F.N.S.I. and a swap

Friday Night Sew In saw what seems like a meagre amount of work, but boy, did it take some fiddly time!!! I finished one side of a border on my mystery quilt…..here is a close up. I like the way it gives a 3D outline to the border…..but this one is going to take me a bit of time……why I never choose ‘easy’ over a challenge, I’ll never know! It’s been fairly miserable weather around here the past week or so and today was no exception…..although there wasn’t any rain…(well….does a slight drizzle for about 5 minutes count???)….it was overcast, dull and cool, compared to our normal tropical weather…even in winter!  We awoke to the sound of birds outside the window….and these gorgeous kingfishers were sitting on our clothesline… It was difficult to catch the three of them together, and finding three surprised me as we normally have one or two, but even that’s not frequent.  Hubby told me it’s because the are fond of bees….with this dreaded, dull weather, the bees have been staying close to their hives so are a ready food source for the birds. As I watched, they flew off towards the hives, dived and grabbed a bee, bringing it back to the clothesline to bang it against the poles before gobbling it up. As the bees aren’t out collecting pollen, they’re a ready target as they’re also not feeding, so Mumma Mrs B to the rescue…..off I trotted armed with my squirty bottle of honey from the last collection to feed the bay-bees!!!!!   And boy were they hungry…. Look at them all lined up drinking up the honey!!! Nature is amazing isn’t it??  Hopefully that will give them the strength till the sun comes out again….hopefully tomorrow!!!!! A lovely surprise awaited me at the post office on Friday too…..it was my swap partner Leena’s (no blog) Christmas in July mug rug swap. Isn’t it gorgeous???  And Leena sent me a bonus Christmas FQ as well…..just love it….thanks so much Leena, and thanks to Cathy for organising it too! *mwah* Sugary hugs xox

M.I.A.?????…..never!

Just a reminder that tonight (well, our time in Oz) is the FNSI….you can sign up over at Heidi’s blog….being Friday the 13th, I’m sure there’s going to be some mayhem going on!!!!…and it will be lucky 13 for someone! I’ve been MIA again lately……but I HAVE been busy…… ………..doing a big tidy up of my craft mag stash……they breed, you know!!!! (especially when you’re not looking!) - ……..finishing off a mug rug for my non blogging partner Leena for our Christmas in July swap - Well….I can’t show it all now could I???? That would spoil the surprise! ……..making a log cabin block for our guild’s block lotto - …..designing  and making borders for a mystery quilt I started…….oooooh, I think about 10 years ago!!!!!…..now come on……I know it’s not only me that does it……….. ……starting two more Market Baguette Bags for a lovely nurse at the hospital who begged and begged till I gave in……I’m a sucker for sob stories…. …but this time, with BLUE handles!!!! ……working on my stitchery Marilyn sent me for my birthday ….baking fudgy chocolate brownies with my own Masterchef son not that the waistline needs them but chocolate IS good for the soul! …and sending off a parcel in our Fat Quarter Swap for July….with a Christmassy theme can’t show too much….Raelene may be watching!!! ….and today?????…….vaccuuming!!!!  I think it is well overdue! Sugary hugs

reality

I’m just starting to get my head back in its space after my trip to the big smoke and get back to reality….or should I say, normality!!!! So, to get back into my routine that I’ve been out of for faaaaar too long, I thought I’d do some blog-hopping (something I’ve been really bad at lately….where does that time monster hide???). I visited my friend Allie and felt a faint tinge of deja-vu… photo courtesy of Allie…allie-oopssweethappylife.blogspot.com ….Allie has stitched up my ‘good things’ design for her brother……..I got such a buzz seeing it made up by someone else….and Allie did such a great job, don’t you think???   If you want to stitch it up too, you can find the design link on my sidebar. It’s worth a visit…going over to Allies blog….she’s doing some amazing things….and it’s gorgeous on her side of the world at the moment!!!!!….and her Mum will give you a bit of a giggle too!!!! I did make something….shock, horror……before I left for my little family visit!   My sister-in-law and I share adjoining birthdates…..not birth years, unfortunately…..she is a little bit younger than me (by about 10 years!!!), so I thought I’d whizz her up a little bag to trip around those trendy Gold Coast shops! It’s a lovely little design by Rosalie Quinlan called Petit Project Bag, that I bought on my trip to Charters Towers for their quilt show!  She loved it, and it got many comments from shop owners too……thanks Rosalie for a great design….loved by all! When I got home, I had lots of mail waiting for me….one of the lovely ones that didn’t have a window in the front of it contained this gorgeous pile of goodies….. This was from my lovely swap partner Carol in our monthly Fat Quarter Swap…the theme this month was PINK!!!……I love everything Carol sent me. Thank you soooo much Carol……and no, the Lindt chockies didn’t last very long!!!!!! ….and speaking of the Fat Quarter Swap, Cathy has a link to a Christmas in July Mug Rug Swap that looks like fun……wanna join me???    The link is here.  It’s an international swap so we can all join in! I’ve just finished my first ‘official’ pattern writing, for a library bag that’s included in Jen’s Elefantz Home magazine for June….the kid’s edition….  here are some of the lovely designs you’ll find inside… …mine is the spotty book bag down the bottom…..here’s a close up… photos courtesy of Jenny Reynolds…www.elefantz.com I just love Wilbur Worm’s googly eyes!!!!……If you’d like to see more, details are here on Jenny’s blog and you can even download a free copy of issue 1 to see if you like it!  (I’m sure you will….what’s not to like????) Anyway….off to do the three ‘h’s’…..housework, housework, housework…..then hopefully some sewing!  Hopefully your weekend is full of self-indulgent stitching too! Sugary hugs xox   :O)