Finally finished my “Rebel”

I’m going to take a wild guess and say I started this project close to eighteen months ago. It’s been sitting waiting to be quilted for nearly a year I’d reckon!! But ….. it’s finished, YAY!!!!!!!!Loads of 3/4” hexies framing 5 sweet stitcheries. This pattern is called ‘Rebel’ and it’s by Angels in Disguise. It has 4 delightful rather traditional country styled angels in each corner … there’s “Joy”

and “Hope” …. and also Faith and Harmony … but I didn’t take a piccy of them. In the middle is the less traditional “Rebel” in her boots and denim … isn’t she a treat!!? Some of you might recognise these fabulous stitcheries as the work of the very talented Cath Walker :o) ….. they’re just too cute!!! I’m just so pleased to have finished this and have it hanging up on my wall :o).

I got some lovely mail today!! My Stitcher’s Angel gifts arrived from Norway!! What a fabulous surprise :o) … and aren’t they just beautiful :o)!! Here are the gorgeous items she made especially for me ….The sweetest little bag, just right for carrying around my small stitchy projects!! A needle holder, pin cushion and scissor keep all beautifully made. But that’s not all, she also sent me these treasures … Delicious Tilda fabric, rosy embroidered applique’ and some silk threads……also this gorgeous ribbon and little tape measure with a magnet on the back, I’ll always be able to find one now ;o) My Stitcher’s Angel had emailed me to let me know it would be late … her life has been busy lately I think ;o). Thank you so much my dear Angel … these wonderful goodies were most definitely worth the wait :o)!!!

Perfect Timing!

We've all had them I'm sure ... and yesterday I was having...

"one of THOSE days"!!!

I spent most of the day in the car running around trying to orgainse everything that needed to be done regarding the sale of our (other) car. Of course, "Murphy's Law" prevailed, nothing was going as it should. Not to mention all the other little bits and pieces that had to be done ...... i.e delivery of DD2 and friends (it's school holidays at the moment), last minute groceries, post office (queue too long - bumped onto tomorrow's list), pattern deliveries (ok, that part was fun), driving DD2's friends home after whatever it was they were doing etc. etc. ......... Im sure you get the picture.

BUT, when I got home look what I found.....Ok, it wasn't unwrapped like this when I got in ... but I was just so excited that I rippped it out of the Air Mail envelope before I remembered I should be taking piccies for my blog!!!

Don't forget, I was having one of THOSE days ... ;o).

Look though ... all wrapped up in such pretty ribbon with a cute Easter card. It's from my friend Maria in England!!! Maria and I "met" when we were matched up in the Stitcher's Angel swap last year. Can you believe all these gorgeous goodies that she sent to me!!?!? There are gorgeous ribbons and the sweetest little notebook (that's in my handbag already!!). There's 3 different yummy fabrics, a beautiful yellow/pink/white stripey one and a most fabulous 'Bistro' one - being an absolute coffee fiend that one couldn't fail to please :o).Isn't it gorgeous!!!??!! And there's also 1/2 a metre of this beautiful yellow floral print that I was delighted to find was an absolutely perfect match with the ME jelly roll I bought last week. Now how could Maria have known that he he he???I'm sending a HUGE big thank you and lots of quilty hugs to Maria not only for her thoughtfulness in sending such lovely gifties ... but also for her perfect timing!!!

Thanks so much Maria :o)!!!

I Got A Pressy!! A bag for Jill and our big weekend.

Look what I got in the mail!!!!Maria was my swap partner for the Stitcher's Angel swap run by Helen of Hugsnkisses recently and I sent some gifties over to her in UK .... now she has sent me these as a thank-you!!! She absolutely made my day!!! There's fabrics, a Christmas decoration, a gorgeous hanging heart made from buttons, some ribbon, a notebook and a gorgeous bag that reflects my coffee addiction perfectly!!! Thank you so much Maria, you really put a smile on my face :o)!!!Still on sewing, I've managed to get a bit of stitching done myself!!! Not a lot, just enough to stop me getting withdrawals ;o). I've (almost) made this bag for my UK friend Jill - (yes I know it needs handles!!!) and I'd like to put some Aussie items in it for her ... any bright ideas on lightweight things I could include - as I don't want to make her suitcase overweight LOL. It's about 15" square and I've got a small Dugong (yep, a dugong LOL she loves them!!!) some Australiana fabric, some little scissors, and a couple of patterns by Aussie designers so far ...... I'd really welcome your input.

