I'M BACK!!!!!!

Madam camper at the ferry jetty with departing ferry in the background. Gotta love the hat! Why is it some people look good in hats......Not me!

Well some of you may have noticed I have been missing in action (thank you to all you wonderful people who enquired about my welfare). I have actually been away camping in 'swanee' with No 1 husband in Northern NSW at Iluka which is a quiet little fishing hamlet at the mouth of the magnificent Clarence River. It is such a lovely peaceful place and it was just what I needed after my Dad died a few weeks ago. So I did lots of relaxing and walking and generally chilling out.We did a lot of sight seeing and I will probably drive you mad but it is such a pretty part of the world. We endured a couple of fierce storms in the van and I would like to tell you I was brave....but no! Sssscared out of my wits. However the next day we would be rewarded with glorious sunshine and even more beautiful sunsets. We would like to think we earned some kind of camping brownie points. I did get a lot of stitching done which I will show you in another post. All you 'hexie' girls should be very proud of yourselves...you've done your job well! Below are some photos of our position and the stormy skies and some beautiful sunsets.

This was our wake up every morning and look at view from our van.

Would you have been a little nervous of this approching storm????

The sky really was that dark and weird looking with  a myriad of lightning strikes. Even though it was scary it was amazing!

And then we had these magnificent sunsets over the river.

I would stitch under this tree or we would take our end of day drinkies over and watch the sun set. Beautiful!!!

I shall post some more about our holiday later but just wanted to assure you all I am indeed very well except for a bad case of hayfever. I have missed you all and I must admit to lurking from time to time....see what you bloggers have done to me. But as the intro says.....I'M BACK!!!
Blessings Michelle xx

Isn't it Pretty!

I just had to show a photo of my lovely new PINK rotary cutter I bought yesterday from the Scissorman at the show. Both my Mum, Nan and a very dear friend were sufferers and survivors of breast cancer and as October is Breast Cancer awarness month I thought it was very approriate to buy this one...50c of every special pink one goes to the National Breast Cancer Foundation. Win/Win for me and I love making my $$$$$$ count.

My friend Cathy's beautiful pink rose "Seduction"

Now I know I am becoming like one of those overbearing boring Mothers who only ever want to talk about "Their" little darlings and don't give a fig to hear about your little darlings....BUT  it's my blog and I get to talk so.....just had to show you my 'baby pumpkin' and 'baby tomatoes'. Ssssshhhh! I can hear you groaning but they are so cute and I feel like a real genuine vegie gardener. Everything has gone crazy.

Can you see the wee pumpkin forming.....so cute!

And a whole bract of baby Roma tomatoes!

Ok I am done oohing and aahing now. I am off to do the grocery buying (yuk! I know it is a blessing to be able to) and pay the bills....gotta love that.
Enjoy your day and give a smile or two away,
Blessings Michelle x

Craft show Brisbane

Well I had a great day in at the Craft & Quilt show today....I am very weary and I am sure I am shorter from all the wandering from stand to stand. I wasn't too wicked but I did buy some lovely notions, a NEW rotary cutter (I've killed my old one) which is a lovely pink one supporting Breast Cancer Research, a beautiful book to help me make sense of what on earth to do with these jelly rolls I love the look of and have to have but not being to crash hot in the piecing department leave me flummoxed. I also bought a few little bits for swap pressies.
I also had a lovely wander amongst all the quilts on display and I don't know there is something wonderful about being surrounded by a whole host of quilts.....my favourites were 2 restored vintage quilts, one a double wedding ring quilt. Sorry no photos as I didn't know which ones to take and which ones to leave.

Danielle and I at the Express stand.

One of the primary reasons I went into the show was to meet in person the lovely editor of Country Threads Magazine, Danielle Tebb. She is such a delight to work with. We talk on the phone regularly and emails fly thick and fast between us but I had never met her in the flesh so to speak, so when she told me  she was hosting the Express Publications stand in Brisbane we arranged to catch up and it was wonderful to finally meet her  face to face for a chat(and assure her I was on task with my commissions lol). Promise!
I then popped along to Thread & Gingers lovely stand to check out my quilt and bits and felt very chuffed indeed to see them up there on the wall. Even saw one of my pattterns bought while I was there and got to thank the purchaser...Woo Hoo! I did take a photo but it is not that great as I didn't want to shove the customers aside to get a better pic....not a good look. LOL! So if you look over to the right above Nats head you will see them on the wall. Natalie's stand looks beautiful as usual.

Here they are very exciting!!!

Well that's enough excitemnt for one day and it's back to the real world and decide 'what's for dinner?'
Blessings Michelle x

Tuesday's Treasure with Melody

Here are at Terrific Tuesday again which means I get to visit MELODY for Tuesday's Treasures and see what other treasure is being shared today.

My Crazypatch Angel.

The beautiful hand stitching along the seams.

Her Credentials...doesn't need any in my book.

My Treasure this week is an Angel I bought a few years ago at a Christmas Fair. Her dress is crazy patch and is supposedly made from an old vintage quilt. Even though she is supposed to be a Christmas Angel with her twiggy wreath I love her so much I leave her out all year round. I love Angels and they feature quite a bit in my designs as I love to draw them and imagine them performing all their many duties.
The other thing I wanted to share was my friend Cathy's beauitful orchid...it is so unusual looking.

