Willowberry Designs ~ Alpaca Softies

We'll be a bit busy for a while...

Today is Meg’s wedding, we’ve been waiting for this day since June last year when she and Chris first set the date

This morning we’ll all be primped and preened and made beautiful for the 4pm ceremony

There’s a lot of work involved in primping and preening these old ducks so we’ll be starting early :)

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I just love the quilt I made as their wedding gift

it’s Megan to a ‘tee’ – colour, style, gentleness… and she loves frangipani flowers, they have five petals and my hexie flowers have six but we can pretend they’re frangipanis… :)

Megan and Chris have a gorgeous pusscat named ‘Oscar’… he’s their little furbaby, they’ve had him since he was a cute, fluffball kitten

Don’t you just love that look?  He’s thinking ‘Hang on a minute!!  I haven’t finished having fun yet!!  Quick, let me at it!!’

He can’t be at their wedding so I added a little snip of Oscy to the quilt by printing a label with him (grown up) as the background

I asked Megs to email some photos of Oscar and she said ‘I don’t know what you’re up to Aunty Cheryl but here they are’

I’m pretty sure she’ll cry when she sees him!  and then I’ll cry and then that starts the chain reaction amongst the girls in the gang and the boys in the gang will just shake their heads with bewildered looks on their faces.  Happens all the time, you’d think our boys would be used to us by now…

Righteo.. we’ll be a bit busy for the next hmmmmm 16 hours or so… then we have a big family reunion tomorrow with loads of aunts, uncles, cousins and kids.  Can’t wait, what a fun weekend!

Seeya in a week or so when we return from the good ship lollipop :)

Cheryl xx

Quilty goodness

Busy busy little bee in the workroom... with a couple of finished quilts to show for it

A medium meander wriggling across a simple scrap quilt...  This always says 'snuggle up with me', don't you reckon?

and the backing fabric on this one was so gorgeously soft ~ a cotton voile hailspot

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Pure (+ an extra - it blends so nicely!), love that fabric range

Another meandering wriggle ~ this time a bit more open

simple quilting allows the fabric to keep telling it's story... I like that

and one more

Judith makes so many quilts, I drop one off and she always has another ready for 'Nancy' the dancing quilting needle

Another example of simple meandering, this time with separate borders

The photo isn't the greatest.. sorry about that!

I have two more finished but haven't dropped them to their makers yet so I'll save those photos for another day.  I love my job, I get to see and work on some of the most beautiful, unusual, clever, simple, stylish, wild, mushy quilts

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Now it's time to start packing... we have a wedding to attend and an ocean to set sail upon!

I have a post scheduled to publish on Friday morning with photos of Megan and Chris' wedding quilt so pop back then

Seeya round!

(like my rear end after a week of eating from the buffet...)

Cheryl xx

Giveaway winners...

I loved reading through the comments… seems there are lots of lovers of our little feathered friends!  Maybe I need to stitch up a few more from my scribbles and pop them into the freebies folder…

The names were scrunched and loaded into the pink bucket ~ then Ratty dived in and pulled two bits of paper out for us

(Today is also Ratty’s birthday… he’s 14 years old but don’t tell him I told you that.  We’re almost twins….)

Sewing Set #1

    

goes to

Sandy W.

 

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AND

Sewing Set #2

    

goes to

Illene T.

 

check your emails girls… there’s one from me :)

Our April giveaway will start on Sunday 22nd so stay tuned for that one

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We’ve had a bit more rain this week – probably had enough for the time being – and even on windy, cool, rainy Thursday, the little finches were hopping around and chatting to each other.  They reminded me of kids playing in the rain puddles…  The photo isn’t very good, too far away and not the best light but you can see these cute little guys making themselves at home on the frame the funny little man put up for his wisteria in the front garden ~ right outside my workroom.  They make a big noise for such tiny birds!

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Thanks for all the birthday wishes… it’s been such a fun day, topped off with dinner cooked by someone else and dessert which arrived at the same time as Bloss

Seeya for one more time mid week ~ Meg’s quilt is all finished so I’ll share a photo… I love this quilt ~ before we head off to join the rest of the clan for a big party.  These are the times we treasure…

Cheryl xx

Our Secret

For some time now we've been keeping a little secret...

secrets are very tricky things... they want to pop out, they nibble away at you and sometimes they almost win

We've worked hard at keeping this one quiet but now the secret's out

This is our son Andrew ~ aka Waterboy

and on Wednesday he married his country princess ~ Kylee

on a beautiful beach in Thailand

As you can see, they had a special guest attending the ceremony....

which was a surprise arranged by Andy for his beautiful wife

(that brings tears to my eyes... our son now has a wife!)

They rang me this morning from Thailand and said 'righteo, you can facebook it now'

It was so good to hear their voices, I cried!  then I cried some more...

Oh my goodness... what a year this is turning out to be!

and still so much yet to come...

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On Saturday March 3rd we celebrated their  wedding here in Toowoomba, an intimate ceremony with just very close family.  The photos are limited and this is our best one ~ a bit grainy but you can see the happiness...

