PHEW!!!!!!!!!  
It has been an AGE since I was last here and finally I have made it back.
I have several stories as to why I have been absent, but I would bore you with what is essentially LIFE. We all have it and we all juggle and manage it so in that way I am just the same.

However will say I would have been back a little sooner but as I just sat down to post a story a couple of weeks ago, the computer stopped, blank screen.....and now its fixed, all good.

I lost my confidence a little in my photographic skills, I have struggled and struggled to take a good shot of this quilt.

It was one I also struggled to finish! The original recipe called for strips of old tablecloth needleworks with a strip of light organza and raw silk and satin ribbon. I blithely carried on and sewed these various materials together, laid it on the bed and everything shredded! Yeah like who didn't see that one coming!.....me obviously.

Lesson 1: silk will shred, hmmm maybe I can stabilise it...which I did and it worked a treat. 
Lesson 2: organza will shred too, replace with good old cotton.

Then I tried and tried and tried to find the main material in which to highlight the green silk, tres difficult....no really......white was a shocker, which I only realised AFTER I had sewn it up.

Lesson 3: don't assume white goes with everything, sometime it just doesn't!

Finally to my surprise I found a pale lilac which made the green silk work well. "Great" I said now we are getting somewhere.

Then I tried to quilt it with a cross hatch.....

Lesson 4: cross hatch requires accuracy, don't free hand it.......lots of unpicking.......and lots of accurate 45deg marking and sewing its finally done!

 The backing was a vintage sheet which picks up the pink in the front, did well there.

I knew that the needlework would look great but I was really surprised as to how much better sad, tired and worn out pieces can look when chopped up into smaller pieces. No new and wonderful cloths were destroyed to make this, it was all old and torn pieces where I could salvage the stitchery.

So there you have it folks. The quilt of dramas, I must have made, unpicked and made this quilt three times over, and then I just couldn't get a decent photo of it!!

I sorta gave up then, packed the camera away and went and did some other things to clear my head a little.

                         One of which was this little beauty. 

It is a DMC kit by Isabelle Baird, the most magnificent painter of flowers I have come across in cross stitch. This is the second one I have done of her roses and can I just put this out there......if anyone has the anemone kit....can we talk? These kits sold out and I would just love it if someone wanted to sell it on, or any other arrangement we could come to.

And this, 2 ply wool is perfect for a soft dense pom pom.

Bit of this, work in progress, odd balls of 8 ply wool, every now and then when I feel the urge.

And this, large 2 inch sided hexagons for my ongoing Brigette Giblin creation.

So life is ongoing, it may stop me talking to the blog now and then but not forever. I mean who else can I share my exploits with than other bloggers who get the craft thing.

Well its good to be back, hope the next break isn't so long and my camera will sing to me again.

BREAKING a few routines here......

Dont tell anyone but instead of rushing around doing my chores I am sitting here blogging and enjoying myself a great deal I may add.

I have just read Joys blog and was inspired by the hearts theme of Valentines day to blog today. Also because I have a bevy of images to show. I love hearts and they feature in a few items in my house.

This is for you Joy

But the piece I really want to share is my heart quilt.

What do you think.....too much? 
Nah too much is never enough with hearts in my book. I saw this pattern in American Jane's book "Quilts for all seasons...and some for no reason". I had picked this up on special at a quilt show and I cannot tell you how many quilts I want to make from this publication.

I had the perfect fabrics in my stash to start the quilt and was determined to use them. I pieced this fabric so I could use it and I am not disappointed, I mean I could have rushed out and bought some more but sometimes quilting is about making do so I did!

Had some of this floating around, again a bargain picked up at a quilt fair. Sometimes a bargain is too good to think about too much.

Some more detail

Now I dont know what happened here, I cannot get the image to rotate so if I could just ask you to tilt your head......Thanks

Ok have you has enough now?
You get the drift it is smothered with hearts, all hand appliqued onto background squares. 
I did have to go and purchase the red background fabric and the mostly red fabric because at the time I only had pastels and florals in my stash. Have more red now.

 Agonised over the backing fabric, I do I really do, sometimes more than I fuss over the quilt top. Somehow the backing fabric becomes the reason I dont finish a quilt. I think it has something to do with a wonderful quilt teacher who told me that backings were important because that is the sight you see when you pull it up over your body.

Anyway this was just the ticket for me.

Had some fun on picmonkey.

So I hope you embrace the fun meaning of Valentines day, my hubby and I dont go all out for it these days because our love is every day.

But I send you all some love and hope because that is what I receive from others in blog land and I would LOVE it if you found some here or even there. It dont matter where you find it really.

Love to you all and I may even link this with crazy mom quilts on Friday. But because todays Wednesday it wont happen yet.

I Have A Finish To Show...

 Once upon a time there were three little blocks......

Who got together on a design wall and had a party.

Soon they had organised themselves into this....

Not bad, but there was still more to be done.

Bit of this.....

Bit of that...

Bit of the other.....

Ta da da da da da daaaahhhhhhh.

(see the little dog he is seriously impressed)

And again for those who were busy talking and missed the first stage bow....encore encore the crowd yells..

All hand quilted and machine pieced.

I am proud of this and every stitch was worth the end result. I first saw this in a magazine in 1998, and finally it lives in my home.

I hope my next completion is not so long in fruition. 

I know it wont be because back then I had a desire but no real clue, now I have learnt a bit more and have the confidence to proceed. 

I even designed the quilting myself! I pondered on what to put in the large yellow blocks, a floral pattern didnt seem to suit, so a discovered the spiderweb pattern. I found a template at a craft show but it didnt fit the size of the space. I actually improvised and used the position of the spokes from the template as a guide and drew each block freehand. 

