Willowberry Designs

Getting up close and personal

We met our new neighbours yesterday...

I think we're going to be great friends... :)

Seeya

cheryl xx

 

Grass, Rain and a day out

..and a little bit of stitchin'...

Monday - Garden Border Dude came

Tuesday - Turf Dude came (at 5.52am...nuff said

and by lunchtime Tuesday we had lawn...

Yesterday?  A day off, up to the Bunya Mountains for a picnic lunch and a rainforest walk

A chat with the locals over lunch...

before heading off for walk.  We took heaps of photos, these are some of my faves..

Wizards live here...

they wear waistcoats and wool leggings and oversized wizard hats... and they have oversized ears... that's a good thing when you wear an oversized hat...

from little things...

such a magical place, full of inspiration for lots of nonsense

Fairies dance here at midnight...

or so I've heard...

A lovely day, we picked up a couple of hitchhikers (scrub ticks) and had a close encounter of the red bellied black snake kind...

The planets must be aligning because last night's storm added 12ml of rain to our new lawn, perfect, and lots more into the tanks

Today is a go slow day, that funny little man of mine is spreading topsoil on the lawn and filling the gardens with mulch.  Bloss is here for a roast lunch, Theo is trying to make sense of the chooks, Ratty is in hiding and I'm working on a few little things.  This is cute...

and doesn't know where it's heading.  Maybe a little something or other

and this is sweet..

and heading along the same path as the birdie family... destination unknown for now :)

Roast pork is almost done, time to do the vegies

Seeya,

Cheryl xx

Small projects

...with a French flavour

There's something about this photo - greyness, reaching for the grey sky..

This time last year we were almost packing... and for the next 2 months I'm going to go on and on with lots of '...this time last year...' memories

It's part of the deal...

How cute is this fabric!

It's one of those prints that sits waiting for it's turn to be a part of something special... for someone special...

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'Country Rose Cushion' and 'Simple Stitches' are now available as pdf e-Patterns in my Etsy store - there's a link just under the header up there ^

   

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One more thing...

Water from the little jug that keeps the sage fresh is so much nicer than from a china bowl on the floor.  But you already knew that...

Seeya - I need to go chase a ginger cream puff off the kitchen bench

Cheryl xx

T'was a big weekend

It all started on Friday really...  Off into town early, delivered three quilts, picked up another, visited the garden centre and bought a beautiful Japanese maple, a few camellias and some supplies, did some grocery shopping then stopped for lunch with the FLM before heading home to plant the new goodies

Friday arvo I made a new ironing board cover.  How boring... thank goodness I only have to make one a year...

A bit of furnishing fabric from Ikea and - ta dah!  Looks good ... but I still hate ironing :)

On Saturday morning we walked up to the local shops - about an hour round trip - and enjoyed the Spring gardens along the way.  Everything looks so fresh in Springtime!

(These photos were taken on our last visit to the Japanese Gardens in Toowoomba a couple of weeks ago.  Such a beautifully serene place, it's where we go when we have big decisions to make)

Moo arrived later in the day, just before the hailstorm...  We heard it coming... Not enough time to move stuff in the shed to move her car to safety so we did the next best thing...

Grabbed the first quilt in the linen cupboard and threw it over the top... it did the job!

(It's my version of the 'Federation Quilt', I started it in 1998 and finished it a year later.  Still needs a bit more background quilting work though)

Some of the chunks were the size of golf balls so thank goodness it was over quickly.  Looks a bit pathetic really when you think about the amount of hail some suburbs in Brissie had a few days ago!

Yesterday was all about the footy.  Off to the markets early to pick up our fruit n veg and a few extra plants for the front gardens then home again to prepare the food.  BBQ Ribs, Plum pork ribs, meatballs, honey soy chicken wings and beer battered wedges with garlic aioli

YUM!  Shared with the little women... what a perfect day :)

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This morning the sun's out, there's a bit of a sneaky breeze happening and Ratty & I are just waiting for FLM to wake up to cook us some brekkie...  Come on!  Wake up already!!

Seeya

Cheryl xx

Two new designs... and other stuff

The last few weeks have been busy busy.. lots of little bits n pieces started, some finished, some thrown in the 'that's not going to work' bucket and a couple that are so addictive... it's hard to put the needle down at the end of the night.  I love those ones...

Two new designs are finished (please direct wholesale enquiries to me through my email link on the right) and ready for the pattern writing marathon.  Lucky for me they're not huge projects!

'Country Rose Cushion'

Gorgeousness...