He promised to care for his girls forever... and we know he will

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The next event on the calendar is our niece's wedding on March 30th.  We'll catch up with the Andrews sisters ~ my beautiful, crazy sisters - Nisey, Bevvy and Shelley ~and the rest of the cousins who can make the trip.  There's going to be one heck of a party over 3 1/2 days and there will be lots of photos

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Seeya on Sunday for the March giveaway results...

Cheryl xx

Don't forget to enter the giveaway

Closes on Sunday, the two winners will be drawn at 7pm my time

Click here to go to the entry post to leave your message

Little people, all grown up

I’m not writing about my stitching doings today… this time it’s all about the kids

Our little herbs…

This photo speaks volumes about their personalities…

Bloss on the left ~ our gentle little Blossie, sweet, sensitive and our kitchen goddess who can whip up a cyclone in the kitchen then present a restaurant class meal… together with her big sister prevents me from making too many fashion faux pas;

Waterboy in the middle ~ this kid, with the mischievous grin and heart of gold, will never lose his sense of adventure and fun.  He's a fish!  and the ocean runs through his veins;

and Moo on the right ~ little mother hen, nothing is too much trouble, always comes to the rescue and is the life of the party.  She’s the one who’ll pull us all back together if we ever stray…

These three herbs… they make me laugh

they make me cry happy tears… all the time! (and for those who know me.. you know exactly what I mean)

they share the same eyes, noses and mouths

they get their strong ethics and morals from their Dad

~ thank goodness they don't take after their Dad with power tools though... ~

and I think they get their crazy sense of fun, love and laughter from me… it’s a nice blend…

they make me so proud because they’re all good people ~ all three of them are filled with goodness, the kind of goodness that you can’t fake

they make me know that maybe my funny little man and I had a hand in shaping that goodness during their growing up years and that makes my heart burst

As they were growing up life just pretty much went along without too many hiccups, we had fun family holidays ~ mostly at the beach ~ and there were birthday’s and other parties… lots of big family events and Christmas times when we’d get together with all of the Aunts, Uncles and cousins… and their Nana & Grandpa. I didn’t know my Grandparents so I’m glad these three had lots of years with their Nana Pat and Grumpy Grandpa… yep, he was grumpy! but Nana Pat made up for it :) And also their Nana Goss and Gramps… nana goss always had fresh meat for waterboy to go catching yabbies.  Nana and Gramps love everyone, unconditionally…

These photos are here for me, (I often read back through my old posts because I love the memories they bring)… and for our kids… luv ya guts you gorgeous Goslings! And to share a snippet of our world that I don’t share very often…

Meet the big grown up herbs ~ Manda on the left(moo), Lisa in the centre (bloss) & Andy (waterboy)

When they were little we didn’t really think much about the type of life they would lead when they grew up. You just kind of roll along, dealing with the everyday stuff and wishing for them to find a good career, set up their own little home life and maybe meet someone to share their world with…

Our girls have their fur boys ~ willis & theo ~ for now…

Our Waterboy has his own little family… meet

Kylee (country princess) & Lauren (little gem)

these lovely girls have brought a new kind of happiness to Andy’s life.. and to our family life

(Birthday and Christmas gifts have definitely improved since Country Princess took over that role! )

My house feels empty some days.. and quiet. I like it better when it’s full of noise & laughter. And big grown up herbs.

I have a secret… I can share it soon… that makes me happy

Cheryl xx

From the workroom this week

Yesterday was a day full of finishing stuff…

I started making a weekender bag about 6 weeks ago for our holiday then put it aside while I worked on other projects. Yesterday reality set in and I realized it’s only a week ‘til we go away ~ so I dragged it out and set about finishing it

Was a bit fiddly… the chunky zipper, curves and detail at the sides ~ but worth it. I think it has a bit of a vintage feel so when it came time to delve into the button basket,

I had a choice of vintage leather or ‘new’ vintage with a French feel

I like both, but these won with the flip of a coin

Love it! French General ‘Maison de Garance’ fabrics… what’s not to love :)

Update - the pattern is the 'Sleepover Bag' from Melly & Me

And talking about loving things… just look what I found in thependantemporium over on Etsy

If you’d like to see more check out The Pendant Emporium here

Gorgeous… it’s coming to my house… I’m wearing mushroom pink with a black lace jacket to Meg’s wedding…

it’s a dress…

Holy amazing transformations Batman, I’m turning into a girl… my shoes even have little satin bows on the front… how did that happen?

p.s. my shoes hurt… I’ll be hiding my charcoal crocs in funny little man’s back pockets…

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My other ‘finish’ for yesterday was a project for Homespun magazine later in the year. It’s a little different, not a quilt or wallhanging or bag, but features some French inspired stitchery which will tie in beautifully with our ‘It’s a little bit French’ sew-along this year!

Catherine and the team at Homespun do a great job with our creations, photographing and presenting our samples so that they really shine. I won’t spoil the surprise by showing the whole project ~ they’ll be seen in full in the ‘Pink’ issue ~ just a snippet for now, the package is heading off to Sydney today

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The giveaway (previous post) is in full swing… it’s drawn on Sunday 25th March so there’s still time to add your name to the pink bucket, just pop back one post and leave your comment. I’m a bit overwhelmed at the number of entries already! Such lovely words and loads of birthday wishes. Did you know I’ll be turning fortyeleven?

