Willowberry Designs ~ Alpaca Softies

Look what the postie left me

All the way from the USA... I love stuff!

My friend Carrie P. sent a me very unassuming brown box and inside were these two parcels.  I kind of expected one parcel - but two?  Hmmmmm....  Blossie and I looked at each other.... how intriguing....

A gorgeous quilting book - 'Still Stripping' by Eleanor Burns - the book AND the DVD - two yum fat quarters of pretty florals, my favourites, the cutest little felt hat pincushion and a fabric pouch which was hiding a beautiful beaded scissor fob... all tied up with a length of cotton tape measure  -  What fun!

So many delicious quilts inside the book - I love this one - reminds me of coffee and chocolate :-)

Sweet little pincushion!  and worthy of a pretty pin or two.  There should be a pincushion in every room in the house - for no reason other than to look pretty...

And my favourite gold embroidery scissors are now all dressed up for a special occasion!  Nesting beautifully on their little notelet bed of butterflies - pink, of course...

Carrie, you've spoiled me!  So much beautiful stuff....  and I love it :-)

Today will be a nice day

Last night I started a secret project for July.... had to keep going until the last knot was tied at midnight

have a lovely stitchy day and thanks for visiting :-)

 

Perfect companions

I love it when things fit. Like yesterday when I went in search of a piece of 'Louisa' so I could finish my next project.  None left.  Hmmm, I hummed.  Time to switch to Plan B.  Hmmm, maybe I should have thought about Plan B.....  Time to visit my local patchwork store  :-) 

Scanning the shelves, one of Miss Jump's Scrap Bag fabrics jumped out at me.  A very pretty individual

and perfect with my Louisa bits...

they all blend so beautifully together with this thing...

Can't show any more though

Remember when I mentioned that I might be getting too big for my boots?  I'm a little bit excited because

(that's Vol 9 No 10) will have one of my projects included.  Due for issue on June 17th...  it includes - among other things - a woolly bottom and a curly tail   :-)

Can't wait to see the results of their very important photo shoot!  And in October there'll be another of my projects!  I told you I was getting too big for my boots :-)

Today I did my favourite thing, stayed home

 

and stitched.  I added a butterfly to verandah views block 7.  And block 6 is only a week away...

and played with a few other works in progress

It's getting colder, winter is just around the corner.  Ratty isn't real impressed with his new beanie, he thinks it looks much better on Blossie

I think Blossie and the furbies are cooking up some mischief.... there's been a lot of whispering and giggling going on and some mention of 'our own blog'.  Stay tuned

Friday afternoon I had a visit from Debbie, a quilty friend.  Spent 3 hours nattering away about old times and new times, friendship and patchwork.  It was fun. 

have a lovely stitchy day, and thank you for all of the caring thoughts about the sad demise of our beautiful Nisey chook.  My resident handyman (who has had more than his fair share of mishaps with power tools) has honoured her memory with a little white cross tribute to her beautifulness.  I can see it from my study window.....

Home from the Bunya's

The retreat at the Bunya Mountains on the weekend was fun.  Lots of laughs, lots of great food (and a couple of glasses of wine...) and lots of stitching.  Back to work this week and I've finished four customer quilts already! 

This is Shaz putting her Blackbird Pie pieces together - using Harvest Home by Moda...

Deborah's quilt - using some Tranquility panels and a jelly roll - very creative!

On the verandah - Janie, Shaz, Moi and Deborah with some of the fabulous view

I played with pinwheels for a baby quilt from the Moda Bake Shop website

This little friend popped by to say hello and introduce us to her baby

She posed for the photo while I crept closer :-)  Such a little cutie!

The chariot in the the driveway of our weekend castle

Today is a sad day.  My Nisey chook is in chook heaven.  RIP beautiful little feathered friend

The pink blooms around the arbor will be flourishing come springtime :-)

see ya soon

Cheryl

 

Rosebud winners.......

Lots of comments!  It really is food for the soul (or as Liam, a little friend of mine once said 'makes me feel all squishy inside') and I wish I could spare 120 patterns because then I could give one to every person who left a message.... instead I just say 'thank you' for your lovely words of encouragement

120 teeny bits of paper with important names - in my pink bucket

My friend Rosalie fluffled them and dug deep to find....

two new friends - Lori and Elizabeth (or nanalizzie)

Posted by: Healing Hearts Lori | May 09, 2009 at 01:49 AM

Posted by: Elizabeth McMahon | May 12, 2009 at 02:01 PM

and I'm not sure if you remember but I said there'd be a special gift for one of you

An original piece, one of a kind, hand coloured and set, ready for it's little pearls of backstitch and french knots

Posted by: Cathy M | May 13, 2009 at 12:53 PM  

I'll contact each of you for your mail details. 

If your local craft or patchwork store would like to order my patterns, please ask them to contact me...

One more sleep till our sewing retreat

Cheryl xx

24 hours to go

'Rosebud' giveaway closes in 24 hours time..... tick tick tick.... time's ticking away...