Cathy's Orchid

I knew I always loved flowers but until I started blogging and carrying a camera everywhere I realised how many beautiful blooms I had overlooked.
On the subject of Angels I just love this graphic from ROSE PETALS FROM HEAVEN which you have probably seen on my side bar and it helps to remind me how blessed I am to have the lovely friends I have.
Hope you are finding time to do somehting you love today.
Blessings Michelle x

A tad excited!

I am very excited. The gorgeous Natalie from "Thread & Ginger" Patchwork Boutique at Victoria Point is taking my samples of  "Christmas Bakeshop", "Skates for Hire" and "Warm Cinnamon Tea" and their patterns to the Craft and Quilting fair on at the Brisbane Convention Centre staring on Wednesday 19/10/11 until Sunday 23/10/11. So if you visit their beautiful stand (and it is always beautiful) you will be able to see my "efforts" in the flesh so to speak.

All the little patterns are already in their shiny new packets. Even though my presentation is simple in design I still get an enormus thrill to see my designs in pattern form. I hope everyone likes them.
Natalie and Caryn have been so supportive of my designing efforts and very generous so thank you girls and big hugs to you both. XXX
In case you forgot which ones they are....................

Christmas Bakeshop Quilt.

Skates for Hire cushion

Warm Cinnamon Tea wall hanging

Blessings Michelle x

The Weekend That Was with Stitching.

Saturday afternoon the sky looked like this!!!!

Sunday afternoon the sky looked like this!

Welcome to Monday Everyone. Well didn't we have some wild and wooly weather over the weekend. We were visited by very black, green and forboding skies on Saturday afternoon and a very fierce storm arrived soon after. We thankfully didn't get any damage but many other poor souls did. Mother Nature is a force to reckoned with when she gets angry that is for sure. The photo doesn't really show how dark it was. It was if it was night time. The vegies have gone nuts, we even had enough lettuce for a salad and sandwich. Yum!
Anyway weather side the Dear One was on call so we were kept pretty close to home and so....stitching!!
I have a couple of sneak peeks to show you of what I have been working on that will be revealed much later down the track.
I also only have 2 blocks to go on "My Country Garden" woo hoo!

The colours haven't shown up properly but they are very rich especially the chocolate. It was a jelly roll from Moda (Barbara Brackman's Climbing Jacobs Ladder) I recieved as a gift from a very nice friend.

Hmm! What will you be???

And of course some redwork......did I tell you I love redwork...oh I remember many times. Sorry!

Aren't they just so pretty!

I know I am a bit behind everyone else but I have seen all you stitchers out there doing lovely things with this thread so... last week I bought some gorgeous "Cottage Garden Threads" from MAREE at Ollie & May to try out on a special project I have in mind featuring my furry little favourites...some bears. Oh they are just so beautiful to stitch with and the colours...devine!  I might even have to have some more yet.I like that they are hand dyed here in Australia too. The only problem I have is that they look so cute in their wrappers I hate to undo them to use. BUT I WILL! And I have!
Well that was my weekend doings. I hope you enjoyed yours!
I am off to 'bend and stretch' and undo some of the 'curled on the couch stitching' crinks.
Enjoy your day.

"Just about everything can be repaired by a little stitch of thread or love and kindness"
Blessings Michelle xx

Favourite things Friday.

Here we are at the tail end of the week and time to ponder on a 'favourite' and link up with the witty and wise SHAY for  Favourite Things Friday. I am sharing a favourite of mine that will bore some of you to the back teeth but that's ok. Look away now! A favourite of mine is 'tins' of all kinds. I have gathered quite a collection over the years and I have to say when I am given a gift that comes in a tin it's the tin that gets my attention first. Shocking admission I know. I think it stems from (and this will scare you) the fact that we had homebaked biscuits most of the time as a child and if we did have storebought you bought a few and they were sold by weight and you bought them home in a paper bag. So when the family recieved a tin of biscuits it was very special indeed and the tin was put to good use long after the contents were demolished.
So that is the only excuse I can offer and I think when my children read this they will become even my terrified.... more of my junk to be rid off one day. LOL! I love the fact that something so beautiful and some are beautiful can get a second life.....holding your sewing or threads or a new batch of biscuits. Your choice is endless. LOVE TINS!
I am so glad I am actually here to write this post after the 'humungous' storm we had yesterday I thought we would be blown to kingdom come. I was so glad my Son dropped in on his way home from work so I could at least appear brave AND I feared for my vegies. They came through unharmed....but more storms are predicted for today and tomorrow.

"Tea tins"

"Christmas tins" These are but a few the rest are packed away but will soon be getting an airing.

"Sewing tins" the one with blue flowers was my Nans as was the little pin tin on top.

"Chocolate tins" now there is a real surprise for you! Several are from overseas.

Aussie icon "Arnotts" tins which are no longer Aussie.

Old tins I just like

Well I am off to do some work now.....patterns to get copied and photos to get printed because all you lovely stitching sisters out there liked my Chrissy patterns so much I am running out. So Thanks a bunch!!

"Gifts of Christmas" cushion

Have a great day and I wish you a weekend of things you enjoy.
Blessings Michelle xx