Another Bloggy Catch Up

Last Thursday afternoon Bev from Kainga Happenings came to visit. We have been meaning to catch up in person for a while now, so it was lovely to finally put a beautiful face to a name. She didn’t come empty handed either (lucky, lucky me!), take a look at these gorgeous goodies.

If you’d like to make you very own mug carrier, pop over to Bev’s blog – she has posted a tutorial with instruction. Thank you ever so much Bev, I look forward to meeting you again soon.

My ‘Nesting Nelly and Her Girls’ won the Mailbag letter of the month in Australian Homespun Magazine (Issue 10.4). Just a wee disclaimer, my DH is Mr Nightingale, not Mr Briggs – he he he.

With Love

PS 36 Sleeps till Kylie, Katherine and Abigail come to Perth!!!!

It’s getting chilly…

Brrrrrrrrrrr, It’s getting chilly here in Melbourne, so out come the tracky dacks (sweat pants for those who don’t understand the Aussie lingo) and quilts (c:



Finished the little quilt, I really enjoyed this pattern, it was quite simple and went together quickly, the hardest part was laying out the hexagons and deciding where to put them all.



The other good thing about Autumn is SOCKS! New socks are in the shops and that means more…..



Sock Monkeys!
I’ve been playing with a few new techniques so I can avoid too much hand sewing.  This has made them a little more robust, for children who like to put their monkeys through their paces.



I’ve started a new quilt for a special little persons first birthday, so needless to say I’m falling behind on my Rainbow Jane BOM.  Katherine and I are off on a sewing weekend in May, I might have to catch up then!

Till next time, keep stitchin

‘EMOtional Anna and SeBATstian’ for Eilish

My Saturday afternoon was spent making this gorgeous girl and her friend. The pattern is by Melly and Me, I bought it from Foothills Fabric and Threads on my recent trip to Melbourne.

I made it as a birthday present for my friend (and heart Sister) Eilish – who is 15 TODAY (19th April – It was still Sunday when I started typing this post!). Happy Birthday Sweetie :) Eilish was the one who got me reading the Twilight Series of books. Here is a photo of the Birthday Girl with Anna & Seb.

With Love

Spring Swap Goodies for Me - from North Dakota, USA!

 

I am gob smacked! Mr. Postman delivered my Spring Swap Parcel today and boy did I get spoilt. All these fabulous goodies came from Barbara – Thank You Ever So Much, I feel very blessed by your creative generosity. The Flower Garden Pillow was her first attempt at Free Motion Quilting, she did an awesome job.I also received 6 fat quarters of 'Swanky' by Chez Moi, a pattern and kit of ‘Chicks Candle Mat’ by Bareroots, some rainbow ribbon, a gorgeous card and a laminated Father's Love Letter.

2 blog posts in 1 day, that’s a first for me :)

With Love

Spring Swap Goodies arrive at 'The Cotton Patch', Oregon, USA

I can finally show you the Spring Swap parcel I sent to Kymberly at The Cotton Patch - http://www.thecottonpatch.blogspot.com/. The bag is a made from a pattern by Bev Wilkinson called the 'Rosy Posy' bag. Bev is in Western Australia and has an online and market business called Gentle Threads - http://www.gentlethreads.com.au/. I also made a fabric covered notebook (to match the bag) and a Babushka doll. The other items included in the parcel were a pair of printed scissors, a fat quarter of the pansy fabric and a pattern by Mary-Anne Day from 'The Quilters Nest' (another West Aussie).

My computer is fixed, again - Yay! This is the first time I have done a post using Blogger, I must go and reinstall Livewriter right away :)

With Love

Janellybelly xx

A little quilt for a new baby

While Janelle was over we visited Foothills Fabric & Threads in Tecoma where I saw the most beautiful hexagon quilt.  It’s almost a cheats version because it’s made using a half hexagon and then the strips are sewn together, quite clever really.  So I purchased the template and a bunch of girly fabrics and had fun sewing up a little pram quilt for my cousins new baby girl.  I put some lovely soft flannel on the back as we’re heading into the colder weather here and flannel always seems much more snuggly.



I really wanted to have a go at free motion quilting it but cannot for the life of me work out how to get the feed dogs on my machine to go down.  So it will have to be straight in the ditch with the walking foot. Hope they like it!

 

While sewing on the binding of the little quilt tonight I was joined by the wee princess, what a lovely way to spend an evening.  She may even have that scarf finished by the time winter comes…..winter 2010!

Chocolate withdrawals tomorrow…………it won’t be pretty.
Blessings

No, I’m not having a baby!

The number of people who’ve asked if I was having another baby after Janelle’s last post…..you’re in big trouble girly!

We did have a fab time while Janellybelly was over, but not as much fun as Katherine and I did revealing our big secret.  We got together on the last day before JB went home as it was Katherine’s Birthday, we had lunch and cake and enjoyed a few cups of tea.  Then we casually presented Janelle with a sheet of numbers, a new game we’d thought up, could she figure it out? Nope.   It’s a countdown……to … “Are you coming to Perth?”   YES!  Ever seen someone sob for joy!

So Katherine and I and wee Abigail are off to Perth on the June long weekend for a visit to Janellybelly and her gang.  We can’t wait, it did make the goodbye’s a little easier this time too, only 63 sleeps till we arrive.



Janelle’s computer has officially turned up it’s toes, kicked the bucket and succumbed to the blue screen of death.  So it may be a while till she’s back on line, now the pressure’s on, I better get some posts on the board while she’s gone.

It’s Good Friday today, may I never forget the wonder, the wonder of the Cross.

Blessings

Honey, I'm Home

This morning 'there were 4 in the bed and the little one said' "Mummy, I'm so glad you're home, where are our presents?". It's so nice to be missed :) Before I go any further with holiday tales I want to say a huge THANK YOU to my DH Andrew - you are a star for letting me go away, & for taking wonderful care of our cherubs, I love you! The Krispy Kreme's are waiting for you in the fridge :)

 

OK, now I've got that off my chest, let me tell you about a few lovely catch ups we had whilst in Melbourne. On Tuesday we (Kylie, Katherine and I - aka The Sewing Sisters) had lunch with these gorgeous ladies - Jan and Bronwyn. It was lovely to meet, eat & chat about all our favourite things - family (and girls stuff!), craft & yummy fabric! Thanks so much for coming.

 

Then on Wednesday 'We' went to Miss Marples in Sassafras to have lunch with these beautiful & creative sisters - Melly and Rosie.

It was lovely to meet Melly for the first time, and no - I didn't burst into tears! We chatted away about many things, but my favourite discussion was about books we've read & love. I was given some recommended reading book titles & authors, so I'm going to request some books from my local library later today, can't wait. Thanks for a lovely time together Melly & Rosie, it was such a Joy to share with you.

 

I received some lovely going home prezzie's from my Sewing Sisters, as well as the biggest shock of my life! I will let Kylie tell you all about that one - just let me say that my reaction was priceless.

Thank you precious friends for such an enjoyable time away, I love & miss you heaps as always. Special mention to Katherine, for letting me stay in her loving home with her loving family - HAPPY BIRTHDAY for yesterday sweetie (Kylie has photos of that too).

 

I have more things to show you, but they will have to wait until I buy some new batteries for the camera. The Colour Conference in Sydney was great (I am in love with Darling Harbour), and we were given beautiful wooden knitting needles & balls of wool as our parting gift - just one way we can use our hands to serve others.

 

I have my Spring Swap parcel to post off today too, I will share photos when I know it has arrived safe & sound at its international destination.

 

With Love