Hexie progress and Christmas gifts

These are the latest flowers for my GFG quilt AND ALSO the LAST ones I need to make!! Exciting!! And I confess I didn't make these today (One Flower Wednesday) but I did do some work on my quilt today and thought it a good day to share it.
I've been spending a bit of time adding my edging hexies to my pathway of white [this post notes my battle with the fun and beautiful orange fabric :-)]

This is how the edge looked this morning —

Orange partial flowers attached to give a straight edge.

Then I unfolded the glued fabric off the edge of my outer hexies —

And pinned the edge to a 3 inch border strip...

And sewed them together using the edge of the papers as my guide.

Gulp - the first machine sewn seam on the quilt!!
Oops didn't realise I had my leader and ender crumb
block in the photo too!

Next step, taking out the papers and pressing it.

The border is possibly a bit wide but I can easily trim it
a bit once I decide how I want it. I think I will possibly
tone the brightness down with a narrower border.

Now before you think I must nearly be finished, I must warn you that this is the only border which is at this stage! The other 3 edges need more white pathways, or orange fillers and there are even 3 gaps for filling up with today's flowers. Still plenty of work but progress nonetheless.
To join in with One Flower Wednesday or to see the progress of other hexie gardens around the world, visit the link here and go to the sign in sheet page.

And, changing the subject; Our quilting group had it's Christmas Day this week. We met out at someone's beach house, had a nice lunch, did some hand sewing and crafting and exchanged homemade gifts. It was a lovely day, with some good laughs and far too much food!
We each made one gift and each ended up with a randomly selected gift (pass the parcel left-right-right - left-right- left-left....and so on...around the circle).
Here is the lovely toiletry bag I received —

Isn't the fine stripe effective around the edge. Thank you Ans.

And here is the gift I made and took along, which Lois ended up with.

A block keeper

I used leftover cotton batting for the pages and lined the cover with
bag batting for a nice firmness.
Getting more confident with my stippling!
But don't look too closely!

And lastly, if you want to take part in Pay It Forward fun, please visit my previous post, here.
Thanks for visiting - happy stitching everyone,

Dates with Mr Postman

It seems my mailbox has been overflowing with happiness lately as I have received several little winnings and gifts in the post.

Lovely country red--thank you Leanne :-)

Firstly I won a fat quarter through the lovely Leanne's blog, Cottage Tails. I got to choose the colour so went for country red - I've no photo to show of it as it's already been cut up for projects!

(Cant show you any more of this just yet).

Erin Russek's blog, One Piece at a Time, had a give-away where we had to name our favourite pie - mine is Apple Pie with berries thrown in (blueberries, blackberries, raspberries - whatever is available!)  - I won! So this gorgeous pattern arrived at my house - isn't it lovely - and definitely one I can see myself making.

Thank you Erin :-)

This week, I also received my Pay It Forward gift from the lovely Cat at Catalina's Cottage.

Isn't the Pincushion sweet? 

Gorgeous little French knots and stitching.

And look -  3 stars for The Tree - very cute.

Oops no Christmas Tree available yet, had to make do with
a garden shrub!

Thank you Cat!

Now that I have received my Pay It Forward gift, I need to carry on the friendship chain. I need 3 victims - if you would like to join in and have me make you a gift just leave a comment... I'll go with the first 3 people who want to take part.

And it hasn't all been Inwards Mail at my house; this week I finished and sent away this gift for my nephew.

 My sister and her family are moving to Belgium for a while so I figured my 7 year old nephew needed to take a little of New Zealand with him.

The back pocket - lots of Kiwiana.

Family and friends will know that Kiwifruit HAD to be included.

 The bag was from a really helpful and clear tutorial I found here. I used bag batting instead of stiff interfacing to line it, but otherwise made very few changes. (And for those zip-phobes out there - it was really easy!!).

And so my date with the postie is finished; don't forget to leave a comment if you want to play the Pay It Forward game,
happy stitching everyone,

One small finish.

Not too much to show for the 10 days since I last posted, however a small finish is better than none at all!
I made this recipe book cover for YD whose pile of loose recipes was getting scary, and needed a place to put them in (she loved the one I made myself earlier on).

I enjoy playing around with bit and pieces of fabric and see what 'arrangement' I end up with :-)

[The cupcake appliqué came from Bunny Hill Designs, free patterns.]

