A gift

I have probably said before but, Roseanne and Myself usually make each other something for Christmas and for our Birthday's (both in May), and generally we are quite busy at both of those times, so we always swap our gift a month or so later.

I had planned to make her one of these baskets for SO long (I even borrowed her book for the pattern hahaha), and I have had the fabrics to make them all for AGES too!

I made her close her eyes while I put it in front of her with the camera ready.........

Now, she is pretty happy..... So she should be, she nagged and nagged about me making her one (and she reckons I nag!!)

So, all together I have made 3 of these.... SO far!!

The inside of her basket:

I took a pic on the weekend of mine and her's together sitting on my new bench seat:

These baskets are SO cute! I actually have another cut out and half sew together.... Wonder who that could be for!

I will pop back tomorrow and share a pic of what Roseanne made for me..... I LOVE it! Or pop over to her blog, I am sure she will post a pic!

My little project

I finished MY sewing basket the other day! I am totally loving it! Pretty pink, with a green top...... Mine has a blue heart scissor keeper:


I have even used it. Took all my sewing bits to our Stitching Day on Friday!

That's two of these I have made. Here is the other.

I hope you all have enjoyed your weekend.

x Sarah

Another finish

Yesterday at our Stitching Day, I took along this Hatched and Patched pin-cushion kit. A easy 'hand work' project. I had been eyeing this pattern off for SO long, and took the plunge a few weeks ago and purchased the kit (minus the wooden bobbin as I already had one of those)!

I am pretty pleased with how it turned out:

Mind you, I finished it last night. I could have easily finished it off there, but I was too busy chatting and eating lol:

So, that is another finish for January, and is NOT my last! I have another 2 completed projects, one I cant show you just yet, and the other, I will show tomorrow!

x Sarah

Stitching Day

What a FUN day we had today! I headed off to Calico Crossroads, to meet up with some Blogger Buddies for a stitching day. Pauline kindly let us spend the day at her shop.

LOTS of food:

And friendly faces!
Pauline, Christine, Vicki and Roseanne:


Alex, Cathy, Kate (whom I have only just met!) and Leanne:

Pauline took this pic (which I stole from her blog)! How FUNNY!! I was laughing SO hard the tears made an appearance!!

Thanks SO much girls, I really had a ball! And, THANKYOU to Pauline for letting us come to spend the day! We all appreciated it xx

Quilting

Lots have been happening around here this past week or two! LOTS of quilting:

A new design:

Twinke, Twinkle in another colour way...... I totally LOVE it!!

Sorbet:

Rural Jardin:

Another newbie........

A finish for me, and a near! Going great for January!

Off for a stitching day today! Just what a gal needs!

x Sarah

PS: Just wanted to welcome a new blogger, De! De is from QLD, and I have had the pleasure of meeting her in person twice! She had a blog a while ago, but life got in the way, and now she is back!! She would love it if you popped over to say HI!

Goings on......

Happy Australia Day to all my Aussie buddies! Today was spent at work, which is fine as I get tomorrow off instead - so a 4 day weekend for ME!! We celebrated tonight, just Dennis and myself with some snags on the BBQ! LOL

On other news, I got that bug, you know......... THAT bug going around at the moment!! Oh dear! I really didn't think it was really me, but I think it is and I am totally loving it! What bug you say...... The Hexie bug!

I thought I would start off with something small using these GORGEOUS fabrics:

To make this:

Took me a while to do, but hey, I am only a beginner! (And, I am not sure if I am sewing them together properly!!). They are together, that's the main thing! Hopefully on the weekend, I might manage to sew it into the purse. Here's hoping!

I have also finished another project. I can show just yet, as I know there are sticky beaks about and don't want to spoil the surprise. I will say though, it is a belated Christmas gift - more soon!

And..... I also wanted to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my favourite (on my side.... don't want to get in trouble here lol) sister-in-law Kate. I hope you have had a wonderful Birthday xx

How cool would it be to have your birthday on a public holiday and get the day off EVERY YEAR!!

x Sarah

Kitted up, ready to go!

Yesterday, on my way home from Launceston, I stopped into Calico Crossroads and purchased some fabrics for my Tis The Season quilt.

I chose similar fabrics to the original as I quite like the look of the pink and reds together. Something that little bit different for Christmas! I am not sure when I will actually start it, but I wanted to have it all ready for when I was ready to start. I should get the stitcheries traced out so it can be my 'in-between' project! If you are making this quilt, I am sure Pauline will make up kits for you.......

x Sarah

Block 11

My latest online BOM block 'No Name Block' chosen by Helen!

Thankyou Helen, it was quite easy to put together!

One more to do!!! Maybe a weekend project...... We'll see!

Sewing

I know it has been over a week since my last post, but, since the 'flood crisis', I had not really felt like blogging! Seeing and hearing the stories of all that devastation really gets you down. Like many people around the world, my eyes have not strayed too far from the TV.... But, it really makes you think how lucky I am!

On sewing news, I have FINALLY finished making my Twinkle blocks. It had been like this on my Design Wall for a couple of months. Actually, I think it was only the top two rows!!


Then it grew:



And grew........

Until I had all the blocks sewn! And, it didn't take me too long really as I had everything already cut out!!

This is might add, is not the final layout. Top row, Block A, second row Block B etc. I have now managed to sew on the sashings, ready for borders! I am totally loving it!

And early last week, while out at the supermarket, what did I spy......

An EASTER Egg! Goodness! Christmas only seemed like yesterday!!!!

