Christmas!

We spent Christmas with daughter and her family in Port Alfred, Eastern Cape. Its a lovely coastal town ! They have now relocated there and spent a few days making blinds for the house. And of course had lots of fun with Matthew. His life is changing so much now! Even Zequenya the dog is still adjusting from being a anti poach dog to a ordinary suburban dog! She is so amused when walking on her leash and seeing all the dogs in the neighborhood, just wants to play but those dogs are not as friendly as she is. She was the only dog at Ubizane. They are in a green belt and still have monkeys around.  Even the cats are aware that their lives have changed forever.

At the mouth of the Kowie River

The cats are very amused seeing all the movement in the street.

Getting Zequenya the anti poach working dog to just relax and
take a walk with her leash on.

Matthew decorating the Christmas Tree

The men cutting the hedge, and you can see how nice the area is.
They have lots of monkeys in the surrounding trees.

I received an old broken wheel burrow or two from a builder friend
and we have some lovely pink flowers now.
 

Natascha and family on Christmas Day

Busy Busy and a few finishes

Two round pillows embroidered and some roses in organza and lots of beads and
also some of my own crocheted lace.

A nappy changer bag for my daughter.
this is the inside with pockets for all
the nappies and stuff

when closed also an outside bag added for her stuff when shopping.
I added zips to the sides so she will be able to put a bottle in there
too. I chose this colour so that she will be able to use it anywhere
even on the car bonnet when necessary! hehehe

Crochet

Added a bit of crochet to my top! Love it

What have I been busy with???

I have been working on this summer top for some time now.
This cotton was meant for a very pretty circle throw but
using a very large hook. Which of course I just could not
get used too. So as the saying goes Use Up.
well I did.
 

This is a quilt for my daughter with her colour choice.
It is just one half of the 3x3 m quilt.
I will be quilting it soon once they have decided what pattern
to use, I wanted to tie with buttons but no they
don't want the hard button in the quilt.

Well it is meant for them so they get to choose!!

Busy as always

I am busy hooking (crocheting) a loose summer top with sleeves.
I am planning on wearing it over some of my sleeveless dresses
this summer.
My arms are not what it used to be and I need it covered.

I have also got myself a lovely sewing comfy chair.
Its a wingback handmade that I have wanted for many years
and now able to have one.

We went to Isabella's in Lamberts Bay for lunch. It a lovely sea
coast town on the west coast of the Western Cape

 

Clanwilliam 200 Quilt

This is a quilt wall hanging that l worked on with some others women from our town. It was designed by Jenny Hermans and now hangs in our museum.

Framed now!!!!!!

My Christmas Angel now all framed.

Also had my 2 silk ribbon embroidery pieces framed properly.
This is a fabric pictures that I bought from Di van Niekerk''s
shop many years ago.

My few minutes of fame. well!

My few minutes of fame!

I had my first show and tell of my crazy quilt and here it is in the local newspaper on page 10.
I have even had a promotion to an  engineer of quilting. hehehehe great. My Mother, who has passed away is also in the photo above my head with all the pink roses around. Qubby says she is still sitting on my head. I really miss her and am sure she is also smiling at me during the show and tell.

Been So Busy having fun.

I am busy hooking some granny squares for a long jersey for myself

I am now totally hooked to the Road Trip shawl and have made three

I have been doing very little embroidery on my Village Bag,
had some other stitching to do for a secret project.
I saw this on Pinterest and decided to add to my
bag. Its not the kind of thing that I would have done
but really wanted to have a cycle on it and well
I have made one and did not come out too bad for a first
time working with wire.

Having some fun!

Well everyone, I am busy with a group wall hanging, and have come to realize that I am not really a group person. Love to do my own thing!!!!! This project is taking me totally outside the box and not
something I like doing. Also I am doing lots of the work and not thinking up nice things to add. grrrrr
somehow me thinks they are just using me to do the hand needle turn applique because the designer is a real art quilter and although I like the design, I just don't like that type of quilt wall hanging. Well its got to get done even the handwork. She prefers machine stitching but this requires a lot of hand stitching. O well now I need to get off here and get to work some more on the boring stuff. Hope to get back to my embroidery soon.

The Village bag

This is my flowers on the arch completed. Just so nice and dainty, he he not what l started out with, but must say much prettier than the original.

Real miniture

This mini quilt was something l really needed to do. Just had to make something small using fabrics. Having withdrawal symptoms not using fabrics. Think too much embroidery is causing it. The small square in a circle is 3cm and the total size is 11cm square. Somebody gave this tiny a name, it's called "Oops". Such a cute name don't you agree? Well still have to get some ordinary string in stead of the ribbon!

Something done!!!



This is the other pocket for the 3rd panel of my bag.



This is a picture taken by a friend of
Clanwilliam today.

A bit more!

Did a bit more embroidery this afternoon on my pocket of the bag on panel 2. Having so much fun.

2nd Panel of my bag!

I bought this pattern of the Village Bag. The info on this is not very professional but as always l am changing this to my liking. Don't think l will be buying any kits in the future because l am forever changing it. I am using a lot of organza ribbon because it holds its fullness with everyday use whereas silk ribbon tends to fall flat. I love silk ribbon too but only use it in items that gets framed!
This is the second panel!

Some Problems!!!!

Well I had my computer "crash" and lost lots of my personal stuff, but now I have learned the hard way to "back up" regularly. Now have been all kitted up with an external hard drive and also some usbs. Now I am ready to keep my life a little more updated.

Hehehehehe wish I could say that about all the usual house work. It never ends. Luckily I have a nice cluttered home and dust does not seem to gather so quickly as when a house is minimalistically designed, hehehehe

Well now I have a whole new empty computer to fill and will have lots of fun along the way.
Had problems connecting to the internet and now sorted out.

