WENDY'S BIG "O" BOOK

The last of the big "O" books for this year. More for next year! :) Wendy loves bright colours so I did the cover with this lovely bright orange wool felt I had. I've used pansies (for friendship) as the theme on all the covers and this time, needlefelted the cover with my lovely Pfaff Embellisher. I used wool tops (the pansy, dupion silk (the purple on the left), wool thread (the curly bit) and mummi silk (the little red spots). I hand stitched the detail on the pansy and leaf as I thought machine stitching might get lost in the felt. Also handstitched the running stitch detail as well. Added beads and used iron-on buckram (spelling?) to stiffen the cover.
Judy's page is the brown one with silk ribbon embroidery and lace. Mine is the crazy patch styled one with the old painting printed from the PC; hand made, rolled ribon roses with 1cm wide ribbon; lace medallion; old buttons; beads and a gold charm. Moreen's page is a beautifully embroidered stitchery design with a lovely little lace butterfly. Other pages were stitcheries, crazy patch and Wendy's Mum Carole stitched an exquisite stork on japanese printed fabric - single thread silk buttonholed around the outline. We will be giving it to Wendy tomorrow so hope she likes it! :)

I spent most of the weekend working on a new bag design AND finishing my Angel Swap gift so that's all ready to post to reach my recipient before the end of the month. It's been fun and I'm checking the mail each day for mine! :)

Until next time, happy stitching,

Jan

My Angel Swap Gifts

Just a little hint of what I'm sending. My angel lives quite a way away from me in a land where quite beautiful flowers grow! :) It's been such fun designing the third part of the gift. The other two I designed a while back and one was even featured in one of the magazines. Many, many thanks to Helen from Hugs and Kisses in organising the Angel Swap, I'm sure she's very pleased with the response she received and if you want to see more pics and news go to Helen's blog by clicking on the Angel Swap icon here on my blog. Another weekend is on the horizon...we're planning on going to Ravenshoe (a little town about a 45min drive from here) as they're having their annual Torimba (Festival of the Forest) street parade and festivites. Ravenshoe was a very busy timber town for many years but now with forest preservation the timber industry has ceased. The timber display each year has a plethora of magnificant carved and turned pieces that are well worth viewing. Looking forward to it! :) Hope everyone else has a great weekend, Cheers,

Jan

CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS

My angel and Christmas tree collections from a couple of years back. The lights pic isn't such a good one but will give an idea - this was the 2006 display. Ross has added more since. We would like to have more lights up on the peak of the house but it's rather high and he's a little bit height challenged! :) Our house is what is called a "Queenslander" - built for the hot weather and all timber. This house would have been built in the 1930's I think and, as you can see in the pics, the interior walls are what is called tongue and groove. Terrible to clean when the mould comes in in the wet season! We may not do all the Christmas thing this year as we're going to Newcastle to have Christmas at Matt's. Will all depend on how I'm feeling closer to Christmas! Would love to hear what everyone else does for Christmas? Cheers,

Jan

CHRISTMAS GIVE-AWAY

It's called "Under the Mistletoe" in the magazine (Handmade Volume 26 No 2) but I had named it "A Christmas Kiss". I will be giving it away as a Christmas gift - the draw will take place on Nov 20th. All you have to do is email me at ozjan51@hotmail.com and you will go into the draw!!! I'm a true "Christmasaholic" and won't tell you how many big plastic crates I have, full of Christmas stuff! It's a major job as I pack away most things that are around the place to bring out all my Christmas "collections" - Reindeers, Snowmen, Santas, Angels, my Christmas pillows along with lots of other things. I've always loved snow globes too and have found them difficult to find here in Australia but I've managed to find two I think so that's my NEW collection! :) Think I have some pics here on the PC from Christmas one year so will find them and give you a look. Ross (who used to be the original "Bah humbug" of Christmas) has become rather enthused with Christmas lights and he really does a great job each year. I often have a giggle at me with my snowmen etc as they're a little bit out of place, I guess, with our hot summer Christmases but I'm afraid that Santa in sandals and board shorts just DOESN'T fit the bill!

