MY SOUL IS FED BY NEEDLE AND THREAD
....ohh and pencils and paper

Monday, January 9, 2023

Magic At The Museum

 Hello there.  Warning...photo heavy! Last week my Daughter joined me to visit the Queensland Museum to visit..

We got a bit silly.....but figured it was long overdue.....had to try some Minnie Mouse ears!

Said hi to Snow White.....
But if I am honest as a child I preferred all the wicked Queens....
But the real reason I wanted to visit was so see all the drawings from years gone by for all the animations.....and I was far from disappointed.....loved them all....a few samples!



There were story boards and beautiful watercolour plates....so interesting....loved this photo showing the artist getting an expression in the mirror to replicate on his drawing.
I bought a new handbag sketchbook as a memento....and had a bit of a sketch....which was highly encouraged....always loved cranky Donald lol!

As an extra treat we had a leisurely walk through Southbank on our way to lunch......


We needed that walk after our dessert.....dear daughter and I shared a bit of each. 

Throughly enjoyed our outing!
On another note.....my Mum had a lovely old Singer treadle machine....nobody in the family wanted it and the thought was perhaps we would sell it. But in the end I just couldn't bear for it to go to strangers as she really loved it. Soooo I found a spot....luckily I am not a minimalist lol!
Well if you have waded through all my photos thank you....trust me I gave you the edited version lol!
Ok I am off to do a bit of EPP.....now that my hand sewing is just about done for Letter to My Daughter.....I am doing a bit of work on my Lucy Boston.....oh is that my Lucy Boston friends hitting the floor in a faint lol!

Take care,
Namaste and Blessings Michelle xxx 

















Saturday, January 7, 2023

FNWF

 Hello again. I joined in with fellow bloggers last night for our monthly Friday night stitch in. The lovely Cheryll from Gone Stitchin' hosted us in this the first for the year.

I worked on Letter to My Daughter....first a hexagon to replace another dreaded Shoofly block!

I then appliqued the relevant little stitcheries and a hexie to the bottom of one of the blocks of the last row.....
I also prepped another lot of little bottom stitcheries before heading for bed.
Only TWO more blocks to assemble....woohoo!
The border for this had me baffled. Anyway I took a gamble and bought one of the fabrics in the quilt when I saw it on sale. I noticed Natalie's border was a busy little pattern so hopefully my choice will work!
Thank you Cheryll for hosting us.....nice to be back x
Namaste and Blessings Michelle xxx 




Tuesday, January 3, 2023

Opening the Door to 2023

 Hello friends. It has taken me a while to get this post written. But I  felt honest and frank was best. Wishing you all goods things for the upcoming year. No new year resolutions here....as I try to navigate my new normal. I shan't bore you with soggy details,  needless to say it's a struggle each day. That said, I have to share huge love and gratitude for the kindness shown to me and mine during this difficult time. The care parcels, books at the door, cards and "just checking on you "messages. The friends and family who've sat with me through some dark and difficult days.  Sent me beautiful bouquets of flowers. Losing the love of your life and your Mum within 5 months is no walk in the park as you can imagine and there is no blueprint on how to do it despite all the well meaning advice that comes your way. It really is a day at a time!

 But would I have chosen not to have had this love in my life if I had known how much it hurts to say goodbye.....never, not for a minute. My husband has left a legacy of love. Love of family, generosity of spirit, courage, kindness, a passion for music, film and sport and a wicked sense of humour.... He was a quiet man. A lesson for all that you don't have to be the loudest voice in the room to have a full life well lived xxx

And just as life is meant to whether you are heartbroken or not....it carries on.....and so must you.....so you mark those special occasions knowing they are so worth it! Memories being made.
We had a special birthday to celebrate....our Daughter in law's 40th. It was a lovely celebration for a gorgeous person. We are so blessed to have her in our lives. And boy the cake was delicious! 
I caught up with friends when I could. 
We celebrated Christmas even though we all found it difficult and will never stop missing that special person no longer at our table. But Mr. R. adored Christmas with the family so how could we not gather together. 
I have  chosen to have a lot of quiet time since Christmas......read a LOT even for me lol!
I have also spent a fair chunk of time at my sewing machine trying to catch up on projects that needed assembly.
Where We Love Is Home is now together. I ditched the final border mainly because I embarked on the project with no clear fabric choices and could find nothing that suited the scrappy look of the quilt for the final border which had scrappy scalloping.....so I called it quits and I am happy. I am going to hand quilt this one. 

