Trying to catch up!!!

Oh dear, life is just so busy. I am embarking on a new adventure in my life and am totally consumed. I have decided it's time to leave the Primary classroom and create my own classes for adults.......what will you teach you ask???????.......well sewing of course!!!!!!! It is all very exciting and all a bit daunting too. I have been in the school education system all my life and now am entering the business world.....yeeks, so much to get your head around.......ABNs, insurance, business registration, a name for myself......etc, etc.......well I seem to identify with Shiralee Stitches now (Shiralee is the name of our beef cattle property here at the Clarence River), so I am now Shiralee Stitches in business name too. As well as lessons I hope to sell some specialist tools, and also some fabrics. I may even try my hand at putting a few designs down on paper....more on that later.......But. needless to say whilst my head has been in a spin, there have been deadlines to meet and I need to catch up.

My dear friend here has just emailed a friendly reminder about the nine patch swap......oops.......she will be surprised when I post the belated March ones AND the April ones too..........hehe.......

I picked up these fabrics from Kerry in Nundle recently, she has beautiful reproduction fabrics....

So March and April ticked off the list............

I hope you are enjoying great health and finding time to sew......

A lovely Weekend at Girls Day in the Country

By now you will have seen lots of photos of our weekend away recently at the lovely town of Nundle, NSW to visit the annual Girls Day in the Country hosted by the ever-lovely Kerry Swain.

This year Sue Daley was the guest tutor inspiring us with all her English Paper Piecing.

But the weekend is even more than the Saturday event in the hall.........all weekend it is an opportunity to catch up with friends, share sewing projects, gossip, laughs, meals together, etc with our friends and bloggers. Words cannot describe how lovely it is to spend the weekend in the company of such wonderful ladies all with a common interest in sewing patchwork and quilting. Some ladies travel great distances to attend.

Here are a few photos.......

 Shopping at Kerry's Cottage on the Hill..........a real treat........

 Show and Tell on the lawn with drinkies of course.....

 Dinners out.......

 Extra special friends.......

 .....more show and tell...............

 Our cabin foursome........we had a ball.........

The annual bloggers photo......it is wonderful to have so many friends from the bloggy world all together enjoying each others company.........

Many thanks to Kerry for all the organising........more photos of Saturday to follow soon........and thanks to the special lady who first introduced me to blogging and took me under her wing (literally!!!....lol...) and introduced me around on my first GDITC a couple of years ago.........it was great to see you again......and this year another little birdie found a special place in my heart too, as we shared our cabin together and got to know each other heaps more...........talk about laugh all the time!!!.....it was fantastic...........

I hope you are all having a lovely Easter, mine has been quiet, just lovely.........I will share some sewing when I get behind the camera and take a few piccies...........

A rush to the finish line......

Oh boy, I am a slack blogger, so long between posts. There is a reason and all will be revealed soon, but for now I have been sewing helter skelter to finish 2 projects by the end of the month.....just made it!!!!.....whew!!!!

Firstly a lovely bag by our favourite Natalie Bird of The Birdhouse. This one is being made by stitchers far and wide across the globe as part of the Stitch-a-long.

 It was originally designed with a stitchery in the centre, but i preferred the applique off the quilt in the same book.....Red Home is the book's name.

The back....I love this soft delicate pattern on the fabric. French General fabrics.....yummy.....

And the next thing I needed to meet the deadline for, a pile of 9 patch blocks for Trish's nine patch swap.......all in reproduction fabrics, which I cannot buy locally so our dear friend Kerry from Nundle's Cottage on the Hill came to the rescue.....she is such a sweetie and actually cut these at about after 10 at night for me .....thankyou and big hugs Kerry. I love the green, it will really brighten up the stack when we get the mix back........

....so I am in a state of relief now.....off to our local craft day today.......very wet here...........I hope you all get a chance to do a little on your craft today.......

First Project Finished for 2013....woohoo...

