Catching Up!

Well, where has the time gone - especially when you are on holidays!
I had a lovely Christmas day with both my girls - meals being well taken care of by daughter No 2 who is a chef.... all I had to do was help out with the shopping! 
A couple of days later I left for Sydney where I enjoyed a 2nd Christmas celebration and saw the New Year in with the rest of my family. A few restful days were spent in Sydney including a couple of trips to Spotlight for their sales and a leisurely afternoon tea at Burnt Orange in Mosman.....

My Mum and I at the entrance.....

and a view of the Manly ferry going past....... 

(This building was the Mosman Golf Club in 1924 till the onset of World War 2 when the army resumed the land and in 2001 the building and military land transferred to the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust....where now we can all enjoy a lunch or afternoon tea!)

On the sewing side I have been "creating" and didn't realise till the other day that I had missed OPAM for December and also - heaven forbid! - FNWF!! - although I was in Sydney at the time!....and days can roll into one when one is on holidays!! 
So... here are a few finishes that I couldn't show earlier as they were gifts....

... Another fabric basket....

Pattern - Anni Downs

....Christmas hanging - stitched in red with a grey cat as the friend to whom it was going to has a grey cat....couldn't resist when I saw the pattern - may have to make one for myself with my 2 x ginger cats - though I think it will be a bit squishy!

Pattern - Gail Pan

... and a pin cushion from Gail Pan's book "Patchwork Loves Embroidery"

Since being home .... a little bit of stitching....

and some reading - finished this great book... thoroughly enjoyed it - thought provoking - can understand why it has won a couple of literary awards....

... am now reading (I should say re-reading - first read about 40 yrs ago!) something different -  The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien - a completely different story line and, yes, I have seen the movies.

Today I joined up with Stitch-a-Long for 2015... thought about it for quite some time but the temptation was too great!! I'm also working on "Gossip in the Garden" and was a bit concerned the colours of both may be the same as I am using fabrics from my stash for both... will just have to be resourceful and try and make one different from the other! 

Back to work next week - will try and do some sewing during my few remaining days of holidays.... and will be back sooner rather than later!

Wishing you all a happy and healthy 2015 - may it be a productive year as well!
Happy Stitching
Asta

Merry Christmas 2014

From my place to yours wishing everyone a very "Merry Christmas" .... hope you have all had a day that brings with it peace and joy - a time to spend with family and friends.

Our tree and a quick look around my house.......

 My ever growing collection of Santas - now up to 37 - includes a Santa candle snuffer and Santa salt / pepper shakers and one that is only 3cm tall with the tallest being 35cm.....

 

.... and my slow growing collection of angels - which seem harder to find than Santas

Wish you all a Happy New Year - may 2015 bring good health and happiness (and may it be productive!)

Happy Stitching

Asta

The end of another week and what have I been up to ..... besides nearly having my sewing and laundry area awash when rainwater came through the garage on Friday night during a storm - only a tile height saved the situation!!

Remember these from a couple of weeks ago - deciding on fabrics for a baby quilt?....

......well, we had a very wet Saturday here and the garage cleaning didn't take as long as I thought it was going to so decided to spend the day sewing.....  hour glass blocks sewn and cut to size .... 

......rows progressing....

..... one baby quilt finished! - decision still to be made about the quilting..... and pleased to say that all the fabrics, except the light which is white with pink spots came out of my stash - such a good feeling when you do actually use your stash! 

Also working on a Gail Pan stitchery.....

And am thinking of getting back into some sewing for myself..... used to sew a lot when my daughters were little but haven't made anything for a very long time! If you don't see this again you'll know it didn't work out.... it does look easy though!

Hope you have all had a productive week....

Happy Stitching

Asta

OPAM and My Week

Oops...nearly forgot the end of the month - it seems to creep up so quickly! 
Sadly, once again only 1 project finished for the month (though I have been working on some others)......

 ...another fabric basket but this time in Xmas fabrics as it was for our embroidery group's Xmas gift swap.... a couple of smaller suprises were tucked inside.

A few highlights from my week ......

A couple of new projects have been started... both are gifts so am not giving out too much information here...

 

 All the hexagons are finished for "Gossip in the Garden"... now to start putting them together....

And our local patchwork shop, 

Steph's Fabrics, celebrated 15 years with champagne and a sale  - both of which were enticing and led to these fabrics being purchased - the cream ones for "Gossip in the Garden" and the other three "just because"........

Finishing off the weekend with breakfast at one of our local restaurants On the Pier with my 2 daughters, one with her partner....... all home, if somewhat temporarily, till the travel bug hits again so making the most of every minute!.....

Hope you have all had a productive week

Happy Stitching

Asta

Bits & Pieces of the Weekend

Another weekend over and here are some snippets of my weekend..... started off with a delicious brunch at the The Tomakin General Store with my 2 daughters but forgot to take the camera :(..... next  time!

Some decision making here....

about to start a small quilt for a friend of my daughters who has just had a beautiful daughter....









Another fabric basket on the way......

more times than not Dora joins me while I sew........

and the weekend finished off with a Baileys on ice and some reading time......

Hope you had a good weekend...whatever you were doing.

Till next time

Happy Stitching

Asta

FNWF & A Quilt Exhibition

FNWF and I was stitching again - had lost the momentum since my holiday - must have been too relaxing... more hexagons being created for "Gossip in the Garden".... I did say it would be a slow WIP!

Saturday and off to Gerringong to catch up with a couple of long-time friends and see the Gerringong Quilt Exhibition.... a snapshot of some of the quilts....

A Xmas tree made with prairie points..... 







and a beautiful quilt based on the colour wheel....



Then Sunday arrived and it was time to do some gardening - but no photos - I was too busy planting out and potting up plants purchased from the Bundanoon Garden Ramble from a couple of weeks ago.

Will try and get some stitching done during the week but Daughter No 1 and her partner have arrived back home from Canada and are staying here for a while while they ponder their next destination and with Daughter No 2 here as well till she departs for her next adventure I have a full house with lots of catching up happening!!

Happy Stitching
Asta

What a Holiday!

Enjoying a relaxing, lovely holiday in Hawaii with one of my daughters is where I have been for the last few weeks....
We spent most of our time at a resort on the island of Maui.... walking along the beach, swimming...

The occasional cocktail... or 2 

Then off to Waikiki for a few days.... Hurricane Ana heading for the islands luckily was down graded to a tropical storm so we decided that would be a good day to hit the shops - note the sandbags at the entrance to one of the shopping centres....

The sun came out and more swimming....

And more cocktails..... not that we needed the sun for those!

 The day after we arrived back in Sydney we headed off to the annual Garden Ramble in Bundanoon (Southern Highlands NSW) where each year the family get together for the weekend and "ramble" through private gardens open to the public..... just a  few of the many photos taken of the 8 gardens open this year....

 Unfortunately it was back to work last Wednesday so only a short week for the first week back ....everyone said I looked relaxed - I certainly felt that way!

Sad to say though I had no OPAM for the month of October but keep an eye out for next month.... Xmas is getting closer and I had better get stitching!

Happy Stitching
Asta