FNSI ... sign ups for February

Oh my goodness !  This ‘time’ thing is still moving way too fast this year isn’t it?  Thank the Lord for Maria who reminded me we are FNSI-ing tomorrow night. Sorry for the late sign- ups but I have been distracted with the weather issues and such. All is good here now though!

So let’s not waste any more time. Sign ups are below   Let’s have some Friday night fun!

Xxx Sugary hugs :0)

FNWF and a Lucky Find

It's been a bit damp here with monsoonal rains so staying in and stitching has been a plus.  Friday night I joined with other ladies  and our lovely hostess Cheryll for our monthly Friday Night with Friends.

But before I share, I have some good news......I got a phone call last Tuesday from our local council.....someone had handed in my beautiful girl to the pound!  

It was hard at the start as Milo had forgotten who she was and she was just an 'intruder' to him...she smelt 'funny' and he was not impressed.   It took a few days but now they are the best of friends again.  Mocha has been seen by the vet who said she had been looked after well so after just over a month, they decided she wasn't keen to stay with them and wanted to come home.  All I can say is thank God for microchipping...that's how they found who she belonged to as she had lost her collar, who knows when?

Told you 2019 was going to be an awesome year!

This wet weather has given me lots of catch up time so Friday night for me began early.  I managed to catch up on the second last block of Foxley Village.

I'm keen to put this one together with only one block to go.    I also put my hand up to join the 'Bloom quilt sew-a-long' with Chez.

 I was a bit behind but managed to get the first two blocks prepped and stitched down as well.

Some more progress on "It Takes Two"....

...and even a hexi for our group swap.....

All in all, quite a productive Friday I think! 

The week saw some treacherous weather in our parts with the monsoon hovering over our area and flooding a nearby city so much so that the dam had to release water at 8pm last night so its banks did not burst.  The timing coincided with the tides so the impact would be as 'minimal' as possible, however this put its residents at risk and with around 2000 megalitres pumping out per second *eek* about 20000 homes were flooded. Today is predicted for more rains and already the area has been tagged as having a 1 in 100 year event that is the second largest flood in Australia's history. You can see some of the devastation HERE and HERE.  And here is a photo from the end of our street.  

You can see the block flooding and the drain is just about at its limit.  But we are nowhere near the devastation Townsville has encountered.  They have had around 2000mm of rain in the past week whereas we (about 80km south) have had about 1000mm  It's predicted we'll get another 1500mm in the next 10 days...we're hoping and praying not, but time will tell.  Mr B had to 'relocate' this Eastern Brown snake who managed to sneak in under our back door and take refuge in our lounge room!  I can tell you we've both never moved so fast in all our lives as these are in the group of  most dangerous of all snakes in Australia, if not, the world!  

Talk about freak out!  This one was a juvenile and about 3 ft long but mighty fast!  We locked the cats in the bedroom and did what we had to do.  Needless to say, there are multiple towels piled up against the back door, hopefully sealing it from unwelcome visitors.

Don't forget to go and see what other friends got up to as there are some beautiful crafty people in our groups.

for now, I'm sending big sugary hugs and loads of love and thanks xox   :o)

FNSI Results

Well, this week started out like last year.....where did it go????
Started Monday with work.....Tuesday I had to go and visit a new little great-neice...…

Welcome little Madelyn Rose to the world...here she is...24 hours old...isn't she gorgeous?

Such bright eyes, and a gorgeous shock of dark brown hair.....looks like she's been here before, doesn't it?  She was my Tuesday distraction!  Wednesday I had to run errands around town and Thursday, back to work again.  This afternoon I'm headed to the big smoke (Townsville) for a check up for Mr B's eye operation and seeing if they can do his other one.   He had a cataract removed and a lens inserted in his eye.....no pain whatsoever and it's been such an easy recovery for him, but I've had to play nurse with drops every day, 4 times a day and he's not allowed to do anything except rest. (When I die, I'm coming back as Mr B!)

Last Friday we had our first FNSI for the year and I promised I'd get organised with prizes and draws.  Before I show you, here is what I got up to.....

I was reorganising my sewing space to fit in my new toy......

never in my wildest dreams did I think I'd every own one but I saved and saved and saved and here she is, my sweety.

I added table risers to the legs of my cutting table so I could fit my shelves underneath and now it's at a more user-friendly height so that made me even more happy!  As you can tell though, I haven't had a chance to try her out but as Monday IS a public holiday, I might just have to give her a spin! 

I chose fabrics for my 'Bloom Sew a Long" with Cheryll .  We're following Lori Holt's original sew a long plan from 2016.....it's never too late and keeping true to form, I've picked my fabrics and got my templates but I haven't started yet (I WAS distracted a bit!) .   

Then we'll link up on Cheryll's blog the second and third Saturdays of the month sharing our progress.    I'll do catch up over the weekend!

I did get a little hand stitching done though.

I finished off the embroidery on this block, now to add the pieced blocks and then I'm up to the last one....getting close to finished. 

Now to the important part....our winners!  We had lots of fun with our Friday Night Virtual Stitchers and lots of  'work' was done.  You can see it all HERE.

I had Mr Linky randomly choose winners for November, December and January and here's how it went....

November winner 1:    Karen's Korner

November winner 2:  Rike@flickchensquilt

December winner :    Cheryll from Gone Stitchin'

January winner:         Nancy from Joy for Grace

  

Congratulations to all you wonderful ladies....thanks for joining in this month and beginning this year off with a bang! Send me your postal details and I'll get a little something off to you pronto.

