I'm Still Here!

Goodness me! It's been a whole week since my last post. Where does the time go? In my case returning to work left a big dent in my stitching and blogging time. I've been busy over the weekend working on birthday presents and a PIF gift ... sorry I can't share just yet, so here are some more pictures from the Christmas Gathering at Campania.

Each of us received a beautiful stitched birdie ... mine in one of my favourite colour combinations ... pink and white.



There were lots of giveaways and I was lucky to win this new Hatched and Patched pattern. The original quilt was also on display and it is even lovelier in real life.



I went a bit crazy in the shop and purchased these patterns .... will blame it on the excitement of all the original samples being on display!





Also found some rusty bells and red and green reproduction fabrics. (Well, it is less than 3 months to Christmas!) And of course had to get the Angel Story book. I've been well and truly seduced by all the beautiful ones being made in blogland .... think I will make mine with Simplicity fabrics by 3 Sisters. (Not sure when this will happen, but it will happen sometime!)



It was also very exciting to see all the projects from Anni's Christmas Story book ... have been looking through my stash for suitable fabrics. I am a long way behind with my blog reading and replying to all your lovely comments. Will try and do something about this soon.

A Christmas Gathering

Yesterday I went to A Christmas Gathering hosted by The Quilted Crow at the Campania hall with my sister Kathy. It was a lovely day of chatting to new and old friends, oohing over beautiful projects, eating lovely food and in my case just a little stitching.

There were lots of bloggers attending, so of course we had to have a group photo.



Back (L-R) Jo, Helen, Alex, Fiona and Leanne
Front (L-R) Me, Cathy and Sarah.

My sister, Kathy took the photo.

Sarah and I had a little challenge between ourselves to finish our Home Sweet Home stitcheries by yesterday. Here we are with the finished items. I love Sarah's frame made by her neighbour.



As usual, there were lots of lovely projects to choose from. Anni Downs had some gorgeous Christmas Berry Baubles in wool ...



and this adorable bag called Petunia's Garden Bag.



It has this handy little pocket on the back.



This is another version of the bag with a ricrac trim. Love the fabrics.



Natalie Bird from The Birdhouse designed this Christmas Trio Stitchery Wallhanging ...



and a Sunflower Wool Bag which is pictured here with Leonie from The Quilted Crow's Tiny Treasure Cones.



Continuing with the wool theme, Leonie also designed Nellie's Sewing Box which is a paper mache box covered with beautiful felted wool applique.



Deidre from the Quilted Crow made two lovely wool scarves. One had pockets and snowmen appliques. Take a look on The Quilted Crow blog if you'd like to see them as I didn't manage to get any photos.



It has taken me ages to do this post so I will leave the rest of my news to next time.

Crossroads Tablerunner No 2

On Wednesday this selection of fabrics arrived from Quilters Anonymous. Starting from the left, the first three are Allspice Tapestry by Figtree Quilts, the next two are from Minnick and Simpsons Winter range, then we have a red ticking and finally a cream print which is from the Hemming House range by Brannock and Patek.

I needed the cream print for the posts of this tablerunner I am making from a Hemming House charm pack. I also plan to use it for the backing and binding.

The pattern is by Heather Mulder Peterson of Anka's Treasures's and is called Crossroads Tablerunner. (I have recently discovered that Heather has a lovely blog called Trends and Traditions. She is also featured in the October 2008 issue of American Patchwork and Quilting.) This is the second tablerunner I have made from this pattern.



Please excuse the hideous ironing board cover!



It is a very easy pattern and goes together really quickly. I was rather pleased that I was able to get most of the intersections close to perfect.

Bee Bee Bumble Bee

Just a short post to say yesterday I started a new project. As it is going to be a gift, I can only show this little peek of my progress so far.

On Saturday I am heading down to Campania to the Quilted Crows Christmas Gathering. The guest designers are Anni Downs and Natalie Bird. Looking forward to a great day and meeting up with some fellow bloggers.

Home Sweet Home

This afternoon I finished making my Home Sweet Home stitchery (designed by Lynette Anderson) into a little quilt. The weather is not very nice today .... lots of wind and showers so I decided to attempt an indoor photo session. Here you get a good view of the house button - this was included with the pattern.

This is the backing fabric - Porch Swing by Brannock and Patek.

And here is the complete quilt measuring approximately 9 by 12 1/2 inches. I just quilted in the ditch with DMC thread ... very simple.

As I was about to pack up, (surprise, surprise) Oliver arrived ....

and settled himself down on the quilt.

Not to be outdone, Molly pushed her way in too. She doesn't like to think she's missing out on anything!

Finally, a picture of the two resident quilt inspectors on duty together.

Works in Progress

Yesterday I added some borders to the Home Sweet Home stitchery so now I just need to quilt it and sew on the house button.



Some of the little squares look a bit wonky but I guess that gives it character!



I've also finished stitching the second block of Truly Scrumptious.



Cheating a bit ... leaving out some of the satin stitch!



Hope everyone gets time for some stitching this weekend.

Tablerunner Stitcheries

Last night I stitched a label for Stina's PIF tablerunner ... yes Stina I've finally got around to it but you will have to wait 'til it arrives in the post to see it! I remembered I hadn't shown the photos I took of some of the stitcheries so today seemed like a good time to do so.

They were very enjoyable to stitch .... I averaged about one a day. I was on holidays at the time.

They are a lot lighter than they appear in these photos! Regular readers will know how frustrating I find taking good photos in winter!

The pattern is by Viv Robinson and appeared in Australian Country Threads Vol 7 No 12. The fabrics are Simplicity by 3 Sisters.





Thanks to Cathy for giving me the award below. I would like to bestow it on all of you who visit my blog and motivate me to keep stitching and blogging. You know who you are.

A Quilt Inspector on Duty

Yesterday I lay the last two Truly Scrumptious blocks out on the kitchen table before adding the outside borders. I am really loving working with the Allspice Tapestry fabrics.



It wasn't long before this big furry ginger thing, aka as 'The Quilt Inspector', appeared and lay (ie stretched himself out!) right on top of my work.



Such an innocent face. Lucky I had the camera handy!