Crafty Christmas goodies

Look at the lovely gifts I received in Christmas swaps - lucky me!

This gorgeous quilt was looking so great on the back of my couch yesterday (it's stretched out for the photo) and was lovely to snuggle under earlier this afternoon on a much cooler daythan yesterday while I was reading and watching the start of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race.

The top is cotton and the colours are fresh and summery; the back is minky, I think, in lime green. It looks so nice against the green walls in this room.

The quilt is my gift in Chookyblue's Secret Santa Christmas swap and was made for me by Melinda in Marietta, Georgia. She knows I love it.

  For the past I-don't-know-how-many years, I've been a member of an online group of lovely women from various Australian states, who love crafting and make beautiful things. I won't be rejoining the group next year, but plan to make more things for my home (new cushions are urgently needed!) so this year's Christmas swap is doubly special.

Dawnie made me these lovely things  - the sweet little Christmas pudding needlecase, the pretty journal cover with lovely Barb Smith buttons, the handy zipped pouch, the sweet little pincushion and that gorgeous "Love to sew" bag.

Thank you again, Dawnie - I appreciate every stitch.

 I wasn't idle, I promise - I won't show what I made for one swap partner, who hasn't posted yet, but these are the gifts I sent to May Kristin in Norway, my partner in the SSCS - the Christmas ornament, which she was allowed to open as soon as she received the parcel, and this table runner, in summery colours to send a bit of sunshine her way.

We swapped Christmas email messages this morning; it's so nice to know that these gifts are a link between strangers across the world, and to learn a little about each other's lives.

I've had a very happy crafty Christmas! (and it was nice in lots of other ways, too - helping prepare for a big community Christmas lunch at my DH's church, a barbecue lunch  in our sunny backyard, a lovely chat on the phone with our daughter in China, gorgeous gifts from family and friends and just relaxing - so special.)

Going west

The Mister and I are flying to WA on Thursday morning for a wee holiday; can't wait.  We will be travelling between Perth and Albany - any suggestions on what to see and do will be appreciated! I've not been to WA before and Mr LRH hasn't been there for years.
It's been quite a week here, with storms, some work-related issues, the nail-biting, nerve-wracking Rugby World Cup win by my favourite team, the All Blacks (despite so many years in Australia I am still a Kiwi at heart) and showing off Ballarat to our lovely young visitors from France. It was cold and wet again today, so most of our sightseeing was from the car, but we managed a walk through the Botanical Gardens without being blown off our feet and they were so impressed by all the beautiful buildings in the city and with our visit to the Art Gallery.

Gorgeous giveaway

My lovely friend Jo in Tassie is having a gorgeous giveaway. It closes today, so get your skates on and rush over to her blog to find out all about it. Anything involving Lynette Anderson's fabrics, Marg Low's patterns and Theodora Cleave's buttons has to be good, right?

Purse swap

The online group I belong to had a framed purse as our latest swap challenge.

And it proved to be more of a challenge than I had bargained for. I ordered a purse frame kit from the wonderful Nikki   in Melbourne and set to work.

The instructions were impeccable and all went well until it came to crimping the frame after the glue had set.

I got a little carried away with the hammer and the frame wouldn't shut - oops. I emailed Nikki for advice and she was so encouraging - she even offered to try and fix it if I couldn't. Wasn't that lovely - thanks so much, Nikki.

Normally if I stuff up I give up, but because I had committed to the swap that wasn't an option, so I ordered another frame and had another go - and this time everything was fine (maybe because this time I used pliers to crimp the frame, with cardboard in between to prevent scratches. )

The purse was for Kerry in Nundle, and the one she received (pictured bottom left) is in the same fabric as the bag I made her for Christmas.

And she made me the one at the top - it's in soft green wool with a pretty bowl of roses on the front - so gorgeous. Kerry's much smarter than I am - she chose a sew-in frame. She also sent a cute tape measure and little scissors and wrapped everything in pretty pink fabric.

Thanks heaps, Kerry. And thanks, Sarah, for organising another fun swap.

And speaking of swaps - I've signed up for Fiona-Marie's Great Global Christmas Swap and have a partner in the US, and for Chookyblue's Christmas swap (not telling you where my partner is from). Which means I will have to make more stuff, but before I do, I will have to clear up my sewing room. I started a tidy last week and just made a worse mess. At least I found some stuff I was glad to see again... Better get to it. Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

Machines

This afternoon I have  had the chance of using two new machines.