Something I did/learned while making this which I thought worth sharing was what I did for the appliqué background.
I had some 2 1/2 inch strips cut on the bias which I didn't know what to do with... however I knew that particular fabric would be perfect behind the cupcakes...
so voilà!...I joined them and cut my background square from them...

simple, I don't know why I didn't think of it before.

Last post I was doing happy dances as my son and daughter-in-law were coming over from Australia for a holiday... we thoroughly enjoyed seeing them but of course the time just wasn't long enough...they have left again now...but they did manage to squeeze a lot into their time here.
YD left the tender teens so we had a birthday day at her house while everyone was here;
this is one of my favourite photos from the day —

My 3 kids fooling around.

— oops a serious one —

Left to right - YD, ED and BB!

— and a family shot,  here we all are together —

And we managed to get Oscar-riley to stay in the photo!
(He's the one in the red party-clothes!)

YD's partner enjoys cooking and here is the first course...yes that is a crayfish you can see; he was disappointed he only managed to have one to share (actually he caught 2 but the second one mysteriously disappeared before it got to the table).
So, happy days! Until next time, happy stitching everyone,

My 3rd Hop To It and an Exhibition.

Here's the third of my Hop To It blocks - I had the colours in my circles back to front (and it looked terrible!) so I am happy to say it's all fixed up and ready to share.




This is a gorgeous project and I am enjoying doing it.

Recently 'my local' had its annual exhibition. It a great day with live music, tea and coffee (and eats) in the marquee, and quilts and projects displayed around the house [and often a tempting sale in the shop too :-)].

We're all encouraged to display our work as it is not judged... there is only a viewers' choice award... it's all about sharing what we have done and having a great day.

These two photos from last year's exhibition.

This year I didn't have a lot of finished items to share but displayed two projects -

This was a quilt I made for my ED's previous birthday.

Centre quilt (Tarn's Chocolate quilt) - the photo is a bit dark but you
can see how lovingly arranged everything
 is around the house.

and here is the cushion I made as a result of the Hugs n Kisses Stitcharoundtheblock, along with several made by other participants. 

Mine is at the front, Leeanne's is on the left and Kerry's to the right.

 For a few more shots of the exhibition, visit Leeann's blog.

Excitement!!! Tomorrow I am picking up my son and his wife from the airport- they are back in NZ for a week!!!!

Have a good day every-one - and thanks for popping in!

Tuesday Treasure

This week I have decided to link into "Tuesday Treasures" which Melody, The House on the Side of the Hill, hosts.
Caroline is a special doll who resides in Mum's sewing room. She was given to her mother (my nana) sometime in the 1920's by Aunty Carrie (hence the name).

 She's had a few ups and downs in her life. Sometime in the 1940s she had a visit to the Doll Hospital for eye strengthening (we think) and a new wig. When my mum was younger she and her siblings were allowed to play with Caroline if they were convalescing in bed. The twins (Mum's youngest sisters) caused havoc one day by deciding she needed a haircut....{where was a Barbie doll when they needed it?!} ...consequently the bonnet stays on!

But she is still rather beautiful and special.

To see more Tuesday Treasures, or to post your own, visit Melody here.

Paris in April and Hopping a Bit

I'm in between projects so thought I would do a quick share.
As soon as I saw this gorgeous April in Paris fabric I knew it would be perfect for my sister - so here is her {belated}{but only by a few days} birthday present.
The bag pattern is from allpeoplequilt.com and is called Quilted Tote Bag. A couple of friends have used it so I was happy to have the opportunity to make it up too - it's a lovely shape; a great size for popping under the armpits and wearing with a swanky walk!

I altered the pattern slightly so the seams were at the sides rather than the
centre of the front and back.

Pockets inside and out.

I love it - and can see another one being made shortly!!

Another deadline I've just (sort-of) completed is my monthly Hop To It block. Well, to be honest and just to confuse you, although I have finished October's block, I still have September's block to complete - I just had a 'small confusion'  over the colour of some of my circles and want to re-do them.

Block 11 - Spring Breezes, from Hop To It by Edyta Sitar

Lovely curved shapes to appliqué around

For those who are taking part in this stitchalong, Joanne has asked me to select this month's block--- using my random number generator and Nanny's best Queen Anne fine china... we have a winner —

 - block 4 for November.
I have no idea why I didn't close the cupboard doors before I took the photo!!

And for those of you who like to see my 'farmyard shots' here are the cows the other morning munching away in a fresh paddock of grass. Nice to have the spring growth and to be able to feed them well :-)

So now it's time for me to get back to my next project - thank you for popping in, and happy stitching every-one.