Placemats

This is placemats that I am making for my kitchen

On the lefthand side I have put in pockets

to put the cutlery and a serviette.

Now have to go and finish it up.

The centre angel quilt

Well here it is at last and finished.

I have taken ages to get the blocks

together and it sure looks great.

It will become a Dbed

quilt so I have some way to go still.

Busy

I have started to make another Christmas star banner and hope to have it done by tomorrow evening and will post a picture of it then.
I have sold the other one at the Christmas market. It was decided to have it yearly and also not so long. Only two or three days. which is great as the week was long and sales not much.
This was an experiment and hopefully it will become more and more known to the locals and supported by them too.
Thanks to the persons who made it possible for us to show our talents.
Hope it will grow and grow more each year.

Finished

This is two banners I made for the
Christmas Market being held at our
Church Hall. Hope they sell but if
they dont I will most certainly use
them here at home. If they sell
I will make myself another set of
these, maybe just a bit different.
Dont like to make exactly the same
stuff twice.

This is my Christmas wallhanging that was started last Christmas
Just have to finished up with lots of bling.













This is my snow family banner for next winter.

Christmas Table Runner

This is the table runner I made for

the Chicks Christmas project.

Christmas Angel

This is my Special Christmas Angel. When I made her I thought

her head was too small. Put her in my basket to look and she

said to me that I must leave it that way as we are all different

but very special.

My Pumpkin Patch

This is a pumpkin patch x stitch that I have recently finished.

I am going to make a small quilted wallhanging with it as I have some lovely pumpkin fabric

that would look great.

Our cat Thandor has still not returned and never will. He is greatly missed by all.

Thandor our cat is missing

This is Thandor, hubby's cat and he has been missing since Saturday night. We have searched all over but nothing. We suspect that he was hit by a car and taken away. The person did not have the decency to face the war and tell us. We have now lost 3 cats since moving here. the first was hit by a car and no one came forward, but we know who it was. the other was poisoned and now the third cat. This cat had such a wonderful personality and the whole neighbourhood loved him. the other cats already have this "when is Thandor coming home" look in their eyes or maybe they know what has happened to him. We are very heartbroken loosing him.

Well life goes on and we have to make peace with this. I have been at war with the further neighbours about them thinking that this street is a racing circuit. They are all in a hurry to goodness knows where, as there is no traffic here dont even have a traffic light. This is a place where families live and not cars. I have a hatred towards people that dont have respect for others and their pets, who mean the world to us,and here there are a few living in this street. People are false and just dont touch their pets, but they dont even have the decency to come and apologize for causing such pain. I have a way of working out how what where and when and who, so they ignore me but somehow I do get behind it all.

Please think about how your driving in the suburbs where people and pets live affect them, when you charge ahead. !!!!! take your time and appreciate the neighbourhood and greet everyone and you will be able to change the world that way

Horoscopes

I had a good laugh last night when I found out that I am a goat in the chinese horoscope and then reading it describe my personality correct in every way. Even hubby's was correct. It makes me feel so, well that there is more than one me on this earth and here I was thinking that I am a great individual person. Well I still think that I am special. Have been busy making some banners for my bedroom. I seem to want to make everything in red nowdays. I am also making a banner with snowmen on for when winter comes around next year. Hope to have it finished by then.

Broken rules

I have been chatting to friends about breaking rules and also how thankful I am that rules are to be broken because we would not have had all the technology we have today if rules were not broken. Could you imagine being without electricity, water supply to our homes, the telephone which was the starting point of the cellphone. There is a whole world outside there that has been started on broken rules in our everyday lives. I have so many examples that this would be too small to list. Gee being without the telephone or even the cellphone and now the internet is unthinkable to me. Have had times when line is not available and that was awful. Also being without the basic electricity has also made me realize that there will be no!!!!!!!!!!! nothing that is also the radio here in the house will be useless. They (Eskom) has us exactly where they want us to be dependant on them so that they will always be in business. Well we could walk to where we want to be and also go and chat but what about coffee and tea to drink. Getting to think how the elders got along without all these things is just beyond me and just thinking of all the hard work that would have got to be done to just get coffee to drink, milk the cow by hand, that has never appealed to me, tried it once and nearly got kicked over by the cow. Make a fire, well that is an impossible task for me have never been good at getting the fire in our fireplace lit without having the whole place in smoke. So as you can see I sure will have an enormous amount of problems getting just a few small tasks done.