A simply pieced cushion, gentle rose printed fabrics and featuring a lovely colour shaded and embroidered rose in the centre

Perfect for the spot in the spare bedroom that I've been looking at and saying 'it needs something... don't want to overdo it tho... but it needs something...'

And...

'Simple Stitches'

Small tote, needle book and thimble pip

a touch of hand quilting, some hand piecing, a spattering of pearl buttons... and yum fabrics

'Simple Stitches'... Simple enough for it to be the perfect beginner's project (or 'made in one day')... big enough to hold your stitching bits 'n' pieces when you stitch with the girls, small enough to be a cute tote for afternoon tea tomorrow with Janie...

I'm wearing woad blue and white... with red polished toenails...

Both of my new patterns will be available as soon as I've finished doing the 'writing' bit...not my most fave job - lots of scribbly notes along the way helps.  I just need someone to help decipher those scribbly notes...

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Onto other doings...

Lena's 'Under the Sea'... it's just so cute!  Gorgeous accent with the sashing feature too...

I love seeing your finished projects..

Under the Sea is a set of cute stitcheries I created for 2010.  You'll find them over in the side margin under the heading 'Free downloads and other stuff'.  Take a look - I added a couple of extras this morning... they've been around the traps for a while, I just needed to put them in the 'freebies' bucket to make them easier to find :)

Please take a moment to read the copyright blurb tho...

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On the quilting front, I've been busy busy quilting lots of delicious quilts

Here is Jennifer's

and a close-up, the white in this quilt is a soft cotton hailspot... adds a gentleness

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Funny Little Man is planning the front gardens... and planning and planning.  The Kwik Kerb garden border dude is busy until early next week... that created a frustrated little man.  So he started planting anyway.  A whole hedge.  Across the front fenceline.  Then another whole hedge along the side of the front path.  Today we head off to the BIG tree nursery to find a couple of feature trees and something special for the front entry area

...stay tuned...

At least we know we have good drainage.  An inch and a half of rain in one hour a few days ago and the yard was a bit of a lake.  It scooted off into the yard gully drains and was gone in jiffy.  Milli and Vanilli were high and dry on the top floor of their condo... if you squint your eyes and look past the shade house you can almost see them

You just squinted your eyes didn't you.... :)  Ssshhhh... I won't tell anyone

Righteo, that's us all up to date now

Seeya when we have two big trees and two new patterns all written up and finished.  And two new front gardens

Cheryl xx

'Stitchin' Bugs' pattern giveaway...

 

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The first name pulled from the Pink Bucket is...

Lyn Smith

- a Stitchin' Bugs pattern AND a colour shaded panel for the tote pocket -

Name number two is...

Vicki Collier

and Name number three is...

Kim Dolan

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Well done girls!  Check your inboxes for a message from me... I'll need your mailing addresses so I can get these babies on their way :)

Now for all the lovelies who left a message to be in the draw, don't worry if you missed out, the patterns are available from Quilt Fabric Delights and The Quilters Angel if you'd like to purchase one for yourself!

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What's been doin' in the Willowberry House?

Lots of quiltin' and stitchin'... lots of gardenin'... and 2 little eggs a day

Milli and Vanilli are loving their new home!  Don't you love it when chooks lay an egg and they announce it to the world?  '..i DID it!...  i DID it!  An EGG... An EGG..!"

funny little man has been busying himself filling up the garden along the back fence and today a whole truckful of mulch arrived.  Won't be seeing him for a few hours... I might go out for coffee...

On the stitching front, the fingers haven't stopped.  Yesterday was hideously windy, cold and definitely an indoors, heater, coffee, footy on the tele kind of day.  Perfect for stitchin'...

I did this

Don't know why.. or what I'm going to do with it.. but it needed doing so I did it.  Maybe a little needle book??

And a bit of simple hand quilting on some French General stuff

This might become a stitching day folder... restricted for use on stitching days...

or maybe not... I'll let you know

Cutest quilting on Baby Hoot is all done

Just the binding to hand sew and it's almost ready... No tote with this one, I'm creating something different.  If it works, it will be delightful.. if it doesn't work, it will be... another tote :)

I had an invaluable helper while I prepared the binding

As you can see, I couldn't have done it without him...

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Today's jobs?  Finish the border quilting on Aileen's baby quilt

drop in to see Shaz (although that requires me to get out of my pyjamas... might not drop in to see Shaz)

and start writing the Baby Hoot pattern

Stay tuned...

Seeya

Cheryl xx

ps.. yep, definitely leaving the house... waaay too much hard work going on out back...