Gabi's Scrap Quilt Done

Last night I finished the scrap quilt for my cousins daughter It has many flaws but I'm sure Gabi will love it and treasure it all the more because it was made from her late Grandmothers scraps
I am fairly happy with the way it turned out, all things considered
The boys played their last game of football for the season today and both lost It was freezing Can,t say I,m sorry it's over. Danielle came home with me
She is working on a very large project for school and she has chosen to do it on quilting so we spent the afternoon researching the history and she has just made four pinwheel blocks to be used as samples
One she will leave as patchwork, the next one she has basted, the third we will quilt(very simply) and the last we will finish
The project doesn't have to be finished until November then they have a night for interested people to view the finished projects
The students chose what ever topic they want
I think Anthony is doing his on weapons
Last year he did it on Nitro Trucks This is Danielle's first I think her mother chose the topic so I can help
In this project parental help is encouraged

Paper Bag Swap Parcel Has Arrived

My paper bag swap parcel came in the mail today All the way from Texas I received some lovely gifts as well as the beautiful wall hanging

She also sent me some American quilting magazines a Texas keyring A Texas cookbook and some gorgeous material with which I have to make something nice for myself to remind me of her

Thankyou Barbara

Go visit her and say Hi

She has a photo of a quilt someone made for their car I love it

Her blog is http://panhandlesuesquiltingspot.blogspot.com/

I'm sure she would love you to drop by

Quilt Blocks

Managed a bit of sewing today Made a new chair pad for the dining room chair because the other one was worn out
My cousin came to visit last Christmas and her 11 year old asked me if I'd make her a quilt using her late Grandmothers material
The material was posted to me and not a peice of cotton material in sight So today I made a start and did these two blocks Some applique will go on the centre square
It's a little difficult because all the material is different weights
Hopefully I can make something reasonable from what I have been given to work with

I can't believe I have a 16 year old grandson

I have been taking things a bit easy this past few days Hurt my back and havent been able to sit for to long
Today my eldest grandson turned 16 I just can't believe I have a grandchild that age He was very excited as he got his Learners permit to drive this morning I snapped him as he came to show his Pop and I that he passed He loved his saw AWESOME he said
Lorraine and Jim arrived home safely last weekend after touring around the country for the past two months It was lovely to see her looking so well and happy Thats her in the back of the car
She has come back with hair and it looks beautiful She only had a bit of fluff when she left
She had scans last Monday and will get the results next week Hopefully her bubble won't be burst It's lovely to see her back to her bubbly self The holiday has done wonders for her
Still raining and cold here Hopefully I can sit long enough tomorrow to get some sewing done

Paper Bag Swap

I recently participated in the Snickerdoodle Paper Bag swap
These are the goodies I made for my partner Barbara in Texas She received them last week and I think was quite pleased
The Victorian needle case was what I made for her from the lovely peices she sent The rest were just a few little extras
Now Iam waiting patiently for my parcel to arrive

Motor bike quilt

I have a little time before Iam off to school for the Kitchen class with my grandson

As I haven't had many finishes lately I decided to show one of my earlier quilts

I have been working on christmas presents so haven't been entirely idle

I made this quilt for my eldest grandson who is motor bike mad as is the younger one

I found an old doona cover at the op shop which I used for the centre panel and the backing was also a doona cover with BMX bikes on it

Not entirely recycled as I purchased the fabric for the borders

My nephew has a similar one I made for him

Iam pleased to say at ages 15 and 16 they still use them

It is a beautiful winters day here today I really should be in the garden Never mind, the weeds will still be there tomorrow...............and the next day ...................... and the day after that....................

Jess' 18th Birthday

Thought I'd share a family photo with you Taken at my neices 18th birthday party last Saturday night
Some family members managed to avoid this photo My Mum and son in law actually
Pictured are myself and hubby,2 Grandsons ,brother in law, youngest daughter ,nephew,,and in the front my sister then the birthday girl and my grand daughter
We had a great night
My elder daughter rang last night She is having a wonderful holiday and they are now slowly making their way home She has to be back for scans on the 27th Her health is holding up fairly well aparently

Brooch

Yesterday we went to my sisters house for a party for my neices 18th birthday Time goes by so quickly
We stayed the night and came home today in time to go to a craft afternoon at my friends house She had bought kits and we made brooches I found it a bit fiddly and my eyes are not the best Anyway I was quite happy with the result
Not the best photo I'm afraid but you should get the general idea

Begonias in my Carport

The begonias in the front of my car port are looking lovely at the moment.
Jack Frost paid us a visit this morning and hung around until after 9.00am The water in the bird bath was frozen until much later
It turned into a beautiful day afterwards though and I managed a little gardening
I still have the grandchildren They will go home tomorrow afternoon and back to school next Monday
The house is always so quiet after they go home and I do miss them

