a hexie adventure, some tea cosies and lovely blogger friends

Well there was no chance of lacking inspiration for a title today.
On Friday I headed out to buy the little lobster clasps to make the handle for my hexie purse. Found all the right bits and pieces! We were ready for our Sunday meeting.

This morning my purse and I headed out for a bloggy meet at the Mansion in Bundoora.

Right ready to go... After taking a slightly wrong turn at Albequerque I made it to the mansion and thankfully Tracey arrived so I knew that I was in the right place.
My purse was welcomed lovingly and there was even an offer of it to be shared amongst the group, some quality time with each person, then there was the suggestion that I could make one for each of the girls!

Here is the wonderful group of ladies that I spent the afternoon with..

left to right-Annette-Jindi's cottage, Christine-Macdonalds patch, Simone- quilts and cats, Elyte- Tea fabric and other things, Melody-House on the hill, Tracey-Mistea Crafts and Yours truly on the end.
We chatted, ate, chatted, drank, chatted, ate, chatted and looked at tea cosies, and of course chatted some more.
Here are some of the tea cosies at the exhibition.

 the brown one at the rear of this trio is Tracey's creation. Rapunzel lowering her hair from her tower window to a Prince below (who is hidden ).

There will be another meet happening in the future as we all had a great time.
Maybe even a hexie support group?
Thankyou girls for such a lovely day.
cheers
marina

titles....

It's so hard to think of a post title sometimes?
I feel a bit like Maisie in this photo lately. The next holidays can't arrive quickly enough.  I haven't been as crafty as I would like but last weekend I cut out all the bits for my block 7 of down in the garden and got it sewn up! I was so happy to have done it and quite happy with the arrangement too. As you know I tend to over think things sometimes and I have found that I could have 'colour themed' the blocks a little better instead of just randomly putting the colours. This happened with my boys story top too. If I had have just thought a bit more at the start it may have made fabric placement a little easier as ironically it is hard to be random sometimes!
Nevertheless here is block 7...

I had a lovely parcel arrive this week too.... Oddbjorg in Norway sent me my gift for winning her blogaversary giveaway.Her sewing is just so amazingly perfect. We have previously been swap partners and I was lucky to have received some beautifully made goodies the little zipped pocket is just gorgeous but then she popped all the little extras inside. Some beautiful lace and look at those gorgeous buttons and blue fabric too. Oddbjorg knows my favourite colour.The buttons are going to be perfect for a project I have waiting to make it's way to the top of the list and wouldn't you know it it also involves hexie flowers!

.Well must get off this computer as I need to go to Spotlight to get some bits to make a handle for my hexie purse as we have a very special outing this Sunday. Will fill you in then...
Last month I was early with my christmas Item and this month I will be a little late. I am going to try to finish quilting a tts hanging over the weekend so hopefully next week there will be a Christmas reveal.

Happy stitching
marina

catching up..

Having been busy stitching away and not much blogging happening here but today I will play catch up in showing you what I have been busy with.
I managed to finish my hexie purse for myself for Mother's day and I liked my gift very much. My quest to have things as perfect as I can takes over sometime and I had to redo my gumnut babies hexies as they didn't sit right with the direction these hexies sit. I also misjudged the way the pattern went and they were upside down anyway. I just couldn't live with that so had to unpick and redo. Call me obsessive, I'll take it. When you compare the two gumnut hexies you can see why they wouldn't have sat properly..Wish I was as obsessive with the sewing up part, it just isn't my forte or passion, just a necessary part of finishing an item. The frame is stitched on with linen thread and was by far the hardest part of putting it together. I don't think I got feeling back in my thumb and middle fingertips for a few days after.
I am so happy with the result though.

"I'm happy with where we ended up, aren't you?'
"oh yes just as long as that bee keeps his distance"

'I'm just glad I am not tilting!'

 I had a small stash of wool tartan that I have had for years, leftovers from a smocked dress. I thought it would be perfect for my purse lining. Couldn't throw these little babies away so they got a special spot to sit.

'we got a cosy spot here?'

the cross stitch sal item got finished too. Just needs a little stretching into shape and a press. I think it might look pretty framed-keep all my blue and white cross stitcheries company.

Before I even thought about any other distractions there was one job that had to be done-down in the garden.

Block 7 has all the stitcheries done and hopefully this weekend I can piece the block together. All the remaining stitcheries are traced and backed ready to go so no excuses!

 Block 8- bird stitchery started last night. I love the chain stitch but all those little flowers are going to try me a little-bit over them I think. Just need to stay focused and before I know it it will be finished.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend with lots of craftiness.
Marina

cross stitch along and some more hexies...

I have finished my first part of the Cross stitch sal, now I can be sent the second part. I chose to use red dmc 815 and a piece of Belfast linen. I can't remember the count and I think it is a natural colour. It's my last piece so a trip to the city may be in order to buy some more! It looks a little wonky as it needs to be pressed properly. If you want to see some of the other participants' amazing stitching go here. some of the colours selected are stunning.

Last night I managed to stitch together the hexagons for the base of my purse,
They went together quite quickly. The sugar bowl is full of all the basted hexies waiting to be put together for the sides. Hopefully I can make a start this afternoon.

gee they did come together quickly! Glad I won't be on the bottom of the purse!

A beautiful sunny day here in Melbourne so more washing is on the agenda.

hope you have a lovely day which includes some craftiness!

cheers

Marina

Friends with Benefits swap....

Today I received my beautiful gift from Lillian for the Friends with Benefits swap.
It's really beautiful and I think Lillian really hit the spot when she put her thinking cap on.
A beautiful hexagon shaped table topper now do you think that is me?! What gorgeous fussy cutting and look in the centre....

 a hexagon stitchery with fussy cut hexies in the centre.

 a beautiful hardanger scissor fob and this beautiful tape measure brooch, isn't it fantastic?

