Eleven Years On

 

   So much has occurred in the last 11 years.

                                            My offspring are now adults pursuing their own lives.

                                               Steven and I are divorced but are still mates. 

                                                     We still look out for each other

                                             I now roam freely to many parts of our country. 

                                            I love the diverse and beautiful nature of our land. 

                                                                         Life changes. 

                                                                        People change

                                                                     The world goes on. 💜

Conquering fears

About 7 years, I slipped on a gravel path at the start of a nature reserve near home.

I tore my knee right open to the bone which needed 60 stitches.
I then developed DVT. 

As a result, I have only attempted the path once recently with my husband and 

never walked down this path alone again until yesterday.

I am proud to say that I have conquered this fear, and these photos show what I was missing out on. 

They are not brilliant by any means, but acknowledge a significant milestone for me.

 Do you have fears you want to conquer? 

Have you managed to conquer a fear?

Where have I been??

Nowhere exciting, unfortunately... just losing track of time and getting snowed under with work...not much sewing done, but I HAVE made a few cards. I can usually grab a few minutes to create something...

These cards use stamps from one of my favourite companies, Papertrey Ink. They make the most stunning acrylic stamps, and regularly offer video tutorials and inspiration posts.... I will put up more photos of another one of my favourite companies shortly.

Patchwork has ground to a dead stop for several months - I am recovering from shoulder surgery, so have been very limited in what I can do.. frustrating, but each day is better :-)

I have made a few little things, but couldn't show you previously because they were a surprise for a special friend I have had the privelege of getting to know... Hi Lorraine, if you wander by here! I made her this bag to house all her goodies...

Progress and a new club

I have a few of my favourite "Peace Quilt" blocks to show you.....

Tomorrow I plan to sew the first few rows together... as it is constructed on point, it will give me an idea as to what fabrics I need to complete more of. I'll post more progress next weekend.

I had to confess, also.... I was tempted by Sarah's new "It's Charming - Charm Square club".

There are four projects to look forward to, which are sent approximately every 6 weeks.....

 this arrived yesterday:

A mixture of embroidery and machine sewing... it looks wonderful!

ALSO....

If you get a chance, can you give your opinion on the pillow dillema I have with our new bed quilt please?

The link is here   Thanks!

Scarf pins

Steven was asked by a shop to design and create some scarf pins samples for people to use for closing or fixing their knitted scarves and jackets. These are the first ones he has come up with....

All are in different Australian native woods... one uses ironbark rescued from a very old bridge over the Murray River. They are approximately 15cm (6 inches) long and I've discovered also work well in the hair  keeping a bun in place.

They are much classier that the very plain sample he was given as a guide (not that I'm biased, of course!)

What do you think of them? Any feedback would be great.

The second Friday in a row...

that I'm flaunting... enjoy it while it lasts :-)
Below are the quilts I managed to complete as planned..... our new bed quilt........

I usually have a couple of pillows on the bed as well, but have taken them off as they detracted from the quilt. I've tossed up making a couple of 'matching' pillows, but am unsure which way to go...
1. Use just the border fabric? (Nara Gardens sage chopsticks) or
2. Do a couple  more blocks that could then be bordered with the sage green ?
3. Put a little trim of one of the fabrics on some plain cream pillowcases?
4. Leave it as it is?
5. Another bright idea I haven't considered?
Any feedback would be a terrific help.

Finally, a year later than planned, Steven can have his own quilt...... the end product is a little different to the original, but the design is suited to a range of variations (for example, I've seen it in Japanese fabrics, some quilts utilising a feature fabric, so the 'patways' are only on part of the quilt.)

We wanted the blue 'rivers' to merge in to the outer border, so I needleturned sections of blue over the deep rust inner border. it is a great quilt to undertake, and by using the Curve Master foot, the blocks go together quite quickly. The hadquilting was done with perle cotton... only the second one I've handquilted, but something I needed to do as I wanted the whole quilt to be my own effort. The best bit.... my lovely man likes it!

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!

Congratulation to Penny!

I just found out that Penny (who sent Liam one of her beautiful quilts!) was a winner in Quilting Gallery's weekly quilt contest. head over to her blog and have a look at some of her creations, and also look at her family's website at Harmony Hopes - they are working hard to make the world a better place....