I'm blessed...

to mave made such a special friend as Karen. She was my Sticher's Angel a couple of years ago and has become a very important part of my life... I feel lost if I haven't traded comments or shared stitching progress with her via email.

Our birthdays are within a few days of each other in December, and we both enjoy teasing each other along the lines of "I know something you don't know!" Karen has fired the first shot this year, but I will make up for it very quickly :-)

Look what arrived in the post today...

The photos don't do my little sewing book justice - Karen has embroidered the cherries with french knots and stitched some other parts, and she knows we ALL love Lindt chocolate! There is a little saying on the front of the needle book "Make life creative" -

Karen always manages to do that in so many wonderful ways :-)

I hope you all have a special person like Karen in your life.

Friday Flaunt

This is a fabulous little pattern I bought from Kate at  http://www.sewarmadillo.com.au/ 

It is a Cozy Quilts pattern and so quick but effective!

The reason for me needing to make it was sad... one of our ex students is dying from cancer, and our school community have rallied to help the family out due to massive bills they have been trying to deal with. This quilt was my contribution, and I am pleased to say it fetched a great amount in the silent auction amongst staff.

It has also gone to a great home.

The backing is shown below.... I wanted to make it reversible, or at least not totally boring on the back. Chris at Edge to Edge quilting donated the backing and quilted it for me very quickly and for a very reasonable price... she and Sandra always do a lovely job.

I should have posted these photos ages ago... this is the completed 'Hanging Garden' quilt I showed you a while ago, another Cozy Quilts pattern from Kate. It looked so great in our newly painted bedroom (originally two tone pink!) that I have now made a bigger size out of oriental fabrics for us which I'll show you when it is finished..

I'm hoping to bind it over the weekend (as well as finally complete Steven's "Murrumbigee dreaming" quilt which I finished hand quilting at 1am :-) )

Did you notice the Old English Sheepdog in the photo? His name is Gruff, and Steven gave him to me on my birthday way back in 1981.... he is a very special friend. Do you have a special friend like him that you treasure?

It's been a while....

since I blogged - sorry, life became much too hectic, and I downed tools for a while. I'll post some projects shortly, but I wanted to show you some images from the night away Steven and I just had...

We arrived at our B&B on Saturday afternoon, went for a couple of walks and had tea at the local RSL.

We then snuggled up in our lovely room with the above essentials....bliss!

The next morning, after a fabulous breakfast, we strolled down and looked around......

before I tell you where we stayed, I'm going to offer a surprise to the first person who guesses the location.. good luck!