A Return to Simplicity.

I have enjoyed my first week of holidays and this has allowed lots of catching up with friends, stitching and just pottering around in the craft room. I might add that staying in bed in the morning and not getting out of PJ's until late has been an added bonus. Anyway here's what I have been doing. A Vase wrap from Jenny of Elefantz , you can get the pattern  here  for free on Craftsy . It's called All Wrapped Up and there are lots of other free projects from Jenny as well. Christmas stitchery  by Rosalie Quinlan from Homespun Magazine July Issue is now finished and ready to hang for Christmas. I decided to put a border on and chose a similar design to echo on the sides. And . . . . . . yes I too have the tea-towel making bug and decided to make a few for DIL as I noticed she likes to hang them on the oven door. I picked colours similar to the tea-towels I saw in her kitchen and found the hanger fabric in my stash! Couldn't believe...

After much anticipation the 25th has finally come around and the parcel from the postman that had been sitting in my craft room was opened. What a lovely surprise in store for me! First, that my secret partner was Maria from  Life on the Block  and second was all the goodies wrapped up in Christmas paper. The cutest Santa! Lovely Table Runner. Gorgeous Tea-towel. Extra Goodies that includes a lovely FQ, Christmas panels and ribbons. WOW! Thank you so much Maria for these wonderful gifts, I feel really spoiled by this lot! I am going to enjoy them every year at Christmas time. My swap partner was Peg from  Happy in Quilting  and this is what I have sent to Peg. A table center - "H" for Holly. A couple of Tea-towels - "T" for Tree Didn't want to embellish too much as, they are after all..... Tea-Towels!  Thanks Shez for the inspiration!! LOL! Lace and Ribbon Board...

I started a little early with my stitching for Friday Night Stitch In hosted by   Wendy  of Sugarlane Quilts. I had company and cyber friends to stitch with! Supplies of Hot Chocolate, Coffee and the obligatory TimTams were in abundance! I decided to work on my latest Rosalie Quinlan project (yes another Christmas item) and here is the progress for the night. You would be surprised how long it takes to fill in all the satin stitch parts ! A bit longer than normal when the light is dim as well. Here is what DD was working on. Leanne Beasley's Down in the garden. I had wanted to start on the Star Wars Quilt, but didn't make it so will be looking at the fabrics and beginning to cut some today. I want this one ready for his birthday in October. Thanks Wendy for hosting last night and hope everyone had a lovely night stitching with me,  although I believe I did eat more than my share of the TimTams! LOL !

I have been commissioned by my 8 year old grandson to make him a Star Wars quilt. He even helped me design it. I do think it is based loosely on the one I made for the other grandson, but what the heck, it makes it easy for me. I will be using a central panel and lots of borders . . . . . nothing too complicated and it will be ready for his birthday in October, especially as I will be on holidays soon.  Now in case you think I have been lazy and not doing my stitching I have finished my block 3 of   Jenny's  BOM Beauty. I love this little owl, he is so cute and all those roses are now done. I have a sneaking suspicion there are more to follow ! I also found a lovely stitchery from the latest Homespun called Christmas Spirit by Rosalie Quinlan. Seems I have been stitching Christmas all year, but this is my favorite time of year. Now I am not strictly following the stitching guide for this one (nearly) and you will have to excuse my ...

Thanks everyone and Cheryll at Gone Stitchin`  for the lovely night of sewing. I am loving this little owl so much, he's too cute and I'm loving the colours Jenny has chosen for this project. You can see more of it on Jenny's blog  here . I must be feeling better as I'm loving everything this morning ! LOL ! Well . . . .it's off for some porridge and out into the garden on this lovely tropical morning and when I come back inside it will be to tackle those 5 dozen (or so) roses on the bottom of the block Go on over the Cheryll's blog to see what others were up to last night.

I'm playing along with Cheryll at Gone Stitchin  and everyone else tonight of course! I have started a little early and prepared my block 3 of Beauty from  Jenny of   Elefantz  e-magazine. Thanks for keeping me company tonight. Plenty of TimTams and Hot Chocolate on offer at my place.

Things are slowly coming back to life around here, especially me. LOL ! I spent this morning in the craft room catching up on the missed episodes of A Place to Call Home and Under the Dome. Love the first one, but we have only had the first episode of Under the Dome, so its too early to say whether or not I will keep watching! I just didn't only watch TV in the craft room today, I tidied up some threads as I had a big mess from  not putting them away when I finished each project!  Before . . . . . .you really can't see the big mess of tangled threads underneath all of the others in the piccy. After . . . . . All neat and tidy and ready for me to mess up again. While I did spent a lot of time recently under the blankets sleeping, on the odd occasions when I felt up to it I got some stitching done. I am now ready for my new issue of  Jenny of Elefantz  e-magazine Elefantz Home due for release shortly and I am eagerly waiting for my next BOM....