A Clever Friend

One of the nicest bloggers I have gotten to meet is our very own Marilyn from Mardi Meanderings. A sweet and clever lady. Marilyn has begun designing under the name "Mardi Kaye Designs" and they are lovely. Her Stitching Case is a real hit....

isn't it beautiful? Quite a few of these are being made around town....soo pretty and think of all those projects you can take on retreat in that case.
Another pretty from Marilyn is her Shopping Compendium which I am sure you will just love...

I think this is gorgeous! If you pop over to Marilyn blog and go to her design page you can see the inside workings of this little wonder pouch and also find out how you can get hold of her patterns.
It makes me so happy to see lovely creative people following their unique and special path.

My swap partner in the Dresden swap was Claire and she loves aqua and red. As these are colours I don't normally use it was great fun to use something different....

I made Claire a table runner and she really liked it and says it will be perfect to use in her new home.

*note to self....press the item before taking photo!! I really enjoyed making for Claire. I did have other goodies but forgot to take a photo of those. This has been a lovely swap with great girls. Huge thanks to
Peg and Shez  for organising it so beautifully for us.
Not much sewing going on here as I seemed to have collected a little cold in my travels and feel a bit "Blah!"
As I love to draw freehand I have been wanting to do a better job of it. Drawing for stitching is a little different than trying to use shading etc. So I decided that loads of practice is what is required. Little Merle one the furry friends who lives with me volunteered to be my model.....

A little close up..

trouble is I can lose hours doing this. Much more practice needed but it is such good fun.
Enjoy your day. Me? I am off for a cuppa and some Panadol.
Namaste and Blessings,
Michelle xxx

No 1 Big Birthday! And Other Stuff.

Yesterday our eldest Granddaughter Charlotte celebrated her 1st Birthday. Boy has time flown. From this wee baby...

To this big grown up girl...

And you have to have pressies on your big day too..

So Happy First Birthday and big hugs Charlotte xxx
On the stitching side of things I have finally finished my very old UFO "Love is" a Rosalie Quinlan design I did as a block of the month, I don't know when!

I bought Quest for a Cure fabric for the final border and did the stitcheries in a very bright pink (so not me!!) but I love how it has turned out. Little close up...

It is nice to be able to have it out of the cupboard of neglected projects. Wonder if the other projects miss it?
Over Easter I basted up a quilt from the Michelle's Secret Long Term Project group. Want to see a sneaky?

It is already to start quilting now...if only the weather would get a little cooler. It was quite heavy going quilting "Love Is" in this warm weather.
The lovely warm  weather however allowed us to finally get our garden finished.
We cleared the area in November 2012....shocking I know!
Anyway we got out the blocks and shoveled loads of lovely organic soil...

Put in some new plants, mostly of the tropical variety (they need to take care of themselves) and some azaleas which I seem to be able to grow...I think it is the soil rather than any gardening prowess on my part.

I am looking forward to seeing them all grow and look a little more lush than they do now. We made three small terraces down to the front and also shoveled loads of mulch. Still a little work to go on the original front garden but we were very pleased with all our hard work.... we found muscles we had forgotten we had!

Now a little spot of rain would help a lot. Well I think that's it folks and I have caught you all up on what I have been up too. I hope you have all enjoyed your weekend.

Blessings Michelle xxx

FHFS Dresden Gift and Stitching Day

I am enjoying the company of a lovely group of friends online and we have just had our first swap....a lovely Dresden Plate...
Look what the my very clever friend Christine sent me....
First the oh so pretty wrapping!

and then the contents...

A beautiful table centre with a stitchery centre and look at the gorgeous fabrics...very me! Christine popped in some extra goodies too, Lindor chocolates (Yum) some of my favourite DMC threads and a gorgeous little china tag with a pretty bluebird on it....very spoilt here folks!
My brand new table centre already has a home...

It looks so lovely with my little Birthday Bird from O'Faigh
I have also hung my cute little birdie tag in it's new home too.

The chokkie is still intact. I know AMAZING! Thank you so much Christine. I was just so delighted with my beautiful Dresden and gifts.
Today I got these pretties out.

