Perfect Parcels!

I don't often give a lot of thought to the quilt I am to receive in the doll quilt swaps until they turn up in my letterbox. I find the most fun is in creating something that will be right for my partner and challenging my design and construction skills.

I do occasionally think about it as I check out all the lovely pictures of the quilts as they pop up in Flickr and wonder if it's 'the one'. And of course I have my favourites.

It's always a lovely, big surprise when it arrives and I get to open up the package and reveal the cleverness within.

Today's package confused me for a moment as it was mailed locally. But then I saw the name on the back and tore it open while standing at the letterbox because I knew what was inside......



I just LOVE everything about it. The size, shape, colours and wonderful simplicity. Aren't the birds just gorgeous!



It was designed and beautifully made by the fabulous Tamara who lives down the road from me (kind of).

Thanks again Tamara it will be hung somewhere special because we all love it so much. And hopefully we'll get to meet soon!



So, lucky me, I'm getting quite a collection of little works of art!



Go here and check out all the fabulousness from this swap round.

And just quickly, here's a sneak peek of my latest offering which is finally 'winging' its way to its new home! My wrist is back to normal and now that I have finished the quilt I can try and get back to some more crochet!

Full Reveal

See, time is a problem - it is again some time since I posted! During that time I have suffered a wrist injury and been unable to do much in the way of craft and I have turned 45!

So I don't have a lot to show you except a full reveal of my Four Seasons Quilt Swap 5 Monochromatic quilt which has finally arrived!



And I'll also chuck in a photo of my 45 year old self with my gorgeous new scarf crocheted by the very lovely Cathy.



It is cashmere and silk and just so soft and warm - I LOVE it! I was really spoilt last Friday by my darling family and friends - thanks everyone!

By the way I also have new glasses.



Oh and since this photo was taken at Easter I have finally had a haircut! My usual hairdresser had actually become pregnant AND had her baby since I last went!!

Anyway enough blathering about me. I'm just putting the final stitches into my quilt for the Doll Quilt swap which is now running late as I had to stop for over a week. But it's looking good now and will be off to the post office tomorrow.

And the wrist - well let's hope it wasn't the crochet that caused it!!

Time!

This is what I have been doing with my spare time.



I have had the idea to make this for my bed for a very long time.



And I have had the wool for a very long time.



Just no actual time to start it!



So how much time do you think will pass before this is finished?

Show and Tell

Just before the Stitches and Craft show I received this gorgeous quilt in the mail and have been terribly slow in sharing it with you.



It is for the Four Seasons Quilt Swap 5 Monochromatic challenge. Don't worry I was polite enough to thank Simone whose lovely work it is.



Look at the gorgeous detail in the embroidery.



The stitches are so tiny and neat as is the piecing. And it is all lovely green!



Thank you again Simone. As I said, it will definitely become part of our family's Christmas traditions!

Happy Easter!

Just chilling....

It's school holidays here and so far we haven't done much which is quite nice really. I realised on the weekend how relaxed I was feeling for a change which just goes to show how stressed out I have been. The weather is also cooler and a little wet which is just lovely. Perfect for pulling out those knitting and quilting projects.

Today was my dear friend Christina's Birthday so we had an afternoon tea to celebrate. A little champagne and cake is very nice on a Wednesday afternoon!



Especially if it's one of Helen's gorgeous passionfruit sponges!



Happy Birthday Christina - thanks for being a couple of weeks younger than me!!

Christina's daughter also celebrated a Birthday last week and we popped in for a bit of cake and a dance after school.

Sophia's present from her Mum and Dad this year was a bedroom makeover and the theme was red and white and a bit of High School Musical. So I made her a cushion and bought her a matching fleecy blanket for her bed.







I enjoyed wrapping the present - check out the ribbon!!



Chloe also made Sophia a 'Mixtape' full of their favourite songs so the kids had a ball in Sophia's room and gave us a few hilarious dance performances!!



You definitely needed long hair!



I also have some sneaky peeks of my latest creation for the Four Seasons Quilt Swap which is hopefully not far away from its new home.



This was a monochromatic challenge and one of my partner's choices was yellow. I had an idea floating around my mind for several months but was side tracked by the huge volume of work I had to complete in the last couple of months. By the time I got to make the quilt I actually didn't like it any more and even Chloe and her girlfriends told me they didn't get it! They are usually gushing in their opinions and they just looked confused.



So I pulled it all apart and made this one. I like it so very much more and hope that my partner does too. It will be a little later than expected but I have put in a few bits and bobs to soften the blow.



I now have to work on my Doll Quilt Swap 6 quilt and I have a really cool partner whose work I have always loved. I have another great idea for this one - hope it works out this time.

Hello.... anyone out there??

This won't be a long post even though it could have been incredibly long given the gap in communication. I just thought I would start by saying hello and give you a brief run down of everything I have been up to and then I will do smaller posts about each of those things. Is that good?

So when we last met, I was preparing for Chloe's Birthday party and the Stitches and Craft Show. I also had several projects to work on but I can't tell you about those or I'd have to kill you.

Kidding!! I will let you in on those as they pop up in the magazine world. I have also created another Audrey and Maude pattern but more about that later.

And my computer died on me! But I'll save all those stories for another day.

This post I will devote to a little photo run down of Chloe's 9th Birthday party and I will continue with other stuff later this week.

So...we started with a little cupcake decorating and much finger licking!



And they made a few chocolates.



Next I took out my fabric scrap boxes, some stamps and some paper and asked them to design their own placemat to use at the dinner table.



They concentrated very hard on this and came up with a heap of gorgeous ideas. They used them for dinner and then took them home.



Lots of yummy nachos and heaps of giggling.



After dinner fun with some silly string.



And of course... yummy icecream Birthday cake.



Happy 9th Birthday my gorgeous girl!!



The next day we went and had her ears pierced! Ahh so grown up already. Where did all that time go?

I promise you will hear from me again soon!!