It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..shame it's only November!!

First things first. Looks like the Christmas kits excited everyone else as much as they excited me... *smile*, so I will send of the Elf Bag to Melinda and the Wallhanging to Jewells!

Here's a couple of photos of Christmassy things happening around here.

Our church had a gingerbread house night, so Gorgeous Girl and I went along. Here's my house..

..with a cute little "wood pile" out the back (and in case you're wondering those are "mushrooms" that have fallen over..probably helped by little boy fingers)


And some stitching...



And I whipped up a quick project with this fabric last week..I'll show a photo next time!

Christmas Giveaway..Part 2

Yep, here's another one. It's a kit for a wallhanging by Country Cupboard Designs. It includes all fabric needed plus rusty bells.

So if you would like it..you know the drill.. leave a comment,etc etc

Have a great week!

Christmas Giveaway ..part 1

Hi all!
Just cleaning out the cupboards and found a couple of kits that I have had stashed in there since I participated in a Christmas Kit-of-the-Month a couple of years ago.

Thought it might be nice for these to go to a home where they might actually be made! LOL!

So the first giveaway is for a Christmas Bag Kit. It has all the fabric needed, plus threads and rusty bells.

Please leave a comment and I'll put the names in the hat and I will do the draw in a week or so.

(PS. I might have a few more of these kits to giveaway, so might be worth checking in later!)

A mystery...

Mess on the kitchen benches, smell of banana cake in the oven, wonder what's been happening in my kitchen....
Umm...spilt flour on the floor (*sigh*), with a little clue left behind of the culprit...


Don't think we'll have to call in Scotland Yard for this one.. :-)Now where's that vacuum cleaner..

The story of a quilt...

When my gorgeous girl was little I participated in a "Brown Paper Bag Quilt Swap". For those not in the know, this is where you get a paper bag, put in some instructions and it is passed around the group of quilters and one by one they make you a block and put it in the bag. Of course, meanwhile you are making a block for all of them!

For my quilt I asked the group to make a any 12" block, using some of the fabric I supplied. I chose something with pretty blues and pinks as I wanted to end up with something "pretty" for my Gorgeous Girl's room.

And this is the quilt I ended up with...


It went nicely with her pale blue room and her butterfly wall stickers.

Then, four years laters my girl turned 8 and I was 8 months pregnant with no.4. I was huge and my favourite position was on the couch and definitely not out in the 40 degree heat. Because we are in the midst of renovations that have never got any further in 6 years, I asked my hubby to go and buy our girl a new rug (as she has no carpet in our room...it's on the "to-do" list). My only requirement was that "it should fit in with the colours of her room". So off they set....and this is what they returned with...
Hmmm..not quite the "pretty" rug in pale blues and pinks I had envisioned. And so my first thought was 'we'll take it back". (Actually my first thought was, 'why did I trust my husband who has no interior decorating skills'....but it was closely followed by thoughts of returning it.)

And then I looked at my girl. Boy, did she love this rug..and was so proud that she had picked it out herself... And I realised that she wasn't four anymore and probably should get some say in what her room looked like.

So what's a mother to do??

I gathered up some fabrics..and then I had the baby!

Thankfully, my nice parents-in-law took our oldest three to their place when the baby came home so that we could settle in and get into some routine. But because I had this wonderful little bub, who was a reasonable sleeper, I spent the time sewing (probably should have been sorting out the cupboards, but hey!?)and made this quilt for my Gorgeous Girl...


It's a free pattern from Crazy Mom quilts blog and I think it turned out Ok..especially since I did all that stippling myself!

And it all still goes with her butterfly wall stickers so I feel like somewhere in there is my little girl still...

..for a while longer, anyway...sigh...

Anyway, have a great week!

A weekend away..

This weekend I went with a good friend on our annual pilgrammage to Armidale for a quilting retreat. It is such a great time - we do a lot of sewing (of course!) and a lot of eating, talking and laughing. (who would believe that Quilt Charades could be such an amusing game??!!) One of my favourite parts of the weekend is to see what everyone else is working on - to be inspired by the ladies who have been quilting "forever' and who are doing quilts I wouldn't dare start. ie Celtic Knots, all hand quilted, medallion quilts where the precision needed for each new border to fit just gives me the shakes and beautiful dolls with the quaintest of faces.

Of course I forgot the camera, so you will just have to insert your own mental images here!! LOL

I made a bag from Janelle Winds "Pieces of Me". It's one I have been meaning to make for ages.

For my version I used Momo's Wonderland and some linen and came up with this...


And dug through the stash and found this for the lining..

..no losing the keys in the dark interior, hey?! :-)
I also started another quilt that I will have to show you another day as I'm about to be late to see my boy dance at school- will be interesting to see if he's inherited his father's sense of rhythm...cough..cough...
Have a great week!