broderie

sharing happy times

i hope that this easter period or passover will be a happy time for everyone

the postie brought me a parcel this morning, a surprise !

all the wrappings matched my bowl of eggs on the table still there from sewing on monday night, even a carrot, i suspect not the ones that make you see in the dark !

thank you so much you know who !

keep safe everyone as you enjoy whatever may come your way over this holiday period

and just after easter for those of you who are local please remember our exhibition

EMBROIDERY IN QUEENSCLIFFE

at the queenscliffe town hall in learmonth street, friday 20th and saturday 21st april from 10am to 4pm each day, entry is $15 which includes a cup of tea/coffee and a sweet treat.

all proceeds to motor neurone research and kidney health australia

see how these panels that we have been stitching will all come together as one 

there will be two different projects which will be on view and will be featured as a silent auction

and some examples of other items for you to view just for your pleasure

and they will also be on display and many others of course at the exhibition

oops ! suddenly my photos are not uploading so i will continue on another post , hopefully it will work then !

somuchtoshow, somuchtosay !

at my house it has been busy lately and the christmas parties have started and so the decorating was up early ! this is my advent calendar, i will open the first door or window on december 1st of course.

and at the back door of my advent house a dear friend has left a beautiful blue bottle to help me through the hot summer, thanks dianne and paul 

our stitching groups gathered together this week to party and kris kringle and there were lots of new friends arrived here at my home !

simone was very happy

i was very happy

gloria was a very happy cushion girl

and deidre was so happy, she was hugging her cushions !

a happy night was had by all and we meet again on the first sunday in december, just next sunday for another stitching day

i have been playing with with new 'bigshot' and these are the result of recycling some christmas cards from previous years into tree ornaments that will last forever, i love them

 and i also created this little corner with my trees and pears

then on friday

i went to the airport to pick up a friend who was coming to stay for the weekend and saw the home grown christmas trees on the way there, have always liked these two houses perched up high on one of melbourne's busy roads, i was able to park opposite and kill a little time before i got onto the freeway, the traffic had been light and i was running early for the pick up in the fast lane !

amidst all the wires and the power pole and a policeman on his bike passing by stands this wonderful tree

we gathered together, another lot of stitching friends

the table was gorgeous and also the tree

and also the goodies to eat for lunch

and delicious treats

and lots of chat

and some laughs

and pressies too

and margery too

we all love margery !

the parties have definitely started, i will be back soon !

 

11th day 11th month and 2011

this day and date brings lots of thoughts to me of times and people in my life

not red poppies, but hollyhocks in a garden in a place that is special to me

my grandfather kingston died on this day

a friend's father died on this day 30 years ago and she misses him everyday, still, but we are so lucky to have these special thoughts and memories that are treasured

 

many fathers and grandfathers would be remembered today

remembrance day

lest we forget

 remember my pruned roses just a few weeks back

remember the sticks

now look at the forest ...................... of roses, they open from their buds so quickly, but are a joy of pink to look at, nature is amazing and melbourne is looking so lush and green, it is so nice after all the years of dryness we have had and the gardens have suffered, but not this year, they are lovely, beautiful and gorgeous !

and some beautiful embroidery i saw during the week, a blanket for a new baby

and some old friends i found in the cupboard in a box

i bought these many years ago and the pattern from the hawthorn market and made some too, they asked nicely so they are out of the cupboard for some time with me

a friend who has not long returned from a trip to france found these in the window of the hermes store

yes, they have used many cotton reels to make the shoe and the handbag, very clever

i also have 3 friends that have celebrated their birthdays on this day 11/11/11

to deb, deidre and pamela good wishes and love on this remembrance day and happy birthday to you all

 

there were no candles

fairy rainbow, friends, flowers and mail, both snail mail and electronic, arrived at my home this week

i like what this card says "make do and mend", really such a good message ! i think there are some generations who don't understand 'mend', but in this throw away world, maybe we should think about it more

i have always loved cards, often when i buy some, i get one for me too, so another collection is housed in my home

you can see there is a bit of a theme, birds, pears and people and houses, all things that i love

flowers and gifts

august 10th, my birthday, so spoilt ! thank you !

i have been sewing some more circles

these two are all part of a bigger project i am working on

and i have been thinking about it for a long time, i enjoy doing circles and have started some more 'camelot' circles !

this is circle 'a' just hot off the needle, no ironing done yet

another happy week ! stitching friends here tomorrow !

reflection and celebration

this past week, plus a couple of days, has certainly been filled with days of both reflection and celebration, both personal and part of history.

