Christmas in July

Its a showery kind of Sunday here today.....in fact its been a showery kind of weekend.

It was perfect weather to celebrate Christmas in July in an English Pub called the Fox and Hounds on the road to Tambourine Mountain  with my friends from Sunday Stitchers.

There was so much to look at but due to Covid restrictions we couldn't fully investigate (will need another visit I think) but I did manage to find my family fellas favourite UK footy team scarves next to each other. A fire kept us all cosy.....the girls at the end closest to it  were a bit too cosy!
Our fare was traditional Roast Dinner with Yorkshire Pud and either Pavlova and berries or Plum Pudding and Custard....just the thing on a rainy day.

Sandi,  Helen and Noreen put together some little Christmas babbles, wrapped in beautiful Christmas fabric and filled with ribbon and lace just to add to our festive mood. Thank you ladies xx We had heard about this spot from them and it was lovely to visit all together.

Some of the Sunday Stitchers are embarking on a "Stitch-a-long" with Natalie Birds new pattern.....

Certain people twisted my arm violently and yes I have joined in. I love Natalie's work and she is such a very nice person as well. Its been a while since I stitched one of her designs and this one is so sweet....plus it has a whole lot of techniques I love!  I didn't have quite what I wanted in my stash so I ordered some bits and bobs to add to it. I wanted a slightly brighter vintagey look if that makes any sense. Happy with these.

I have held off beginning until my fabrics arrived and I had finished the last stitchery in Flowerville .....

And its now done! These were so lovely to work on and I loved the CGT I used.
Wasn't I good to wait lol! Lots of little Dresdens now!
So officially I can now begin the very cute stitcheries on the preprinted panel.
Its a bit crinkly because of how many times I have looked at it....sorry about that. But you get how cute they are.....time to choose threads.

I have also been honing my EPP Applecores skills.....and basted quite a few (I won't be practising gluing on these babies....not yet anyway)

I have just begun the fourth row of them and I love their scrappy beauty! I think I have already said that apart from a few spots or plains just to vary things, I am trying to keep all the fabrics flowers and botanicals. During the making of my Clamshells quilt, I was ASTOUNDED at the variety of fabric prints in the world....and I had only barely scratched the surface!

I am still finding them awkward but not enough to put me off. Besides sometimes extra effort is needed to achieve lovely things. I feel so fortunate that the joy of threading a needle and making little stitches has never left me.
Don't you?

Have a lovely Sunday folks.
Namaste and blessings Michelle xxx

When Sunday Becomes Saturday

Due to Covid restrictions and safety protocol we had to change our room and our day for Sunday Stitchers to Saturday.
It was very nice to see everyone even if we were tables apart.

Lots of lovely show and tell and a HUGE catchup on our birthdays. This year we had a "5 item" in a drawstring bag challenge .
1. Something round
2. Something touchy feely
3. Something with the recipient's initial
4. Something funny
5. A treat
This yours truly opening hers.

My gift giver was Anita and I was very spoilt!

Can you guess what was what?
My drawstring bag is just so gorgeous. And has a different design on each side. Anita has a fabulous whizz bang embroidery machine....you would swear it was hand stitched....

We had quite a few "interesting " items e.g. Unicorn Snot lip balm?? Lol!
Sandi also gifted all the birthday girls with some of her lovely handmade cards.

I worked on my No. 9 Flowerville block.

So despite all the cleaning and wiping down of everything and no shared treats we still managed to have a lovely time!
Yesterday I watched some tutorials on the old age debate about glue basting v thread basting for EPP. I know that I shall always want to thread baste some items but I really would like to save my hands and some time by gluing occasionally.
So I have had another go.....it is obviously much faster.

I will withold judgement until the papers need to come out! That has always been my issue. Hopefully this time I have used just the right amount of the right glue.
Time will tell.
Have a lovely week friends.
Michelle xx

Favourite Wednesdays

After not seeing each other since March it was wonderful to catchup with friends for a stitching morning. Wednesdays are our special days. As you can imagine lots and lots of chat, laughter and good company.....I think we did fit in a stitch or two and knit a couple of rows....
I tried to be arty and get me in the mirror for the photo.....hmmmm...fail! Lol!

Friend Bev hosted us and filled us up with delicious snacks, warming vegetable soup and this gorgeous cake.....which happened to feature one of my favourites....
Sweet fresh figs! Work of art I think and tasted wonderful!

