Willowberry Designs ~ Alpaca Softies

Wednesday?

What happened to Wednesday?  Blinked and missed it...

Please forgive me, I'm a day behind in everything!!  Could have something to do with a little slip on an icy step and a couple of purple/black/blue stripes across my butt and up my back...  not pretty... the fall or the bruises... but you'll have to take my word for it because there'd be waaay too much flesh for a public showing

So I'm a day behind but I'll catch up :)

Now, what are we all up to?

Today I spent some time with a lovely visitor... Mary from Fresh Hope popped in for a chat and to do some planning.  We're cooking up some ideas for Fresh Hope patterns and we'll tell you more about that in the next month or so.  We played with some of the Rural Jardin stash that's been hiding in my stash hiding place... gorgeous prints, yum colours... stay tuned for more on that one...

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Bloss and Moo are off to Australia Zoo tomorrow... and there'll be photos to share when Blossie gets home.  She's on holidays and Moo will have a day off.   If you're not familiar with it, it's the home of our Crocodile Hunter, the late Steve Irwin... and his family - Terri, Bindi and Bob

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The Pattern giveaway...

Ratty was asleep and snoring so I had to find some random thing to tell us who to give the goodies to...

Visitor number 36 is the winner of a 'Primrose & Passion' pattern AND the coloured panel

~Ina~

(and sorry Ina... Octavius asked me to tell you that he doesn't do houses...)

Visitor number 54 is the winner of a 'Primrose & Passion' pattern AND charm squares

~Elaine~

Check your emails girls... there's a message from me...

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Christmas in July starts tomorrow over at QFD Creative... serious fun to be had...

Here's a link to a few interesting bits of info on the event

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Springtime showing of the Quilts

What - see previous line :)

When - September 2010

Where - Here, there and everywhere

How - Photos... on our blogs

Who - You, me and our friends

Tell me more!  OK.. tell you more over the next few days.  I'm about to become a pumpkin... early morning and now early to bed 

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but the last thing I need to tell you before I take this bruised body to bed is that Octavius the King of Speed Cleaning will be available tomorrow ~ July 1st ~ but probably a little later in the day.  Gotta go visit Mother in the morning :) 

Here's another preview

Have a lovely day... we'll chat again tomorrow evening :)

Cheryl xx

'Sprintime Showing of the Quilts'

This is something I've wanted to host on my blog for a loooong time... and the dawning of our Spring on September 1st will be the most perfect timing :)

The gardens will be sprouting new growth, the Spring bulbs will be flowering and my most favourite of all ~ the beautiful Wisteria ~ will be showing off it's pendulous blooms

This photo is from Spring 2008, I just love it... imagine little tinkling fairy bells inside every blossom

There are still a few details to finalize and I'll be back tomorrow with the first snippet of information.  I'm a tad excited about this... and you can all participate :) 

seeya

Cheryl xx

Things are happening this week

July 1st will be a big day... Block 7 of Under the Sea will be ready ~ looking pretty cute too!

Christmas in July commences over at Quilt Fabric Delights... lots of fun and new projects to be part of!  I've seen some of them and they are just gorgeous :)  Here's another snippet of one of my designs for this super special event...  Apparently it's gorgeous... Shaz has seen it and she says it's gorgeous so I'm pretty sure it's gorgeous...

AND... it's the last day to enter my Primrose and Passion pattern giveaway (thank you so much for all the positive comments, I really appreciate the lovely messages)~ go here to leave a comment to be in the draw ~ I'll dive into the pink bucket at about midday my time...  good luck!

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I made this fab little quilt for a friend last week... Little Miss Madeleine will be snuggling under it as we speak.  I know the proud grandparents will be loving every minute of their visit in Melbourne :)

and my last 'snapshot of June' is this one taken this morning... we had a really heavy frost and the grass is still icy in areas where the sun has yet to reach.  I love the spindly shadows cast by the scrawny naked willow branches...  It says 'Winter'...

The reverse cycle air con stopped at 7.00am when the pipes froze.  Eeek! Thank goodness for the gas heater...

Remember funny little man's pumpkins?  We made Pumpkin scones for morning tea yesterday... Yum... and I stashed one for my morning tea today, that's after I finish quilting a little wallhanging then I'll spend the afternoon writing up my tutorials for the Christmas in July projects...

Another snippet?

