Willowberry Designs ~ Alpaca Softies

May giveaway winner...

And this is what’s in the box

A whole big bunch of yum…

French themed fabrics, some button gift cards & a matching thimble pip/scissor fob

It’s a little bit of french fun :)

The pink bucket once again did it’s thing, Ratty dived in and drew out….

Theresa!

who ~ on May 25th at 7:18pm ~ said

“A thimble pip, of course! The French themed fabrics sound wonderful as well. Thanks for offering such a fun give-a-way.”

Posted by: Teresa

Yes, there was a thimble pip!

Along with a few other bits & pieces

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I’m already working on the giveaway parcel for June, it will be the last giveaway in our ‘It’s a little bit French’ sew along and it will be an extra special one… just you wait and see

That also means there is only one more project ~ our June project ~ which is also under way, then we’ll have a beautiful collection of SIX gift ideas and we’ll also be putting the workroom storage sampler together!

For our swap girls, just a little reminder that the gift you’re making for your swap partner needs to be posted in the first week of July… less than six weeks away…

Who doesn’t love a surprise gift in the mailbox!

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Do you make yoyos?

What do you do with them?

I did this today… along with Lily & Will…

How Delicious!  Almost good enough to serve with whipped cream for morning tea…

Seeya!

Cheryl xx

ps.. I’ve been playing in Photoscape with some of our Paris photos..how gorgeously dreamy is this one…

It's a Little Bit French ~ part 5

Our collection is growing ~ and looking yummier every time!

The fifth gift idea in our ‘It’s a little bit French’ bundle is a very girlie jewellery roll… the perfect place to hide your precious bits n pieces and ideal for travelling

There’s a little zippered pocket for your precious pearls and other adornments… and a softly padded ring keep…

Our ‘blue’ sample is another pocket to be added to the work room sampler

A pocket with a straight top and a nicely curved lower edge (I was going to say ‘nicely curved bottom’ but that would be just silly…)

The pattern links for our May projects are over there on the right ~ look for the ‘It’s a little bit French’ heading under ‘Pages’

Don’t forget to leave a message on the giveaway post here to be in the draw for a surprise package of French themed stuff

Seeya soon!

Cheryl xx

Oh yes, I forgot to mention the raspberry/cranberry/apple crumble…with vanilla bean cream…and raspberry swirl ice cream…

it was delicious

it was gone in 60 seconds

The bucket is full

Tails of nonsense

I have a new ‘night time in front of the telly’ addiction

It combines the English paper piecing process – love that – and the need to make pretty, little, simple things… quickly

It’s also a great way to re-purpose old, no-longer-necessary x-rays. I use them as the lining template to stiffen the walls of my thimble pips

27 and counting… I need a bigger bucket

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What to do with this bunch of delicious goodness!!

Quilt Fabric Delights (QFD) will host the annual ‘Christmas in July’ event again this year… the previous years have been such great fun with happy stitchers participating from all over our internet world

Last year my projects were ‘It’s Christmas’, a gorgeous table centre

and my ‘Pair of Partridges’.. made using the leftover bits from my main project

My bundle of beautifulness looks like this at the moment but it won’t be long before I morph it into something you’ll all want to make :)

Keep an eye on Sarah’s blog here for more info… the ladies who return and join in each year all love it!

How yum are those fabrics…

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Part 5 of ‘It’s a little bit French’ will be here tomorrow afternoon – I just need to finish one more pattern template

Until then, here’s another snippet or two…

Seeya tomorrow… probably after my nana nap

I might have a piccie of the bowl that’s giving off the most heavenly aroma in the kitchen. Raspberry/Cranberry/Apple Crumble just out of the oven and cooling on the bench

It’s the perfect day for a belly warming dessert

The End

Cheryl xx

May Giveaway!

What's in the box??

The giveaway will close on Monday 28th May at 7pm my (Qld) time

To be in the May draw, leave a message on this post telling us what you'd like to see inside your mystery parcel

I promise you it won't be an ocean liner, a lemon, a new car, a pair of socks or a tiger cub....

but it will include some yum french themed fabrics :)

Seeya!

Cheryl xx

Monday jobs

Happy Monday!  After a beautiful autumn weekend we're back to doing the things we do on Mondays

funny little man is making noises in the shed... power tools are involved.  Once upon a time, when the Goslings heard their Dad playing with power tools, there would be an air of 'get ready to dial emergency'... but not any more.  He's grown up now :)

Wonder what he's building? 