So a "diamond day" amongst all the stone days of recent times. Family and friends were all I really missed in lock down.
I did get some stitching done and was able to finish my 2nd last Flowerville stitchery block yesterday. No. 9 (last one) got  underway chatting to friend FIONA via video link.

As I have some cutting and machine sewing to do on Nature's Journey I did a little bit more trial work on Applecores. I have worked out the second row now.

I am sewing the under and over technique, sourced from tutorials on the internet....which is a little awkward to do....its a bit of head patting and tummy rubbing at the same time awkward!

But less awkward than trying to baste the whole applecore and then try and sew it to the ones ajacent and above it. So far I am managing the unders and overs as the back shows...

Now that I have the hang of it and like how it looks I will continue with it but I think it will be a home project after all. I don't want to scare off other campers with the faces I pull sewing this lol! I am loving seeing all those lovely scrappy pieces in the beginnings of this quilt though. I am trying to keep it mostly to florals and botanicals. Why is it you think you will always have an abundance of scraps to do a project but always need to go and aquire more???
I do have a couple of other caravan EPP options....my six pointed stars that I actually began last year on our journey north.

Or the recently purchased Jewels which make lovely hearts....you have probably seen the liberty versions on the net that are all the go at present.

I bought quite large ones so will sew up quicker and could be quite nice with some fussy cutting too......it is good having options AND something to look forward to.
There is plenty of time to decide as we aren't taking our "Chateau de Wheels" out anytime soon in this current climate.....I am still in semi hermit mode.
Well nice folks.....have a very nice weekend, stay warm, stay safe and stay well!
I have to get ready for a little furry friend who is visiting for the weekend.
Love this photo of my Son and Grandchildren.

Namaste and blessings Michelle xxx

Nature's Journey and Birthdays

I have been loving a big dose of needle turn applique on the centre panel of Nature's Journey.  First all the stems and leaves.

And then all the pretty flowers and critters....

I have some embroidery left to do on some legs. I am still undecided if I will include the random shapes that are in the pattern on the centre....still thinking!
I also decided that I would prefer 4 corners the same on the last border so made little hexie flowers for those.

Same but different,  if you know what I mean.
I have one more basket to add to my pile....

And one more Love and Hugs block to add to that pile.

Over the weekend my FIL turned 92 years young and so cake was called for. He is a bloke of very simple tastes and a caramel mudcake is his favourite....very easy for me. So I zoooshed it up a bit with strawberries and  malteasers.

Can you see the banner photo? That was draped across his front fence by his gorgeous neighbour. So he would see it as soon as he opened his blinds. She puts something on his fence every year and for all the other celebrations in the year. When the world shows us the worst its wonderful to know one of the best.
Here is Dad in younger days sharing his birthday with our Son who turns 40 today.

Many years they celebrated together......only 2 days apart.
I am so thrilled to be able to celebrate my Sons 40th birthday with him and his family . He has become such a good man and considering all the health issues and difficulties he has gone tbrough over the last 5 years he deserves to celebrate.  We certainly learned the hard way that tomorrow is not promised so appreciate each day.

Looking forward to CAKE and lots of candles! HAPPY BIRTHDAY ❤❤

Namaste and blessings Michelle xxx

Wings and Pretty Things

Good morning lovely folks. Well nothing exciting to report from my neck of the woods except on the stitching front. Finally all these little blocks....

Have become this.....

My "Wings and Pretty Things " is officially a flimsy now. After some quilting magic happens I am going to bind it in the beautiful red spot that started this whole quilt.

Now thats its 'officially' finished, I can 'officially' begin Natures Journey.  As I told you in a precious post I have the centre background pieced and ready to go. But on studying the pattern closer I decided I wasn't a fan of the different block in each corner of the final border. Call me anal but I decided to change it to 4 blocks the same and that being 4 hexie flowers.....so that was my first foray into the new quilt.....little hexies!

More of this happened too.....

So there are now 3 Flowerville blocks assembled....

I do love those fabrics.....please excuse my daggy '70s carpet in my sewing cave....but it keeps me warm! Lol!

Over the past couple of weeks I have dived between the covers of these two books. Courtesy of my dear Daughter and enjoyed both....but to be honest I was hoping for different endings *sigh*

Now if I can manage to move myself from my beautiful sunny spot I have a little bird on my drawing board wanting attention.

To all my friends in Victoria. I am thinking of you. Please stay safe.

Happy stitching!

Namaste and blessings Michelle xxx