Stitchery door pillow

My patchwork friend Caz surprised me with a wonderful parcel for my birthday, including the kit for the little Birdhouse door pillow which I made up yesterday. This was a fun quick project and the pillow looks so cute hanging from a door by its rick-rack handle. It has little bells on the ends of the prarie points so I there's a delightful little jingle too!

Caz also sent me a huge and gorgeous selection of vintage doileys, too many to picture here, as well as a cute knitting kit for a toy octopus.

Something from the past

A while ago I bought some second hand books from a market, and from one of them fell this old postcard which someone must have been using as a bookmark, dated 1908:

Although I found it fascinating, I put it aside and promptly forgot about it. I came across it again the other day while cleaning and wondered what to do with it.

I thought perhaps I could find the descendants of the recipient or sender, and send it to them. But a quick Google, a brief look at the Births Marriages and Deaths registry, and even a white pages search, failed to turn up anything. So then I Googled Tumut history and came across a historic society, and a family history group.

I emailed the latter to see if they would like it and a very nice lady replied and said they would. She didn't know of any Bryans, but knew of Springfield, which had been a large property out of town. She said she'd try to find records of the sender to add to their family history information, or if they couldn't, they'd pass it on to the historic society.

So as I'm about to post the little card off, I thought I'd take a couple of photos of it and share it.

For those with poor eyesight, it is dated 17-4-1908 and is addressed to a Miss M Bryan of Springfield, Tumut. The text says, "Well I hope you are all well. How is Chas getting on at the store? Father and I had a bad time on board although the sea was very calm. We had to wait until Tuesday eve on account of the strike. Landed at Ballina ..... Thursday morning then 21 miles of coach to Lismore. Everyone on board were sick. Well I will conclude with kindest regards to all, Percy”. What a fascinating snippet of history!
 
It's amazing what you find in books. I often buy second hand books from fairs and markets and often come across letters, appointment cards, children's drawings etc being used as bookmarks.
 
Also, I forgot to post a pic of the gorgeous ornament Noela sent me with my Christmas swap parcel. It is so gorgeous! And did I mention how perfect Noela's stitching is? I'm a bit jealous! She has kindly sent me a link to the pattern for this one which I haven't had a chance to look at yet, but will soon. It really is exquisite.

Beautiful surprise, and cute little froglets

I got a lovely surprise in the mail last Thursday - this gorgeous little cushion cover from Toni.

I bought the matching quilt from her some time ago and didn't know there was more to come, so it was a lovely surprise.

And on Friday, I received my copy of the latest Patchwork & Stitching in the mail and there is the cushion cover right on the front cover. So I am feeling very fashionable right now, owning something beautiful from the front cover of the latest issue of a magazine! Thanks Toni!

I've spent much of this weekend wandering around with a camera in close reach. The little froglets are starting to emerge from the water and experiment with squatting on branches and burrowing in mud. Everytime they see me coming though, they hop off and swim away. Add that to the fact that they are still no bigger than my little fingertip and it is almost impossible to photograph them!

This is the best I have been able to do. You can sort of see one froglet well partly submerged in the water to the left of the can, and a couple of others in not so mature a state behind him. You probably can't see, but there are also two in the mud near the base of the plant.

I just think they are the cutest things in the world! Except for puppies of course.

Garden Spoons from Julie

Thanks very much Jewells for the gorgeous garden spoons you sent me - I love them!



I bought some from Julie a while ago - Basil, Sage, Mint and Thyme. They were so lovely I asked if she did any others.



She didn't, but surprised me by making them especially for me, as an early Christmas present!



Aren't they great?

I haven't taken photos of the earlier spoons yet because, apart from the mint, the others aren't doing well yet, but now it is Spring they should be thriving soon.

Secret Santa Visits Again

A Secret Santa has visited my place again today, this time from Patch n Chat. I have been truly spoiled again by some beautiful gifts.

I received some wonderfully fragrant soap "Coming Up Roses"-scented; a gorgeous little tissue holder made by eClare's Patch; a Glace sweet roll; a lovely pattern and this beautiful cushion. Oh, I got some yummy looking chocolates too but it is sweltering here today so I popped them in the fridge. I ate too much today already to even be tempted right now.

I am so impressed with the gorgeous cushion. I love the way my Secret Santa has used the fabric designs to inspire and embellish. The tiny suffolk puffs mirror the circular designs on the main fabric, and the border fabric is cleverly used as a lattice quilting design. Very clever and effective!