I’ve decided to add another set – same design, slightly different French General fabrics – so there will now be TWO
chances to win a sewing set! Gotta love it when the rules change for the better!

Today I’ll needle turn ‘tiny bird’ and finish it off with blue binding :)

It’s raining and cool, perfect indoors stitchin’ weather

Tomorrow I’ll be back with something a bit different…

Seeya

Cheryl xx

March Giveaway!

Our March giveaway is one of my handmade sewing folders ~ from my stash of French General fabrics ~ and a sweet little scissor fob

The giveaway will close in one week (on my birthday) – Sunday 25th March at 7pm my (Qld) time

To be in the draw for this lovely set, leave a message on this post

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See the little stitched bird medallion on the front cover?

Here’s another… all ready to be stitched in place – there's a whole section in my sketchy doings dedicated to little birds

These are tiny ~ the discs measure about 1 1/2” across when they’ve been needle turned in place…

You can download the design sheet from the link on the right (the one that says ‘Occasional Gifts – Free designs to download’) and enjoy stitching these for yourself, they’re so quick and cute

With all the bird activity in our gardens lately it’s very topical too :)

Bloss shared her birthday on Friday with Monty who had a lovely time telling her she was gorgeous and whistling with her. He wasn’t so sure of the ninja cat though… Theo was scared of him!

We tried to work out Monty’s age today… we’ve loved him for over 8 years and he was another family’s pet before he came to us. He’s showing signs of age now… I wonder what a normal life span is for a cockatiel that lives with a family?

Speaking of family... I'd like to introduce you to a couple of new family members... that will be a little bit later this week

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So, the giveaway closes next Sunday (March 25th) at 7pm my time… good luck!

It's a little bit French ~ Part 3

Our lovely collection is growing… don’t they all look pretty together!

Part 3 of our fun features a delicately stitched ‘braid’ design with a sweet lavender bouquet in the centre

The ‘gift’ for this month is a beautiful glasses pouch

and the blue sample ~ which I popped into my ‘Provence’ basket ~ will make a very pretty pocket on my workwall sampler, just the right size for my rotary cutter!

This is what I have in my ‘Provence’ Wallhanging basket so far…

You’ll find the pattern links for our March fun over there on the right ~ look for the ‘It’s a little bit French’ heading under ‘Pages’

I'll be back through the week and again on Sunday to publish the March giveaway results. Then we’re off on vacation ~ a family wedding and sailing the Pacific ~ we’ll be back with lots of news and photos after Easter… a few pounds heavier I imagine… :)

Seeya soon!

Cheryl xx

Today’s doings…

It was a bit of a mixed bag today ~ a good day ~ with a little bit of everything

I meandered across a lovely quilt ~ this is the back, it will be collected tomorrow and I’ll share a photo of the front

an open meander to keep it soft and drapey, nice to snuggle with

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This morning I felt like something date’ified… but not the normal run-of-the-mill date loaf or date scones.  What to do… what to do…

Of course… bound to be something in there..

before baking

during baking

(and yep, that’s me still in my jammies at 9.42am…) there was nobody around to tell me to get dressed :)

and after baking

Before + During + After = Yum

It’s a great recipe ~ the scroll dough is light, similar to a scone, but with a nice crunch to the outside pointy bits.  They look a bit scruffy but taste delicious!  And the scruffiness gives them that home baked appearance… that always wins!

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I’ve also finished the quilting on Meg’s wedding quilt and it’s just perfect!  Megs knows I’m making a quilt for her special day but hasn’t seen it yet so here is the reverse side

 

I wanted it to represent the beach on a calm day… little waves rolling onto the shore, tiny ripples, wriggles and tracks of the sand dwelling critters

I loved making this quilt and I must say a big thank you to Chriss who helped me to get my head sorted with it right at the very beginning.  I just need to bind it and add a special label then it’s done :)

The wedding is on March 30th, I’ll share more photos of the quilt after we get home from our trip

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Part 3 of our ‘It’s a little bit French’ fun will be ready a little earlier this month – we’ve got a busy time towards the end of March so I’ll be sharing the next project this Saturday March 17th.  My March Giveaway will commence on Sunday as well!  Lots of fun stuff happenin’

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Our beautiful Blossie turns 29 tomorrow… I can’t believe it’s 29 years since that wee little bub came into the world.  She was in a big hurry too, we just made it to the hospital in the nick of time!

The herbs ~ waterboy, bloss & moo ~ I think it was probably xmas ‘87 or ‘88 ~ looking all cool in their Pizza Hut sunnies from Aunty Nisey :)

Fast forward 24 years….

this was taken on Mother’s day last year… all grown up and gorgeous!

She’s coming over for a big roast dinner and birthday cake tomorrow night and will no doubt bring Theo the ninja cat for a visit

Today was a good day…

Seeya on Saturday!

Cheryl xx