Blogger's Meet... A Great Day!

What a great day out! So great to meet some bloggy friends face-to-face...

From left: Sandra - Playing Tiddleywinks, yours truly, Maria - Life on The Block, Tracee - Quilt Kitty Loves Life, Julia - Julia's Place, & Julia's Daughter-In-Law Jeanette.

We were also joined by Julia's friend Gaye who stubbornly refused to be in our pic! Tracey Outback Craftaholic met up with us briefly, but as she was doing some official running around, was not able to stay long.

It was lovely to have a good chat & a cuppa before we went in... and although it was hard to all stay together in such a sea of people, we did all at least have lunch together.

I am pleased to have been able to purchase the items I had on my list... things I wanted to actually see before purchasing... but gosh some other things just would not let me leave without them... more on that in my next post...

Thanks friends for a lovely day...

Some Little Finishes...

Gosh these little items seemed to take me ages to do!

This one's a Sew It's Finished... a pincushion I found at The Painted Quilt... I did the stitchery in July last year but had not decided how to finish it...

I am also adding two more items to my Christmas Through The Year box... a little needle book & equally little pincushion... to go with the Wide-Open Zipper Pouches I made last month.

Lastly, I have more little decorations, these ones made with the gorgeous Santa buttons that Barb sent me for my Birthday... two more for the 1 Xmas Item A Month box... not sure I am totally happy with them, so they might get a re-do...

Thank goodness for these wonderful groups... reminding me each month to keep making a few items!!

~Have a great weekend & I hope that you get to do some enjoyable sewing or stitching~

Late Bloom...

Still a few hours of Wednesday left... posting my little flower for the week...

Thanks Karen for hosting One Flower Wednesday...

(my Garden is growing about as slow as a cactus, but at least it's alive!)

Looking forward to starting work on my Christmas In July items now that work is done for the week... well the paid work anyway... just don't mention the housework!

Just A Reminder...

About the PERTH BLOGGERS MEET...

WHEN: Saturday 25 May 2013
WHERE: Perth Craft & Quilt Fair - Perth Convention Centre
TIME: 9am
We will be meeting in the foyer just inside the main doors of the Centre, & having a 'pleased-to-meet-you' cuppa nearby before we go in. Maria & I will be wearing name tags to make it easier to find us.

Anthea - not quite finished!

Please email Maria at her blog if you will be able to join us... we have a fairly good idea of who we will be spending the day with (and spending with!!), but we just want to make sure we don't miss anyone.
We will likely be a small group, but still it will be great to meet up & put faces to names!
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This is what I sent to Katherine for her Birthday... something for her new mini quilt stand...

 This is also my item for May's Birthday-Love Stash... Even though it was in The Stash for just a short time, it still counts as Stashed!!
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Today our family celebrates a wonderful milestone... our youngest is becoming a Teenager...
♥Happy Birthday Mr13♥

Birthday Wishes

...are being sent to my bloggy friend Katherine...

Katherine blogs at Rose Cottage, so why not pop over & say Happy Birthday

And while you are there, take a look at her amazing spinning, cosy knitting & the great suffolk puff quilt she is working on.

Happy Birthday Katherine, so glad you like what I sent!!

What A Week...

... and I am glad it's almost over...

Mother's Day Morning Tea on Sunday... it's real cream, can you hear my arteries groaning?!

The Ugly: My beautiful little patch of Paradise was disrupted on Monday... the taking of one man's life, by another...unspeakable tragedy all round... both men live nearby & it happened only streets away from my home. Please send up a thought for the families... I cannot imagine it...

The Bad: Having been a little unsettled by those events, & angered with the sticky-beak people driving around the area, I forgot an important thing... next week I start a work regime that will be 2 days a week for the next few months... the money will be very handy, but will mean less time for stitching, bah!...

So in turn I had to cancel appointments that I booked for some days when I am working, oops...

(well I do often say that if I had a brain that actually functioned, I'd be happy!)

And as I have done no blog reading this week, I have a lot of eye-candy to catch up on!

The Good, finally: I decided at the last minute to sign up for the Christmas In July swap over at Gone Stitchin'... I have already figured out what I am going to make, & wouldn't you know it look what jumped into my car this morning...

As it's extremely rare for me to give a sneak-peek, this is all you will see until the reveal in July. Now to just put batteries in my brain so I can be organised, & make proper time to sew & stitch for my partner!

No sewing or stitching got done here this week, well unless you count some easy paid sewing & doing school trouser hems for mr12...

