HAPPY NEW YEAR

Thank you for visiting my blog over the past year, its so nice to have your comments.

I have made a lot of new friends  in blogland who enjoy the same interests as myself and its been great to visit those blogs as well.

I hope that you all have a

 VERY SAFE AND HAPPY NEW YEAR

HELEN

Earl Grey quilt

An Earl Grey Moment quilt from "Faeries in My Garden" is coming along nicely, this is block 2 finished..... its all going to plan so thats good. Have a look at my friend Jenny's blog to see her blocks, we are doing this together which helps keep us on track.

Such a lovely quilt and has heaps of embroidery which is just my cup of tea..... a little pun there hehehe

Swaps and OPAMs

What a wonderful way to lead into Christmas..... opening gifts everyday but alas it has all stopped.

The Advent swap organised by Fee was a lot of fun, Gai (no blog) was my partner and these are the last weeks goodies.

A calender, photo frame, lovely smellies, Christmas tea towel, face washer and hand towel, coat hanger.

The main gift is something very special, it even has my name on it.... my very own travel pack.

Tissues, soap and soap bag, toothbrush bag, shampoo bag and cosmetics bag, these will be just great to take on my next retreat.... I'm sure all the girls will be so envious.

                                 I can now show the gifts I sent to Gai, hope she enjoyed them.

 

This is the main gift for Christmas day, a sewing bag with a pin cushion.. scissor keep ...needle case and a little potpourri  to make it all smell so nice.  These are all from the book "The Angel Story" by Anni Downs..... might have to make myself a set I think.
Thank you for being my swap partner Gai, I enjoyed getting all these goodies together and really liked opening a gift each morning.
                        
                                  Thanks Fee for organising such a wonderful swap.

Chookyblue's SSCSwap was great fun too, I received this gift from Laila  for Christmas day, its a very useful size and will be put to good use thats for sure.

 

and theres more..... inside the bag were these goodies, a great stitchery, christmas buttons and fabric which is always useful.

Thank you Laila for my lovely gifts and of course for the christmas ornie.... the little owl....you can see here.

I was sending to  Martine in SSCS..... firstly we had the tree ornie and this is the little fellow I made.
Its a free pattern I got from Anniescupboards

The christmas day gift is a wallhanging by Hatched and Patched called "Garden of Angels"

I popped in a couple of Aussie gifts, a little magnet pocket addresss book and lollies.

I enjoyed making these gifts for Martine and I hope that she liked them.

Thanks for organising this great swap Chooky is was a lot of fun.

I was making another Annie Smith doll "Wishes do Come True" to add to my decorations but she didn't get finished in time but she is ready now and I'm very pleased with her.... such a cutie I think.

One can never have too many dolls ...... well I think so. hehehehe.

Christmas Party Pressies

I have finally taken photos of the beautiful gifts I received last Tuesday, these girls are so thoughtful and generous......

Tereasa gave these lovely old worldie gift tags and my favourite candles from Dusks....

Teresa made this lovely "Quilters Journal"  can't wait to get a few things entered in it....... its great, the little gingerbread house will be eaten very soon.

I wish I could show you each page but there are too many so this is just a little peek.

This is a very nice christmas plate but of course there were yummie home made goodies on it but guess who attacked it before the piccie...... yep me and Gavan...... they were good too, it was wrapped so beautifully with the tartan ribbon and cellophane by Laurel (no blog)  she is the cook of the group .... looked good enough to eat so we did.

Last but not least is the lovely Sandi and as you can see she made a terrific wall hanging.... love the verse..... and a covered note book.

Thank you very much girls, I love all these fantastic gifts.... you are all so very special.

Mouldy Oldies.......

Its our 48th wedding anniversary today.

Ohhh my goodness, has it really been so long.....
Our photos are now looking very old but I guess we are probably looking that way too lol.
Gavan was so nervous that I thought he would fall over.

 

It was such a hot day in Sydney all those years ago but here we are today looking forward to many more years together.

Party day and the Ugly Fat quarter.

These girls are fantastic and I love them, they do look very innocent in this piccie but....... they can be very naughty..... trust me....... hehehehehe
I see that Teresa has beaten me to blogland but thats ok.

                              
Yes I know.... I'm the only silly one but there is   nothing like a cute set of antlers, the flower pot was a gift in the advent swap, I was just showing the girls how it wiggled.

