broderie

Christmas in Hobart

I have not been able to do any posts until now cos I may have given away the secret!!! I came to Hobart on Tuesday evening and none of the family down here knew I was coming, surprise, surprise ! I am staying at the home of my friends, deb and rob, they have gone to Melbourne and we hatched a little plan and it worked beautifully, just like clockwork ! And I am in the most wonderful spot hoping to see the boats in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race pass by on the river before I leave. Just want to send all my friends and readers of these words and pictures on broderie a special wish for a beautiful Christmas and a healthy and happy new year and thanks for joining me as I write these pages and posts. I get some lovely emails from people I don't know and those I have known in the past and I appreciate each and everyone. The new and the old friendships are really treasured ! The order office is closed until January 8th, 2012, you can send them in but posting will resume after that date and thanks for keeping me so busy during the year. No pictures, just words and special thoughts to you all, Happy Christmas ! Love and good wishes, lizzie

some more of my christmas

i have been preparing this morning for my last christmas get together with some of my sewing friends, they will be here tomorrow to spend the day, our last gathering for this year! in the meantime i thought i would show you some more of the happenings in this house leading up to christmas this year.

about 3 weeks ago i had an interstate visitor, can any of you guess who it was, and i was so spoilt with this gift, so, so, loved but very, very spoilt !

she brought some show and tell

and we all had a lovely afternoon sewing and sharing !

i have been playing with my newest toy, my sizzix bigshot, and making lots of tags etc. and some friends have also caught the addiction, we have to try and control it, but i do love fiddling with paper and pens !

i have trimmed my stick tree with with lots of these and am very happy with the overall look and i eye each christmas card that arrives as a potential new tag to add to the collection next year

i also have lots of new birdy friends that have come to live with me, does someone out there know that i have loved birds for many years, and now they are everywhere !

and this old boy made an appearance

and another pear too, this may be a clue, as to who spoilt me, whoo hoo !!!

 

a tram ride and gatherings

to the tram ride a bit later in this post !

over the last few weeks i have seen some lovely bits passing through my hands, thought you may like to see some and share in the work that friends have been doing

my friend margery got her quilt finished, i have showed the liberty panel previously that she had embellished so beautifully !

my garden has a blue haze at the moment with all the agapanthus and blue hydrangeas in bloom, always a sign of summer and christmas in this part of the world

and i was so happy to share an afternoon with nancy and jenny last week and i was also spoilt with this lovely posy from nancy and these beautiful christmas lillies from jenny

we had a lovely chat and cup of tea and remembered past days and those who we gathered with at a different time, fond memories and happy times ! jenny left with a new project and i hope we will catch up again very soon !

then on monday morning just gone, nancy's husband and jenny's father, the one and same lovely man arrived at my doorstep with this !

and when opened !

they know what i love, and so my tree and pear corner now looks likes this

it was a lovely afternoon, please let us do it again soon !

 

then we had our last stitching sunday together and everyone was busy !

jenny brought her finished plaited bathmat and a cushion she had made

deidre was making things for the homemade christmas theme she is having this year, all the family are getting gifts she has made, lucky family we all thought 

this colourful dilly bag she had made for herself, and this cushion

oh aren't these these owls just gorgeous, and when deidre was buying the threads for this project, another customer in the shop commented that they were a strange lot of colours to buy !!! beautiful, i would say !

lavina has been stitching christmas all through the year as well as lots of other things ! i forgot to take a photo of her lovely new quilt top, you will just have to wait a bit longer !

these will all be family treasures for christmases to come !

some of the busy stitchers !

sharyn has finished her quilt for a grand daughter, it is so pretty for a 6 year old and lots of work later it is just gorgeous !

and talking of gorgeous, these are on my desk, a bunch of my favourite hydrangeas from dianne from her garden in the dandenongs !

and also these iris in another spot in my house from gloria !

lots of lovelies !

and now to the tram ride, i found it an emotional journey ! i have not been to the city for a long time, i just can't do the walking, but when i was invited to go to lunch with a group of ladies that i have known for many years ( a sewing group ) and i had to go to the 'paris' end of collins street and my local tram goes right down that way and the stop was just at the address, i decided i can do this ! so off i went, tram was diverted from collins street due to an accident and we went right to the other end of melbourne to spencer street, thanks to a very nice man from maffra (in gippsland, country victoria ) i got off the tram and onto another to travel right up to the end of collins street where i wanted to go!

lunch and the company was lovely, thanks so much for inviting me, a real treat!

back on the tram i got to make the journey home, people got on and people got off, all types of people that are part of a big city and i wondered about some of their stories, they were all ages, some may have been wondering about me, the older men dressed smartly in their suits and collar and ties reminded me about all the years my father used to catch the tram to the city in the job he had after he retired. there were people with empty eyes and sad faces, i wondered how they were going to spend christmas and i was just coming home from a special treat and had more to look forward to, school kids also with all their knowledge, but did they have the same wisdom as the people with the sad eyes or the men in suits or the man from maffra ?

the tram ride got me thinking and i still am !

i have some more lovely things to show you, but enough is enough i think now, i will be back soon ...................................

new patterns !!!!!!!!!!

the old saying is 'a pinch and a punch' for the first of the month !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

well i have something much nicer, some new patterns !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

'galaxy' by trish harper

 

'elephant walk' by trish harper

 

'noughts & crosses' by trish harper

these patterns can all be purchased from my side bar under 'quilt patterns for sale' !!!

 

i have been playing alot with my 'bigshot' and having lots of fun with paper, card and fabric, making and creating, oh it is very addictive !

these gorgeous fabrics came from amitie and i love these tags !

just playing, just doing and enjoying !

just being !

i think my lead up to christmas will be calm, pleasant and enjoyable !