My Upstairs Sewing Room

Some lovely gifts....

2012-02-15T08:35:00.000+11:00

Some Christmas gift pictures at last......

my dear friend Melissa (no blog) gave me this gorgeous Sue Spargo kit...

the fabric and trims are so colourful and rich...

can't wait to start this one........

My friend Sharon (no blog) gave me this beautiful cross-stitch sampler ....... which she suggested I start on January 1st..... as if I had nothing else to sew...lol...

complete with fabric and threads and a needle - all ready to go......

the linen is a lovely rich dark green and the threads are silk.....

of course I had to start it on the first day of 2012....

the thread was so lovely to use, I can see myself actually finishing this one ......

Sharon has the idea that I should have it done by 2013.... we'll see.....

I have also been stitching this little cutie over the past month.....

another gift from Sharon and (another no blogger) Helen back in 2005...

It looks really sweet with those special little ceramic buttons on it, I am planning on getting it framed.

It is a great feeling ticking another project off my ufo list!!

Have dusted off my Christmas tin so I can cart around my next project...

a Christmas project of course....

finally getting to stitch my "Tis the season" stitchery....

Way way behind the girls in the stitch-a-long group, most of them finished theirs last year as we were meant to, I figure better late than never......

Promising start to 2012.

2012-01-13T12:12:00.000+11:00

Happy New Year everyone! What a great start to the year I've had...
we've (hubby & I) cleaned out the shed, taken a huge load to the tip....
I have pulled everything out of my linen cupboard and put most of it back all neat and tidy... it looks so good...strange how you get excited about a tidy cupboard but thats me??
the bedroom downstairs is ready for visitors and I have even had time to do some sewing, I will post some pics soon about what I'm working on....
First I will show you what I made for the "B" gift for our sewing/embroidery group......

a Blue Block roll with a BlueBird in a Birdcage......

now as it turned out the lady that got this pressie was my mum who was very excited because it was something that she needed....

the other exciting sewing news I have is a bit belated.... I could have shown you this back in mid December but I didn't have any pics or time to actually post about it ......

I have finished piecing my Gardener's Journal .......sorry about the photos I will try and get a better picture of the whole top, if you pop over to the stitch-a-long blog you will see more photos.....

2011-12-26T12:20:00.000+11:00

Merry Christmas all my blogging and stitching friends, I hope you all had a wonderful day.

We had eleven for Christmas lunch with turkey, ham, pork and crayfish and the traditional accompaniments including a delicious steamed plum pudding and homemade ice-cream all very nice.
Then we packed a few clothes, all the left-overs from lunch and a couple of bottles of bubbly and headed down to our boat with Kate (dd2) and spent a relaxing Christmas night watching a really spectacular electrical storm before falling into bed.

Early in December my embroidery/stitching group had a Christmas night where we all brought a present, handmade that started with 'B', I was very lucky and received this absolutely gorgeous gift....

a Bed for my scissors.... very cute....

the sweet little verse says...

Needle and thread, needle and thread, when starlight fades I lay them to bed...

it turned out that my dear sewing friend Melissa made it, so that made it just a little bit more special...

I will post what I made very soon...

Holidays & stitching...

2011-11-25T12:51:00.001+11:00

Okay.... back in October we went to Cairns to stay with hubby's brother & his wife in their new house...

the house was gorgeous, very comfortable and luxurious... we had a lovely weekend with lots of bubbly and swimming in the pool... it was really hot......
the other highlight of the weekend was going fishing and staying overnight on the reef...... I caught a yellow fin tuna (no pics) first big fish offshore so I was excited, Cindy - skippers wife caught a red emperor.....

the ocean was very kind to us that day.... dead calm....beautiful......

We picked up Victoria and Karl (dd1 & fiance) at the airport on our way home and they stayed for a few days before going back to Mount Maunganui.....

Then a few weeks later we flew over to meet Karl's family and see his hometown.....

Mount Maunganui......

Here we are after a walk around the base of Mt Maunganui with Janet & Paul... Karl's mum & stepdad..... really lovely people......

We had hiked to the top of the Mount the day before.....

a magnificent view of the town from the top.......

We had a bbq at Karl's dad & stepmums' house with his sister, her hubby & kids and his stepsister, that was a fun afternoon too..... didn't get any pics....

so with all my travels I have been able to get heaps of stitching done on my GJ........

and I am on my last four stitcheries.....

GJ progress.

2011-10-12T18:05:00.001+11:00

Look what's been happening in my upstairs sewing room this week......

Yep thanks to those sal girls I've got my a*** into gear and been madly piecing my Gardeners Journal blocks and they are looking good!

Heading to Cairns tomorrow for a few days so hopefully I will get some blocks finished next week....

What's in a Name!!

2011-10-10T14:45:00.000+11:00

What's in a name?? well for my blog title it was an obvious choice.... My Upstairs Sewing Room is where I spend most of my time sewing,
although I have been known to sew almost anywhere in the house, I have a floor lamp and my chair in the lounge so I can sew at night while DH & I watch tv together.... I sew at my dining table when I have stitching friends over for a sewing day...... I really love stitching outside in my garden when the weather is kind..... I don't leave the house without a little bag of hand sewing to sew in the car or to take with me when we go boating...... still trying to figure out how to sew & drive at the same time....lol.... oops getting carried away !!!
My sewing is upstairs which is great because it is out of sight so only very lucky people get to see the ~~mess~~ way I have it laid out with my machine set up ready to go all the time, a huge cutting mat - great to work on.... a bookcase with all my P & Q magazines & books, embroidery books all nice & handy... nice big cupboard & drawers for storage; perfect in all ways.
It has been lovely reading about how peoples blog titles came about, thanks Dawn for asking the question..... now guess where I am taking a coffee for an hour or so.....

Guests arriving.

2011-10-06T11:22:00.001+11:00

Well I've been cleaning, tidying, vaccuming, dusting, all those lovely things you do when you are expecting visitors...... DD1 & fiance' arrive later today for one night.......

I have picked some fresh roses from my garden for their room .....

it looks so cosy I might just sleep there myself.....lol......

October already!!

2011-10-04T10:13:00.027+11:00

It's hard to believe we are in October already, I feel like it should still be July August.... this is how my garden looked three weeks ago....

my Wisteria & weeping Cherry looking so lovely.....

Two weeks ago I went over to Queenstown NZ with Daniel (#1) & Kate(#3) to visit with Victoria (#2) and her fiance Karl, we were there for a week & Stephen (DH) came over just for 3 days, it was a very busy week visiting Arrowtown and Wanaka, eating and drinking at Jack's Point golf course....

Amisfield winery, Winnies - great...no the best pizza place anywhere, the Botswana Butchery in a private dining room mind you.... a lunchtime cruise on the TSS Earnslaw ... original steamship.... over to Walter Peak High Country Farm for a bbq and sheepdog/shearing demo.... a fun afternoon..... and the Wakatipu grill restaurant at the Hilton hotel across the lake, boys went lungeing, Daniel & Karl did a bungi jump each ( very entertaining lol...).....

the highlight of the trip was the engagement/30th/farewell party for Victoria & karl on the Friday night .....(Vic was 30 on Sept 15 & karl turns 30 in Nov).... which was held in a gorgeous little boutique hotel with us and lots of their friends....

Enough of my travels...... I have been doing lots of sewing mainly cross-stitch, finished the trees on my Birchpoint....

Victoria & Karl are coming for one night on Thursday then they are flying over to Bali for ten days to attend a girlfriends wedding, then we are going to Cairns the following Friday and coming home on the Monday and meeting Vic & Karl at the airport and all coming home together for them to stay a week with us then they will fly back to NZ and we will fly over to Mount Maunganui for another long weekend the Melbourne cup weekend in Nov to meet Vic's inlaws..... and I should get some good sewing time with all this travel.........so life is very busy at our house.......

A few finishes for August.

2011-08-23T09:05:00.001+10:00

Over these past few months I have been able to finish a few projects;
Summer Garden quilt which was a lovely machine pieced scrappy quilt unfortunately I gave it away without taking any photos, I'll see if I can borrow it back for some pics.
This Welcome Friends wall hanging is finally ready to be hung but I can't decide where I want it to hang.....

Not the best photo, I will try and get a better one.....

here's another finish.....

My very old pink & green canvas work, been working on this one for way too long, great to have it finished.... it was going to be made into a cushion but I have decided it might be better in a frame.....

My next finish is a Shepherd's Bush design..... again it is an old one....

the Violets sampler.... this took me ages to work through with lots of unpicking and re-sewing but I loved making it.......

now I can get it and it's mate framed

And I have finished the first section of the "Phebe's cross-stitch... the one I started Jan 1st this year, it is looking gorgeous I am enjoying working on this one......

Now I better get myself outside to enjoy this absolutely beautiful weather we are getting at the moment....it is far too nice to be inside......

maybe I'll get a cuppa and my Gardener's Journal and sit in the sun and dream......

At last...

2011-08-17T10:33:00.000+10:00

Hi Everyone, been away from my blog for too long, so now to show you some of what I have been up to...
At last my favourites have been framed ....

and this one as well......

They look so beautiful hanging on the wall, I'm really pleased with how they were framed......

I have some more finishes to show but they don't want to upload, so I will try again later....

May UFO weekend- part 2

2011-07-06T17:09:00.001+10:00

This is Helen stitching the background of her beautiful tapestry, the photo doesn't do it justice, it was gorgeous...

this mess of knitting is Helen's gloves she's knitting, the wool she was using was very pretty.... but by this stage she had had enough of them.....

