Good Morning....

Well, today I go in to hospital.. again.. (Elizabeth says to me, you sure do go to hospital a lot, lol!) Yesterday I was on just fluids for the day, so don't talk to me about food! I'm having a gastroctomy and colonoscopy done - what fun! I will let everyond know how it goes tonight.. it is just a day job :)

So yesterday I thought, let me do something fun for myself! Well, it took me until.. um... yeah,.. after 6pm to get time for "myself"! I took a couple of charm packs and had a bit of a play....


I like it! It is only small, going to be another square table topper to add to my collection. I need to think what I am going to put around it now... probably a white border, and then flying geese... or just squares... or... hmmm.. this will be fun!

I went to Gail's the other day to make the most of her 20% off sale and bought a hand quilting frame. I am going to hand quilt the above. I bought one that is on a stand to put in the container, and one 14" one to take in my suitcase. I need something to do while Bernie and Nina are on the ship!! I also found the perfect hanger to hang Joy's Christmas Hearts:


Thank you to all who have ordered the above pattern so far! Jess sent me the website of the place I am going to send the donations to. I am not going to talk about the organization here on my blog because I know a few young people/children read my blog, and there is "too much information" for them in this topic! But you can go here to read more about this project which is somewhat unique in that it focuses on boys, rather than girls... Enough said, but please, if you can spare $5.99 this Christmas season, then go HERE to buy your copy. As they say on their webpage, every little bit helps! If you just want to donate, then buy the pattern and toss it in your recycle bin!! There is also still time to buy one for a friend and attach it to a Christmas email :) Just treat it as a paper pattern... and buy what you need... You can also donate on their webpage.

Again,.. enough said! Some friends are about to pick me up to take me in to hossie, so I'd better go get ready!! Hope you are all organized for Christmas....!!!! Only one sleep for us... we celebrate Christmas Eve! Yay! I'll be able to eat, lol!! Catch you all later :)

Merry Christmas to all....

It is supposed to be summer here in the deep south of Australia... but today we had hail! Pity it wasn't snow, but I think that would have shocked everyone even more, so it's probably just as well :) I tried to take a photo, but you really couldn't see anything, just heard the clinking of the hail falling on the veranda and bouncing off the car I need to sell before I leave.....!

I worked on this today:


It is so nice to have two big tables to pin on so that I didn't have to clean the kitchen floor! Don't look at the mess around them though...:


It is a very functional room, and I will miss it! But hubby has found us a house in Saudi, and there is another big room for me to use for sewing, so I will be fine :)

Back to the quilt - it is Gail Pan's Christmas Wishes as you probably already knew and this is one of the two I am making. This one is for my sister..... supposed to be done last year, but oh well! I finished it off today, yay! And wrapped it up but forgot to take a pic of it finished!! It is going in the mail tomorrow and I will ask her to take a photo of it when it reaches its new home.

Talking about mail, I got a parcel from Di on Friday with these lovelies in it:


It brought tears to my eyes - she is such a sweet blogland friend and I hope one day we can meet in real life. See the pressies that are wrapped? I have put them under the tree so that I have some more suprises later in the week :) Thank you so much Di!

It's late and I am heading for bed.. I have a big week ahead of me... other than preparing for Christmas which I am actually pretty organized for!!! The big week includes a day in hospital because some tests came back not so good, and I have to go in for a procedure on Thursday. I see the specialist on Tuesday so I will have more news after that...

But for now..... to all a good night :)

On my cutting board...

I actually did a bit of this and a bit of that today. I bought a new diary for 2011, and thought it was rather boring:


So I made a pretty cover for it:


Do you also love the clean new pages of a new year???


I worked on a Christmas present for my Mum. Here is a very sneak peek in case she looks at my blog:


And I had some mending to do. The camera case I made earlier this year was losing its yoyos. I fixed one yoyo:


But where oh where has the other one gone????


Naughty yoyo... it is hiding somewhere.. or I put it in a "safe" place.... hmmm....

I'm also working on finishing one of my Gail Pan Christmas wishes quilts for my sister. No photos of that yet. Hopefully tomorrow, although I the next two days are full of doctors' appointments, so I may not get it done...

Anyway, that's what was on my cutting board today...

Murphy Was a Quilter

I know this because the bobbin always runs out an inch or so from the end.....

Have a Heart this Christmas

Once a week I go to a small study group associated with our church. Last week we had a visiting speaker, the daughter of the couple that lead our group. Jess had been to Thailand for a trip recently and came to share with us about that. She made this trip with World Vision with the particular purpose of finding out more about the slave trade or human trafficking. You can imagine the stories she brought back with her....

