Hooray for the Postman and for emails!!!!

First up - Hooray!!!!  My email is back up!  I am so pleased!

I got a lovely big parcel in the mail yesterday from Celia, a bloggy friend of mine.   Celia and her friend Jennifer have sent me lots of blocks to use for charity quilts.  Most of them will probably go towards making five quilt for female Aussie soldiers in Afghanistan.

Celia made these 20 12"stars  and I think I will split these into two lots and use each to make a quilt.  I might add in some stars of my own, if I have time.

 Celia also made these 

 And these.  The photos don't do the colours of these blocks justice - they are actually red and black and a goldy colour.

 This is a nice block - I might try and copy this one as the individual components are all very simple but together they are very effective!

 And this is my Christmas present - it is a lovely bag and that card is really cute isn't it?  Celia's daughter made it for me - she has her own blog - check it out.  It is really cute!

 Celia does the best embroidery.  This piece is really soft and pretty so it is not showing up well in the photo but it is really pretty. 

 And these bags are extra special.  They are fully lined and just the right size for a few goodies.  I am filling these with goodies and they are off to our female soldiers in Afghanistan.  Tissues, hand cream, lip balm, notebooks and other goodies will be packed into them.  

 Celia's friend, Jennifer, made the rest of these blocks and this mini quilt or panel.  

 I think I might make some more nine patches and then do a quilt with nine patches on point.

 I can see these crazy log cabin blocks as the centres of some star blocks I think.

 And finally these are my crumb blocks and embroidery from Celia for our monthly Rainbow Scrap Challenge swap.  The colour for this month was christmassy red and green or finishing up other Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects.  Celia and I decided to do our own thing.  She has sent me crumb blocks using African scraps and I will be choosing a random selection for her blocks.  

Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou Celia and Jennifer!

And now for a finish.  hooray about time.  This little dress is for my niece for Christmas.  She loves Disney Princesses so I know this will be popular!  

You can buy the shirred fabric at the quilt shop and I added the shoulder straps and the band at the bottom.  

It is little dresses like this that make me wish I had a girl but I will make the most of having a little niece instead!

And one last little finish.  Back at the beginning of the month I started some ornaments (here) and tonight I managed to finish one of them off.  The scissors are 6" just so you get an idea of the size.  I have to make ornaments for a few people for friends and this is another one finished!  I need to get a few more done tomorrow as I need to get these into the mail.  If there is one thing I love it is home made ornaments!

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

All Sorts

That was what my day like - all sorts of bits and pieces.  First up off to the boys' school to collect some Christmas decorations and cards that some of the Primary children made for the Aussie Soldiers in Afghanistan.  There were so many cute ones but I am not showing you more than one just in case a certain Warrant officer should peek again - I am pretty confident he won't but just in case.  This was one of my favourites!  A three dimensional Christmas tree.

And the messages written in some of the cards were just gorgeous - so lovely I contemplated including a box of tissues with them if you know what I mean.  I scanned six of the best and will share them once they have reached their destination.

Next it was on to visit a friend briefly and then off to the LQS to look for some fabric.  first up some horse fabric.  One of the female soldiers that we are going to make a quilt for loves horses so of course I need some horse fabric.  Another one likes sunsets and oceans but I couldn't find any decent fabric to use so I will keep looking.

 And lastly I needed some material to go with this shirred Disney fabric I am going to make into a dress for my niece for Christmas. The pink spot will be great for tie over the shoulder straps and an extension on the bottom.

When I got home there was a parcel waiting for me from Jeni Baker of In Colour Order - yummy vintage sheet fat quarters.

 I particularly like the pink one in the middle. I have plans for these after Christmas.

Tonight I had very little time to myself - too much taxi driving to do.  I need to work on one of the Christmas quilts I have underway but it would have been too hard to do that in short spurts so instead I started these Christmas decorations.  They come from this book which is one of the Art to Heart books that I love!

 You can see the angel in the middle here and this is what I am making except that their version is stuffed like a little pillow and requires hand sewing which hurts my hands.  So, instead I am making a flat version with wadding and extra thick stiffener like I used to make a gift tag.

The fusing is finished - the stitching is next but that won't be tonight.

Before I go, don't forget to check out my giveaway.  Feel free to tell your friends about it too.

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