A Goal for Christmas 2011

A while back during the hussle and bussle of finishing off things ready for Christmas, I mentioned to Marina and Carol about getting a head start on Christmas 2011. As far back as assignments for school, I was the one staying up late the night before getting them done.

So ... next year ... which is tomorrow for us Aussie girls ... we've decided to complete one Christmas item each month. It can be something for ourselves or something for gift giving. Then on the 25th of each month, we'll post a photo of the finished project.

Would you like to join us ... you are most welcome, just leave a comment on this post. We can all give encouragement to each other and I'll see about adding a list on my sidebar of participants.

My next Brutus is almost finished but not quite ready for a photo shoot so below is a pic of my very first quilt. It was started at a workshop in 1995 and even though it may look finished ... those horizontal lines you can see in 3 blocks are still the basting threads.

My other goal for 2011 is to attack my UFO's.

Happy New Year

Lost For Words

With the weather so mixed up ... rain, flood, snow and fires ... I'm lost for words.

Nature can be harsh but nature can also be beautiful. This little willy wagtail is just outside my dining room window on the awning bracket. I watched them (mum and dad) busyily building their home ... and then noticed much nesting ...


While they were out and quickly took this photo with the use of a mirror and what did I see?


I'm pleased to report that I have now seen mum or dad feeding tiny little beaks so I shall wait my chance for another photo.

Today while the rain stopped, we took a drive to check the creeks near home and spotted this fellow on the edge of the bush. Isn't his neck just the most beautiful blue.

Today was not only One Flower Wednesday ... but it's the last Wednesday for 2010. As I only managed to attach green hexies to 2 flowers, I'll wait till next week with a photo update.

Stay Safe

Brutus #6

Still sitting and stitching :o)

Brutus #6 is complete and I'm about to trace the next one ... I'll go back now and do number 5 next.

Please stay safe what ever your weather.

Stitch or Swim

Water water everywhere ... not just here but everywhere ... and if it's not raining, it's snowing. May you all stay safe.

The creeks and rivers in the area have been up and down for most of December. Sometimes flooding us in for a day or two ... and then we make a quick dash to town for supplies. At the moment we've been flooded in since the 20th ... so what's a crafty person to do? Sew of course.
This is Brutus #9 completed in one day ... now #6 is in my embroidery hoop and waiting in line are numbers 5, 7, 8 and 9b.

Christmas morning I was thrilled to open my goodies from Pat for our 6 Xmas Items Swap. Pat has truely spoilled me with such lovely goodies and I must wonder if she has been reading my mind. Fabric to play with, some yummy chocolates, nice smells, sewing accessories and the ideal item for rainy weather ... a 2 in 1 'Elm Creek Quilts' novel.


My heartfelt thanks to Pat ... and to Maree for organizing this great swap.

I have made many wonderful new friends through blogging and swaps in 2010 and look forward to those continued friendship and making new friends in 2011.

Thankyou Y

Merry Christmas

Yesterday I did a little baking ... oh boy are they delish!

Warm Wishes and a ...

Happy Christmas Eve

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas filled with love and laughter.

One Flower Wednesday

It's the last Wednesday before Christmas ... been raining all day ... perfect for gardening.

Another 5 flowers with their leaves have joined the bunch.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Hexie New Year.

Stormy Afternoon

Thankfully not severe like the storms through the week ... just lots of rumbling and lots and lots of rain. We've had 2 storms since lunch and water is gushing everywhere ... dams overflowing ... creeks breaking their banks ... and me enjoying some sewing.

With the end of December close I grabbed both my blue and tan scrap containers and my "100 Quilt Blocks" book for inspiration to tackle SAHRobin Round 6.


This month Kate's instruction were to add a 9" x 3" and a 4" x 3" piece to the left of our project.

I'm so happy with the way thes two projects have evolved and can't wait for January and the instructions for Round 7.

Friday Night Sew-in Results

Ages ago I was a lucky winner of Clare's Craftroom and won a pattern for her Catch-it Bag ... big thankyou to Clare. I don't think I blogged about it at the time because I was going to whip one up straight away and then share ... but time got the better of me.

So I decided to make one each for two little girls for Christmas and yesterday I finished this sweet pink bag.
What to work on for Friday Night Sew-In ... the second bag of course.

Sadly ... the weather was hot ... I was hot ... and my machine decided it was hot too ... and several arguments followed with much unpicking and I gave in. So I went and sat in front of the fan and made two each of matching 1" yo-yo's to make hair accessories.

I hadn't seen "The Santa Clause 3" before so I enjoyed watching/listening to it. Hope your Friday Night is productive.

