A Nostalgic Day in My Sewing Room

Finally I have a day at home and a day to sew.   A perfect day cloudy with showers- looking out at my flooded garden after the 3 plus inches of rain we had Saturday night. No watering required today.

Where do I start? 

Finish the little things I thought......

Remember the Sally Giblin stitchery from a few months back? Well I actually did 2 stitcheries one in mauve and one in pink so today I made them into cushions. Yeah!  Two things finished. 

The special thing about finishing these today was thinking about my grandmother. I learned to sew on my Grandma's Singer treadle. Fixing zips in Grandpas pants ... can you believe that..  the worst job a sewer can do !   Just something we had to do then. Well my dear grandma is no longer with us and now I have her old singer complete with the zipper foot. 

While I was away I found this new beauty at the Quilters Shack in Bundaberg. I just had to have it... The old and the new....  I would have never contemplated a "Singer" sewing machine until this one just struck a cord in my heart and I had to have it..... I believe she is still with me in many ways.........

  

So the little cushions were made on the new/ old style singer and quite surprisingly it did OK.     

Memories are wonderful things......By the way her favourite colour was purple....

First completed items for 2012

Completed on the new singer

Once belonged to Myrtle Dorothy Lewington , My Grandama.

Electronic 

The old and the new

What a lovely Wedding

Now I have a daughter and a very proud son. The wedding was on Saturday . It was a lovely day. Fine and hot but not a cloud in the sky. My day  was emotional but extremely happy. I think I held off until they started their walk out and then there were tears, of joy of course. 
The bride looked beautiful and our son  so handsome. There is a feeling of pride and achievement in us knowing our only child has found a beautiful partner,  established a home, married and is truly happy. It was one of those weddings that just felt right, both families mixed and partied on into the night. We really had 3 days of celebrations dinner the night before with any out of town guests. the wedding and breakfast , then lunch at the brides parents.  Then a big sleep......... Congratulations  to them both!


Sorry there have been no sewing pics lately blogger friends but now this very busy time in my life is over I cannot wait to get to my sewing and some of the new projects I collected while I was away.    


Of course there is always time to check out the patchwork shops  in between the planning when you are visiting other towns.........


 Please excuse the order of the photos I am not that skilled to move them yet ....hmmm.......

Get Ready- Proud Dad and Uncle Rod helping put grandads cuff links on

Looking Happy

Emma's family

Good Friends

The girls

My mum, sister and nieces

Dad and I

With their littlest cousin, Jack..    so cute

Emma's Grandparents and parents

Our Family

Emma's Family

Looking into the future

Cake topper specially made in Tel Aviv - can' t forget the dogs

Josh's Grandparents 

Our family

30 Years Married January 2nd 2012

Perfect location on the river at" Grunskies" seafood restaurant,Bundaberg.

A beautiful lunch with my beautiful husband, our son, Josh and his fiancé,Emma  and her parents Michael and Gail

What a wonderful day we had for our 30th Anniversary. It began with morning tea with our son Josh and his new family ( only 5 days 'til the wedding). Then we all went onto a lovely seafood lunch on the river and then in the evening Bernie and I went to the White China Restaurant  and had chilli  mud crab. What a lovely surprise for me ........  Thank you to my wonderful husband for 30 happy and loving years.

and a very special surprise....

Happy New Year

This year is going to be so different. I have posted a pic of me and hubby on my new blog page. But the most special thing is I will have a daughter from the 7th January2012. This is when our only son( only child) , Josh and Emma get married in Bundaberg so all systems go until then. I will post some photos after the wedding. Soooo. exciting. I have had a wonderful Xmas visiting family in North Queensland. I have been hotter but I don't know when. Ahaaaa! There is nothing like a tropical Christmas. Even though in my younger years I spent many years in North Queensland, for the last 23 years I have been living in the dry heat in Goondiwindi and I still can't get used to the tropical heat when we visit.  I hope everyone has a Happy and prosperous New Year and I look forward to some sewing when all wedding plans are over.

Secret Santa Thank You

A beautiful table runner from my secret santa.  Thank you so much to Cat from Catalina Cottage in New Zealand. I hope everyone is having lots of fun opening their secret santa presents today. This was my first time in the swap and I have enjoyed it a lot so Satu I hope you enjoy yours also.

Christmas Lights

Our Friends Lights display 

While hubby was on a work trip he came across a Christmas shop with this sign .
 They are soooo... right! LOL

Of course he bought me something ! I am so lucky !

I just love Christmas lights . After a huge shopping day in the big Toowoomba town  we decided Chinese and a drive around to see the Christmas lights was in order. 


Our very good friends spread Christmas cheer in their street. He becomes a Santa's helper and the lady and man across the street become elf and Mrs Clause. They have a lovely display and provide lots of treats for the children who get to walk around in the mini Christmas land. 


   Looks like not much sewing until New year for me between Christmas and our sons wedding.


I cant wait until we all open our SSCS parcels and see what everyone has been busy making. How exciting. Thank you Chooky elf for organizing it .


