Caught on the hop...

... by this young man. Great Nana with I think no 16 great grandchild who was due on Jan 9th but arrived last weds. I had made his quilt( having bought the pattern before he was a twinkle in his parents eyes... nothing like being organised!) and all I had to do was quilt it. We babysat DGS last week so my plan was to quilt it this week.....

...after a frantic 3 or so hours on Saturday , it's done. Finished the binding on Sunday at 11 a.m and handed it over to the proud parents at 5.00 p.m. Pretty happy with the job I did on the quilting.

Some butterflies as I like to put them into as many quilts as possible. I did manage a two minute cuddle of the 7lb 3 oz bundle of joy before we left him in the adoring arms of his auntie ( the bride from last post) and his grandparents.

These are the Dec Dear Jane blocks. Most have some cream fabric, from a friend of mine who is no longer with us so that is making this a bit special.

A quick special thanks to Michelle too for my gingerbread house decoration. It will make it to the tree when I get that set up... very slack here. Thanks too, to Shez for my beautiful butterfly. I love both of these decorations.

A beautiful day

Yesterday this beautiful couple became Mr and Mrs.It was a very moving service and a truly wonderful day. 

Back of the dress, stunningly simple and elegant as we knew it would be.

My DGS with his second cousin(the bride's niece) They both scrubbed up pretty well.

DH with his sister(mother of the bride) his mum and the bride. It was a great day and so pleased to share it with such a lovely couple. 

Colour run well walk

DGS got in on the act...this is the pre run shirt so nice and clean. Unfortunately after a long train ride and being faced with about 50,000 people he lost the plot so mum and dad took him home. 

DH and DD2 after the event

DD2 and me.... somehow I managed to stay relatively clean and I avoided the slime!

DH, DD2, DS2GF and DS2.. Think the colour throwers liked them latter two!

Another family shot. The son's GF loved her quilt too which was given to her on Thursday.

This is the way the colour goes on... well this was a freebie at the end. I think there was a big throw but with so many people around we all decided we needed lunch and a hot shower.

5 years ago today was the first colour run I think and we did it as a tribute to DS1 who fell asleep 5 years ago and forgot to wake up. Miss him but this was a fitting tribute as he would sooooo have done this,probably with his little sister. Thoughts go out to my friend Jo too as this day is a hard one for her as well.

Thank you again

Today is the second year for saying thank you to those heroes and their families who at a time of great pain and grief give so generously to strangers.Organ donation is hard enough to do but from the mum of a recipient, once again I say THANK YOU especially to our donor family but to all those others that give.

Here are the Nov Dear Jane blocks,3 easy, 1 harder but not so hard that I couldn't manage them all in an afternoon/evening.

Enjoy the heat today and once again Thank you to all donor families.

A host of angels

I have been crocheting lots of angels and I still have more to do. I like giving Christmas ornaments to friends and these will go to friends at TCF as we all have our own angels. Pattern c/o Spotlight which I tried to download but  couldn't, then found it in a freebie on the shelf. Also tried my hand at a star and a bell but the angels win.

This is the jumper that I knitted for GS1 for next winter.Looks huge but the way he is growing it should fit

On Weds I had a lovely sewing day with a couple of sewing friends. Managed to do all the embroidery on Michele's little critters that I had traced out. Finished them off the next day. Really loved making these Michele and will probably do another couple.

 The butterfly is for DH's niece who is getting married on Dec 3rd. Those that know me , know why I am giving her a butterfly and not any other "wedding" favour.

It's been a while..

So where did October go? Well on the last Sunday of Sept GS got his head wet, wearing a dress, and people took photos. The gown he is wearing is the same that his two uncles, his aunt and his mum wore when they got their heads wet. He didn't seem to mind getting his head wet and even turned his head at the wrong moment and got a faceful of water!

He was also happy wearing a dress!

Dear Jane blocks for Oct. These truly stumped me, especially the circle one, but this morning I got my head around it and worked out how to do most of it foundation pieced with a bit of applique. Happy dancing going on as they are done.

I have also drawn out 4 of these ( kookaburra, kangaroo, blue wren and the possum) so they are the next project. Thanks Michelle, I really like this pattern. I have been knitting... more hats, more squares and a jumper for next winter for the GS.

The goings on ...

.. in my house for the past few weeks have included finally making this stitchery up into a cushion for DD2. She arrives in about 50 mins at the airport for a short stay so she will be able to take it back with her.

This came back from the quilters on Monday and is now labelled and bound ready to be given to DS2's GF in November for her 21st. I also got two others back so they just need the binding hand stitched down.

Last Sunday I participated in a fun class at Kilmore with Annette from Jindi's cottage. After a fraught start with boards not cut correctly and some people not having all the requirements we managed to make these. It is an ironing board/cutting mat. I did the Hugs and Kisses stitchery for it and the front cover incorporates my two favourite things... rainbows and butterflies.

The inside. I have even used it while sewing my Dear Jane blocks. Main reason for making it was to take to classes but it saved me walking from the machine, to the ironing board to the cutting board and back to the machine every few minutes. Great class, thanks Annette.

Here are my September Dear Jane blocks. Top right( classified hard) I hand stitched the centre and the bottom right( I classed as harder) I got lots of practice with those pesky Y seams. Happy, happy, happy with all four though.

Busy weekend as I have DS2 home from Europe(yeah, hopefully for good) DD2 home for 5 days, and GS is getting his head wet by a man in a frock( and yes photos will be taken ) tomorrow, so a huge family occasion.

Hope your week is great.

Aug Dear Jane blocks

The August Dear Jane blocks. Bottom right was a challenge but after I got my head in the right space I got it. I was going to leave off the bit that makes it look like there is a square on a square but as the song goes" with a pencil and a pad, I figured it out" Am really loving the way this is going.