Quilt show at Riebeeck Kasteel

Went to the quilt show at Riebeeck and it was great. Luckily hubby took me because at the end of looking at all the quilts my eyes and feet were sore, even though I had the most comfortable shoes on and also my reading glasses which are new. He drove us back and that was great as I was able to sit back and recap all the quilts I had seen there. The quilts were from all different styles and it was great to see how artistic all of the different styles were. There were also traditional quilts, machine quilted quilts, and also lots of wallhangings. The winner quilt was a wallhanging with tiny ivy leaves all sewn on seperately. Congratulations to the winner, all that hard work has paid off. Marie Claase had her quilts shown there and also lots of Susan Sittig was there too. Lovely quilts but Susan loves and knows her sewing machine and uses it too the fullest. Her quilts are mostly machine made and quilted. I prefer to do all my quilts by hand but recognize all the hard work that goes into even the machine made quilts. Will be there with the next show and thanks to all the people working behind the scenes to bring us this wonderful world of quilting.

Just thoughts

Hubby's sister was visiting here and I was unable to post and also did very little sewing. We fetched her as she is now 72 and unable to drive such long distances anyway. She came on a trip to see all the places that she used to go to when she was growing up in this area. Very nostalgic. Took her back this morning and had tea and cake and then returned home. It was awful as I would have loved to do some shopping but hubby was in a hurry to get back home. We love having visitors but also having the house to ourselves after a whole week of visitors is also great. I am on a diet and having guests is not easy. but I willl persist with it this coming week. Not a very strict diet but just to get too loose a bit of weight. I will now be able to get back to my sewing this week and stitch up a storm. The week was too long without all my sewing to keep me company. We the patchwork group is now finished with all the squares and stuff for the last of our mystery quilt which is named "the torture mystery quilt" and it was really torture to make all these small pieces and use a lot of new techniques. Thanks to D for all her hard work to make this mystery quilt so interesting. She even cut the fabric pieces beforehand so it does not take so long to get the squares finished. So next Thursday all will be revealed and I cant wait as I did have to do a lot of machine stitching which is not my favorite hobby.

Just another day.

Well it was just another day but I have much to be thankful for. I have worked on my fairy pillows and hope to have these ufo's finished soon. Then I can get to work on a new project again. Made a decision to do a ufo inbetween new projects. Trying very hard to keep to this decision. hahahaha

A First for everything

We had been trying to talk to our oldest grandson this morning and was not able to as he was sleeping when we phoned. So tonight our son phoned as he asked to so that he could talk to us and this is the first time he wanted to talk to us over the phone. It is his birthday today and I cannot believe that he is now 6 years old and will be going to school next year. Time flies by so quickly. We are so blessed to have such cute and handsome grandsons, all three of them. Well I took the calico quilt and a few small items to the shop and when I walked in at the door there is a scented candle burning and boy did I get hayfever from it. Walking in sneezing does not seem very nice, but the sneezing continued as the shop is full of all those lovely candles. Luckily there was no one in the shop except the owner and she knows me so she knew that I did not have a cold or the flue. Thank goodness for that. Hope that my quilt get sold quickly and then I can buy something from the shop that I would like to have but not necessarily need. It always seems to be my problem lately with I dont have that shade or that pattern fabric and am forever struggling not to get more as I have to get all these other ufo's finished and buying more fabric will not do. Or shall I get some fabric for the sashings that I have to have to put the angel quilt together to finish.??????????

