Things From The Past And Something New

I've been trying to decide what to do today, my mind has been flitting from one thing to another. It's just after 12 and still I haven't achieved anything, how frustrating. So I finally decided that as the weather is neither hot nor cold it would be a good day to start on restoring the rocking chair. I can sit outside without melting into a puddle or freeze my tootsie's off from the wind we've recently had. Will need to remember to totally drench myself in mossie repellent though. I don't think I've ever seen mosquito's as large as they breed them here in the US, they look like B52 Bombers

Before I step outside I thought I'd give you a little glimpse at the rocking chair, I will take a better photo than these two so you can see what it looked like before I attack it.

Complete with dust and bird droppings.

While I'm at it with the camera I thought I'd share a couple of other photo's. These are the spools I found in an old store a few weeks ago (mentioned in another post).

Nothing fancy, possibly not that old but I just like the charm of them.

In Bren's post yesterday she spoke of things that she treasured which got me to thinking. I have a number of things I treasure, but all are in storage in Australia, photo's of my kids, all the wonderful little dust collectors that your children give you as Mother's day and Birthday gifts, but there is one thing that I brought with me in my 2 suitcases when I came here 3 years ago and it's something that I truly treasure, small as it may be. It belonged to my Nana and she used to use it with great regularity. I'm guessing it would have to be at least 100 years old. My mother passed it on to me a number of years ago although I don't think she ever used it. Every time I put it on to use it I think of my Nana, she was a wonderful tailor, tatter, knitter and a great grandmother, I loved her dearly. So here it is her sterling silver thimble.

And now for the new item. I always have something in my lap in the evening to keep my hands busy, and these past few nights I've been stitching up these three hearts that I finished the day before yesterday, and now they hang in my sewing room next to one of the windows.

















Happy Stitching.

Friendships - Mail Delivery

Isn't it wonderful how friendships can be made through visiting various blogs. These friendships are made usually without ever personally meeting and I've found that some seem to be stronger than those of years gone by, freindships of our youth.



When these friendships are made the majority of time the other person usually doesn't know what you look like, what type of home you live in or the income that enters your home.

There seems to be a common thread between quilters (no pun intended), a love of fabric, threads, patterns, shopping, creating, the list goes on and on.

If you were to meet me in person you'd probably have a hard time trying not to stare, but that's ok, I've lived with stares all my life. When I was little it was because I was so much taller than anyone else and this continued into my youth and early 20's. But family gene's aren't always friendly as I discovered. I have scoliosis and a number of years ago had to have 2 ribs removed (I won't go into the gorey details). This has left me standing with an extremely noticable bend, hunch, curve, whatever you want to call it, which has caused me to be at least 3 inches shorter on my right side from my left. I used to stand at 6ft 1". This is something I have learnt to live with, and that's not to say I like it, but I live with it and life goes on and there are so many wonderful things to focus on, which I choose to do.

Now please don't take this post the wrong way, I'm not looking for sympathy, what I'm trying to express, and I'm not always good at expressing how I feel, is how wonderful it is to be able to sit on this side on my computer screen and make new friendships with other bloggers.

I feel extremely blessed to have made friends with some of the many wonderful bloggers, but one in particular, Bren. She is a breath of fresh air and such a sweet soul, and we seem to have connected on so many things. How unfortunate that she lives so far away, IL, but distance is no barrier when it comes to friendships.


Today I received a wonderful parcel from her with the sweetest note included, that it brought tears to my eyes. I just have to share with you the contents of that package.

Four beautiful pieces of fabric that will need to go into a new project and the most wonderful handmade candle. Thank you Bren you have blessed me more than I deserve, and thank you to all who extend a hand of friendship, whether it's to me or to other bloggers. I just love the card that Tracey from http://ozcountryquiltingmum.blogspot.com/ showed on her blog today, I think it sums it up beautifully.



Happy Stitching.

A New Week

Firstly I want to thank everyone for your sweet comments on my baby girl, she'd hate it if she knew I referred to her that way.... Please accept this as my thank you for your comments as I just didn't get around to answering you each personally.

Well here we are, back to a quiet house and everything in it's place.lol.... We decided on Saturday as the weather was going to oblige that we'd spend the day at Frontier City, a theme park here in Oklahoma. I've decided that I'm too old for these type of parks and way too fearful of the rides. You'd have to be crazy to get on most of them. I did however go on a couple of water themed rides and got completely drenched...lol.. and came off with a pinched nerve in my back, that's what happens I suppose when you have a back that doesn't fit the standard category of a normal back. End of the fun.
Sunday we needed to be at church early for the first service for Hollie to speak and the wait for the 2nd service for her to speak again. I don't think I heard a word the pastor said throughout the morning, but I'm happy to report that my back is now back to normal aside from a little twinge now and again. Praise God.
We took Hollie back to school Sunday after church and a quick bite to eat and got her back by 4pm and back home by 8pm.