Today's ratty antic - 'Hop down?  Thanks, but I'm quite comfortable up here.... just for a little longer'

Happy Mother's Day :-)

to all the mums.  Whether your 'babies' are small, medium or fully grown.... feathered or furry and four legged....  Hope you all had a nice day.... I did :-)

Beautiful Blossie gave me a bucket

full of all this fabulous stuff (ronan likes to sing to me while I quilt, did you know?)

New slippers so I stop whining about cold feet...

and chocolates of course... it's part of my diet

Look at this divine feast for the senses - 'Velvet Pears' by susan southam - a journal about her love for gardening and living at her beautiful corner of the world called Foxglove Spires

every page holds a little piece of magic - I think my fairies go to foxglove spires for their summer break

When the herbs were little, I cut their hair.  Always.  And usually in a 'mullet' hairstyle.  I think their first real haircut at a salon probably occurred when they hit their teens.  The Mother's Day card from Moo says it all.... we giggled for ten minutes

a little fluffy reminder of our gorgeous girl and a beautiful wool pashmina - scarlett for a scarlett woman :-)

Waterboy and our mermaid phoned from paradise, they love living in the tropics.  yes, it was a happy day... a quiet and peaceful mother's day

have a happy, peaceful, stitchy day,

love Cheryl xx

and the 'Rosebud' giveaway is still open.... check it out here (closes midday Thursday my time)

'Rosebud'

UPDATE --- "Rosebud" pattern is now available from Precious Time in Toowoomba.  Contact Lisa and she'll be more than happy to help you out

the bluebird of elegant song....

has finally made it to the pattern stage - warbling and twittering all the way...  la la la...

This creation was a complete labour of love.... I love the fabrics (left over bits n pieces from my 'At water's edge' stash), I really love the embroidery with colour shading and I love the colours.  Just too delicious... and she has instructions for colour shading AND the option of three closures - button, zipper or ties

A new pattern is a celebration and I'd like to share :-)

To be in the draw for one of two copies of 'Rosebud, the bluebird of elegant song', leave a message before midday next Thursday the 14th May (my time)

  

Good luck!  and I have an extra surprise for one lucky girl....

Have a lovely stitchy day and

A wonderful bird is the Pelican

Whose beak can hold more than his belly can.....  and so it was for me this morning when we fronted up at the breakfast buffet.  Ate way too much!  It's always tempting to eat too much when it's all prepared for you and the only difficult decision is whether to have the apple danish or the waffles with maple syrup to conclude the feeding frenzy.  In the end I inhaled both of them down into the bellycan like an industrial hoover :-)

But where was I and why was I hanging around the breakfast buffet when a normal Sunday morning brekky is toast and tea?  Well.... it was all thanks to my funny little man

(the same one who announced in March on my birthday - 'you know I'll just surprise you one day with a gift' ...... 'hmmmm' hummed the wife, feeling slightly miffed and a little unloved....)

 And so it was that yesterday he surprised me with a weekend trip to Brisbane, staying in a flash apartment AND a night out at the Air Supply concert.  I loved it... especially when all the song words came flooding out of the filing cabinet in my head.  And did I mention that he happily stayed in the room for the afternoon watching the football while I attended the Stitches and Craft show with his wallet?  I like him at the moment...

Anyway, enough of that nonsense :-) can't dedicate the whole post to a bragging session about me being spoiled.  Thanks for the lovely comments about 'Fowl Play', it's a cute little block and reading through all the feedback makes me smile.  If I haven't answered your comments, forgive me because I was busy being spoiled.  A response is on it's way... 

Here's a sneak look at next month's block and where it sits in the scheme of life at Verandah Views :-)

do you like this little quilt label?  One of the Craft show purchases... a CD-ROM with over 300 printable quilt labels.  Some country, some florals and vintage and some traditional

Only 12 more sleeps until we head up to the Bunya's for our stitching weekend.  Can't wait.  Thanks for visiting and there's now a 'subscribe' button to the left if you'd like to be notified when I've been hanging around here.  Stay tuned for more exciting news next week.  I think I might be getting too big for my boots....

Verandah Views

Block 5 - 'Fowl Play' is now available for you to download from the link in my sidebar (the one that says "Verandah Views - blocks 1 to 5) - click on the link and scroll down to find the pattern download for block 5.  You'll need the free Adobe Reader and it will take a minute or two to open... 

Remember?  I said it was all about the chooks :-)

And here's our feathered girls - looking a bit scruffy at the moment.  Named after my three sisters - (from left to right) Bevvy, Nisey and Shelly.  So cute... but Shelly's the boss 

Hey you up there, wanna see me lay an egg?  Watch real close.... it's pretty tricky...

There ya go...  fresh from the mobile two legged egg factory :-)

I hope you like 'Fowl Play'.  Next month there'll be some flying lessons happening in the neighbourhood