Grandsons are the best

Went to visit my son and his family this weekend and also went around about way to them. We went through to Springbok to view the flowers and saw very little of the flowers that everyone is talking about and it is also very dry there. not much rain that way. The grandsons are so cute and our oldest one is going to school next year, where has the time gone??? The youngest is really cute to and always smiling and loves his food. He has the most gorgous blue eyes I have seen, inbetween his mothers light blue and fathers darker blue eyes. But his is much bigger. Very friendly chap. It is the oldest grandsons birthday tomorrow and I pray that the Lord will hold him in His love all of his life and give him many blessings. I love being a grandmother. It is such a special blessing to see them grow into handsome men oneday.

What a day!!!!

I always seem to have a problem to get into routine when we have gone visiting. Like today I am not sure that I got very much done. I have finished the calico quilt and it and a few other items are ready for the shop. Also my brother and his family received their gift of the 12 mini calender quilts and just love it. So I will have to get a grip on myself and start doing some work and also lots of sewing as I still have lots of ufo's around.

Thoughts

I have had a lazy day just finishing off some of my ufo's and getting small things done. Also finished the calico quilt and washed and ready to take to the shop. We are visiting our son and his family this weekend and cant wait to see our 2 handsome grandsons again. Have not seen them since March. Have had lovely weather and the tourists have taken over our town. Hate it as some note some of these peoples think we dont have any idea how to drive and seem to put the road rules aside and just do as they please. It seems that some just dont think when they are on holiday.

Thank you Lord for helping me finishing this huge tasks and having the support of all my quilting friends worldwide.!!!!!!!!!! Here are the last three. Finished!!!!!Now I have been wondering what next, but I am now busy with a single bed quilt in calico and have it all tacked together and have started the quilting. It is for a shop that has opened here in town.The shop will have its opening fare on the 20th August and hope to have it done by then. We also have many tourists in this town and it is like a beehive with people coming and going all the time. We have all these lovely wild flowers for all to see. Am taking a trip to the coast to see some nice flowers and the car does need some exercise too.

The next three

Finished

January
February
March

This is the first three and I will be posting 3 every day for you to see the end of these mini quilts.

Had a great day and also feel very blessed by the Lord with all the good things in life. Have been doing some sewing and hope to have my pillows for the lounge done soon

This is a pillow top that I made from a Australian magazine by Viv and I used some fabric of Agapanthus flowers to finish it off. I just love the flowers but am unable to get them to grow in my garden and around this suburb lots of people have them growing in their gardens, I am so jealous of that, but will have to leave it as hubby is also tired of trying to get them to flower.

Thankful for old friends that are visiting here at the moment.

I have been visiting with old friends and am enjoying the visit very much. We have been in the veld today to see some flowers. It is a lovely site but their faces were closed as the wind was blowing today. But I think that it is too early for the flowers to show us their beauty yet. there are some patches but not much. Being in the wide open spaces were great for myself.

This is a pillow top that I made from a Australian magazine by Viv and I used some fabric of Agapanthus flowers to finish it off. I just love the flowers but am unable to get them to grow in my garden and around this suburb lots of people have them growing in their gardens, I am so jealous of that, but will have to leave it as hubby is also tired of trying to get them to flower.

Thankful for old friends that are visiting here at the moment.

I have been visiting with old friends and am enjoying the visit very much. We have been in the veld today to see some flowers. It is a lovely site but their faces were closed as the wind was blowing today. But I think that it is too early for the flowers to show us their beauty yet. there are some patches but not much. Being in the wide open spaces were great for myself.

Had a great day visiting with friends. Have now finished my 12 mini calender quilts too. Been wondering why I dont get to post in this site for 2 days now but am going to try again now. We are having a lovely winter warm week. Things are now getting back to normal with my life and also my quilting is moving on. slowly.

