A Winning Week

Earlier this week our Miss 10 had some exciting mail all the way from the Land of Oz.. We were lucky enough to win one of 5 lovely bags that Fiona of BubzRugz was giving away.  And Miss 10 was doubly excited to receive chocolate too!  Thank you Fiona for such a lovely gift, she has stashed a few treasures into it already.......

My winning streak continued yesterday when I won a wonderful giveaway from Linda at Razzle Dazzle Quilter.  I have won the clever quilting skills of Linda who will long arm quilt a top for me, isn't that such a generous gift......Thank you Linda.....

So far this week I have worked on a variety of projects, I quilted and bound my little Ruby quilt for Chookyblue's Caring with Quilts bushfire appeal.  Just need to make and attach a label and it will be on it's way......     This was a great pattern called Between Charming Friends which I found here, and was originally designed by Darlene.  

I made Block 7  & 8 from the FQS Designer Mystery Block of the Month.......... this is Block 7 'Moonlight Serenade', designed by Sandy Gervais...........

......... and Block 8 'Lime Sherbet', designed by Bonnie Olaveson and Camille Roskelley.........

 ......... and I started making some of the Flying Geese units that make up the sashing that will finish this quilt. 

I have also started the Stitch-A-Long project for February, which is a tote bag from Natalie Birds Red Home Book, this is the beginning of the stitchery panel,.  I'm stitching in green, which is something a little different for me!

Last night I stitched the little tulips miniblock in the top right of this block from my Leanne's House BOM.  Leanne and I have been stitching along together once a week on this project(in the virtual way only as we live in different countries with different timezones ..... lol) and I have found it very motivating to know that someone else is getting on with it too.  Thanks Leanne!

So you can see it's been a busy sewing week mixed in with girls returning to school, working with lambs, weeding my vege garden and various other 'stuff' that is always needing done.  

I hope your week is going great, as always thanks for making it all the way to the bottom.........lol

Till next time ......... happy stitching........... Nicky x

SSCS and another BOM

Yet again, it's been a while since I've been around.......for many reasons, mostly just life!  I have been doing a little stitching, mainly working on my gift for Chookyblue's SSCS exchange, which I think I have mostly under control now.  For very obvious reasons, you won't be seeing exactly what though, but it is fun to be working on an SSCS gift for the third year, wonder where it's going this time around.......?

In one of the first few posts I ever blogged, I shared my Leanne's House Block of the Month quilt which I had started quite a few years ago. Below is where I was up to on Block 4 back in 2010.

(If you clicked through to that last post you may have also seen I said I MUST NOT START ANYTHING ELSE!   Ha ha ha ha ....... One thing that blogging has made me even worse at is starting new things and taking a VERY long time to get them finished .......lol) 

 I've dug it out again and almost finished the stitchery on this block, added some finishing touches to another couple, and made up another one ready for stitching.

This little vase is one of my favourite mini blocks....

It's been great to put some stitches into a long-neglected, but not-forgotten project.  I've also been trying to get some gardening done, though the weather has been truly awful for the last week or two, always raining, or even like today, lots of thunder, lightning and hail!  This is my new red pot on our deck with some parsley, chives, strawberries and my favourite 'Maggie Mott' violas.  I've scattered some Mesclun salad seeds among it all, and they are just coming through now and trying to fight the hail. 

We have got about half of our lambs tailed, just waiting on some settled weather to get the rest done.  The forecast for our holiday Labour Weekend is terrible, so it may not be till next week now, but I will enjoy my extra day off from the paid job though and make the most of a Monday at home!  I hope all the Kiwi girls have a lovely long weekend too............. till next time........... happy stitching....Nicky

PS:   GO the All Blacks tomorrow night in Brisbane  -  make it a clean sweep for 2012!!

Leanne's House BOM Progress

Good morning friends. Thanks for the lovely comments that have been left for me. I am loving visiting blogs all over the place, and have seen some of the most beautiful stitching. I find everyone's work so inspiring, only problem is that I see so many projects I would love to start. I MUST NOT START ANYTHING ELSE!!! Or at least I will try not to! LoL. Not much stitchy progress this week, have had a sore shoulder, so giving it a wee rest. Here are some more pics of some of my WIP blocks of Leanne's House. This is Block 4 and Block 5. I haven't started Block 3 yet, as it has lots of applique, which I want to practice more before I am let loose on the real thing! Both blocks still need lots more stitchery completed, there are lots of stars and flowers around the verse in Block 5, and a little heart to be appliquied in each of the four corners. This has been a fun project, and one I intend to continue working on this year.

Block 4

Block 5

It has been a windy, wet week here so far, our girls school have been trying to hold their athletic sports day since Tuesday, and it has now been postponed till Monday in the hope of more settled weather. I guess officially autumn is here, now that March is upon us, but I am really not excited about the prospect of winter. After the terrible winter many of you have been experiencing in the Northern Hemisphere, I hope ours won't be so harsh. Here on our farm we usually get one or two small dumps of snow each year, but it is normally gone within a couple of days. This is a good thing, because our sheep and cattle are not wintered indoors, as many are around the world. Our winter is normally a mix of lots of rain, and southerly storms, hopefully mixed in with an occasional spell of fine, frosty weather as well. We live a couple of hours away from Central Otago, where they enjoy(or maybe that should be endure) beautiful hoar frosts where the fog freezes and looks stunning on the trees. It is such a magical sight. My in-laws live at Lake Wanaka, which is a beautiful alpine area, with ski fields nearby. It is beautiful in the summer there also, with lovely hot summer days. Perfect for getting out on the lake on the boat. Anyway, enough talk of weather, we don't actually get much say in what we receive, do we?
Till next time, Happy stitching.

Leanne's House Block of the Month

Time for a little update on a WIP of mine. This Block of the Month is one I purchased through Honeysuckle Cottage in Australia. Their fabric choices are beautiful, and it was lovely to get a little package in the mailbox every month with the latest block. Ever since I first saw one of Leanne's designs in an old Country Threads magazine, I've been a big fan. I have made up and completed most of the stitchery on the first 5 blocks, but am unsure of how to complete the applique. I have dreams of being able to do beautiful needleturn applique, but would like to practice a little more before I set to work on some of these quilt blocks. I've had a go at a couple of hearts in Block 1 and 2, the result is OK, but not perfect yet..... more practice required I think. The first 3 photos are of Block 1.

This is Block 2. It still needs another heart on either side of the pink one. These blocks have been in the pipeline for a long while now. Every now and then I pull it out and fall in love with it all over again, and complete a block before something else catches my eye. I wish I could be one of those who are dedicated enough to start a project and complete it before starting the next one. Unfortunately a lot of the things I love to stitch are large, so I tend to have a lot more starts than finishes lol. I also tend to get things stitched and then am unsure how I will 'finish' them, so they just get put away in the cupboard again. Lucky there are some very inspiring blogs out there with lots of great finishing ideas. There were some beautiful Christmas ornament finishes around last year, so maybe one day..................

Till next time ............. Happy stitching.