easter i spent quietly at home thinking of family gatherings both happy and life changing that have happened at this time of the year. time spent reflecting is good i think. 'murphy' was alive and well at my place also, on good friday eve the heating here decided not to work and it still isn't, some problem that requires an expert ! so waiting ! so i finished completely this quilt, there was not much to do, finish quilting the border and then put the binding on and it also kept me warm ! my 'camelot' is now finally finished, why did i leave it with so little to go? because the starting of something is always so much sweeter for me and i have started many other projects and even completed some. i now have 'camelot' on my bed and it has been slept under !

anzac day 2011, the first sign of blooms came out on my pot of rosemary

and i loved the colour of these succulents growing in a big, big bowl in the garden

 and i heard noises in the garden, the fairies at the bottom of the garden, had been busy

and this huge toadstool appeared !

some of my friends are starting new projects and going to the next stage of others

marion's latest start and using overdyed threads and watching with delight the way the colours form their own thing ( it is wise to wash these threads though before using to get rid of the excess dye )

and i finished these socks

 

and this is jenny's version of leanne beasley's design 'ruth's quilt', an oldie, but a goodie ! it always looks fresh, the fabrics were purchased from 'amitie' some time ago and jenny has embroidered and handpieced and now is going to quilt this for her grand daughter

with little words of wisdom and messages

i have and still do take the time to dream, oh the things i have done in my dreaming time

and then there was this, i had been looking so forward to april 29th, 2011 !!!

i sat and watched and enjoyed all the ceremony and joy of the royal wedding, it was all so simple and beautiful and in such good taste, in my opinion ! it did not disappoint me at all. the middleton family, i thought, did everything so well with such grace.

sometimes the world just needs such an event to stop and pause

i really enjoyed the last week of april and now we have may !

 

playing with new things

since christmas day many hours have been spent playing with new things received, i am doing this post on my new little notebook computer, great for travelling, a lot lighter than my laptop!

there are new books, new dvd's, new patterns, new stitching and more mundane things like a steam mop that paula is testing! no photos of it, but much easier than the conventional way.

 
if life is just a bowl of cherries, as they say, then life should be very good! we have been eating delicious cherries and youngberries and raspberries from my cousins garden, they are oh so sweet and the flavour compared to the shop ones, there is no comparison.

 
we went and spent a few days down at the 'shack' at orford on the east coast of tasmania. the term 'shack' is the tasmanian way of saying holiday house, it is most comfortable and very peaceful usually, however the new next door neighbour was laying floor boards and even the dog, lucy, was not liking it much!

 

 
decorated with a seaside theme, there is lots of good spaces for inside and outside stitching, hmmmmm a good spot for a sewing weekend or week?????!!!!! there is even a picture of some old bathing beauties!

 
i did say there was a seaside theme!

 
and there was a lot of stitching done, now i am warning you ............ look away if you don't want to see, but lucy decided she wanted to learn a bit of patchwork!!!

 
i did warn you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

then we have celebrated a birthday, deb made a beautiful sponge with fresh raspberries and cream for paula! it is home and on a lettuce diet for me!

 
and now to some of the stitching i have been doing down here in hobart in the last three weeks, apart from the christmas, new year and birthday celebrations and all the eating that has been done.

 
more pineapples and putting them together

 
and a start on another project for the year, spools in blue and white, they are 5 1/2 inch finished blocks and i was doing them all in square and half square triangles, but have now cut a template for the sides and tops to make it quicker!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

i will be back, going home tomorrow to my place, always happy to be there, but sad too because am leaving you all down here in hobart town!

the 1st day of a new year

though it is coming to a close, the first day of the new year has been very lazy for me! a lovely calm day, blue skies and sunshine, cups of tea, chatting with family and the callers who came our way!

 
zac and prissy called in for afternoon tea, they spent most of the day eating all the new dandelion flowers that had popped up during the week on the back lawn!

the new chook house in the background has some new inhabitants, but so far they don't know what an egg looks like! thank goodness for the supermarket!

we have been away to the east coast for a few days and this beautiful beach was basically deserted, oh how i wish my legs would carry me on a long walk along the shoreline!

 

and this crazy man also called today, where is he from? what language does he speak? he wore the ear muffs to soften our chatter! but he can't help himself, he still has to make a comment and we all have to listen!

 
someone has to love him and we all do, but he is testing at times, there is two of his species and three of us, and they love to bait us! we are all going for a day trip tomorrow!

i have been doing some stitching and have the lamp set up beside my bed and am off now to do some, the rest of the household have gone to bed, but to early fo me to call it a day.

hopefully this new year will be kind to us all in many ways, but physical and emotional health are the best thing for us all, happy 2011 to you all of you who come my way!