There's a beef casserole doing it's thing in the slow cooker, Ratty is perched on a folded piece of batting right beside me - he's never too far away...

...and I'm about to head into the work cave to start quilting 'Truly Scrumptious' for a quilty client

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Had a lovely weekend, Blossie came out on Friday night for dinner and to watch the footy with her Dad, we babysat Theo the night before... mad crazy little dude, loves to lie on top of the fridge!

Moo was home to catch up with family & friends (and walk a bit in the Relay for Life) and then yesterday we had a surprise visit from Waterboy and Country Princess

I love weekends like that... kids make our world go round

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I've been fossicking through my bits n pieces of finished (and not so finished) baskets of beautiful things and found this one a few weeks ago

This little embroidered wool pram blanket has been hiding with my linen for almost 14 years!  Check out the date I finished making it... ~ CG '98 ~

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I also made this pincushion for a swap hosted by Clare

Ok, off to play with my dancing needle...

seeya!

Cheryl xx

Lavender Stitches & a cat named Norman

I’ve been working on the next project in our ‘It’s a little bit French’ sew along.  It’s a little bit lavender, a little bit scrolly and a little bit yum

I hope to have it ready for a preview for our swap girls in the next few days and then it will be available here for you to download and make one for yourselves :)

Wonder what it’s going to be…

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Today we’re remembering Norman Chester Goss ~ 15.12.1994 - 18.05.2010

(aka ~ Norm, Normster, Fatboy, Fluffbum, Scruffbucket… and all those other pet names we accumulated for him over the years)

Our gorgeous old furbie closed his eyes two years ago today.  We all miss him terribly and think of him every day, he was such a darling natured pusscat and had so many funny, quirky little ways.  So patient and tolerant, he’d let us do anything with him… especially when it came to posing for the camera

  

He was very good at one thing… as most of our photos show… he was very good at sleeping ~ usually stretched out on his back with all four furry feet in the air

 

  

He didn’t like storms… always crawled under the quilt to hide :)

He was the best workshop supervisor

Always preferred to drink from the dripping tap rather than the bowl on the floor

Even though Ratty acts like he doesn't care, I think he misses Norm.  They pretended not to like each other but when they thought we weren’t watching they’d share little moments :)

We shared our lives with Norm for 15 1/2 years ~ rescued when he was just a scrawny, tiny little five week old button that could sit inside a tea cup

He grew to be just plain gorgeous

Seeya in a few days,

Cheryl xx

April Giveaway Winner...

Once again Ratty dived in...

and pulled out Sharon, (not you Shaz... 'Sharon'), who said

"I plan to make cushions whenever I see beautiful fabrics - as it is such a lovely way to showcase all the fabrics. I'm thinking of a bolster type cushions with the J'adore as a feature...
here's hoping your random pink bucket throws my name to the fore..."

Posted by: Sharon | April 23, 2012 at 08:31 PM

Congrats Sharon, you'll find an email from me in your inbox :)

and when I have your details, this little bundle will be on it's way

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It's a bit of a mixed bag today, I have so much to catch up on with all of our doings.. and we've had lots of doings... mainly doing nothing at all really :)

Bloss arrived last Friday with lunch ~ homemade beefsteak & mushroom pies with her own mushy peas.  OhMyCrunchyPieCrust, they were D.E.L.I.C.I.O.U.S

this one was hanging around with one of the funny little man's homemade sausage rolls

Stitchin'...  I have a big chunk (2m x 1.5m) of gorgeously soft pink linen and I love this little design of Gail Pan's so I used a softly variegated Cosmo marble pink to stitch the design.  How gorgeous is that darn thing!!

I'm smitten... have to do more of this soft pink on soft pink, it's beautiful

AND... there's been some headway in the Starlight Express corner

Etchings is one of my fave fabric ranges.. just love the faded aqua, smokey grey and reds together and this fine red on cream print is too beautiful

I hope you noticed that perfect point above... because if you didn't I can't be your friend anymore...

(you'll also notice I'm not showing the 'not so perfect points')

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Ok, just about up to date... there's been a sinus thing in my head for the last few days and it's been winning the fight.  Yuk, hate that but hopefully another sleepy day today will fix things

Seeya soon with some more deliciousness from my 'It's a little bit French' biscuit tin

Cheryl xx