Looking forward to hearing from you all, Cheers,

Jan

SPOKEN WISHES

Spoken Wishes - a quilt I've been working on for some time now. A bit spasmodic I must admit! :) The pics are the colourway I've been working on and a couple of my sewing friends have worked it in two other colourways. One is the traditional country colours of red, blue, mustard, green etc and looks lovely! That particular quilt is finished and has an applique border. The other one is worked with rather "pretty" colours and is a smaller quilt as I've designed it to be completed in two sizes. Mine and the pretty one have large floral borders so the applique will not be needed.

My plan has been for Spoken Wishes to be a book but not sure how to approach it yet. Whether to self publish or submit it to a publisher. A real quandry! The book will cover both fusible and needleturn applique along with embroidery as well as some piecing techniques. Feel it will suit beginners through to advanced readership. Have to finish them all of course!

Megs being a typical feline just HAD to walk and then sit on it when I had it layed out to choose borders etc. The small piece sitting on top is a block from a charity quilt out sewing group completed. A rather pretty completed quilt that we found in one of the magazines.

It's a rather miserable day in sunny Queensland today - overcast and drizzly rain. So unseasonable but think global weather is haywire too! Ross and I are off to Port Douglas tomorrow to "look only" at a Darcy Doyle exhibit there. Darcy Doyle is a well known Australian artist and the exhibit is the last set of paintings he completed before his death. I'm sure we won't be able to buy any as they will be rather expensive! Nice to see though. Mossman, where the R&C girls shop is, is only a short drive from Port Douglas so will visit them as well. Hopefully the weather will be much nicer tomorrow as the Port has become a great tourist place with lots to see and do. Hopefully will get some great pics to show. Have a great weekend everyone,
Jan

New Issue of Handmade

My copy of Handmade arrived in the mail yesterday. Volume 26 No 2. Rustic Gatherings; Holly Penny Rug (although I had called it Rustic Seasons!) and Under the Mistletoe (my name - A Christmas Kiss). A Christmas Kiss is one of my older designs (discontinued from my catalogue of patterns)having it's last "hurrah" but the other two were specifically designed for the magazine. The magazine changes my titles sometimes and that's fine! :) It's a really nice issue with lots of nice things to make. A nice appliqued tree skirt; the cutist reindeer teddy bear who just makes you smile; Jordon who is a lovely teddy bear, a great table runner and a lovely painted wooden Santa are just a few among the over 45 projects to make.

It's now the 1st October so that has to mean that it's only around 85 days until Christmas!
WOW! Where has the year gone? I'm sure it's not just because I'm knocking on old age, it as to be the busy lifestyles we live now surely?

We're going to Newcastle for Christmas to our son, who is in the airforce and stationed at Williamtown airbase. He's living in a townhouse off base now and has nagged since he moved for us to go to him for Christmas - so we are! :) He's a bit of a "bah humbug" about Christmas decorations etc so I'm going to have to take my own I think! Maybe he'll succumb to a small tree so we can hang the ornaments I have made each year for he and Kirsten at least? Which reminds me!!! I'm going to have to think of what theme I'm doing for them this year! Will have to get my thinking cap on...any ideas gratefully received! :) Until next time, Happy Stitching,

Jan

Another New Bag

I called this one "Bamboo Bling" - Sometimes finding a name for a design is harder than designing it! :) I seem to always want to go for alliteration but it doesn't always work that way. For the girls on the forum this is the design that didn't quite work the way I intended it to BUT happy with the end result! Actually need to re-photograph because it looks a bit lopsided but it's not...just the way I stuffed the tissue paper in to give it shape! LOL The handles came first and were the inspiration for the design.

Today is another beautiful spring day here in FNQ so thought I'd add a pic of part of our garden. It's a section of our "rainforest" corner in the backyard. Everything is coming to life now that it's warming up and Ross is complaining because he has to mow the lawn more often! Megs has changed his little sleeping hidy places and he's often outside in the garden during the day rather than curled up on Kirsten's bed! Now I'm of to bake a cake for friends coming for morning coffee and then working on the next cover for the big '0' birthday book! Cheers,

Jan