Finally a finish for July!

 Finally I can say I have a finish  for July OPAM Woop, Woop. I finished one of my journals today, I still have  a few more to finish off but they'll have to wait till after the show and a visit to the lace man as I couldn't find any of the eyelet lace I need to do them at Spotlight today.....but I did buy some more wool for the project below.....

This is another blanket I've started working on and I needed to stock up on a few more balls, isn't it lucky and great timing that Spotlight were having 40% off all their wool in the store this weekend so I was able to pick up more to keep working on it, I'm calling this one  "gelato" because of all the soft pastels in it. This is also going to be a long term project so keep an eye out for photo updates over the coming months :)

FNSI....or in my case all day Friday

 Friday saw me cutting these out to make up into journals, I did go to spotlight today to get more lace and ribbons to finish them off but I got side tracked with the 40% off wool sale happening there and came home with a bag of wool which means another trip tomorrow for them.....and maybe another ball or two of wool???

 I also found myself working on a secret project so here's a sneaky peak, sorry that's all I can show you for now :)

 I also picked up this very neglected stitchery and worked a few more stitches onto it to keep me motivated, I'll be working on this one today I think so I can finish it before Christmas....no promises mind you!

I also discovered these in a forgotten project tin so finished them off as well, I have another seven traced stitcheries of the Christmas tree to finish so may work on them as well today and tomorrow my crochet has been taking up a lot of my time lately and I decided my hands needed a bit of a hooky break, don't know how long it will last as I can hear my hook calling me to come crochet LOL......
Well I'm off to visit a few more of my sewing buddies blogs and see what they've been up to, I hope you too got a chance to spend a little time doing something you love last night :)

Something for me....

I decided to start working on a long term project for myself.....I'm going to need 480 (or more ) of these squares so quite a few more to go yet lol. I wanted to see how many squares I could get out of a ball I made 7 out of one of the orange 50g balls and with the leftover wool made two smaller squares consisting of 4 rounds instead of the 6 I used for the larger squares, not sure what theses smaller ones will turn into but will just add them to the pile till I have enough to work them into a cushion or a smaller baby blanket??
 Has anyone read the book Elemer the elephant?? well this is going to be my Elmer blanket for our bed for next winter, can you see I have one colour missing that I really, really, really love and can't get a ball of yet :( Oh well I'm not going to start putting it together till I reach the 300 mark with my squares so hopefully I'll be able to source out a ball or three of my favourite red :)
These aren't all the colours I want to use in my blanket I still have to order a few more balls to get some more colour happening but I'm not worried as it will probably take me all year to source them and then work them up. The wool is called Drops baby merino in 4ply and is lovely to crochet with.

FNWF Surprise and what I've been working on....

 This arrived in the mail for me from FNWF Momma Cheryll....love the colour of the wool, think it might turn into a chunky scarf and the picnic well it's long gone and only lives in my memory now MMmmm. Thanks Cheryll you made my week with this lovely parcel arriving for me XXXX

I've also been slogging away on this ripple  baby blanket and have added a few more rows since FNWF, it's nearly at the halfway mark now it wont be long before it's off my hook and ready to give to the new mum and bub :)

FNWF Results....

 Last night I worked a few more rows on this baby blanket, starting to look good :)

 I've also been putting more blocks together for my sisters blanket, eight blocks made just another eight and I can start putting the blocks together to make up her blanket and then the fun begins with how to edge it LOL :) Loving how these blocks look so fresh and vibrant :)

I also finally had some sunshine time to take a photo of my lovely swap mug, coffee/tea sachets and yummy biscuit recipe from Leanne in the Celebrate swap. I loved everything Leanne and can't wait to have a free day to try out your recipe Mmmmm :)
Must make myself a cuppa and pop over to visit the other girls who joined in on the fun last night, catch ya later :)

FNWF...are you joining in the fun??

Are you joining in and sewing with friends from around the world tonight??? I will be, see you tonight I'll have the kettle on and the chocolate biscuits all ready and waiting :) Barb.

Finishing off.....

 I finally finished putting June's and July's 9 patch blocks together, they've only been cut and ready for a couple of weeks nothing like leaving it to the last minute to get them done. I'll be posting these off sometime next week and that's it for this swap for me, I can't wait to see all these different blocks together :)

I've also been putting the borders onto the 3rd block in this Rosalie Quinlan quilt, now onto block 4 :)
I've also been working on my sister's crocheted blanket and hope to get a photo of the blocks I'm stitching together by this weekend so keep an eye out for them.