So now it's time to turn the sewing room from a bedroom back to a sewing room and I thought that while it's tidy I'd give Bren and others the photo of my little sewing space. Nothing flash or trendy just a room where I spend most of my time during daylight hours

My sewing table clear for the first time in a long time, with the ufo's bagged and stacked on the bed behind, and under the table storage of more ufo's an old scanner converted into a light box and embroidery patterns.

Drawers that hold my small fabric stash and on top my threads bobbins beads etc, with another table behind that I use when I pin out quilts. A verry shabby table that I use as my cutting table, not quite high enough but close enough.

There's so many items that need to be finished, but I think at the moment I need to concentrate on getting the items completed for the church craft fair, then I can go back to my own projects with a clear mind. So this week I hope to whip up some fabric pails, purse sized tissue holders, coasters and bags, then I think I can say, that's it. I still have a couple of embroideries that I'm working on for the fair but they will take a little longer to complete. Then it's back to finishing the machine quilting on the Country Life wall hanging and I'm sure if I looked hard enough I could find plenty of other ufo's to keep me out of mischief for quite some time.

I noticed that this is my 73rd post, so keep your eye's out for a draw soon.



Happy Stitching.

Here's My Baby

I thought I'd start with this photo. Hollie mentioned that she needs photo's for her graduation next year, so a phone call to Jenna to hunt through packed boxes in storage was the request for the day. This is one that she sent, one of my favorites. This is Hollie down to a T, always hanging around. If I couldn't find her indoors then I knew to look outside and usually found her either upside down from the trampoline or up a tree, quite the Tom Boy when she was little. Not so these days.

So there they are, 6 new skirts for school and church. I was so pleased to be able to put the sewing machine away today and actually just sit and chat with Hollie. Catch up on all the things that have been happening at school, get her thoughts on what it's like to have house parents, and her views on her progress there. She is such a different girl from the one who walked through the doors of Cookson Hills Christian Ministries 18 months ago. I must say that without the help of the Lord, none of this would have been possible.

I thought I should clarify the topic of the jelly fish that I mentioned in yesterdays post. The jelly fish I was referring to is the Blue Bottle, otherwise known as the Portuguese Man-O-War.

When one of these latches on to you, you know all about it. They have a habit of wrapping their tentacles around every part of exposed flesh, and Jenna can tell you it's no picnic. They leave you with a burning sensation that swells and then later itches and there's really not a lot you can do to relieve the pain or the sting.

A couple of you asked how I could ever leave such a place. I stopped and thought about that today, and realised that if I hadn't I would never have met my sweetie, and yes even though it's beautiful I would never trade my sweetie for a place, or possession, plus the humidity was in the upper 90% range for most of the year, a good way to always stay slim.....

One of the many attractions in Hervey Bay was Whale watching, such graceful giants. It always amazes me how something so huge and heavy can get it's whole body out of the water.

Only two and a half more days with Miss Hollie. Today is pavlova day as it wasn't made earlier in the week, Saturday it's hair cuts all around and then off to Frontier City for a day of stomach turning rides. Sunday church, where Hollie has been asked by the pastor to speak at both services about Cookson Hills, as it's a ministry our church supports. Home for lunch, then pack up the van and back to the school. The weeks gone by far too quickly, but it's been a joy to have her home with us even though it's only been a week. Her smile lights up the house and my heart.

Happy Stitching.

Skirts, Mousse and Beaches

What a busy week so far stitching up skirts. I think I must be getting old, I'm not as fast as I used to be. We have 5 completed and 1 left to finish off tomorrow, and then on to the repair of the lining of a purchased skirt. We hope to have photo's for you all after tomorrow. I'm so done with these skirts, I feel like I've been attached to my machine for the last 3 days, and to think I have some dressmaking of my own to do. My embroidery has taken a back seat since Miss Hollie has been home. By the end of the evening I'm too pooped to even think about picking up embroidery. But I think I'm going through withdrawls. I have another project near completion and I so want to see it finished so I can get back to some of my ufo's, crafts for the church and I have blocks to stitch up for a swap that I'm so behind on.



I thought I'd share with you a recipe that's so quick and easy and so delicious.



