I've been laxe ...

I have been noticeably absent on the socials lately - and that includes responding to emails - this week has been super busy, but life will begin getting a little quieter soon, honest!

Tonight I should be painting little bead heads, instead I'm working on a few little embroidered Christmas decorations for little miss Mary:

These sweet little heart decorations are from the mmmCrafts Twelve Days of Christmas range, I'll try and make all the ornaments for her, but these ones will suffice for this year. 

I'm not a great embroiderer, so this will be a good chance to practice. I need to work on making my stitches more even, and I need to not pull the stitches so tight that I pucker the pieces. I'll get there!

One of the things that has had us so busy this week, and so tired at this end of the week is that we did a bunch of work in the lounge/dining rooms. I wanted to take out the balustrades that separated the rooms - they closed in the space somewhat and also made it look dated. And once that was done it was going to leave holes in the carpet, so I organised for new carpeting to be installed. Here are a couple of before pictures:

Eugh, I so disliked that original carpet, I was glad to see it go. And because we use our dining room most of all when we're entertaining, we decided to switch the rooms around to make use of the biggest room, and edit the furniture as well. I took a little video so you can see how it looks now - I really hope it works!

If it doesn't come thru properly I'll come back later on and add some photos.

Moving all the furniture out was exhausting. Choosing what we wanted to keep and finding home for the things we no longer want has also been exhausting. We were much younger when we moved here and had way less stuff. I have a whole new respect for people that move frequently! We have both decided we're going to work harder at paring down and finding new homes for things we don't need. I hope we can make a genuine effort to do it!

So that is a big part of what I was up to this week. I also managed to finish ALL the applique on my Lily Rosenberry quilt and I have passed it over to my lovely friend Lizzy to baste it for me, then it will be ready for me to begin hand quilting!

I'm going to sign off  here, I feel like I'm not going to be far from going to bed. This weary body needs some more rest. Thank you for being patient with me while I've been absent from blogland, but I promise I'll be visiting with you all again soon! Big love and hugs xoxox

Ohhh, the corners!

I mentioned over on Instagram that I've been very quiet on the socials lately, as I've been working super hard getting all the applique done on my Lily Rosenberry quilt.

I have placed all the corners, and now all that remains is to stitch the corners down and a small portion of the fourth border, and then this quilt top is ready to go to my beautiful friend Lizzy for basting. My excitement at being able to begin hand quilting soon is palbable! I cannot wait!

But for tonight I will leave you here - Marty and I are moving furniture around and doing a little plaster repair etc in the front rooms as there is new carpet going in on Monday. We have a busy weekend ahead of us!

Chatter soon! xoxox

Another new project ...

I'm sure I've mentioned that I have so many things I'd like to get done before the end of the year. Before Christmas really. 

One of the things is another tree skirt - it's on the way right now.

Apart from the fabric with the sweet little doggies, they're not really Christmas fabrics. And I can't even tell you how much I wish I had the foresight to cut the doggie fabric the other way around. Anyway, I think it'll still look cute.

I'm ready for quilting now, it shouldn't take long. Even though it's late, I'll probaby get started tonight.

Some of the other things I'm working on are secret squirrell projects, so it will be a little while before I can share them with you.

It's off to the sewing room for me now, I'll check back in with you really soon! xox

Almost made it!

This weekend I worked really hard to get all the applique placed on my Lily Rosenberry quilt ... I almost made it!

My goal was to have the corners in situ, but I didn't quite make it. I'm still super happy with how this top is coming along though, I just need to get busy stitching the top and bottom borders in place, and make up the corner pieces. I have other things I need to work on tonight, but let's see what this week brings.

And yesterday I finished one felt ornament from the Twelve Days series by mmmCrafts. I love these little treasures!

I'd love to get an ornament made each year for little Mary, I didn't make one last year, so I need to catch up. I wonder if I'll make as many handmade gifts after I have more than one grandbaby? Not that there are any on the way, but I'm sure they're on the horizon somewhere.

Tonight I'll finish the machine quilting on a tree skirt for a sweet quilting friend, and if I have spare time I'll start stitching down applique pieces. I have so many things I'd like to achieve before Christmas, it makes me feel a little breathless thinking about it. I just need to relax and take things one step at a time - that's the best way to move forward ...

Anyway, things to do, so I'll leave off here and chatter soon! xox

I'll check back in ...

This has been a busy week, and right now I'm babysitting sweet little Mary. I haven't had a chance to look over what I've been working on to share with you, but I took a quick snap of a couple of things on my sewing table:

I've prepped almost all the shapes I need for the last two borders of Lily Rosenberry. I'll make up the corner swag pieces tomorrow, and see if I need any more of the red flowers. I know I have all the yellow centres that I need - and I possibly still need some more little red berries. Those berries are relentless!

Also pictured, I'm trying out one of the felt ornaments from the Twelve Days of Christmas series by mmmCrafts. They looked like so much fun that I just couldn't resist. My embroidery skills aren't great, so I feel like these will give me some much needed practice.

That's all I have for you at this moment, but I'm going to leave you with a promise that I'll check back in before this weekend is over. Chatter soon! xox