In the bag.....

Yippee!!!! My 'Secret' Quilt is done, dusted and in the bag..... The mail bag that is!!!!
I did a mixture of hand and machine quilting on this quilt but now I kinda wish that I'd done the whole thing by hand.... I can't wait to hear what Kellie thinks of it when she gets it in the post sometime next week... Here it is all folded up with a little extra goodness on top..... :)
And here it is all ready to be popped in the post (well almost)....
DH and I are tiling the bathroom in our new/old house over the long weekend so next week my posts will be filled with reno shots of the old farm house..... Be warned, some of the pictures to come next week may create a sudden urge to renovate... LOL!!!

One last thing before I sign off.... I read an amazing article this morning after following a link on Pink Chalk Studio's Blog... You see, I'm one of those people who frequently reassesses things in my life. I find myself worrying if I've spent enough time with the little princess or talked enough with my DH... These are obviously the largest rocks in my pile of 'big rocks' (when you read the article you'll understand) and should be my priority.... Go check the article out and let me know what you think, are you putting your big rocks first????

My Macro....

I finally discovered where the macro function/feature was on my camera this morning. I snapped this pic of some embroidery on Kellie's 'secret quilt'.... Not long now Kel and it'll be in the post, sometime this week I promise.. :)
We had a little celebration out at the new farm on Friday night and I just couldn't help but take this pic of the little princess in all her glory... LOL!!! Truth be told.... I actually took this pic to show everyone the new skirt I made her. I used the same tutorial as I did back here....This time round I used denim instead of linen for the solid colour on the skirt. What do you think??? I thought I'd share some links to a few blogs that I've been frequenting lately, they're really worth a look.... There's Knitting Box.... This is a gorgeous blog with fantastic photography and man can this Sydney woman knit... I'm also loving reading through and slowly joining in on the Dear Baby Jane Quilt Along.... Bloom is also joining in on this 'quilting' adventure..... She's an Orange based blogger who is an absolute whizz with a needle and thread....

Also, not many blogger's out there haven't heard of New Zealand based Tiny Happy but just in case you are one of the few who hasn't you really should check out her latest stitching efforts... They're AMAZING and are where the inspiration for the embroidery on my 'secret quilt' came from...

I hope there's at least one new and exciting read in this bunch for all you bloggers out there.... Until next time...... Happy Blogging... :)

What I've been up to.....

Kellie and I decided to do a little quilt swap with each other when we both missed out on the latest round of the 4 seasons quilt swap. We're still following all of the guidelines set out by this swap so it'll be a 'Spring' themed quilt. Our only difference will be that we'll know who our partner's are (I think that's better anyway)....
The snap shot above is just a little sneak peak for Kellie. It's by no means any where finished..... There's loads of embellishing in the form of embroidery and maybe even a little bit of applique to come let alone the quilting... The deadline to post is Monday fortnight but I'm hoping to get mine mailed out early this time, for a change.. :)

Now that the evenings are cooling down I've been feeling a real pull towards knitting. I started knitting this cardigan for my little princess on Saturday night. It's so super easy I should have it finished come the end of the week (fingers crossed).I'm using the most divine yarn that was sooo affordable. It's Soft by Carnival, is 8ply and was only $2.68 per 80g ball. Carnival was the brand of wool my Mum used to buy me when I first started to knit/crochet, it's not the most luxurious wool out there but for a machine washable yarn it's pretty good and makes knitting infants clothes that little bit more affordable. What's your opinion??? I'd loved to hear it. Have you ever used this yarn before??? What's your preference when knitting/crocheting kids cloths???

Lots of Goodies.....

I got a chance to go and visit my Mum at Cootamundra over the weekend.... It was great to catch up with her. On Saturday morning we popped by the local sewing shop and look at what we found...... A gorgeous jelly roll by Moda in the American Jane collection... Mum decided to buy it and seen as though I loved it so much she is now going to make me a quilt with it. We picked out a design together on Saturday night while pigging out on pizza's with my little sister. This week Mum will be sewing all of the strips together to make my quilt... I can't wait til my next visit so I can see how the whole thing is progressing.... I promise I'll keep you posted with some progress pics...... ;)

While we were in the sewing shop I also spotted this gorgeous tin and just had to have it and thanks to Mum I now do... (You really do spoil me too much MUM!!!!!)This is what was inside, 4 spools of gutermann threads, how fantastic is that.....While I was at Mum's I also got a chance to whip the little princess up 2 pairs of winter pajamas. I can't believe I drafted the pattern myself!! It was all thanks to Enid Gilchrists Sleepwear book, that women is a geneous!!! Here's the little princess modeling a pair.... She's just gotten out of bed in these pics and as you can tell by the big nest in the back of her hair she likes sleeping with the birds... LOL!!!I've had an idea floating around in my head for a while now and this morning I finally got a chance to make up my first prototype and here it is.....It's supposed to be a fabric flower brooch.... What do you think???? Does it look like a flower to you???? I'd love to hear what you think.....

PIF Exchange....

I participated in a PIF exchange back here. This is a sneak peak at the pressy that I'm sending out to Carolyn over at Comfy & Cosy. Hopefully receiving it makes her day... ;)
Now, only 2 more people to make pressies for and my round of the PIF is over... I'm hoping to have them mailed out sometime next week, fingers crossed...

I'm totally hooked on making washcloths at the moment... Here are my latest 2, both crochet and both made with the most divine yarn from Moda Vera called Bamboo/Cotton... I'll definitely be using this yarn again, it's gorgeous!!!! The first washcloth is called the Tulip Stitch Cloth and you can find the free pattern here.And the second wash cloth is called the Blossom Stitch Cloth and you can find the free pattern here.
I'll definitely be making the Tulip Stitch Cloth again it turned out absolutely beautiful!!!! Perfect for using as a face washer... The Blossom Stitch Cloth was a little tricky as there wasn't any instructions on how to do the picot edge. I did the best I could with the little crocheting knowledge I have...

Take care everyone and have a lovely weekend full of crafty goodness... ;)