Swiss Chocolate Mousse





1 100 gram Toblerone chocolate bar, broken up


2 eggs separated


1/2 cup whipping cream






Melt chocolate in a large bowl over hot water, or microwave on high for 30 seconds, give it a quick stir and then zap for a further 30 seconds. Using a wooden spoon mix in the egg yolks adding one at a time and beat until smooth and thick. Fold in the whipped cream, then the softly beaten egg whites. Spoon into individual serving dishes (1/2 cup capacity) and refrigerate for several hours until firm. Decorate with extra whipped cream, strawberries and chocolate curls.



This recipe double well.






And lastly I thought I'd share with you a photo of one of my most favorite places in Australia, a place that I was blessed to call home for over 7 years, Hervey Bay in Queensland. It has the most amazing white beaches, beautiful views across the bay, terrific fishing, cool breezes and loads of poisonous jellyfish and sharks...lol... There were many times I'd take the kids to the beach (we lived one street back from the waterfront) for swimming and it was a regular practise to scour the water for sharks before entering and there were many times we went home without swimming. If you leave out the sharks and jellyfish it was the most amazing place to live.


As most Australians will tell you, there are very few places on the coast line of Australia without sharks, it's just a part of Aussie living, just like prawns, gumboots and bbq's.


































Happy Stitching.

A Couple Of Good Finds and A Special Gift

The trip up to pick Hollie up from school went quickly. I did however see a couple of antique stores on the way up that I mentioned to my sweetie, that I thought needed investigating on the way home. So with Hollie and all her stuff packed into the car we headed home. We thought it was going to be a quick trip back home...... First stop was a funny little shanty type store just out of Tahlequah where they had the most amazing rocking chair that I picked up for $20..bargain. Now trying to get it loaded into the van was another thing altogether. I did suggest that sweetie tie it to the luggage racks and I could do a Granny Clampet, but we managed to squeeze it in the back. No you don't get to see it yet... you'll have to wait until I strip it down and restore it. Next stop was an antique store in Muskogee, huge store with absolutely no air conditioning, boy was it hot in there, plus add a couple of hot flushes and you have one extremely hot Linda.... Managed to find 8 old wooden spools of thread for a huge $1... so that was my shopping for the day. Sweetie decided that I needed to see the antique and quilt store that we pass every time we go up to visit, but is always shut when we're en route. Don't think I'd bother with that again, beautiful quilts but oh sooo very expensive and the antiques were way out of my budget.
Home with Hollie and we all collapse in exhaustion and hit the bed fairly early.
Today I've spent the day making the first skirt, and once sweetie got home from work a quick trip to Hancocks was needed for more fabric, for more skirts. So hopefully Hollie will go back to school next week with 8 new skirts. If I can convince here to smile I'll take some photo's of the new creations.
I'm trying to keep up with everyone's blog, but am also trying not to spend too much time on the pc while she's home.

Happy Stitching.

****Hop no over to http://sewingnana.blogspot.com/ to Nadine's blog and check out the special gift.

Almost Ready

I'm almost ready for Hollie's return. Yesterday I spent most of the day in the sewing room....cleaning.... what a mess I'd made. How I ever managed to work in there, let alone find anything is beyond me. Everything is now put away, ufo's bagged up and the floor vacuumed. I just need to take down my table and store it and put the machine in it's case and the room will be ready for a teenagers mess....lol.... Then on to the kitchen, and prepare one of her favorite meals ready to pop in the oven on our return tomorrow. Aussie meat pie and I think a pavlova is in order topped with fresh whipped cream and strawberries.




I did manage to get a couple of small stitcheries finished up over the past two days.

This I had finished months ago, and not knowing what to do with it, it just sat in a box, and then when the church said they needed items for their craft fair out it came and was soon converted into a pillow.
This next one was another one where the embroidery was finished months ago and I just hadn't gotten around to completing it. So now it's ready to hang just inside the front door.


And finally the cute little stitchery that May Britt sent me, I stitched this one up quickly, 2 nights and it was done, so rather than have it languish in a box I decided to finish it straight away.


My photography skills definitely need improving, it took me about 30 times to get one half decent photo....lol....



I know Saturday will be a long and busy day. Up at 5am, on the road by 7am (yes it does take me that long to wake up and get myself ready) and hopefully be at the school by 10am for our counceling session and then bring Hollie home. Unload the car and then out again to do the grocery shopping and fabric shopping for skirts for Miss Hollie.





The schools very strict as to what the kids can and cannot wear so she's decided some new skirts are in order. Rather nice when your 17 year old asks for home made clothing.So maybe next week I'll have some new non-quilty photo's to share with you all.











Have a great weekend.



Hapy Stitching.