What's on your list of daily 'to do's'?  Maybe some stitching??

Seeya tomorrow

Cheryl xx

Primrose and Passion ~ pattern giveaway

... is now available as a pattern!

Here they are hanging around with Gypsy Rose...

Primrose (on the left) and Passion (to her right) ~ a set of two beautiful cushions, in the one pattern, featuring a colour shaded and embroidered panel surrounded by simple pieced borders.  You may have met these lovelies in the October 2009 issue of Creating Country Threads....

'Primrose'

'Passion'

The pattern is available from Suzanne at Country Quilt Co in Australia

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Now to the giveaway...

I have two copies of this pattern to give away to the lovely people who visit my blog.  If you'd like to be in the draw just leave a message and I'll pop your name in the pink bucket

First name drawn from the bucket will receive a pattern AND a panel of fabric that I will personally precolour with each of the little birdie designs

Second name drawn from the bucket will receive a pattern AND a bundle of charm squares to create the pieced borders

Giveaway will be drawn on July 1st - my time - when I give you block 7 of our little 'Under the Sea' adventure

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A few more 'snapshots of June'...

Blossie baked ~ clever little possum

I quilted...

Gentle curves on mushy prints... delish

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Yesterday's Sunday drive was spent out and about with a local who has lived in this area all of his life... no chance of getting lost with him at the helm :)  FUN!!  We poked into all kinds of little dirt tracks and went up and down hills.  Found a few more of these...  We're on a mission and I'll tell you more about that when we know what we're doing ...

'Sshhhhh, stand still and they won't even know we're here...'

seeya

Cheryl xx

Thursday and Friday...

The little valley we look at every day ~ painted with stripes of early morning fog

Just makes you want to curl up and stitch all day...

Today has been overcast and a bit sprinkly, perfect for indoors stuff

Indoors stuff like preparing some button cards for our stall (that's me and Shaz) at the Spring Into The Country Craft Fair.... yum vintage buttons from the big old MacRobertson's chocolate tin.  Don't they look mushy? :)

Only 12 weeks to go...

I'm busy stitching up the July block for our little Under the Sea wallhanging... it's so cute.  Who'd have thought there'd be a 'speed clean service' on the sea bed...

Seeya tomorrow for another June snapshot

Cheryl xx

Wednesday snapshot

Not a new photo but one of my faves

the little guys sharing an afternoon siesta

Norm's chasing butterflies in his sleep now ~ we miss him terribly ~ and Ratty's becoming a big cuddlebug... so much more sookie than he used to be.  It's nice... he seems to have outgrown his inferiority complex...

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The new issue of Creating Country Threads arrived today ~ Vol 10 No. 11

It includes my 'Sophia's Quilt'

I love this quilt... gorgeous prints, simple piecing and finished with a prairie point border... romantic :)

Quilted with an allover rose through the centre and a matching rose border

Yumminess...

Lots of nice things in this issue ~ Joy has a beautiful block keeper, Stella has 2 'cute as pie' dolls and I love 'When Doves Fly' by Rose Johnston.  Might have to make that one...

I'm up to my ears in Christmas in July stuff!  It's looking good and I think I love it... yeah I know... I love everything :)  The QFD Christmas in July fun starts soon and it's not too late to join in... head over to Sarah's to read all about it.  Guest designers?  Natalie Ross!  Natalie Lymer!  Gail Pan!  Janelle Wind!   PLUS the six of us in the Creative Team!

and there's a brand new design from each of us... that's 10 new patterns... gotta love THAT!

I can't wait!!  Participants will be able to log in to an online chat room ~ so we'll all be sharing the stitching room together during July... from all over the place...  Pretty clever really...

State of Origin tonight ~ that means pizza and ribs ~ yum

seeya tomorrow for another snapshot of June

Cheryl xx :)

Tuesday snapshot

Meet Harley and Maurice...

one third of the My Little Zoo gang that includes Olivia Elephant, Petunia Penguin, Harold Hippo, Steve Snake and Zoe Zebra... just to name a few

I dragged them all out again today.  It's time to finish the zoo gang and put them on centre stage ~ sweet little friends...

Maurice Monkey had over a dozen prototypes before I settled on this one

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Remember the Scrappy Shabby Lap Quilt?

Head over to Stash Manicure to find the 'how to' instructions.  It's really simple and very quick to make, I hope you enjoy making yours!

