A finish

Tis the Season quilt - designed by Natalie Bird

I have had a lovely weekend and am feeling really blessed:  a dear brother-in-law required surgery on Friday morning to remove a kidney after a tumour was found on it, and everything has gone so extremely well and he is recovering amazingly already; we had our Sunday School anniversary service this morning and it had such a lovely family feeling and went really well; I had a really nice end of year work outing on Friday and was even given a pedicure which is a first for me; and now I have finished a quilt which is pretty exciting for me as most of my finishes are smaller projects.  I do love this quilt and am happy to have it for this Christmas.  It was professionally quilted, mostly quilting in the ditch, but in the borders she quilted circles to copy the circle print of the border fabric.  All the fabrics I used are from Lynette Anderson's Christmas Fun fabrics.  And another thing to be happy about is that summer is definitely here, it is 25 degrees today.  Barney was on the deck while I photographed the quilt, I think he's looking a bit hot!  Wendy xx

Tis the Season

I pieced my Tis the Season quilt together on Sunday and I just love it.  I used Lynette Anderson's latest Christmas fabric range, Christmas Fun.  The border print is pretty fun I think.  I am going to get it professionally quilted so it will hopefully be finished before Christmas.  Other things making me happy at the moment are my new door knobs on my new wardrobe doors (a little bit of progress in our bedroom!) and seeing the beautiful spring flowers blooming in our garden.  I sewed the little sleeves on my dress last night and it was very close to being finished but the front gapes on me.  I unpicked the facing while visiting Dad this morning and I will try adding some tucks or darts to make it fit better - perhaps tonight!  Wendy xx

Term 4 already

Well the school holidays are well and truly over and this is the second week back at school for the kids.  We have had very mixed weather with lots of rain and wind!  In fact, the evening the kids decided to try out the temporary ice rink, we were in the middle of an icy weather bomb!  We keep telling ourselves that summer is just around the corner.  Yesterday was an extra day off for Labour Weekend and I tried a new recipe, upside down apple cake, and family visited for morning tea.  It was so nice to take things slowly and I also enjoyed some sewing  time in the afternoon.  Today I received some lovely mail; I had won beautiful fabrics from Anthea and she also included a gorgeous variegated thread.  Thanks Anthea, I love them!  I am keeping busy in my spare time, working away on my Christmas Angel sewing list and the Tis the Season quilt.  I completed another Angel item and  four more Tis the Season blocks - only one more to make!  As for my Labour Weekend sewing, I am making a washi dress for myself.  After the success of my skirt I was encouraged to try to make myself a summer dress and I love the look of the washi dress that is popping up all over blog-land.  So far it is going well and I just need to add the sleeves then hem it.  Hopefully I will be back soon with a new dress, Wendy xx

Holiday sewing

Wrap skirt on yoke - Polli's patterns

So, my holiday sewing consisted of a new skirt for me, three more Tis the Season blocks and some Christmas gift sewing (you just get a sneak peek of the Christmas item.)  Would you believe I have had this skirt pattern and fabric all cut out and ready to sew for two years!  I think part of the reason for my procrastination was that I wasn't happy with the size I had cut out, not that it was the wrong size for me at the time, but it was a size I was unhappy about being.  But that's a story for another day!  I am immensely satisfied with the skirt for lots of reasons:  because I finally sewed it and it only took a morning to complete; because I was able to trim the side seams to a more acceptable size; it was an easy enjoyable pattern to use and fits perfectly; and I love the fabric!  The photos are not the best and I was reluctant to include the full length photo but hubby Paul says I shouldn't have another faceless 'Wilson' shot!  I am still loving working on the Tis the Season blocks and try to always have one ready to stitch when I have spare moments.  It was also a good feeling being able to tick off another item on the Christmas Angel list.  Well, I must get my next Tis the Season stitchery traced ready to start sewing tonight, Wendy xx

Something for nothing

Before



Back here I wrote a to-do list for a pretty crafty home and I am happy to say I (with Paul's help) have completed the second item on the list.  Sandra's idea for June was to get something for nothing and I did it!  I had seen photos of pretty white kitchen shelves in books and on the net and my little knick knack shelves just weren't doing it for me.  We had the larger shelves in our laundry and Paul very kindly tidied them up and painted them white and I enjoyed finding some pretty things to sit there: the kids gave me the Keep Calm tea pot and cup for my birthday in August and the goose teapot was a wedding gift (almost 20 years ago).  There is room for some more things I think and perhaps I could hang something from the bottom bar at some stage.  I was also able to hang the gorgeous teapot wallhanging that I got from Sheila, doesn't it look perfect there?!  So I love my new kitchen shelf, definitely a happy little corner.  Also making me happy this week is the Tis the Season quilt, I am so enjoying stitching these blocks and got three more completed.  I love the little stitcheries, Wendy xx

FNSI results

I'm sure I have said before how much I love Friday nights and it was even nicer knowing I was participating in FNSI.  You may notice I have started a new project!!  In my defence (do I need a defence?) Charlie's quilt is on hold while I wait for more thread.  I wanted to make the Tis the Season for last Christmas but never got to it and it has been on my to-do list all this year so it feels good to have finally started.  I'm not sure I will get it finished by Christmas though! We enjoyed a beautiful day today, the sun has been shining and I spent three hours gardening.  I am definitely a fair weather gardener!  Yesterday I was given lots of perennials by a dear lady from church so that was the push I needed to get stuck in with the weeding and make room for the new plants.  Spring is such a pretty time in the garden, I enjoyed wandering around and snapping photos of flowering plants.  The pink fuchsia flower is tiny, the size of my little fingernail and the pretty ruffled daffodils are my new ones planted this year.  The fiery orange clivia's are doing really well this year too.   It's cooling down now, time to light the fire, then dinner, and I wonder if I can fit in some stitching too?  Wendy xx