Guests arriving.

        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!!

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.

      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...

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

 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.

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.

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.