Here is sharon working on her "Not for us alone" cross-stitch, I think we will see this come away on a few more ufo weekends...lol....

This is her Sue Spargo 2010 BOM coming along bit by bit........

And these two blocks are her Sue Spargo 2011 BOM....

Sharon certainly loves a challenge...... challenge or not the fabrics, textures and colours in the Sue Spargo projects are outstanding...........

We had a lovely time over the few days, but we had a little hiccup with our accomodation and as a result we are going back the first weekend in September which is very exciting, so now I'm planning what to take and what I will finish before that weekend...... surely I can finish something by then.......

Happy stitching everyone, Sheryl.

May UFO weekend.

2011-06-20T16:21:00.001+10:00

Our annual UFO weekend was lots of fun, I spent most of the time stitching my "Birch Point" cross-stitch....

a very old ufo, think I bought it in 1998 but I still get a buzz when I stitch it....

I did a bit of quilting on this quilt....

and stitched the baskets and a few french knots.....

I will post some pictures of what Sharon and Helen worked on, next time.....

Back at last.

2011-05-18T09:31:00.000+10:00

Hi Everyone, yes I'm back at last, I had the most amazing trip away to the USA, I loved it all... every minute,

not much sewing involved apart from a few stitches in my Gardeners Journal, which I'm still plodding along with and loving it, I was a little disappointed I didn't get to any patchwork or embroidery shops but I 'm going back one day and look out then.

Don't get me wrong though I saw some amazing sights and had lots and lots of fun, Aspen and Snowmass were picture perfect everyday,

I really love the snow.... shame I have only just discovered this in the last couple of years, better late than never I guess...
And New York.... well what can I say it was fabulous, so much to see and do, five days was not nearly long enough there, the three of us, my girls and I, have decided we must try and get back there for a longer visit....

Since I have been back home we have been super busy but it looks like things might relax a little now so here I am back at my blog.
Last week I picked up two quilts from Glenda, my quilter friend, I was really happy with her quilting and now I am madly stitching the bindings on them, so exciting... I am about to tick two ufos off my list....Yahoo!
This week I am getting my bags packed and organised to take away on my annual sewing trip away with Helen and Sharon; this year we are going to stay in Lakes Entrance, we usually stay in Paynesville so this well be a big change, it will be lots of fun..... 3 1/2 whole days to just sew, I can't wait.

Big news.

2011-02-28T07:32:00.000+11:00

Big news!!..... tomorrow Kate(DD2) and I are off to visit these two.... Victoria(DD1) and her bf Karl over in Aspen, Co. .....

We are sooo excited to catch up with Victoria, she has been away since November 2010, not long in some people's lives but way too long in ours......

we are travelling just the two of us..... DH didn't want to upset our girlie adventures and besides he had to work.... so it's just Kate and I ...... we are staying with Vic and Karl in Aspen for 10 days then we girls are heading to NewYork for 5 nights which will be amazing!! This will be my first trip to the US and Kate's second so it will be lots of fun and I have packed lots of sewing so I don't get bored.....

Finishes for February.

2011-02-24T18:14:00.000+11:00

Here are my three finishes for February.......

the two bags above will have those goodies in them and hopefully they will brighten a couple of people who were affected by the floods.... my little bit of help for them......

This is the third finish..... I have had this pattern for quite a while so it is satisfying to see it completed...

this sweet little sewing bag is one that my mum made me for christmas, it will be handy for one of my many projects.......

What a day!!!

2011-02-22T14:37:00.000+11:00

Here I am going about my day, cleaning and rearranging my pantry, having a little chuckle about my dear old lime green tupperware container that I keep loose tea in and that we have used everyday for the last 33yrs...
when my hubby came home for lunch and said put the telly on because there has been another earthquake in Christchurch.... OMG!... what an awful tragedy for those poor people, the loss of life and injury is horrific.... the damage and devastation appalling.... heartbreaking..... I will post my own wee bit of exciting news another day.... have to go and sew now..(my way of praying)....

February sewing day.

2011-02-16T09:55:00.001+11:00

Yesterday I went over to my embroidery group for our monthly sewing day, my friend Sharon had two finishes for show and tell which were impressive...

this was a beautiful quilt..... she had hand embroidered each block.....

sorry the photo quality isn't that good .... the embroidery was exquisite.......

I think it is called "Heaven and Earth" and it was a BOM she bought a few years ago.....

the second finish is a Needlecase which she cross-stitched and beaded.....

the photos didn't capture the true colours but it was gorgeous....

and I just kept stitching.....

and stitching on my Gardener's Journal.....

hopefully finish it this year.....

a finish for January 2011

2011-01-31T16:43:00.000+11:00

My first finish for 2011 and it's still January,

Yes I know it is something small but it is still on my UFO and now I can cross it off.... Yeah!!

The Start of Something Big...

2011-01-27T14:02:00.000+11:00

This is the beautiful cross-stitch that my friend Sharon gave me for Christmas, I have an applique quilt with the same design which is gorgeous as well......

the above corner is what I stitched New Year's Day...

the pattern instructions had you start in the top left hand corner which is different for me I usually start in the centre so it will be interesting to see how it progress'......

this is what I have done so far, it seems to be growing quite quickly, the fact that I try and stitch a thread a day is helping, although I have missed a few days here and there.....

this is the applique block that I am trying to finish before the end of January.....it is block one in the Floral Hopscotch BOM from the Fragrant Cottage from 2010......

I have been way-laid stitching a couple of needle-cases,

which I am really enjoying making...... so I might have to finish this block by the end of February......

and I have joined up with the OPAM girls again for 2011... so I better go and write my to do list........

2011-01-02T12:56:00.000+11:00

Happy New Year everyone, I hope you all had a great Christmas and a happy healthy start to 2011....
I am so happy with myself... Day 1 of the new year I started a beautiful cross-stitch that I received from my dear friend Sharon (no blog) and yes it will be another loong term project but that's okay I will just keep working on it bit by bit.
Also I finally at last appliqued the two very tricky gnarly trees on my Phebe's quilt...so very pleased about that....
We are still out on our boat since new years eve and I forgot my camera to post some photos.... I need to figure out using my phone for photos anyway I hope everyone has also had a great stitching start to 2011, happy stitching, Sheryl

2010-12-07T14:05:00.000+11:00

Here I am back again, I have had a few glitches like misplacing my camera battery charger lead so no pics for a while....:( I've sorted that now.....:)
I have been working on a Christmas gift that I couldn't show you anyway ...big surprise for a member of my sewing group which they have received now and loved......:) but I have no pics because of the first glitch...:(

hopefully I will have some photos soon.... I will leave you with a picture of some flowers from my garden from last Summer and a Christmas pic from last year......

Sewing in Merimbula - Part 2.

2010-10-21T08:49:00.000+11:00

Just a few more pics from my wonderful week away......

these are the star blocks for my "Back Home Again" quilt which Chris (SIL) and I bought together at the Quilt Convention in Melbourne last year.... we couldn't resist the sweet little suitcase it came in and the fabric and the design are gorgeous as well......

this was a little sewing bag I finished while I was away..... nice to finish something that had been on my list for a while.......

I keep my Dresden Plate project in it, it's a nice cart-around size bag.....

And I finally finished my block roll, another project that has been on my list for a while....

Chris spent most of the week working on this beautiful applique block that will be in her "Life is a Celebration" quilt, which I had a peek at the rest of the blocks she has finished and it will be a gorgeous quilt...

here is Melissa (light top) and Chris (dark top) contemplating what they are going to sew next......

and this was the view from our apartments.....

not that we spent much time looking out the windows of course......

Happy stitching everyone......

Sewing in Merimbula - Part 1.

2010-10-05T09:17:00.000+11:00

Back in July my three stitching friends and I stayed in Merimbula for a week of sewing,

it was heaven a whole week of just sewing, we all achieved quite a bit.....

Sharon finished this beautiful wool covered box .... Melissa and I started ours.......

Her work is so perfect...

this was a raw edge applique block Sharon started......

Sharon also started cutting out the hundreds of pieces for her latest project.....

from the most gorgeous fabrics....

to make this design..... which will be stunning....

UPDATE..... she has cut all the pieces of fabric and is started to tack them onto the papers......

she is such a show-off........lol....

Melissa finished this sweet little Christmas basket....

again perfect stitching....

Melissa did a few hours on her current cross-stitch... The Marriage Of the Minds.....which is beautiful...

a wool glasses case and a cute cross-stitch needle-case she whipped up......

she is a quiet achiever....

part 2 soon......

Another catch-up

2010-09-08T10:31:00.000+10:00

Yes it's been a while, life really does get faster as you get older, there just doesn't seem to be as many hours in the day as last year of course it could just be me....

Now I can show you a glimse of the quilt I FINISHED back in May on my UFO weekend away....sorry about the dodgy picture...

This was a big surprise for Kate..... she didn't think I'd ever get it finished especially when she wasn't home to remind me about it... she moved to the sunshine coast back in April and loved it but found it hard to find work up there so in July I flew up and stayed a couple of days and then we drove back home to Victoria together which was fun.....

I had planned to show you some more photos of Hobart but I can't find them on my computer...I'm thinking I need a new one this one has been giving me quite a bit of grief lately ....another reason for my blog absence...

Happy stitching , Sheryl

Birthday fat 1/4s

2010-08-05T10:16:00.000+10:00

These are some gorgeous gifts of fat quarters and other lovely pressies I received for my birthday back in June from the ladies in the birthday fat 1/4 group....