I was back to work on Tuesday! And, my oh my are my feet ACHING!! Tonight, I am going to rest up and sit in front of the TV with my hexies (yeah, I got THAT bug!!).... More later!

x Sarah

HELP please!!

What can I say that has not been said already?! The floods in QLD is just SO devastating. Lives lost, homes lost!! I turned the tv on late this morning, and was shocked at what I had seen.... It is like watching at a horror movie! SO SURREAL. The clean up will be long and hard........ Australia needs YOUR help.

You can help if you have not already.

Toni from Make It Perfect is organising online auctions. You can bid on the many auctions taking place NOW!

Here are a few auctions that I know of:

Pauline, Fiona, Amanda, Christine, Rosalie Quinlan, Melly & Me, Cinderberry Stitches, Sarah, and Toni herself! Please dig deep, get a group to bid for these amazing items.......

Or if you would rather donate click here.

Every little bit helps.

x Sarah

mending

Asking a quilter to mend,

is like asking Picasso to paint your garage!!

I love this saying and use it to get out of mending, though it never works!!

Birthdays and sewing

Happy Birthday to my little brother Simon! 26 years young! I hope you have the most wonderful birthday ever xx

On the sewing front, I whipped up this Table Runner on Thursday, quilted it on Saturday, ready for my MIL's birthday (which was Saturday!!), no time for binding! Bugger!

So, I have it back so that I can finish it! I will show you it all when it IS completed!

x Sarah

Yesterday's sewing

Yesterday my lovely friends Vicki and Christine came to do some sewing with me!

For lunch, the lovely bakery quiche and salads. Lovely and refreshing on such a HOT day!!


I decided to make this beautiful slice. I am not a lover of Licorice, but this slice is DELICIOUS!! And, talk about quick! (OH, and we DIDN'T have cream cake either ;=)



We talked about doing a project together, and with both Christine and myself fear the dreaded zipper, I wanted to do a project that had one in it. Vicki is a whizz at that sort of thing, so if I got into any trouble, she could help out lol! So we all worked on this little project from HERE.

The night before, I did one stitchery for the front, then did another in the morning, but then decided to use this fabric which really did not need a stitchery:

With little sewing works all over it, it looked a treat!

It was actually not bad to put together, and I plan to make the hexagon one. I tried to 'google' free hexagon templates so I can get ready to make it, but got a virus after clicking on one!! Luckily, my virus protector was current and it did not make it to my computer! Anyone know where I can get the free templates? I am a little hesitant to go looking again!

Thankyou Vicki and Christine for such a FUN day xx

x Sarah

One last gift......

For Kate! These Nancy Halverson Sewing Baskets are SO nice! I have plans to make one for me too (and Mum would like one for Mother's Day, and of course Raz has nagged too!!)! I only just put the finishing touches to it on New Years Day:


A few of Manda's Pin Toppers attached to the sunflower pin-cushion:

Inside has lots of pockets for scissors, rotary cutter, threads and bits! Notice I put handles on it too?? While at a craft shop at Ulverstone, I was checking out the one they had made up and noticed that it had handles. They told me the pattern didn't have it (hadn't checked into the pattern too much to notice if it had or not), so I added it as well. It would make it so much easier to carry around!

It also has a little scissor keeper attached to the front as well!

It was actually quite fun seeing it come together, though I am not a fan of gathering!!

So, already 3 finishes for January (I might as well claim 2 of the 4 bags!)!

x Sarah

You can NEVER have too many bags!

You can NEVER have too many bags, right?! These are the bags Mum and Myself made on a couple of our sewing days! A total of 4! The pattern was in a mag Mum bought with her, (I think it was called 'It's a Cinch' or something like that) so I could help her.

4 bags all in a row:

Turned out quite well, so I decided I wanted one, we would make one for Roseanne and Mum decided she will make a friend one is 'Pure' (which I think she may have changed her mind and is keeping it herself lol)

I had quite a bit of Whimsy left from the George Town Circle quilt, so I decided to make mine from that range:

Here is the Pure one:

Mum was going through my Whimsy scraps and decided to select some for Roseanne:

Here is the first one we made, Mum's:

The pattern was a little different to other bags I have made, but they all turned out a treat!

I received a call from Mum and Dad this morning, they are home safe and sound!

x Sarah

Out with the old..... and Paper stuff!

Isn't this terrible!! I can tell you it WAS NOT this bad a couple of weeks ago! Only slightly coming off the tip..... But, a certain lady thought she would peel some off! Thanks so much!

Seems I have a thing for purple irons! Didn't realise until I got home! Not usually a purple gal!

Oh dear! Check this out! I tried the new iron out last night while watching a DVD and now the basket is EMPTY!! I really, REALLY don't usually let it get this high!

Anyway, I love holidays! Today, I took Dennis to work.... His first day at a new job in Launceston! He gets to drive a company car, that's why I took him. Oh, and so that I could stop in to see my very talented paper craft SIL Judy! She is such a whizz at this and we also achieve SO much!

Here is what we did:

Here is Judy's creations: 3 cards, 2 mini cards and 2 calendars:

And mine: 3 cards, 3 mini cards and 2 calendars:

I recently bought from a friend the Stampin Up Owl punch and I *love* it! And, Judy and Myself couldn't stop at making them! Aren't they cute!

Tomorrow, its a sewing day! Must make a Table Runner for a Birthday gift for my mother-in-law!

x Sarah

PS: Bags, tomorrow. Promise!