 I hope you are all enjoying the Christmas Spirit.  Remember the reason for the season. However you spend your Christmas I hope you are able to share it with family and friends and have a wonderful time.   Merry Christmas to everyone . 

Christmas Cooking and a Stitch or Two

 A few more little decorations finished- Annie Downs Pattern

Mini Brownie Cup Cakes- What a yummy recipe from this copy of  Family Circle

It's been a while since I have blogged Silly Season is upon us well me anyway.

What a busy week, Engagement parties, Christmas parties and pizza nights. We have had a full on week of family parties. It is always good catching up with everyone.  Our beautiful son was home .... Happy  me..... I am amazed and pleased that we have a very large and close extended family and many of them  make an extra effort to get together for celebrations. This time it was my nieces Engagement . 

Even if that means that every inch of floor space in my Mum's (74 yrs) house is covered with 18 people sleeping over. Ages ranging from 9 weeks to well you know my age . hmmmm.... What fun we all had reminiscing sharing a few drinks and lots of yummy food that mums always prepare. I think my mum is a super mum in the food department she made hot finger  food for 130 people for the party. Everybody loved it.

 We finished our weekend of celebration with a pizza night with the 25  of us who were still here. All the toppings are out and every body makes their own and then cooks them in our wood fired oven. A great way to feed lots of people ,the young ones love it.

A Lovely Gift from Across the Ditch

I was so excited when my very first Secret Santa Swap arrived from the lovely talented Cat in New Zealand. Thank you Cat.

Even more excited when I opened it and saw the beautiful knitted decorations - an entire set!  Oh Cat thank you so much they are truly lovely. Knitting really isn't my thing so I will treasure them as a part of my Christmas decoration collection!

The Sleigh is Packed

It's amazing to think that all those hand made gifts are flying  around the world or travelling overland to reach their destinations where SSCS swappers are  excitedly and anxiously waiting for the mail man to arrive. This is my first swap so I am so excited. 


I hope you are all enjoying the pre Christmas cheer. We went to our first Christmas party on the weekend at Jupiter's on the Gold Coast. It also included a show at Draculas. It was all a lot of fun.  Of course I also just had to do some shopping......... Now I just need a sleep.


I hope any of you who are around Moree and district are not getting your toes too wet with this flood.......

A little Aussie Christmas

Some XXXX for Queensland

 I was looking for a little something Australian  for a Christmas swag so I decided to use some drawings from Margaret  Rolf and Deborah Brearley ( I have had these books for Years) and make my own. A little xxxx , for Queenslanders, of course.  The wall hanging is from" I luv Country"by Tracey North, with a slight change to the wording. 

     I love Christmas and spending time with family although sadly, this year will be our first 
     without our son as he will spend it with his wife to be's family. Ho hmmm. 
     But that's ok because next year we will have a daughter.

Love Those Shoes

It getting so close to Christmas the Secret Santa's are done. It is getting so close to the holidays only a few reports to go, the seniors have graduated. Yeah! I was flicking through some photos to find some pics to put on my blog to make it feel a little like Christmas and look what I found - My favourite Christmas shoes!

Nundle 2011

Beautiful Roses

Rose covered  wool press

In the middle of the end of year turmoil some ladies from my quilt group, myself included took a trip to Nundle ( small town in NSW , near Tamworth,for those who dont know) to sew with the lovely Kerry at Cottage on the Hill. 


Of course there are all the treats that go with the word "Nundle" ; patchwork at Kerry's, stitching, friends, dinner at the pub , wine and cheese , roses and a  visit to the Woollen Mill (which was still open at 7.20pm. )  What a lovely weekend we had.


The trip home was a nightmare , it was truly the biggest storm I have ever been in, I thought I was a "storm chaser". The lightning and the rain were the most intense I have ever seen but we were on the edge and missed the hail .......in my new car ..eek!..................what a relief when we were free of it.

Our creations - not quite finished

The Essentials

Sewing with friends

Weekend of Sewing

  
I feel like i have been reading everyone's blogs and haven't said anything myself for a while. I had the best weekend we were home for once so I spent a lot of time sewing......finishing SS sewing...Sh...... . I have decided this year to try to make as many Christmas gifts as possible so I have made a start with bags , table runners and cushions .  Ok   I did say made a start.......... This morning  Monday ... before work I took one look in my sewing room which I am very lucky  to have.......and thought I wonder if very one who sews makes as much mess as I do when I just sew all weekend?????  I spent Thursday night tidying it up making sure everything was in place for my weekend of sewing......................

I just love bird houses

A Sally Giblin pattern- cushion

Does anyone else make such a mess????Oh creative space sorry!!!

My sewing friends and I collect thimbles for each other when we travel... fun

My creative space 

A Leah Paech Pattern Canningtown Patchwork  table runner . I love all things Christmas!

A page from Po's Kitchen She has the most amazing fabric pics throughout her cook book.  Inspirational!