A backwards look before looking forward...

Looking Backwards — OOPS a few little Christmas things to share now before the box gets packed away for another year!

A gorgeous little Angel I was given

Cute little prairie points finish it off beautifully

 A lovely wall hanging from the lovely Leeanne. This she made using Dawn's 'Flosty Flake' BOM. I think there were 9 blocks altogether so I suspect a couple other friends received a similar gift!!

Here are some more little sweeties... I received a beautiful coaster from Helen, a cute wee decoration from Leeanne (again) and a cute even wee-er decoration from Di. Thank you, generous ladies  :-)

Now Di's decoration got me intrigued so I had a bit of a play; actually I came across Sewing and Beyond with Mary Ann Ciccolelli. I'm not sure if this is where Di got her pattern from, but it has a great tutorial for these 'hexie-flowers'. Once I got the hang of them, they were quite straight forward to make.

Looking Forward — Last post I had a bit of a giggle at the number of projects I had started last year, and on the whole, the lack of finishes - I just cant help myself; there are so many cool things out there to do and try - I have a lifetime of quilting to catch up on!! - ANYWAY, you may have noticed a new button on my side-bar for Sew Its Finished - a place where 'friends encourage each other to finish projects' (ie a support group for compulsive starters of projects!?!).  I have joined this group - when I get myself a bit more organised I will make a list of the projects I really want to finish (first) and post them somewhere. It will be interesting to see of this works for me!!!!!
In the mean time, happy stitching everyone,

My Year in Sentences

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!!

I wish you all a year of happiness, fun, laughter, fulfilment, family, friends and huge creativity!!
On her blog, Leanne, rose to the challenge of going through the past year's posts and pulling out the first sentence from each first post of each month... She also said — "do join it really was fun looking back over last years blog posts."
So I did!!
I have also summarised each month - but just in a sentence!! A bit of a task!!


JANUARY 2010
1st post sentence - NONE - I hadn't started yet!!!
Month summary - Trepidation and excitement, deciding to start my own blog after enjoying other people's blogs so much.


FEBRUARY 2010
1st post sentence -  Here I am getting started!!
Month summary - My son got married :-), children coming home from Australia, not much sewing.


MARCH 2010
1st post sentence (2 sorry so it makes sense!) - What was I thinking!!!!! Starting up a blog when I KNEW Febuary was going to be a busy one??
Month summary - A flurry of sewing and creating, flirting with flowers, catalicious and more


APRIL 2010
1st post sentence - (I'm hoping this qualifies as one sentence)....What have I been up to today.......a little bit of animal stuff.......A little bit of winter preparation.....A little bit of baking....And a little bit of sewing.....

Month summary - Focus on Chocolate quilt for ED's birthday

MAY 2010

1st post sentence - I'm enjoying not having any major projects with deadlines on at the moment, so took time out today to challenge myself and do some paper piecing..and taa daa,  here is the result...!!

Month summary - Started Klosjes, 25 years wedding anniversary, took part in my very first bloggers quilt festival

JUNE 2010

1st post sentence - I'm not quite sure how it came about (!!) but I have signed up for the One Flower Wednesday! 

Month summary - lots of hexie-flowers, more klosjes and adventures with a coffee machine.

JULY 2010

1st post sentence - Life has been a bit of a whirlwind since I last posted; I have had several posts floating around in my head but none of them have made it anywhere near the keyboard!!

Month summary - First calves, more hexies and a flood or two.

AUGUST 2010 - 

1st post sentence - Here is Block 5 of Bronwyn Hayes' Catalicious BOM.

 Month summary - more calves, cats and crumbs

SEPTEMBER 2010 - 

1st post sentence - Here is today's flower - the Rosemary Bush was the perfect place for a blue flower!!

Month summary - 9-patches, gifts and a dilly bag

OCTOBER 2010 - 

1st post sentence - I went with a yellow theme this week.......as I knew it would be time for the MOML and I to make our annual trek 'out the back' for our viewing of the Kowhai trees in flower.