Busy busy

I have been very busy trying to finish the 12mini quilts and have to put my sewing into slow motion as I need to get the housework up to date and also get ready for a visit with friends. I will be painting the diningrooom this week and also try to get the kitchen cupboards done too.

Here are the last three of the series of mini calender quilt blocks from the Craftwise magazine here in South Africa. Now I just have to finish them and then post them early. Hope they will like the gift and use it.

This is a quilt I made with matching pillows and also made some golly wogs. Just love them, they have the most gorgous smiles. Also made a raggedy ann and they keep each other company.


I have finished painting my kitchen walls and will start the cupboards soon, maybe next week. Am exhausted from all the climbing on the ladder and down. I have painted the wall a Plascon beige called saswatch and am going to paint the cupboards poppy red. Love the combination. I must have something painted in my favorite color.

Had a very uneventful day, had to pay the bills and have started with my October block. I will not be doing much sewing tomorrow as I have to get the kitchen painting done. Hubby hinted that he hopes it will not take forever to get done. hahaha dont like such hints.

September

This is the September block with folded flowers and it is a new technique for me. It is easy and all I need now is buttons to sew in the centre.
Am going to show the Chicks this new technique. We have a blog site now www.thechicks.iblog.co.za Please feel free to view what we are doing!!!!

Thank You For Special Friends.

I must just thank a dear friend for a parcel she sent me and I received it today. I did not know about it so it was a huge surprise. Thank you friend for being such a wonderful person in my life and also may you receive many blessings from the Lord for being a caring friend. I have been too busy to do another block but have done some stitching on it. I have now got up to date with the magazine and now have to wait for the next issue to finish the last 3 months blocks.

This is my August mini quilt block and have to still put the beaded leaves in.

We had a quite day as the electricity was off for the afternoon. The rainy weather was lovely and still is raining but the house is too dark to do sewing or reading. So we spent the afternoon in front of the fire just relaxing. But this morning I got some painting in and started to paint the kitchen walls will continue tomorrow. When the electricity is off only does one then realize how dependant one has become.I have started the August block but have not been able to sew today.

This is July and the snowman is a square that I had bought long ago. The check fabric is leftovers from a pleated skirt that I had made for my daughter. It was high fashion when she was in grade 7 till 9.

Here is the next 3 months done. So now I am halfway and have started July.

As you can see I have finished the first 3 months mini quilt tops and am now busy with the next three months. They are looking great even though I must say so myself. I just love all the paper piecing of the different patchwork squares. Thanks to Craftwise magazine and the designer of these mini calender quilts.

Finished painting

This is my gollywog quilt. I made it with trying the logcabin pattern and then did the centre with the gollywogs. The are so cute, but the cats did not like their eyes and they chewed them off. The materials used are the shwe shwe prints from Da Gama textiles and they are lovely. Get them in all shades now. It was so great playing around with the logcabin squares as they can be arranged in any way that is pleasing to your eye. I had them on my Dbed and left them for a few days before deciding into what pattern to place them.

This is a mini logcabin quilt. It is 20cm square and the logcabins strips are small very small. I did it by hand as using the sewing machine would be too difficult.

I have finished painting my bedroom today and also got to wash the curtains and iron and hang them. So now my bedroom is completed. I also got to put the second layer of paint on the bathroom cupboard and now that is finished too. So now the bathrooms look great just need some new curtains. I am nearly finished with the February mini quilt and also have finished the applique paper on the May top.

Friends

I have a very dear friend for 22 years now and although we live very far apart we keep in contact nearly every week. She is truly an inspiration to me. She has taught me to take my sewing just that step further and out of my comfort zone and am I enjoying it. I seem to move forward or is it ahead a bit every time I make a item. I love magazines with all these lovely quilts that I see in them and really appreciate the artists who give us the patterns. I have finished painting another doorframe and also the bathroom cupboard and will do something every week till I am finished.

The next mini quilt top

This is the January mini quilt top and now I have finished 3. Am now busy with February.