I also received my Christmas gift from my Mum and Dad today - an exercise bike I wanted. So I spent the last hour putting the thing together which involved a lot of cursing and swearing, but I finally got there although I'm not sure I put the tension thing on properly. I am quite pleased with it but of course, after putting it together I was hot, sweaty, sore and cranky ..... so I only rode it for a minute to test it. It said I did 0.25 of a kilometre. It's a good start I guess!

We had our team Christmas lunch at work and I ate too much and got a sore belly, plus it was really hot, so I was feeling unwell and came home an hour early. I was going to stop in at the post office on the way home to collect another parcel but a sudden storm hit as I was driving and I could barely see in front of me so I came straight home. Of course, the storm disappeared when I got home and is back to being hot and sticky. Then instead of resting my sore belly I wanted to put my bike together so I'd know if all the bits were there and it worked, so I am a bit exhausted now.

But all in all, not such a bad day, especially because of my generous and talented Secret Santa and despite being zero on the GP scale this morning (which I will explain another day).

Lots of pressies

My friend Michael came back from a trip to Vietnam and bought me lots of lovely goodies, including these beautiful silky fabrics:



And I was really thrilled to receive some gorgeous gifts from someone in my patchwork group this week. Including these scrumptious embroidery threads and needle case:



And this gorgeous bag kit:

Long Time Between Posts

It's been a long time between posts. I just haven't been doing anything post worthy lately.

The only project I have finished in the last month or so is this crocheted cardigan:

The cotton is a lovel mercerised yarn from Drops design. I've long been an admirer of their website with lots of free patterns and bought the Muskat yarn intending to make one, but then ended up using another pattern altogether.

I now am making one of their patterns, but using some 8ply cotton from Bendigo Woollen Mills. Here is the progress so far:

They sent me lots of swatch cards with the cotton yarn I ordered and there are some lovely wools so I'll definitely be back for more. Their yarns come in 200g balls which I just love, as it saves constantly joining balls.

And now for some eye candy. Toni from The Red Boot Quilt Company was selling some samples and as usual I couldn't resist.

I'm planning on sending this Alphabet Soup to my niece for a play rug:

I just love the cute bubble quilting pattern:

And this one is for me!

The backing on this one is just as pretty as the front:


You can probably find much better photos of these quilts by visiting Toni's blog.

Oma's Bag from Rosalie

I was so excited to receive my auction win from Rosalie Quinlan in the mail today. Gee, does that woman work fast!

Here is my gorgeous Oma's Bag, made by Rosalie herself. This bag is huuuge! Definitely something Omas (grandmas) or hoarders like me need to carry their stuff around in.

How cute are the little pockets:

And the bag looks so cute when closed with its drawstring tie:

Thanks Rosalie, for the gorgeous bag, and for the fantastic effort toward raising funds for bushfire relief.

No willpower

Oh, I'm a bad, bad person. I knew the parcel waiting for me when I got home from work was my Valentine swap gift. I thought about leaving it til the 14th to open ..... but couldn't help myself. In my defense, I did have a bad day so needed some cheering up.

So, in my parcel was this darling package with the cutest pink bow:

And you can imagine how thrilled I was when I opened it to reveal this amazing quilt. It is just beautifully pieced and quilted. It is a 36" table topper. I'm going to think where I can put it - nowhere where it will be at risk of spills that's for sure! It may even end up on a wall.

And here is a close up of the lovely wool applique centre:

So thank you Sheri, the talented and generous quilter who sent me this lovely package (including a pattern so I can make my own table quilt - unfortunately my camera just decided to run out of battery, so I can't take a photo of it). Sheri, I hope your secret Valentine spoils you just as much as you have spoiled me. Thank you so much! You really made my day! A big thank you to Kris too who coordinated this fun swap.

More Christmassy gifts

Wow! Thanks Kandy, my Fiona Marie swap partner, for the gorgeous gifts!

Kandy sent me one of her original bag patterns as well as a beautiful art card and snowman wallhanging.

Isn't this postcard just so clever:

And my hasty photography does not do this amazing wall-hanging justice:

The stitchery and piecing is just so meticulous and the quilting so fine. I feel very honoured to receive such a lovely gift from a very talented woman!

Singer sewing caddy

My good friend Lyle found this at North Rocks markets for me on Sunday morning - isn't it great? An authentic Singer sewing caddy with heaps of room for lots of sewing bits and pieces, and in pristine condition.

It will make a lovely addition to my Singer collection - I already have 4 vintage machines ranging from treadle to early electric. I've stopped buying them because I have a small house and have no more room, but I can certainly find room for this caddy.

