Stitching | Nice people Nice things

Some finished quilts

My lovely friend Sue in Townsville sent me some pics of her finished project – she is a high achiever and probably made 3 or 4 of them!!

She wrote

‘I made it just in time. The quilt is a present for my mother’s 80th birthday and the party is this Sunday 7th in Brisbane. I am sending a few photos and I decided on a pillow case gift bag to place it in. I really did enjoy completing this quilt throughout the year.

Thanks again for your creative flair. Bring on the next project.’

What a lovely idea the bag is… and another idea to use with your blocks.

I am working on another year project due out mid 2009 so watch this space….

hugs

Helen

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Stitching

on December 1, 2008 at 1:17 pm Leave a Comment

First Kiss

I have just returned from a trip to South Australia where I taught 3 classes at two wonderful stores to many wonderful and talented women with many lovely panels Coluorque’d on the beginning of the journey to wonderful things. I also met lots of avid NPNT fans, many who have almost finished…. I think 12 blocks to go…read more here…

But the main reason for our trip was to attend the wedding of my cousin Carly. Carly and her sister Renae were flowergirls in our wedding 17 years ago. My husband Rohan has recently gained his registration as a qualified Marriage Celebrant and it was fitting that he performed his first ceremony for Carly and her new husband Nathan.

It was also lovely that all of our family were together which is a rare occurrence when we all live so far away. It always amazes me however how cousins who barely know each other manage to come together as if they have been best friends for life..

All in all it was a lovely week of memories but as always its nice to be home.

hugs,Helen

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on December 1, 2008 at 12:38 pm Comments (1)

Bedtime

A little late this week I am sorry. Well with only 43 days until Christmas and then the end of the year of 2008 there are not many blocks left to list here. So this week ‘bedtime’ it is – why did I choose this one…. well no reason really except that I have not seen a lot of my bed this week with only two days until I leave for market.

I do like my bed and find it very difficult to get out of it in the mornings. I must say I do get spoilt with breakfast in bed at least once on the weekend depending on parenting (or should I say taxi’ing ) duties. And I love lying in and reading the paper or a good book!

So not much to add here, I hope you are all stitching along nicely – I do visit various blogs and see your progress often so feel free to share here also.

must keep preparing.hugs to all

Helen

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on November 12, 2008 at 11:41 am Leave a Comment

flowers

It is Spring here in Hobart at the bottom of the world. I think my favourite season in my garden….. Tilly and I have been busy planting a new vegetable garden which she checks for me every day and pulls a few weeds. She has planted and tends to her petunias and a little hothouse of rocket…. all very educational for her and the look of wonderment on her face as things grow is very exciting for me.. it never ceases to amaze me how you can actually see them soaking up new things and constantly learning..

anyway, some pictures from my garden this week.

Some great inspiration for new colourque projects and fun. Have you seen my inktense tutorial here?

hugs for today, take time to smell the roses wont you?

Helen

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on November 3, 2008 at 9:20 am Comments (4)

Fairies

It seems that the latest trends in Houston at the International Quilt Market this weekend included fairies….. what fun, as you may know I loooooove fairies… Maybe this is why my early BOM quilt Fairy Kisses has been having a big resurgence lately?

Have any of you finished Fairy Kisses? I’d love to see a photo.

Spring also always makes me think of Fairies at the bottom of the garden… my mother in her very large garden has lots of fairy nooks and always sends the grand daughters to search for them.

My garden is just coming into its very best and I just love this time of year…. don’t you? Of course this may make all of our Northern friends a little jealous as they head into Autumn and winter – not to worry, I actually love something about all four seasons as I am sure you all do.

hugs for today

Helen

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on October 27, 2008 at 2:55 pm Leave a Comment

Tea Party

Well what a tea party I attended over the weekend at the Gathering in the Hills in Lobethal South Australia.

A lovely group of ladies, all stitchers, gathered together in a lovely old mill, surrounded by many lovely things and inspiration to stitch lovely things and eat Loooovely food.

You can see more photos over on my other blog here but here are a few peeks at the wonderful food – the best I have seen and the lovely display. The theme was cupcakes and this was carried throughout the day.

Hi to all the NPNT’ers I met there on the day.

the biggest butterfly cakes and see the heart shaped lamingtons in the background.

the spread was so inviting but not so good for the waistline, but afterall it was a day of self indulgence

and yes, they did do a lot of stitching….

hugs for this week, Helen

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on October 21, 2008 at 12:23 pm Comments (1)

Memories, lets make some

This coming weekend I am off to Adelaide (about two states and a few plane flights) to meet lots of lovely ladies at a Gathering in the Hills. Jane from The Patchwork Apple is going to great lengths to make her first ever gathering a special day with many memories for all who attend. If you are in South Australia there are still some spots left – grab your friends and phone Jane now, for those of you who are not close enough to come along and enjoy friendship, laughter, great food, great atmosphere and great stitching, this is what you are missing out on….

