FMQ challenge Feb

This is my attempt at this months FMQ challenge over at SewCalGal. The Echo Feather Plume with Diane Gaudynski. This was certainly a challenge and I know I will have to practise this one a lot before I am totally happy with it. I would like to try it on a small project b4 I attempt to quilt a large item with this.



If you would like to see how I used the January challenge go to my previous post here.

February SIF finishes & FMQ challenge January

I have joined TWO challenges this year, the FMQ challenge at SewCalGal and the Sew Its Finished UFO challenge.

This tablecloth is a complete for both challenges as I have used the free flowing leaves from FMQ's January challenge on the Iowa girl tablecloth I started over 5 years ago. The top was finished the year I started it but it sat waiting to be quilted. I finally had the courage to quilt it after watching January's tutorial. I wanted something more than the stippling that I could just manage. The quilting is not fantastic but its a start, I really am looking forward to improving my FMQ by trying each of the tutorials given over the course of this year.

I finished the binding last night .






These hand towels have been sitting in a bag for two years - the tops were sewn but had to have the towels added. I finished those last week.....

So that's finish 5 & 6 for me. Yayyyyyyyyyyyy.

Birthday lillies, brolly & BBQ

Yesterday was my 48th birthday and we celebrated with a family BBQ. Royce cooked up a storm, with Haylee's help in preparation. Haylee baked me a gluten and lactose free chocolate Mousse cake but had a little mishap so we had chocolate moosh with ice cream (sorbet for me) and raspberries.

My dear friend Andrea dropped over briefly before dinner with this gorgeous bunch of Lillies. They smell amazing.

My sister & her partner Steven bought me this beautiful shot purple & gold brolly. I just love it, its sooooo me. As soon as Davina saw it she knew she had to buy it for me.

after dinner we played poker rummy which is a game that Johns grandparents made up, a combination of poker and Jin rummy. His grandfather even made a fabulous board to play it on.

I had a fabulous birthday....

And today I had a very relaxing 1 1/2 hour Ella Bache facial - which was my chrissy pressie from work.

Our lil hamburg chicken, whom we call trouble, is often wandering around our yard but usually runs back to the chicken paddock when she sees me with the scrap bucket. Today however she did not appear. I looked around a bit & spotted her feathers she looked very still, I was worried that she had been killed by an animal. I wandered over to the fence, just near the gully as I approached I saw her lil head pop up, she eventually moved and under her I found 12 eggs. It appears that, seeing as she cant get into the roosting boxes as we have 3 broody hens, she has found her own nest.

I went back a little while later to find her wandering around in the next door neighbours paddocks, she is no back home with her sisters.

Denim Skirt bag

My niece, who joined the navy in 2010, was home over the holidays and was sorting our her wardrobe. getting rid of all the clothes she will never wear again. She had this gorgeous denim skirt, with an embroidered girl on the back, that she just loved but knew she would never get back into it. She had a thought that it would make a fabulous bag and it did. I made it for her for her 25th birthday. I used the waistband of another pair of jeans as the strap and added a pocket from the same jeans to the spotted lining i made. It just came together just beautifully. She loved it and I was very happy with the outcome.

Holiday story time

Every Wednesday in January we have been hosting a story time at Work. Each week I had a specific theme and two stories were read each week.

First week our theme was animals. I read all set for the big wet - an aussie version of the ants go marching one by one....

2nd book was the very funny "Thank you for looking after our pets". The kids loved this book about some very strange pets - like elephants and penguins and a bonus houseplant, a Venus fly trap.

& my gorgeous story time kids.

2nd weeks theme was "My favourite story". I read "Each Peach Pear PLum", this was my very favourite story to read to my children when they were littlies.

Then Haylee, my daughter, read her favourite book that she reads to her pre school children, The very Hungry Caterpillar. Haylee then retold the story again and used a felt board with little felt piccies of each part of the story. Each child had at least one picture to put on the board. the enjoyed this immensely.

Haylee & I with our story time children.

Week three - beach fun. I read Looking for Crab & Magic Beach. We then had a ball throwing two beach balls around the story time area, trying as hard as we could to keep the beach balls off the floor.

We forgot to have a photo with all the children there, half had left b4 I was reminded.












And lastly this weeks story time theme was Australia. I read "The wheels on the ute" and "Are we there yet". Are we there yet was a very long story and I had to stop a couple of times to bring kids attention back, but we got there.

Only a very small group this week.

Catching up with family.

Last Saturday I went with Haylee, my sister, Davina and niece, Erin to Gerringong Markets. We spent quite a few hours wandering around, looking at all the wonderful stalls. we bought quite a bit of fruit, some cheese & olives. The others bought some steamed pork buns & shanghai dumplings, I took a packed chicken salad. since I have started the FODMAP elimination diet I pretty much have to take my own food wherever I go. we sat on a hill overlooking the beach and ate our picnic lunch.

Tuesday we accompanied my niece to Penrith where she was having her hair done. we caught up with another sister, Jeneen, her daughter Natalie and our newest great niece, Violet. We had a great day of catching up & shopping. We were there for 5 hours and were lucky if we saw 1/4 of Penrith Westfield.

Here I am pictured with my sisters.

Haylee & i having a few cuddles with little Violet.

This top picture was taken by a lady sitting just near us but not before Jeneen made 2 attempts at setting her timer and just not getting back to her seat in time. It was soooooo funny, we were the food hall entertainment for the day.

Here i am having a laugh with my sister and then another cuddle with Violet.

we had a wonderful day and am really looking forward to doing it again in the not too distant future.