Thank-you girls I am very happy with your fabric choices and I can't

wait to get started with them....

Catching up....

2010-07-07T09:34:00.000+10:00

Gee I just read over my last couple of posts and realised I have to catch up with my photos..... so here is some pics of my ufo weekend I went on at the end of May with my no-blog stitching friends, Sharon and Helen......

This was a scrappy floral quilt Helen stitched the borders on ..... the photo doesn't do it justice it was very pretty with lovely soft colours....

Here's Helen hard at it quilting her "Monet's garden" quilt, which was her own design named after the range of fabric she used, she stitched flowers in redwork onto plain blocks with the beautiful floral fabrics bordering around each stitchery, it looked gorgeous.....

she even had matching gloves.....

This was a beautiful cross-stitch Sharon was working on... she had to add tiny beads to it ......

which as you can see caused her a bit of stress, yep she had to keep stepping out for a cigarette.....

Here are a few things that she did finish......... a cute little lunch bag on the right, it looked perfect in the fabric she chose and the little mushroom charm was a sweet touch.......

an absolutely gorgeous little red bag...

and block 1 of a Sue Spargo BOM that she has joined, most of this is wool applique..... simply gorgeous....

This was an applique block Helen set up ... ready to stitch...

and lastly Sharon started this lovely cross-stitch, you can just see the design on the left....

I finished a couple of things which I am very happy about and I will post some pics of them soon.....

Birthday surprise.

2010-06-29T16:56:00.002+10:00

Last week I had my birthday... DH asked me where I'd like to go for the weekend, after considering visiting DD1 Victoria in Queenstown NZ.... no! too far for a weekend or maybe Sunshine coast to catch up with DD 2 Kate no! not long enough in the warmer weather.... I decided it was time we went over to Hobart ... we had been to Cradle Mt about 11 years ago and have always promised ourselves another trip to Tassie.... so we flew over Friday morning and we stayed here...

The Henry Jones Art Hotel

This would have to be one of the most interesting hotels we have ever stayed in, it was built in the old IXL jam factory which they preserved as much as possible.....

keeping the original beams and stone walls.....

Then on most of the walls and in every room there was artwork of every type; some that inspired and some that didn't but all very interesting....

this is a large painting of one of those little plastic pigs from a toy farm set... different....

I will show some more pics of beautiful Hobart and some sewing soon...

happy stitching everyone.

2010-05-19T11:17:00.000+10:00

Back in April I went to the Quilt Exhibition in Melbourne with three of my stitching friends ....

the quilts on display were amazing to say the least here are some of my favorites....

loved this with all those hexagons and the dancing dollies....

this was gorgeous as well, it was a great design for the toile fabric in the centre....

the stripe fabric was a perfect background for the applique.....

I will show some more photos soon...

Tomorrow DH and I are going to Queensland for a few days back Sunday, I'm home for three days then I am going away with two dear friends for our annual sewing weekend that actually starts on Thursday, so I won't be blogging for a week or two, must go now and pack for sunny (fingers crossed) Qld and decide what I'm taking on my UFO weekend.... have plenty to choose from ........

It's been a while.

2010-05-10T16:50:00.000+10:00

Well it has been a while, I decided I needed to concentrate on using my time more productively which meant not spending so many hours on the computer which is why I haven't blogged for while and yes I have got some sewing done, I am madly stitching the Gardeners Journal with the other girls in the Stitch-A-Long and I am very happy with my progress; I have started machine quilting a flannel quilt for my youngest daughter; I just have to stitch a binding around a little Christmas wall-hanging... no pictures yet.
As well as my sewing I have pulled lots of weeds, cleaned up some of my garden and planted some new seedlings of pansy's and lupins and a few herbs to replace the ones that were overgrown and totally out of control..... that's a very satisfying job done.

The chook house has been finished and we have three brown chickens....

that's Harriet on the left and Matilda on the right......

this is a close-up of Iris, she is a week or two older than the other girls and we have had two eggs so far....

I will try and post some stitching pics soon.....

A great Easter...

2010-04-06T16:24:00.000+10:00

What a great Easter we have just had..... perfect weather, little bit of rain on Friday and Saturday then sunshine and a little breeze for the rest of the weekend..... I helped mow the lawns and pull a few weeds ..... we had ~~Bob~~ Steve (DH)the builder in and he built a bit more of my new chook house..... yay nearly time to go and buy some chooks I can't wait.... and we changed our clocks back... wow... that makes such a difference I know it is only 1 hour but the days seem so long I felt like I had a really relaxing few days....

Last week I joined the quiltalong group to stitch the Gardener's Journal..... what a good idea especially since I have had a kit for this quilt in my cupboard since 2006....

so Friday I traced off all the stitcheries and started sewing on Saturday.....

But we had a sad day today.... our baby daughter Kate has flown the coop again .... she and one of her girlfriends left this morning on a driving trip to the Sunshine coast, she plans on getting a job and living there for at least 12 months....

so now I will have to start planning a holiday in Qld to visit with her.... hmmmm where did I put that quilt shops of Australia guide...lol...

Nothing like a good tidy up....

2010-03-22T21:57:00.001+11:00

Hi I'm back ..... no I haven't been anywhere special just fiddling in my sewing room I do a lot of that, some people call it procrastinating I call it tidying up.....

it's such a good feeling when you can see clear bench around your sewing machine.....

So now I can focus on what I have to do...... like this wool applique covered box

And I have plenty of space to cut out a new project.......

like this Starry Night quilt that I saw made up at The Boatshed in different fabrics....

when I saw it I thought I'd like to use Aviary fabrics.... lucky they were able to put together a kit using some of that range with some other fabrics as well....

While I was moving things around I found a note I had written last year to help keep me organised...... I have followed that note hopefully it will keep me on track....

Maybe my note has worked.... because I have finished a bag I have been working on for a while.... it is a gift for a friend for her birthday, she is a pink girl......

Sorry about the bad light in this photo it was late in the day.... so I have a finish for March.......

2010-02-22T08:26:00.001+11:00

Well it's that lovely time of the year again.....

a week away just relaxing on the boat... just the two of us..... he filled in his days fishing ....catching some Whiting, a Bream and a couple of Flathead ...I even caught one of those....

and he went prawning a couple of nights and caught a few kgs... they were delicious nothing nicer than fresh caught and cooked prawns.

together we celebrated our 32nd wedding anniversary.......

I had a lovely time as well....... finished a stitchery, worked on my canvas embroidery and read some more of my big thick Jennifer Chiaverini book.....

I'm loving this book.....

Okay now I have finished this stitchery I am not sure what to do with it ..... maybe just frame it as is or perhaps sew some borders on it......

OR do I cut along the dotted lines instead of stitching them and applique them onto a peiced background I have a jelly roll of Glace fabrics which I think would look good with it....

any suggestions or thoughts out there would be greatly appreciated.....

Now I'm off to catch up on some blog reading.... with a cuppa of course....

Two off the list.

2010-01-27T11:05:00.001+11:00

Well it has been quiet around our house these last couple of days.... although I have two small finishes... small as in small projects....

yes it is a chook pot holder, it was a kit I bought many years ago.....

it turned out much smaller than I thought it would,

won't be taking the roast out of the oven with this little fella.....

Had to show you plums off our tree that are now in jars as plum sauce.....

My second finish is a more recent purchase.......

a couch companion.......

this should help me keep everything where it should be...........

love those pockets for needles and threads.....

and a big fat pin/needle cushion...... very useful....

so that's two things to cross off my list

Now what's next to be finished.... hmmm..... might need a coffee to think about this......

Happy New Year

2010-01-07T21:39:00.000+11:00

Happy New Year to you all.... We celebrated the New Year in Lakes Entrance on our boat with our son and his girl-friend and her two boys, Victoria had gone back to NZ and Kate was staying in Lakes with her friends..... for the rest of us it was a fairly quiet night, we were all a bit tired after the week on the water in perfect weather, swimming everyday, walking along the beach , building sand-castles with moats, trying to catch very elusive fish, kyaking, socializing.... one day there were eleven boats all rafted up with us along the beach.... lots of fun.... but there was no sewing done :( ....too much else going on I think.

So far this week I have cleaned , put away , vaccumed , mopped and ironed to get everything back to normal..... then today I had a tidy-up in my sewing room and I'm ready to go...... three weeks of January left so I will have no excuses for not finishing one or two projects..... although DH has decided seeing as the forecast for the weekend is hot we will probably go down to the boat, so I had better get some handsewing together so I can stick with my plan....:)

H sewing

2009-12-22T15:09:00.001+11:00

Goodness me! I cannot believe there is only 3 sleeps left, can someone please tell me where the rest of December went .....

Earlier in December the sewing group that I go to each month had their Christmas dinner, we all had to bring a gift that we had made starting with H.... so I made some Hangers....

I was really pleased with how they turned out.... they would pretty up a wardrobe nicely......

the lady that recieved them liked them too....

My gift was absolutely gorgeous, this is what greeted me when I opened the parcel........very creative....

Meet Hilary Hedghog.........How cute is she.......

I was delighted......

so much work put into a present.......

she is going to sit somewhere special in my sewing room so I can just look at her because I couldn't possibly stick pins or needles into her........

a few little hints of Christmas....

2009-11-23T13:49:00.000+11:00

This is what I have been working on over the last few days a little something for a Christmas gift....

and a little something else.....

and this is what I have been working with.....

and these fabrics as well......

and finally something I will finally finish after starting this a couple of years ago....

but thats all I can show you for now......