Friday Night Sew-in

Looking forward to tonight ~ it's time for Friday Night Sew-In.

Planning now for a dinner that will almost cook itself with little clean-up afterwards ... "Santa Clause 3" is on TV ... thinking about which craft I will sit down with.

What will you be working on?

What's Keeping Me Busy

Photo heavy post ... you may like to make a warm or cool drink depending on the season.

December 1 was swap day with my good friend Kerry. Each year we think of a gift idea and swap for Christmas ... this year was a Christmas Decoration ... I made this Christmas Bauble with yo-yo's.

Kerry makes the most beautiful dolls and Santa now lives at my house ...

... along with his mates. Santa on the left rocks side to side and plays 'Jingle Bells'. The 2 cups I picked up at a Thrift Shop last year.

The last couple of weeks at work is always hectic and always sad to farewell those who are moving on to new adventures next year.

Last Friday we travelled to attend DD's Graduation Ceremony. Four years at Uni are now behind her and she begins a new chapter next year.

Our trip home Sunday brought with it the problem of too much water ... we eventually got home after making a much longer than usual trip. These are the creeks just around our home, luckily passable enough. The road to town was cut for 2 days when the river went over the bridge.

Tuesday we raced into town for more supplies and to finish Christmas Shopping incase we get flooded in again with the threat of more storms and waters yet to come down the river.

I had to bide my time knowing there was a parcel sitting at the post office waiting my collection ... finally safe and sound beneath my Christmas Tree ... my 5 parcels in the '6 Items Xams Swap' from lovely Pat. I was very impressed just with the wrapping and are you asking where is number 6?

I thought it OK to open the parcel tagged 'Christmas Item' and was thrilled to find this lovely table runner which I placed immediately on my dining table as I didn't have a Christmas Runner.

Pat also included some Christmas Ornaments which now hang on my little fibre-optic tree especially for swap ornaments. Thankyou Pat, I can soon open your other goodies. My parcel was posted to Carol but I forgot take a photo first. Hope you enjoy them Carol.

Last but not least, DD enjoys growing succulents and this little beauty was on show yesterday.

Grant the Sunrise Weather Guru is predicting more storms today so I hope you all stay safe.

Two more gifts to make so the sewing machine will be busy today.

One Flower Wednesday

This week I managed to make some more green hexie leaves and yesterday stitched them to some flowers ...

... now the 4 flowers above have become 10 flowers with their leaves attached.



Gee that makes me just over 1/4 of the way there ... not including a border of some sort.

Wishing you lots of hexagon time in the holidays.

Just a Couple of Things ... Quickly

Yes ... it's chocolate and it's keeping me going at the moment ... chocolate and caffiene!

Soon I will be able to take some 'time out', sit down and relax for a bit but until then I will make the most of a quiet morning and catch up with some blogs.

My good friend Kerry alerted me to In Stitches and their Holly Jolly Blog Bingo. There's not much time left to join in so click below to find out more.

This year I went for my PhD but don't think I quite made it so I'm hoping for a better result next year. Visit Myra's blog to find out how you too can achieve a PhD. I've set myself with 3 projects.

Sadly I struggled with Colourful Friday this week as 'Teal' had me stumped and time had me beat ... sorry :( Better pull my socks up and get crackin' as there's another busy week ahead.

Can't remember when we've had a full day of sunshine either so the washing is once again strung out on the verandah and we just won't mention the word housework.

Hope your weekend is what you want it to be.

Healing Hearts and O.F.W.

Not much to share for One Flower Wednesday today. I did manage to make 4 hexie leaves while waiting for other ladies to arrive for our last patchwork day for 2010.

Our day started with the regulation cuppa and added to this were some lovely yummy treats to celebrate our Christmas Break-up Morning Tea. We also finished the day with more yummy goodness for afternoon tea.

Time then for some machine applique on these heart blocks which I had prepared at home. These are my contribution towards Healing Hearts blocks and will be on their way to Shirley tomorrow.

Colourful Friday ~ Silver

'Silver'

I quick stroll around this morning brought these items to my attention ... without going into the cutlery draw or my purse for silver coins. Even worked out how to take a picture of my camera with itself.

How silver is your Friday?

When Things All Fall Into Place

Ever have one of those times when everything just seems to fall into place? They don't happen often enough but lucily for me it did for me.

The rain stopped and the sun tried to shine ... the road was JUST passable ... and I was able to make it into town to enjoy one of these! (also had to keep the chemist in business - nasty bugs keep hanging on)


So what's great about that you ask? ... I had the absolute pleasure of sharing time with Robyn of Daisy Quilts. Thanks Robyn ... it was wonderful to meet up with you ... I could have kept chatting all day. :o)

Now this week has been rolling along gathering speed. No time for flowers on Wednesday, I've been busy sewing costumes for school concert which is only a week away.

