DWYSYWD

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter break.
We had a lovely time catching up with family and friends. I did manage to squeeze in a little sewing time, not as much as I would have liked but some time is better than no time right.
I have nearly appliqued all of the hexagons and stars on the centre of my basket quilt. I have gone a little overboard on making the stars and have found that I am short on the amount of hex rosettes I need, back to the drawing board on that one.

not that I am complaining, I love digging into the basket and coming up with new combinations.

just as a little deviation I decided to make a few of the baskets in readiness for filling them with flowers. Appliqueing the stars and hexies is a mindless task I usually tackle at the end of a working day as a way to relax . Perhaps I should stay focused and finish the task at hand , can't help leaping ahead and putting some of my thoughts and ideas into reality.

and just in case one project is not enough I have another on the go at the same time. I wouldn't be alone of this front though would I . This quilt is just going to evolve I think, I have a few clear guidelines but after that I guess I will just wait and see what happens.

it is mostly applique and paper piecing, I really am not that fussed on needle turn, much prefer covering paper for my applique. Maybe I will use a combination !.

I have an old linen sheet that has been hanging around for some time , no point in saving it any longer so I am going to use it as the background.

I have been needing a new comfy chair to use at the sewing machine ( I am not having much luck with this blog post I have just deleted a better picture of the chair , not sure how I did this but now I cannot add the picture as blogger will add it at the start of the post, also the first picture has been turned around so I had to re do that , I am ready to chuck this whole post in the trash basket) maybe I should read the blogger tips and tricks !! read here mega frustration.
!!! throwing hands in the air.
anyway on with the story, this chair has been rescued from the tip, recovered by our favourite upholsterer using some fabrics found around the traps. I am more than happy with the outcome.

Mr L & R and I often head down to the beach at the end of the day to take in the amazing sunsets and to chill out after a days work. I cannot get enough of them and each time they are vastly different depending on the weather and cloud formations etc etc. It feels like having my personal art gallery. These photos were taken on one evening last week

so peaceful I loved the calmness of the vapour trail intruding on the clear skyand sometimes, just sometimes we may have a glass of medicine.

That's all for today , I am feeling a tad frustrated with this blogger post today.

Until next time have fun and hopefully lots of sewing time

j

Wishing you all a Happy Easter

I hope you are all managing to share some family and friends time.

I'll be bck soon with a post

Happy Easter

j

Time is a Thief

Reading a few of my favourite blogs it seems that a lot of us wonder where these past months have gone. My focus of late has shifted somewhat in a different direction from my sewing. I have taken up some study, I decided I need to formalise the training I have been doing these past couple of years. Hopefully this will help to ensure I give the best possible sessions to my learners. I have to say I have really enjoyed doing this, I still have to hand in 3 modules of assessments and give a group based training session in front of an independent assessor but I am busy with it , hopefully this will all be completed by the end of May. So I can account for some of the time but it is hard to believe we are in April, heading into our Winter. This weekend we headed up the coast to our shack as we had some gardening that needed some urgent attention. Read Jean shovelled and barrowed 2 ton of garden soil , planted 30 Gardenias, mulched, watered and fed these plants. I did have help from Mr L & R. so I can't take all the credit, we need to get this done ahead of winter , just to give these plants time to settle in before it gets way to cold. Awaiting the delivery of the soil I did manage a little play time in the sewing dept. Here is a peek into my play area, surrounded by my favourite things, the computer playing some great music and fabric spread out across the table . What more could a girl want.

I have started appliqueing the stars and hexagon rosettes for the basket quilt.

I did a little auditioning but have decided to just take the next one off the pile and place it in the next position, I am sure it will come out in the wash so to speak.

Following on with my addiction with hexagons, I have been covering some 1 inch hexie papers using only the French General range of fabrics

I have another purse on the go

This is another Brigitte design, now without revealing too much I think Brigitte and Kathy are cooking something up for the Sydney Quilt Show so I don't want to spoil any surprises.

Just remember a girl can never have too many bags.

This morning was a beautiful sunny Autumn day just perfect for a walk along the bridle path, I was quite taken by the shadows along the way, they looked like zig zags, in fact they are the shadows from the trunks and branches of the gum trees that line the walk.

the water was glistening.

