Feeling blue..

I have not been feeling well for the last week, it must be bad as I actually went to the doctors on tuesday to be told I had a virus, they said they would do some tests to see what if anything they could do to help.... by wednesday I had a sticky eye and needed cream for it so back to the doctors again...... by thursday I could almost see to stitch but the rest of me ached too much to try, they dragged me off to the doctors again on friday to discover that I needed drugs to help get rid of this virus and I was told it may be another week before I am normal again... I have to say that I have never been normal but I would like to be more my abnormal self.
Vince bought me these to cheer me up...

The flowers were doing a great job of making me feel better and then when the wonderful man came home from doing some grocery shopping he also had these...

Wow, aren't they great, perfectly flat which I like and very comfortable. Last week I had started to pull out some clothes from my wardrobe in preparation for my trip to Spring Market in Portland, Oregon in May (only about 6 weeks away, panic is setting in here as I am behind with my schedule) these shoes will be ideal and as you know I just love wearing red. I have got my booth allocation already and I am really happy with where I am, there are about 2500 vendors altogether so as you can imagine it would be very easy to get lost in the crowd. Helen and Tracey are also coming and our booths are next door to each other which is wonderful as we can look after each other.

I forgot to show you the small bit of stitching that I did up the beach with Mum and Ruth, I say small as we were so busy catching up on 15 years news that very little stitching was done!

Yes, I know they are very pretty fabrics which I dont usually use but I was given this bundle a few years ago and Mum and Ruth thought they were great and so we have started. The hexagons a 3/4" and they came from Patchwork With Busyfingers. Pop over to Sue's blog and have a look at the wonderful paper pieced Pie quilt that one of Sues friends has made, its just gorgeous and I want it, Sues friend always chooses such ugly fabrics and makes them look divine. Maybe if we smile sweetly she will put a fabric bundle together for us??
Well I feel a nap coming on, this typing has worn me out. Take care

Back from the beach..

Our days were filled with wonderful beach walks, reading, eating and talking into the night. One morning we decided to go for a drive through the rainforest along a wonderful track thats just wide enough for a car and then onto the beach road. Bumpy but fun... there were lots of people driving along the 40km stretch of beach and we had to remember that road rules apply even on the beach!

Later...... much later whilst sipping champagne and sitting on the verandah or deck as they are called here we were treated to a wonderful sunset. Each evening brought a slightly different sunset but this was my favourite.

We are home and very rested now, Tom has gone back to school for the rest of term one, Vince is back at work and I have started to play with some fabrics for a new quilt. See if you can guess the theme?

Some ladies in the US who are also puppy carers for future service dogs asked me if I had a doggie pattern that would be suitable for them to make as a raffle quilt for their fun day in August this year. Well it has made me put my thinking cap on and later I will give you details of where/how to buy a raffle ticket and of course eventually there will a pattern available for purchase. First I need to go and play with my paper, pencil and fabrics....yipee... see you soon

PS. The rabbit blocks are popping up all over the world on peoples blogs, thank you to everyone of you for spreading the word, its been so exciting to visit you all and admire your stitchery and fabric choices. Now all I need to do is remember how to do the pdf file ready for next month.... want to guess which animal it will be next? A simple clue, its a single animal of the feathered variety, its pair is on another block.

UK Visitor

On Saturday afternoon Vince, Hugo and I picked up an old friend from the airport. Ruth was my first employer back in 1986... wow, that feels like so long ago. Over the years we have kept in touch which was fairly easy as Ruth and her family have lived in the same house always. Ruths children are now all grown up and married with children of their own.

Heres a picture of Ruth's thatched cottage looking very pretty with its dusting of snow...

We have talked non stop, in between I have been showing her some of our wonderful sights, yesterday was very overcast and so the view from Mary Cairncross out across the Glasshouse Mountains to the ocean was not quite as good as usual...

We also took a short walk in the rainforest and although we heard lots of birds we only caught a glimpse of a few. We were lucky enough to see a couple of pademelons, yes I know you all want to know what type of animal that is so follow the link and find out!

Because we have had so much rain recently there was a wonderful variety of fungus, this was my favourite.

These two flooded gums towered above the rest of the forest, these types of trees are not normally found in the rainforest, these two were here long before the rainforest grew up around them and once these massive trees die there will be no more in this location. They shed their bark, hence the wonderful pale colour of the trunks.