This isn't a subject that we hear a lot about... but when you do hear what is going on, it is very confrontational! By the end of the evening I think most of us wanted to hop on a plane and go punch some people on the nose! Or go and open an orphanage to save some of those little children who are stolen from their parents and made to work in factories or worse places. If I was a millionaire, that is what I would do. Snatch these children away... and care for them. How I wish I could go over there and save them from a fate worse than death... but I can't.

What I can do is ask you to join with me this Christmas in raising some money for some of the children that Jess visited who have been saved from the slave traders. I had been working on a Christmas pattern that I hoped I could sell one day..... and after the meeting felt that I should finish it by this week and put it up on the web as a fundraiser.

So I present to you Joy's Christmas Hearts:


It is a quick, simple wallhanging to make for Christmas and your purchase this month will show our LOVE for children in Thailand, give them some HOPE, and us some JOY in giving this year.

This is a pdf pattern and if you would like to buy one for yourself and as a gift for somone else, please treat it as a paper pattern and buy two copies :) It would make a great gift as an attachment to a Christmas email for a quilting friend.... or you may still have time to make one for a friend before Christmas. You can also save it to work on throughout the year for next Christmas :)

Many thanks to Yvonne and Alice for helping me proof the pattern on such short notice!

ALL the money from the patterns bought this December will go to Jess who will pass it on to the project she is working with in Thailand.

If you have made it this far, thank you for reading and I do hope you are able to help out with this special cause. You can go HERE to buy the pattern and make a small difference in the life of a child saved from slavery.

Please take the button from the top of this post and spread the word this month. We can make a difference, little by little.....

Buy Joy's Christmas Hearts Here

Finishing Instructions for Fruit of the Spirit BOM!

Yes finally, they are here. I should have gotten them up earlier, but I am not confident about writing up patterns yet, so it has taken a little longer. I can't say the photo is that great either. The colors are not like they are in real life :( I tried to take another one in better light, but would you believe it, I couldn't find it! LOL! I think I packed it. What was I thinking?!

Anyway, I do hope you have all enjoyed this bom as much as I have. I would like to make it in another colorway... and setting... if only I had the time!!!

So go HERE to download the instructions. They are way down the bottom of the page. If anyone out there ever finishes this quilt, please do send us a photo!!!! We would love to see it!!

I have a few belated photos to share with you. A while back I got a parcel from Fiona from BubzRugz. In it was this:


A soft, soft, SOFT face washer!!! Just for me! I'm not sharing! She sent it to me as a thank you for running Finishing Stitches, now wasn't that sweet? It was my pleasure to host that and I am hoping to do it again next year, because I don't know about you, but I still have HEAPS of projects needing finishing.... :) Thank you so much Fiona!

I also got a little pressie in the mail last week from my sis. I had made her some table runners, just simple ones, but they took a bit of time still. She sent me this cute covered notebook as a thank you:


Aren't I lucky?! It will fit nicely into my handbag :) Thank you Christie!!!

Come back tomorrow sometime for something to do with hearts, hope and Christmas!

Hello Blogland!!!

Yes, it is me. I am back. I am still somewhat sane. I think.... I have sorted everything out in the whole house, and am almost ready for the packers to come. Good news: they are coming early Jan instead of a few days before Christmas :) So we have taken the decorations out and started putting them up. Here is Pepsi having a rest next to the Winter Lego village:



I have missed you all during this unintentional blogging break! But I have needed the time to spend on the house and getting ready for the big move. Really, the place has never been so declutterd, it is amazing!!! I have started stuffing fabric in all my empty Tupperware containers... which is a bit frustrating because now I can't find what I need for the projects I have started working on this week! Oh well... at least all my fabric will be coming with me - it gets packed in the container first! Priorities, priorities :)

It is summer here in Australia now... I think.... you wouldn't really be able to tell with the weather we have been having. It was nice and sunny this morning and I finally got the washing out. I had a little nap this afternoon and woke up to thunder.... I looked out the windows of my sewing room and what did I see??? This:


Wet washing. You can't see the rain, but it is there, trust me.


These birds didn't seem to mind the wet weather though. They seemed to be finding all sorts of yummies in the grass :) Isn't he pretty:


You know, if I closed my eyes I could almost imagine it was snowing... almost... so I put on some Christmas music and worked on a secret project:


Keep an eye out for more blog posts in the next few days. I am working on the finishing instructions for the Fruit of the Spirit block of the month - better late than never don't you think?? I am also working on a special project that I am going to need your help with... more on that on Monday whenI hope you will join me for

Have a Heart this Christmas...

Until then, I shall head back into my sewing room and do a bit more stippling....