Holidays....

 I finally finished stitching block 4 0f Rosalie Quinlan's "It's a red work Christmas" will get block five ready to start work on tomorrow, I hope it doesn't take as long to finish as this block took!

 First three blocks sewn together, now onto the second row starting with block 5 tomorrow....

This is the journal I sent Leanne for her to open on her actual birthday as she was going away near her birthday we talked it over and decided I would send her main gift once she'd returned from her holidays but I wanted her to have at least a little something from me to open so I sent this to her :)
I was going to post a photo of the pink baby blanket I've been working on but blogger is choosing which photo's I can post and won't let me post it so I'll do another post with a more current update on how much it's grown  real soon :)

Swaps & Finishes.....

 This is the bag I made for Leanne for her Birthday for the "Let's Celebrate" Swap I joined this year. I had a lot of fun making this bag and I love the colours in the fabric, I may just need to make myself one as I nearly kept this one for myself lol.....

 Inside Leanne's bag were all these sewing related goodies as well as choccies but I forgot to take a photo of those but if you pop over to Leanne's blog at http://lizzie-the-quilter.blogspot.com/ you'll be able to see the photo's she took of what she received in her birthday parcel :)

 This is what I sent our swap Mumma Cheryll for her birthday and I've received an email from her telling me she loves what I sent her so all's good :)

 This is what Narelle sent me for September's fat 1/4 swap, love anything red & white and those buttons are sooooo cute! thanks Narelle everything you sent me will be put to good use :)

This is a belated birthday gift from Wendy, unbeknown to Wendy her birthday parcel that she sent me back in April didn't arrive and on hearing this she sent me a replacement parcel and this is what arrived in my mailbox this week :) Thanks Wendy you're a trooper!! I must admit this missing mail thing has been happening a lot lately this year I wonder what's happening with the mail around these parts :(
So I can now put a few more finishes on my OPAM list for October as I didn't add Leanne's birthday gifts to it last month except for the journal I mad her which I've just realised I haven't posted a photo of so I'll do another post soon with a picture of that as well as an update on the baby blanket I'm working on which has nearly tripled in size due to me being able to work on it for longer as I'm on holidays for the next couple of weeks :)

A couple of new projects started.....

 I couldn't wait to start on this blanket for myself, I just love the brightness of the colours together using just a simple repeat ripple stitch. I'm looking forward to snuggling under it next winter :)

I also started working on a new baby blanket for a co-worker who's expecting a girl, now to wait till later today to find out what colours I can choose for the fourth baby blanket I'll be starting for this year the mum-to-be loves bright colours so I suggested she look on my blog at the latest colours I'm using in the blanket I'm working on for myself and if she's happy with them I'll go and buy a few more balls and start on hers, now to just wait to hear back from her before I can zip of to Spotty for a spot of more wool shopping lol :)

Another finish....and thank you!

 I didn't officially join in with FNWF sew in last night but did finish crocheting the last few rows on this baby blanket, it's much bigger than my other blankets as the mum to be wanted it big enough to go from cot to single bed as the baby grew.

 Here it is all wrapped up and ready to be given to the new mum when I next see her :)

I also couldn't resist Spotlights latest wool sale and decided to make myself something to cheer me up after losing my baby "Belle" earlier this week, I'd also like to thank everyone for their condolences in my last post in the sad passing of our beloved Belle, she's been part of our lives for over 15 years (the entire time my hubby and I have been together) so it's a been a very emotional time for us both and I appreciated each and every comment you've  sent and I'm just sorry I couldn't personally reply to each comment but it just makes me want to cry when I re-read your comments so I'll just say thanks to you all here and hope you understand :(

R.I.P Belle....

Today our baby Belle went over the rainbow bridge, we'll miss our Tinker Belle but we know she's not in anymore pain now and I can just picture her reunion with Fred our boxer who passed away 6 years ago.....playing chasey and tug of war.
R.I.P little one you'll be greatly missed :(

Another finish!!

 Finally crocheted the last stitches for the edging of this baby blanket, I'm quite pleased with how it's turned out and even though I'm not a fan of neutral colours I'm loving this now that it's finished!

 I decided to finish with a simple double crochet edging and I think it finishes it of beautifully :) Now to wrap it up and deliver it to the mum to be next week :) Woooo Hooo another one crossed of my list!!! MMmmm only problem is they seem to be multiplying and I now have two more baby blankets on my crochet list .....oh well take one off put two on :)

These are the fat 1/4's I sent to Shez for her birthday as well as a covered journal and a cottage thread aptly named "Mill Rose" hehehehe

 These fat 1/4's and threads were sent to Sandra for our birthday swap hosted by Cathy.

These are the fat 1/4's and threads I sent to Maureen also for Cathy's fat 1/4 birthday swap.

These fat 1/4's and threads were sent to Claire, another fat 1/4 birthday participant of Cathy's fat 1/4 birthday swap.

 These fat 1/4's, mug rug and thread were sent to Simone from Cheryll's at 1/4 birthday swap.

and finally these last fat 1/4's, charm pack and  decorative tin were sent to Christine whose picture I borrowed from her blog as I'd forgotten to take a photo of them before I wrapped them up duh!
Lots of birthdays happening in September and I wish all the birthday girls had fantastic days for them :)

Finishes....

 Shez and I have a one on one swap with each other going on each time we meet at our Mill Rosie meet ups and this months designer was Natalie Ross and I chose to make Shez this block keeper.....Mmmmm I'm thinking I need to make one of these for myself? Shez of course loved it PHEW!!! Wiping my brow here!

 This is a picture of the inside of the block keeper......

 The back of the block keeper, I love all the colours/fabrics I used in this project :)

 Another finish is this blanket I've been working on for my sister since April, it's now in the Christmas gift basket waiting for me to wrap it up later in the year for her to put under her Chrissy tree.

 Here is a close up picture of the final edging I decided to go with after showing Anne for her final approval....

This is the gorgeous bag Shez made for me in our one on one swap but wait there's more!! she also included a zippered pouch, a mobile phone cover (always wanted one of these) and a tissue cover to inside my new bag. Thanks Shez I love everything you've made for me and I love the fabrics you used they are sooooo me :)
I'll try and do a few more posts over the next week with photo's of our Mill Rosie meet up and all the fun we got up to :)

FNSI Results.....

 Friday night saw me working on this baby blanket again......

here it is unfolded so you can get a better idea on how big it actually is,I've been taking this one to work with me so I can add a row or two over my lunch break, I'm sooooo close to finishing this one I can taste it! I think I'll finish this final pattern repeat and start thinking about how I want to edge it as I think this one will need one to make it look truly finished :)
I'll be heading off to the Mill Rosie get together in a little while and hope to have lots of pic's to share with you when I get back :)

Nearly finished.....

Finally finished putting all the blocks together, finished sewing all the ends in now to decide on a border to finish it off.....simple, elaborate??? MMmmm what do you think?

FNWF Results.....

Friday saw me stitching up more of these blocks, it also saw me working on them Saturday as well as Saturday night while I was babysitting......total of 14 blocks together, with 2 to finish sewing in the ends and then sew them together and I'll be ready to put all the blocks together FINALLY!, the end is definitely in sight for a December finish woooo hoooo :)I've been trying to leave messages on other FNWF stitchers blogs but blogger keeps playing up when I go to post them so I'll try again tonight and see what messages I can leave as it's as frustrating as all get out when you take the time to leave a detailed comment and it disappears into the internet ether :(