Merry Christmas I know its a bit late but time fly's when you are  having fun and a lot of fun has been had in our house over the last few week. The boys and I have been riding to the beach for a swim, games, spending time with family and a trip up into the mountains. So here is the lovely things I received with SSCS swap, my present was from Anne Marrie. Anne lives in Norway and for my ornament she made these lovely woven hearts. I can remember making these out of paper when I was little and never thought to make them out of fabric.

For my main present I received this lovely bag , so my colours and reminds me of spring every time I look at it. I also received a  calendar, thimble and little saying to hang up. I was spoilt so much and thank you Anne for the wonderful things

Now my partner was Sharon in New York and I have to say went a bit nuts on the ornament, lets just say sometimes bigger is better .

Its a pattern I have had for awhile , its a Christine Book's pattern and I have been waiting for just the right time to make it and decided as Sharon is from the Big Apple, well she needed a big stocking .

It measures around 1.5 meters long and I do hope she was a very good girl so Santa filled it for her. The main present is a table runner that I designed my self and have to now write up the pattern for a quilt teacher who would like to teach this pattern next year .,

I know Sharon liked it and I am pleased that she got to keep it as her daughters where very keen to take it home. It is hard to believe that another year is coming to a end but it has been a full year and that is not always a bad thing. I have to say that the new year is going to bring a lot of changes to my life as the week before Christmas I was told I had Hemochromatosis ( to much Iron in the body ) and now have to give blood every week for the next few months  and become a vegetarian which is not to bad but the hardest thing is no Sugar and as every tooth in my mouth is a sweet tooth that is not going to be easy, but we will do it .

I would like to wish you all a Safe and Happy New Year and look forward to blogging  with you all next year
Big Hugs Bec

Wow what a blur the past few weeks have been there has been a holiday, surprise, sewing, gardening and a Wedding ........ so grab a cuppa get comfortable and lets get started .
My oldest son and I have had a small holiday a bit of a rest for me and  some relaxation  time before exams start for John . We spent a few days in Melbourne seeing the sights and  shopping . We went to the museum to see King Tut's belongings, Parliament house, Carlton Gardens, rode the trams  and lots and lots of shops . It was just the thing  we both needed and the high light of the trip was to spend the day with family and friend celebrating the wedding of my cousin Liam to his lovely bride Heather.

The couple on the big day , they both looked lovely and the ceremony was wonderful .

While I was away a parcel arrived for me, all the way from the America from my friend  Shelly. I met Shelly another quilter through face book and was surprised when she told me that she was cleaning out her stash and could she send me a few pieces. Well can you imagine my shock when I opened to box to find not just a few piece but a pile of fabric , tote bag and two CD full of music Shelly thought I might like .

What a lovely and  amazing range of fabrics Shelly sent me and as  Shelly said in her letter she has a thing for fish  a lot of them have a sea theme. I am always  amazed at the generosity of some people and a big Thank you to Shelly wish I could give her a hug , one day I might be able to .

 Now I have been sewing my challenge and am please to say that my scrape quilt is coming alone.  Although I have to say I  had to walk away a few times, until a customer said the secret to  a scrap quilt is not to think about it and I have to say is a bit easier when I don't ( lets hope it all works out in the end

I have made 6 of the 25 blocks needed will sew a few more tonight after my bike ride with the family . This weekend we have been busy taking control of the garden again and painting the fence. So a few early morning to try and get things finished before it get to hot. I thought you might like to see a few of the flowers that are still around after the  fighting with the weed, pruning and general neglect .

I tend to have a lot of palms in my garden and few flower but now that the palms  are bigger I can under plant them with things that flower, as they will now have shade from the hot summer sun . I haven't had the time I  would like to spend in my garden through the year but hopefully over the holidays we will get on top of it all again . Well that's me for today hope you have a lovely week and thank you for stopping by.
Big Hugs Bec

Well I can  now show you the quilt I did last weekend , as it has arrived at its final destination. I tired so hard to get it completed before my sisters birthday and in fairness the top was completed awhile ago.  I just found it hard to get the quilting done as I wanted to do something special but decided in the end  just to do a edge to edge. I am still happy with the end result and I know that my sister loves it . The quilt is called " Sugar Plum Stars by Cheryl Malkowski ", it features the Tonga Treats range .It was a lovely quilt to make and I would love to do it again but  maybe blues and whites next time .

