Happy New Year Everyone

Well, what a year!   This is my year of discovering blogging.  I may have started my blog in October 2010 but 2011 was the year that I really learned the value of blogging and the immeasurable pleasure I would get from all the lovely bloggie friends I have made.  I credit the encouragement and support that I have received from a lot of you out there for what I have achieved this year.You kept me motivated to sew and to do more.    Thankyou, Thankyou, Thankyou!!!
Here is a look back at some of my favourite finishes from this year.

Bruce's quilt - so far he is doing well!!!

 My Christmas Quilt

 Journal Covers

 "Gobble"

 Pot holders - these were just my favourites!

 Placemats for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge

 Soldier's laundry bags

 A baby quilt for Isaac

 A kris kringle gift

 a pin cushion challenge

 this year's Christmas Decoration

 a Christmas gift

 and another christmas gift

 "Boo"

 more ornaments

 a mug rug exchange

 a thinking of you gift

 the Green Monster for Fly Boy

 For my aunt and uncle

 For our female Aussie Soldier

 Brooke's signature quilt

 a get well quilt

Now I am looking forward to 2012 - lots more soldier quilts and laundry bags, more quilts to give away, maybe a monster quilt for Guitar Hero, more handmade bits for the Irish Charity Bazaar and who knows what else.

But most importantly I am looking forward to sharing next year with my lovely blogging and non-blogging friends!

Till Next Year..............Happy Stitching!

In the pink!....or........red....

I received more lovely mail today - I entered as many of the Blog Hop Party Giveaways as I could and I won! it wasn't a huge prize but I am still pretty happy as what I won are very pretty!  Marjorie from Applique Addict offered 6 of her 5inch batik squares.  For me, because of the name of my blog, she chose pink and red hues.

And I love them.  I think I will be adding them to my pink and orange BOM quilt that I am making - well supposed to be making.  You should head over to Marjorie's blog and check it out.

I spent most of today packing up Christmas ornaments - three laden trees and various other decorations take a long time to pack away.  I am always glad to see  them all packed up as it is a big job and I really don't enjoy taking down the trees - they are too pretty with their sparkly lights etc

Not much sewing happening at the moment  and probably not till after NYE. 

Till next time.................happy stitching! 

More goodies in the mail...

A lovely bloggie friend of mine, Tarnyia  offered to make some blocks for the Aussie Soldier Quilts we are making for a few of our female soldiers in Afghanistan.  Well of course I said yes and before too long Tarnyia emailled me and said she had made some blocks AND a quilt top and they were in the mail.  You can see her post about it here.  Today the lovely parcel turned up.

THANKYOU, THANKYOU, TARNYIA!

First this gorgeous quilt top of really pretty soft asian fabrics.

 Tarnyia used many of the same fabrics in this 21 nine patch blocks.  I have laid them on my design wall in a possible layout.  

 I am auditioning two fabrics to go with them - I am thinking of going with the one on the left but i could be swayed - any suggestions?

 Also included in the package were these 15 purple nine patches.  I am also auditioning fabrics for sashing.  the green is not the exact fabric I would use but it is the closest I have in my stash.  I would probably buy something similar if I decide to go with the green.

 Maybe green with purple and or red cornerstones - what do you think?

That amounts to three of the seven girly quilts I am hoping we can send off to Afghanistan in the near future!!!    That is pretty exciting!  I have at least three more in the works from blocks that Celia and her non blogging friend, Jennifer sent me.  There are also plans for a horse themed quilt for one very horse loving girl.  That makes seven.Woo hoo.  That is as far as I have got so far.

I spent tonight making and appliqueing initials onto the five girly laundry bags.  Hopefully these will get sewn in the next couple of weeks at the latest.  I would really like to get them over to the girls as soon as we can.

If anyone else would like to sew a laundry bag or contribute to the quilt making effort don't hesitate to contact me.  I can't tell you how much the guys are appreciating the sewing we have been doing for them.  The effects have far outreached the practical benefits of just having a laundry bag or a quilt.  morale has been lifted in a way I would not have expected.