One is a steam mop, which I had at home to try out. The other was Accuquilt's Go Baby  cutter.

No prizes for guessing which one I most enjoyed using.

The steam mop gave me clean floors and a sore back; my adventures with the  cutter (ever so kindly lent to me by my friend Jeni, who bought it on Wednesday) has resulted in a pile of tumblers in '30s fabric; sets of circles in three sizes and four-inch squares for a potholder.

Now to start putting them together...

What I did on my holidays

I go back to work on Wednesday after two weeks off .

As Mr LRH didn't have holidays, I took off  to NZ to visit two of my lovely brothers for the first 10 days or so of my break - and it was great. Not the best weather for a visit (cold, wet, a bit dreary) but nice and relaxing after lots of changes and stresses at work. And good, too, to have a visit unrelated to sad times - previous trips over the past five years or so have been when my mum was ill and for her funeral.

One brother and his partner live in Wellington with their two littlies; it was such fun to get to know my niece and nephew (4 and 1 respectively later this month) and enjoy family outings and simple things like reading stories to my niece (who loves books and libraries and was so impressed to be told that her auntie works in a library). She and I had a fun outing on the cable car to the superb children's playground in the Botanical Gardens. If you're in Wellington, make sure you visit the Minerva Bookshop in Cuba St - it specialises in textile books and magazines; be warned, you'll be there for ages!

I made a quilt for my niece when she was born so I just had to make one for her baby brother. I had a lot of fun choosing 'boy' fabrics and not so much fun putting it together (blame my terrible spray basting technique). With some unsticking and restitching (and nervously machine quilting with the walking foot on my new machine for the first time) it turned out well - phew! I used a free Two Little Banshees tutorial; what a great pattern . I'll definitely do that one again.

I travelled by bus to Auckland - where my youngest brother and his wife live - because I wanted to see more of the countryside. The land was so lush and green and despite the grey, gloomy weather, the scenery was beautiful and I really enjoyed the trip, although it was a long one - 11 hours or so.

We had some lovely outings - to Devonport, a pretty suburb across the harbour, where we had a delicious lunch (zucchini and mussel fritters for me, yum!) and mooched in bookshops, galleries and craft shops; and to Matakana, about an hour north of Auckland, where there was more yummy food and a fabulous pottery. Some gorgeous pieces made their way home (intact, I'm glad to say) in my hand luggage.

At the weekend I took a bus to Paihia in the Bay of Islands (four hours each way) just because I could. The weather was wonderful, the sea views divine and it was just so relaxing. I stayed in a so-so motel on the waterfront and enjoyed mooching around in the sunshine. 

On the Sunday morning I took the ferry over to Russell, a little town that was briefly the capital of New Zealand in the early days. Russell is a lovely little place that wasn't always so peaceful - think Maori Wars and a rough, tough frontier atmosphere and you'll get the picture.

Then it was back to Auckland and back home the next day after a very boring flight and horrible food. It was a short trip, but a merry one.

Add to that a couple of enjoyable catch-ups with crafty friends, lots of reading and general mooching, getting up late... well, you know what holidays are like.

Back to reality tomorrow, alas.

PS: Sorry about the red background; I just can't seem to get rid of it.

Christmas in July swap

I've mentioned before that I'm part of an online stitching group called
Friends in Stitching. And yes, we all think of each other as friends although many of us have not met (although we are planning a get-together next year; fingers crossed).
We do regular swaps for each other and the latest was a Christmas in July stocking swap. I don'tknow about Queensland, where some of the girls in the group live, but in Ballarat, where I live, it has certainly been cold enough to feel properly Christmassy.
Anyway - I received my stocking from Tracy in Narromine on Friday and have been admiring it ever since. I love the choice of fabrics and that quirky reindeer stitchery.

Maree was my swap partner - I raided my stash and coincidentally used the same pattern (by Anni Downs of Hatched and Patched) as Tracy. Aren't the results so different!
And I was lucky enough to be able to hand over Maree's stocking in person. Maree and her family live on a farm in NSW and have been travelling around for a few weeks. They'd arranged to get together with fellow bloggy friends Jodie (Vintage Ric Rac) and Rachel(Four Wise Monkeys) and we had a lovely afternoon tea and lots of laughs at Jodie's house - thanks, Jod! It was great to meet Maree and her lovely family.