Now to reveal all ..

OK ladies ... you have gotten your message through loud and clear .... and I am sorry for keeping you in suspense ..... I shall post a full photo of the bits that I sent my partner ... who was Lisa from Lisa's Stitching Lounge

if you pop over to her blog you will see the photo she posted, which is much better than these .... seems she loves the candle mat .... I really did enjoy making these for her ..... scrappy is something I am getting a real feel for .. 

the candle mat ... and on the little scolloped edge of the heart there are tiny beads at each point ... helped to make it look 'finished'

a simple little mug rug .. 

Everything thrown into one pic ... not too clear I'm afraid 

and here is a more recent photo of Harrison .... loves his food ... 

oh ... and I must share .. our little great granddaughter Carleigh Jean was born a on the 10th February .... she is just gorgeous ... I am still to meet her .. next weekend I think they are coming for a visit  .. such a happy Grandma ... 

introducing ... Miss Carleigh Jean .. AKA Daddy's Princess ..

life is really great ...... loving these babies ..... 

oh .. I will have her quilt finished soon too ..... 

busy  busy busy ... haha

Initial Heart Swap in the mail

I am only popping in for a quickie ... to let you know that my Initial Heart Swap gift has gone in the mail today ...

I truly loved making it ... and I do hope my partner likes it ...

Now I do apologise for the fact that this is not a total reveal ... there was something my partner asked for that just may give away the surprise if I show you the full pic ... sorry about that but we do need to keep it all a surprise .. and we only have a couple of weeks to wait ....

I am having a wonderful time with the kids ... miss hubby terribly .. but still having a wonderful time ...

hope you all are having a great week ...

I am going away tomorrow ..

I am heading to my son's tomorrow .. Sunday ... which is really today .. but later ..

My plane leaves Brisbane around 3 tomorrow afternoon but I will be catching a bus into the airport from here ... so much easier than hubby driving all the way there and back ... and I will have an hour or so to do a little hand sewing ..

I have all but finished my Initial Heart Swap gift .. just a little hand sewing to go .. then it will be in the mail .. I am sorry but I really can't show you what I have made ... cos my partner may or may not be trolling here ... gee I don't even know if my swap partner knows who I am .. this is a most fun swap ...

but .. when she has it in her hot little hands ... then all shall be revealed .. I am soooo impressed with my embroidery work ... I really am getting better at this ...


I am not sure if I will be online very much while I am away .. maybe I will be just too busy galavanting all over the country side .. or just playing with my precious little great grandie Harrison ... and the other children of course ...

well I have to get some sleep so I will say bye for now ... catch up with you all soon ... and if you don't hear from me before hand ... Have a very safe and Happy Australia Day ... I do believe we will be spending some of the day at the beach ...

Have a great one folks ...

Coasters ...

I was browsing through some blogs this evening when I wandered into The Fabric Mill ... and found this tutorial for these coasters .. now I had seen them before and just never got to the point where I thought ... hmmm ... I am going to make them ... well that was until tonight ... 

While looking at the tutorial it hit me .. these would make an excellent birthday gift for my DIL ... her birthday is next month so that works out perfect ... and I did have some Kaffe Fassett charm squares in the cupboard .. somewhere ... which would be perfect ... so ... I dragged them out ... cut a bit of wadding up to size ... folded the charms and pinned them into place .. ran around them with the machine .. turned them out and wow ... I love them ... perfect for drink glasses and wine glasses ... yep .. perfect ... 

And the very best thing with them is .. they took less than an hour to make ... yep .. all 8 of them in less than an hour .. 

Which has left me plenty of time to do some more work on this little heart project ... which is coming along nicely too .... 

It is now 3 in the morning and I really need to get to bed ... have a lovely Monday everyone

Finished .. Yay!!

These are the things I finished and posted to my DD for her birthday ... first birthday for the year .. let's see if I manage to remember all of them .. it is a task to do so but I really am going to try .. 

This is the cushion finished ... I think it turned out rather nice ... 

and a quick little mug rug .. 

the butterflies are done 3 dimensional and are very cute

Well that is all I have finished so far .... I do have a couple of other things on the table but are not finished and even if they were I could not show you cos they are for my 'Initial Heart' swap partner ... 

I am also busy organising stuff here for my little holiday down south ... the only problem is I still do not have my travel booked ... I am waiting on a certain someone to let me know exactly when it is I am going ... oh well, the suspense is sort of adding another layer to the excitement ... lol ... I do know this much ... I will be going one day next week ... 

Have a great weekend everyone ... I will be sitting in the air conditioning .. sewing .... and just enjoying myself .. 

What are your plans ??

At last .. I get to meet Harrison ...

