UfO

Good Morning everyone. I think every stitcher and quilter has one or many UFO's but I think my friend Lorel is the winner. On Wednesday at Stitching group we saw the end result of a lovely UFO.  Lorel has been working on this gorgeous project for her little Granddaughter that she bought "37" years ago. Yep!!! I said 37 years ago! Originally it was bought to make for Lorel's daughter. I just had to share it with you. It is just so sweet and Lorel has stitched it beautifully. I think she is a contender for the oldest UFO.
Goldilocks And The Three Bears ....

A little close up of Lorel's lovely stitching. Each little bear and Goldilocks are little dollies that come out of the pockets on the house to play with.

Isn't it sweet and you would have thought it was bought yesterday. Wouldn't you have loved that as a little girl....in fact I love it now (sigh).
The other show and tell Lorel has for us on Wednesday was her gorgeous Teapot Hanger ( a Nikki Tervo design) I really love this...well it's china so of course I do.

Sorry it is a bit blurry I think I am need of a new small camera as I think I have just about killed mine...anyway a little close up of one of the sweet teapots.

As for my stitching? Well I am still hand quilting....

I find it very meditative and am enjoying a little chill out time whilst doing it.
Stay tuned next week as I may just have a couple of new patterns available for sale.....
I wish you all a wonderful working week's end.
Also sending great big bunny hugs and kisses to our little Granddaughter Charlotte xxx

                                                    from   Embracing Kindred Spirits
Blessings Michelle xxx

Catching Up

I hope you are all enjoying your Sunday. I was very fortunate this morning as Mr R. made us pancakes for brekkie...and from scratch I might add.

Very yummy with lovely fresh honey.
Now there is nothing that gets me moving quicker to get something finished than when I am hankering to stitch a new design to see how it looks. So I set out to catch up on some projects lagging behind.

And when you are on a roll keep going...

One little block made...

And then one little row. I was very pleased with my progress and it has spurred me on to finish the others.
Two more rows to go and then the light box will be out and some new tracings can begin :)
On a completely different tack, if you are a fellow yogini or if you just love to practice meditation this CD is just beautiful. My lovely friend Helen shared it with us during a recent yoga class and I just had to have it for my own collection.

The cover is supposed to look like that by the way. It isn't your eyesight. The beautiful music of Robert Gass on this CD called Enchanted. It is enchanting and the one behind is Sacred Earth's Bhakti....Love this CD too. Mr R kindly put them on to my MP3 player for me today with much grumbling about the type of music it was...I think he thinks this meditation and Yoga caper might be catching lol. But I am grateful as I can take them with me now wherever I go...ahh bliss! Beautiful music is definitely an important part of my antedote to the sometimes craziness of this old world.
Take care,
Blessings Michelle xxx

Friday Night Stitching.

Firstly thank you for all your very lovely comments regarding both versions of Mr R and myself last post. Last night I joined  stitchers from all over linked to Cheryll's blog to stitch together and it feels so nice to know others are doing exactly what you are....I was a tad boring and continued with my hand quilting but I did finish this little redwork block and begin another as I am very behind with them. I have several friends who will be hammering on my door for the nextie if I don't get a move on.

Yesterday I spent a lovely time in the sunshine sketching and musing and dreaming... a few little things came to life on the page and as usual I can't wait to stitch them...a little sneaky for you.

Do you ever get carried away??? When we were last in Byron Bay I was looking in a very trendy little shop with numerous vintage items for sale. My eyes fell upon a lovely necklace made from vintage buttons many of which I recognised from my own stash of buttons...ohhh thinks me. Would looove that. Looked at the VERY heavy price tag and after the breath returned to my body decided hhmm maybe not THAT much.
I have been mulling it over for awhile since then and decided I was going to make one. The one I really liked was made up of smallish buttons in brighter colours which I thought would look great with a white summer shirt. So the upshot is I made one using brighter vintage buttons, I really liked it how it turned out so made one in chocolates and tans( for winter) and then thought would love one in blacks and greys.....

See what I mean completely carried away!!! I have always liked them and glad I can now wear some of my fav buttons around my neck. Also don't care if they are a bit 'naff'  and yes I also know clever folks have been making them for ages...what can I say I am a bit slow on the uptake sometimes.
I am off to have a bit of a relax and yep you guessed it more hand quilting but I am also going to go for a visit to the other ladies who joined in FNWF with me last night and see what their needles or hooks produced.
Thanks Lovely Cheryll for being our charming hostess.
Loving this gorgeous winter weather at the moment.
Blessings Michelle xx

Once Upon A Time...

This is Mr R. and myself on holiday last year in South Australia. But....
Once upon a time in a galaxy far, far away we looked like this...

On this day in 1969 we met for the very first time. This is our engagement photo above. Look at those young faces LOL. Yes it was across a crowded dance floor and all that..at the now sadly demolished Festival Hall in Brisbane where there was a "Battle of the Bands" going on for a local radio station and you could dance the night away. My friend had her eye on someone else when in true "romantic"  fashion the crowd parted and through he and his friend walked and the rest as they say is history. I have always been a sentimental fool so thought I would share it with you. Are you sentimental about these sorts of things??
On the sewing front I am enjoying my hand quilting but I really wanted to try out the blue on my little birdies to see how it looked.

