My Garden is Growing.

Well my little Hexie garden is slowly growing...

They are just sooo cute! I want them for the border of this scrappy Grandmothers Flower Garden quilt ( I apologise for the lack of ironing and presentation)that has been a UFO for a very looonnng time! Because of this it has been a little challenge trying to find bits of fabric that tie in with the look of the original flowers. Luckily I still had lots of little pieces of the golds from the originals for the flower centres.

I still cannot believe that I stitched all those hexies when I look at it. I always wanted a quilt like this one. It took me years to finish it. Well yes I know it is not ACTUALLY finished but you know what I mean.  Do you have a favourite quilt design that you always wanted to do? What to do on the border had been holding me back but I feel like I may actually get somewhere now the choice is made.
I have also been trying to do some hand quilting each day....

I find it has a very meditative quality to it and boy have I needed a lot of that lately!
I wish you all a lovely day.

Namaste and blessings,
Michelle xxx

Hexies and Show & Tell

Good Afternoon all. Thought I would pop in and show you my hexies that I am playing with today.

But you see they are teeny tiny ones.....

Well teeny tiny for me only 1/2 inch big. I put a five cent piece there to show you how little they are. I am going to make some little flowers to go on my Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt's border (another long suffering UFO) I didn't find them too fiddly and I thought I would. I have had the papers for ages and was much too squibby to try them out. they are lots of fun.
On our walk up in the bush this morning guess who we met???

He came right down and crossed in front of us to shimmy up another tree further away from the path. The fact that our very clever council in all it's wisdom has changed it's policy and allowed dogs on leashes into the park (which they are almost never on...the ones we have seen anyway) has limited the wildlife we see considerably. So we were so thrilled to experience this little bloke. I adore dogs but I also love wildlife and I am sorry there are just some places where your doggies shouldn't go. Ok! Stepping down from soap box now! Moving on...show and tell.
The lovely Joy from Bundaberg has been so quick, lightning quick in fact that she has stitched Miss Mousey (Country Bounty) from the latest Country Threads issue already. Want a look see?

Looks great Joy! Thanks for sharing it.
Ok I am off back to my hexies. I would just like to wish all the Mothers out there...

Namaste and blessings,
Michelle xxx

Friday Again!

Well I have no clue as to where this week has gone but here I am at the end of it. A little stitching has been done. I have been appliqueing and stitching little birds...

and continuing on with my hand quilting which has been nice to curl up under with these cooler nights.

"Miss Mousey" was very pleased to grace the cover of the latest issue of Country Threads magazine and I was very excited to see her there. I think there is a good chance she is a close cousin of "Miss Mistletoe"!!

A friend ordered me some little stackable palettes of watercolours. I first tried them on Yoga retreat and loved them. So I am looking forward to having a bit of dabble with them.

That's all from me folks. I hope you enjoy your Friday.

Namaste and Blessings,
Michelle xxx

FNWF Doings

Last night I joined all the other "Friday-nighters" over at Cheryll's for

I knew I needed something that would not require unsewing today as I would be watching the Anzac Test between Aussie Kangaroos and the Kiwis. We won YAY!!! But what a great game...quite the nailbiter. So I started some hand quilting...

I definitely needed to keep my energy up (for all that yelling at the TV) so chokkie was needed.

I enjoyed stitching along with everyone and will be by later to see what you got up to. Big thanks to Cheryll for being our hostess once again
This morning Mr R. and I enjoyed our walk through the park and it was quite fresh. We have had a little bit of rain so I expected the creek to be running but alas only a trickle...the sound however as it made it's way down through the rocks and crevices was very serene and peaceful.

With my sniffley nose the rocky steps were a bit hard going this morning for me...Mr R. racing (not) to the top!

Despite my huffing and puffing today I loved getting out in the bush in the fresh air.
I have a beautiful pink Callistemon in my garden that I planted in honour of Steve Irwin when he died and it has never flowered very well until now. It is covered in gorgeous pink brushes tinged in gold.

The tree looks beautiful. I bought a few into the house to cheer me...

Not too many as I didn't want to deprive the Lorikeets and Honey Eaters of their breakfast. They are all over it and so noisy which is lovely to see.
Lastly I just wanted to share this little gem that was posted on Facebook and really says very eloquently what it is like to create....

Enjoy your weekend folks,
Namaste and Blessings,
Michelle xxx

A Little Show and Tell

I received a lovely email and photo from one of my followers in the UK. Sue (no blog) had purchased my  pattern "Pudding Ted" and has completed stitching the cushion and sent me a piccie to have a look. Sue has done a lovely job and he looks very happy over there....

Thank you so much Sue for giving me a look see at the finished project and for giving me permission to share it on my blog. I was delighted to see it.  Pudding Ted is a little favourite of mine, maybe as I said to Sue I was channeling myself when I was drawing him. LOVE! Pudding!
Quick post today but before I go I wanted to send my love and prayers to my dear friend Trish for a speedy recovery. Sending hugs Trish \\\o///

beautiful graphic from Let's Enjoy Beauty 

Namaste and Blessings,
Michelle xxx

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