IHSW update plus lots else

I am so pleased with my progress on Cinderella, here is my photo from Saturday morning (after FNSI progress)

and here she is after IHSW:

I also mentioned in my last post that I had been lucky enough to win a giveaway but I have more good fortune to share with you.  First, here is the lovely surprise which I received tonight when I got home from work.  It is from my Love and Friendship Exchange partner, now she is a secret partner.  So, thank you, whoever you are.  See all my wonderful goodies.  My favourite is the beautiful little pink and green cushion - two of my favourite colours.  Thank you, thank you, thank you, Oh, secret friend.

Then I have won these wonderful patterns from Joyce of Random Ramblings. Now, I thought that I had only won Blueberries but no, generous Joyce sent me four lovely Amish quilting patterns - I just love them.

Blueberry Homecoming, Raspberry Homecoming, Blackberry Jam, and I am not sure what the last pattern is called (as I am sitting typing this with Furio on my knee and I don't want to disturb him). Thank you so much, Joyce, you are so lovely and generous.

Then Nicola of Stitching by a Cornish Seashore was kind enough to gift me the pattern of And they sinned (Sorry, I couldn't get a big photo but if you click on the link you can see a bigger image)

She was also generous enough to send me some lovely Gentle Arts threads to start me off.  Now, as Nicola stitched on this I had been lusting after it, so I am so excited to have the pattern.  But I am going to have to wait until I get back from my U.S. trip before I start it. But I think that it will be a lovely piece to look forward to starting when I have those post holiday blues.  Thank you so much, Nicola, I am so excited to have this pattern to stitch in my future.

Nicola, is also having a fun competition about the weird positions pets and family sleep in.  Now, here are my two entries.  The first one is Milo who loves to sleep in my large white china bowl (which I can now never use again).  For some reason he finds this comfortable - go figure!

 The other photo is Furio the other day, as you can see, he is sleeping twisted right around - how funny is that?
Wish me luck for Nicola's competition - isn't it fun?

love to you all,

Love and Friendship Exchange

Last blog I showed you all the lovely Initial heart which I received from Shez from Enjoying Life.  My other partner in the swap is still to receive her initial heart from me (it should arrive tomorrow) so I cannot show you any photos yet.  However, I was also in a Love and Friendship Exchange and my partner in that swap, Pam from Confessions of a Southern Stitcher has received her gift - Here is a pic of what I sent her.  I made a  small cushion which I stitched using my Cottage Garden variegated threads (I really love these Aussie threads), in the package I also included a scissor and measuring tape pack, a lucky Chinese mobile phone charm (which I had bought in Hong Kong), some of that fabulous Australian made Udder Cream which I keep raving about, I cute nail file and a little circular fabric box for keeping little bibs and bobs in.

Now, you might have noticed that I have put a hazy border and slightly angled the photo.  I actually did this in Word.  We have just moved to Office 2010 at work and we have been able to buy a very cheap version for our home computers.  Then on Friday I went to a PD on all things Word 2010 and how to manipulate images was one of the things we were taught.  Cool, isn't it?

I have been promising some photos of Cinderella for a week or so now.  So, here are two pics in order of progress:

Isn't it funny, that depending on how you take the photo and the light,  the fabric looks a different colour?  (Sorry, I should have ironed the fabric for the second photo - me just being lazy as my ironing board is downstairs)

Yesterday, I baked the birthday cake for my DF Cathy's 50th Birthday party for our Mother's Group - over 23 years and we still meet regularly.  Isn't Cathy a youthful 50 year old?  The Cake is a White Chocolate Mudcake.

One last thing to show you today - one of my Older Finished Works.  This is a quilt I made for DS2 about 8 or 9 years ago.  It is all hand quilted.  There is also a pic of a flannel cushion which I made around the same time and DS2 appropriated for his own use.  DS2 is now 19 but still sleeps with both of these items made by his mummy! lol!

 Well, off to stitch and watch something light on TV - it is a lazy Sunday afternoon.  I am off to Sydney very early (the taxi is coming at 6, which means that I will be up at 5) for work.  Back on Tuesday night.  So, probably no blogging until then.  Have a good start to the week everyone.

hugs,

We have a winner!