More Beating around the bush

2009-11-10T14:06:00.000+11:00

Here are some photos of the other two projects that I did at Beating Around the Bush , I ended up choosing two classes with the same tutor, Carolyn Pearce she was a lovely lovely lady, very talented and patient; I wouldn't hesitate to do another class with her and I would highly recommend her as a teacher.

This is the picture in the BATB brochure of the Doll house workbox, it was so sweet I couldn't resist doing this class even though I could see it would take me a really long time to finish it.... here it looks about the size of a small sewing machine or so I thought.... lucky it was a lot smaller than I thought, about the size of a high tin loaf of bread, it was so cute.....

this is the climbing rose side and the pea garden end.... there was so much detail on it with the embroidery.....

here is a closeup of the pea garden, there were charms and tiny buttons as well.... over the two days I stitched the snail, the strawberry and one window....

we did lots of sampler stitching so we had the correct way for the stitches to be sewn, the little oranges were quite tricky but I think if I practise them I will get them to look like oranges....

After having the Wednesday off, our shopping day, we went back to the last two day class again with Carolyn Pearce, the Rosamund Crewel Emboidered bag, it was a project in Inspirations issue 58...

the flowers were stitched with a variety of different stitches, it's hard to photograph the beautiful details...

again the design was already drawn on the fabric, good time-saver for a class and no this doesn't look much but I was very pleased with my efforts for the two days....

this is my sampler for the bag stitches, it was fun practising knowing you weren't making a mess on the real thing....

It was quite funny out of all the classes we had the choice of..... about 78... Melissa, Sharon and I did the Hortensia bag on the Sunday, Sharon and I did the workbox on the Monday and Tuesday and Chris and I did the Rosamund bag on the Thursday and Friday and we made our decisions quite individually....

we all had a fantastic time and learnt so much and met some lovely people....

Now you can understand why I haven't been doing much patchwork sewing..... I am a bit busy trying to work on these things while they are still fresh in my mind but I am feeling something stirring inside like I need to go and rotary cut some lovely cotton fabrics or put in a few stitches in my applique quilt...LOL....

actually have some more hems to sew on DH work jeans.....

Pics from BATB

2009-11-09T11:01:00.001+11:00

When I came home from Beating Around the Bush I was so excited with my three gorgeous new projects I had to find space in my sewing room which is quite difficult at the moment.... too many projects on the go... note to self... sort it!!!!!

So I moved my Nana's dining table out of the study into a corner in the lounge room, been wanting to do this for ages because the table is too beautiful to have hidden but DH didn't think it would look right???? men!!

my idea was this would be a special place for these special projects where I could work on them without the clutter of my sewing room...you know not lose bits or misplace the instructions and I could still sit with him to enjoy one of his fav pastimes watching telly .....men!!!

So that's my superduper lamp and magnifying glass, very helpful.... on the left

Here is how lovely it looked at night.... I think it looks like it belongs perfectly....

and these two little ducks are a salt and pepper set that belonged to my Nana and they are very special to me....she always had them on her table for a meal....

This is the Hortensia bag designed by Kris Richards and Monique Johnston , it was a one day class on the Sunday, a great starting point for the week quite a relaxing class, no pressure or homework... Kris and Monique were lovely ladies, good teachers and very helpful...

The design was drawn onto the linen when we got there so all we had to do was stitch.....

It was mainly stitched with french knots and bullions for the flowers, satin stitch leaves and some lazy daisies, all very effective to make the design.....as you can see I have a way to go with it but I was happy with what I got done....

I will post about the other two classes later right now I have some housework to do before it gets too hot.

BATB shopping

2009-10-28T16:09:00.001+11:00

Well here we are.... this time with me in the picture while Melissa takes the photo...

These are a couple of really nice wool peices that I had to have and the fabric on the right will be handy I'm sure.....

See the lovely tweedy texture...love it....

these gorgeous fabrics are going to be made into a couch companion This fabric is for a border on a wool embroidered blanket that was n the cover of the new book from Country Bumpkin - More Beautiful Embroidered Blankets

and this was a second choice of fabric for the same project.......

Beating Around the Bush trip

2009-10-24T09:52:00.001+11:00

Back at last.... no I didn't stay in Adelaide all this time... mind you I could have, it is such a lovely city nothing like Melbourne or Sydney, much slower pace and a very relaxed air about it .....I think I could live there... big statement coming from a country girl......hehe!
The Beating Around the Bush convention was fabulous, the classes and teachers were so inspiring, the quality of the work was amazing, with around 400 women from all over the world it was a wonderful experience. The three girls I went with, Chris (fav SIL), Sharon(BFF) and Melissa (newBF) all no bloggers...note to self will have to change that..... had a great time and throughly enjoyed their classes as well. Our accomodation was comfortable with Sharon and Melissa in one apartment and Chris and I in another, we had a couple of free days where we went shopping... always fun ......and we ate out most nights or ordered in pizza because we had homework.

Here is Melissa, Sharon and Chris out front of Hetties Patch which is a lovely quilt shop five minutes from the city centre with lots and lots to see and buy as you can see by the bags we all left with, I will post the contents of my bag next time when I have more time.

This is the inside of the workbox that I started making, the class was just for the workbox and the little bits inside are another kit.... they include a needle book, a tape measure holder, thimble hoder, scissor tassel, thread holder, pin cushion and an emery cushion and yes they will probably take as long as the box to hold them I will post some pics of the outside next time....

This is a bad photo of the 'Rosamund Crewel bag' , the second two day class I did with Carolyn Pearce, it was much nicer than it looks in this pic, a very pretty bag and the crewel embroidery on it is so beautiful I was so pleased I chose this class..... again I will try to post some better pics and some of the one day class I did on the Sunday next post.... well it is a perfect day outside for a Saturday and we are heading down to our boat for the night so I will catch up with you all next week, happy sewing everyone....

2009-09-29T13:19:00.000+10:00

Today my post will be sewing related I promise just had get a few holiday shots in....

I have a finish for September.... back at the start of August Jenny of Elefantz blog suggested a challenge to make a sewing machine cover which is something that has been on my to do list for many years, so I designed one for my darling Lizzie.....

I borrowed the flower and bird from a lovely quilt design in Homespun Vol 10- No8 by Kellie Wulfsohn from Don't Look Now which is a fun blog to have a peek at... I used the buttonhole stitch on Lizzie(my Bernina 440 QE) with a varigated thread and I was very pleased with the end result, could be the start of something big maybe instead of needle turning my applique quilts I can do them on the machine, much quicker to make......

Then I needed a little sewing bag to cart my sewing around in my handbag so I whipped up this little purse from Jennifer Knol, it was nice and quick to make.....

It has a cute little Ladybug button to keep it closed

This is my cross-stitch that I carted around during my travels, good idea when you have to sit in airports and planes waiting to travel... I pre-threaded my needles so I wouldn't need my scissors.......

Now I have some exciting news to tell you I have only three sleeps until I fly to Adelaide for the Beating Around the Bush convention.......

I am going there with my SIL Chris and two stitching girl-friends, Sharon and Melissa, we booked this in December last year so we are all very excited that it is finally here.....

happy holidays

2009-09-28T15:04:00.001+10:00

Here are some more photos from our holiday.....

this is a view from the road that goes up over the mountains out to Wanaka, looking back towards Qtn...

here are some farmed Deer in their paddock..... look at those mountains behind them...

and this is the lake at Wanaka about an hour's drive from Queenstown, beautiful with the snow topped mountains in the background

Victoria enjoying the sun and veiws out at Jack's Point.....(Qtn behind hill on the left)

we had a delicious lunch there.....

this is one of the ski runs at Coronet Peak, just 5 minutes from Qtn...

While we were over visiting Vic it was her birthday and she wanted to go horse riding so we drove out to Glenorchy about 1 hour from Qtn, it was a very pretty drive along beside Lake Wakatipu....

Here's our girl getting ready to get on her horse with some help....

Vic getting buckled up...

Off we go......that's my back....I don't really look like I'm holding on for dear life...do I???? we did this for two hours.... and yes it was interesting getting off...lol

we rode along this track to the Willows in the distance then turned left and rode along the edge of the river for a while then we crossed the river a few times.... yes through the freezing water.... it was lots of fun but I am not sure I'd do it again...... think I'm over horses but where we rode was so beautiful it was at the foot of those mountains.....

Lastly these are some pictures of the gardens in Christchurch... it was a lovely place to visit....

NZ holiday

2009-09-25T17:55:00.000+10:00

At last I am getting to my blog, we had a wonderful holiday in New Zealand but I managed to pick up a virus or something and have had a really sore throat and felt terrible since we arrived home, I am coming good now though.

Here are some photos of beautiful Queenstown and surrounding areas.....

this is a shot from the mountain at the back of Qtn, every view was postcard perfect

"The Remarkables" were amazing, they take my breath away everytime I look at them...

Here is Stephen and Victoria at the memorial arch near the botanical gardens....

Victoria and I with Lake Wakatipu behind us...

Another view of Lake Wakatipu from the wharf, that's the Earnslaw on the left, beautiful old boat from the past...

happy holidays

2009-09-08T16:06:00.000+10:00

Well there is only 3 sleeps to go until we fly to Queenstown NZ to visit our daughter and oh boy am I excited.... we have a night in Christchurch on the way there and on the way home again..... we will be with Victoria for 6 nights she is going to stay with us in our apartment which will be lots of fun..... it's her birthday while we are there.... I have packed some stitching to do and I will be taking lots of photos..... so up, up and away.... talk to you soon.