I quilted Dazzel on it which is a great design and I love the way it creates a secondary design that form circles.
Sorry the picture doesn't show it to well.

This week I set my self a challenge and I have till the end of the year to complete it . The challenge is to make a scrap quilt,  from the box that has grown with every completed project . Now I don't know if any one else is as messy as me but I have to say when I complete a project the left overs where just get dropped into well a paper bag to start of with and now that is full ,a small box.

The bursting at the sides scrap box and magazine with some great ideas

Now I love to look at other peoples scrappy quilts and think they are so cleaver for having made them, but when it comes time to making them I get very nerves as I panic about the colours and fabrics working together. So my challenge is to make a scrappy quilt using only and I mean only what is in the box. I have spent the past few days cutting and trying hard not to think about the colours and on more than one occasion I have be firm with my self and not go to the rest of my fabric stash  to add to it .  I will keep you posted with how the  challenge is going  and  if any one else would like to join me in this challenge , drop us a email would love to hear from you. Have a great week and happy sewing , I am of to do some more cutting .
Big Hugs Bec

Well Hello I have been naughty I promised to show you all the lovely things I got from my Spring swap that I did with Clare from Clare's Craft room on face book . I do apologise but what can I say the fabric was calling  hehehe.

I have also  been busy with my SSCS swap as well and am pleased to say all is on track just a bit more to finish off with them all ready to post when I get back from a little trip to Melbourne with my oldest in a few weeks . We have a wedding to go to and I do love a good wedding and I love spending time in Melbourne too.  Any way this is the lovely parcel I received isn't it just beautifully wrapping was a shame to have to open it .

But so worth it when I did , I received from Denise a I-Pad cover, a lovely little cover to hide the tissues and a matching note book to write down my ideas in. I was so spoilt and love everything that was made for me.

The fabrics are so fresh and bright just the thing to make you think of spring.  Which is great at the moment because I'm sure that it  has forgotten that it is ment to be spring , feels like winter again. Well I better go and do my Gym work out so I can fit into my dress for the wedding ( oh dear winter has left its mark ). Before I go I would like to share with you a quote I read the other day which really struck a note with me :

" Earth with out art is just 'eh' "

Have a great week and happy sewing
Big Hugs Bec

Well the school holidays have been and gone and now I can put on  my dancing shoes hehehe . Although both the boys have already started the count down till the summer holidays . It was a lovely two weeks with beautiful weather lots of sewing and a few birthday's as well.
I finished and have posted the small swap I did with Clare from "Clares Craftroom " on face book. I do hope Denise liked it and as I write this I have just received hers but will show you that tomorrow . Mine is a little sewing caddy using my friend Joy's   pattern and Janelle Wind's applique pattern plus a bit of me as well.

Inside is two pockets for storing cottons scissors or

anything else you might like . As well as a piece of 

Doctors Flannel to store and keep your pins and

needles nice and sharp and safe . It came out a lttle bit bigger than the original pattern but I am happy with the look and size . 

Last week I celebrated my cough cough 40th birthday . I know 40 is the new 30 and it is only a number and you only feel as old as you want but this was a hard number for me but it is all over and done with and have to say am looking forward to the next 40  .....

