Quilting Owl

Happy Christmas to all my wonderful friends out there in blogland.  It has been an amazing experience venturing into this world in cyberspace and I really appreciate and value the friendship and wonderful comments from my loyal followers.  I hope you all have a really wonderful day today and enjoy the rest of the holiday season. Well the house is now cleaner than it was and somewhat tidy although I am sure that will not last long.  Santa has been and the tree is looking very tempting with lots of goodies for Peter and me under it - we are really just two big kids at Christmas!!! I thought I would share this special hand stitched gift I received from Lesleigh which now lives on the chair in our Studio.  Lesleigh stitches everything by hand and never uses a machine or iron and does wonderful work.  Thank you again Lesleigh for this beautiful present. Peter received a hand made card and lovely letter from one of his grandsons who is 7 years old which is n...

While working on some of our Christmas preparations today I kept thinking about the incredibly happy Christmases I had when growing up in the family home in Clovelly, Sydney.  This photo was taken on Christmas Eve circa 1967 (I am the one in pink with the alice band) just after the big exchange of Christmas presents.  There was always a large family gathering on Christmas Eve and that was when we usually opened our presents.  My magnificent Mother would put on a wonderful spread and then back up again the next day with a big sit down lunch for about 14 or more if we had a waif or stray to add to the family group.  Then on Christmas night neighbours and friends would come to join the party. Tomorrow (or I should say later today) I will do some cleaning, add a few more decorations, wrap presents and generally get ready for the big day - luckily I can leave the food side of things to Peter. Till next time Frances

I finally cleared enough space in our living room to put up our Christmas Tree.  This is a task which I really enjoy doing and usually have pangs of nostalgia as I unwrap each piece.  Most of our decorations have been handmade by friends, people who have worked in our shop or by myself and have been collected over the last 14 years or so since we moved to Far North Queensland.  Every year I get to add a few more and the most recent addition was a lovely gift from Karen - a new angel for the top of the tree. These are just a few of my most treasured decorations - a crazy patch boot a cross stitch and beaded angel Redwork Hardanger Till next time Frances

I have always loved baskets of all shapes and sizes and they have also proved to be a popular theme for me when designing quilts. My all time favourite quilt which I designed and made some years ago was "Blooming Baskets" which was published as a project in Australian Patchwork & Quilting Vol 18 Nos 1, 2 and 3.  When there is the odd cool night in Cairns this is the quilt I like to cuddle up with.  It was made as a class quilt with different forms of applique and was a very popular class for me. "Baskets Bright & Beautiful" was a quilt I designed and finished a few months ago and is currently available as a kit from Cairns Craft Centre. I believe that no Baltimore style quilt would be complete without a basket block and this will be going into my quilt. I love using baskets for projects and once I had all my hand stitching WIPs in lots of different baskets until they became too numerous and I ran out of space. Baskets are great...

It has taken me quite a while to get into the Chrismas spirit but it really felt like Christmas was just around the corner when I was out shopping today - there were gangs of young teenagers just released from institutions for their 6 weeks summer holiday, screaming kids, a queue out the door of the post office and the shops absolutely laden with merchandise. It was especially lovely to get these early Christmas presents from special stitching friends. Crystal owls for the studio   Owl pins to add to my pin quilt Now all I have to do is finish my shopping, write our Christmas cards, finish a few special Christmas projects and create order out of absolute chaos in the studio and house.  Thinking about all this has made me tired so I will do a Scarlet O'Hara because "tomorrow is another day". Till next time Frances

The usual suspects gathered on Sunday morning for the end of year get together of the Sunday Stitching Group.  Peter once again weaved his magic in the kitchen so there was yummy food to eat and lots of wonderful projects for Show & Tell to inspire us.  Here are some of the highlights! Heather brought along this fun "I Spy" quilt which she made for her grandson and which has been much loved and used. Karen has been busy making some Christmas wall quilts for gifts from a pattern in "Patchwork & Stitching".  It is always interesting to see the same design but in different colourways. Jenny was working on the latest block in the Baltimore quilt and she has used the broderie perse technique for the fruit in the design. Joan's quilt has moved another stage with her design and applique has been added to the light value blocks. Thora has now completed a quarter of the "Pies and Tarts" quilt by Sue Daley and it is certainly coming together nic...

Peter is good at surprises and found these really cute Christmas novelty thimbles to add to the collection.  Now I just need a stand to put them on.  I seem to have outgrown the one that is currently being constructed (a WIP) but maybe if I am lucky Santa will bring one for me. We went to a Christmas Gift Fair last week and I couldn't resist these owls.  The larger one is made from recycled fabrics and the smaller one is made of folded paper (sort of origami) and lacquered.  They are very different to the other owls I have collected so far. I couldn't resist a new doll "Lily" which I found at the Fair which was giving out "take me home" vibes.  Another one for the menagerie gathering in a corner of the Studio. Till next time Franes