Jeremy and I also joined Lyle for Blacktown Markets and we picked up some aluminium pails to put some decorative greenery in (since Jeremy insists on using the vintage milking jug I bought for this purpose as an umbrella stand!) and heaps of Thorobred knitting/crochet cotton. All good bargains, but the best buy of the day was my sewing caddy. Thanks Lyle!

Things I'm loving!

I haven't had much time for crafting, posting or blog-watching lately but I did manage to have a quick browse around yesterday. The talents and humour of all the bloggers out there is just amazing. Some of the things I've enjoyed reading about are:

• Toni's deconstruction of a gorgeous quilt into an even gorgeous-er one;
• Lucy Locket's pigeon post which led me to the crocheted pigeon creator Charlie P - I was laughing out loud at the pigeon antics on her blog!
• Grey's Crochet for all of the amazing Greyhound related crochet - look out for the life-sized crocheted greyhound napping with it's real life counterpart!
• the patchwork basket on Crazy Mom Quilts blog. I've seen lots of similar baskets on other blogs lately and even made one myself yesterday.
• This led me to the Pink Penguin blog with lots of gorgeous projects on it.

Lots of goodies

Just what I needed! I've had a really tiring week, being busy at work and not getting anything I wanted to do done, had to attend a funeral of a colleague and now I think I'm coming down with the flu, so it is a real pick-me-up to receive all the goodies I've been ordering lately!


Some of Robyn Pandolph's Flirt range:

Some Amy Butler fabrics:

Some of the Barefoot Roses range:

Some Ava Rose:

Some Portugal and Harvest Home Jelly Rolls:

I'm still waiting on some matching charm squares for these. I also received the entire Portabello market Fat Quarter set, and am waiting on this pattern to go with it. Which must mean there is another parcel winging its way towards me!

Finally!

I received a huge stash of gorgeous fabrics in the post from Iddy Biddy Designs. They have some amazing specials on at the moment. And each colour grouping of fat quarters was individually packaged with a little surprise in each one - sometimes a colour coordinated button, sometimes embroidery thread or a handmade yoyo! I am so impressed with the presentation. When I ordered these online, the automatically calculated postage was a bit exorbitant and then payment was through Paymate which adds a small commission - but I kind of shrugged and thought with the bargains I am getting it doesn't matter. Overall it is still cheap! But then Wendy emailed me and said to compensate for the over-charging of postage she was putting in a little extra something, which turned out to be not little at all - some gorgeous fabrics, thread, buttons, gift cards. I am really impressed with the service and presentation of Iddy Biddy Designs, a company I haven't ordered from before. I will definitely be a return customer!

The reason for this post's heading is because of the nightmare that is Australia Post! I had a card on my door when I got home from work last Thursday saying I had 2 parcels to collect from the post office on the other side of my suburb, and they would be available from 4pm that day. It was too late to go so I popped in on Saturday and they couldn't find them! They said the contractor who did their deliveries hadn't returned on Thursday afternoon so it was probably still in his van. So I left my numbers and asked them to call me on Tuesday to confirm when they came in. They hadn't called by mid afternoon so I called them, and a very rude man said they weren't there, but they had lost my numbers so I had to give them again. I waited all week and still didn't hear anything then finally called again today and I spoke to a woman who was much more polite and said they had discovered the contractor was leaving the wrong cards so it was probably at another post office. So she called my local post office (around the corner) and found out they had been sitting there all week! So I was annoyed as I could have been playing with these fabrics last weekend. And annoyed also that they were never going to call me to tell me this, so if I hadn't kept chasing it up I would never have found my packages. I was going to complain about this but you can't email a complaint to Australia Post - you have to post it to a snail mail address!

Yummy Patterns

I was thrilled to receive these yummy patterns in the post today, a prize from The Red Boot Quilt Company's Blog. Can't wait to make them, they look like so much fun. It was MUCH MUCH more pleasant than the car rego and insurance bills I also received today!

Favourite Reading Spot

Sugar, Spice and I spend a lot of time on this old sofa in the study having our "quiet" reading time. Well, it usually is quiet for me until two 45kg dogs decide to share it with me anyhow!

(Note: the quilt on the back of the sofa is from a kit purchased from Honeysuckle Cottage a while ago - one of my few handquilting projects! I can't remember the designer. And the bottom one is a nice simple one from Rose Patchwork Cottage, one of Judy Gray's designs. There is an old Chookshed one on the chair arm and the cushions and table cover are my own designs from years ago). They're all a bit the worse for wear from constant use from the 3 of us!

Vintage Irons