Advent calendar

A few months ago I made an Advent calendar for bub and the time has come to fill it and pass it over to her parents so they can supervise the  taking of a small gift each morning from the appropriate pocket.    I decided that not all would be chocolate so I mixed it up with small hair slides,  fairy stamps and stickers.   Wrapping some of the goodies

Adding them into the pockets as I go

Even though bub is too young at the moment to comprehend the countdown to Christmas Day I hope that she will enjoy getting a small gift each morning and it will become a tradition for many years to come.

I have  made 3 sets of reversible hot pads which I have put into my "giftie" box for future small gifts when needed.   I decided that they could be mix or match.   This way to match    

On the flipside

My "road building" efforts are coming along nicely on the playmat.     I hope to be back during the week to show  my progress and in the meantime

   Happy sewing all

FNSI

Or in my case this month FDSI as I was able to make an early start on some Christmas and secret sewing.    Well it has just been declared official that today in Sydney was the hottest November day on record with the temperature reaching 41 degrees celsius or for those familiar with fahrenheit just over 105 degrees so in order to "think cool" I finished off December's Sunbonnet Sue standing at the North Pole.

I was given a gorgeous panel last Christmas and it was time to pull it out and make a tabletopper for our Christmas table this year.     I had the red and silver fabric which I used as border fabric and it fits in perfectly with the panel.  I quilted just inside each of the blocks with grey thread and then quilted in between the rows with white.    I felt that it did not need anymore quilting.

Next up was some secret sewing.    I cannot reveal anymore as the recipient has been known to read my blog from time to time so I do not want to give anything away.

I had mentioned in the past that I have some novel fabric which has been lurking in my stash for a while and I had hoped to do something with it since my last post but  that has not happened.     This is the fabric

And with the addition of  grey for roads, green for a forest and  blue for a pond I think that it should make a good playmat for bub's fairy houses and carriages when she comes to grandma and
grandpa's house for a visit.

It is supposed to be much cooler tomorrow so perhaps I can think about "building" roads etc then and be back soon with some photos.

Thank you once again Wendy for hosting another fun night - or in my case day.   If you would like to come on a blog hopping journey with me to see what others created overnight then step this way over to Sugarlane Designs.

Happy sewing all

Barrington Tops

Is where hubs and I took off to for a few days break.    It is an  area that neither of us have been to before and we were amazed at how green and scenic the countryside is.   We based ourselves at Gloucester which is about 40 minutes drive to Barrington  Tops.   Our "home" for the time that we were away and the view of the Bucketts Mountains that we enjoyed.

You know that you are in the country when you see signs such as the  Country Women's Association and the sign in the shop window below.   Obviously we had the wrong day as the shop  was firmly  shut.   The next photo shows an early morning walk on the golf course next to our accommodation.   All that exercise works up an appetite and we found a cafe that served up a " man sized country" omelette for breakfast.

A walk along the rivers edge where platypuses live we found a "rock ring".....not sure if  it was  made by human hands or clever platypuses.    Time for a cool off in the pool.

The area of Gloucester and it's surrounds is well worth a visit.   It was lovely to "recharge the batteries" for a few days and have a complete break from all the mundane domestics that need to be done.    Sadly I did not find one fabric shop during our travels.   I did however do some "googling" whilst relaxing over a coffee and have come up with ideas.   Back soon with my progress on those and in the meantime

Happy sewing all

FNSI

Now that the weather is warming up it is time to head back to the beach for my early morning walk and it was during this time one day last week that I had an inspiration for November's "Sun Bonnet Sue".   On arriving home and going through the many scrap boxes that have accumulated in my sewing room I found fabrics with beach balls, large and small shells and water ripples on them which when put altogether made up "Seaside Sue".

I also found some fabrics suitable for December's "Sue" whilst I was digging around in the scrap boxes which I have put aside for next month's FNSI.     Once I have decided on the fabrics to use it takes me about 3 hours to iron  the interfacing onto the fabric, cut out the shapes, iron them into place, then do a zig zag stitch around each piece before adding the next piece, do the quilting, then the binding.    One of these can be done quite easily over the course of a late afternoon/evening sewing time.

Thanks again Wendy for hosting another fun FNSI and it is time to  head over to Sugarlane Designs to see what others got up to last night.

I have a few other  ideas that I am working on at present and will be back with some photos soon and in the meantime

Linked with

Bits n Bobs

Happy sewing all

 

The Wiggles....

Was the theme chosen for bub's 2nd birthday party.   All guests were asked to dress in one of the Wiggles colours, decorations as well as  some of the food also had the Wiggles  theme - hot potatoes, fruit salad, Wiggles coloured birthday cake along with Wiggles music which kept us entertained throughout the party.

Grandma doing swing duty whilst waiting for all the guests to arrive.

  

 Blowing out the birthday candles

And of course the all important task of opening the presents.

A good day was had by all especially bub.    After the party the rest of the  day was spent going through and having a play with all her new toys.

 

Chalkboard Fabric.....

Is something that I knew nothing about until I visited a quilt show a few weeks ago.    After making some inquiries about how to sew with the fabric I did some "googling" and found out where I could purchase some to make a "chalkboard" placemat for bub.

This was today's project and I decided that it needed to be completely washable with a damp cloth so after a rummage around in the "left overs" pile I was able to find some of the washable vinyl,  that I used to make a changemat sometime ago, which I used  for the borders and backing on the placemat.

I will wipe off my art work before passing it on tomorrow.

I also managed to finish off the red and white rabbit dress.    This is the front

And this is the back

I also put the binding on my mystery train ride runner.     I decided that black was the best option for the binding as it  "framed" the runner whereas the grey looked like it needed something else to finish it off.

I am currently planning a playmat using some fabric that I bought sometime ago and thought "I could use that" and up until now it has sat patiently in my stash.     So now is the time to bring it out and put my plan into action.    More on that later and in the meantime

    Happy sewing all

End of the line....

For the mystery train ride.     The final clue for the tablerunner came in over last weekend and I am thrilled with the reveal.  I learnt that I have to be more adventurous when choosing colours and fabrics.    Some of the combinations that others were using I would never have picked yet when made up they look fabulous.   Anyway here is my runner - I still need to quilt and bind it which I hope to get to during next week.

 I am undecided as to whether I should use the grey or black fabric for my binding.   I have the runner spread out on a table with grey on one side and black on the other but still cannot decide as I like both.    Sometimes I feel the black is too heavy and others I feel that the grey is a bit too "wishy washy".   All suggestions gratefully received.

I also had time to make up the in-between season pj's for bub as well as the summer nightie.  

I am about half way with the little red and blue bunny dress and hopefully I can make tonight an "unofficial" FNSI for me and get it finished off.    In the meantime

Happy sewing all