This Weeks Plans

First let me start by saying thank you to all of you who offered advice and words of wisdom on the free motion quilting question I posed in the previous post. Libby gave me a link to a book "Harriet Hargrave's book Heirloom Machine Quilting" which I've ordered from my local library, thank you Libby and I think I'll talk to one of the ladies from the guild and see if she'd be kind enough to give me a lesson or two, and a very dear friend in Missouri is sending me a DVD to watch. So until I've read, watched and learnt from someone who knows how to do it, I think I'll wait, which will please my sweetie no end. There's nothing worse than having a fuming wife stomping around the house.....
I seem to have been in a sewing "rut" for the past week or so, not getting alot of anything done at all. Flitting from one thing to another without alot to show for it, apart from the steno covers and a couple of completed stitcheries. I think my mind has been on Hollie's visit home. Only 3 more days and we go up and pick her up and bring her home for a week. She was asking my sweetie what he wanted for Father's Day, he couldn't answer, but I know the most precious gift would be for her to call him dad.
Anyway as usual I've digressed.... So my plans for the rest of this week is to get into the sewing room and clean it and covert it back into a bedroom, so that Hollie has somewhere to sleep. Oh my gosh, where on earth am I going to put all those unfinished projects and "stuff" that's cluttering that room? I think I need a miracle..... I've also been thinking about what small items I can whip up for the church craft fair next month. Margaret (Solstitches ) over at A Sampler of Stitches sent me a sweet pattern for a fabric pail which I think I'll make up. I have a few themed fabrics that would work well with this pattern, and I have a few completed stitcheries that I can make up into little wall hangings or pillows. Plus I need to look in the pantry and see what needs to be bought so that Hollie can have her favorite meals while she's home. So a few days of work ahead of me and hopefully at the end of the week I'll be able to see some progress, and perhaps I'll have something to show for it. I completed a lovely stitchery last night that May Britt sent to me and started on another one, but I really do need to get myself motivated back to stitching the Bronwyn Hayes blocks and finish up the Crab Apple Hill blocks.

This quilt was a row by row from last year, each block had to have red in it somewhere. It's ready to be quilted, all I need now is the time and the motivation, then it can be hung.

Happy Stitching.

P.S. Bren is new to blogging http://www.piecesfromme.blogspot.com/ Now that's a clean sewing room.

Free Motion Machine Quilting Advice Needed

For the longest time I've wanted to branch out into free motion machine quilting, but never really knew how. I've checked online for tutorials etc without alot of success. Unless I've been looking in the wrong place there doesn't seem to be too many how to's. So
I decided I needed a book on the subject. I ordered Pat Sloan's new book, Learn to machine quilt, and I have to say I'm extremely disappointed. I really don't know what I was expecting, but there was very little information or how to's in the book. Now I know the cost ($21) to alot of you isn't much. But for me, it was, as I don't work, so I don't have an income and I have to rely on my sweetie handing over his hard earned money for my craft.
I think of the fabric I could have purchased for the same amount of $$$$. OK, now I've had my whinge.

So this is where I'd like some advice please. Now this may seem like a rather silly question, but I'm going to ask it anyway.
1. Do you think that it's possible for someone who is extremely left handed to master this free motion quilting?
2. Do you have a book that you would recommend, that shows all the how to's involved?
I know it takes practise and I also know that I'm not an extremely patient person, once I decide to do something I like to do it straight away. I'm happy to practise if I think it's something I can master. I should also mention that I'm a perfectionist, which can be a real pain in the neck at times.
Do you have any tips tricks or perhaps websites you can offer?
If anything I'm feeling disappointed in myself that I can't seem to do a nice curve without all those horrible pointy bits.

The Postman's Delivered + Some Free Designs For you All

I do love it when the post man leaves parcels at my door, apart from the fact that I don't have to hike down to the letter box like I did in Aussie, it's so nice receiving squishies in the mail especially when they are from dear friends.

I had been expecting a parcel from a friend in Australia and was beginning to think that it had got lost and someone else would be the owner of the contents, but yesterday all my fears flew out the window when I saw the mail truck pull up at the kerb.

Sharon, I met through my Red work group and we've formed a wonderful friendship, even though we have never met personally.

Now to the contents of my parcel:

These beautiful fabrics, aren't they wonderful. I think I'll use these in the setting of my Bronwyn Hayes blocks.




A wonderful Woodcutters Daughter (Barb Smith designs) book, named A Christmas Journey. It has some absolutely wonderful designs in it that I'm sure I'll use for Christmas presents and decorations.





This beautiful framed cross stitch.

And last, but by no means least this beautiful lap quilt. Aren't I spoilt? The photo at the top of the post is a lovely card that Sharon slipped into the parcel, it speaks volumes to me.

