Christmas again!

I think this will be my last post about Christmas 2013 ... Christmas sure stretched out this time, with the final gift-giving just this past week when my local group of sewing soulmates got together.
Secret Santa Swaps are always fun and of course hand-made gifts came to the fore....

I received this beautiful pin-cushion -

It is a Lynette Anderson design, one I've had my eye on but never purchased!

And made this as my gift -

The box itself was from an Australian Country Craft magazine. It had embroidery designs with it but I decided to use [yet again :-)] the gorgeous stitchery patterns by Rag-Tag Designs (Michelle's blog *here*)

I have a few projects in the pipeline but they are secret sewing so I'll just share a peek of one —

Woohoo, I'm up to the quilting on this one :-)

Lately in the evenings when relaxing in front of the telly with the MOML, I've been doing some little stitcheries, they are from Anni Down's book, Simple Pleasures. I have stitched and used these designs over and over again, they are so cute.

 Now it's time to get back to the quilting, so it's time to wish you a great day! Thank you for visiting and happy stitching,

The same but different

I received a sweet comment from my sister-in-law the other day, which has prompted me to pull up my socks and write a post. Her and my brother have just been over to New Zealand for a visit, and our family had a belated Christmas (see *here*) together.
I hadn't finished their present then but when I saw them a few days later I had;  - here is the comment -
You can post a photo of MY Christmas present now too!!!!!!!! Because mine is gorgeous so you should show it off!
(Thank you Sandie).  So here is the picture!

Yes, you may recognise it, I have shown a VERY similar one recently, however, the quilting on this one is different :-)

I was inspired by a book I have called "Quilting Makes the Quilt" where the author, Lee Cleland, makes 5 identical quilts and quilts each one very differently, amazing the differences between them all. (She did this 5 times!). Anyway, I decided to do my two identical quilts sort of differently, a nice little challenge for myself.

Both had pebbles in the white hexagons, and the actual hexie flowers
were mostly untouched .

I went a bit fancy in the corners of this one.

This was the first one, I gave this to my sister and her hubby.

While my sister-in-law was here we were able to compare the applique project we are both working on, the Quiltmania mystery.
It was so cool to see Sandie's - I was going to take photos of them side by side but mine looked quite insipid next to hers!!
We've both only done the first two blocks but it is a nice feeling to be stitching this alongside each other.

Raewyn's block 1

Raewyn's block 2

Sandie's block 1.
Sandie is using Kaffe Fasset fabrics - can you tell :-)

Sandie's block 2

Photo not in focus but I love that she has chosen to use
the little buttons on her boys.

What a difference the fabric makes, huh?!

Our summer is whizzing by, we have had plenty of visitors lately and all the holiday makers have been enjoying the sunshine. While we are worrying that our farm is rapidly drying out, there are diverse and perverse weather situations happening all over the world. In particular, I have been really disturbed to see the severe drought situation in parts of Australia. The world has shrunk due to blogging and it hurts to see fellow bloggers hurting so much. I have had a feeling of helplessness here in New Zealand but I was pleased to see a link on facebook which directed me to Buy A Bale... a donation (easily made through PayPal or Visa) buys feed (bales of hay) for stock, or other needs. Just imagine, even if we all just bought one bale of hay, the difference we could make.

I'm feeling a little caught up now, I wouldn't have thought I would go for 3 weeks between posts but oh well, I made it back :-).
Happy stitching everyone,
Have a Great Day,
Raewyn.