I am going to visit with my son and his family in New South Wales .. and ... I am going to finally meet our precious little Harrison ... I am so very excited about getting to see him and the rest of my precious family ... Son .. DIL .. 3 grandsons .. 1 grand princess .. grandson's partner and little Harrison ... oh and #2 grandsons girlfriend .. apparently they are very serious ... they are both 16 and we know how serious those relationships can be .. haha ...

I have so much to do before I leave .. which is always the way isn't it? .. ahhh!!.. what to take .. what to leave ... well I will be taking stuff for me ... and I am leaving hubby and the dog behind ...... but will fix some meals for him so he doesn't starve ...

I will be catching a bus from here to Brisbane and then a plane to Newcastle ... works out cheaper than a bus all the way ... I would go by train as I really love the trains but there is no connecting trains from here on the same day .. which means I would have to stay overnight and there goes my cheap travel ... so ... I hope to leave here on the 20th .. which is 8 days away .. but I have heaps to do in those 8 days ...

I will only be taking a little hand sewing with me and I am not sure if I will get to do any of that ... the children are still on school holidays and my DIL goes back to work on the 27th ... that is also when the kiddies go back to school ... so after that I may have a little time to sit and stitch ...

I have a couple of things to finish making before I go ... so that will be a job for the next couple of days ... should have the daughters cushion finished tomorrow ... and then I will start on my 'Initial Heart' swap .. it is all ready to start .. getting the idea was the tricky bit ... but that is all worked out ...

But right now I am heading to bed ... it is 3:45 in the morning ... almost time hubby was getting up .... opps ... guess my excitement is getting the best of me ... but the eyes are really telling me it is time to get off the computer and go to bed ... so ... that is what I am going to do ...

catch you all when I am up and about ....

2015 ... well it is not waiting ...

Time is not waiting for me or anyone else it would seem ... the days and months and years just keep chugging along ... and I guess it is up to us to keep up with them ... or fall miserably behind ... 

well .... I am rather puffed from trying but will keep at it ... for the time being anyway ... 

I have managed to do a bit of sewing ... nothing Earth shattering ... but doing enough to keep hubby from repossessing my sewing room .. lol ... 

All I have done is a few blocks ... one for a swap with QSBA .. the other is a BOM for a Facebook group ... and the last one is for a cushion I hope to have ready for my daughter for her birthday ... need to get that done and in the mail this week .. oh and 2 cardtrick blocks that I made ... I was in a swap awhile back but only recieved 10 blocks and really need 12 to do a quilt top in a reasonable size .. 

ok .. this is one I made for a Facebook quilting group I am in

it is a BOM

I love the red and whites .. I do think this quilt will be stunning ...

 This is a swap block that I made for Sue B 

for the QBSA group ... 

I am very pleased that I am again doing the monthly swaps ..  

 This is the block I recieved from Sue B for the above swap

This is a block that will eventually (in the next couple of days) 

become a cushion cover for my daughter for her birthday ...

Some time back I asked for cardtrick blocks in one of the swaps I was in ... When I pulled them out last week I found I only had 10 ... now I could remove one of those and make a small knee rug .. or .. I could make 2 more and make a more substantial sized snuggle rug .. 

So that is what I did ... and ended up with these 

I just noticed .. this is my 100th blog post ... YAY I made it !!!!

almost the end of another year ...

I have no idea really where this past year has gone ... all I know is I did not do half the sewing I had hoped to do ... so with some luck and a little bit of good management I hope to do a little more this coming year than I got done this past one .. which really won't be too hard at all ... haha

My grandson and his partner came to visit the other day ... Polly Anna's parents .... and they tell me she can no longer be referred to as Polly Anna ... she has a name and it is Carly Jean ... she is also due on the 19th February and will possibly be a larger babe as mummy has diabetes ... and the doctors are already saying Carly is a little on the big size for her age ... mummy is a very little girl .. possibly a size 6  ... she is little and a big baby won't be an easy thing for her to endure .. but she is under a very good doctor and the hospital is an excellent one .. 

I gave her the little diaper bag I made the other day ... and I also gave her a bundle of baby clothes I had here too ... all pink and rather cute ... but some may never get worn due to the size of them ... but I am sure she can gift them to someone else .. 

I also made this today .. just sitting at the machine playing around ... and I think it is rather cute ... and I am certain Harrison will enjoy it ... 

I will have to make another one too ... a pink one for Carly ... haha .... this babies are going to keep me a bit busy I think .... 

Little Polly-Anna ...