At last a Finish!

2009-08-26T15:28:00.006+10:00

Break out the bubbly I have finished something that I have had in the cupboard for too many years....
that will explain why it has such old and dated fabrics in it... it is from "American Patchwork & Quilting" magazine Issue 10 October 1994

but I don't care... it's finished,

now I can cross it off my ufo list and I can start something new... hmmm what will I work on now....
I was reading on someone's blog the other day about how they were working on bits and pieces for Christmas so they could avoid the last minute dash... sounds like a good idea.... but first I'd like a day or two to enjoy that lovely feeling of a finish...lol.... better hop over to Kris' to let her know I have a finish for Aug

My Spring Garden

2009-08-24T16:23:00.011+10:00

After reading about the beautiful Wattles on Chooky Blues blog I was quite envious and then I went out to the shed and look what I found.....

Yes! it is the unloved part of our yard but doesn't it look so pretty with these sneaky little wattles....

they are growing from under the fence from next door even though their Wattle died last year.... Mother Nature is so clever.....

these daffodils are saying look Spring is here...yahoo...

can you smell my Jonquils... they are so sweet.....

the Apricot tree looks a picture...

next time I will have something finished to show you....

2009-08-14T10:07:00.011+10:00

This is what I bought at the boatshed quilt shop.....
a gorgeous bag from Melly and Me, it was on display in the shop and because I am a bit of a bag lady I had to have it. Mum bought some fabrics to finish off a quilt she is working on.. no pics...sorry.
then we drove over to Paynesville on the Gippsland Lakes... it was such a perfect day..

and we visited "Gone Quilting"

there I found a couple of books to inspire...I managed not to buy any fabric, mind you it was hard, they have a lovely range.....
the "Big Quilts, Big Blocks" is a book using layer cakes, which will be helpful as I have a couple in the cupboard; the other book is the first Material Obsession book and I have ordered a copy of the second book after seeing it on
"Aunties Quaint Quilts"

Then we went into Bairnsdale and had a salad sandwich and coffee and went to the patchwork shop there here I did buy some fabric to make a peg bag...

Little bit by little bit..... I am getting there with this table runner, those squares are actually 1/2" something I didn't realise when I started.....just more fiddly bits.....

Here is another "Truly Scrumptious" girl... just getting going with this one, it is a good one to cart around.....

2009-08-12T14:45:00.005+10:00

What is that they say about curiosity killed the cat...guess who is the fat cat..lol
thought I would have a fiddle with my blog and look what I have done made a lovely mess.... lucky I have all day to fiddle... not! I want to go and sew instead of fiddling with stuff I don't really know much about...
hopefully next time you pop in the mess will have been cleaned up by my fairy god-mother or me....

Last week Mum and I hopped in the car and drove down the road a bit to Lakes Entrance, a lovely little fishing town, first stop was a cuppa at the tea-rooms next to a florist/giftshop.... they have lovely bits and pieces I managed to restrain myself from buying anything after-all we were on our way to the patchwork shop
Ta Da!!!! The Boatshed

this is a fabulous quilt shop Robyn and Lyn always greet you with a smile and they have lots of great kits and fabrics and patterns, lots and lots to see.... I was too busy looking and shopping to take any photos inside, maybe next time....
Now my freshly brewed coffee is waiting for me to go upstairs sewing so I will show you some more pics of our little drive next time....

old ufo

2009-07-31T14:52:00.002+10:00

A couple of weeks ago I decided to start something off my ufo list..... one of my older projects....
can you beleive how old this is... the date on the magazine is 1994.... look at those darling old fabrics and colours....

lucky I still like the fabrics although I'm not sure how they will work in my house now but I will stitch it together and see....

2009-07-29T07:16:00.000+10:00

My most humble apologies to you all in blogland.... I have no real excuse for my weeks of no blogging except to say I lost not only my sewing mojo but worst of all my blogging mojo went with it..... to where I have no idea.
My thoughts are that they both disappeared into the land of unpicking.... you know that place where the light is so dim and suddenly you need triple magnifyers and some Las Vegas lighting to see those naughty little...no tiny-tinsey... stitches that were so carefully sewn that now have to come out because they are in the wrong spot...doh!!!!
and of course because I was so overwhelmed with the grief and pain of all this I had nothing to blog about... I should have just blogged for some helpful advice from those of you who have been here before.....

As well as all that June was a very busy month for me.... We had a night away on the boat over the long weekend and caught up with some old friends which was fun.....
Then it was my big "O" birthday and we went up to the snow at Dinner Plain for a weekend with my darling husband and our children, it was really lovely, very relaxing, took my sewing but it didn't get a look in... too much to see and do.....
Here's a photo of my snowboarding daughters
my son and his girl.... and no we didn't need the ambulance we just parked near it..lol

Beautiful Mt Hotham.... the pink jacket and the yellow jacket behind(centre of pic) are my girls boarding down the mountain....

We had a BBQ lunch on the following Sunday with my Mum and sister and her children, son and his girlfriend and her two boys to celebrate my birthday and Daniel's and farewell Victoria... she is off to NZ again :(

On the Monday went to Melbourne with my girls and we went to the Barbie exhibition, that was fun seeing all the Barbies and we got to dress one each...

We stayed overnight and ate at a lovely Japanese restaurant on Southbank then we drove Victoria to the airport 7am Tuesday morning, she is over there in Queenstown working for the next twelve months...I hope it won't be that long but it will be fun to go and visit her over there, we went over last time she and Kate were there in 2005 and loved it,I can't wait to go back this time I will find the patchwork shops.....

2009-05-29T08:36:00.003+10:00

Here are some more photos from my ufo weekend away......

this is what Sharon(no blog)put together.... she even got it tacked ready to quilt...
this was sooo pretty......
And here is the start of row 1 of Dear Jane, she had completed the whole row across, but I didn't get a big shot of it though.....it was perfect.....
And this is the top of a quilt Helen(also no blog) has been working on for her daughters 21st birthday,this year in November; it has a block for each year of Kate's life.... every ufo weekend that we have ever done(since 1995, I think) Kate's 21st quilt has been a big feature, so it was lovely to see it all together at last... sorry I didn't get anymore pics of it.... I was too busy breaking open the bubbly to celebrate..lol

the first block is a cross-stitch birth sampler, the log cabin next to it is made from fabrics from dresses she wore in her first year and the block under the first one with sun-bonnet sue in it has her primary school and sue is in the school uniform fabric.... it is a quilt made from the heart, very special and individual.

2009-05-26T08:30:00.005+10:00

Oh dear!!!!! its very clear to me I am about to have one of those days where I should have stayed in bed (so much for getting up at 6.30am)

Yes that is my angel story quilt in my earlier post, it took ages to sew all those little squares but they went together like they should have.....Yay!!!
Also I stitched a few threads of my beautiful Birch Point cross-stitch, cutout my next Dresden Plate block..... no 12 I think... there are 20 blocks to do for it.... so these are two of my favourite and older ufo's or maybe I should be calling them Wissssp....
I started the centre applique block of Phebe's quilt(bought pattern and fabric at craft show in Feb... nice not to wait too long to start that) and put in a stitch or two in a little Sheperds Bush sampler.
The three of us had a great couple of days.....we did plenty of sewing in between lots of laughs, lots of chatting, a bottle or two of bubbly and a few sherries and lots of coffee. Helen and Sharon (no blog girls) both finished a couple of projects which were inspiring I have a photo or two that I will post when I figure how to get rid of this gobbledy-gook that I getting in my post while I'm creating it but doesn't show when I preview or post??????
Right now I'm off to try and finish something for my May finish.... fingers crossed...

2009-05-26T08:20:00.003+10:00

Well I got up nice and early today so I could post about my ufo weekend and put up my couple of photos (too busy sewing to take many) but my blog seems to be having issues.... the photos only come up as computer jargon you know that gobbledy goop stuff that only really clever people understand, I know it has a name but I can't remember what it is...doh!
so sorry no photos unless one of you really clever can tell me maybe I ticked some box or not????
Anyway I managed to piece my Angel Story quilt top together so now I just have to add the borders and tack it ready to quilt

2009-05-07T08:38:00.003+10:00

Today I thought I would do a little renovating.... have a bit of a change..... warm up my blog ready for Winter...... I am really looking forward to rugging up for the cold and spending lots of time in front of the fire/heater and sewing..... cooking up some yummy wintery dishes like soups and pies and puddings.... you know all the things that we aren't supposed to eat but taste sooo good.

Here is a different photo of the cross-stitch in my header as you can see it's called Raspberry Homecoming..... sorry the photo quality is a bit dodgy, need a new camera....hint hint.....anyone!!!

And this is the Blueberry Homecoming that I have just taken off my header.....

I just love these two unfortunately I haven't had them framed yet..... can't decide on what type .... rustic, vintage, classic...... so they just patiently wait in a box......

