wearing my hat.

Oh, and what am I doing today.  I am going to pack

the box of goodies to send to my Kindred Spirit

Rachel.  We are posting our boxes tomorrow, so

get ready for the viewing on line again this year.

I will even take some photos of the things I have made

for her and post them after she has the box, cause I CANNOT

do it before hand, just incase she peeks.

CHRISTMAS CHEER.......................

Last Sunday I had some girls come along to my Annual

Christmas Card Making workshop.  It is always a fun

day of making Christmas Goodies.

These cute Christmas Tree Cards were fun to make, using

scraps of paper.  The white one is done with three different

embossed papers.

This year I went back to the more traditional red and

green for the card, but just had to throw in a little bit of

brown.

Love these gift tags.  I am going to get some more designs

of these done.

And a very simple napkin holder.

Oh, and this cute folded Christmas Tree.

And lastly, this cute bow to decorate a gift or gift bag

in this case.

.

CUTE LITTLE BABY CARDS...........

Life has been very hectic, and I have been trying for a while

now to find time to post this photo of some cute little baby

cards that I made. 

Next week I will post some photos of the Christmas cards

that I am currently working on.

Until then, Cheers.

IT ALL TAKES TIME..........................

Well, time has got away, and life has been busy.

I have been making cards, and these are the latest

ones.  I love poppies, so when this lovely stamp came out

in the new Stampin Up catalogue, I just had to have it.

I am working on some others too, so stay tuned.

These cards, are just nice simple ones, with a bit of

embossing.

The family were home a couple of weeks ago, so I

got the bread flour out and did some break baking.

A focacia for lunch and a fruit loaf for breakfast.

Last weekend, I made this yummy pumpkin and ginger

pie for sweets.  It went down a treat.

IT'S THAT TIME OF THE YEAR AGAIN............

When we get beautiful days to go out for a walk................

The calves are out grazing and growing.....................

The cape weed is flowering...................

(I wonder if the little girls today still make daisy chains?)

And we can enjoy nice salads for lunch or dinner...........

MORE UNFINISHED BUSINESS DONE........

Around 4 years ago when I went to a craft show in Melbourne

I signed up to do a pincushion of the month club with the lovely

ladies of Quilted Crow in Hobard.  The first two arrived --

This Gourdy Pear Woollen Pincushion......

I made one of these for myself and got some more wool

from the girls and made one for one of my daughters, one for

a friend and one for my Kindred Spirit Rachel.  I had enough

felt left over to make another one for a gift for a special person

one day, and I think I know after 4 years who that person will be.

I made the Strawberry Woollen Pincushion......

Plus I got some extra wool and made another one for a

friend and another one for my Kindred Spirit.

I also got some extra wool for all of the remaining 4 pincushions

and made them for my Kindred Spirit, and guess what I did

with the res of mine.  Yep, I put them in a bag and put them aside

to start a new project (but I don't remember what that was -- it could

be unfinished too!!!)

So, just about a week ago, I got the bag out, and now they

are all finished. 

This one is the Little House on the Prairie Woollen Pincushion.

It has 6 of these little prairie flowers appliqued around the

gusset of the pincushion.

This one is Cltic Flower Woollen Pincushion......

and it has this lovely wavey piece of wool attached with

french knots.

This one is Autumn Harvest Woollen Pincushion....

it has these cute little pumpkins needle felted in the gussett

of the pincushion.

This is the Folky Heart Woollen Pincushion........

and it has this lovely scalloped edge buttonholed on

with an antique button stitched onto each scallop.

Each pincushion also had some needlefelting on it.

They were so much fun to do, and it is a great feeling to

know that they are now finished.

YAY, IT IS FINISHED...........

Finally I have finished this quilt.  It is made

using the same method as my Friday Night Quilt

pattern, except for this one I have used wider

strips of fabric and the are all from the Shangri-La

range by Moda.  The fabric was given to me by my

friend Suzanne Bath, who used to own the patchwork

shop in Colac called Delightfully Sew.  The fabric are samples

which were given to her by a rep.  There was enough

fabric to make two quilt tops.  My daughter has made

one in the browns, blues and greens from the range. 

I stole all the red fabric!

I quilted my quilt using a lovely red pearle thread.

A WEEKEND AWAY....................

Last weekend the kids and I went to Newcastle for

my beautiful nieces wedding.  This is the bride (Nerissa)

with her husband just behind her to the left.

They are with the lovely bridesmaids (one of which

is the brides twin sister -- Merinda to the far right)

and the best man and groomsmen.

I made this horseshoe for her.  The lace is some

that belonged to my Mum.

I had a fiddle with some wedding cards, and these

are the ones I came up with.

I then had to decide which one to give them.

I decided to give them this one, as I had also used

some of Mum's lace on it.

It was hard to decide exactly which card to give them

as I was really happy with how they all came out.

This dress one is cute too.

This one is a little plainer, but sill lovely, I think.

And the lucky last.  Another cute one I think!

DOILEY CARDS.........

It took me a little while to get around to finishing off these

cards, but now that they are done I am really happy

with them.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS....................

For the last little bit I have been working on trying to get

some of my unfinished projects finished off.

This one is a Christmas table runner I made out of

quilt as you go hexagons.  I machined them all together

with a fancy stich on my sewing machine, then just did a

row of stitching where the green backgound meets the inside

hexagon.  The biggest thing to do then was to finishe off

all of the ends.

This is one of my Friday Night Quilts from a class I did

about three years ago.  I started to hand quilt it at one

stage and decided it would take me too long and so I

would do it on the machine with just straight rows of

stitching down the entire length of the quilt.

I did one row and hated it, so unpicked it and am back

to my original idea of hand quilting straight (hopefully)

lines down the entire length of the quilt.

I am using a lovely red pearle thread to do the quilting,

and it am really pleased with the way it is looking.

It is so much easier with my Pearle Thread holder, that

Rachel's Dad, Snowy, made for me.  I have the needle,

Pearle Thread and scissors all right there.

WHERE HAS THE TIME GONE TO????

It has been almost a month since the school ball,

and I am only just getting around to putting a pic

of Eleanor up in her dress.

Life has just been too busy.

Last weekend was a quick trip to Wagga Wagga for

my Dad's 80th Birthday.  Sorry, no pics of that, as

we were all having way too much fun to take pics.

Dad had a great day, and if we added up the kms that

people travelled to get to Wagga, I think we would be

half way around Australia.  There were guests from

each state on the East side of Australia, as far north as Budrim,

as far south as me down here in Colac and as far west as Mildura.

Guests travelled from Port Macquarie, Grafton, Wee Waa, Sydney,

Young, Newcastle, West Wyalong, Woolongong and many other places.

                                                                             

                                                   When I got back from Wagga, I made these

                                                     cakes for our son Toby, his birthday is the

                                                   day after Dad's.  I popped them in the post

                                               to him in Mildura, and they arrived safe and sound.

                                           
                                                  Finally, today I am doing a workshop on
                                               a Stack and Slash Quilt.  This is my sample
                                             which I have made entirely out of my stash. 

                                              Once it is quilted, I will bind it with the green.

FORGOT TO SHARE THESE PICS....

During the school holidays, one of our daughters and

I went up to Mildura to visit our son.

He took us down to the river to have a look, and I was

amazed at the birdlife.

I certainly did not expect to see Sea Gulls in Mildura.

Lots of ducks too..........

And you can see all the Sea Gulls in the background

in this pic.