                                                         The Ugly fat quarter story.

It arrived in our group sometime ago with 1 girl and then was passed on to another and so on, I was the last to get it so I made little finger pin cushions out of it so now we all have a piece of the ...... Ugly Fat quarter..... I guess you had to be there to see the funny side of it, as you can see the girls got a shock when they opened their gift boxes.

                              I made them open all at the same time and the laughter was so loud. 

                                                               Ta....da.....dah.....

I'm such a silly duffer though as I forgot to take photos of the gifts I gave and haven't yet taken any of the beautiful gifts I received but I will add them later.

Thanks girls for another fantastic day and I look forward to the new year ahead with you all as my stitching buddies.

Swaps and my decortations.

More great gifts from Gai, this Advent swap organised by Fee is so much fun...... I am repeating myself  here again..... but it really is.

Hand Cream.... essential stuff.
Coffee Mug with coffee and tea bag..... also essential.
Biscuits...... to go with the mug of course.
Lollies.... well that goes without saying.
Tree ornies..... very cute.
Fridge magnet.....funny "Cook's Motto..... Got more time for misbehavin, since I started MICROWAVING"
and last but not least a cute little flower pot, you can't see it but it does wiggle



Our "Friends in Stitching" online group also has a christmas swap with 5 little gifts and a main gift for the big day, mine arrived yesterday from  ......... can't tell who its from though as some of the girls don't know who their parners are yet.... its all a bit hush hush

 I needed to make this table topper quickly, while decorating for christmas realised I didn't have anything to put on the table so ..... tah  dah.......  this is what I came up with, I'm very pleased with it too..... as you can tell I love red..... christmas or not really.

Ooooo thats an OPAM too. 

Thought while I was taking piccies of swaps and finishes I would show you some of my christmas decorations that I've made and been given over the years, its great to get them out and remember some of the lovely gifts made by other friends too.

Of course I had to show my "Tis the Season" quilt taking pride of place in my lounge room, turned out to be a perfect fit for that piece of wall.... I must say though it was more good luck than good management.

Love this quilt too, I made it in 2006 with my Tuesday girls, a bit of a sitich-a-long together.

So many memories of times with friends stitching away together.

                                    Of course a christmas tree, with lots of handmade ornies.

                                   Yes I'm a bit dolly made I know.

                         This is my "Be Merry" quilt, made in 2004.

I didn't realise just how much red is in my home but hey I love it so thats all that matters.

I'd  like to wish everyone a very Happy Christmas and hope all your wishes come true, of course if you have been very very good I'm sure Santa will bring you lots of goodies too.

Thanks for all your lovely comments over the year, its great to have you visit my blog.

                                           MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE.

More birthday goodies and Advent swap

More lovely gifts, our online group "Friends in Stitching" have a birthday swap and I was lucky to have Razzy send to me, the town where Razzy lives starts with the letter "G" so all gifts had to begin with that.

My gifts are wonderful,
Gob stopper... hehehehe she does know me well, hubbie liked that one.
Green fat quarter.
Gail Pan design green tablerunner, beautiful.
Gingerbread babies.... yummie.
Gingerbread buttons inside the card, I wish we had smellinet, they do smell good enough to eat.

Thanks so much girls and a special thank you to Roseanne, I love them all.



Beautifully stitched too.

                                  There is a book mark there on the side of the card too.

More goodies from the Advent swap, my partner is Gai (no blog), its so much fun getting a little gift every morning. These are gifts 4 to 10 .... loving this swap.

                               Decorations, lovely tin, Christmas cards and tags, pins and note book.

                            other very cute decoration..... the 1 and only Santa.

 Looking forward to this weeks gifts.

Thanks Gai these are wonderful.

I'm a lucky birthday girl.

I am such a lucky girl, it was my birthday on the 9th December and I had a terrific day with hubbie, Corinne and Kenny at the Sunshine Coast. We went to a lovely Italian restaurant called "Arnica's"  the view was great too as you can see in these piccies.



Good food, good company.... what else could one ask for.

                                Oooops got into the desert before the photo, it was yummie.

 
 Corinne and Kenny gave me these terrific gifts, they know me well..... I love chocolates and Christmas decorations.

                            Gavan gave me this lovely gold locket and oh no..... more choccies.....

Heather and June gave me this beautiful lavender soap, infuser mug and pocket dairy.

It was a really terrific day.