FNSI is here...perfect for winter!

 Last month was my birthday month and I got spoilt rotten.  I found out our new neighbour has his birthday the same day as mine....only 32 years later (!!!!) so we took him out to lunch and then went to dinner with family.  He and his wife bought me a beautiful bunch of flowers which was very unexpected.  My boss called me into her office to talk 'serious' business.  I was honestly wondering what I had done wrong and going through a million different scenarios.  When I walked in, she unveiled a pair of perfectly gift-wrapped boxes and told me I could not open them until my actual birthday.    When I woke on my birthday, I headed straight for them as they had me intrigued.......inside were a pair of pearl earring and a pearl drop necklace, signifying 60 years!   So much thought put into it...and I haven't taken them off since!

I caught up with my best friend, Dianne and although our visit was quick, we always pack so much into such a short time.  She gave me such beautiful and thoughtful gifts....no stitching ones but ones just for me!   I love my snuggly and my warm socks.....perfect timing!    I caught up with Shez too and we went to lunch and had a 'girls day', shopping and just chatting.  The day flew by so quickly.  So many visits, phone calls and messages and lots of scratch-its....a few wins but put it this way, I'll still be going back to work! lol  Despite that, I am truly feeling blessed beyond measure!

I have been feverishly working on completing my Patchwork of the Crosses quilt and I can confirm I have finished the top this morning!   All Tilda fabric provided by Lucy Boston Club – Kitty Rose Cottage and I must say, I LOVE it!    If you've thought you'd like to start one but don't feel confident picking colours for all the blocks, I highly recommend letting Kitty Rose organise the hard work for you.

I love the colours all put together and how each one pops .  The pink Grunge fabric in the sashing really frames the blocks beautifully.  I couldn't be happier.  Now I just need to sandwich it and figure out how I want to quilt it....any suggestions gratefully accepted!  

I also finished the Tilly Tote Bag for a swap gift.  Here is mine that winged its way to it's recipient who has a love of pink, blue and teal....I hope I made one that fits the brief.

and here's the one I received in the swap....just gorgeous, don't you think?

Even personalised with a 'W' on the pot!  and the scrunched flower is just beautiful.  Some gorgeous swap gifts arrived with it too.. feeling very special. 

This Friday is our June FNSI - our first winter one in the southern hemisphere and our first summer one for those in the northern sector!    Even here in Tropical North Queensland, we've been hit with Mr Frosty with nightly minimums down in the single digits (but only for a few days!)  We're back up to minimums of 15-17 degrees C and daily temps of about 25-27 degrees C.  Still chilly for us but definitely nothing to complain about.  We managed to even cook up a nice warm beef stew one night and soup was also on the menu.  I even got out my fluffy slippers and my sewing buddies decided they'd help warm me up whilst I was stitching too!

Now I've finished this, I'm thinking Friday night might be catch up time for my Temperature Cross Stitch Tree.  Now it's getting cooler, I might be seeing some different colours come through which will be nice!   What will you be doing?  Any plans yet?  I can't wait to see what you are working on whilst we all sttich along together.  I get loads of inspiration from you all....my 'to-do' list is getting longer and longer!

Make sure you either sign up below, or sign up on our Facebook Group page.  If you've never joined in before or if you know someone who would love to join us, please invite them along.  The more, the merrier!  And who knows, you might get drawn out as the winner of our random monthly prize draw, proudly sponsored by our wonderful sponsor, Dawn Hay of Kitty Rose Cottage.  Pop by and have a look at some of the goodies she has in store.  There are definitely some beauties there.

Last month we had 29 ladies join us for our May FNSI.  There was so much happening.  I put the names into our Random Name Picker and spun that wheel like there was no tomorrow......

Congratulations to Jeanette Graham!!!!  Yippee!!!!  Dawn will be in touch to organise your prize.  Thank you to everyone for joining in.  I really hope you have as much fun as I do.

In the meantime, don't forget to sign up.  Have a great rest of the week and see you Friday night!

Big sugary hugs xox :o)

A Happy FNSI Easter

Well, I can't believe I haven't written a post since January, but in my defense, after the washing machine flooded half of our house and we had to replace flooring, carpets, walls etc, everything was packed away and my computer was inaccessible for the interim. I've only just signed off on the completion of repairs and I must say, it was a HUGE job. We've had people ask us if we were moving in or moving out! Packing boxes were stacked everywhere and half the house contents were moved to the front rooms. Mind you, it's been great for de-cluttering and it's given us the encouragement to start downsizing 'stuff'!

