The last day of 2009

This is going to be a long post!!! Its been a while!

I have been busy with some sewing over the last few weeks, both hand and machine sewing.
All the pinwheel blocks are together and have been made into a table runner. While doing the machine quilting I have found I am slowly improving. :)


Below is a small quilt that is being made for a gift. While I am building confidence with my machine piecing I am sticking to simple designs. This one still has to be basted and quilted.




I have also made a couple of covered journals. The one below has fabric I have had for quite a while, but I wasn't sure what to use it for. My sister does a lot of mosaic work, so I though this fabric would suit her.

I finished another journal cover which has already been sent. It had stitchery on the front and the design was one by Natalie Lymer of Cinderberry Stitches. Ever since I first saw her cute little birds I wanted to stitch one of her designs. You can see a photo of it here. Just scroll down a bit.

I have 2 more small quilts planned. One will use some fat eighths I have and the other I will probably have to buy one fabric for.



I received some lovely gifts from family and friends for Christmas!!

Below is a pin cushion and thread catcher made by Judi. It now lives by my sewing machine.



The Christmas ornament Judi included in her parcel is too beautiful to put away!!!

Thank you sooo much Judi!!!

Next was another parcel of goodies from overseas. Some of those choccies are already gone! :)


In the same parcel was lots of fabric and a tiny pair of Dovo scissors!!! The scissors are beautiful to use and just the right size for my fingers.


Thank you very much Ranette!!!




The book below is from my daughter. She knows how much I love to sew! :)



Santa was also very generous and left me the camera I used to take these photos with. I can now take much clearer shots and get some good close ups.



I have continued to work on the Waterloo quilt. All the small baskets have been finished now.


Some of the fabric for the border around the baskets is at the bottom of the photo above.


The AQ is coming along slowly. I sewed some more set in triangles last night. After reading Crispy's post about trying different needles for quilting, I decided to try different needles for piecing.

The Jeanna Kimball Sharps are great to use. They are a thin needle with a nice feel through the fabric. The Roxanne applique needles have a slightly larger eye (great for threading when your eyes are not as great as they used to be! lol) and they glide beautifully through the fabric.

The Piecemakers have the smallest eye of those I tried, but they also felt lovely through the fabric. I tried 2 types of Bohin needles. The applique needles were not smooth through the fabric. I used the smallest of the sharps and it was quite good.
The last needle I used was the very first needle I used when I went to my first hand piecing class. It was the clover gold eye applique needle. I still love to use these needles, but I have found I prefer a shorter needle these days.



I sent my SSCS parcel to Tracey B in USA. You can see what I sent her in this post. It is the second last photo. My SSCS parcel is taking the scenic route. Hopefully it will arrive next week. It means my Christmas is lasting a few more days! :)


Lastly I would like to wish all my readers a very happy and safe New Year!! Thank you to everyone who has left a comment, helped and encouraged me and fed my soul with so much inspiration! You all made me feel so welcome in the world of blogging! I have been lucky enough to make some wonderful new friends.

Here's to an even better year in 2010!!

Merry Christmas.

Above are just a few of my collection of Christmas angels. Most are gifts from family and friends.

Despite the very hot day we had yesterday (40.5 C.......105F) many of my roses still look fine. I found enough to bring inside and fill a vase.



My Christmas cake is made and decorated. The Santa etc belonged to my mother and were on our Christmas cake every year while we were growing up. The ribbon is from my new blogging friend Simona!


To all my new blogging friends from all over the world thank you for your inspiration, encouragement, and most of all your friendship!


Have a wonderful Christmas everyone!!

Woo Hoo!!!!

I spent the afternoon sewing pinwheel blocks.......on my sewing machine.

I usually sew everything by hand, but I want to get some things finished quickly, so I decided to sew these blocks by machine.

Well.....................the first block was a disaster!!! It is so out of shape after being unpicked about 10 times the only place for it is in the bin! I could not get my centre points to line up. Very frustrating!! After trying a combination of hand and machine stitching I finally figured what I was doing wrong. Goodness, hand sewing has such a different result to machining! Just a couple of threads one way or the other and you have perfection......or a mess!!!!

The second block (above) worked the first time! Yay!!!!

Below is the third block.


I have it figured out now!!


I did a little fabric shopping late last week and found some fabric I had never seen before. This is Liberty wool!!! It is very fine and drapes beautifully. After Christmas I will be making a skirt from it. I also found plain Liberty cotton, something I have never seen before here. Unfortunately they only had one colour, and only one metre left on the roll. It came home with me! :)





Here is our sewing buddy. Isn't she gorgeous!!




Lunch????





Its hard work watching all the sewing!


The pineapple doily under the vase was made by my Great Grandmother.



I was out in the car early this morning and I was pleased to see a few cars with their headlights on.

Most of my sewing for the last week has just been a continuation of everything I am already working on. Nothing new to see for the moment. All those projects have been put away temporarily so I can concentrate on some sewing for Christmas. I plan to make lots of little Christmas projects over the next couple of weeks.



The next message is a reminder to be careful out on the roads.

It is not a pleasant subject, but road safety is something every driver needs to be reminded about occasionally.





Turn on your headlights on December 10 and shine a light on road trauma.


This is a current campaign run by a government agency here in Victoria, Australia.

Turning on your headlights on December 10 will commemorate those who have died on our roads and show your commitment to keeping the roads safe.



A link to the site is here.


Most of my readers don't live in my state, but I feel it is a timely reminder to everyone to be careful on the roads, particularly at this time of year when there are more people out in their cars.


Be careful out there everyone!

Its December, and Summer.....

I have kept working on the Waterloo quilt and have finished 4 more basket blocks.


I have 3 more prepared and ready to applique. I am finding it is easier to do the English Paper Piecing during the day because my eyesight isn't what it used to be!!


This is the centre block of the Waterloo quilt. Not all of the circles are appliqued down yet, but you get the idea!!



There has been a little progress on the Antique Quilt. The instructions for the next round came out today, so I will be trying to finish off the current round quickly. Lots and lots of flying geese next!



My postman delivered lots of goodies yesterday!!!


Firstly, I won a giveaway that Nancy of Blogging, Near Philadelphia ran recently. Her prize was a covered journal. Nancy kindly offered me a choice of fabrics and I picked William Morris......in Nancy's choice of colour. Here is what she made me!! Isn't it wonderful!!!!! :)


I just love all William Morris fabrics and I have a small collection of my own. The fabrics Nancy chose are all different to any I have. Thank you for picking me, Nancy and thank you for such a delightful gift. Handmade gifts are always precious!!!




There was another much anticipated parcel in the post yesterday.

Lots and lots of delicious fabric!!!!!


Fat quarters of Kaffe Fassett fabric. Now I can start my Jacobs Coat quilt. I have one small decision to make......do I go with the mainly red fabrics on the left, or the blue/green fabrics on the right?????



Also in the package were some Rouenneries yardage. I chose the solid red and the stripe to make bags for summer. The floral is my absolute favourite fabric in the whole collection!!!



After experiencing the hottest November since records began 154 years ago, I am hoping for a cool summer this year. Our November also brought the heaviest monthly rainfall for almost 5 years. I'm not sure if these weather phenomena are evidence of global warming, or just normal variation.



Christmas preparations have begun today. My Christmas cake is in the oven.



Below are some photos from the garden. Most of my roses have finished their first lots of flowering, however Red Velvet seems to always have at least one bloom.

The fuschias are covered in flowers.





I am not sure what this plant is called, but I love the blue flowers.