I have completed my #52tagroulette challenge and made mine into another snippet roll......love creating these. 


They are a little bit addictive! May have started another little one. I also finished my Nature Journal but I shall show it at a later date.
At the moment I am working on catching up on my Letter to My Daughter quilt. I have made progress on the assembly.....
I only have the last row to assemble.....so prep happening for that. Yay!
The Protea drawing I was working on was finished in the nick of time to gift for Christmas. I drew it for my dear daughter and added a honey bee as that is the meaning of her name.

So folks, that's me done for my first 2023 post. Looking forward to getting back to being a more active blogger once again and hopefully future posts will be full of lots of sewing and art projects.
Namaste and Blessings, 
Michelle xxx 








Saturday, December 24, 2022

 Merry Christmas to all my lovely friends out there in blogland. Wishing you all, special times, making memories with those you love.

I shall see you in the new year.

Namaste and blessings Michelle xxx

Friday, November 4, 2022

Blogging Break

 Hello friends and fellow stitchers. I am taking a small blogging break to rest and recover and navigate my way through the recent passing of my beloved husband.


Namaste and Blessings Michelle xxx

Saturday, October 15, 2022

October

 Good morning everyone. Australia has once again been lashed by heavy rains and flooding.....I hope you are safe wherever you are. I really feel for those whose homes have been affected.....some still recovering from the last episode. My little corner of the world so far, has only had to deal with overcast days with the occassional shower. Apparently this is supposed to change this week.

And here's me deciding that I would like to embark upon another slow stitching fabric book decicated to Mother Nature! I am not sure what it is that I find so addictive about this kind of project....but I do!

I have completed the cover...or I think I have......it's hard ro know when to stop!
The other thing I have been keen to try was dying sections of fabric with my watercolour pencils.  I used them on my Sunshine page.....around the sun and in the garden at the bottom....I am also keen to try some more stamping on fabric.
I don't want bright garish colours, more colour washes and I was quite pleased with the result.....I am trying another smaller piece for a moon block. I had a test piece left over from the greens I had used and it seemed to say eucalyptus leaf .....so I featured it in exactly that on another page.
My only dilemma is how many pages is too many? I am going to join the pages back to back with a folded piece of fabric between them to act as a spine. I didn't like the way my work got creased in the other fabric book I made when closed.....anyway I will see how that goes when I decide enoughs enough lol!
This months tag Roulette is still in the pondering stage. So nothing to share yet.
I am not a fan of Halloween but when my littlest Granddaughter handpicked some fabrics and asked me to make her some table centres....I caved! Well you just do don't you lol! I am excited to see her reaction when she picks them up.
She recently lost her little black cat to a congenital heart problem. She was only 2 years old. Miss E was quite devastated about it. I made one with the cat fabric and a regular black frame......so she can put the black cat one out all year in her bedroom to remind her of Willow. I have stitched her a little Annie Downs mini stitchery to sit on top as well when I find a frame.

Ages ago I began a Kantha or Kwandi style project (I am never sure which is the correct term)....which consists of scrap pieces of fabric overlapped and quilted with a heavy running stitch to hold it all together....I Youtubed how to a bit and Anorina from Samelias Mum blog was also an inspiration. My result is far from perfect even a bit wonky but I kind of like that effect overall. I think its a nice project for a table runner. It was slow but very relaxing to work on.

Art wise I have been battling on with my little dancer......my friend and mentor Sandra gave me the advice that I really needed to bite the bullet and really blacken the background as it's supposed to be the backstage blackout and the dancer wouldn't pop until I did! Well let me tell you how scary that is to do when you have hours invested in your efforts to date.....I kept telling myself its only paper and dived in! Eeekkk!
Made such a difference and now I can finally move forward with the dancer ....thankfully I have a pretty bird coming up as a bit of respite from this gal!
So between visits to my husband each day my hands have kept my mind busy for which I am extremely grateful.
Oh and I have a little black visitor keeping me company.....who is pining for his family as he usually does.....he just doesn't get that he is too big to be a lap dog! Staffies get a bad rap but he is the sweetest, sookiest little chappie ever!
I adore when our Native shrubs and trees put on their best finery each year. I snapped this beauty when I was out and about recently. There was a whole stand of about six of them....glorious display! 

The bees were loving gathering all that pollen too. 
I think that's about me caught up folks....take care all.
Namaste and Blessings Michelle xxx