I have a couple of pics this week  ... 

one of a bag I made .. the fabrics are very vibrant and rather bright although the photo really does not show it in all its glory ..... I will possibly give it to mummy for Polly-Anna ... this is not the great grandbaby girl's name ... it is just something I am calling her until the parents find a name for her ... and I kind of like it .. it is certainly growing on me ... and ... if her dad knew I was calling her this he would possibly disown me ... lol ... 

but ... I no care ... 

and here is a pic of the quilt I will be making for her ... This is my final decision and the fabric has been ordered ... I have the small bits for the girls and the windows ... the sun and the birdies etc .. and the door and roof ... I am just waiting for the walls and sky to arrive ... then it is on with the show ... I have until February to have this one finished ... and I do want it done before Polly Anna is born .. 

The pattern is called ... Our House ... by Toni Alexander of Me and My Red Boots .. 

you can find her patterns HERE ....

Although I have been struggling over the past few months I do feel like I have turned a corner ... and it is a positive one too ... I am feeling stronger and healthier than I have for years really ... it is all a little hard to get my head around at times but I do know I am on the improve ... and that I did not realise just how ill I had become ... but it did take a long time to get ill and I dare say it will take awhile also before I am back to full steam, but,  I am looking forward to the coming year ... with the birth of another babe ... and with that comes the making of another quilt .. 

And oh course there are all the other quilts that are still waiting to either be started or to be finished ... and the children are all very patient with their old nan ... I am just thankful that I have the opportunity to make them ... 

I hope everyone has a safe ... healthy and happy Christmas ...
filled with much love and fabulous memories ... 

 Merry Christmas everyone !!!!

Finally finished this ...

I have been struggling with everything since August ... my surgery apparently went well although someone forgot to tell my body ... haha ... nothing is quite the same and everything is harder somehow .... 

I did push myself the past few days to get this little quilt finished ... it has been sitting since I went into hospital and I guess 4 months is long enough to wait ... 

So here it is ... little Harrison's quilt ... 

and here is the little man himself .... so precious ...

Grandma does love you sooooo much ... 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I do have other photos of things that I have played with over the last 4 months ... but only one thing has actually been finished ... 

and that was only because it had to be ..  it was needed for the wedding ... lol

it's finally happening

I went to see the surgeon at the hospital last Thursday ... for a review / checkup ... and he told me that they really could not expect me to wait any longer for this operation that I need so they are going to do it on the 26th of this month .. They still want me to lose as much as weight as I can before hand ... so I am doing my very best although this weight has really become very attached to me ... lol ... I have been gearing up for this procedure but did not expect it so soon .... the last they told me I was going to have to wait 3 to 4 months to allow me to lose the required weight ... oh well .. I am not complaining ... although I am a little bit unprepared really ... not just mentally but all round ... oh well ... best I get ready ... haha 

I do want to get as much sewing done as I can in the next week as it will be a while before I am going to be able to sit up at the machine I guess ... they are saying the normal 6 weeks to recover ... hopefully it won't take that long at all ... 

If I can get some things organised for handsewing that maybe a better option ... will see how I go with it all ... 

Maybe I will try to make a couple of these from HERE

thank you so much for the tutorial Shez .. they are just lovely ... I really want some 

hopefully I will be back over the next few days with some photos of some more work I have been able to get done ... I would like to get another ring cushion ready to go too ... let's see how much I can actually get done ... 

we have be getting visits from ..

This gorgeous creature ... now normally I do not like these little things ... especially when they come as big as this one .. reckon it is about 6 foot long ... I am not about to get my tape measure out to find out exactly .. but it would be about that size ..

And this is one of those rare types that we have here in Australia .. A python ... we call them Carpet Snakes ... I find them truly beautiful and it is harmless ... well maybe not harmless but it is non poisonous ... which in my book makes it fairly harmless ... unless of course your a baby bird .. an egg .. or a smallish rodent .. then .. look out cos you will probably end up on the menu ...

Now we first noticed this bloke on the 25th of July ... he was just wandering around the yard ... probably looking for lunch and the birdlife was giving hin a terrible time ... and then he found a hidey hole away from the pesky birds and rested for the afternoon in a semi sunny spot .. then later that afternoon we saw him travelling and I am guessing it is where he currently lives .. but he headed for back under our house ... 

And that was the last we saw of him until this morning ... he appeared again ... this time definately from under the house ... which I will say I truly do not mind as he will keep the mice population down and we have not had any in the house all winter and that is fine by me ... would rather a Carpet Snake than a mouse any day ... 

anyway by the time I stopped the dog from barking at it and went to get my camera he was gone ... up a tree ... and I could not see it ... the only way I knew where it had gone was cos that is where the dog was jumping up and barking her fool head off... 

anyway .. I found him ... way up on the top branches of the custard apple tree ... sunning himself in peace and quiet .. well he will have that until the birds spy him then they will hound him off again ... they are only protecting their young ... and some of them have those too .. we have a heap of baby lorrikeets about .. I hear them scretching for food ... now these birds are beautiful to look at ... but oh my they sound dreadful ... haha .. 

here he is ... up the tree ... can you see him???

now ... off to do some sewing ... may be back later today with some photos of what I have done ... 

tops .. tops .. and more tops ...