Well have a great day and take care till next time and now I have to get some stitching done.

Playing around

I have been playing around with my charms and now need to embroider all the flowers. Love it!

A Small project!

Not done much, l have been working on this panel, but had to stop and start working on a wall hanging for our towns 200year birthday to show end August. Will show once completed!

busy as always!

 

I have now got into my daily routine, well sort of. Have been x stitching a bit in the mornings and then started embroidering on the panels of a bag.
Have been asked to help with a nice wall hanging quilt for the towns festivities being 200 years old this year. Have been working on it too but not allowed to show. Its a real privilege that l will be mentioned in helping with something so special for many years to cone. There are not many quilter in town so it will be lots of work for the few of us that are willing to help.
 We are also now into autumn and just love the cooler weather at last. So now it just back to enjoying life in general.
 It was my son Bennie"s birthday yesterday and l can't believe that he is now 38years old. Where has the time gone! It is also hubby"s birthday tomorrow and he approaching his 70s very fast.
Have a great creative week with lots of blessings to you all.

Another new bag!

I have now started on my next project and will be adding a lot of embroidery.
Will be adding lots of pretty flowers.

My Angel of Cross Stitching

My Angel of Cross Stitching by Joan Elliot has made an appearance again now that my crazy quilt is done and yesterday l did a few stitches after not working on her for more than 2 years! Wow  time just goes by so quickly!

Row by row

Now ready for my hand quilting. Love hand quilting because it gives me my time with my thoughts. Also just in time for winter hybernation!

Block completed!

This is the extra block l have embroidered for my best friend of over 30 years. She is the one that likes to push me out of my comfort zone on my embroidery journey!

Another Block?????

I had one block left from my Crazy Quilt and decided to embroider it for my bestest friend Anna.
I notice that this is not the finished block but at least you can see what I have completed.
I really had lots of laughs on this one, I tried to embroidery some of the stuff I had done on my
big Crazy Quilt, but as always my work has a life of its own and this is what I have accomplished.

Now hanging in its right place forever!

My crazy quilt has found the right place in this home. At last l now can admire my work while working on my other project s!

My Autumn wallhanging

I have now completed my lovely autumn wall hanging and just in time for our autumn now. I received this gorgeous fabric from a very dear friend Pamela who lives in Florida USA.

cotton fabric at last!

Well now onto the next project. I love these brights from DaGama textiles. Just added a crazy border and now for hand quilting but somehow l stitched one cat wrong way, so will have to undo that first. Lots of paper piecing used here.

More embroidery

I have a block of my crazy quilt left and working on it and here l have added a picture of each stage which is not planned. My creativity just takes over and decides what next.
I have used organza ribbon for flower and crochet maroon centre with gold beads. The stems and leaves are also crochet cotton. Found a easy way to make these lovely leaves. Anyone interested to know how? Just leave a comment and l will show step by step in my blog.

A Small Addition!!

I nearly forgot a small necessary addition a quilter always adds to a quilt and that is a spider and web. Its for good luck!  There are many such cute traditions in the quilting world that goes back many generations l am sure! Some of them long forgotten.

Shopping anyone?

Have now completed my long outstanding shopping bag at last. Fabric l used for doll dress was given to me from a special friend .

trrrr Drum roll pls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have now been able to take a photo of my crazy quilt. Here it is and it is 250x250cm square. Thank you all for the support I have had through the 3 years I have been working on this wonderful special quilt.

Drum roll please!!!!!!!!!

I have now completed my crazy top and will be posting a picture as soon as l have a few hands to hold the quilt for me. Its is very heavy and l am still not sure which way l want to go with this great achievement of mine. Would love to share it with a local magazine too. If l can do this so can many others too. Just lots of time and dedication is is involved.

Crazy Quilt nearly there and life!!!!!!

Well all here I have the whole crazy quilt all of the 250x250cm square at my feet. I have joined the two pieces together and am busy embroidering the last joining seam. I still cannot believe that this journey is nearing the end. Its been very hot here lately and I have very sore fingers at the moment so I am not working on it this whole weekend. hehehehe It is just such a strange feeling having all this hard work together at last and have a feeling with all this at my feet "I feel so rich". Will post picture when done.

On facebook these last few days I have been able to reconnect with lots of my cousins on my Dad's side of the family and its just great. We have not had contact in years because my parents got divorced when I was very young and we had mostly contact with my Mom's side of the family, which was 2 sisters and 10 brothers of which there is only one brother left, just great to be able to get to know them all over again. My Dad had a huge family of, if my memory is correct, hehehe in most cases its not, 3 sons and 10 daughters, so I have a huge family with lots of cousins who I have never met. So now there are only 6 sisters left and funny enough they still remember me, well when I was that cute blond girl.
Life just has a way of coming round and to me it feels like after completing with this crazy quilt I am able to face the world without the heartache of missing my parents, much easier.

Wow nearly done!!!

Well now l have the 2 sections stitched together and started the last of the seam embroidery. Its really a huge 250x250cm square challenge with the hot weather we have , although its cloudy here the humidity is high and also the electricity was down for a few hours this afternoon, its very hot to be under it. Well will be embroidering like crazy now to get this huge project complete after 3 years                                                                                                                                                                         Something interesting l read the other day about the cherry blossom meaning is "incidents and emotions".  I remember at the time l wanted to have one in my quilt not knowing the real meaning pot the cherry blossom, but had to have it in my quilt. Will not be posting until l have all the embroidery done.

A new flower specie!

Charka testing a flower pot! Or is he trying to tell us something?

Crazy quilt progress!!!

I have 2 pieces now after joining all 24 blocks together. Now will be joining the last seam and then it will all be done. This was 2 days work. Must add l still having fun after the 3 years l have been working on it. Wow now its not long to go till completed.