where did February go?

Just had a wonderful weekend with stitching buddies at Two Rivers Winery in Denman, Hunter Valley…. Lots of stitching, laughter, bubbles and yummy food.

Lea, Kylie, Cardy and Karen

Rain Rain Rain! ... fantastic

 I worked on my 9 patch swap quilt.

Kylie worked on her BOM

                                                                               
                                         Cardy's wedding ring got another row

Just loving Cardy's circle game…nearly finished

Raelee working on her Violet quilt

a birthday present from Cardy..just love it… so does my tea pot!

It is so good to be back in civilisation for a few days and having friends to chat too… but I will be heading bush again tomorrow….. Back to look after my cows.

I don't get good internet coverage at the farm…so thats why you might think I have disappeared from the bloggersphere. (and I have!!)

Just to fill you in on what I have been doing.
Our farm is Very Dry.. and we need to feed the cattle.

 We have been buying loads of wheaten stubble

 And loads of sorghum stubble

Also pellets…7 ton of pellets!!

 I have to bag the pellets and take them out to the cows.

 I have 63 little calfs to feed…they eat calf pellets and hay….they are very well behaved

 To get the hay on the truck I have to use the car on one side of the truck…a ramp on the other side, with a strap under the roll of hay...

 I then attach the rope to the tow ball of the car and drive the car… very slowly away till the hay rolls up onto the truck..

 I then manoeuvre the roll around to the back of the tray and then put another roll up. (doesn't always work!)

I then take it out to the hungry cows… And have to roll it off!

 This has taken over my stitching time… But Girls Day In The Country is on in Nundle in 2 weeks and I can't wait!!
Looking forward to catching up at GDITC
Till next time
Floss

still here!!

Gosh 2014 already!!

I packed up the Christmas decorations today and thought… Why?…in the blink of an eye it will be Christmas again!

I've been in and out of cyber space… one minute I can connect… the next I can't .. therefore I appear to have disappeared .. but I'm still here!…. sometimes

I have been hiding at our farm… very Hot and dry and trying to get hay to feed our stock.

One nosey horse called Ben… looking for a cup of tea!

Sunset…Mum and the kids!

The sport and rec camp!… At least we have water and palm trees!!

Who needs a gym?

WHOOPS!

At least I've been working on a few projects…… Baskets…. It's starting to look like a bit of an addiction!…. and each one is getting bigger

And a quilt for a new little bub called Jimmy.

Its a Jen Kingwell design… just so cute with elephants and different coloured quilting stitches in pearle 5 thread. …(just have to do the binding)   It really is a lot brighter in real life!

 A book to go with the quilt… Its about a patchwork elephant called Elmer…such a cute story by David McKee

Another gift for a new baby,..called Margot ( as if you couldn't guess!)
Its a towel with her name on it!.. just need to do the stitching around the letters and its done!

Heres cheers to a productive new year!

till next time

Floss

Christmas giving

How awesome is it to receive a handmade gift from someone on the other side of the world... who you have never met!!   ... I felt very special!!
Chookyblue and Googygirl did an amazing job of co-ordinating the SSCS.... Thank you so much girls!!
I was thrilled to discover my Secret Santa was May Kristin from Norway.

She made this beautiful table runner. She worked out I like bright colours... and used gorgeous yellow tones with a soft grey background... I just LOve it!!... Thank you so much May Kristin.

As an added surprise she sent little gifts to be open on days leading up to Christmas day.
There was a beautiful heart to go on the Christmas Tree ...Christmas serviettes (that were used on the day) and a french general little fabric pack...Just gorgeous!!

Hope everyone had a Wonderful day
Cheers Floss

Trees of the Christmas kind

Muswellbrook's branch of the Red Cross hold a Christmas tree display every 2 years.
Local groups and individuals enter a tree or wreath.
Friday night was the announcement of the winners, and our embroiderer's  group wreath was placed 2nd!!  YaY!
I love this display as it is a great community event and the trees are usually "outside the square".

 The winner of the wreath section.. Georgia.
  Suffolk puffs and buttons... just beautiful

                                                                                      

The Embroiderer's wreath.....and another blogger,  Raelee

                                    The Pre School tree- 1st place

 Sponsor's choice winner ..Sth Muswellbrook School
  With Julie  ..(still no blog)!

Thimblestitch came to visit on Friday. I didn't get the camera out!!  But we had a lovely day of stitching, shopping and lunch!
It was suggested by 'the queen of zipper pouches' that I use this material to cover a footstool I found at an op shop....( I was going to make a zipper pouch!)... so here it is... I was so impressed.. I covered a chair as well!!

till next time
I hope your tree is up!
Floss

SSCS delivered

I am so excited to receive my SSCS parcel from Norway!!... I Love Norway! (on the bucket list... I'll get there one day)
I don't know who its from yet... But I know it will be lovely!

 Little parcels to open on the lead up to Christmas....like advent parcels!

This is the ornament I got to open already.... its just so gorgeous!

 .... the tree is going up today! (its on the to do list!)

Thank you so much to my swap partner ....and to those great little Christmas elves Chooky and Googie girl for organising this amazing swap!...
Its just so lovely to receive a gift from a secret sewing friend on the other side of the world.

Enjoy your day....I'm going to be wrapped in tinsel and lights.
till next time
Floss

Reunions

Last post was all about retreats...this theme continues with reunions!

I'm currently working away from home and last night went out to dinner with my old flatmate from college days.
Then a total surprise ...an old school friend of mine joined us!
I hadn't seen or heard about Bev for 37 years... I didn't even know she lived here!
Lyn knows Bev through playing hockey.....and organised the surprise when she discovered we went to school together in Cowra.
Needless to say... it ended up a very late night filled with tears of laughter as we reminisced about the good 'ol days.. and caught up on all the happenings in between.

It amazes me how people can connect after so many years and it feels like only yesterday when we were at college or school together....
 (I didn't get a photo... but I'm sure it won't be 37 years till we meet again!)

When I was in America last year, with Kerry's Needle and thread tour....a man asked me if we were a group of Ya Ya's.... not knowing the term...I was unsure!  Then I found a plate with the explanation ....

Ya Ya's.....a group of 3 or more women whose hearts and souls are united by laughter and tears shared through the glorious journey of life.

 

Recently that little group of Kerry's got together again for a stitching weekend in Nundle at The Cottage on the Hill.
What a lovely weekend of catching up and reminiscences of a wonderful holiday shared.

 We each worked on projects we bought in the USA.

 I cut little triangles for days.....to get 1/2 a block sewn together...only to find one corner was wrong!!!
It was wrong in the diagram on the pattern... so it wasn't because I had too much to drink!!
Oh well ...at least a lot of preparation was done!

I thought I'd share this gorgeous picture of a little girl checking her doll's teeth.
The dolls name is Darling. ...I just love my job when I have little clients like this!!

Just how cute is that?












Till next time
Floss