There were wonderful vines everywhere...but no Tarzan..

Today, I have been starting to get organised for the Easter break as we are going up the coast. I have done the food shopping and the clothes are clean and ready... I just need to find some time to prepare some stitching. I am hoping to get some Dear Jane blocks done but if not I have some 3/4" hexagons to play with, I may even manage to get my Mum and Ruth to help with them!
Talking of Dear Jane, I did a wondeful fabric swap with Cathi of Celtic Knots. We have been having fun emailing each other for a while and decided a fabric swap was a great idea and so swap we have...

look at the great selection of fabrics..

happy stitching

Birthday adventures..

It was my youngest sons 15th birthday this weekend and to celebrate he wanted to go with his family to Skirmish. Skirmish is an outdoor activity involving running around, lots of hiding and the shooting of paintballs at the opposite team. I am not sure how it happened but the boys persuaded me to join in! There was about 50 participants of various ages, only three females, one of whom was my daughter in law Shona, so at least I was not alone! We all got issued with army fatigues, a mask and instructed on how to use the weapons.
Here we are dressed ready for action... I have just realised Mike (my number 2 son) is missing from this group photo,

Its Ok heres Mike...

Shona and I managed to stay farily well hidden and thankfully didnt get hit too many times as I can assure you those paintballs not only hurt but were very messy... ouch!

I have had so many new visitors to my blog leaving wonderful messages about the rabbit block they have stitched from the Noahs Ark free BOM, I cant mention everyone but here are a few more wonderful blogs worth a visit. Tereasa of Raggedy Station, Martine of Salted River, Rachel of Four Wise Monkeys and May Kristen.

Have fun visiting and dont forget to say hello from me..

Easter chick cup cakes...

Yup, they tasted yummy, full of calories and quite delicious! Vince is doing a lecture for a group of dental hygenists tonight and this was my offering for the nibbles table! I am sure the girls will love them, if not I want to know why!
After my cup cake baking effort this morning I took Hugo for a lovely walk in the park at Cotton Tree. As you can see the weather was perfect, a slight breeze and in the background you can just see some kite surfers having fun. I love walking here as the park runs along the edge of the river just where it goes into the sea and the colours of the sand and sea are just lovely. Its a busy park, the facilities are great there are gas barbecues, lots of shady places to sit and a great play area for the children plus there is a bit of beach along the edge of the river where its quite safe to paddle.

I have started to think what it will be like when Hugo goes into his formal training, which is only about 8 weeks away! We are all going to miss him terribly, he is such a lovely dog and of course he has become such a faithful friend. I know that when I started this project that I would have to give him back around the age of one but it is still going to be very hard. At this stage we are thinking that we will have another puppy, I hope this will ease the loss of Hugo. I wonder what 'it' will be called? The puppies come named and I am not sure which letter of the alphabet they will have got to by then, the most recent new puppy in training was called Quincy, she is a retriever ... very cute and I got to have a cuddle at training the other day.... it a terrible picture of me, it was a very hot humid day and we had just finished our training session....phew

I am off to make a cup of tea and to curl up in front of the TV with my faithful Hugo at my feet! I may even do a bit of stitching but I am hoping for a good movie.

Rabbitsville and Pincushion-itus

When I took Hugo out for his early morning toilet this is what greeted us...

There is something very magical about rainbows, they are part of the inspiration for my book Rainbow Cottage, which is filled with stitchery projects featuring rainbows and thatched cottages...

Ask at your local quilt shop to see a copy or order online from Penny.

There are rabbits popping up all over the world, which is very exciting, lets hope they only nibbling a bit of fabric from your stash and some threads! Brigitte has framed her little rabbits and they look so cute, she has also stitched one of my all time favourite stitcheries 'My Sewing Angel', she has done a great job. Lissa has stitched her rabbits all in red and they look great, thanks for the idea. Nadine has hers all finished and ready for next month, great job Nadine, Lynda's stitching is so neat and her bunnies are very much in love... Wonder which animals will be next....hmm...... I am hopeless at keeping secrets but my lips are sealed!

Pincushion-itus seems to be gripping the world and there are some gorgeous ones out there in blogland, if you havent entered the competition over at Blueberry Lane then be quick....