Celebrate swap & what I've been working on.....

 These are what I sent to my swap partner in the Celebrate swap for this month.....some home made cranberry & white chocolate biscuits with the recipe so Leanne could make her own, a mug rug and a coffee sachet so she could sit down and have a cuppa and a biscuit or two or three as soon as the parcel arrived in her mail box. Leanne said the biscuits were yummy and she loved the mug rug and that makes me very happy :)

 I've also been working on this......

As well as working on this.....hope to have some finished sewing to show you really soon :)

What I've been working on....I need another holiday

 I finally finished this ripple cushion cover, sewn up and sitting on our couch...

 I finished crocheting the second red scarf and it's now in the Christmas basket ready for gift giving :)

 I've been working on finishing of a few more sets of squares to be made up into more blocks for my sisters blanket, three made up, four ready for their ends to be sewn in and one final set ready to work the final round of white around each of them....in total eight blocks sooooo close to being finished so halfway to completing Anne's blanket so barring anything happening I should have it done and dusted for her for Christmas this year woooo hoooo.....

 I also received these lovely red & white fat 1/4's, thread, London themed buttons and a handy white choc mocha mix from Cathy in our fat 1/4 swap. Thanks Cathy I loved everything you sent me and will be saving these special buttons for a very special project :)

 These are the fat 1/4's I sent to Cathy as well as some DMC threads, Cathy has let me know she loved what I sent her and I hope we get the chance to be swap partners again :)

 I also received this lovely snowman from Lyn. B in my Craft Forum hexie swap....love him to bits Lyn :)

 I also have to confess to starting on another ripple baby blanket in variegated blue with white, I may add a plain aqua to this blanket will see how it works up???

I also started another baby blanket using the pattern from the red scarf as the girl I'm making it for fell in love with the laciness when I was working on the first red scarf for the colour swap and asked if I could make her another blanket for her second baby......not too sure if I'll be using the blue as she hasn't found out what she's having yet but I do know that there'll be no pink in this blanket even if it is a girl lol....so may need a darker brown if it's a girl to replace the dark blue.
As you can see I've been keeping myself busy and I still have to take a photo of the ripple blanket I've also just started for my hubby for his birthday next year in June that should give me plenty of time to finish it don't you think???? I love how it's looking with all the different shades of greens, browns, cream and silver together.

Mill Rosie swaps & FNWF....

 Finally managed to get a daylight photo of the gorgeous doll Shez made for me in our one on one swap which we exchange each Mill Rosie meet up......This months theme was anything by designer Anni Downs and as I love dolls and the colour red Shez added these to the list for my swap item!!! Woooo Hooo love, Love, LoVe it Shez!!
Shez also included a large box of maltesers but sad to say they didn't last long enough for the photo shoot LOL.....Although I was good and shared them with my hubby :)
Thanks you Shez and I can't wait for our next swap and meet up at Mill Rose in September :)

 and here she is hanging in my bedroom, looks like she was made just for this spot doesn't she???

 This is the beautiful bag I received in the blue themed lucky dip swap we have have our Mill Rosie meet ups and I was the lucky girl who drew out Rosalie's gorgeous creation, two of my favourite things....bags and Bronwyn Hayes and to have them combined in such a divine bag was pure bliss for me and to think Rosalie was worried her stitching wasn't good enough! I think it's fantastic and the other girls thought so too I nearly didn't get to take this home as a few of the other girls were whispering they'd love to take it home so I had to hide it till home time :)

 Here's a closer look at the front of the bag.....

 and the inside with the beautiful stitchery continued on the pockets.....Thank you so much Rosalie I love it and it has already become a firm favourite for stitching outings as it's so roomy and can fit a couple of projects into it without appearing too bulky :)

 this is one of the projects I was working on last night for FNWF, adding another row to my snowflake bed runner and crocheting around a few more squares for another row.....I think this may end up about 5 or 6 rows high with 15 squares wide I've already put it across the foot of my bed and I must say it's looking really good and I can't wait to have this finished and residing there real soon.I f I can only manage 5 rows I'm thinking of using the odd squares to make up a cushion front to go on the bed as well, what do you think or would that be too much in one space?

Another project I worked a few rows on was this ripple cushion cover I'm making to go on one of our couches, love the colour combination, I may just need to get a few more balls and work up a couple of more cushions in different patterns for the couches for winter, so nice to cosy up to on a cold winters night :)