'isn't it enough,

to have sat in the sun,

to have lived,

to have loved,

to have done.'

i will be back soon to show you more of where i am and what i've been doing!

 

hohoho happy times

on friday last i picked a friend up from the airport, one who shares common interests and on the same page, to quote a modern saying ! a very old friend describes her as my 'new very best friend' and many of you also know her. it was a piece of fabric with a pear on it that brought us together and a good friendship has been the result !

i now have this new addition to my christmas tree ! a gift from my friend !

 

 
the sentiments expressed on this little pear shaped sparkly trinket are so timely for this period of the year, remembering and wishing, and passing on blessings to dear family members and friends, both present and past.

my 'new very best friend' is from here and i know that so many of you enjoy reading her blog.

over the weekend i had the sewing girls for the final saturday of the year and some of them had items to pick up, back from being made up, here is a look at some

 
this is a panel produced by liberty some years ago, marj has embroidered and embellished the surface beautifully. i might add that this dear lady is in her mid 80's ! it is being made into a single bed quilt.

 

 
i will show you the whole picture early next year when we layer the quilt for marj to hand quilt. well done, it is beautiful !

 
this is a lovely small cushion that beverley has made

 
and jan's grandson, nicholas, drew his own designs for a cushion, i have been told they are 'pokomon' characters, hope that is how you spell it. nicholas you have a clever granny

 
some little bits of christmas

 

 
and last sunday, some sad news, of a very loyal and faithful family companion belonging to some friends

this little memorial is for you 'monty'

 

 

and for this year to all my readers

 
to all of you for your interest in reading my ramblings on 'broderie', to those of you who take the time to comment, both written and verbal comments and anyone else who just checks in to see what is happening. i hope the magic of christmas is kind to you and that you enjoy peace and happiness with those family members and friends who gather with you at this time of the year.

i suggest you take a look at linen and raspberry , it was jean who came to stay a couple of days. thankyou jean, welcome again anytime.

 

and to all of you

thankyou for the friendship !

thankyou for the love !

have faith, hope and charity !

take care of you and those you love !

happy days, liz

 

 

celebrating the season

i suppose that you also have been celebrating the season with some of the friends you sew with during the year, i have been, on monday night, today and over this coming weekend

 
some holly and some ivy

 
some table setting

 
some supper and some crackers and some gifts

 
a beautiful posie for me from a lovely friend

 
made this favourite of mine look so pretty

 
and this beautiful blue will be very refreshing during the summer

and then today

we went out for lunch and then back to open our secret santa gifts

 
we were all very spoilt, here are some of them opened

 
what was inside no. 6 ?

 
everything for 'a nice cup of tea'

then there was

 
roses to help with the cooking

 
some beautiful olive soap and a dish to put it on

 
and i must have been good, i received this beautiful crabtree and evelyn tin full of goodies

 
but being silly, as i often am, i put part of the wrapping on my head

another happy day

and now we are having another thunder storm and extremely heavy rain!

 

 

changing things

i spent some time this week getting a few corners in my home ready for a little bit of cheer and it's beginning to look a lot like christmas!

 
a few twigs and baubles and the christmas tree is done and the lights come on at night

 
the jolly old man comes out of the corner cabinet for his annual appearance on the shelf

 
and these little stitched santas have found this spot this year

 
last sunday we had a lovely day out at one of my friends home at macedon. unlike this week it was wet and cool, this week has been wet and very steamy here in melbourne. we all look very serious in this picture, but we did sew apart from sharing in a delicious lunch and lots of laughs also !

 
and this was the view, the sun did show an appearance just as we were leaving

 
and this is a peek at a few of the things of interest and that were also being stitched

 

a lovely rug that deidre has knitted 

 
and her side table, love the lichen on the sticks

 
a new quilt just finished and some embroidered pillow cases

 
simone is appliqueing and embellishing a quilt

 
jenny was wearing a pretty necklace, you know my weakness for a necklace!

 
just a sneak peek at the contents of a parcel on its way to spain to chrissie who won the recent giveaway

 
and this little purse came all the way from a market in budapest to me from my old 'chooky friend' margaret. thanks for the assistance in the last couple of days!

hope your preparations for the season are all going well, i have a week of 'parties' coming up and looking forward to spending time with all my like minded friends.