Month Summary - weekend away, searching for friends, baby chickens and a new machine!

NOVEMBER 2010

1st post sentence -  On Saturday The Country Yard (My most favourite quilt shop ever) had it's annual exhibition.

Month summary - Melbourne trip, animals, and stitching round the block

DECEMBER 2010

1st post sentence - I was tidying a shelf the other day and came across this —- it took me a moment to work out what it was, and then I realised that this is a quilt I haven't shared before.

Month summary - Round Robin excitement and family time.

Leanne was right, it was fun and interesting to read back and see what I'd been up to ---and I noticed lots of projects started but they aren't always finished...oh dear;do I feel a new year's resolution coming on???....but then again, maybe not, I enjoy how it works for me!! (however, I also know the sense of satisfaction that comes when something is finished!!)

Happy cows on New Year's day.
Green farm after recent rains,
 turnips growing well in paddock beyond cows,
irrigator spreading effluent on the pastures beyond them,
horses freaking out at irrigator beyond that!

Have a good one, everybody  :-)

Merry Festive Season

I didn't realise Quiet and Simple could be so much fun!!

These Christmas wishes are a little late but as we wake up on Boxing Day here in New Zealand, I'd like to send Season's Greetings to all my friends out there around the world. Cows always call to be milked on Christmas Day so we never stray too far from home but we had a fun family day here yesterday. The MOML's parents joined us for Christmas lunch and the table groaned with cold ham and salads, and as you can see from above, some sweet treats too (the waffles with ice cream were for breakfast!! You can blame my daughters for that!! Yum).

Special thanks to those of you who sent their best wishes for our family after my last post, most of you I have thanked personally and my apologies to any I may have missed. It was lovely to be in everyone's thoughts and Dad was touched that so many people cared. I spent 10 days down at my parent's place. By the time I came back up home, Dad was out of hospital and walking his berry house and orchard and shelling hazelnuts. He's not allowed outside by himself but that's still pretty good progress for a man who had brain surgery a week previously. He still has tumours that need treatment so the future is still uncertain but we enjoy and treasure each day as it comes.

My two daughters are in the red and blue, with myself,
Dad, my brother and his eldest daughter.

In spite of the circumstances it has been great to spend time with my family. My brother flew over from Nashville (I haven't seen him for a few years) and I've also caught up with my sister from the Bay of Plenty whom I haven't seen a lot of lately. And the flow of visits from my nieces and my own children all busy growing up and running their own lives has been fabulous too. I'll be up and down over the next few months as 'us 3 kids' take turns to stay with and support Mum and Dad.

We had a bit of a family gathering down at Mum's one night (it was arranged before Dad got sick. Instead of Dad being there, I was :-)) Young Marco had gone shopping in the $2 shop and selected presents for us all. Here he is wearing his 3-D glasses. My brother and I are showing off our special presents.


Finally I have finished Round 3 of our 'Stitching Round the Block'. We were all meant to spend 2 weeks doing our round and then pass it on, but the amount of work in each round plus all of our other commitments means that our group is WAY behind schedule!! Never mind, no-one seems too bothered by this - I think the final results will be gorgeous and well worth the effort. This is a bit of peek at what I have done on Nicky's. I just love her fabric choices.

 I've also added to my pile of hexie-flowers; I made and joined quite a few while visiting Dad in the hospital. Amazing how much you can get done in a 4 hour visit!! My nieces now call me the flower-aunty so I had to resort to threatening to give them hexie-flower-making kits for Christmas!! They were quite a conversation starter and, apparently, radiated an air of calmness!! The light in the photo below wasn't terribly good sorry but you get a bit of an idea with how it looks so far.

These are spread out on a king-sized bed so I'm quite
impressed with how many I've done.

Once again, season's greetings to you all, take time to enjoy your precious families and friends, and grab a moment's stitching if you can!!
best wishes,