I thought I would share a few pincushions that live in my house, here is an armchair, its from the book by Kindred Spirits called 'Needleworks', I love this armchair as the lid lifts up for you to keep threads etc in. I cant believe that I made it way back in 2000, feels like only yesterday!

Dont you just love the Japanese lady, she was from a pincushion swap I joined a few years ago, a lady named Di in Charters Towers made mine. Thanks Di I still have her on display! I think my Mum made the chicken, very cute, the pumpkin is a great shape to use although I had to remove some very rusty pins from it, which happens alot here in our humid climate.

Well, I am off to do some stitching and I hope that wherever you are that you get the chance to stitch a little today. A big thank you to those of you who have been spreading the word about the free Noahs Ark BOM and please when you have stitched yours pop it on your blog if you have one...
thank you

Thank you...

A big thank you to each and everyone of you for the wonderful messages I have been having about the free Noahs Ark BOM, I have tried to answer as many as I can but please forgive me if I havent got to you. Its very exciting, some of you have already stitched the bunnies, have a look here, here and here, here and here. Let me know if you have posted about them, I would love to read your blog.
The Dutch Lady has posted a really good tutorial on how she traces her designs onto fabric, such a good idea, thanks Dutch lady.

I have also done a little, very roughly drawn mud map so you can see where each block is going to be placed. Notice that all the blocks are not the same size.... this is to keep you guessing!

Its also worth a visit to Blueberry Lane as Carey has found a box with some treasures inside... she has two copies of my first ever book... The Pincushion Book...long out of print now and the silly thing is I never kept a copy for myself so what do you think should I enter her competition to try and win one.... nah that would be mean of me, but I do hope that you will all go and enter.
Off to have may hair cut today, its also my Mums birthday so I have made some little fairy cakes to take to share with the girls and boys at the hairdressers.
bye for now

PS. There is a great tutorial here for a suitcase pincushion.

The rabbits..

I hope that you are all ready to join my stitch-along Noah's Ark BOM. A pattern will be available each month for the next year (no definite release date each month), download the pattern and away you go. I would love to hear or see how you are progressing with your Noah's Ark. I would love it if you can blog about it or if you dont have a blog please tell your friends. Yes, this is a publicity stunt, I want the world to come and read my blog, so spread the word.
I have chosen to start with these rabbits who are very much in love and they are off to join everyone else on board Noah's Ark. Of course being very close to Easter you could in fact choose to make something with these rabbits thats a bit Easterish, maybe they could be a pocket on a bag or a very very mini wallquilt!
Go and look in the left hand side bar of my blog for the Noah's Ark photo album, look inside and you will find a requirement list and the pattern for this month.

Happy Stitching,

Busy Day Out..

What a great day out I had on friday. I received an email newsletter from one of the Brisbane quilt shops to say they were having a one day sale... who could resist.... not me thats for sure!
My Dear Jane friend Chris, Sue from Patchwork With Busyfingers and the very talented Kay Haydon and I travelled in the car together. On arrival at the quilt store we dived straight in to the serious business of fabric collecting, standing in the queue, collecting more fabric..... yes, we did collect alot of fabric but look how much money we saved!

Then it was a short drive to a rather nice cafe where we had lunch... although two of us choose to have something off the all day breakfast menu! (Sue is mising as she was behind the camera).

On the homeward journey there was alot of 'Ohhs' and 'Ahhs' as the bags of goodies were poked and patted and duly admired.

Here's my collection for the day, I just love those spotty fabrics....

After a much needed cup of tea on arrival home I popped to check my mail box to discover a wonderful box had arrived all the way from my valentine swap partner in the US...... quick, quick, lets see whats inside....

Australian customs had opened the package and very neatly repackaged it! I think it must have been because of the basket...plant material perhaps?

As you can see the basket is filled with gorgeous fabrics, a wonderful bundle of 5" charm squares, some cute notecards and then there were these two wonderful coasters. They are very cleverly constructed and I love them, so before my husband arrived home I got them ready with the necessary accompaniments...the wine glasses and the wine...a great evening was had! Thank you Beth for the wonderful valentine swap parcel, you were very generous and I am thrilled.

I am off to do some stitching now and I hope that you are doing the same,