I am now down to seven sleeps until I go away on a UFO weekend with two of my favourite sewing friends.... it use to be.... arrive on Friday afternoon, home Sunday but over the years we have extended it to lunchtime Thursday to late checkout Sunday. We have been going for at least twelve years although it is possibly more.... the time gets away from you.... but last year we didn't go because one of the girls was sick but she is fully recovered now and we can't wait to catch up with all our ufo's. So I must go now and make my sewing list of what to take to work on and what food I will take..... the sewing list will probably look similar to the one from two years ago because I have these WISP's that I are taking forever because I start other things that are quicker to do but that's why we have UFO weekends isn't it.......LOL

2009-05-06T14:21:00.006+10:00

How excited can a girl get ...... a couple of weeks ago this parcel came in the mail .... had no idea who could be sending me a parcel from the USA, it was too early for the redwork cushion date of the 2nd of May wasn't it...... it was only mid April.......
inside another parcel wrapped in red paper......

tah dah..... a beautiful redwork cushion, it was gorgeous, I was so pleased with it....

and can you see the two embroidery transfers for more redwork maybe and the cute little birdie.. I think it is a dove.... nice to hang on my tree at Christmas.....

thank-you so much Susan for your lovely work, it really suits my house...... although my lot wanted to know why I needed another cushion..... doh! they should know you always have room for another cushion or two...lol

Now here is a photo of the cushion I made, it was my first effort at actual redwork and it won't be the last, I really enjoyed stitching it ......

here is a close-up picture, I heard back from my lady and she liked it

2009-04-26T16:07:00.004+10:00

In my last post I said I would show you what we have been doing a lot of lately........ boatingHere we are fishing out in the ocean, my first time ever and it was so much fun, Stephen has done lots of fishing off-shore so he showed me what to do, we only caught two pinkys but it was great fun.

and we have done some more fishing inside ..... and we have eaten lots of fresh caught fish and even have some in the freezer..... at last....

as well as a bit of relaxing with refreshments, the weather has been perfect for boating, even Easter was lovely..... even though it was April, the weather is usually cooler then......

so I have had plenty of time to stitch this project....

here is some more of it, I will show you the finished item soon.

last week I went to one of my sewing groups and worked on this old cross-stitch ....

yes another WISP... it is one I bring out when I'm looking to do a little no pressure stitching.

2009-04-17T15:51:00.002+10:00

Hi Everyone, no I haven't left town ......I think I am still getting over Easter although I have been doing lots of sewing... hand sewing because it is portable and we haven't been home much lately, I have a couple of photos to show you exactly what we have been doing but I can't seem to load them up today and my laptop seems to be having shut down issues like doing it before I have finished. Anyway I have been sewing something top secret and I have nearly finished it when its all done I will post some pics, so I will talk to you soon, happy stitching, Sheryl

2009-03-29T20:14:00.001+11:00

Back in February I won a draw on Nic's blog Down by the Creek creatingbythecreek.blogspot.com for her 2nd year anniversary and a few days later a very special little parcel arrived, inside was Mabel Monkey and her own bag of bananas, we shared the bananas and they were delish..........

she was quick to hop in the fruit basket to see if there were any more bananas,

She was very excited to meet Lizzie and had to sit nice and close while I stitched the binding on my wall-hanging.......

Mabel then had to play with the "Barbie wardrobe" that came with Lizzie...... yes I am a Barbie fan..... vintage of course......

This weekend my DH went on a boy's weekend fishing..... yes.....oh yes...... of course I did miss him and he came home with a good catch of Snapper and a Gummy.... yum yum...... so I was able to sew to my hearts content and I finished this cute bag... it will hold another sewing project .....

Mabel wanted to help show off my new sewing bag.... cute.....

it hangs nicely on my cupboard door

and I finished my Christmas Cheer wall-hanging at last, here it is already for next Christmas..... so now I can put two finishes on my list...hurray...

Now on to my April project, no pics yet.....

2009-03-15T20:54:00.004+11:00

Hi everyone, yes I know I have not blogged for a week or two.... the time just seems to vanish .......it would help if I stayed home......
back in Feb I went to the Aust Quilt convention with my SIL and two girlfriends we stayed overnight so we got to go on Thursday and Friday which was really good planning..... the quilts on display were really inspiring.... the work that has gone into some of them was mind boggling ....how do they do them?? and of course we shopped and shopped..... but the highlight of the whole show was spotting Christine from Aunties Quaint Quilts .... I knew she was going to be there and I reconised her from a photo I saw on another blog ...... she was there with her sister, Kath, they were lovely girls it was so nice to meet in person after we had spent so much time reading each others blogs..... Another highlight was I purchased a new sewing machine I hadn't planned to I just wanted to look but they offered show special prices and I couldn't resist so now I am the proud owner of a Bernina Aurora 440 QE I had to wait a week or two before I picked it up. So I had to have a big tidy up (again) in my sewing room .... had to pack up my dear old Elna ...felt quite sad because we had been sewing together for the last 20 years but my girls will enjoy her.
I picked up "Lizzie" (short for Elizabeth- QE.... hehe ) last Wednesday, she looks so beautiful in my sewing room..... so now I should get some serious sewing done.....lol... better get the camera out and take some pics to show you.

2009-03-02T13:38:00.002+11:00

This is a quick post to show those of you who are doubting my ability to finish anything at all that over the years I have achieved some finishes..... this is a Christmas quilt from a Nancy Martin pattern in one of her beautiful "coffee table" books and my Santa bear... I didn't make the reindeer...... but I did arrange the flowers...he he he..

some quilting friends each made a star for this wall-hanging from the Little Quilts Book....one of my favourites.... and my "o' Christmas tree" cushion, again though I didn't make the reindeer..

And my pride and joy.... "the Spirit of Christmas" cross-stitch, this is one of my most cherished projects......

2009-02-12T16:53:00.002+11:00

After spending much of this week thinking and crying about these bushfire victims I have not done much other than try and do things that may help... and I still feel miserable and unhelpful....
I need to get my life back in order because me being sad doesn't help anyone at all... so this weekend we are going to stay with BIL and his wife on the south coast of NSW as we did a few weeks ago... it was really lovely and we can't wait to go back there.
Then next week it is our wedding anniversary on the 18th, can you believe 31 years and we are still happy :) every year we try to go away for our special day...... we leave Monday and will be back on Sunday, didn't think we'd be doing it this year thought dh would have to work but he has got time off... we are heading to our favourite destination.... our boat and we will spend lots of time relaxing, swimming, fishing, stitching, reading, eating and a few glasses of bubbly to celebrate.....

2009-02-09T14:38:00.002+11:00

Hi everyone, I tried to write a post yesterday but I just couldn't... today I feel quite ga ga, quite stunned... on Saturday it was very hot again I thought oh great another 43.c day, our airconditioner still isn't fixed ... it's okay I'll do what I did last week and sit under the fan and read a few blogs with a cold drink yes even too hot to sew..... I read Granny Loz "deja' vu" post mid afternoon and thought same for me, I was going to comment on it when I noticed a lot of smoke outside.....decided to turn the radio on and heard about all these fires and they were telling people in certain areas to activate their fireplan.... our area was one of those places.... then the wind got up and I thought s**t what the hell is a fire plan.... where we live I have always felt very safe and thought it totally unnecessary to have a fire plan, we have houses and green paddocks all around us and no bush maybe a little along the river which is across two paddocks away... we have pine plantations a few kms away but after seeing this horrific wind and heat I am now rethinkng my fire plan. As it turned out the wind changed direction and we weren't in any danger but then it rained and now everything outside is filthy and black, our new outdoor setting is putrid and it is undercover, the cars also undercover.. black, the house, the windows...can't see out of them, our spa looks more like a billabong, even Archie isn't a golden retriever anymore he is dirty grey and of course you have to use soapy water to clean it all so we have a big cleanup ahead of us,
BUT at least we have something to clean and we are all safe.... not like so many poor poor people who have lost loved ones, friends, neighbours, their pets, livestock, their homes, even their whole town, just everything... my heartfelt sympathy goes out to all these people and their communities, it just breaks your heart hearing their stories.... so so sad....
How brave and courageous must our firefighters and emergency workers be and all the support people that go with them... I think it is time they were recognised in a big way for the extremely hard work they do.......
I don't know what else to say just hope everyone stays safe........
I think I will just go do some quilting now and say a quiet little prayer and lots of thanks for what we have ( strange for me I not very religious at all reallybut what else can you do)......

2009-01-31T17:35:00.003+11:00

Yes another day like yesterday and the days before....

I think my boys are sick of the heat....

although it was only 35.C this morning not quite as hot but still......
so we drove to where we keep our boat (45mins) and thought we'd go somewhere for a swim unfortunately the boat had her own ideas and didn't want to go..... lucky there was a cool breeze and it was only 29.C so I sat and stitched while DH cursed and sweated trying to fix the problem only to find it wasn't going to happen today...... by the time we got home about 2pm it was 38.C and not nice.... so I stitched some more...
Now the cool sea breeze has reached us and its about 27-30.C so I'm going to sit outside with a glass of wine and listen to the jazz on the radio and quilt a few stitches in my wall hanging...

2009-01-30T15:05:00.001+11:00

Well I have been quilting like a madwoman to get this finished....silly me why didn't I machine quilt it.... oh no!.... I thought it would look better handquilted but I didn't anticipate a week of over 40.c and as everyone who quilts knows you can't quilt without touching the quilt... so my efforts to finish this by the end of January are going to fail......

but thats alright because I will finish at least two projects in Feb.... another reason (here we go) for not finishing is because we keep going places.... like taking the two hot dogs for a swim....

Archie loves the water and fetching sticks you throw for him......

He likes to lie down in the water sometimes when you walk him he will just lay down in a puddle obviously cooling off... it is funny to watch....

Nixon just likes to wade around..... drinking the water and then coughing it up because he swallowed too much.... lucky its fresh water.....

Today it's 43 - 44 again ....third day in a row and they are forecasting a "cooler" day tomorrow with 35.c what a joke.... its about now I want to go and live in Tasmania......

