broderie

what a heavenly place to shop!

readers of this blog know that i spend alot of time in hobart, tasmania. well, how special will it be to go shopping at the quilted crow in their new premises! they are having the grand opening next saturday, august 7th and guess who will be in hobart then, lucky me!!! so i will be there. go and have a look at their blog for some photos and i will report later with some pictures of my own.

the right medicine

well yesterday the day was all planned ! hydrotherapy at 2pm, doctors appointment at 4pm and some shopping to do for a friend and all in the same area.

hydrotherapy was cancelled ?? so some more time to shop at amitie for the friend and of course i needed a treat !

just some bits to make me feel better, i was still going to the doctor ! but the reason i was going was to get some more prescriptions for the 'drugs' prescribed that are supposed to make me feel better, but i also found some of this medicine!

this was the bottle we had last saturday, it took four of us to get the cork out of that particular bottle, but it was worth the effort! 'bella', 'bella', we enjoyed it, a nice light fruity pink bubbly drink for when the girls are together. so i have stocked up!

i also did the shopping for my friend.

off to sewing now for the afternoon, enjoy your weekend!

easy way to purchase 'camelot'

circles pattern  'camelot'

COST

$43.00 including postage and packaging within australia $48.00 overseas

'the pattern contains designs for all 16 circles and borders and concise instruction for cutting and piecing. it is recommended that it be handpieced.'

shipping from

Australia $43.00 O/S $48.00

and all in a week !

this time last week i wondered how i would juggle all the happenings ! but it has now passed and as usual the week has raced by, but with many happy hours spent doing things i love, with those i love and share a common interest.

my cousins, paula and barb came to stay for a few days before travelling onto townsville, you can check out over here some of what we got up to.

this is a half square triangle quilt that paula is doing, she is forming different patterns as she works it out and it grows bigger, i am loving the colours.

last week the flower boy came, well this week it was the flower girl in the form of jean from linen and raspberry ! jean came to my home on saturday with these beautiful tulips and they look so lovely with all my greeny glass bits. jean joined me with some of my good stitching friends and we sat around the table sharing stories and stitching, and eating, and drinking 'bella' (well only one bottle), that was all we had, some lovely soft cheese and some marinated baby figs. thanks jean they were very delicious!

that old table of mine could really tell some stories, it has been used for everything in our family for so many years!

jean was doing some stitching and it was a pleasure to be in her company again, we have become good friends through our blogs and a little bit of fabric started it all ! that little bit of fabric had a 'pear' design on it and now it is in my hst quilt and i think i will call it 'there's a pear in there'.

then today some more stitching friends joined me at home and it was also today that gloria finished her mammoth project of this prairie schooler alphabet, whoo hoo ! well done and it is just gorgeous! after i have washed it, it will be off to the framer and will hang in the entrance hall in gloria's home.

marlene is doing this very pretty colour combination in a crochet blanket, and deidre was working in wool with her version of this princess !

and also these little kids will become a small bag for a baby soon to arrive!

it was a good week, lots to do, great conversations and stories told.   

and the flower boy came

yesterday was another saturday sewing day and we all had a happy time, another good day of inspiration and creativity! more embroidery done and quilts planned and one finished! there is one of us who described herself as a 'maniac', she is fast at doing things and she has her quilt finished!

others are still in the embroidering and planning stage, there are no patterns in case anyone is wondering, we just create as we go with our 'leader' giving inspiration.

oh and guess what i noticed after i had done the last post about my king david's crown quilt! it is often said a photo shows up things we don't see, well it is so true in my case and i find it hard to believe that this has happened. all the girls yesterday did not pick it up till i told them, so what do you think, they all said leave it and i am leaning that way also. this is what i noticed!!!

the two crowns, second from the bottom, have different star centres, but have the same fabrics used otherwise! firstly i cannot believe that i did the same combination twice, apart from the stars and then after moving them all around, as we do, finding the right spot for each one, sewing them all, then adding the border ( i did not show a photo of that previously), taking photos and posting them and even then it was a couple of days later that i realized what i had done???!!! i feel that it was meant to be and amazingly it does not stand out that much and it is not going off to be judged by the 'judges' anywhere. i could change, but it would not be as easy as just moving a couple of crowns. others have also seen it and have not made any comment, maybe they have been kind and just think i have had a moment! this is how it looks with the border.

and then the flower boy came to brighten a winter's day and i chose these tulips to welcome my family and friends this week.

   

crowning glory

today was a fairly cold and miserable melbourne day, but i spent it finishing the top of my king david's crown quilt! whoo hoo!!!!! it was too dull to get a photo in natural light and the forecast did not suggest that it would be any better for some days, so i did the best i could with the photos.

and

it is four crowns down and five across with a 25cm border, now for quilting and binding ! i am happy with the finish, though you always see things that you could have done better, oh well. it looks very cozy generally and was a good finish for a day like today.  

stitching morningafternoonandevening

yesterday was quite a stitchalong! i started by helping a friend decide what fabric to use where for a quilt she is making, not that she needed much help, more reassurance that her pieces of embroidery would be good on the fabrics she had chosen, and they will ! some times two minds are better that one. no photos of that, later. then i got on with some bits of stitching, prepared a couple of bindings, had the ironing board up and tried to press these into submission.

i have been machining this so far and it is the centres that worry me, these photos were taken before they got treatment from the iron. my decision with the colour choice was that they were from my cupboard and that they had to have red or pink in them and then i teamed with the black and white like the original pattern. the centres are hard with all the machine stitching in them and i have trouble getting the accuracy! i think i will probably proceed with handpiecing them. i am a bit envious of all you clever machine girls out there, why can't i do it ? lot more to be done, but this is the plan, well sort of.

all the black and whites i purchased from amitie, jenny always has a good range, must be something to do with her football team i think! but you must admit that black and white always looks good with red. i think collingwood and st kilda play each other next week, both teams are doing well this year. i was watching the football last night still sewing half square triangles (when will i stop), st kilda won and then i was riding with the bikes through france till 2 am. got alot of stitching done though.

as i was ironing today i realised that i have this lovely little window just near my back door, you could say a patchwork window!

housework and discoveries

yesterday was spent with the vacuum cleaner and moving the furniture to get into corners that don't always get done, when a quick spruce is required. you all know what i mean, it is fairly boring, but in a funny sort of way very satisfying also. i enjoyed the day. i also looked in bags and baskets and boxes and made discoveries! well i knew that they were there, but so many of them! now i have to live long enough, hopefully, all being well and all the sort of thing to finish them or just move on!

this box, supposed to have an upholstered top on it, will one day! what was inside?

all sorts of patterns and treasures waiting to be done, one day! all cleared and sorted !

emptied the basket, thought i knew what was in this one, a few surprises, one day they will be all finished!

i also found things that were from another era of interest, this little cushion i did many years ago, it was featured in 'inspirations' magazine as an advertisement for 'bustle and bows' when i was teaching there.

i also started a crazy patchwork quilt along the same lines! one day! no i don't think i will ever finish it, will show you sometime.

well it was fun vacuuming and discovering !

i had better get on with the stitching and quilting instead of housework, oh if only you could!