I am not getting to sew as much as I like at the moment - someone has to pack up the Christmas decorations.  I am going to try and knock them over in the next few mornings so that I can maybe sew in the afternoons and watch a DVD etc with my hubby at night.  It won't be long and he will be back at work!  :-(

Till next time............happy stitching!

Happy Boxing Day

Like Betty Lou I too always feel a little bit sad when Christmas draws to a close.  Apart from all the more virtuous aspects of Christmas I also love the things that you can do at Christmas time and can't necessarily get away with the rest of the time - fairy lights, Santa plates, bits of whimsy and cutesy things etc.  I especially love Christmas lights and this year I have just broken the news to my husband that I want to leave a set or two up all year.  I have some gorgeous coloured stars up in my kitchen - you can see them here up behind the Christmas tree although the colours don't show up well.

I have decided that they look so pretty, and I enjoy them so much, that they can stay on the timer for the year and they will come on to cheer me EVERY night.  Hubby just smiled a long suffering smile.  He is very wise sometimes!

My friend from Ireland visited just before Christmas and she gave me these pieces of Donegal Tweed.   There are 18 pieces all up - six of each - now I just need some suggestions what to do with them.  Can I mix them with normal cottons or do I need to combine them with more wool?  Any ideas?

I have been busy baking today and prepping for tomorrow's Annual After Christmas Party.  I have made a pavlova and some mini chocolate cupcakes that I am hoping to turn into Strawberry Santa Hat Cakes that have been around on the web this year.  I can't remember where I saw them first but if they work I will share tomorrow night.  The trick is going to be finding strawberries the right size!  Our other contributions to the meal are strawberries to add to the combined fruit salad, marinated barbecued chicken, and roast rosemary and Parmesan potatoes and nutmeg and honey glazed butternut pumpkin and sweet potato.  I am also adding in a mac and cheese as my kids love it and I think some of the others will like it too.  The other girls are bringing pre-dinner nibblies, two different sorts of sausages, a variety of salads and a trifle.  We NEVER under-cater when we get together and we always eat well!

On Christmas Eve, while watching the Christmas Carols on TV I layered up my Christmas Quilt.  I posted about it almost a year ago here when I completed the top.  Then I put it away and on Christmas Eve I had just enough time to pull it out and layer it.  Tonight I am at least starting the quilting.  I doubt i will get it finished but that is ok.

These is something nice about working on Christmas projects AFTER Christmas as it sort of prolongs some of the nice feelings!  And Christmas fabrics often have a lot of the whimsy about them, or at least the fabrics that I tend to choose do, that I love about Christmas!

I hope you have all had a lovely day.

Till next time............happy stitching!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

I hope everyone has had a lovely day.  Ours was a little bit messy - let's just say two teenagers, new computer games and computer problems!   Hmmmm.........Let's just say that while my husband was wrestling with the computer problems I had a little extra free time on my hands so, what to do, SEW OF COURSE!!!
My friend's daughter knows two fellows heading off to Afghanistan in mid-January so I whipped up two new laundry bags.  I only had initials for one - Tim, who is now nicknamed Tin Tin just doesn't know it yet.  For the other fellow I figured he can write his own initials on as long as his bag is distinctive!

 I have to say that I just LOVE the ants on Tin Tin's bag!

I sent the boys in Afghanistan an email last night wishing them a merry Christmas and letting them know that they were in our thoughts and I received an email in return from our friendly Warrant Officer.  Apart from saying that he was missing his family   :-(    he also requested that I have a beer for him seeing as he wouldn't be able to.  Well, I don't drink the stuff (ugh!!!) but I promised that my husband would have one for him instead.  Here he is toasting the Warrant Officer and the team  This is the one beer he had today and it was especially for the guys!!!