 I have just the place for it.... It looks perfect on my special blue bag. This was a swap gift from Oddbjorg in a past swap.

 Here are some pics of what I sent to Lillian..
A little craft keeper made with some special fabric that I have had stashed away for a little while. I added a little milk jug doilie that I think I have made for all of my swap partners.

 I thought this little button would finish off the keeper nicely.

these little buttons were from the AQC, cute aren't they?


thanks to Kathy for arranging the swap and thanks again to Lillian for such a lovely gift!
Happy crafting
Marina

Hexagons are covering my world...

It seems this weekend's crafting has been completely absorbed by the hexagon shape.
Yesterday at craft group I worked on some Swan Lake hexie flowers.

Every little bit adds to the pile.

Then I thought it would be good to add to my stash of fussy cut hexies. I enjoy the process of making hexies a lot. There are four ready for when I want a change. The two nursery rhyme ones were made a little while ago. I couldn't resist the fabric from Spotlight. They are becoming a lovely collection...

Moving right along......

My Park Avenue hexies are patiently waiting for me to make the fillers to make the borders straight. I drew the design out first, if I can't see it I find it difficult to imagine it, if that makes sense. One step closer to finishing this one!
then there is this little new hexie project...
At the Essendon quilters I found the Holy grail of Hexagon love, a super hexagon purse- imagine angels singing and a beam of light shining down on it at the time.

 Melody found the pattern on line and let me know where it was from. She has already made a start on hers and I made a start on mine yesterday. There are 206 hexagons in the purse . I have them all cut and half of them are basted. Woo hoo! I so love this purse!!

psst.. do you think she is a little addicted to hexagons?

Hope I haven't bored you too much with my Hexie addiction...

cheers

Marina

ps have heard from my Friends with Benefits partner. Parcel arrived and well received! Will show pics soon.

nurturing the inner child...

No 1 son turned 22 this month and I wanted to buy him a novelty type gift as we had contributed to a larger gift that he wanted. So where to go? A toy shop of course!
All my boys have loved lego when they were young and each one had different themes that they liked. They spent many hours building and playing with lego blocks even though I sometimes wanted to strangle the guy that invented them. Not pleasant standing on a lego brick I can tell you.
He bought himself a display 'lego' block that you can put the little people into but it didn't fit them all so I bought him another one.
It is so cute all set up...  I love the guy with the eagle on his arm, reminds me of a Seinfeld episode where Kramer recreated a talk show set in his apartment and invited the wildlife handler as a guest. very funny...

 they are a neat way to store Lego people...

Project updates.....
I have been busy trying to keep make progress on my Swan Lake quilt. I wish I had  thought about the sort of commitment this would involve before jumping in. I think I will be a hundred by the time I make considerable progress with it but we all have to start at the beginning..
I have 28 flowers, only 76 to go...

I made a start on the dolly border. One border has all the dresses appliqued, another the dresses ironed on ready to applique. I have made three dollies with arms and a head. I don't seem to be precise enough as my dollies are different heights, my girls are going to be individuals! I hope to iron on some more arms and heads to work on this weekend. Boy this is going to take awhile.

I haven't forgot my other big project, Down in the garden. I have nearly finished stitching block 7 birdhouse block. I got a little frustrated that some of my satin stitch flowers weren't as neat as some of the others so thought it best to put them aside for a little bit. Will get back to it soon.

As a distraction I have also signed up for a cross stitch SAL on this website.

Google translate isn't very accurate sometimes and my Hungarian is non existentso I am hoping I have understood the gist of this correctly. Fingers crossed.

So much inspiration so little time!

Cheers

Marina

early Christmas item post

I couldn't wait to share my Christmas items for this month, it is a change to be early and to be able to do a full reveal so here goes...

(the little owl hanging has gone to live at mum's place as she liked it so much)

loved making these ornaments and they are quite addictive and easy to make (once you have instructions that make sense- thanks to Marg Low)

There are a few more buttons coming to make some more. They are just so gorgeous! The cross stitch Santa has been sitting there waiting to be made up properly and I think he looks quite cute.

This week I gave the comfort quilt to my work friend. She loved it. Phew- big relief.

I was so happy with the finished quilt.

love to photograph a rolled up quilt...

The deadline is looming for the 'friends with Benefits swap' item to be mailed. Mine is packed and ready to go!

So watch out Lillian it will be on it's way Monday.

hope your weekend has had some craftiness...
Next post I will show and tell the progress on my Swan Lake..

Happy stitching
marina

AQC loveliness

Yesterday Mum and I headed off to AQC in Melbourne.
I prepared a list of must haves that I wanted to source at the show. Happily I ticked all the 'need' boxes and didn't really buy anything off the list. On the way home we stopped off at GJ's for their 25% off sale where I bought some homespun for a project I am mulling over.
Here are the purchases from my list..

 I have already made up the reindeer tag and it was so simple once I worked it out. They will be my Christmas Items for this month so you will have to wait a little bit before I show off the finished item.
I absolutely love this cup! I bought an extra one for gifting.

We had a super day and I took lots of photos of my favourite quilts...
Get ready for the pics...

(lots of Australian flowers by Mary Hitchens)

loved this dragon but I forgot to take a pic of the label.

you knew there were going to be hexagons included somewhere!

this was a challenge quilt by Helen Godden

more beautiful hexagons adorning this quilt..

Blue and white- how could I resist Dutch Tiles in Blue and white by  Sophia Franken

more hexagon loveliness!! Aptly titled Dedication by Judith Whitaker.

I did get some more pics but I will show them next time. 

Enjoying the last of the holidays. I have a list of things to get done before Monday.

Hopefully I will have some pics to show and tell!

Have a lovely weekend

Marina