Still stitching at night and Brutus and the Sisters have now joined the other finished blocks (just as soon as I give them a press)

Some other stitching has also been happening. Myself and 3 friends in our local patchwork group are taking part in Helen's 'Stitching Round the Block'. As we only meet once a month, that is when we'll swap our pieces around, so next Wednesday will be our first swap. Here's a sneak peak at my colour choice.

Today is also Silver Friday so I hope to post later on with some silver pictures ... how can I take a picture of my camera ... with my camera?

Saturday Catch-up

I seem to be making a habit of playing catch-up.

Below are two cross stitches that I did for my son and daughter...not before I had already done 7 for friends and family on the birth of their children. The nice thing though was that my two had a say in the design of their cross stitch. They helped choose which pictures were added to their Birth Record as I planned each design out on graph paper.

I have managed to play with fabric this week ... little yo-yo's for a secret project.

One stitchery completed and my next Brutus stitchery is almost ready to share. Maybe when I can grab another spare minute in the day?

Don't forget to try and find some 'me' time in your week ... I know ... it can seem almost impossible at times. What do you do for 'me' time?

Wednesday and Friday Catch-up

Wednesday seems so long ago ... I've made a start on my filler hexies and have decided to go with green for leaves. Thankyou for all your comments on my colour choice in a previous post ... they were very helpful. I've worked it out that by joining two 'leaves' to each hexie, when I place them down, the gaps are filled.


Around rolled Friday and I was nowhere near my computer to share my photos for Colourful Friday's brown/chocolate or to go visiting other blogs. You'll find more chocolatey goodness over at Guest Host Bev C.

No time for Friday Night SewIn this month either :(

Then along comes Saturday/Sunday ... family ... and non-stop rain ... so I've grabbed a quick moment to keep in touch and then I'm off to bake some scones for morning tea. Stay tuned for Saturday's Cross Stitch photos. While you're waiting pop over to Chookyblue to see who else is cross stitching.

Pincushion Swap and a Special Book

Camera in hand it was off to town on Friday and a visit with mum. She also took part in the Pincushion Swap hosted by Jeannet and here is the lovely pincushion made by Lyda in Holland.
Mum has a picture of the pincushion she made and sent to Lyda on her camera but that will be require a longer visit to be able to share the picture.

Some very special mail arrived about a month ago and I keep meaning to post but haven't got round to it until today.

I finally took the plunge had 1/3 of my blog reproduced in a book at Blog2Print. I had followed the link from Chookyblue quite a while ago but was never game to go through with it. Now I wish I had done it sooner and will be going ahead with the next installment shortly, especially while the dollar is up. (This book titled 'Country Roses' covers my blog before I changed the name to 'Nells Notions')

It's so wonderful to be able to leaf back to when I started blogging and have 'ah-ha' moments. Like a diary with pictures ... full of memories! And yes that is my 'blue moon' rose on the front cover. The back cover has a photo of my feline girls.

The weather is drizzly here today and I have lots of sewing or stitching in mind. Hope you have a creative day too!

Colourful Friday ~ Lilac

Friday once more!
Lilac?
Actually it's supposed to be Lavender

I have no idea WHY I thought lilac but the photos still work...good thing I had a photo of lavender products (bottom right).

A colour I thought I didn't have much of until I opened my eyes. The jacaranda tree has left a carpet of lilac on the ground now. I almost missed this Spring quilt haning in my lounge ... my first swap quilt received in the Four Seasons Quilt Swap. And of course I must have hexies in nearly every colour. Taking centre place is 'Blue Moon' and top right is a sewing mat I made for a gift.

I'm looking forward to all the lovely lilac to found in blogland today. :o)

SAHRobin Round 5

Sunday today and I've been on a bit of a go slow ... enjoying the break from the hustle and bustle.

I did bring out the cutting mat, cutter, rulers and two clear shoeboxes of fabric bits and pieces ... put my thinking cap on ... and came up with the next step for the SAHRobin.


Step 5 asked us to add a 4"x6" piece and a 4"x7" piece to the top of our blocks creating a 4"x13" piece addition. It takes me longer to think about what to do and choose the fabrics than it does to sew them up.

The blue one below is a little different. I wanted to use two 4"x4" blocks so the checkers had to be 4"x5".

I'm really enjoying the challenge and love how the two blocks are following their own direction. If you'd like to see more wonderful creations by other quilters, Kate has a blog just for Stay-at-Home Robin.

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