When will they end ... all these UFO's ... haha ...  possibly never .. I have so many to complete .. and these are just the easy ones .. The ones that just needed straightening and a border or two added ... there are so many more to do tucked away in the cupboard and tubs ... and only a couple with just borders .. the rest are major construction jobs ... and some are just yards of uncut fabric ... but those ones will possibly be the tops left to last ... I am still not to the point where I want to pull them out and count them yet ... 

but this past week I have managed to get 3 done ... 

I also started on a ring cushion for a friend's daughter who is getting married in October .... and while I was at it I thought I would have a play with a smaller one like it ... this one will end up about 7 inches square while the one for my friend will be bigger ... 

Look what I got today ...

Isn't he just beautiful ... 

no .. not really ... haha .. but he really hasn't been here very long and really needs to fit into his skin with air and other stuff around him .. so that may take a couple of days ... and then there are those forcep marks ... 

Our little great grandson Harrison Benjamin B came into the world rather reluctantly this afternoon ... a nice healthy weight of 6lb 13oz ... arriving at 1:37pm ... both babe and Mummy are doing fine .. Daddy on the other hand thinks no one is doing anything right and is running everything past his mum who is just about ready to hit him on the head ... but is trying to reassure him that the nurses and doctors actually do know stuff about babies and mothers ... haha ... 

Welcome to the world little man ... Grandma will be down to visit you and have a cuddle or 10 before you get too much bigger ... oh and by the way sweet little one .. I love you .... 

A quick finish for today ..

I started  this cushion cover awhile back ... along with many other things that are poked away in my cupboard ...  I had made one like it some time ago in greens ... but this one I finished today ... and I really like the blues ...

Getting a little excited about what else I am going to pull out and finish off ... I think I will start with the easy ones ... all those 'almost finished' quilt tops that are just missing their borders ... yep ... I have a few of those in there ... along with multiple other tops that are in various stages of incompleteness ...

I will go have a look later tonight and decide then ... 

but for now ... I think it's time to think about what to have for dinner ... 

I have worked up a bit of an appetite ... 

Leader & Ender blocks continued ...

Last night was the first Friday of the month .. so I thought I would join the ladies over at 

Cheryll's Stitching CubbyHole for her

 FriDaY Night with FriEnDs

It was my first night with the ladies there and I did manage to get some sewing done ... and what I did was to my amazment a fabulous nights work ... 

now some time ago ... like back in May of 2012 I had started a few blocks of some leader and ender bits that I had been sewing together as I went ... there are some pics HERE to show the progess at that point ... 

well over the past couple of years I have managed to put all those 2 and 4 inch patches into 80 x 8 inch blocks and those into 20 x 16 inch blocks and last night I sewed them altogether into a quilt top that now measures 64 x 80 inches ... I had planned on a smaller quilt in the beginning but this is a great size ...  

It is the first scrappy quilt I have made too ... and I love it ... 

I have more 8 inch blocks made waiting to be put together into larger blocks too ... I wonder how many more years they will sit before I put them together ... 

Thanks for a great and productive night Cheryll ... see you next month ... 

Christmas in July Swap ... finished ...

I am so pleased with this table runner ... it will be on its way to Canada shortly ... just have to get to the post office and then I can truly say .. my swap has finished ... 

the backing I did in a small tone on tone cream ... it looks great .. and just a very simple wavy line for the quilting .. one day I will get a bit better at this but for now it is what I know I can do ... 

I am also making great progress on the baby quilt .. it should be all finished in a couple of days

getting there ...

So far I have 2 quilting projects not finished this month ... but hopefully by the end of this week they both will be done and in the mail to their new owners .. 

this is the baby quilt I am making for our little Harrison ... I put the applique on tonight and now just need to do the quilting bit ... 

This is a table runner I am part way through making for a swap ..

this also needs to be done and mailed asap ...

 

And here is something that is actually finished ... 

a sweet little pair of booties for yep you guessed it ... 

Harrison .. these will be put into the parcel with his quilt

Great Grandie due real soon

And this Grandma has not been very good ... our darling little Harrison's quilt is still but a top and is still hanging around on my wall ... still waiting for borders and finishing ... and the applique of isome characters and I am sure it will get finished ... I am just hoping it will be done before his 18th birthday .... lol

Harrison Benjamin B is due on August 2 .. .... and he is so adorable .. his mummy sends me photos of her 3D scans ... what an incredible thing they are ... you can see his face ... eyes .. nose and mouth and he has the chubbiest of cheeks ... this would have to be my favorite one ... what a sweet little mouth he has ...

isn't he just sooooo cute ...