Saw Painting

My eldest grandson is going to be 16 on the 30th of this month I was pretty pleased when he asked me if I could paint him a saw for his birthday He liked the one I did for his Dad a while ago
As I have said ,I'm a complete novice and my friend Nadia comes over and adds a few brush strokes and brings them to life
Grandson is interested in motor bikes so I decided to do him a saw with a motor bike I printed a photo of him on his bike to copy (well try to copy) I have to say Nadia did the bike
Then Nadia painted some flowers and I did one as well No prizes for guessing which is mine
Anyway I'm fairly pleased with it and its all my own work Nadia hasn't touched it
Still windy and cold here Footy tomorrow Oh Iam a devoted Nana

Flowers from Merimbula

Cold wet and a biting wind the last few days The grandchildren are on school holidays so they have been here the last three days Went home tonight Mostly they have been watching telly
I have been busy trying to declutter Realy don't know where to start
I loved these flowers I saw in Merimbula Never seen them here Wondered what they are Maybe pionsetta?
Iam planning some sewing tonight Sit by the nice warm fire with some applique I think

walking tracks

Merimbula

Well I,m back all refreshed and relaxed from a lovely week in Merimbula
Just sharing a couple of photo's with you and will post more another time
Hubby did a spot of fishing Didn't catch any thing though Funny thing He and another bloke were fishing a few metres apart and neither were catching anything when this young chap threw in a line between the two and imediately caught a beautiful big salmon followed quickly by three more
He gave us one which I cooked for tea
Hubby was using expensive bait and the chap catching the fish was usuing a $6.00 hook thing with no bait
I did lots of walking Pictured is one trail I explored which followed the coast Hubby pictured on the beach below
There were in fact two lovely patchwork shops and a little shop that sold sewing machines and cheap nice patchwork fabric I picked up a few plains for my stash
Thre was also a great bead shop so got a few beads and charms there
Now back to reality

Gifts

I have only been blogging for a short while and I can't believe how many wonderful people I have come across in that time
Yesterday I received a package from one of these new found friends
Iam quite overwhelmed with the kindness of these people
I got this lovely sewing wrap , beautifully made
Also included was a memo pad some material a little box for my charms or whatever and a pin cushion
I love them all Thankyou Lyn
On Sunday we are going away for a week for a much needed holiday Just going up the coast into NSW and spending a week in Merimbula
Iam told there is a good patchwork shop there Hope so

Christmas Decoration

I have had a busy week but don't seem to have achieved anything reallyTwo mornings at the school seems to take a lot out of my week

Had a lovely day yesterday Two girlfriends took me to see another friend at Berwick and we went to her craft group Make and Mingle

She showed us how to make these Christmas tree decorations

The photo is of hers Not mine I have made three of the little squares so far

I love living on the outskirts of a little country town but I would so like to have a craft/patchwork shop close by I can only get supplies when we have a day away and unfortunately that doesn't happen very often. I had hoped to look at some patchwork shops yesterday but we ran out of time

Stipple Quilting

I have been trying to learn to stipple quilt I did one quilt that looked ok on the back but since then I have been getting little loops at the back

I know Iam doing something wrong but dont know what

Can any body give me some advice I would be very grateful

Very cold here this past week Went to see my Mum today and the wind over there was bitterly cold Good weather for staying inside and crafting Am working on Christmas presents

DAN MADE A BAG

Another cold day It must be snowing somewhere
Danielle did some sewing and made this cute bag and made some pancakes for lunch
Neither of my girls sew so it's nice to have someone to teach Iam sure she will ,in the future be much better at crafts than I ever could be
Anthony did pay me a nice compliment though He said Dan learnt from the best
Aren't kids gorgeous? They never see the faults

A QUILT FOR MY SISTER

A QUILT FOR MY SISTER

I made this quilt last year for my sisters birthday Her birthday is next Friday No handmade gifts this year

It has been really cold here today The grandchildren have been watching movies and I was sewing the binding on some Christmas presents when some old friends dropped in for a visit which was lovely

My chooks are laying well at the moment so I think we will have quiche and salad for tea but Anthony says he's allergic to quiche ( I think he means he doesn't like it)

SRAPAWAY

Sometimes I can't believe the silly things I do!!!!
I took lots of lovely photos of our weekend away' had them printed thus morning then deleted them off my camera so all I can show you are a few of the pages I completed
We had a lovely weekend Always nice not to have to cook and clean and have all the time in the day for doing something I love
The only down side which was really quite funny was that this year we had to share a room with two other ladies
The accomadation is bunk style' six bunks to a room Lynda had befriended a young woman at last years event so she and her 22 year old cousin were put in with us Don't know what they thought about sharing with this old Granny but were very nice girls and really we only slept in the room
And there was the problem The 22 year old snored ALL night and I mean all night
The rest of us got little sleep so it was good to get home to my own bed
Aine and Jim left yesterday with the caravan for a two month trip around Australia Let's hope her health holds up