Wow, only early in the year and I have finished something, yes FINISHED!!!!.....This is only due to the inspiration and driving force of my fellow stitchers of Chookyblues Stitch-a-long which I am happy to be a part of again this year.

During the month of January our task was to make a little thread catcher from Natalie Birds book Red Home.......here are mine, I made 2....too cute!!!!

The house fabric is a fat qtr I picked up whilst on holiday in Tasmania as a souvenir, so to speak, as it reminded me of the countryside there, so I am happy to have made it into something I will use in my sewing space all the time.........

Now I plan to have a little snooze from bloggyland as I spend some quality time with the family before work looms again.......we plan some beach visits, some serious shopping (for the 16yr old daughter!!!), and time with friends having BBQS etc.........not sure if too much sewing will be achieved during this time,  so you had better keep the needles busy for me!!!!.....I am sure that there are lots of my bloggy sewing buddies out there always set ready to help out when asked to sew!!!.....lol......

I hope you are all enjoying the fresh start of a new year and keeping to those New Years Resolutions!!

Santa Came..........and I finished a quilt.........

Well, my friends, we had a lovely Christmas Day and it seems in blogland that many others did too. That Santa man seems to always please, especially when a certain little Chookyblue has a hand in the organising!!!!. Again this year I joined in the Secret Santa Christmas Swap hosted by my dear friend, Chookyblue. This year I posted to Portugal, and my parcel arrived from Belgium..........

Of course I left my main present till Christmas Day, as the rules say you must..............this is what I had tucked away in my parcel......

 ......a gorgeous wallhanging.............

 ....cute little Christmas children, gorgeous satin binding, and all hand quilted.......just stunning.....

Big hugs and thanks to Martine.......I love it..........But wait there's more...........

 ............a lot of other lovelies too.......the cutest reindeer, lovely ribbon, some syrup, sweet to try soon, and missing from the piccie because they were too yummy to wait for the camera to take a photo, were a box of Belgium Guylian chocolates......YUMMY...........I was totally spoilt........

......and huge thanks to Martine, and to Chookyblue, our secret santa elf..........

.......and now for a BIG "Ta-Da" moment.........for ages now I have been plodding away on my Some Kind OF Wonderful quilt, designed by my all time favourite lady, Anni Downs. I say plodding, because I needleturned the appliques and it was very time consuming, but well worth it........

I have finally completed the quilting, trying to create something close to the flowers and vines quilted on Anni's original........no special machines here, just the trusty Pfaff, and some staying power!!!

Well here'tis.........a couple of different photos, weather changed and I couldn't decide which one showed it off best, so you're getting both!!!.......this one looks all quilty with the light on it........

 ......and this one better for the appliques.........

 .....of course you want to check out the quilting more closely.....don't you????

I am so pleased to be able to report this quilt as finished......it was being completed as part of a Stitch-a-long group, headed by Chookyblue, and the deadline has come and gone......but only just!!

Now with the start of a New Year about to begin, I must go and seek out some new project to keep the little fingers busy.......don't worry, that job won't be hard, there's plenty to choose from!!!!.....Haha.....

I do hope you are all enjoying the Christmas/New Year season doing things you love with the people closest to your heart.........................

Happy Mail from across the seas........

How exciting this week to find my SSCS (Secret Santa Christmas Swap)  parcel at the post office.
All the way from Belgium.......from Bizzy Martine, and look what I found in the box.......

Loads of little pressies for me, and THE BIG ONE which must remain under the tree till Christmas Day......Chooky's rules!!..........and I will be good...............

 I was allowed to open this one now........a gorgeous ornament for the tree.......isn't he just the cutest?

 .........and Martine has attached her own label to the back which makes it even more special....
Big hugs to you Martine, I love my little reindeer ornament and I can't wait to open my parcel on Christmas Day.

I am spending time today to put all the Christmas decorations up........a bit late I know, but this past few weeks has been a bit crazy here........and the craziness hasn't stopped yet.......

