Willowberry Designs ~ Alpaca Softies

Lunch with the girls...

Wednesday was Moo's 'official' birthday so Bloss, Moo and I went for lunch at the Chocolate Cottage.  Special time, just my girls and me... precious...

Just in case you were wonderin'... 'the chocolate cottage' roughly translates to delicious food, great coffee, fab atmosphere and a really special setting... just in case you were wonderin'... and it's where Marion and The Quilters Angel live... just in case you were wonderin'...

An afternoon with Chriss, oohing and ahhing over a few lovelies, some projects under construction and the odd Ferrero Rocher, up to the house to check out the painter's doings

new quilt room... crisp n white n hint of lemon

 then a catchup evening with a few friends who happen to stitch ~ it was a nice Wednesday

Funny Little Man went back to work last week.  They said 'please, come work for us' and he gave in.  Hopefully he'll tire of it soon and decide to stay home and play again instead... I miss him.  More than I thought I would.  The last nine months has been, well, just plain 'nice' :)  If you say the word 'nice' with a smile on your face it has more meaning... it's a 'nice' word that gives you a 'nice' feeling in your tummy...

(did you just smile and say 'nice'?  me too ...)

If you've flitted around a few blogs lately you'd have seen lots of little hoot owls popping up everywhere.  Natalie has a whole family of them (and they are sooo cute!) in her new book 'Cotton Floss'.  And another Natalie has a snippet on her blog of a secret new project... looks a bit hooty to me!

Here's my Baby Hoot progress...

How much do we love Sunkissed for baby projects?  Muchly!!

If you remember this from a couple of weeks ago, I can now tell you a bit more about it

Jude, my Brissie friend who has the busiest stitching fingers, is currently checking my pattern for me.  She's almost done.  That means another newbie pattern will be released REAL soon.  Here's another snippet to tempt...

The Stitching Bug Set

Seeya... a lovely friend is coming for morning tea today... gotta go throw something in the oven... Brownies?  Jam Drops?  maybe both :)

Cheryl xx

ps... it was both... brownies AND jam drops - raspberry and apricot/passionfruit... YUM, I could eat the air in my kitchen...

'Baby Tweet'

...and tote

It's just too darn tweetin' cute... :)

straight line quilting.. yum.. and a little bit of fancy schmancy leafy wriggles down the white roads...

Pack it up and off you go!

Do you have a stash of charm square packs?  Yep... me too!!

My delicious little set is made using 'Plume' by Tula Pink for Moda fabrics... and the one currently under construction is just as cute..

~ 'Baby Hoot' ~

made from 'Sunkissed' by Sweetwater for Moda fabrics.  I think I might faint....

And just imagine it in all of it's gorgeous glory made in Pom Pom de Paris by French General for Moda fabrics... 'Baby Tweet ~ Vintage'... that would make my earth move...

Sometimes the planets align without any effort at all... and this afternoon I had a seriously random unplanned event... the seams and quilting rows all lined up... all of them... how on earth did that happen?

two words...

FORK. PINS. 

they work...

Sooooo... new pattern means a pattern giveaway.  How loooong is it since we did that here?  I dunno either... probably FOREVER...

We're giving away 3 copies of 'Baby Tweet' to our lovely readers!  To be in the draw, just leave your message in a comment ~ and spread the word... the more the merrier.  Feel free to link back here...

Entries will close on Thursday 21st April at 7pm - my time... Qld time :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This pattern will only be available for purchase from patchwork/quilting stores, not from my Etsy store

chasing butterflies

... and rainbows...

that's what I should be doing

instead, I'm chasing my tail :)  trying to catch up with yesterday and knowing I'll prob not quite get there!

Lotsa quilts finished = happy days

for Anne... during...

and finished... I love this quilt.. and when I finish what I'm doing I'm going to make one... wonder if I'll ever finish what I'm doing...?  :)

 

sometimes a quilt's backside is just as appealing as it's front side... a bit like me really...

Clare's chenille pieced quilt... soo pretty!  would make a most delightful kitchen floor rug... don't you think??

simple quilting, showing off the pretty prints

2 for Aileen...

big clam shells, to echo the print... simple and unfussy...

and... a little more fussy but still soft and not overquilted.. more of those yummy fat feathers

for Beris... (from last month). Doesn't it shout out for attention?  I LOVE it...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now for some random doings....

I squeezed in a morning out with the girls ~ high tea ~ just because someone I know turned 50 :)

Shaz, Wendy, Shirley and myself indulged in a little bit of niceness.  Hi Shirl!  Hiding behind the chocolate eclairs...

Deliciousness... I love you girls...

Ok.. enough of me, I'm now off to do some of my fave stuff...stitching with Ratty stretched out between my knees, watching golf with our funny little man...

finishing the cutest little baby quilt you ever did see... should be able to show that one off next time.  Twill be a new pattern... that = a giveaway and we all LOVE pattern giveaways!!

and before we go, here's the latest scoop on the new house.  Almost ready for the painters...and tilers... and boffins who lay floor coverings... holy dooley, not long now!  I found this dude lurking in the hall, he's part of the package deal :)  wonder if he knows my funny little man...

Next time I share a photo of this...

... I'll be saying 'come on in, I'll put the kettle on and show you round my delicious new quilting room'... Will you join me?  We'll invite the cows in the paddock next door...

 

seeya

Cheryl xx

Grab some kleenex...

Saying goodbye to a furry family member is the hardest thing...

here

It's almost 12 months since we gave Normie his last cuddle... I read this in installments, only because I was crying buckets along the way

It comes with a warning ----- you will need those kleenex...

Homespun Vol 12.4

... was in my mailbox on Friday... :)

Full of mushy girlie stuff!  How pretty is that aqua...?

My project ~ 'pour l'amour de la rose'

on page 68 (just in case you were wonderin').  I share the pages with some gorgeous projects in this issue!  Lots of lovely things to make... where do we start?  Maybe with this one... but I'll let Lisa tell you more about her beautiful quilt!

I really enjoyed making this gorgeous cushion... lots of delicate stitching, some gentle colouring to add depth and working with beautiful fabrics from my favourite designer ~ Kaari Meng of French General

The centre panel is a stylised adaptation of the print in the delicious Rural Jardin fabric.  The fabric designers own the original copyright for their 'artwork' so I sought permission from Kaari to rework it and feature it in my cushion.  Here's a snippet of what the delightful Kaari had to say...

"Hi Cheryl-  Moda sent me your e-mail requesting permission to use our fabric for a craft project for Homespun Magazine.  YES!  Please feel free to use any of our designs for your inspiration - that is why we design fabric - so crafters will feel inspired to do and make more with what we do!
Thank you so much for writing and I loved seeing the photographs of what you were designing - I would also love to see the finished product when you have completed the cushion.
I love that you love our fabric... All the best and Happy Holidays!        Kaari Meng"

When my sweet little cushion arrives home from it's journey south it will rest beautifully on it's companion quilt...

but probably not on the front steps.... :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

House update!  We have a kitchen, bathrooms, laundry, BIG rainwater tank in the ground, loads of pipes and wires snaking their way around the place... moving day is coming closer... I'm in love with the new kitchen already... will take some more photos next time we go to check out the doings

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm also playing with some of this...

for another Homespun project later in the year... delicious...

and saving some pennies to buy a whole bunch of this...

just because... 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

seeya

Cheryl xx

ps... funny little man whisked me off to this place for some birthday gifties... tres delicious...

just one of the things I fell in love with... it came home with us