"FNSI, Love Letters, Soap Making, Visitors, etc."

Hello,

I joined in Friday Night Sew In hosted by Cheryll yesterday. I sewed in the daytime as we were busy with family things last night.
I did manage to get some Love Letters made up.

 More about these letters another day.

 I used this rather cute Penguin design from the Adorable Applique site to make up this table centre.

 We have been in need of some dishcloths. I read just last week that fleecy fabric makes great dishcloths. I have had a piece of  pink fleecy in the cupboard for sometime. So a quick over lock around the edges and we now have 8 dishcloths.
Thanks Cheryll for hosting Friday Night Sew In.

 Monday saw time to make up a batch of Lavender soap. I had infused the lavender in Olive oil for a long long time so it has a beautiful perfume. We have 6 weeks to wait for it to cure.

 With all the vegie scraps being buried in the garden, we have had some free food come up. Picked this Pumpkin this week.

 Gardening brings lots of visitors to the garden. I recently set up a pond with some water plants and walking across to see how it was going I nearly trod on this frog. He jumped into the nearby garden and stayed there long enough for me to get the camera. I hope he/she has a partner. Nothing like the sound of frogs at night time.

Last weekend a young boy got bitten by a snake and they warned us that reptiles love coming out for a visit on sunny days. I walked out the front to check on some plants and was thinking about this when just beside where I was looking was this Bobtail Goanna hiding under the Alyssum. Lucky it was him and not one of his cousins.

Have a lovely weekend.

Happy days.
Bev C

"The Sewing Party"

Hello,

Hope you are enjoying the weekend. It is a long one here in West Australia. We are celebrating WA Day on Monday. New Zealand is also having a holiday tomorrow. They are celebrating the Queen's Birthday.

I joined in the sewing party that Donna is celebrating. Mine actually started on Friday, I had purchased these brand new Ikea serviette's from Good Sammy's a few weeks back for 50 cents for 4, which was a great deal.

 Of course they had to be chooks, seeing Donna is celebrating her second year in her chookshed. Her chookshed it the nick name for her sewing room. Each design took about 23 minutes to stitch out.

 I had one of those velvet circles left over so stitched three separate designs from  Brother Card  number 55 to make up this picture. This one took 103 minutes of stitching time. There were a few stitching breaks with this one. You see I also decided to clean up my sewing room over the past few days. The magazines are sorted, I have a huge big pile to give away. I even washed curtains, vacuumed and steam cleaned the floor.

 Today I added some fabric around the circle and added some elastic to make it into a chair cover. It fits perfectly.

 Saturday I worked on my hexie quilt. Which seems to have grown far bigger than originally planned.

Making lots of new hexies to fill in the spaces. I had to add a fox to the chook yard as he/she visited last year and ate through the fence then the contents of the yard.

Thanks Donna for hosting the Sewing Party.

Happy days.
Bev C

"No bums on seats just Tony Rabbit."

Hello,

This has been another busy week but I did manage a few finishes. I was recently given a few circles of velvet that were originally going to be for chairs but decisions were changed on the colour. The velvet was perfect for making a rabbit.

 Meet Tony Rabbit. Tony is made in the hoop on the embroidery machine. I used some waffle cloth for his feet. Lots of texture on this one.

 Textile Traders is a lovely store which has a fantastic remnant bin. I was lucky enough to pick up these two pieces of flannelette which are perfect for some cot sheets for Jacob.

 Sometimes I think bloggers have ESP. I was walking down to the letterbox the other week, thinking to myself how lovely the garden is now especially the Alyssum is blooming. Amazing how this plant just pops up after some rain.

 

Lo and behold Cheryll sent me a lovely surprise in the mail. A garden inspired panel. Thanks so much Cheryll, I plan to add some embroidery to the designs.

This weekend I will be joining in with Donna in her virtual sewing bee. Donna is celebrating her 2nd year in her Chookshed and would love if you could join her .I will be sewing something that can be found in a Chook Yard.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Owl in the hoop, a complete surprise and a new cross stitch."

Hello,

Happy Tuesday.

When I do machine embroidery sometimes I dive straight in and do the project other times I test sew a piece to see if the colours and fabrics go together. Luckily for our Grandson Jacob I did just this, otherwise he would have been a bit scared of the owl I was making for him. Lets say that plainer colours work better together.

This design was stitched in the hoop with four separate hooping's. I then joined them together. Made a padded backing and joined it together with hand sewing on the base. I had to go back to school days when we were taught to hand sew things together before stitching on the machine, especially when it came to joining the nose section. Sometimes doing things the correct way really works!

Last Monday I was so surprised to get a parcel from Bobbie Lynn for Mother's Day.

 To say I was overwhelmed with this parcel is a understatement.

 In the parcel was this tea towel with a Cucumber embroidered on it. Bobbie Lynn and I have been talking about my lack of Cucumber growing until by some miracle we were able to grow them this past Summer. So now I have my very own Cucumber all year round. You see Bobbie Lynn is very efficient in growing Cucumbers I think her good vibes were sent all the way from the US to here so my Cucumbers had to grow.

 Also in the parcel was some of Bobbie Lynn's decorated eggs. These are just so delicate. I am actually on the look out for a fallen nest to put them in. Meanwhile they are in my sewing room for me to admire.

 I was also blessed with a set of handmade cards and envelopes. They look too nice to use don't they.

  

 Stamps. I had been talking to Bobbie Lynn about how some crafter's had been using stamps in hand embroidery and lo and behold one of her friends was no longer in need of these. Amazing generosity. I have some plans for these.

Thank you so much Bobbie Lynn.

I have started a new cross stitch, doing a little each night. Some nights even undoing what I have just done! I purchased this pattern last year from a on-line shop which operates out of Melbourne called Needlework Boutique.

Italy has a new citizen, congratulations to my nephew  Ryan  and Edy and big Sister Faye on the arrival of Emily May last Friday. Best wishes to you all.

Unfortunately there is one less amongst us, today our Son-in-law Julian says goodbye to his Nan in New Zealand. Love and prayers to Julian Ainsley Jacob Debbie Fiona Alisdair and family.

I have been reading Mrs Lincoln's Dressmaker by Jennifer Chiaverini. I am not enjoying this as much as her other novels. I have just flicked to the back and saw that the lady that the story revolves around had written her own novel. Think I will try to read that one. This one seems to be a bit slow going. Has anyone else read this book. I would be interested to hear what you thought of it. The copy I am reading is in big print so it is quick to read in that respect.

Happy days.
Bev C

"A little birdie told me"

Hello,

Happy Monday.

I picked up a small cross stitch kit from Spotlight for $3.00, I thought even if I don't stitch the design there is no way I could purchase the Aida cloth and thread for that price.

Last month I stitched the design which is on 14 count Aida, lovely and big to see. No need to use the magnifying glass. I did leave out some stylized back stitching which said "With love from me to you." 

Instead...

I made up a fabric envelope for  secrets to hide in.

I made it all into a 18 inch square cushion. I had previously purchased a metre of each of the Bird fabric's from Spotlight.  

Happy days.

Bev C