Have not been sewing much. Had the house to clean and also did some painting. I just love all these tiny paper piecing patchwork as I am able to use all the small leftover fabric that is lying around here. Also it is very interesting to see how the pieces come together when you follow the numbers.

2 mini quilt tops finished

I have 2 of the 12 mini quilt top blocks finished. Here they are !!!!!

Patchwork quilting and thoughts

I had great fun today again watching the patchwork group with their star squares they are making and today they made a very difficult square. I have to comment that a person has to read the instructions very carefully and also maybe reread them. They did not do that so ended up with some very wrong pieces of fabric and as you alll know quilting fabric is very expensive. We got to sort out the problem and then there was deciding on how to put it all together. I am not doing the stars and am busy with the calender applique and have nearly finished the month of March. We also had the sewing group meeting and learned how to make a spider web and also put a small spider bead on. Spiders and the web are in quilters terms good luck to the person who receives this piece of artwork.

paper piecing blocks and just thoughts

I have started making paper piecing squares which the get added at the bottom of a monthly square of which there are 12 for a calender that I want to give to someone as a gift. I am using up all small pieces of fabric which is great. Photo one is starting the squares and two all the blocks are now together.

This is the March one and I am going to use it with an easter theme. With hens and chicks all over. I got the patterns in the Craftwise magazine and there are three every month. It started in January 2007 issue. It is our local craft magazine. There is one more magazine left with the last three patterns in. It has a lot of different crafts in and all the instructions are very easy to follow and also very clear pattern sheets. Thanks to Craftwise for all the hard work that you put into the magazine to make it easier for us to get projects done.

Next is these four tree squares will put picture in when completed. I think it should be the one with sunbonnet sue and bill having a "flying my kite" day out.

I have had a busy day with trying to get the washing dry and also tidy the house as I dont have a maid anymore. Need to do the housework myself.

I feel a bit bad after we have had a phone call from a call centre. This person insisted that they talk to my hubby after I told them that I do all the finances and that hubby hates being questioned by an unknown person and also hates the telephone. I am the most patient of the two of us and hate to be rude over the phone. Hubby said that if they were not prepared to talk to me they can ring off. Which they did of course. I still feel bad but as hubby put it, do they think I am ignorant or something. They could have talked to me. It is a very degrading situation actually. I am an equal partner is this marriage and have just as much say as he has. I feel that this poor person is only doing their job and that being so rude just makes them feel let down by me. They have rules to follow. To that person who phoned I am sorry for being rude but you also have to take into consideration that there are wifes who also have a say in what goes on in the finance world.

There we are this is the picture I took of the dam wall this morning. It is a wonderful site to see. It is the first time I have seen the dam this full since we have been here 10 years now.

have made a border of flying geese onto a stitchery I made long ago and found the other day while clearing out my cupboards. This is the second border, will see how this one continues.

We did a bit of touring around to see what the countryside looks like, well it sure is clean now that the rain has washed off all the dust. The tiny flowers are already starting to flower.

Well the dogs had great fun and ran in all the tiny pools of water they could find. Don't they get cold feet or something?

Here is a picture of the dam wall with the masses of water flowing into the Olifantsriver

I

And more rain

Well we have had more rain and the dam is now overflowing. I had to take the picture on the other side of the fence as it is closed on the N7 side to protect the wall. It is just great all this lovely rain. Hubby went into the mountains and counted at least 30 waterfalls along the way to Pakhuis pass. I am now convinced that this is going to be one of those special flowering years. And to think that the Lord gives us this all for nothing. He just wants us to appreciate all this beauty.

More rain

We have had a lot more rain and I love it. The river nearby has burst its banks and a lot of the farms are cut off from town, but luckily they run down fast and most of the farmers are prepared for such a problem. Here is a picture taken from the bridge and as you can see the river is wide and full.

This picture it taken just before we reached the bridge. You can see part of the town in the background