I hope you are all gearing up for Christmas in the happiest of ways........

Santa's on his way across the seas while I quilt.....

I have a busy little elf making a secret something for Chooky's secret santa swap, SSCS.............can't show.....sshh............santa's sleigh it's on his way to the far away continents to deliver it to_______someone special..........so exciting to be part of this swap, as now I wait for the sleigh to deliver me a special something from some far away place too........woohoo...........

While the sleighbells are ringing away from here, I have finally begun a quilting job that has had me longing to start for some time .................my Some Kind of Wonderful quilt, the Stitch-a-long quilt........well I have begun to quilt it...............a long process.......

Planning

Preparing and pinning

 more pinning.......

.....and then for the quilting.............the best bit...........

I decided to go with a design similar to Anni's original..........flowers and a trailing vine with leaves and some swirls................I'll show you close-ups shortly.............

Must get back to it now........hope you're having a nice weekend doing something you love......

Just made it!!!!!.........

The stitch-a-long deadline is very close, like a night away!!!!......so I have been sewing helter skelter and finally have a completed quilt top to share....whew....(wiping brow!!!)

Sadly work and play have interrupted the finishing schedule so sandwiching, quilting and binding will be on hold for now.

.......so......drum roll please...........here 'tis........my Some Kind of Wonderful quilt top.....

I have enjoyed all the applique, although needleturning is so very time consuming, but I am pleased with the result.......

My friend and stitch-a-long 'supervisor' (whip cracker!!!!) will be very pleased to hear of this quilt top finish as many who started with the SAL in the beginning are a long way from the finish line......

I have been up to Brisbane for the Craft Fair since I last posted....and.....um......well......there was some damage, of the $$$$ kind if you get my drift!!!!!........oh well......I am sure they were all necessary purchases.....I'm quite sure!!!!!!!.......more of that to follow........

Some "Wonderful" Progress.....

Oh Gee, if you've been following the Stitch-a-long quilts in progress, you'll know that Chooky, our 'supervisor' has been cracking her whip!!!!.........and I have felt the blows as I was way behind........so I have been working flat-out, but it's hard to speed up needleturn!!!!........lol...........

So here it is all layed out, my Some Kind of Wonderful quilt in progress, by Anni Downs.........

Not all the appliques are complete.........

...............notice the tree!!!......boy those flowers are fiddly to needleturn, so I seem to have left them for now and moved onto something speedier!!!!........lol........

I have a purse for shopping instead of chocolates, and wine bottle and glass instead of a chair, oh and shells for the beach in the foreground instead of a cat!!!!.....just a few altered blocks to make it more personal...........I'll take some close-ups soon, but need to move them to a better light for that.........

Visitors this weekend so must move it all shortly.......

Quilting with Gold thread........

For the first time, I am using a metallic thread in my machine to give my William Morris wallhanging a very rich appeal to it..........

 I had to buy one of these stands for the thread so it feeds off the spool properly.

I anticipated loads of problems, but having bought a good quality thread it's been a breeze and I'm very happy with the look on this project. I had a few breaks with the thread, but not many..........

I plan to sit and sew some more of my Some Kind of Wonderful blocks tonight, so hopefully there'll be a photo shoot tomorrow!!........I can hear Chooky's whip and it's making me move!!!....lol........anyone else finding the needleturn never-ending??????................enjoyable, but never-ending!!!

Oh, and one last bit of news from me........I have been having trouble keeping 'connected' with all my blogging and emails as life gets busy so have asked my friends how to overcome the issue........buy a phone that can help,or a laptop for portability???..... and from their advice, I now have a laptop on it's way to a local store for me (and I mean only me, no kids allowed!!....lol......as that's half the trouble, finding the computer free!!!!).....so soon I'll be joining the ranks of the multi-taskers.....cooking dinner as I check emails etc........can't wait to make better use of my time.......at present the computer is in a verandah room away from the central living area, so soon I'll have one close at hand..............

Hope you're having a great weekend.......