Nothing to see here

Apologies for those who have popped by to see my Friday Night with Friends efforts, 

there really is nothing to see here today....

About 4 o'clock on Friday afternoon we headed down the road to pick up our daughter from the friends she had enjoyed a sleepover with.... one thing led to another, and before you know it we were feasting on a takeaway fish and chip dinner, a very pleasant night catching up over a few glasses of wine.  So I guess it was Friday Night with Friends, just not the sort in my original plan!

So of course I thought I will sew on Saturday night, and virtually the same thing happened.... some friends phoned at 5pm to see if we would join them for their first BBQ of the season, and so that's what we did!  SO we have had a great weekend being social butterflies, now who knows what will happen tonight.........??

But of course it isn't a blog post without a pic or two, I found these lake reflection photos taken on Lake Te Anau in beautiful Fiordland National Park back in May, in fact I think it was on Mothers Day......

.....so I'll catch you again soon, maybe when there's  

been some sewing finally done...... Nicky x

A Fresh quilt and kind friends

I have been busy with some machine sewing in the last couple of weeks any chance I've had.  I bought Camille Roskelley's Simply Retro book a while back and her 'Fresh' quilt is the one I kept going back to look longingly at.  So I gave in to temptation and decided on a kind of controlled colour palette using all my Bonnie and Camille scraps and a new charm pack of their beautiful Scrumptious range.  This is going to be a big quilt, it was meant to be a 4x4 block layout which finishes at 96" x 96", but I've decided to trim one row off and will end up at 72 x 96, plenty big enough for a single bed.  I have never trimmed Half Square Triangles down to size before, and it is rather tedious, but boy does it make a big difference when sewing them together and matching seams etc, love this technique now!  So this picture is half the quilt top, I have one more row complete and I hope to finish the last three blocks tonight when I join in with lots of friends around the globe for Friday Night with Friends.... maybe you'd like to join in too and sign up over at Cherylls blog here.....

Earlier this week I got a lovely surprise in the mail from dear Deb, who after I mentioned in my last post my lack of hand stitching due to the state of my hands, went to the trouble of doing some research and found this wonderful Aromatherapy Co Hand Cream and sent it to me...... it smells divine, such a sweet citrus scent and it feels amazing, won't be long now and I'll be back with needle and thread in my hand, maybe over the weekend if I'm lucky...... thank you so much Deb, your kindness is so sweet and I have been smiling all week thinking about you and your lovely gift.

Finally I had just the one little OPAM finish for September which was this little mini quilt for friends who have recently built their first home.  They have little twin boys and so this was my loose interpretation of them with their little guys..... my first attempt at the sketchy raw edge applique, and as my friends favourite colour is pink, that's what I chose for the binding....(taken on my own ugly wallpaper, not their beautiful new wall colours...lol) I kind of wish I had done some quilting in the background but didn't know where to start!

Right, had better get myself organised for a quick and easy dinner tonight so I can get sewing like a madwoman once the dishes are done....... have a lovely weekend....... Nicky x 

My Friday Night with Friends and lovely gifts

My Friday Night with Friends started a little later than I planned, with our girls both having netball games on Friday evening, but better late than never right... and here is the littlest peak at some secret sewing I've been working on tonight.  These are some of those wonderful 'bonus' half square  triangles left over from my Fat Quarter Shop Designer Mystery BOM blocks.  I've also added a few different fabrics from a charm pack for some variety, do you think you can guess what I'm working on??   If you were joining in tonight for FNWF, I hope you got lots done too.... and a big thanks to Cheryll for hosting us all.

A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to win Anthea - Hibiscus Stitches beautiful giveaway of some goodies she purchased at a big Craft Show. A pretty floral fat quarter, a Cottage Garden Thread(I've heard lots of good things about these) and a pair of gorgeous bunny scissors.  It is all so pretty, I love it Anthea!

So imagine my surprise when included in the parcel was this lovely mug rug, with the prettiest seed packet fabric on the front, and backed with this cool black and white 'quilt words' fabric, can you see some of the block names and quilting expressions on it?  Thanks so much Anthea, I love it all and am so thrilled to have been the lucky winner!

I was going to make the next part another post on another day, but my presence here has been rare lately so I'll just put it all in the one post!!  Here are the final four blocks of the 2012 FQS BOM.  I finished these last month, but only got some quick pics today....