Remember, lock the third Friday night of each month in for your FNSI fix.  You never know when your name will be drawn as a winner.  Regardless, we're all winners as we have so much fun stitching virtually with so many wonderful stitchers from around the globe...and we get more of our projects done!  Winner, winner!

xox Sugary hugs :o)

tidying up 2018 and signups for our first FNSI for 2019

Welcome to 2019

.... better late than never and yes, that is me and how I roll!  I'm well known for being late to the party and I'm trying to address this but in 2019, I'm accepting it, embracing it, taking ownership and not stressing over it.  I will attempt however to be more visible and less "where did she go?".

I must say though, in my defence, 2018 was the year of yuk for us....our son was in hospital 5 times and suffered with loads of debilitating illnesses, my adored father in law was in hospital suffering with dementia and finally passed away in September, we lost our much loved Burmese kitten, Mr B being out of work for 3 months due to the wet weather and I slipped on a tile floor and damaged my back....but there were also loads of positives so I'm not complaining, just explaining.

So here it is, a new year for FNSI and Sugarlane Designs.  I'm still not convinced I know where I'm headed with the designing bit as Craftsy aka Blueprint made us all take a tumble and reassess many designers' paths in a very short time frame  

The beginning of the year is pretty full already for me with Mr B getting eye surgery this week, I'm preparing for the annual getaway with the girls -  Let's Get Stitched in Melbourne this year in the first week of March and I"ll be heading on a craft cruise around New Zealand in March-April, thanks to the wonderful people at Universal Magazines who produce Homespun and Quilters's Companion Magazines and Travelrite .  So I can see the designing part will be most likely relegated to the second half of the year where I can sit and concentrate, but that's not saying there won't be some sneaky designing going on in between! *wink*

In the meantime I have some loose ends to tidy up from 2018 FNSI.

Seeing as last year was such a disaster for me, this first FNSI will have a recap of winners from mid 2018 who have yet to receive their prizes to the present January winner of FNSI....starting the year off with a clean slate.  I'm hoping 2019 will be our biggest and best yet!

So, without further ado.....here are signups for the first Friday Night Sew in for 2019.....share it around, let your friends know, social media is a wonderful thing to join us all together in spirit when like minded friends can't be all together in person...….stitching up a virtual Friday night Party is the go!

Onwards and upwards in 2019
xox Sugary hugs :0)

our final fnsi for 2018

Silly season doesn't come close to describing this time of year...….just doesn't cut it!  Let's calm down, breathe and have our last FNSI for 2018...….I wonder how many of you will join with me and agree...…..

 so...……

I can't begin to explain what an extraordinarily difficult year this has been but here's to 2019 and all it has to look forward to.  In the meantime, join with me tonight with our last FNSI....I know it's late but, what the heck.  Join with me in a little friendly virtual sewing with a glass or two of celebratory bubbles, clinking them in recognition of what we've actually got through.

So sign up below and join me for a heartfelt evening of sewing bliss.

(thanks to my wonderful friend, Cheryll for the reminder *eek*  told you it's been one helluva year!)

xox Sugary hugs ;o)

Our Second FNSI for November....sign up to join in

Yes, you read it right....we are having TWO Friday Night Sew Ins for November, for a few reasons....

1. it's a 5-Friday month and it was too long to wait

2. next month's will be the 21st and many will be too busy with Christmas preparations

3. if you're anything like me there are sooo many projects to catch up on before Christmas

 and 4.  because it's always fun to sew with friends!

After this one, there'll be a double prize draw for TWO lucky prize winners....one for someone from last week's friends and one for this week's.  .I'll find something just perfect!  So make sure you sign up below, no cost, no obligation, just fun to be had knowing you're spending your Friday night stitching it up with friends online together.

I didn't get much done last Friday night.....I worked all day and then had to prepare myself for work on Saturday.....I was knackered!  But I did get some stitching done.....

...more on my Fig'n Berry's "T'was the Night Before Christmas" blocks.  I'm up to block 8 so only one to go before I can piece it together.  I doubt it will see this Christmas' festivities but it's sure going to come close!

Mr B and I, along with Mrs B-in-law, had an 'engagement party' to go to on Sunday afternoon, down on the beautiful foreshore at Airlie Beach.  Turned out, it wasn't an engagement party at all, but a 'surprise' wedding (but we figured that out early on, thank goodness). 

Lucky the father of the groom let it slip a few months back so we were well prepared with gift in hand and accommodation booked ahead.  We were lucky to witness Mr B's cousin marry his beautiful fiancé, but I'll leave the photos for later in the week.  Needless to say the weather was beautiful and we had a magnificent time.

Can you tell????   Can't wipe the smiles off our faces!

Don't forget, sign up below to be included in our FNSI and the prize draw.  Can't wait to 'double whammy' our Friday nights with stitching with my online friends!

xox sugary hugs :o)

Two FNSI for November before Christmas....sign ups open

Okay, I'm sorry!  I had planned that as this week is a 5-Friday month, I'd have FNSI next week and it's confused a number of people who have been asking me where the sign ups are, as THIS week is the actual third Friday week of the month.

I thought about it and it all became clear to me.....seeing as it's a five Friday month AND it's the last month before Christmas, we'll have TWO  FNSI's....one this week and one next for those that can make it at short notice!

  I'll pop the sign up links below and we'll have one next week as well.....with TWO lots of prizes (but I'll announce them both after next week's FNSI)

So, link up below and I'll see you tomorrow night for our first FNSI for the month! Yippeeeeeee~

xox Sugary hugs :0)