Stitching around the block

Here are my friends Karin, Rosalie and Melody after we had opened our parcels. This post is going to be all the wrong way round as I can't get the hang of how to add pics and text and get them in the right order. Help Mel!!!

These are the blocks but not a very good photo. Mel has better onesHere is a photo of the before. All our 'Stitching around the block" projects wrapped and ready for opening. Mine is the one in the foreground wrapped in a Three Sisters fat quarter, Rosalie's is in button wrapping paper , Melody's is in the pink and Karin's is in the gold. Please note the discrepancy in size! I'm going to use the fat quarter to do "Just Plain Nuts"so a big thank you Mel.

It was all just a wonderful day and we were all delighted with our finished blocks so much so that I can see another round robin type project in the future.

once again I'm late for the picnic

This is a photo of a wall hanging that my daughter made when she was a fair bit younger. Having known Melody for a long time I did her free friendship buttons us together quilt a long time ago. DD 1 decided to do it with a difference. Think it looks pretty good,

February hexie

Lucky me got a bumper lot of exciting mail today. One of the envelopes contained this beautiful hexie from Narelle in Queensland. I am so enjoying being part of this swap and so my garden grows. Thank you so much Narelle, I love my hexie.

Teddy Bear's picnic

Here are two bears made by the beautiful Roma. The yellow angel bear is my Christmas gift from her a couple of years ago, she does love angel bears and those that know me, know that I have a love of angels ( and rainbows). The other little bear is one that Roma made for my big boy when he had a long stay in hospital a few years ago, something that is not unusual for him but the bear gave him a bit of company as hospital is pretty dreary after a while. I just love the gentle expressions on Roma's bears. She has a great talent and I am so g;ad that I have a collection of her bears.

Tuesday Treasures

What a gorgeous Tuesday we are having. Warm sunshine, cooling breeze. Summer in Korumburra is never boring that's for sure.
Thanks Melody for the opportunity of sharing my Tuesday Treasure with your bloggers.
The theme for today is 'What do you treasure in your surroundings'.
Mine was very easy to choose.
Here is a picture to share with you of the view from my dining room window of a magnificent rainbow. We have a lot of rain here and also a lot of rainbows but none as spectacular as this one which I was lucky enough to catch on camera.
I just wished that I could have caught the whole thing. The whole rainbow arched from one side of the hill and across the gully to this large gum. My lens just wasn't wide enough.
I have not enhanced this picture in any way. It was just good luck. Kinda like the pot of gold I was very tempted to look for at the bottom of this tree.

Tuesday's Treasure

Finally decided to put this photo on Tuesday's Treasure hosted by Mel at The House on the side of the Hill ( sorry don't know how to put in a link) This is a very special wedding gift that the father of my best friend in England made for hubby and me. It's carved from a single piece of English oak ( the heart of the oak) and the links are all free as are the balls in the column. For many years wooden, handcarved lovespoons have been given as gifts of love and high esteem says David Western in an intro for "The Fine Art of carving Lovespoons"I know that the carver of our spoon spent many nights at the kitchen table painstakingly working with this piece of wood and as he is no longer with us I treasure it even more. This was truly a gift from the heart. As an aside, he had previously carved one for his daughter and spent the whole of the wedding with this parcel under his arm, not letting it out of his clutch. When he did his father of the bride speech he presented it to her with a great flourish. As you can imagine there was not a dry eye in the house as it was a complete surprise to all but his ever suffering wife ( she had to make do without her kitchen table )

You can see why this means so much to me as I feel that he saw me as another daughter and it also connects me back to my birthplace being English oak.

an 18th birthday quilt

This is a quilt that will be handed over today to a friend of Andrew's who turns 18 today. He admired the one I made for Andrew's Head of House last year so I know he will like this one. it's the tried and true "disappearing nine patch" or " guilt quilt" pattern and we managed to get some of Nik's ex teachers to sign it( thanks Sarah). In typical teacher fashion though, no-one looked at the back first so they have all signed it upside down!!!! Andrew and I have decided to sign our blocks any which way so Nik has fun turning it round and round. The down side of making this is that I now have to make one for another friend of the lad who is 18 on March 3rd. Talk about being put to the test. Luckily I have 2 charm packs on the way and those quilts go together in a matter of hours. Have a great day.

A quilt for my sister-in-law

This quilt is one that I made for Margie as a "hug" from her family after the loss of her 38yr old son last year. I embroidered 6 of the Val Laird "Gifts of Grace" blocks and then set then haphazardly with calico blocks, which all members of her family signed with messages of love, and random 8 in and 12 in blocks. I think Margie was happy with it when she finally got it. She lives in Canberra so is too far away when she needs a family hug so this serves in lieu. She is now " looking after " my eldest son as he begins a graduate programme in ACT. The first to leave the nest so I am glad he has his auntie Margie there.... and maybe a quilt from mum( yes he did take the one I made him ) Margie also like teddy bears so the label for the quilt appears hopefully on this post. It's a Teddlywinks pattern. Love those bears

Teddy Bear's Picnic

Here is a photo of two versions of Brindle Bears " Peanut " pattern. They are from the same pattern maker as "Sweet Sherry" from last week. I think one is made from the same fabric.This is another bear that I just kept making as I like the size and the fact that he comes out like the original. The mohair I got from Bronwyn's shop ( no longer there) , loved the tipped look. Hope there is still some cake left for Melody when she gets to attend the picnic. See you next week.

Sewing Helper

This is Kanga Pussamacattus.

Her full and correct title is:
'Gardening and Sewing Identity Extraordinaire'!
(or 'G.A.S.I.E' for short)
Here is my Kanga helping with my bag project. I have already made 2 of these. One for my DIL and one for my older daughter. My younger daughter will be the recipient of this one. If Kanga ever lets me finish it.
You can see she is chatting to me about it. She is a very vocal puss and chats to me all the time.
I'm sure she thinks that I understand.

Teddy Bear's Picnic a day late

Here is a photo of my baby bear fast asleep on my star kaleidescope quilt. Fell in love with the pattern and she is so easy to do that I made about 4 and gave them away as presents. Sorry this is late but a busy day yesterday.