 Bought this kit at my local quilt shop as some of the sewing group were making them. Hmm how to make it so that the edges all meet??

 As you can see I did it. Lots of glue and a bit of glove stitch and it's finished.

Side on with the buttons. Filled with choccies on Christmas day, that may be my only concession to festivities. I don't go all out at Christmas I'm afraid.

The obsession grows. I have knitted 7 more hats, one pair of socks/ slippers ( green at the bottom) to give to NOTYQ, and the squares are for Rosalie to give to her craft group. This is a small group but the person running it wants to make blankets for elderly people. With only six or so in the group lots of squares will need to be knitted by each one so I thought I'd use up the scraps from the hats. These are so easy to do that I just sit at night doing them. Need to do at least 3 more pairs of the socks and will then get back to the squares. I can never say I am bored!

Oh what a day...

Yesterday I had the best day. I met the lovely Shez, Anne and Barb at Millrose Cottage in Ballan. I was lucky to have Rosalie keep me company as I have never made the trip to Ballan by myself. What a great day we had. We met at 10.30, fabric shopped, visited the farmer's market and then had a zest burger for lunch. Our lunch stretched from 11.45 to 2.45 as the talk just never wavered. Thanks ladies I so enjoyed meeting you all and can't wait for the next adventure.

This is the fabric that came home with me to make the cushion cover for DD2's stitchery. Barb and I went halves on the meterage.

We visited a great store after our lunch and as you can see this butterfly snuck into my bag to come home with me. Very reasonably priced and the two guys in the shop were a laugh a minute!

Shez gave me this cute pair of earrings as a hello friend( I gave her one of my crocheted butterflies) Not a good photo but.... I aim to wear them at my next Kilmore and NOTYQ meetings.

My beautiful GS in a dinosaur hat tha,t courtesy of Spotlight , I made for him a couple of weeks ago. It is so cute and I think he looks adorable but then I am biased.

"Hey what you looking at Gramma? "

Dear Jane blocks

Here are the latest Dear Jane blocks. The bottom right proved a bit more of a challenge but all in all I am happy with them. Happier still that I am up to date with them.

A very special person sent me this butterfly which is now flying on a "round robin" style wall hanging that I made with three friends. I like that it is there and I can look at it and smile. I tend not to wear brooches but this needs to be on show.

While I was recuperating from my little procedure a "friend" gave me yarn and a pattern to knit hats for ladies undergoing chemo. Here are 4 of the 6 I have done. I did also do one for DD1's birthday. Double ended needles are a pain as the number of times I dropped the stitches off the other end was enormous. That is why friend is in " ". I think I knitted a couple of them twice as I had to unpull to the ribbing, too hard to reverse knit and no way could I pick up the stitches. Anyway they look good and I enjoyed doing them despite the annoyance of seeing those dropped stitches.

Butterflies abound

Today(16th) would have been DS1 31st birthday and as we always associate butterflies with him I decided today was the day to finish this quilt. I have loved the pattern since it first came out and bought the kit( well DH did for my birthday)  two years ago. All sewn and off to the quilters, hopefully in time for Kilmore's quilt show. Alas Leanne found a flaw in one of the sashings so.... more butterflies were cut out and they were so beautifully incorporated into the final quilting, covering the flaw. Leanne did an amazing job as always and I just love it. Next year's quilt show it will be in there.I sewed the binding on and was all set to do the hand stitching when, after getting to the top, I realised I hadn't put a hanging sleeve on. Well that meant it has languished on the bed in the spare room for about 8 months until this morning. I only had the top and the hanging sleeve to hand stitch in place and that is now done so thinking of my beautiful boy while I put in each stitch.

This is some of the beautiful quilting surrounding the butterflies.

A rogue butterfly but you can see how well it was brought in to the quilt. Well worth the wait as the quilting makes it all perfect.

It's been a while

The past two weeks I have had visits from DD2 ( twice ) and DS2 once. DD1 decided a family photo was in order so this is the result. Proud Grampa was not letting go of our 3 month old grandson. He looks most unimpressed though. 

While I was away on our trip I did do some sewing and this is the result. I have had this Helen Stubbings pre printed embroidery for ages and decided that this was an easily portable project for that just in case moment. I realised when I got home that I had stuffed up by putting french knots where the lazy daisy should be but that was soon rectified. Will eventually make it into a cushion for DD2 to have as she was the intended recipient.

Having had a few minor health issues I have not had the mojo to do anything but now that I feel heaps better I am going to get going with the latest Dear Jane blocks. 

I've been everywhere, man

Warning LOTS of photos... Colosseum in Rome

Trevi Fountain

Pisa... leaning tower of... iconic photo!

Bridge of Sighs Venice

Pompeii.. Roman soldier lookalike maybe

Tunnel of Love around Capri

Atomium in Brussels ( DH was a physicist in a previous life ie pre retirement)

Pyramid at the Louvre

Le Tour Eiffel

Moulin Rouge windmill... somehow I was expecting bigger.

THE bridge at Monet's garden. So beautiful

The reason for the trip DS2( trying to avoid having his photo taken)

The other reason... my big brother had a significant birthday and we were there to help celebrate. This is at the station as I said bye, Stockport is the town I was born in.

London and yes they still have working ??? phoneboxes.

The best reason for coming home, our beautiful grandson on Grampa this morning. He has grown soooo much in 5 weeks.

We loved being away, catching up with the son, my family and even some old school friends but it was so nice to "sleep" in my own bed last night. I say sleep as it was hard to get to sleep but when 10.45 dawned I was a bit shocked. Now back to wet and cold Melbourne but couldn't be happier.