This is a photo of my sister Rachael and me, we where so cute and butter wouldn't melt in our mouths ( cough cough )  . Rachael  celebrates her birthday the day after me, so September is the birthday month in our family as my little brother is in that month as well . Well better go and do a bit more sewing for my SSCS nearly finished one  and cant quite make up my mind what the other thing will be so many things I would like to make and not enough hours in the day . Hope you all have a safe and lovely week .
Big Hugs Bec

That's it I'm hooked on paper piecing. I signed up to  " This goes with that " BOM at our local patchwork shop awhile ago and got my first month the other week. Well with the start of the school holidays and beautiful weather this weekend I thought I would sit out side under our trees and start sewing theses little 4 1/2 " hexagons. Now this is the first time I have done any paper piecing on such a big scale as 272 blocks are needed to make a quilt the size of 65" x 68". I have attempted small paper piece projects but only a small amount, I was so engrossed in sewing that I didn't realise how long I was out side and although underthe shade of  a tree I still got burnt and now have legs the same colour and the red in the centre of one of the hexagon. I sun screened my face and arms but forgot my legs ( in to much of a hurry to start silly me ).

I have started my SSCS and wonder how big is to big for a ornament for the tree........ hehehe.
Have a great week and happy sewing I am of to fine the Aloe Vera  spray for the legs.
Big Hugs Bec

The sun is shining and the breeze is cold and my  garden is a mess, the weeds are starting to be higher than the plants. Time to get out and do some gardening might even be able to bribe a child to help as well ( don't like my chances but you never know ). But before I go and play outside I thought you might like to see the finished quilt Ta Da ...............

The quilt is called "Willowberry Winter" and was a block of the month I started last year . It is in lovely apricots and greens and although they are not my colours the work well together and will look good hanging in my quilting room ( if my mum doesn't take it first ).

I thought I would leave you with a a photo of my beautiful  boys on the day off the wedding they were both pleased to wear a suit and looked handsome . John had to have a bow tie and what fun we had trying to find one, but one happy young man when we did find it . They are growing up so fast and although this makes me sad sometimes , I know both my Hubby and my self are very both proud of them both.

Now to hit the weeding, I hope you are all having a great week and happy sewing .
Big Hugs Bec

I am so easily distracted........... You would think by now that I would be able to set my mind to one task and complete that task with out any problem but NO.  At the cough age of cough, 2 weeks off cough cough 40 Please help me but that is another story for another day.   I am distracted by fabric and threads. I finished this quilt top a few months ago and with being so busy with other peoples quilts it got put on the pile and forgotten about until this weekend . For the first weekend in quite awhile my machine was free and so on it went . I am nearly finished and will show you all when it is complete.

Now I know I said that I was planning to work on Daisy Dance this weekend and in all fairness I did a bit . I sewn on three of the borders ready to complete the corners and got the last side ready to stitch through the week nights. Very happy with the way it is all coming together .

I all so signed up for two swap once again  the lovely Chookyblues SSCS swap ( so love doing this one ) and a quick swap that Clare from Clare's Craft room is running on Face book . With lots of stitching to be started I better go and get working so full of ideas, lets hope I don't get distracted for a  little while but it sure dose make life fun. Have a great week and happy sewing .

Big Hugs Bec

Last weekend on the not so sunny coast, well lets just say the weather here  has been yuk and always on the weekend. I decided to put down the hand sewing that I have been  working on for the past few weeks and play with a scrap bag I brought awhile ago. Now its not a very exciting pattern but I have to say it is nice to do something a bit simple for a change ( as the brain cells are not in the best form at the moment ) thinks its to do with the lack of sunshine wink wink .

I have to say am loving these scrap bags. As great fun, first with not knowing what fabric is in it and then second the usefulness of the pack with whipping up  a quick little quilt for a lovely little girl . Will get to see her this weekend I do hope she like it .

As for the range of fabric not sure but  it looks lovely with the white very fresh just in time for spring . I am nearly finished the 3rd border of my "Daisy Dance"  only one more side to go . I have surprised my self with how fast  I am managing to get through the sides.  I have to say was thinking at least 2 weeks for every side not really that fast with the hand sewing . Hope to have a photo of it soon to show you how it is all coming along. Hope you all have a lovely weekend and the sun is shining where ever you are,  happy sewing .

Big Hugs
Bec

    Now  hope this works as  am trying to blog with my ipad , so here we go . This is a quilt I started awhile ago for my then new nephew .  I am pleased to say that he got it the other day and loves it to bits even if it is , cough 6 years late .his favourite is the Thorny Devil .

  

Big Hugs 

Bec