Loving a Long Weekend

I seemed to have had a very relaxed time but tinkered with lots of bits....
Cut out loads of clamshells and basted them, thanks to generous friends...

In fact I ran out of available papers so had to get to and sew row 17 on.

Brinton Hall....the next UFO project got some attention and more hexies were sewn together.

"Libby the Librarian " from Angel Story was completed. A few alternative design elements had to happen because I kept messing up the tiny collar...bit challenging in needleturn. But I am happy with how Libby turned out.

I also did some work on an art project.....you can read about that HERE
Time was also allocated for some much needed wandering up in the bush. Since I returned from my holidays I have been embracing my "inner heffalump" and devouring any sweet treat silly enough to get in my way! My walking had dwindled as the weather warmed up.
Little bit of discussion with self and walking as well as swimming is back on the agenda....I am not aiming for svelte....I just want to have my energy back and fit into my shrinking wardrobe.....
So these have been getting a work out again.

When I am in the bush, inhaling the scents, seeing critters about I  wonder why I got  so lazy and denied myself this pleasure.

We humans are funny folk!
Namaste and Blessings Michelle xxx

Happy Australia Day

 Happy Australia Day to you all here in the land "Down Under".  We have chosen to exercise the freedom we sometimes take for granted here and have a nice relaxing day. When you travel through this land as we have been lucky enough to do you can't help but be awed by its strange beauty and feel such gratitude to have experienced it.
I thought I would share some favourite places with you....ones that touched my heart.

Rock Pool Carnarvon Gorge Queensland 

Springsure Queensland 

Yellow Water Billabong Kakadu National Park 

Sunrise Yellow Water Billabong Kakadu National Park 

Ubir Kakadu National Park 

Beautiful Arafura Sea Darwin

Buley Rock Hole NT

Sunset Broken Hill NSW

MacKenzie Falls, The Grampians Victoria

Just a tiny few of my favourite Aussie spots......we are so blessed!

Billabong Stawell Victoria 

Ok! Time for a cuppa and a piece of the delicious damper Hubby has been trying to perfect.

The Olives are for he and No.1 son....I don't like them!

I hope you enjoy celebrating in your own Aussie fashion.

Nouralngie Kakadu National Park 

Namaste and Blessings Michelle xxx 

Brinton Hall

After searching for a nice French blue without success  for the 1st border on Brinton Hall it was languishing in the drawer.....so I searched through my stash AGAIN and found the remnants of another quilts border....measured and pronto! Enough! I probably won't have enough for the final border in it but I think being so scrappy I can get away with something else.
Then the fun began.....do you ever have those days when you repeat the same error over and over?? I cut out the homespun for the centrepiece base 3 times incorrectly! Truly! I'm blaming the fact that I have a head cold.....or else I need seeing to!
Lucky No. 4 and we have a base and I could begin appliquing the hexies to the border! Hooray! I like how it looks....

I feel like I can now move forward with this one.....many more hexies to go on the border in a strip...

Gotta love hexies! On the subject of all things EPP....
Some very nice friends knew that I was using reproduction fabric scraps for my Clamshell Quilt and have so generously added to my "Clammie Collection" as it is becoming known......thank you wonderful ladies xxxxxxx These are going to make a wonderful difference to the scrappy look I was hoping for.

I get to have a little chop and hand the box back.....so nice 😊

I am so going to enjoy making up a whole new lot of clamshells from them.
Stitchers are such lovely people.
Last week a little parcel arrived for me to assist me in my 2018 quest to use less plastic. Plastic straws do so much damage along with single use plastic bags to our marine life and it seems like there are trillions of them.
So I invested in some stainless steel ones to keep in my bag for when the need arises.

They come with their own little cleaning brush but can also go in the dishwasher.
I am trying very hard this year to walk the talk and not just pay lip service to doing better in my choices. Every little change we make definitely makes a difference!

Namaste and Blessings Michelle xxx

Sunday Stitchers and First Day

Today is a red letter day....both our little ladies started school! Cannot believe how grown up they both are. Apparently both had a great day.

Yesterday was our first meeting of Sunday Stitchers for 2018. If you follow some of the other Sunday Stitchers I am repeating it for you...sorry!
Very photo heavy as we were all very good stitchers and worked on our UFO challenges and consequently lots of lovely show and tell.
Cheryl....show and tell sweet Minnie quilt and UFO beautiful Sashiko.

Susans lovely quilts and a mini.

Gorgeous quilting details visible on the back of Susan's lovely quilt.

Noela....a lovely runner and wall hanging.

Incas beautiful Lucy Boston.....I feel guilty about mine...sssh!

Tatyana had a sweet wall hanging.

De...the cutest clamshell pouch...

Teresa and Noreen lovely candle mats and I think a pincushion?

Sandi had lovely zippy pouches and cute bags...

Marilyn escaped the paparazzi but had gorgeous appliqued flower blocks to show.

Helen was doing a balancing act with Miss Matty and candlemat!

Allison....beautiful pillow shams to match the beautiful wedding quilt she made.

Phew! And yours truly showing it pays to be voluptuous sometimes lol!

I had one Elf block in my UFO no.2 spot but finished it so quickly that I got them all done.....the UFO list had to be revised....

De drew our number for next month......

Which is Brinton Hall.....and which I just happened to take to work on yesterday!

I guess I just keep on going then lol!
It was a very nice way to spend the day and start the New Year.
If you are still with me....thank you!
LASTLY I just wanted to say that I have a lot of wonderful comments from folks who are non reply bloggers. I have decided to respond to those people directly under their comments. So if you don't get an email response from me to say thank you it will be there.
Well that is me DONE for this post!

Namaste and Blessings Michelle xxx

FNSI JANUARY

WENDY from Sugarlane Designs hosted our online get together for January. If you would like to see what everyone was working on pop over to Wendy's.
As I had the company of the little folk in my family all week I was a little bit weary.

Their Mums are teachers and were back in at school hard at work preparing for everyone else's little folk to join them bright and early Monday morning! Yes! Those lucky teachers getting ALL those holidays! But I shan't go on! Except to say do appreciate our teachers people....they work darn hard and often at their own expense! Both financially and emotionally.

Anyway in the spirit of joining in with my fellow bloggers I decided to do some nice and relaxed stitching on my clamshells.

I am now appliquing row 16 on and got all but 8 sewn before sleepy eyes overtook me and bed called me away.

Slowly but surely it is growing.....love this quilt! Feels so old worldy and nostalgic, makes me think of all those quilt makers that came before me. The difference being they were making do, using up each tiny leftover scrap and creating something useful and lovely in the process. Where as I have the luxury of choosing favourites "scraps" to make mine. Still it is very nice to be creating an 'Ode to the Olde'.
What did you stitch last night with us?
Through the week I appliqued my January circles in place for Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2018. I am really going to enjoy doing these.

A quiet day for me here today. Maybe some prep work on my next Angel Story block.
If you want to read my latest Art post go HERE
Have a lovely weekend all.

Namaste and Blessings Michelle xxx