Family Time

I hope you are all enjoying your Sunday. Today is a very special day as it is my dear Son's Birthday and as he is my 'baby' it makes me feel a tad ancient. We are very proud of the man he has become and wish him many, many more.
Last night we had a little family celebration at Hogs Breath which the little and big boys love. Here is the Birthday boy with Number 1 son and my lovely Daughter-in-law.

Our youngest Grandson very excited it's Daddy's birthday.

Dear Daughter and Son in law...lovely smiles.

Mr R. and our oldest Grandson...

Then we have the yummy cake complete with a little golf buggy and golf ball...(DS plays golf which is perhaps obvious now)

Now where are the two newest members of our family you may well ask....

Miss Charlotte is snoozing while Miss Erin kept an eye on the proceedings.
Family time is so special.
Big Birthday Hugs Lucas xxxx
The reason that I often subject you all to my Family snaps is because my blog is like a Journal for me and I like to get my blog printed like this..

The latest version (above) arrived on Friday. I get my blog printed every 6 months. I love reading them in a quiet moment and remembering where I had been and with whom and documenting special things in my life like family and my stitching. Maybe those little people will get a kick out of reading about themselves one day too.
On the sewing front another little Dresden plate is almost done...

They are definitely not quick to do but I am really enjoying the process.....and....still quilting!!!
Enjoy the rest of your Sunday.
Blessings Michelle xxx

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