Bit of this and that

Not another "Country Keepsake" doll by Annie Smith...... yes it is, please meet "Sugar Plum" and of course she is as cute as her name.... I love making these dolls... as if you hadn't guessed that already. Thats an OPAM too, first finish for this year..... I have been doing lots but ongoing projects that will take a while to finish.

I thought I would pop in a small project amongst the larger ones as I need a new needle case so that makes it even better.

More shopping too, this is for a very simple table topper.

Saturday dolly girls working hard, don't they look serious.... well just in this photo. We are all making a simple quilt "Floral Dreams" by Quilters Barn bit of a change from dolls and a learning quilt for a couple of ladies.

                                    Love the fabric for this one.

Last but not least..... last Tuesday we had these 2 lovely ladies from our FIS group visit us for a bit of stitching... I have known both ladies for some years online so it was great to meet in person and it was just as though we had been together for years and years.....we  managed to get in a little bit of stitching between all the chatting and laughing.

                    De from QLD.. Vicki from Tassie.. me..Tereasa .. Teresa.

                    Thank you ladies for making our day so enjoyable.

Proud memories of being an Aussie overseas.

Happy Australia Day to Aussies everywhere.
I hope you have had a terrific day.

This day has brought back memories of being a proud Aussie overseas.....
June 2008 I was very fortunate to be at the World Choir Games in Austria with my g/daughter...Corinne and my daughter ... Heather, marching in the streets of Graz proudly waving our Aussie flags and of course shouting.......



Aussie Aussie Aussie.... OI...OI... OI  

                                It was great to see this Kangaroo cafe too.

Waiting for the medal presentations, hoping our girls are rewarded for all their hard work.

The girls are in the front  (wearing white tops) it was also being broadcast on television in Austria.

Our choir "Cantabile" won 3 gold medals so they did Australia very proud.

         Corinne (the little girl in the centre) with a few friends, we had a fantastic time.

 A once in a life time chance that I will never forget and  to enjoy it with my daughter and g/daughter was very special.

I have been busy crafting but not a lot to show at the moment.
Here is block 3 of my Earl Grey Moment quilt by "Faeires in My Garden" so all is going to plan with this so far, Jenny is keeping me on track.

This has been slow going but trying to make some headway with it now, "Twilight Garden"  from Faeries in My Garden again but this design is by Maureen Latta, love these fabrics, this is a wallhanging.

                                          Centre panel

                                      There are 20 of these little crazy patch blocks.

I had a shocking senior moment last week which is why I can't show what I've been working on ..... don't you just hate it when you make terrible mistakes..... there I was cutting happily away and then it hit me, I'm supposed to be fussy cutting the borders and didn't so had to buy more fabric..... grrrrrr stupid.


So hopefully I will get back to that later.

First post for the New Year

My first post for the New Year is a Birthday Wish for my big brother Tom ..... here he is when we were young doing the "big brother" thing..... I didn't like Santa very much so he made sure I didn't miss out on telling the big guy what I wanted for Christmas. 
                                                                    
                                  Love to you and I hope you have had a great day.

Well I'm doing my first bit of sewing for this year too and can't wait to get all my new plans into action, I'm sorry for keeping everyones mojo last year but alas I still seem to have it so off  I go while the mojo's hot.

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.