 And my boys would kill me if they knew I posted this, but then I like to live dangerously!  We are just about to tuck into our Christmas dinner.  That is Fly Boy on the left and Guitar hero on the right.  Those three Santas that seem to be floating in mid air above the table are actually a mobile that my Mum always hung in our kitchen at Christmas when I was a kid.  Love it!

Desert for the boys at Christmas is always a challenge as David really likes to have a sago plum pudding which I am happy to eat too.  The boys don't like it.  This year I was inspired by these cute bowls - vanilla icecream, mini marshmallows, 100's and 1000's, mini M&Ms and the best thing - Iced Magic  - for the unitiated it is a chocolate topping that goes hard on contact with the cold ice cream and it is JUST YUMMY!!!

Linton's

 Mitchell"s

Yep, they were happy!

Till next time............happy stitching.baking, recovering...........

One sleep to go and kids gobbling data!!!!!

Not sure if this will get thru.  Was hoping to include photos but no joy as the data is down and I usually email them to myself to shrink them down to make them small enough to upload quickly.  All barely within my technical capabilities.

I never guessed when I started my blog just how much I would enjoy the friendships of my fellow bloggers.  It has been like giving a gift to myself and I consider myself so blessed.

I hope all of you our there in Blogging Land have a wonderful Christmas and New Year.  May the weather be kind, the families harmonious, the food delicious, and the day not pass too quickly.

I look forward to sharing 2012 with all of you.

Till then, stay safe and well and have fun  - happy stitching.....if you can fit any in!!!

Two sleeps to go and just in the ST NICK of TIME

I woke up to a lovely surprise this morning.  Six weeks after we posted off the original 49 boxes to Afghanistan it looks like the last of those boxes have arrived and, as luck would have it, they are just in the ST NICK of time for Christmas!

That means that six other soldiers received quilts and Christmas boxes which would have been out of the blue for them.  Our friendly Warrant Officer must have felt like Santa handing them over - bet he didn't wear the Santa hat I sent him!  Also the special Christmas box that we girls packed up for our lone female soldier turned up as well.  

This morning that makes me a very happy chappie! 

I also received word that another friend finally received a gift I sent her - I couldn't understand why it had taken so long but she sent me a photo and it looks like "something" nibbled at the side of the package (maybe a bear or a beaver - she lives in that territory - lucky girl!) and that would be why it took a little longer to get to her.  Luckily though it appears that nothing is missing so another happy dance!  I love sending surprises.

AND THE SURPRISES JUST KEPT COMING........

My husband had to go to the Post Office to collect a book he had ordered and came home with a surprise for me!!!  Two of my lovely bloggie friends,  Donna  and Joyce, were in a Santa sack swap this year and they used to meet up to swap gifts and I have to admit to being a teeny tiny bit jealous......ok I admit it I was Green with envy!  Well, those two lovely ladies decided to send a little something my way - how lovely and generous!!!  Look what arrived today!!!

 My lovely hubby could hear the pacel tinkling and he was a bit concerned that something was broken but not so......it was these gorgeous bells!

 And then there were these!  The red and white spots from Joyce and the white parcel from Donna.

 This beautiful sparkly snowflake from Donna - the photo just doesn't do it justice!

 And the hugest bag of Star Brights!!!  You can't get these here and they just scream Christmas to me!  And a lovely magazine  - lots of lovely things in there to think about for next year.

 And from Joyce these lovely buttons - everyone knows I am rather partial to buttons!

 and this gorgeous quilted apron, matching potholder two of Joyce's fabulous woven coasters. 

  I think these coasters (not these exact ones of course) are some of the first things I remember seeing on Joyce's blog!!  Love them!

So, there you go - two sleeps to go and I have had a lovely day from start to finish!  Thank you so much, Donna and Joyce, Australia Post and everyone else who has shown some Christmas Spirit!  

Two sleeps and one day to go to Christmas - Enjoy everyone!

Till next time...........happy stitching!!