Seeya tomorrow for Wednesday's snapshot

Cheryl xx

We're Back! :)

and we had a fun time... lots of laughs and looked through lots of books, listened to lots of fun stories about travels and now we wish our holiday was next month instead of next year!!  But we will just have to be patient...

Sunday snapshot

one of my fave holiday shots... the sunset view from our room on our 2007 island holiday...

magical

Monday snapshot

Pincushions... by Shaz, the pincushion queen.  I have a basket of pincushions in my house ~ they belong to Shaz, apparently I'm finishing them... you know, last couple of stitches, last button etc... ~ and then I can show them all.  Gorgeous.  This buffet of fruit is finished, they're the 'Fresh Picked Pincushions' pattern by Heather Bailey

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My tutorial for the sweet scrappy shabby quilt will be available on Stash Manicure asap... Just waiting for access to add the post so check back in a little while.   Till then, here's a preview...

You'll need 205 x 3 1/2" squares of assorted prints from your stash

5 x 6 1/2" squares of a feature print plus extra for the outer border ~ approx 15" extra

10" for the peeper

bits from your binding stash to make a scrappy binding

I'll see you over at Stash Manicure a bit later for the fun stuff...

Seeya

Cheryl xx

Saturday snapshot

Beautiful ... the afternoon sun on a bunch of camellias... sitting in a tall coffee pot on the kitchen bench.  Dusty blinds in the background... kind of kills the romance a little but the flowers are sooo pretty

The camellias are all out in flower right now and they're so gorgeous surrounded by their petticoats of pretty.  These are extra special, they're from Shaz's garden... and she's more of a stitcher than a gardener :)

I also had a special surprise visit from an old friend... it was nice...

We're off to Brissy in a little while, funny little man is cleaning the floors while I pretend to be a Queen... it's working so far

Secret doings... more secret doings.  One of these days I'll surprise everyone and actually show some not secret doings...

A chain of flower sugar

makes up part of my project for the Quilt Fabric Delights Christmas in July fun.  I'm loving it and can't wait to share.  Re-jigged the design a little with the help of ever so helpful Shaz...  Pop over to Sarah's to read all about it and see who'll be creating beautiful things for you to make nice noises about :)

Natalie is showing some totally yummy!! things on her blog at Cinderberry Stitches...  I just love Natalie's stuff... so much fun!

I have been sitting long enough ~ the floors are finished... phew, that was hard work... and we're now off to Brissy but we'll go the loooong way and take a little drive in the country... gotta show funny little man my newest find ~ 9 acres tucked away rolling down to a sleepy hollow with a meandering creek... there are cows...

Share that one with you when we get home again tomorrow night

seeya, have a great weekend

Cheryl xx

Friday snapshot and other doings

Been a bit busy the last few days so I had prepared the last three days' snapshots earlier this week.  Now I'm back in the hot seat and ready to rumble again :)

Today's snapshot(s)

Janelle's first book ~ arrived yesterday and is FULL of delicious projects and gorgeous photographs.  I really love 'Pieces of Me'... especially the way it's written, like Janelle is sitting in the lounge with me sharing her thoughts.  Beautiful.  Of course, there's one for Shaz too... sigh...

I pre-ordered and received a special little note from Janelle... poor girl probably has writer's cramp after signing so many books!  You'll see more on her story here

Ratty has the right idea... it's been chilly lately and this is where he parked himself for a sleep the other day

I watched him... jump onto the bed, snuggle up on the pillow then wriggle his back half down between the layers... stayed there all day and ventured out at 5.30pm

He's not silly... wish I could stay in bed for a day!

I'll settle for flannie pj's for today ~ upstairs sewing and no visitors expected... maybe shaz a bit later to collect her 'Pieces of Me' book ~ she's seen me in my pj's so that's ok :)

Couldn't do much yesterday so I sat around sewing a few hexies together chatting with a friend ~ Janine is seriously the hexy queen, I've never seen hexies made as swiftly as the one's by Janine's hand...

I think I've decided that my gorgeous hexy quilt was a bit ambitious and have re-jigged the idea... It is now going to be a super stunning hexy table runner...

It's a long weekend here this weekend and funny little man & I are heading down to my sister's place in Brisbane to plan our big holiday next year.  Two words... castles and croissants...  probably only 300 sleeps to go

seeya

Cheryl xx