Gone to the Chook Shed Birthday

I am at "the Chookshed"  ready for some stitching  with Chookyblue   to celebrate the chookshed birthday.

The is no better day to be in the country.... RAIN........A  FIREPLACE .....AND A VERY DEAR FRIEND.

Oh and a little fella I found for our grandson who should be here mid July... so cute

He plays music when you pull his tail. 

Clean up Time

After 20 years of a TOO small walk I wardrobe I decided to make our office into a walk in wardrobe just for me.

 In this day Wi Fi we seem to use laptops all the time so the big computer doesn't get used too often.  Although it is still in my new wardrobe and can easily be accessed.

Lucky for me our office has an adjoining door to our bedroom.  So I have closed off the door to the hallway and opened the door from the bedroom. I am loving it no more fighting for space in the morning.

Stitching a Lucy block while waiting at the hospital for Dad to have a cataract off his eye

Sewing with Sandy

Sandy from Shiralee Stitches has dropped in for a couple of days of sewing. We have done lots of sewing, had some wine,some cheese and some chocolate of course . We have done lots of talking and laughing. So nice to have blog friends who can visit . Thank you Sandy

Just could not help sharing this cheeky face.

A Group Project

Our little sewing group has decided to work on a project together." Foxly Village" by Natalie Bird . It is being featured in the Homespun magazine at the moment at one block per magazine. It's so beautiful I think. . As if I need another project... Oh well.. That's the life of a quilter I guess.

 Sheena is zooming ahead with 3 blocks cut out and one almost complete.

Margie has been sewing the blocks together.

I chose to use needle turn. Not sure if its the right choice?  What do you think should I change my mind and blanket stitch? ( everyone else is using blanket stitch)  So many little pieces. As you can see the placement or applique isn't quite done yet.

One block finished. I love this Tilda fabric . I will use a combination, some from my stash and some from some Tilda fat quarters I bought from Quilters Angel at "Highfields" out of Toowoomba. I love that shop.

One more Lucy done. 12 done only 8 to go 🙄. Just needing not to fall asleep in the chair at night time...lol

Our Project is almost Done

We have been so lucky to have the best pool builder . Kev did all the paving and all of the installation. It 10.5 X 4.5  I am so lucky and we love it . I have been working hard on the garden for  5 days rest time now and may be some stitching .  in 3 weeks he will return to complete the paving .  

More paving to be done in 3 weeks time 

revamped garden 

temporary fence and  ready for swimming 

And Bernie is in

Happy Mothers Day

Happy Mothers Day to all of the  Mums out there. Hope you are all made feel special.

A Little Pasta

A mix of all things Italian / Sicilian 

Some large pasta shells

Fill them with the mix .... serve cold ....pre dinner drinks...

Today I decided to try something we had at a Sicilian lunch recently..didn't have a recipe but it turned out pretty well. Basically large shell pasta then combine ricotta,pesto,c ream cheese , cheddar cheese. and olives mix all together and put in the shells . Yum

The boys put an anchovy on theirs and loved it....me I'm not into hairy fish.

This is what is happening at my house.A busy weekend of hard yakka (work for my over seas friends .

Dawn Service 2016

I have always gone to Dawn Service on ANZAC Day. ( for my OS friends this is a National Day of Commemoration for our fallen soldiers.  It is  at 4.28 am on April 25th. 

I am so proud that my son has carried on the tradition with his family. This is Ev's 3rd. For a little one just over two and a half she was quiet and respectful for the duration.    So proud of her. She never went back to bed either so I am sure she will sleep all the way home on their  6 hour journey.

She had a handful of ANZAC biscuit too. 

ANZAC Day

We shall remember them.

Some little girl got in the way of my planned sewing day so I am sharing 😃❤️

I got a baby sitting call out and could not possibly say no could I ? It's so worth the 12 hour drive there and back . I listened to 2 audio books as well .

Nature's Journey

I wanted to show this quilt on its own . My Natures Journey Quilt done in the Stitch along with  Chookyblue.  I would not have finished it without her organising it and all of you comments and support .  Thanks Donna and thanks Blog friends.  Thank you to Betty Field  for the beautiful custom quilting I just love it.

2 More Lucy Blocks

2 More Lucy blocks done but plenty to go to catch up on .

Beautiful Swaps and Gifts

I have not blogged about the lovely swaps and gifts I received at GDITC .

The lovely Dory gave me the sweet wooden sewing box ...thank you Cheryll.
Inca was the maker of the cute needle case from Kerry's swap and my roommate Diddles , Deb Valence made the lovely wheat bag cover for the make it bake it fake it swap .


Thank you so much ladies

Playing with Machine Applique

Don't know whether I mentioned it but Bernie bought me a Brother Scan and cut for Christmas . I have not had a lot of time to play yet but today I was experimenting and using some tea towels to applique. After all I can always use tea towels even if they are a bit crappy.

I have not achieved gift giving results yet but the kitchen cupboard will be boosted with new tea towels.  

 I really think it would be better hand done with blanket stitch...or I might try that on the machine??... what was I thinking ..or ..not thinking...machine blanket stitch...

And I might add I got my finger with the sewing machine too..ouch! 

Trying new stitches on my machine - not sure what is the best stitch ...Satin stitch looks too heavy .

Memories

Today being another year older I decided to get Bern to put this piece of my past onto my sewing table. This ruler was on the counter in a shop where I served fabric . I started in year 10 and worked there in til I finished teachers college. A few years ago that drapery , men's store ,women's store everything store was closed . A real shame for our town. "Coorey's " was a very popular store . Any way a friend of mine bought the half the fabric counter for her sewing room and she had 2 rulers as it was a very long counter. She kindly gave me one of the rulers.