Sorry to tease, but it will be a pattern one day… It is called ‘Apple Cobbler’ and uses Colourque, applique and simple piecing techniques and is going to be so much fun to colour and stitch on Sunday. I love sharing how much fun this can be with like minded stitchers. We will be making lovely memories that do last a lifetime. I can’t wait to meet you all.

hugs for today, lots to finish before I head off on Friday.

Helen PS I am so glad the Princess block was just what you wanted…. I shall get to drawing some more for you soon.

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on October 13, 2008 at 11:29 am Leave a Comment

Pink Lemonade and a bonus block!

Is there really such as thing as Pink Lemonade? I am not sure but it has always sounded like something that would be really ‘nice’. I enjoy a glass of pink champagne and we have all of my girls love Raspberry lemonade so we call that Pink Lemonade. But perhaps there really is a pink lemonade made with lemons with something added to make it pink? There is a recipe for easy lemonade in this months Better Homes and Gardens magazine (the Aussie one), perhaps I should try it with some strawberries in it.

I have been playing in my Illustrator program this week designing some new greeting cards for you. They are at the printers for quotes now so we shall see if they are going to happen soon. They will be a set of five chosen from the NPNT quilt – I hope they will happen and you will all like them as this is something I’d like to do more of – coordinating stationary, greeting cards, notepads etc.

So whilst playing I tidied up this block below for your little princess. I have three little princesses (well two not so little now) and as you know they are girly girls and love to play and act like a princess. Hope you like it. Hugs, Helen

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on October 6, 2008 at 11:12 am Comments (15)

Ladybugs

Lady bugs or Ladybirds? What do you call them?

Thankyou to Mrs. Seagraves’ for these facts

There are nearly 5,000 different kinds of ladybugs worldwide and 400 which live in North America.

A female ladybug will lay more than 1000 eggs in her lifetime.

A ladybug beats its wings 85 times a second when it flies.

Aphids are a ladybug’s favorite food.

Ladybugs chew from side to side and not up and down like people do.

A gallon jar will hold from 72,000 to 80,000 ladybugs.

Ladybugs make a chemical that smells and tastes terrible so that birds and other predators won’t eat them.

If you squeeze a ladybug it will bite you, but the bite won’t hurt.

The spots on a ladybug fade as the ladybug gets older.

During hibernation, ladybugs feed on their stored fat.

Ladybugs won’t fly if the temperature is below 55 degrees Fahrenheit.

The ladybug is the official state insect of Delaware, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Ohio, and Tennessee.

The male ladybug is usually smaller than the female.

The Asian Lady Beetle can live up to 2-3 years if the conditions are right.

Ladybugs have become a popular theme for stitchery and applique designers in recent years also. Here are a couple of my favourites –

‘Little Lady, Mom and baby’ by Cori Blunt of Chitter Chatter designs

The Little Lady Bug

The ‘Litte Lady Bug’ by Cinderberry Stitches

mmmm, I can feel another ladybug design coming….they are just ‘nice’ aren’t they and such a delight to find in the spring garden.

hugs and happy stitching

Helen

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on September 29, 2008 at 10:01 am Comments (2)

Laughter

Much laughter and fun was had at The Quilted Crows Gathering at Campania, near Hobart on Saturday. Anni of Hatched and Patched and Natalie of The Birdhouse were this years guest designers and there were some lovely projects on offer as well as Leonie and Deidres’ great projects as usual.

many Tasmanian bloggers met up and it was great to put faces to blog names.

Tasmania Bloggers were- Jo from Jo in Tas, me –Helen’s Hugs, Alex from Stitchin School Girl, Fiona from My Beautiful Girls, Leanne from Lizzie’s Page, Kathy from Harmony Junky, Christine from Auntie Quaint Quilts, Cathy from Highland Quilter and Sarah from If only I had Chocolate. And if you look back through on many of these blogs you will see their Nice People Nice Things progress as many of the girls are also stitching along with us.

This was one of Anni’s projects – made from wool, we are doing a swap with these projects with many of the bloggers above each making 6 of one of them so we end up with the full set. I haven’t had time to do a swap for years but am looking forward to this. Thanks Sarah for organising it.

This was another of Anni’s projects, a lovely simple bag.

I managed to get most of Natalies’ designs stitched even though I didn’t arrive until lunch time due to Miss M winning a radio competition to meet the Olympians in the morning.

It is so “nice” to get together at these gatherings and enjoy good food, good company and good stitching with other likeminded ladies. I shall look forward to the next one eagerly.

hugs, Helen

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on September 22, 2008 at 11:07 am Comments (1)