Wonderful News!

Wow! This will be a peaceful weekend - all things bright and beautiful outside and we are not long back from the Specialist who has told us DH's tumour was benign - a big worry off our minds! It is so lovely not to have that black cloud hanging over our heads! Quite some time ago I have shown you my dolly Mein Liebling - My Darling, a German doll, the original Circa

1910! Yesterday I met up with a dollmaker and we got to talking and turned out we have both made her. I have quite a lot of porcelain dolls I have made from the very beginning and I loved that time in my life - I had just retired after living 30 years in remote mining towns and it was a big thrill to have all things arty at my disposal.

Of course, I had been warned quilting would take over, but I always know best, no, of course not - yes, of course it did. This sweetie has human hair, glass sleep eyes, little leather shoes, two petticoats and rows and rows of crochet around her dress, bonnet, little crocheted handbag and quite a lot of embroidery on her petticoats, too. The crochet thread was so fine - 80 or 100, I'm not too sure now, it all seems such a long time ago!

Wouldn't you love to have a twin brother who gave you this with a nice monetary gift for your birthday - our dear one Danielle and David tuned 36 earlier in the week - oh, what precious years they have been!

I may have mentioned before that David is the best gardener I could ever have - these Kangaroo Paws are the floral emblem of Western Australia and are really loving the warm sunshine.

For Miriam of Yellow Roses - I think of Miriam every time I have yellow roses in bloom - hi, Gorgeous Girl!

Just the binding to trim back and stitch down - thanks Robin! - Robin machined on the binding for me as I'm still pretty wonky on the machine - some things don't matter, but I would be so upset to spoil this quilt. I am eager to have a nice stitchy weekend so let's hope it comes to fruition - for those with the same plans good luck - hope everyone has a lovely weekend!

Lucky Me!

What a surprise! I had seen it before and love it, but didn't think for one moment it was for me! And it really is 'just me' - I know I have a very wide choice in fabrics and this is one of them! Sweet Baby Girlfriend! Shari made this for me as a PIF, which I really had forgotten about. Every stitch is perfect and I love the soft orange border fabric - you will see lots of it in the future as I'm going to use it every chance I can! Thank you so much Shari - I adore you!

Look how it came wrapped!

Lots of other goodies, too!

If I did Sunday Stash, I would be a day early - Kaffe's and Co. - no soft colours there!

I wish I could remember the year - I did make this quilt from Kaffe's first quilting book (I think I am correct in saying this!) - I made it as a challenge to myself as I didn't use greens a lot, and of course Kaffe's name was on every quilter's lips. Do you know what - the opportunity came along to sell it at what I thought was a great price at the time - it would have been a nice keepsake. This was in the days when I was reluctant to even label my quilts - my thoughts were 'I'm not good enough to call myself a quilter'. Christine of Once Upon a Quilt ... was in the first group I joined and most of the others were designers and prize winners, too - they didn't formally teach me, but I soaked every bit of knowledge from them that I could - great days!

My roses are starting to bloom beautifully - this one is almost the size of a bread and butter plate! Happy weekend everyone, I hope to get lots of stitching prepared and done!

Lots To Show and Tell!

Wow! We don't get busier than this - I have a lot of frivolity to show you, but first must let you know Ed has been in hospital again having a tumour removed from his bladder - he's home and doing okay - he's been a brave man and now we just have to wait for pathology results which could take a little while! Trying not to sound blase about things, I have had a lovely few days earlier in the week with friends - sort of mini-retreat, right on the Indian Ocean with lots of rain and wind, to me freezing cold, but very close to the hospital Ed was in so it was sort of nice in a way!
Hmmm, shopping last Friday and quite a bit of fashion indulgence for me - a Fossil bag and little flats as cute as!

Dear friend Barb recently bought a gorgeous sterling silver rose ring - now I'm not into costume jewellery at all! - just love this, a bit of a copy-cat I know and Ed is a bit peeved as I wear it on my wedding ring finger - I told him my good rings are far to valuable to wear around the house, lol! My Angela is the model as her hands are in better condition than mine.

I have been having thoughts lately about UFO's - originally I did intend to hand-quilt this vintage charmer, it even has some original feedsacks from USA in it - however, I have decided to have it professionally machine-quilted!

I am just loving doing my current project - certainly no boredom here, just a matter of time! I prep through the day and cuddle up to stitch in the cold evenings!

Eight fat-quarters of Flower Sugar by Lecien - I am not at all sure what I will do with them, just too pretty and bright to pass by! Off to think about dinner, then maybe a little stitching, hope so!

Happy stitching to you all, too!

A Day in the Life of Quilters!

Oh, we feel so lucky - yesterday we spent a lovely day with Lizzie from A House in the Country! We think we are pretty special as Lizzie comes all the way from Gordon, Victoria to Perth in Western Australia! It would be just lovely to have her with us all the time - I kinda think she's our sort of Girlfriend!

A lot of you have probably checked out Julia's post of today - yes, I do use my Dresden Plate Quilt as a tablecloth - and it is hand-quilted and yes I do wash on a 'gentle' in the washing machine. Yum, Melting Moments by Carole and Pumpkin Scones by Patti, and lots of other goodies for lunch!

A fun pic - knitted crowns by Patti on the right and I know quite a few of you out there will be pleased to see another pic of our gorgeous Prue!

Our gorgeous Barb, too,with her creative ribbon crochet - it's looking great!

Just a little bit of colour to welcome Spring - a beautiful day here today and we are all looking forward to the warmer weather - maybe I'll do a little bit of applique preparation now as I've been a slack-tart and wasted most of the day, but it is nice to have days like this, too!

Happy Stitching!