It is quilted in perle cotton in three colours. Pink, white and yellow.

And a voile backing......because I fell in love with that fabric.

It is soft and pretty and almost the first one JUST for ME.

Sigh.......so happy......big smug smile on dial.

OOOOpppps, little slip in blogger etiquette here,

linking up with Finish up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts

Its an new year, its a new day........

It is what it is.....

I have had a magnificent start to my new year....no dramas...so far.
I cannot tell you how I love peace and quiet, how I crave calm and gentle rythmns and slow breathing. That is why I love to sit and stitch and see a slow unfurling of a project as it ever so slowly comes to fruition.

Mind you there are days I want a little more and that is when I shop!! 

I have had my first little completion for 2014.

Here it is as it sat patiently on my design wall. A project that I had worked on slowly throughout last year.
It is a pattern from the fab website of Anna Maria Horner, a generous crafter and designer (whom I hope receives as much if not more than she so generously gives.) I am constantly inspired by those who live with such a generous mindset. It is something I am trying to remind myself to do more often.

I was given the fabric by a dear friend, and it has some emotion attached to it, making this a very heartfelt quilt. 
My friend lost her sister to cancer recently, the fabric was collected from sewing projects the sisters had done over their childhood years. I was handed a bag, and my friend said, "Please have these, I know you will use them and I cant stand looking at them anymore"

To me they were just so lively and pretty, I knew as soon as I saw them that I would use them in that pattern by Anna Maria Horner.

So it was a lot of cutting and sewing of strips.

A lot of cutting and resewing but as I did a little every now and then, I got closer and closer to the final end result.

This pattern is just made for scraps and bright eclectic mixes of colour. Thank you Anna Maria, you have spread your good will to someone you may never meet but my friends sister lives on thanks to your creativity.

My friend was also generous to me allowing me to make such a wonderful quilt. 

Now I knew that my friend was stuck in some sadness when she gifted the fabric to me, so I used all and any of the scraps left from the quilt to make her a gift.

I am happy to say she was well pleased, now she can see the fabric and have fond and happy memories rather than the responsibility of "doing" something with it.

I also had more to make this bag, which I think will be handed on to my friend as she loves a tote bag also, and I have too many. This sweet pattern is from Annie Downs of Hatched and Patched.

I have so much fun making things such as this, and as much fun giving them to people I know who will use them.

For me the joy is often in the creative process, the making NOT always the having....but sometimes I do like to keep a special quilt and this one will be that. A generous gift and a great friend who entrusted me with her precious memory.

Now I know a lot of people use this time of year to make promises, set goals yada yada, yada. 

 I think self improvement is admirable, I think goals are totally necessary, so I am learning to be kind and love who I am in all my wonky, crazy glory. I am who I am, complex, flawed , not perfect but I get up each day wondering not what I can do to improve me, but how I can make something that will improve someone else's world a little. Works for me.

CHRISTMAS HAS COME....and gone .......just like that!

Oh the joy of it all, and no I am sorta not being sarcastic but I sorta am.
I work for a church and for me I get to experience the two sides of this festive season. I observe the coming of advent, the anticipation of the birth of a special child, the religious meaning that will be different to all around the world.
Then I get to see the stress and anxiety trying to make this one day of the year.."perfect". OH BOY.

How do we humans manage to sometimes suck the fun out of these things? And I will confess that I was one of those perfectionists once. 
I blame advertising personally, all those images of happy gift giving families that come together and are happy in each others company. 
It hurts when your own family isn't quite like that and you have no other comparison as a child, no other family that tries to get along but just doesn't quite make it.....well join with me and realise we can only do the best we can.

My daughter is overseas this year, my son has a fabulous relationship with a young woman whose birthday is Christmas Day and my mother would rather be with my sister in another state now she is widowed. 

This year I was free of all expectations and stress. 

I was happy for my daughter and her travels, she will be back and we will enjoy each others company another time, just not at Christmas. My son will be back home soon having spent a wonderful day with his other family and we will talk again, not just at Christmas. My mother will return and we will continue to try and get along, just not at Christmas.

I have dropped all expectations for this one day, ignored all the hype and spent time with those who are here today.

I have greeted neighbours with a cheery smile and hope to catch up again, not just at Christmas. Don't get me wrong, I am just as excited as anyone about Christmas but if it goes a little awry then I dont get upset, its only one day and it doesn't need the stress of being perfect.

Before my daughter left to travel she made this little village from a kit. 

How sweet is that, I loved taking photos and imagining what it would be like to see real buildings decorated like that.

Found some sweet chocolates for adding to the festive feel.

Was given a sweet gift 

And made and sent a little something to a dear penpal.

The pin cushion is a Anna Maria Horner design and the house from Kajsa Wikman's book "Scandinavian Stiches".

I had so much fun on these little projects and enjoy sending them onto other people, somewhat quicker than a quilt and still says handmade with love.

I also received a lovely gift from my penpal Dagmar, who I have really enjoyed getting to know. This is why I am happy all year around not just at Christmas.

A little cosmetic bag, with a very clever zip placement.

The zip spirals from the top corner to the lower corner.

And inside the purse was a bundle of fabric squares, I am so pleased to receive such a suprise and I have a scrap project that will use these squares in many ways.

Thank you Dagmar.

I can thank this blog for this friendship, as Dagmar contacted me via email through this medium. I write on with such joy in my heart as you never know where things will lead. 

So Christmas is gone and .....oh don't get me started on New Years Resolutions.....but that's another story.

Heres to further joy and NOT JUST AT CHRISTMAS!!!