Gorgeous days like this always entice families outdoors to enjoy picnics, it is a sight to behold

This time of the year is rose pruning time and as I pruned the last of the flower heads I managed to pick a few buds. I look forward to spring for the first flush , it sounds like I am wishing my life away but the thought of Winter around the corner isn't thrilling.

I have also been cooking for family and friends of late and as I laid out some of the ingredients I was quite taken by the assortment of different greens.

I have been hooked on this DVD it is fabulous. Annabel Langbein is a Kiwi cook (no bias here :-)

All of the episodes on the dvd are shot in the South Island of New Zealand, the scenery is spectacular not to mention the food she cooks. There is not one recipe I do not like, in fact I was so taken with the DVD I bought the book so I have the recipes, no having to takes notes while watching the show.

Well I think that accounts for some of the time I have been missing. Thanks to all of my readers that have left comments and enquired to my where abouts I do appreciate them, hopefully as soon as this study is behind me things should resume to normal.

To Sharyn and Marlene in Melbourne thanks for the gentle nudges I hope this suffices for the time being.

Lets hope the time thief takes a hike for a while.

until next time

Happy sewing, knitting, stitching

j

"An Oldie but a Goodie" as Janet says

Janet always has a way with words and when she described working on one of her older W'sIP as an oldie but goodie , I realised it was exactly what I was doing, sounds much better than a WIP don't you agree.
I am not sure if you remember this oldie, I began it many years ago and only got the centre pieced and the border blocks that were also hand pieced done.
You see I love piecing , especially by hand but this quilt has a border between the centre and the outside pieced blocks that is applique and as much as I love applique, I didn't think I was much chop at it.
I have read many blogs explaining needleturn applique, I have attempted it but it was never up to the standard that I felt it should be.
Anyway this past holiday I decided that I was going to master it and the only way that would happen was for me to keep at it. After all Rome was not built in a day.
I also read on Alma's blog that the only way to be any good at needleturn applique was to do needleturn applique.

Thankfully I had kept all the fabrics I had used in the centre and outside blocks together , when I gathered up my sewing room (not quite but I think Mr L&R thought so when he was packing the car) to come on holiday , the basket was ready.

I spent an entire day preparing all the pieces for one border. I had already made loads of bias for the stems.

by this stage I was getting quite excited to begin appliqueing. In my head I had it perfected, a shame in reality it wasn't quite that way.

I also finished all of the outside blocks, I needed to add the corners to square up the blocks.

Just prior to Christmas I visited the gorgeous Lizzie and her sewing friends and took this oldie along with me because this block containing this pear fabric is where our friendship began.

I posted this block way back , Lizzie sent me an email asking where I had bought the fabric as Lizzie also has a love of pears. I only ever had a fat 1/16th as it had been included in my fabric club from Patchwork on Stonleigh. After using it in this block there was only scraps left but sent these scraps to Lizzie and so our friendship began.

Here is the result of my applique and whilst it is not perfect I am quite happy with the outcome and realise that practise will make a difference. I am now on a roll and my goal is to have this quilt finished this year.

I have managed to do some reverse sewing a couple of times and I can see a lonely leaf here that needs to be removed and re done.

I'll keep you posted with my progress.

Until next time happiness in your sewing

j

Wishing you Health and Happiness in 2011

I know it has been some time since I posted, I will be back soon with a catch up but until then I wish all my readers much health and happiness in the coming year. Until next time
Happiness over the festive season and hopefully much sewing.
j

It's Been Snowing

On my arrival here in Germany, near Hannover, they were predicting snow later in the week and sure enough on Wednesday we had fine snow falling. It was so beautiful. Yesterday morning as we left our hotel it was brisk , as we drove closer to the office we noticed a much heavier coating on roofs and cars.
These were a couple of the many cars in the Hettich car park.

I guess I looked like a real tourist snapping these pictures, but as I hear you are sweltering at home I thought you may liked to be cooled down a little. there was a reasonable coating on the ground , it didn't hang around for long though.

This is the time of the year for the Christmas Markets , last Monday evening we went to an area known as Herford, by the time we arrived most of the markets had closed there were just a few food and of course the drink stands.