As it was my turn to have stitching at my place. We had a lovely day...much chatting and laughing. We were a small but cheery group today. I did do a little hand quilting on this verrrrry old UFO that only needed 3 blocks quilting and a border. It is the lovely "Love Is" pattern by Rosalie Quinlan. I am now on the last block..woohoo! I only have two more really old UFO's that need seeing to before I need to think of the more recent humungus list.

I cannot get a good photo of this quilt that shows the pretty fabrics but trust me it is pretty.
Well I must dash and put my pretty teacups away as I am away out the door again tonight to go guess where? Stitching at Diane's! Mr R. will have been dreaming of being in control of the TV remote all day!
Namaste and Blessings,
Michelle xxx

One of My Favourite Things To Do.

I do hope everyone has enjoyed their Easter break. Mr R. and I decided that 1 and a half whole years was quite long enough trying to get a garden finished in our front yard so we threw ourselves into getting it finished  with gusto. I will show our efforts next post. Today I wondered if you would like to come for a wander with me to one of my favourite places 10 mins walk from my home. Mr R and I took ourselves off up to the Conservation Park several times for an early morning walk over the break. It was so nice in the fresh morning air.

It is a beautiful spot. Lots of little bridges over gullies...no running creek at the moment I am afraid. Much too dry. It is however wonderful when the creek is running. The water just rushes through here and the sound is beautiful! But I love it whatever the weather. Really recharges your batteries.

It has a few little challenges up and over some boulder steps and a few steep grades which gets the heart pumping I can tell you. I love the huge boulders throughout the park all covered in lichen. They are throughout the gorge and gullies.

We saw several very quick footed wallabies...too fast for my camera though. Loads of bird song too. I loved these gorgeous Banksia bushes in bloom. The brushes were huge!

There are several cave type rocky outcrops along the path...I suspect a home for several creatures of the bush.

This bridge that I am on takes you around a curve and up a very steep grade.

How high you have climbed is obvious by your heart rate and the steps you have to climb down to get back to the where you started.

There are many more before you get this far down.

Back to where we started down there...

Thanks for indulging me and for coming along with us. We feel very blessed to have this pocket of nature virtually on our doorstep and just a quick walk away. Once you enter the park it is hard to believe that surburbia is right outside the gate.
I shall show you what I have been up to stitching wise and my gardening efforts next post.
Namaste and blessings,
Michelle xxx

Happy Easter

Well my little bit of Easter decorating is done...

I have a little group of favourite things which have been with me quite a long time that I like to display each Easter. I also love my two "bunny" tins both of which were gifts..

Both tins came from England and this one...

was a birthday gift when my friend Bev visited Beatrix Potter's Home in the Lake District in England. I am a huge Beatrix Potter and Peter fan.
Mr R. is on call over Easter so it will be a very quiet time for us. We actually don't mind sharing some quiet time together and enjoying the odd little choccy egg or three. Although having been particularly good in the sweets department I don't want too many. I will however be able to  indulge in an Easter bun now that it is actually Easter (pet peeve...hot cross buns in the shops after Christmas)! I have planned to hopefully baste a quilt ready for some hand quilting and doing a little work on a UFO in the cupboard. We may even venture out for a little drive somewhere not to far from home...how about you?
So folks if you are going away I wish you safe travels. Do be careful out there on the roads.
To all my Family and Friends....

Namaste and Blessings,
Michelle xxx

From E. Bunny????

Well I always suspected that anyone who was lucky enough to have long velvet ears, a soft powder puff tail and a twitchy nose and whiskers was bound to be a generous soul! Yesterday I received a very mysterious package in the mail.....no return address....only this...

Inside was a little cache of delicious Easter eggs and the most beautiful spray of flowers made from very artfully folded fabrics and paper...

