Just a few more ...

Christmas tree in daylight:

Willow Tree Nativity:

Prim Tree corner:

Family room to kitchen - bench tidying tonight:

Family room:

Stitching Girls coming over tomorrow - it's going to be fun.  Basketball tomorrow night with a girlfriend and, hopefully, sewing/stitching for some of Sunday.

Lots of Photos

Life in Wonderland, along with everywhere else, is busy, busy, busy these days.  New chairs, a couch and cupboard have arrived:

 

The embroidery machine has been whirring away non-stop stitching out more lace bauble covers:

Fruit for the Christmas cakes is soaking:

 

Last Saturday Mum and I had a big day - we went to Schools Spectacular in the afternoon (fantastic show) then in the evening we went to a Christmas Party with Michael, Peta and Elizabeth.  Peta works part-time at a shop in Redfern (Seasonal Concepts) - the party theme was Fairyland and it was magical.

 

Saturday night Elizabeth came home with me to start decorating for Christmas.  Mum and Jenni also popped over so all the Christmas Fairies were put to work:

Mum needed to keep up with the golf

Mum turned 86 yesterday - she's such a bundle of energy - puts me to shame.   Mum's finished masterpiece.

 The Santas have a new spot this year:

Once again "The Wish Quilt" is not finished - no further than it was in 2012 or 2011 - there's always next year.  A bit more to be done in the loungeroom and family room.  Hopefully the decorating will all be finished before the Stitching Girls turn up on Saturday.

Sunday night I went back to Sydney with Elizabeth - we went to see "Show Queens" - the most fabulous fund-raiser for World Aids Day. 

Catch Up

Stitching girls came over on Tuesday night and Paula brought along her finished Floral Bouquet quilt - it's beautiful.  Such fresh and pretty colours against the white background.

She also brought along the quilt she's making for her niece's upcoming birthday:

It's from Camille Roskelley's first book "Simplify".  Looks wonderful in the Vintage Modern and a couple of other Bonnie and Camille fabrics.

On Tuesday night Paula created her blog and I'll put up a link to it when there's some content.

Last weekend the embroidery machine was going full tilt stitching out lace to decorate Christmas baubles.

 

A few more have been stitched out this week and I'm hoping to see a some made by Vicki soon.

Christmas secret stitching is progressing slowly - starting to wonder if I've chosen the wrong present to make but I'm ever hopeful that I'll finish it in time.

Time for a Change

Christmas is coming way too quickly so I've put aside Best Friends Forever

to stitch Christmas decorations.

I saw these sweet stitcheries on Shez's blog and being a big fan of Country Keepsakes designs was very happy to find the pattern in Anni's shop when we visited last Saturday.  Travelling to/from Sydney by train for work on Monday I was able to make a good start.  Have to say the "quiet cars" are a new experience for me.

I have 3 or 4 Country Keepsakes doll patterns/kits so maybe next year I will put quilts aside for a while and get stuck into making these dolls.  I'm just not keen on (or skilled at) painting the faces.

Somehow I don't think The Wish Quilt will be finished off for this Christmas (again) - it works as a raw-edged tablecloth :)

Being in Sydney on Monday afternoon I was able to catch up with Elizabeth after work at the Lindt Cafe - I haven't been there before.

 

Think I'd like to go back again one day (soon).

Road Trip!

Yesterday Karen, Paula and I drove to Bathurst to the annual Bloggers Meet.

Bag packed for Show and Tell along with present for swap

First stop was Anni's wonderful shop, The Home Patch.  Bought a few things - pretty restrained for me.

A kit of Anni decorations, Country Keepsakes Christmas decorations, some of Anni's new Christmas fabric,
glue pen refills and some metal Christmas decorations.

Was lovely to meet some new friends and catch up with dear friends.

Little Chicken (Julia), Susan, Fiona, Kylie's daughter, Kylie

Ann, Donna (Chooky) and Ros.

I was thrilled to meet Ros (Bloom) as I've made a few of her beautiful designs.

Some of our on-line group girls came along too:

Susan, Fiona, Donna, Jan, Peg and Sue

Great to finally meet Susan and Fiona - we've been chatting via email and FB for quite a while.  Always lovely to catch up with Peg, Donna and Sue and was lovely to meet Jan who travelled a very long way.

We had a little swap on the day

All the presents ready for the draw.

I received a very pretty washer and soap made by Jan

and Paula received the present I took along

Machine embroidered tea towel and hexagon coin purse.

The hit of the day was the swap present Paula brought along - a Janelle Wind apron - the pattern was in Homespun Volume 12 No 11 in 2011.

Susan modelling her beautiful apron from Paula

 We had some VIP guests attend - Peg and Dale snuck into the photo with Susan.

Buttons and Beads

Still a lot of hand-quilting to be done but, for a change, last night I started sewing the buttons and some little pearl beads onto the quilt.

 

 

 

 

Hopefully some more beads will be added tonight as well as some more quilting.

Road trip tomorrow!

Chanel, Zombies etc

What do Chanel and Zombies have in common?  Me, I suppose.

Had quite a busy couple of days starting on Friday when Barbara and I caught the train to Sydney to attend a makeup class at the Chanel Studio.  We learned a few tips and tricks and came away more confident than when we went in.  I think it's funny that after how many years of wearing makeup I have now had a lesson.  A fun way to spend an hour or so and you receive the cost of the class in products.

We had nice lunch in QVB, a little wander around Tiffany & Co and a couple of other shops (very proud of ourselves for not buying anything) then it was time to catch the train home as we were going to see "Hairspray" - a local theatre production.  What a fabulous show!  Enjoyed it so much.

Saturday I was off to Sydney again, this time with Paula.  We drove most of the way, stopping for lunch at Bourke Street Bakery (wonderful cakes, pastries and breads), a bit of shopping at the Gordon Smith outlet shop (bought a couple of things for my holiday in Fiji next year) and a look around Remnant Warehouse (came away empty handed, mainly because the stash is healthy enough) before catching the train into the City to Hyde Park to check out the Zombie Walk - a fundraising event for the Brain Foundation.  What a huge event it is:  thousands of people participating in the walk and just as many spectators.  Well organised, well behaved crowds - I hope they've raised a lot of money.

The walk goes from the Archibald Fountain to Prince Alfred Park - Paula and I walked there and met up with The Zombie King, Queen and Princess (aka Michael, Peta and Jenni), had a chat, took some photos then walked back to where the car was parked (over 5 kms) and headed home.

Jenni, Michael, Paula, Peta

Sunday was a very quiet day mostly spent in the sewing room - I should have been doing housework but was a bit tired.  In the morning I sewed the binding onto Gingham Girls and last night I started stitching it down and also doing a bit of hand-quilting inside the ditch-stitched blocks.

Hand quilting is not a favourite with me - even though I have all the equipment and have been to various classes, I can't get the rocking motion and using a frame and thimble bug me.  More hand quilting lessons need to be on the agenda.

Yesterday afternoon I made a start on the Sit-Me-Up Donut.

There is well over 1 kg of fibrefill so far in this donut and I've run out.  I love this.  Next up is making the rattle and squeaky toy attachments.  I'm really enjoying this.  The baby was born a little over a month ago so I need to get a wriggle on.

Elizabeth and Matt are on holidays at the moment and, by the look of their photos, are having a fabulous time.  I love the latest photo:

Lastly, a little swap present is ready for next weekend.