~*~Have a Lovely Weekend~*~

Perfect Timing!

My day yesterday was just lovely... including a Mother's Day function at school with mr12, & spending wonderful unexpected time with my precious BF... And now just look at what I arrived home to...

The delivery of my Mother's Day 12" Mini Quilt, from Anna!

Sneaky girl you... stalking my blog in your anonymity! (Anna doesn't blog, but you can see here what I sent to her) Anna also included these extra goodies...

...buttons, fabric squares & a very pretty flower brooch she made...

Wow, thank you Anna for sharing your amazing stitching & sewing skills with me, I LOVE IT!! I do feel very spoilt, & it looks wonderful on its stand on my buffet.





 I really loved doing this swap, & thanks of course goes to Swap Mama Cheryll at Gone Stitchin' for organising such fun. I'll be joining in again for sure...





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Sending lots of love & warm wishes to all the Mothers... & all the Grandmothers.... have a great day with your children & families...

And while we are thinking of Mothers, let us not forget those for whom Mother's Day is difficult for so many various reasons, & the increasing number of amazing ladies whose Mothering heart gives love to children not their own.

~♥~Happy Mother's Day 2013~♥~

Some Pre-Cut Yums...

I have never sewn with any sort of pre-cut fabric, but it seems that is going to change... recently I have been gifted or won a gorgeous selection of mini-charms (is that the right term?) and some 5inch charm packs too...

Leanne-Lizzie the Quilter sent me these 2½inch squares in our Easter swap - they are so cute!

These gorgeous batik print packs are from Danette-Quilting Chemist. Danette had a big giveaway recently in celebration of her blog reaching a 2 Year Milestone. She added the sweet little squares to the parcel I won...

There is a giveaway chance each month for those who join in the Birthday-Love Stash, the brainchild of Wendy at Sugarlane Quilts, & I was the lucky winner of April's prize...

Lucky me with all this goodness....
Looks like I will have to keep my eyes peeled for patterns or ideas of what to do with them all!

What do you like making with pre-cut fabrics?
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Homespun magazine (Aus) have recently published the first new-look copy of the magazine. Is it just me, or does this magazine feel 'different' to you? Perhaps it's just that I will need to adjust to the new styling of it.



I promise this is the last storm pic... Yesterday, I snapped these guys... they breed 'em mad in my town, so I guess that beach fishing in 100kmh winds & 5ft waves is just the thing to do!
(I must be almost as mad, considering I was out there photographing them, LOL)

Bag Finish & Wild Weather

On Sunday I finished my bag, yay!

I give you the Serendipity Bag, a Janelle Wind Collection design from her book Pieces of Me...

 The bag part measures approx 12inches x 13½inches. I added a magnetic clasp inside the top band.

No dark lining here!

I was scurrying about taking these pics yesterday, before the weather turned ghastly (more on that in a moment). A great item for my Sew It's Finished count.

So pleased with this bag!! 

I am going to try my hand at making a coin purse to go with it, using a tutorial from Designs By Fee, which is HERE.

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The shrub outside Hibiscus HQ was doing some showing off last week, cheery with...

 HIBISCUS!!

Well, good thing I took these pics when I did, because they are now pulp, due to a wild front that blew in late yesterday. At least the warm winds that preceded it got all my washing dry!

These are for Sunny... & anyone else who longs to set their eyes on the ocean...

 I went for a look at my nearby beaches this morning... could hardly open my eyes for the winds, but I still do love to go & feel it on my skin. No 'bobbing' here today, Maria!!

 

I have been doing some other sewing too... hemming school trousers for mr12!

~*~Happy Wednesday Everyone~*~

Friday Night With Friends for May...

 Plans for the evening did not happen as hoped, it was more like Friday-Night-Dispensing-Motherly-TLC, so I am glad that I spent some time sewing during the day... making progress on the bag, all the fiddliest bits are done...

I hope to finish it over the weekend.

 Last year I traced up two of these darling Gail Pan designs, Christmas Joys. One was completed & displayed, however this one has been languishing in the KARTS box since then. Feels great to have made good progress with it for FNWF...

Am stitching it in a dark-ish green, & have some great fabrics in mind for border & backing...

It's so great to see so many names on the list for FNWF, I can't wait to go visit Gone Stitchin', to check out what other projects are being worked! Go HERE for the linky...

Only three weeks until the Perth/WA Bloggers Meet-Up at the Craft & Quilt Show, it will be so good to finally put faces & voices to some of the lovely ladies I have met through blogging♥