Well, we have a winner of the Ladies who Lunch mini competition..... but oh, I need to tell you that I had a very good Australia Day on Thursday as I had not one but two Happy Dances.  Unfortunately I cannot show you any pics as they are both pieces for exchanges.  For both of them I took some freebie designs but then modified them to suit the exchange theme and experimented with my Cottage Garden overdyed threads.  I must say that I am pleased with the results.

Now, I was talking of my winner.... but, wait, my TUSAL update is late, here is my January TUSAL jar:

Do you like the fabric which it is sitting on? It is the backing fabric for the Love and Friendship Exchange piece (it is a lovely piece of quilting fabric from my stash).

Now, I was thinking of my winner when I visited my LNS and did some more Stash Empire Building and bought this absolutely gorgeous Mirabilia design

Cinderella by Mirabilia
To be stitched on 32 count Smokey Grey linen

I  have started but, of course, there was some frogging involved.

And, I was thinking some more about my winner of the Ladies who Lunch mini competition when I was packing for Queensland - I am leaving very early in the morning for a work conference at Sanctuary Cove.  Unfortunately, it is always full on so I won't have too much time to enjoy the gorgeous surroundings.  It also means that I won't be able to visit blogland until I get back on Tuesday night.  But I will be thinking of you all.

Now, to the big announcement:

What did I have for dessert when I Lunched with the Ladies?  I loved all of your reasonings and some of you were very clever how you worked it out.

I chose this as my dessert:

THE LEMON TART!!!!!  It was absolutely yum!

So, lots of bloggers actually worked this out (or had lucky guesses) so my friend, the Random generator worked his magic and chose:

Kate

Congratulations, Kate, please email me on KayeDeP@gmail.com with your snailmail address and I will post you your mystery prize when I get back from my trip up North (I am actually coming up your way tomorrow)

Thank you to everyone who entered - I hope that you had fun.  It was a fun giveaway to host.

I would also like to let all the winners of my other giveaways know that I have not forgotten about them - I intend to do a big post office trip when I get back from Queensland on Wednesday.

Well, that is all from me now - I need to download some books onto my kindle for my plane trip tomorrow and get some more stitching in.

Hugs,   

IHSW - stitching done but sorry no pics

Well, I did stitch for the IHSW and thought of all my fellow stitchers across the globe stitching with me.  But, as I am still working on a Love and Friendship Exchange piece - no progress pics, I am sorry to say.

However, I do have a pic of Furio watching the tennis with me tonight:

Really interested, isn't he?

Hugs,

UCJC Day 7 - yesterday's progress and X-stitching Xmas 2012 update

I have yet to take a photo of yesterday's UCJC Day 6 project - so I will update this post later today.

But I have started on today's project, which is a secret for an upcoming Love and Friendship Exchange - so there will be no pics of that project until the exchange is received.

I am, however, reposting my Believe series pics as part of X-stitching Xmas 2012 which is being hosted by Lady Kell of Kincavel Crosses.  So, here goes.....

X-Stitching Xmas 2012 - Progress pics, Saturday, January 7th:

 UCJC Day 4 Believe by The Sampler Girl X 3! All in different colourways using Cottage Garden Hand-dyed threads (the same ones I am using for my Mary Wigham sampler - I just love them)

This is a freebie design which can be found here.

These will all be finished as little hanging pillows for Christmas (I have bought the ribbons and such for finishing - just need to find some time to do the finishing now)

Update:  Here are some pics of the pretty ribbons and ricrac which I bought for finishing the Believe series:

Now, here is Day 6 of UCJC 2012 progress pics:

Houses Sampler

The Sampler Company (Brenda Keyes)

20 Count Blue Spruce Linen

DMC threads

Jo from Serendipitous Stitches is having a great Epiphany Giveaway and for one of the 7 items you are giving away you have to prove that you are a quilter.  So, here is some proof of my quilting "prowess":

That's all from me for today, going to the movies with DH to see "The adventures of Tintin" and then to have a bite to eat.

oh, one last thing, don't forget my Day 12 Giveaway, you need to comment on this post if you would like to enter.  It is also listed on my sidebar along with some other great giveaways.  

Plus Mary Joan is having a lovely giveaway, you can check it out here.

Happy Stitching,