I think it is quite pretty so full steam ahead for the blue or threads and needles at thirty paces...something like that anyway.
It is such a gorgeous sunny winter's day here today. The sun is streaming on to my back verandah.

What is it about sunshine that just cheers your soul???? Seeing as  I have been having very insistent visits from my creative faerie of late (hence Winter Mate yesterday)  I am going to sit in this beautiful sunshine with my pencils and paper and give myself over to her and see what appears on the paper. So stay tuned!
Have a lovely day,
Blessings Michelle xxx
PS oops! almost forgot....

Hop over to Cheryll's and sign up too and join us for a spot of stitching....I'll be quilting :)

A Little Winter Gift For You

Good Morning everyone. Last night I had a lovely evening stitching (and chatting) with some very nice friends...oh and some devine chocolate slice which I am sure my hips will continue to thank Diane for.
Spending time with great friends always serves as a reminder to me at just how blessed I am to have so many loving people in my life. Sharing is so much a part of friendship so I have a little stitchery drawing from my sketchpad to share with all my friends out there. A cute little Frosty called "Winter Mate" is on my sidebar.

I hope you enjoy this little fellow and can find a way to use him....
Remember this quilt "Portabello Friends"

Well I made a little "oops!" in the quilting and had put it away. I have now realised it actually looks ok and have settled in to a bit of hand quilting.

I just love rows of little stitches.....

I will never be a quilter of teeny tiny stitches but I will always love it.
Enjoy the rest of your day,
Blessings Michelle xxx

A Little Mix Up

Good morning all....or is it afternoon? It appears there has been a little mix up of the most delightful kind. You see later this month I am having a "special" birthday even though I think every year you get to stay on this planet is special, anyway I digress. Some of my lovely friends had a different date in mind and have sent them early so I have received these from the postie...

Aren't they pretty!!! Thank you Teresa, Wendy and Lyn. Now Mr R. has agreed to be the gatekeeper so I am going to save opening them until "the Day". It will be hard but I am going to be good and just admire them from afar. Sorry there has been this little mix up girls but I am sure you won't mind if I don't want to age any quicker than I have too..lol. Thanks again so much.
Today my fingers have been pounding away on this all morning...

But thankfully all done now so I am treating myself to a lovely coffee and one of my Melting Moments I purchased on Sunday.

Old Country Roses make everything taste better.
I enjoyed stitching my red birdies so much I have decided to stitch it again for a friend in blue....one of her favourite colours.

Ok off to trace out my birdies.
Have a good afternoon.
A little saying...
" One definition of success is how you share love and admiration with a child"
Blessings Michelle xxx

Green Thumbs

The weather here this morning and over the weekend was a little miserable but the green folk I went to see yesterday didn't mind the raindrops a bit....talking about garden beds full  of beautiful vegies and produce. My lovely friends Robyn and Diane and I donned our brollies and went to the 1st Birthday party of the Rochedale Community Garden. From left Robyn, Diane and myself.

We met the lovely Wendy one of the enthusiastic driving forces behind the garden. Wendy is in the pink.

Now a Birthday party definitely needs a cake and that's just what we had....a gorgeous sunflower cake. Sorry I didn't catch the name of the clever lady who made it.

We really enjoyed wandering amongst the rows of beautiful garden beds. Some of which had handmade mosaic tiles celebrating particular sponsors of individual beds.

I didn't know strawberry plants came with pretty pink flowers (I know probably well known but not by me)

I have only seen the white ones. I did recognise the companion planting with the marigolds though. I loved this gorgeous ceramic chap keeping vegie stealers at bay...There were really cool scarecrows too but I forgot to go back between showers and take a piccie.

There were lovely herb beds, chickens, a plant stall, craft stall and one that caught my attention a home baked stall.

These lovely ladies saw me happily off with some Melting Moments bikkies, Marmalade and Banana Cake for Mr R. (his fav)...and lots of helpful people full to the brim with all sorts of knowledge about organic gardening. There is nothing nicer than meeting passionate people and even nicer that they live in my area.

We enjoyed a lovely coffee and more home baked treats while listening to the Jazz ensemble playing in the nearby tent. The three of us had a good old chat about important things like "stitching" of course.
A very nice lady even gave me invaluable advice on how to set up my worm farm which I have wanted to do for quite a while. The garden and the celebration was a credit to all those involved and the showers didn't dampen anyone's enthusiasm. Well done to you all. Thanks Wendy...it was so lovely to meet you. If you want to know more about the Community garden just click on their name at the beginning of my post. Thanks Robyn and Diane for your company, it was such good fun. Can't beat time spent with lovely friends.
On the sewing front......2 finished Dresden Plates!

I am loving stitching these...in fact I think I am becoming a little obsessed and want to stitch them to the exclusion of all else.
Well that's all from me. I hope there is a little "sunshine" in your day today.
Blessings Michelle xxx