Have a Heart...

... and please help me out with this dilemma.

This is a ufo that i found a couple of weeks ago when looking for some fabrics.  Today I decided to finish it off but am undecided how to.  The mini stitchery is a tree with hearts growing on it.  I found quite a few heart buttons in my stash.  Some are all one colour which is the same colour as the phrase and flowers stitched on the block.

Option 1

And the other choice is different shades of pink/red which I think adds more depth and I can add some pinky bits to the flowers too for a more balanced look. Are those 2 red ones too much? They look alright in the natural light.

Option 2

Oh what to do, what to do?

I haven't been around much this week but, believe me, I have been stitching with my threaded needle.  Let me give you a sneak peek on my "Friends with Benefits Swap" project....just a peek!!

I wasn't wearing my glasses when I took this shot and I didn't intend for this photo to be so out of focus but it worked out well, since I don't want to reveal too much!!

Keep your needles threaded!

Taken by Surprise and Tuesday Treasure

I have had some lovely surprises over the last couple of days.  My package arrived from Melody @ The House on the Side of the Hill on Monday. What a sweet little surprise....a piece of adorable fabric, embroidery fabric, thread and buttons, a scissors fob and a gorgeous little stitchery book from Michelle Ridgway. Thank you so very much....I love it all!

Today I went to my sewing group and listened to a demo on Sashiko. It is not something that I have a yearning to do but one of the ladies there did a tour of Japan a couple of years ago and has done nothing but Sashiko since she returned....totally addicted. It was interesting and I certainly admire her work. And then it was time for another suprise.  As some of you may remember, it was my birthday a couple of weeks ago but I have not been to sewing group in that time so Kaye, from Apatchy Quilting, had a birthday present waiting for me.  A couple of  devine fat 1/4s, buttons, stitchery pattern, key ring and notepaper

These little things really lifted my spirits this week and made me think of all the lovely people I have met and befriended through this craft that I love and this week they are going to be my Tuesday Treasure along with some amazingly talented lovely ladies I have come to know via blogging.

Oooh, one more piccie....Lila has taken to sitting on the chair I use when outside visiting with my girls.  She is one quirky pooch!!!

 Hoping to get some sewing done tomorrow!


xoxoxox

You would think it was Spring.....

.....but actually, down under,  we are heading into Autumn.  Spring is popping up all over blogland along with stunning pictures of new life budding on trees and poking through snow. Not Spring here but the change of seasons is so welcome where I live in Brisbane. The humidity is finally settling down and the last two days have been delightfully sunny, breezy and cool. Someone ought to tell my Tibouchina tree as it seems confused and is chockers with new buds.

It is very pretty though and I see it every day when I look out of my sitting room window.

When I was out snapping photos of the Tibouchina, I got a cute one of Callie the dog. Not sure what she spotted but it was certainly intriguing!!

And finally, how's this for a banana.....Man of the House found this at the fruitshop (a banana twin)  and shared it with me for breakfast today

 No sewing.....I have been really busy at work and put in some extra hours and today, despite the beautiful weather, I feel headachey and lethargic.

My needle is definately threaded though!
xoxoxox

Lotsa Duck Legs

I didn't achieve as much in my Wednesday class as I wanted to. It obviously takes longer than I expected to trace pattern pieces  and iron them onto the correct fabric, then cut them out and assemble them on to the background...even with Sally's help.  Guess the talking doesn't help either!

Even though I seemed to get on better than everyone else I only managed to get "mama duck" completed and ready for ironing to the background (ps. the black is not my background) and the rest of the family look like "Bits 'n Bobs"

Lotsa Duck Legs and some chicken ones thrown in too! Don't worry, these will all be turned into baby ducks and a confused baby chicken!

While I was at the shop I picked up a range of fabrics that I thought would go well with these tiny little hangers.  Can you guess what I am making with them?

 I am linking up with Karen's FAFF on Sew Many Ways. Head over and see if you can make a new friend.  If you have directed here from FAFF, then welcome and thank you for visiting.

Keep those needles threaded!


xoxoxox

Honey, what happened to you?

When I woke up yesterday morning my Lila looked like this

Fluffy and soft with lots of fur just like a Labradoodle furbaby should look!!

A couple of hours later and this is what I have

A.........W...Wh....Whippet??!!

She looks hilarious and even Callie was quite taken aback and thought another dog had come to visit. She just had to have a clip due to really horrendous knots in her fur since we got her but now I have a fab new fur detangler to sort that out when it starts growing again.  We have never seen her clipped before and everyone was in shock at how tiny she really is.  Callie never looked more like a big boofie Labrador than she did today.

Nawwww!

poor bubby! - nevermind it will grow back soon!

I am off for my sewing group with Sally now...ready for block 3!

Hope you have your needles threaded!
xoxoxox

Tuesday Treasure - Quilt Challenge

For this weeks Tuesday Treasure, I am revisiting my journey for:

A Yorkshire Dream

This was a quilt challange for the end of year 2011 Xmas Party at my quilting group. The challenge was to make a quilt that depicted your birthday.  The only criteria was to use the colour of my birthstone (either a lot or a little)

 

I was born in Yorkshire and wanted to make that part of my quilt. So an idea began to form in my head but I had no idea how to proceed so I thought I would start with a sky and I wanted to piece it so I cut 2.5" strips, then cross cut them into 2.5" strips and then sewed these into 9 patch squares.