Thank you Sharon for a wonderful parcel and a treasured friendship.
A couple of days ago I had another delivery. I had a discount coupon from Acorn Hill Quilts that was due to run out and not wanting to waste it I decided to shop..... This is what I purchased:



Flower Fest Table Runner with raggy edged appliqued flowers. I just love it and love the colours it's done in, which surprised me as I'm not really a pink person. It seems that my taste in colours is changing as I get older.



Before I forget I want to thank Debbie Jo for her comment and let you know that I can't reply to you personally as you have your email set at no reply.
Now onto the wonderful designs I fell upon yesterday that I'm going to share with you all. I think as there is so many it's easier if I just direct you to the blog. It's in Portuguese, but that doesn't stop us from understanding good stitchery designs.

http://napontadaagulha1.blogspot.com/2006_09_01_archive.html

Scroll down a little and you'll find them, and then continue on down the page.

Only another week until Hollie comes home for her visit. Here she is, my baby of the family.

Happy Stitching.

Ta Dah

As it turned out yesterday wasn't a complete right off. I managed to get all my housework done and still had time to get some sewing in. I made a start on the fabrics I bought on the weekend and also completed one of Jenna's Christmas present. I thought I'd share a photo of my sweetie with her sweetie.

I gave you a sneak peak at it yesterday and maybe you thought that it was a quilt, nope. so here it is.

An embroidered and beaded photo album cover, I just need to work on a front page to insert and make a small label to put on the inside back cover and I can say it is then totally completed.

Now back to the sewing room to work on those fabrics I got on the weekend, and hopefully I'll have a new tutorial for you soon.

Happy Stitching.

Blog Giveaway Alert

Over at the Wooden Porch. they are giving away a $25 gift card to Joanne's fabrics and crafts. contest closes June 18th. No catches just luck involved.

Plans Change

Plans change so quickly, as I discovered last Thursday when dh came home and told me that the car had taken it's last breathe. We are very blessed to belong to a wonderful church and a temporary vehicle was offered so that dh could get to work the following 2 days. So of course this is where all my weekend plans came to a grinding halt. Instead of doing the normal weekend grocery shopping and having the afternoon in the sewing room we were out buying a new vehicle. While dh was signing the paperwork I was able to get another coat on the little side table, and hope to get the last coat done today.

I had great plans for the weekend, our church is having a fair next month and I'd offered to stitch up a few things that I thought I'd make a start on, on Saturday. Then I thought, oh well Monday will do. That doesn't appear to be working out either. Dh needs to return the vehicle this evening and having friends from church bring him home once he's dropped the car off, so of course that means I'll be running around like a chook (chicken) with it's head chopped off making sure the house is tidy for visitors this evening.

But all is not lost, I did manage to pick up a couple of pieces of fabric on the weekend for the craft stitching. Excuse me while I hunt for the camera.

Hopefully I'll be able to show you progress in a few days. Last night I managed to get the last few stitches done in another project that I hope to have finished by the end of the week. So here's a peek at part of it.

I also managed to get several of the wonderful patterns that May Britt sent me traced ready to stitch, so the weekend wasn't a complete right off.
Thanks to all who stop by and leave a comment. I do enjoy connecting with others and checking out your blog. If you happen to visit, please leave a comment so that I can visit your blog and check in on the things you're working on.

Happy Stitching.

Mail Call

Don't you just love it when the postman leaves you a parcel from a blog friend and you just know there's something divine inside your parcel? Well that was me yesterday. I parked myself on the front porch in the shade with a little end table that we'd picked up at a thrift store that needed some TLC. So I was out there sanding all day. Can we all say "Sore muscles"? I didn't realise how many unused muscles I had until I put them to work yesterday. As hard as I tried to continue to sand I just couldn't stand the anticipation of opening the parcel any longer, so I just had to give in and set my sand paper down and open it.

Now can we all say "Spoilt". Dear May Britt sent me a wonderful parcel of patterns, pieced, applique and stitchery. You wanna see?

This is a stunning quilt pattern "Country Stars" by Lori Smith.



I'm sure many of you remember seeing this lovely table runner on May Britt's blog.










And who just doesn't love snowmen? Just too cute.

I've admired this pattern for a long time, in fact I think it would be safe to say that I've "lusted" after it....lol...




There were also some lovely stitchery patterns included in the parcel, but I'm not going to show you those just yet. You'll have to wait till they are stitched up. Thank you May Britt, you are such a sweetie for spoiling me.
Last night I managed to finish the embroidery on Jenna's Christmas present, now I just need to do the beading on it, then it'll be ready to put together.
Happy Stitching.