2009-01-28T17:05:00.004+11:00

It's very hot here today... they forecast 41'c I haven't checked how hot exactly, so my boys have to come inside, which they love...... Nixon is looking as if to say "I can't wait for my hair appointment on Friday"

Archie hardly moves in case he gets put outside....

then he looks at me probably thinking "not another photo why can't you just leave me in peace"

"It's too hot for photos, I just want to sleep"

2009-01-21T15:46:00.002+11:00

Thought you might like to see a few more bags I have made;this one was in a magazine a few years ago, Homespun I think, the little angel doll was quite fiddly to make but she is so sweet and the bag is a handy size....

It is a Rosie Quinlan design.... it would make up quickly with the jelly rolls we have these days, I used the old fashioned method of cutting individual strips.... well worth the effort.

The fabric for this bag I bought at Mandeni (beautiful embroidery shop) just out of Merimbula, NSW again quite a few years ago, this shop is well worth a visit, it has a great range of threads, patterns, cross-stitches, tapestry etc. and in the toilet there are gorgeous cross-stitches of native flowers that I loved...

its a good large size bag with lots of pockets too....

This is my Sunday bag a great size for going to workshops

This is my gorgeous Cinderberry stitches bag, it was fun to make with the embroidery and yo yos....

This was a bag I made just because I liked the fabrics and the design I think it was a Butterick pattern...

My dear friend gave me this last Christmas 07 so I could take my sewing on the boat and it wouldn't get wet, she doesn't realise you don't get wet on our boat unless you choose to....LOL... this is the same friend who tells me you need a bag for every UFO.. so thats a lot of bags for me... hehe...

Hmmm I wonder whats in this bag... another post I will show you... ps I love the apple fabric these bags are made from.....

This is one of my favourite bags... the small Bow bag, I use it all the time when I go out, just the right size for keys, phone,hanky and wallet.... I get lots of comments on it

This bag another girl friend made for me again to take on the boat and to the beach... she does lots of machine embroidery hence the cool lady on the front and the back.....

She chose my favourite colours....

Don't you just love the plaited handles.....

And lastly this little bag is for taking to craft shows, just enough room for phone, keys and cards very handy, haven't tested it out yet.... plan to use it when I go to craft show in February in Melbourne....

2009-01-19T15:05:00.002+11:00

Well it is warm again today 33-34'C which gives me a good reason to stay inside where its a bit cooler although it really isn't that bad.
We had a lovely trip on Friday to visit BIL and his wife at their holiday house on the lower south coast of NSW, about five hours away, the weather was perfect, we went for a run out to sea in their boat on Saturday,which was exciting for me (DH and the other two all go offshore fishing so they are used to it) and I didn't even feel seasick.... hmmm maybe I could go fishing.... think I would rather sew. We left about lunchtime yesterday and had a leisurely drive home, another perfect day
I did manage to put a few stitches in my Truly Scrumptious block I'm carting around everywhere with me, so its nearly finished.... I've only got eight to go..... another wisp.
I had better go and work on my project I am trying to finish for January.

2009-01-15T14:36:00.002+11:00

Well after reading about the "One Project a Month" Challenge I have signed up and hopefully I will finish a few more things off my ufo list than I did last year, think I only managed two projects last year....very slack.
Happened to mention my plan to DH at lunchtime today and quick as a wink he said do you realise we are halfway through January now and realistically because we are going away this weekend and probably the long weekend as well that leaves about 10 days ..... I told him I can sew in the car and on the boat but he just chuckled as he left.... so there is some more incentive for me to get going and finish something. Better go and stitch some borders onto a Christmas wall hanging I started in 2007 and see how I go.

2009-01-12T15:35:00.002+11:00

Happy new year everybody, I hope everyone has had a lovely Christmas and a good start to 2009, mine has been busy not with sewing unfortunately,
my sister and I threw a surprise birthday party for our mum yesterday at our place she turned 71 and she loved it... just with close family and friends....
and you know the way it goes left on boxing day for six days away on our boat.. very nice and relaxing... came home new years day to go to a wedding in melb on the 2nd... thanks SIL....
then had the week to put away Christmas deckies and to clean house and yard and prepare food for the party yesterday, so today I'm just pottering around in my lovely clean house and garden feeling a bit ga-ga, too wrung out to sew maybe tomorrow I will stitch something...
This year I have decided to make this a finishing year by writing a fresh to do list for my sewing so I can stay on track and finish a few things! No 1 on the list is my angel story quilt....
Also we have changed from adsl to wireless which I am excited about... now I can blog anywhere, inside or outside should be much more convenient, I won't be stuck in the study all the time...
Anyway I better go and start writing this list and I have a lot of blogs to catch up with as well , happy stitching everyone, Sheryl

2008-12-24T11:16:00.002+11:00

Well it is here... no more time to shop, sew or procrastinate... hooray now we can sit back and enjoy the festive season... LOL as if we can do that ....
Well not just yet, first we will entertain a few Friends and family coming over for Christmas drinks tonight.
Then tomorrow we will have breakfast with our children and a few pressies... I wonder if santa still comes when your a grown-up..... lucky we all still BELIEVE at our house.
After that we are all going over to hubby's sister's place and will have lunch with his family... there will be 33 of us this year...phew glad it is her turn....
Then we will come home and have Christmas night with my family ....just 9 of us so that will be easy and somewhere in the middle of all this I have to pack clothes and food and my sewing of course (all ready packed... got to have your priorities right..) LOL so we can go away Boxing day until Jan 5th....
Anyway I would like to wish all my blogging friends a very Merry Christmas and a happy and safe New Year ...Sheryl
I will catch up with you all in 2009.

2008-12-10T15:43:00.003+11:00

While I get myself organised for Christmas, I will post some pics of a parcel I received in the mail last week... I had seen this project idea when it first came out a few months ago and I decided I wasn't going to put my name down for it because I have a few other projects on the go... you know how it goes.... then I saw photos on other blogs and thought how cute these are and I gave in......

I just love getting parcels in the mail... feels like it is your birthday every time..LOL

So now I have to decide which bag to put this project in to cart it around....

this old thing that I made 5 or 6 years ago..... it was a kit from the patchwork shop in Narooma, NSW....

or maybe this bag.... made this 3 or 4 years ago, it was a kit from Candleberry Country
in Yarragon, Victoria....

or I might just use my most recent bag made from charm squares using a pattern a stitching friend gave me....

Another stitching friend says you need a bag , basket or box or something nice to store your projects in as you go and as you would all know thats a lot of bags, baskets and boxes...LOL

Right now... I am off to sort my Christmas stuff out.

2008-12-02T20:23:00.003+11:00

Finally got a chance to take some photos of our pretty little Phoebe; this is how Phoebe looks through the colder times of the year in her very warm luxurious fur coat..... but it is rather difficult to be comfortable in the heat of Summer in a fur coat.....so she has had a hair cut the last two Summers and she loves it ....

she is helping me photograph some of my bags I have made over the years.... she was probably thinking whats all this stuff in my way, where am I going to sit in the middle of Mum's sewing bench.....

her hair is growing back quickly, she may need another hair cut before the Summer is finished

2008-11-21T15:55:00.007+11:00

Thought it might be fun to show you my favourite angels.....
I love this one because her dress is so pretty and she is doing something that I like doing myself... reading.... Of course I really love this one because she is doing what I love the most.... quilting.....

And lastly this angel is very special because she has her pets with her, her dog, cat and bird....

although we don't have a bird yet, have had them over the years though, think we will have chooks next before we get another bird.....

Now I have to show you a pickie of one of my angels... I have three he he.....

my baby Kate (blonde hair) and one of her girl-friends in our spa eating Nectarines of course we usually don't eat in the spa but I figured they couldn't make too much mess..... they needed the umbrella because it was raining and they didn't want to get their hair wet as you do when youre in the spa lol...

Archie and Nixon were hoping they might get a bit of nectarine if they were lucky.....

silly boys... don't they know dogs shouldn't eat fruit....

2008-11-19T16:48:00.005+11:00

Two weeks ago this was the sad sight in our front yard our very old ride-on broken down AGAIN, so dh made the big decision of putting the poor old thing out to pasture(round the back of the shed hopefully to go to the tip) And buying a new one with a key in my favourite colour so I can use it..... ha ha, well maybe if I have time......

Because on the same day I bought myself a gorgeous new red iron and ironing board... a Sunbeam and Heart Foundation promotion... great minds think a like??? Of course I have been ironing everything in sight... amazing what the right colour can do....

So after all that I have managed to pin my angels onto my Clover design sheet.... they look so good.... and I have cut all the squares to put it all together...

2008-11-14T09:45:00.002+11:00

Gosh I can't believe its Friday again where did the rest of the week go????
I finished stitching the panel for the little bag I'm making, at last it seemed to take ages, why does that happen with the quickie?? projects.......
I will post some pics later, have to go and pacify Archie (Golden Retreiver) he is howling like someone chopped off his leg or something because no1 daughter took her baby Nixon(Cocker spaniel) for a walk and poor Archie got left behind, such is a dog's life.....

2008-11-07T19:37:00.002+11:00

Yahoo!! I finally got my angel badge up with much thanks to Stina she is a sweetie!!!!
Tonight my darling hubby has to work back late so here I am playing with my blog although now I am heading up to my sewing room to work on my angel story quilt..... hopefully I will be productive and get something done....
Today we had rain at last... do you know how good it feels to hear the water running down the drain-pipe.... even if it is just drips....