 Block 9 - Lakeside Retreat - Designed by Joanna Figueroa

Block 10 - Sunday Drive - Designed by Polly Minick and Laurie Simpson

Block 11 - County Fair - Designed by Julie Comstock

Block 12 - April Showers - Designed by Sweetwater

 I have the first 6 blocks joined into their rows with their flying geese for sashing, there is a big vertical red and white stripe fabric to go between each horizontal row, but I need to take my time cutting that so I don't stuff it up!

The rush is on to get this one finished as the new 2013 Designer Mystery BOM has started and I have block one sitting here waiting to be started.  I saw a few girls were going to be getting stuck into that one tonight, hope it went well for you!

Thanks for visiting today, I will try and be back a lot sooner next time.... happy stitching...Nicky x

My beautiful Easter swap gifts

My lovely Easter swap parcel from Leanne arrived and didn't she spoil me!!A gorgeous applique bunny bag, he is adorable, as is the little bunny with the orange spots who was carefully guarding some yummy easter eggs that the family enjoyed...... Some pretty fabrics, buttons, some yummy DMC threads in colours that make me think of Easter, some sweet little iron-on birdie patches and a length of the measuring tape that you can stitch onto little projects - I've been looking for some of that for a while.

Thank you so much Leanne, I love it all and really enjoyed our swap......

What are your plans for the weekend?  There really needs to be some serious housework happen here this weekend, our youngest daughter and I are off on her school camp next week, so must get myself organised ..... it should be lots of fun(the camp, not the housework...lol)  

So maybe not too much stitching time here, but I live in hope!

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

PS - Thanks for all the comments and advice about how you stitch down your dresden plate blocks. The jury is still out but I will have to make a decision once I get all the blocks sewn.   My FNWF efforts last week got all the 'petal' parts made and a couple more put together, but just never got back here to show them........ what a hopeless blogger I've been lately!

FNWF and some February finishes

Hello there, firstly here is what I stitched last night for Friday Night with Friends(Big thanks to Cheryll for hosting us)  This is about half of the stitchery for this months Stitch Along pincushion.

I have a couple of finishes from February too, this is a little Leannes House-inspired pincushion I made for a lady called Chris whose property was devastated by bushfires in Australia recently.  Chookyblue told me about her when we were emailing about the Caring with Quilts appeal.  Chris had stitched all the blocks for her Leannes House quilt, and lost them all along with all her stitching supplies in the fires.  It touched a nerve with me, as that is one of the ongoing projects I am working on, so I asked if I could put a few stitching bits and bobs together in a bundle and send them over care of Chookyblue.   I would like to say a big thanks to Sandi who owns The Art of Craft in Gore for being so generous and adding some things to this bundle too.  When I was buying the threads she asked what I was stitching with them, and when I told her what I was doing, she very kindly added some bobbin cards, linen stitchery fabric, and a couple of extra DMC threads.  I was blown away by her generosity, thanks so much Sandi..... quilters really are the best!

At the very last hour on the 28th I finished my True Friends Tote bag, the February Stitch-A-Long project, nothing like a deadline....lol....... I'm not sure about the overall colours I've gone with, it seems very bright!  But I am pleased with how the stitchery turned out.....

So along with my little Ruby quilt, that brings me to a grand total of 3 OPAM finishes for February, the most for me in a long time.  

We are weighing 3 mobs of lambs today, so no stitching here until at least tomorrow....... have a great day............ Nicky x

Saturday morning with friends....

OK, so my Friday Night with Friends sewing plans went awry..... it was our 16th wedding anniversary yesterday, and when hubby realised he would have all the grass seed sown earlier than expected, we decided to head to town to a new restaurant for dinner..... so too late for sewing when we got home!    So instead, I have spent Saturday morning making up the final Scrappy Star blocks for the Sew Along that Terry kindly hosted last year.   I have decided to just make 12 and had a little trial run of how the final layout might be.  Don't you just love my red carpet.....lol......!!

I hope if you joined in Friday Night(or Saturday Morning) with Friends that you had a productive time too.......... Thanks Cheryl for hosting us all.....

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

Friday night with Friends

Last night I joined with lots of blogging friends in Cheryls Friday Night with Friends.  I finished my Scrappy Stars for October in Terrys great Sew Along.  I have now run out of the background I was using, and will be mixing it up a bit from here on.

I also put quite a few more stitches into my SSCS exchange gift, but of course that's all got to be a secret for a little longer....

Hard to believe that it is November, when this is what it is doing outside this morning.

So much for late Spring and heading into Summer!!  It is expected to be moving on through fairly quickly though - I hope they are right about that, I got into my garden yesterday, but I think today is going to be an inside day as much as possible!

If you joined in Friday Night with Friends, I hope you had a productive evening........ and have a great weekend too................. Nicky