 And before too long I had a piece of patchwork that would work well as a sky.
Everything was going as expected but without a pattern, I was unsure how to create the hills I had in mind. Next step was to google for a picture of hills that would suit my image.....

I think I found the right one and so now to add the hills to the picture....not sure if I used the best method for this but I just went with my instinct and it turned out ok.

 Adding a Jonquil by raw edge applique

And a fence and then comes the bit that I was dreading the most..............freemotion quilting!!! I was sure I would ruin it at this stage.

A close-up view of the raw edge applique of the fence.

These trees were a last addition but necessary to hide an oopsie....quilted with little pebbles and look great...so far so good!

the raw edge applique horses....just magical! what a clever sewing machine I have!

After I added the border, I thought it lacked some oomph, so I fm quilted some pebbles all the way around. My mum says this depicts the coal from Yorkshire. I never thought of that.

And here it is.  I got 3rd place for my little quilt and was really chuffed as this was my first ever quilt challenge entry and it has become a "Treasure" to me.

All the clues are here, wonder if you can decipher the month and year of my birth date?

Tomorrow is a new day....

.... and a new week for me. So what have I achieved this week.  Tuesday I had lunch with my Bestie, Helen and didn't get any sewing done but we did plenty of chatting.  I was able to finish the stitching on another "My Garden" block later that evening.

Wednesday was my sewing day with Sally and even though a week early I was happy to show her my two finished blocks for "Farmyard Frolic"

can't wait until this upcoming wednesday to start on block 3.  After class I had lunch with my sewing amigos and there was lots of discussion about our upcoming shop-hop trip in April.

Thursday and Friday are working days for me.  I do admin for a retail store and it is full on but I do often get the urge to head home and spend the day sewing instead.....maybe next year, I can become a full time quilter! Friday was my birthday and so I drew the winner of my birthday give-away and here is a little peek of what I made.

I don't know what happened to Saturday although I spent a great deal of it in blogland but today I have been having a serious think about my Friends with Benefits swap.  I had kind off decided on an idea but I couldn't get my head around how I would do it without a pattern ... it just wasn't working and then at some stage yesterday I was flicking through some "creation inspiration" and came across the perfect project.  So to the stash station to audition some fabrics and this was what I came up with...

I hope these are saturated jewel tones

While i was going through my fabric stash (which needs a serious sorting out) I came across 3 UFO's that I had completely forgotten about.  Something to add to my list of things to do for the month.

Keep your needles threaded!


xoxoxox

Finding new Friends

Reading Karen, Sew Many Ways, blog called Find a Friend Friday, I found a number of new blogs that I found interesting and subsequently clicked "follow". It got me thinking how many other blogs were out there that would be of interest.  And so I started trawling the internet. There are so many talented people out there, it leaves me in awe!  It takes a long time to read through all the news found here everyday but I don't want to miss a thing! Now I have added at least another 15 blogs to my follow list, I may never enter the Creation Station again :D

I always like to add a photo to my posts....This is a little quilt I made back in 2009 for my favourite Manager, June, when she retired.

And that's all folks!


xoxoxox

Drum roll please!!!

And the winner is:

Congratulations Rosie.....please email me your address and I will get your giveaway surprise in the post at my earliest convenience. Hope you like cupcakes!!

Thanks to everyone who entered my first ever Give away.....I had so much fun reading all your comments.

It was all drawn the old fashioned way

All names scrunched up and added to a bowl

And as mr R was here helping me connect up my new hard drive dvd recorder, I got him to draw out the name.

Speaking of mr R, he and mr A (aka..my two sons) suprised me today by having a bunch of tulips delivered to my work.  I was rendered totally emotional by this gesture and by the card that accompanied them.

Tulips are my favourite

Miss M didn't forget me, she bought me a pile of fat quarters....mmmm, that girl knows the way to my heart.

xoxoxox

JUST ONE DAY LEFT

Hurry, hurry, hurry.......one day left till I draw my Birthday Giveaway.  I have been busy looking for goodies along the theme of "cupcakes" to send the lucky winner who will be drawn tomorrow. Also a handmade goodie but don't worry, I won't be baking!

Just click on the cupcake on my sidebar and this will take you to the give away post.  Become a follower and leave a comment on the post to go in the draw.  Simple as that!

xoxoxox

Just a Peek

I am just going to toot my own horn here because with a week and a bit to go and I have finished stitching two blocks of farmyard frolics.  Oh, Sally is going to be so proud of me.  I have a bit of a reputation for not finishing my "homework" and getting way behind everyone else. So here is just a peek of what I have achieved so far!!

These are the 'fluffy' little chicks - look weird without their eyes finished

and this is part of the finished foal

Hope you have your needles threaded for another week of stitching!



xoxoxox