2008-11-05T08:36:00.002+11:00

Ok... I have fiddled and fluffed and poked around trying to load Stina's Angel story badge onto my blog, I have saved it in my documents but it tells me the image is corrupt or is in an unreconised format and me being computer illiterate have no idea what that means or what to do with it now, if one of you very clever bloggers out there could help I would appreciate that very much, if not I am just going to shut myself in my sewing room and sew... that sounds like a good idea anyway.... hope your having a better day, Sheryl

2008-11-02T13:30:00.003+11:00

Well at last I have some of my angel story blocks ready to show..... had a couple of hicupps with the camera..
these girls are so sweet in their floral dresses.....

such pretty colours.....

enough admiring... I have to cut some fabric to join them together.....

and get the quilt top together..... so I can start quilting them.... the best bit after piecing them...

the slowest part of making a quilt I know.... but I love it.... wouldn't you agree.....

2008-10-27T16:40:00.005+11:00

Well I did it..... I finally finished something.....HOORAY!! This little fellow has been in the making for far too long... He was made to sit on this navy and cream flannel quilt that I made for our bed on our boat because he is a Sailor Bear going by the name of Bobby......

now the photos show him on that quilt on our bed at home...(I bring the quilt home when we aren't on the boat) I think he has turned out really cute......

even DH thought he was cute and why didn't I make more bears when I do such a good job of them..... funny I thought he didn't notice that sort of stuff......

Next time we go down to the boat I will take some pics of him on the water.....

2008-10-23T15:33:00.002+11:00

This was my morning view of my garden this morning ......a couple of my beautiful trees.... Liquidamber in front and my gorgeous Crabapple... its my favourite..... and that black thing on the side is the wheel of the vintage.....past its use-by ride on mower.... soon to be sent to mower heaven..... or worse.... according to its owner -dh.....lol and more lol!! It is forever breaking down in the middle of mowing....

This is what I found in the cupboard a teddy bear you think.. maybe not just any bear though......stay tuned......

2008-10-23T08:06:00.002+11:00

'Oh what a beautiful morning Oh what a beautiful day' thats just the song for a morning like today, sun shining, no wind, birds chattering everywhere, perfect!!
While I was on my walk I remembered a special little somebody hiding in my cupboard because he isn't finished :(
All he needs is some stitching to hold his stuffing in and a face and ears.... think I will make this my project to finish over the weekend; will post a before photo later after I have done some grocery shopping .......

2008-10-22T20:23:00.002+11:00

Well the progress on this stitchery is slow but I am getting there! This is my cute little Cinderberry Stitches Ginger and Spice bag that I cart it around in, sitting next to a cushion I made a few years back.....
When I finish the stitchery this is my next goal ......to finish this Christmas wallhanging hopefully to be hung this year.... it is a Cinderberry Stitches creation as well...I love Natalies work..... This one was the Christmas Mice pattern from a day at Candleberry Country - Candleberry Christmas - last year I think, finally I will finish something from one of those days........
You know where you go to sew and you end up hardly putting a stitch in because you are too busy catching up with friends and meeting new people and seeing what everyone-else is making and shopping and eating.... good fun!!
Sounds just like one of those days you lucky girls that went to Glenharrow had ........

2008-10-15T09:12:00.008+11:00

Why is it when you have plans, something steps in to spoil them, went up to sewing room to set up some photos..... pick up the camera only to find the batteries flat again... so frustrating!!!!

So once again just a few words for today ( I have to go to work at 12 and it will be dark when I get back to " hopefully" charged batteries).LOL!!!

Have found a couple of pics I hadn't posted yet..... applique blocks of a quilt top (wall-hanging) waiting to be quilted......... this was "Welcome Friends" BOM from the Boatshed Quilting

2008-10-14T20:52:00.002+11:00

This morning I headed off on a little road trip on my own to visit a very dear friend who is visiting hospital for the forth or fifth time to have a chronic problem fixed that should have been fixed with one hospital visit.... lucky she is sooo tough. Anyway we had a quick coffee and popped over to the quilt shop in her town where we were involved in some serious retail therapy.... anything to help a friend destress, .....picking fabrics for a lovely embroidered quilt we bought online from a site in Tasmania, hope to post some pics soon.

2008-10-12T10:04:00.003+11:00

Well its another perfect day here...... like yesterday, yes it was even nice when I was working...all our customers were really happy and pleasant because it was such a beautiful day. Sorry no sewing news today, one of our great Aussie sporting events is on today.. Bathurst and yes I know its a man thing but after watching it most part of the last 33 years...OMG did I say 33..good grief!!! thats a very long time.... oh well!! So I hope to have some stitching news and pics later in the week, have a great day, Sheryl.

2008-10-04T14:17:00.005+10:00

This is our golden retriever Archie..... very happy to be allowed on the boat. And this is our middle daughter's english cocker spaniel (our gran-puppy!!! closest thing to a granchild so far) his name is Nixon, he was not too sure about this boating business!!

These are the fabrics to go with the stitchery from the previous blog to make a bag, I bought them at a Christmas day at Candleberry Country last year, I will post some pics of something I started there in another post. Now I must go and finish a bag for my dear friend for her birthday.

2008-10-01T13:36:00.003+10:00

Today is my "baby's" 25Th birthday, wow the time goes so fast, she was a darling baby and she hasn't changed that much, she is still a darling. When she popped in for lunch she mentioned she had spoken to her sister, currently living in Qld, and said that she would get her pressie later after work- her new rabbit or kitten or maybe a duckling ( she is such a dreamer) as if!! we already have a cat and two dogs plenty of animals for the moment. Let me introduce them to you, firstly Phoebe she is a Himalayan / Persian about 8yrs old, she is as pretty as a picture but all she does is sit around and look glamorous, nice if you're a cat.

Next time I post there will be pics of Archie and Nixon so you will have to wait and see how cute they are Now I am off to my sewing room to work on block No2 of my Vintage Valentine quilt, I have borrowed a light box from my dear SIL while she's not using it so I am trying to get lots done with it, have traced off a few stitcheries for a couple of BOMs I have going ...one of them being- Truly Scrumptious from Honeysuckle Cottage , I really loove this one after seeing it being created on Natalie's Cinderberry Stitches blog, so better go because I have lots to do, hope you have time for a stitch or two, Sheryl

2008-09-26T11:27:00.013+10:00

Stunning Erskine Falls.

Our beautiful native wattle along the path to the lookout.

The view from Teddy's Outlook looking towards Appollo Bay.

The beach in town.

Here are some of the locals very friendly little blokes! One came to make sure it was safe then he came back with all his friends.

Here is a little peek at the stitchery I managed to put a few stitches in.

2008-09-23T11:04:00.005+10:00

Well what a beautiful place Lorne is, we loved it, found a couple of good book shops and a very stylish shoe shop (managed to resist the impulse to buy- mainly because I had left my purse in the car and I had get past the bank manager ccompanying me...you know 'do you really need that, when will you wear them' etc. serves me right for forgetting MY money).

The weather wasn't the best although we did have sunshine in between the wind and rain, it was dry while we walked into Erskine Falls - very pretty area and the falls were stunning. Then we walked to Teddy's Outlook- the long way -found out we could have driven there- but the exercise was lovely in amongst the very pretty bush with glimpses of the sea as we went, ( too cold for snakes thankfully); Wow! what a view.

After lunch in a beach side cafe, we walked out on the pier in the rain and wind (yuk! think I was a cat in my other life), then we drove out towards Apollo Bay, spotted two whales in close as we drove along the Great Ocean Road- no wonder it is such a big tourist attraction- so picturesque.

We had dinner in the restaurant at the Mantra where we stayed (very comfortable) on Friday night (delicious meal ) and decided we were too tired to go out Sat night so we ordered in gourmet pizzas ( again very tasty). Sunday we stopped off at the Queen Vic market on the way home and picked up a few supplies -fresh fish, lamb and steak( I thought it was way too big for a steak for one but hubby was very excited). Will post some photos soon. Have to go and mow the lawn, don't you just love Springtime, happy stitching; oops! nearly forgot to mention- I did manage to do some stitching not much though, bye for now Sheryl

2008-09-18T08:45:00.002+10:00

Thought you might like to see two other older cross-stitches which hang in my sewing room, these are the priviledged few that made it to the framers- I have a box with other completed projects still waiting to get framed......one day!Lol. The patterns for these came from the very first editions of Australian Craft and Decorating probably vintage copies by now.

Well better run just looked at the time and I have to go to work soon, happy stitching Sheryl

2008-09-17T21:04:00.004+10:00

Well this is it! My first blog photo of my first cross-stitch I do think it was cute, I have come a long way I will post a pic of my current cross-stitch I am working on at the moment in another post, happy stitching, Sheryl.

Day One

2008-09-17T07:29:00.000+10:00

Wow I feel like I am learning to ride a bike again, finally I'm taking the plunge into the blog pond, I have been lurking long enough.

My love of sewing lead me into this wonderful world of blogging where I have found so much inspiration, met (not sure if thats the right word) so many interesting people (alright ladies then), seen some beautiful quilts, stitcheries, embroideries, dolls; photos of some beautiful places, the list goes on and on; anyway thought I'd like to share some of my quilting journey/life with you.

It's Spring here, always a great time for beginnings, starting my blog made me think about some of my early sewing projects like my first cross-stitch; two teddy bears in pink tutus with toys scattered around the floor where they were dancing, it also was beaded (not like me to start with something simple) it hangs proudly in my sewing room along with some other early cross-stitches, I started it in the late 1980's and completed it in 1990/91, long time ago now its a bit hazy; well I hope this gets some of you thinking about your sewing beginnings, til next time happy stitching, Sheryl