How cool are these guys !?!!??We had a great, and very busy, weekend. We did the annual MS 10km Moonwalk last Friday night and these guys really dressed up for the event. Very cool. The walk was through Southbank, across the Story Bridge (the one we climbed), through the City, over the Goodwill bridge and back to Southbank. Here's hoping the walk raised HEAPS of money for Multiple Sclerosis!!!!

Saturday night we went out for dinner with friends to a Turkish restaurant ... what fun that turned out to be!! We hadn't had turkish food before and it was GREAT!! .........and then the bellydancer came out!!! ...

...... and here's DD2 doing her little dance ..... :o)!!!!!

Then Sunday it was off to Seaworld on the Gold Coast with Jill, my dear Mum and my brother and his wife ... don't they look fabulous in their 3D glasses LOL - they were eager for the movie to start ;o)!!!

That's Jill on the left, then my SIL Cheryl, my brother Nigel and DD2. We had a great day until the storm hit. It didn't hit too badly down the coast but oh boy, they really copped it in the north-western suburbs - trees uprooted, houses unroofed, one poor young man lost his life .... it was pretty savage. It's heartbreaking to see the damage, my heart goes out to them all.

Before I go, there's a fabulous giveaway over at the Stitching Cow, well worth a look. Click the cute house block logo on my sidebar to see what I mean.

Take care ........

Hugs,

Joy :o)

2 down 3 to go!!

Just to let you know that I've been busy. I've got 2 of the stitcheries for my Rebel quilt done now. How cute is the 'Rebel' Angel ... don't you love her jeans and boots!!?! Adorable!!I made a mad dash to my local quilt store - Bayside Stitchcraft on Monday afternoon. I got an idea in my head and I just HAD to buy the fabrics then and there!!! Do you ever get like that LOL?? I found exactly what I wanted ... and more!!! Isn't that trim totally irresistable ..... AND it matches the fabrics I bought perfectly - they are 'Charm Bracelet' by Wyndham. The trim doesn't go with the design I have in mind at all but there's bound to be leftovers so I'll use it with those. Gorgeous!!!I got a lovely email from my Stitcher's Angel swap partner in UK. She's received the last of my gifties to her and was very pleased with them :o) (yay). It's been a terrific swap - my first - and I've had such fun doing it. Huge thanks must go to Helen for all her hard work in organising it, and to all the designers - May Britt, Sue Daly, Lynette Anderson, plumcute designs, Cotton Spice and of course Helen too. Thank you all sooo much for giving us all such a fun swap!!!

I went to the Craft and Quilt fair today and I'm going again tomorrow so I can do some workshops and learn some new tricks :o)!!! I met up with another blogger friend in there too that I haven't seen for ages ... hi Jeanette :o), it was great to see her, wish we'd had more time ... so much to do and see there!!! The quilts on show were fantastic too. So much talent - just blows me away. I got lots of goodies. I've fallen in love with Threadworx threads so I bought some more of those ... got some cute buttons, a back issue of "Inspirations" that I've been after for a while .... that was a lucky find!!! Also found a really sweet scissor keep kit - going to do the workshop for that tomorrow cos I've never done beading before - the lady assured me it was easy peasy. I also grabbed some more little scissors cos I'm always losing mine!!!... and isn't this a great idea "Mug 'ems" ... a pressie in a mug!!! You can put the dry ingredients in a mug for any one of a bunch of different yummy recipes, tie it up with a pretty ribbon and there you have a lovely gift!!! ... and the other book, you make up a big batch of master muffin mix and keep it in the pantry so that each time you want to make muffins you have the dry part of the mix already done for you, you just take out what you need and add your flavourings!!! Love it!!

That's it from me for now ... need coffee :o)

take care,

Joy :o)