The girl's sewing day!

Over past months our sewing days have been sparse compared the fortnightly routine of last year, and with the prospect of more than a few months before our next one we made the most of today's get together at my place!

 An extra highlight was celebrating Heather's birthday...

When your friends are as much fun as mine (plus crazy, loopy and downright lunatics) you can count on aching sides the next day from over-use of laugh muscles. 

We plied the birthday girl with (in this order) presents, coffee, lemon and blueberry muffins, curry, tea and more muffins....

 

Lots of smiles...

(Barb and Wendy)

(Michelle)

...chatter over work and study...

...and spreading the news on Facebook for one some.

You may not believe it but between nibbles and coffee and lunch and tea we actually got some stitching done!

While Michelle continued working on her bag (here), Wendy showed us how much she'd completed of Little Miss Shabby's free "Quilty Stitches" (love the colours)...

...plus this really pretty BOM by Nikki Tervo she's working on.

Barb is continuing to stitch a bunting for her niece from the Rosedaisy  Alphabet...

...and Heather has begun her Christmas stitching. 

(don't forget to head over here to her blog to say happy birthday!)

I started a brand new design for later in the year - only a little sneak peek for you, though...

And just to prove I'm real...

I've actually been auditioning photos to send to Homespun Magazine with a project of mine they're publishing in the February 2015 issue. The magazine will also include an interview with me so they requested an accompanying pic, but you know it's a bit intimidating to be sending self photos to a magazine so I had to choose carefully.

Anyhow, I've chosen this one after getting the nod from Mr E...of course, he is biased. Gotta love that in a husband. ;-)

I hope you've had some fun stitchy time with a friend or two recently. 

It's SO good for the laugh muscles...

hugs

Heather: our hostess with a heart of gold...

Yesterday we had  a sewing day at Heather's and after all this time I thought I should share a bit more about my lovely friend!

She is an amazing cook...

...and stitches beautiful things for her home.

(free stitchery pattern here at Bakercourt)

She likes to test out my tutorials...

...and give my designs her own sweet spin.

Her creative space is welcoming, and I often go in and don't come out for a loooooong time...

In fact when she finds me I get escorted out if she discovers the odd fat quarter bundle or two hidden under my shirt...

 It's so neat and organised. I love organised.

But the nicest thing?

Wendy couldn't make it today and we sure missed her sunny smiles, but with the remaining four of us around the table the laughter flowed and the stitching slowed as usual....

Barb is making a pretty bunting banner for her niece from the Rosedaisy Alphabet pattern. What a great idea! Read how Barb prepared this project here on her blog...

Michelle is busy stitching pockets for a bag design. You can see how she created these blocks here on her blog...

I worked away on my newest stitchery design which features two of my favourite Cottage Garden threads, Cherry Blossom and Murray Pine...

What a wonderful way to wind up a week!

hugs

 

Back to normal things again...

After a huge last couple of weeks, it was good to be back to normal life routines once more.

I'm a natural routine person, a lover of the predictable...though occasional detours for adventure are rather normal too. Call me weird. Mr E does.

Monday sewing this week was at Heather's house and though Wendy wasn't able to make it, we three 'remaining' stitchers still had our usual great time together.

Now as you know, and as you often mention in your comments, we like to put on a really good 'food spread' at our stitching days - but we three made a unanimous decision not to share any food photos this week!

I will show you what we drank, though.

Water, and lots of it! 

It was a scorcher on Monday so we made sure to keep up the liquids and drank plenty of water between our cups of tea and coffee. 

Do you like the sweet blue coasters Heather made? No matter how hard we tried, Michelle and I were unable to steal them...(but there's always next time)...

Let me show you what was stitched by us girls.

HEATHER has been making...

 Block one from Monica Poole's "Happiness" BOM currently being published in Australia's "Homespun" magazine...

A fussy cut appliqued ginger cat...

How clever is her fussy cutting for the butterfly wings and the flowers?

Heather's also making a stitched version of her cat!

MICHELLE has been busy...

Appliqueing the front of baby's singlets for her niece's brand new baby boy...

Finishing another 'colorque' block, ready for backstitch outlining...

...and continuing with her farmyard stitcheries.

And what did I stitch today?

At Let's Get Stitched I fell in love with Dawn's project, "The Preston Bag"! 

Using Osnaburg fabric for the feature block background, and a gorgeous skein of Cosmo Seasons variegated thread, I made a start at Heather's yesterday...

But you know, we talked so much, and we spent a lot of time browsing Heather's stash, so by the end of our stitching time all I'd done was a tree branch! Never mind, I'll make sure I sit and stitch today...

We *love* taking photos and comparing them...

...and we found the perfect place to take 'selfies'!

It was another fun day with my BFFs, and I can't wait for our next gathering in two weeks time at Wendy's.

NEWS FLASH! 

Michelle has finally started a blog! \o/\o/

 Make sure you drop by HERE and say hi - she's the cheekiest one of our gang, in case I've forgotten to mention that before, and you'll love her!

Giveaway Winner

Thanks to everyone who entered my Rosedaisy Alphabet Giveaway!

The winner of the pdf pattern set is 

BRENDA

Congratulations, Brenda!

I loved all the comments you left, with many of you wanting to make one or more of these alphabet blocks for loved ones. How special a gift for them that would be! I'm sorry you couldn't all win, but don't worry, the pattern set is still available HERE in my shop as an instant pdf download - all 26 blocks in one file.

Tomorrow I have some very 'cool' photos to share with you.

I wonder if you can guess where Mr E took me on Sunday? "Cool" is a hint...

hugs