broderie

falling leaves & bright bindings

this little tree in my own front garden has just been a blaze of colour, as have all the trees in the neighbourhood. my friend deb, in hobart sent some photos of autumn in her garden

and the garden also at hobart cottage

as you can see love grows on trees down there, and also on my little 'tree' that i have inside all the year round

 
lots of reminders of 'bits' friends have given me over time

and this new pup in the family, belongs to my cousin in hobart, found a good place to keep warm, 'hot dog' chloe, was as close to the wood fire as a dog could get

normally reserved for big logs of wood !

i have been doing some hand piecing, more on this later

finishing and starting more socks 

 
and helping a friend prepare this quilt for hand quilting and putting on bright bindings on these two quilts just back from being machine quilted

back to some hand stitching on the bindings !

i have a friend that has just started up a new blog the quilted tortoise, so go and see what she has been doing

i will return soon, there are other things to report !

 

 

greetings and meetings and mothers

this week i have greeted and met up with some old friends, some new friends and some good friends and happily i think that they all fall into all categories !

so lovely to be able to chat about common interests and the things we love, the things we share, the stories and happenings of times past and the memories we all have close to us.

deb, from hobart was here on tuesday for a nice cup of tea and a chat and a catchup, we both wanted more time !

michelle, started following me, not stalking me (though years ago ?), just joking, i used to run and turn over the closed sign on the door of the shop when i saw her coming ! just joking once again !

and yesterday while out shopping with the girls at somerset, ran into jenny b, one big hug later and a quick chat we have organised a catchup soon !

meanwhile i have finished this

and 'broderie' is now in print, i have written four books, i will add that to the c v of life

it has been quite fun to go back and look and see what i have done over the years on this online diary

and today been lining up some fabrics for some new starts

and over here and also here , valentina and shirley have been busy stitching their versions of 'camelot'. here are some of their circles

good to see what others are doing

and happy mothers day to all the mums in australia tomorrow, but every day should be a special day for mums

 

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 !