The Germans do not allow the cold stop them from going outdoors in the evening, they just rug up appropriately and get on with it. There is plenty of heating available if needed.

the bells are rung to the tunes of Christmas songs through out the evening.

I think we know these as toffee apples

no shortage of yummy food.

and of course there are trees everywhere decorated with lights. I can't tell you how pretty it all looks.

Today is my free day as I prepare to leave this gorgeous place tomorrow evening for my flight home.

I have had the most wonderful time. My German colleagues have been so hospitable as have any of the locals I have met. Everyone is so friendly and helpful.

One day I hope to return here with Mr L & R for a holiday.

Tomorrow on our way to Hannover we are going via an historic town known as Harmen , sorry to my German readers this is not how it is spelt but how it sounds.

Today I am taking a train to Herford so hopefully I can get some better pictures but as I look from my hotel window it is once again snowing wow it is so pretty. I will rug up and enjoy before I return to the heat.

Happiness in whatever you are doing.

j

Greetings From Germany

Communication from home in Sydney tells me that the temperatures have been quite warm. Here in Germany it is a very different story, it is around 2 degrees, let's say here that in our deepest winter downunder it is rare that we would have those kind of temperatures, but I have to say I am enjoying the experience.I rug up in a very cosy jacket as does everyone here and just get on with it. All of the buildings, houses and hotels have heating which is very comfortable, not too hot and I found out today that the warehouse of our company is also heated, not sure I should mention this to my colleagues in Sydney.

Well I arrived here yesterday morning (Sunday),after checking in to the hotel, decided it was better to go for a walk and try and join the timezone. (It would have been quite simple to just crawl into bed and catch some sleep).

There was really nothing open ( I am in country Germany near a place called Kirchlengen)however I came across a little Florist that was open for Advent. Next weekend is the official opening of the Christmas markets but I think some of the shops are gearing up for this season and selling their decorations and ornaments.
I have taken a few pictures in this little Florist shop, they are not brilliant , there were a lot of people in there as they were offering punch and coffee and some Gingerbread, also the light was not brilliant but you will get the idea.
This was the entrance it was this window display that attracted me to stop, I love the pots with the topiary, in the middle is a make believe snowball one with an elf atop and the other with a small Santa.

I would love to bring one of these trees back to Oz but they are real and that would be a no no, notice the squirrel made from tree bark in the background.

another little display just inside the entrance

candles with greenery set among them, and a close up of the Topiary

these candle sticks were interesting, using old pages on the stick itself and once again greenery and nuts to set the candle amongst.

just another area , jars of pinecones,I really love the use of live greenery and one can never have too many candles.

How cute are these little pots with the toadstools, a little red corner.

These little pots with miniture Spruce trees were out on the street

more candles and baubles

The use of tree lights helped make the atmosphere

I think this white wreath was one of the few items that didn't have some living plant attached to it but I don't have room in my bag.

During my walk I noticed a lot of these serious wood storage sheds. Gearing up for a very cold winter I guess

and an amble up one or two streets to check out the house styles

a little stream flanked with bare trees surely gives the feel of winter

This I found amazing, at the front door of this very nice hotel which is my home for the next week, not the fact that it was a designated smokers area but the fact that a heater was provided. Looks like it was well used

and finally this sign. This sign was at Frankfurt airport as I was about to get on my connection to Hannover.
Those of you that read this blog wouuld know this year I have been working on a project using this software. Don't get me wrong I love SAP but this project has seen our Australian subsidary move to our parent company platform and it has not been what I would call a good move. I have used SAP for the last 11 years and we had it working perfectly for our business in Australia. Germany have vastly different ways and ideas that have not been so successful for Australia so I coudn't resist this picture which I promptly sent to my boss. I shan't print his reply.

Well I have had what I would call a brilliant day to day and tomorrow is the start of my two conference for a new version of SAP for next year so I now need my beauty sleep so until next time take care, have fun and most importantly

Happy sewing

j

ps I have just used the spell check and every word has been flagged, I guess it thinks this should be German lol lol so sorry in advance for any errors but I am tired and need sleep