It hasn't made it easy to get into my craft room though as boxes and things from other rooms were stored (aka stacked) in there so sewing has been hand stitching in front of the tv when I can.   I've been working on a secret squirrel swap project which I can't show yet, but I can tell you it's done in Tilda, so very pretty!

I seriously can't believe Easter is over and we're heading into May in the next couple of weeks.  Every year I say the same thing and I'm sure it's not just me, is it?  I hope you've had a beautiful Easter spent reflecting, resting and sharing beautiful moments with family and friends.  

My little man (aka grandson, Ryker) had limited chocolate this year due to his craziness whenever he gets too much sugar so instead my son and daughter in law took him to see one of his favourites......Bluey at Bluey World!  He was over the moon and even got to meet Bluey - you can hardly tell them apart! 

He had such a big day he was exhausted before he got home.  He slept so soundly last night.....so soundly that he fell out of bed and didn't even know it!   Thank goodness for Snapchat and videocalls....the hardest part of living thousands of kilometres away are the experiences you miss out on, don't you think? 

My focus in the past couple of months is to get my Patchwork of the Crosses quilt finished.  I'm at the 'putting the blocks together' stage and constructing the top.  Then I'll go back and do the edging and corner blocks before sandwiching and quilting.  I hadn't looked at it as a whole until I took a progress shot of it on the bed today, complete with cat bump!  

Couldn't get him to move!  Still, I'm so happy with how it looks in Tilda!  I still have a couple of rows to add and I'm happy with how it fits my queen sized bed with plenty of room.

If you're thinking of making your own, take the pressure off and order your blocks from Kitty Rose Cottage.  Dawn will co-ordinate the colours for you and you can choose your own sashing block colours to suit your room's colouring.  I chose a pink grunge fabric as I am making this one for moi!

I hope you get the chance to see what everyone's been creating in our Facebook FNSI Group.  There's been some beautiful and needless to say, inspirational makes over the past few months.  My list of wants is getting longer.  If you haven't joined our group, just click on the "join" button on the group page or message me and I'll invite you in.....easy!

I've drawn our winners for January, February, March and April and without dragging it out, here they are.............

Congratulations ladies!  Dawn has your details and will be sending your prize shortly.

I hope you enjoyed our FNSI together and I look forward to stitching along with you in May for a very special Birthday FNSI celebration! 

Big sugary hugs to you all and chocolatey Easter love xo :o)

Welcome to our first FNSI for 2025

 Isn't it weird that it is already a quarter of the way through the century?  I can remember, what seems like only a month or two ago, preparing for the end of all technology with the Y2K bug and potentially the end of all mankind through a computer-induced apocolypse!!!  Now here we are, 25 years on and we haven't fallen off the face of the earth, but technology certainly has changed in that short time - hopefully for the better! 

So, speaking of technology....are you all ready to jump on board with our first FNSI for the year?  For those of you who are new, the FNSI tab above will explain all the details, you can join in by linking your blog below or if you don't have an active blog, sign in on our group Facebook page HERE  This is where all the activity happens on the Friday night and even well into the weekend because we all know, it's always Friday night somewhere in the world.

So join in, be inspired and chat with other like-minded crafty people, maybe meet some new friends and find some more projects to add to that never-ending list of projects we all have, all while having the chance to win a prize from our very lovely and generous sponsor Dawn, from Kitty Rose Cottage.  

Let's start the post with our December 2024 draw.   We had such a varied lot of craft, all very beautiful and all very inspirational.  That's what I love about our little group - the inspiration is always off the charts!  With 26 ladies joining in, some cross stitching, some stitching, some organising. some EPP, a little backing, a little binding and some Christmas decorations completed, we certainly had a busy night.  I took the names to  the Wheel of Names to see who our lucky December winner is and here's who it spun.....

Congratulations De!  Your Christmas isn't over yet!  I'll be in touch! 

I'm looking forward to stitching with you all on Friday night.  Make sure you sign up so you don't miss out on the draw!

Big sugary hugs