As yesterday was an extremely stressful day, this joyful act of kindness was such a blessing. Definitely made me smile! So big hugs and thank you "E. Bunny" bless your little cottontail...whoever you are xxx
We have some good news with regards to our granddaughter Erin. Her brain activity has normalized and she can be slowly weaned off the drugs she has been on. Her MRI showed that she has an asymmetrical brain and because of her age and the fact it is still growing and developing we don't know what or if this is significant.
Nothing sinister was found for which we are extremely grateful. But the why??? is still unknown.We just have to hope and pray the seizures don't return. It is very much a wait and see affair now.
Thank you to all of my dear friends out there who have shown me such love, concern and support during this very worrying time.

Yesterday I had a little visitor while his Mum and Dad were at the hospital....Lego Master Builder extraordinaire Lachie!! He built his helicopter all by himself...cool job!

So while Lachie was busy building I started sewing my hexies together.

Shame you don't get to see much of the cute fabric.
Ok that is it from me. I have to dash to the post office to get this parcel away....

Wonder where it is off to FHFS people?????
I wish you a joyful day.
Namaste and Blessings,
Michelle xxx

I Have Made it Back AGAIN!

Good Morning! Well we have lift off....slow but I am not complaining better to be here than not.... technology is so wonderful when it works. That is all I shall say on the matter.
I hope you are all enjoying your weekend. I also hope all my FNQ friends are safe and have not fared to badly in the wild weather dished out by Cyclone Ita. Bit of a wild girl was Ita!
I don't have a lot to show you as a lot of time as been spent running hither and yon with my computer. I have fancied however making some more Framed Hexies. I had been doing some little stitcheries for them and was all set to go. I do love them.

Last night I cut out the backings and managed to complete one Hexie.

I think I feel a little table centre coming on. I know it is far too early for Christmas stitching but hey...it makes me feel happy.
I know I am probably boring you to tears with my Cooktown Orchid photos but I just find them so delightful. They are giving a very nice show this year.
My darker one(a cutting gifted from my lovely friend Kay) just gave me a little tease last year of what was to come. Look at her this year....

The paler one (from my Grandmother) is very delicate looking.

Ahh! Mother Nature does show us her beautiful creative side when flowers bloom.
That's it from me folks,
Remember to embrace your own special kind of beautiful! Unique creation that you are.
Namaste and Blessings,
Michelle xxx

Hi nice blogging friends. Just a few words to let you know that I am still having computer issues and you know how frustrating that can be. Hopefully it will not be too long before I can do a decent post for you all.....so until then I guess I will just have to keep on stitching.
Namaste and Blessings,
Michelle xxx

Portobello Friendship Quilt And A New Blogger

Do you remember me working on this..

Well Portobello Friendship ended up in here..

The latest issue of Country Threads magazine. I really loved making this quilt. From beginning to end and I think that the fact that I had some of my lovely friend Fiona's (BubzRugz) fabric generously gifted to me in it has made it even more special. Fiona came to my aid when I could not source anymore of this range anywhere (of course I saw it everywhere after it was made) which really helped me complete it as I had imagined it. So if you want to make it too, now you can.
I have been diligently working on my next swap item for my Friend's stitching group...but just a sneaky because you don't know who's lurking!!!

I have also been enjoying my redwork. I find it very therapeutic. It is like drawing with thread instead of a pencil.

Now I was really excited to hear that my very talented friend Tracey White (nee Bormann) has after all these years of saying she was going to......has finally got her blog up and running. Tracey is a beautiful artist and is 100% responsible for throwing me into the arena of having my work published. Boy what a wonderful journey it has been so far. Tracey's blog is called Rose Petals Past  and if you click on the name it will take you there. She is currently working on mixed media work but she also has an etsy shop you can check out as well. Many of you who have visited the craft shows at Mt Tambourine would have seen Tracey's lovely work. Lots of upcycled vintage items beautifully given a new purpose.We just have to hope we can pull her away from her canvases and brushes so she remembers to do some posts..lol!

Lastly thank you everyone for all your Prayers and kind thoughts for Erin. She underwent a series of tests yesterday...not very pleasant for her. Now we have the hard job of waiting for the results and possible outcomes for her. Extremely hard on her Mum and Dad as you can imagine.
We are holding positivity uppermost in our minds and hearts for her.
I wish you a wonderful day,
Namaste and Blessings,
Michelle xxx