Grow Your Own Blog party

Once again I'm joining in this event which is hosted by Vicki at 2 Bags Full. The idea is that each blogger writes a post introducing themselves; their interests, reasons for blogging etc.

I am a retired primary (elementary) school teacher, who loves to knit, stitch, garden, read and travel. I am Australian and live in Queensland, a state on the east coast. I have a 'blended family' of a lovely DH, 2 daughters and 3 stepdaughters. DH and I are 'empty nesters' now but over the years, all of these young adults  have lived with us at one time or another.

When I retired I joined a knitting group that provides knitted, crocheted and sewn items to the needy in the community. Believe me, it is not just the homeless who are needy. Originally I knitted beanies, children's jumpers, throws etc for the group,but over the last few years I have volunteered to join up some of the thousands of squares that are donated to the group each year. This certainly keeps me busy! The photo shows a number of blankets made with donated squares that I've joined...

I also knit throws that I give away as gifts, or to groups to sell or raffle to raise funds. I try to do a few of these each year.

The photo above shows me working one evening on one of my 'signature' projects, a garter stitch chevron/ripple throw, using a variety of yarns. 

A throw knitted in mohair yarns for my DD2 to celebrate her 30th birthday...

Like a lot of crafters, I have far too much fabric and yarn in my stash...but I still find more that I 'can't do without' and purchase more :-) Like this Christmas fabric that friends were using last year...couldn't find any in Aussie stores, but finally tracked some down in an Etsy store in the US!

I enjoy blogging and even though there is no real theme to what I write about, I share my everyday adventures in living life to the full. 

Over the years, for me, 'writing' was all about the academic aspects of writing ....I wrote to inform...I wrote to persuade, but I rarely had the chance to write to entertain. With the latter role, I can be relaxed in both the style and the language used and that's what my blog has mainly become...to entertain but with some elements of 'informing'.
Last year I wrote posts while we travelled in the UK, France and Hong Kong.

A beautiful scene taken from high on the hill in Whitby, UK...

With my DH after the Dawn Service on ANZAC Day at the Australian War Memorial outside Villers Bretonneux, France...

The view from the window of our hotel room in Hong Kong...a quite swanky hotel overlooking some not quite so salubrious apartment blocks.

Later this year, we are planning to visit Canada, where DsD3 is living and working for 2 years.

My stepdaughter took this very Australian 'onesie' to Canada...oh and the neck support cushion! Lol

Many years ago I loved to embroider but had not worked on any such projects for quite a while. Through blogging, I have signed up for swaps that required stitching and once again I've discovered how much I enjoy it. 

I stitched this mini quilt in a Summer themed swap...

I have also 're-ignited' my love for English paper piecing (EPP) and always try to have a project on the go using that technique.

A Christmas 'ornie' made with small hexies...

A Dillybag (designer is Judy Newman) was a favourite project last year...also hexies!

 The next photo shows my current EPP project, a cushion cover for a friend's mother who is celebrating her 90th birthday. I still have a long way to go with this project!

As well as chronicling our travels, I also write about changes to the suburb that I live in. As the city grows, single houses in my suburb are being replaced by multiple townhouses...I have it all documented if it's in my street! lol

I could go on and on, but just one more thing about me...I love purple! :-)

Regular readers would know that I have just passed the 1000 posts' milestone, so somehow I've found lots to write about over the years:-).

In conjunction with the Grow Your Own Blog Party, I am having another small (but very nice) Giveaway. It's one of Gerhard's lovely fabric patches. 

I've used the photo from the NaturesFaceArt website so that I didn't have to take the patch out of its packaging. The design features masses of gum blossoms, framed by gum leaves with a beautiful butterfly in the centre. Gerhard's patches are suitable for all kinds of projects, especially patchwork. To enter, just leave a comment on this post...

Vicki, the organiser of the Grow Your Own Blog party has requested that all bloggers who run a Giveaway in conjunction with their post, that February 15 is the date to draw the winner's name. So lots of time for people to visit and leave a comment. 

The recent Mini Swap...

In a previous post I wrote about the Mini quilt I made for Peg; I realised too late that the theme of this swap was not just Embroidery but there should be an inspirational message stitched into the mini...my mini was 'wordless'. 

But Lyn (no blog) who made a mini for me  was definitely 'on the ball' and read the instructions more thoroughly than I had! I was absolutely thrilled when I opened Lyn's parcel...have a look at this beautiful mini...

And that wasn't the only item in the parcel...look at these lovelies...just gorgeous!

Many thanks to Lyn for all these beautiful items and thank you to Cheryll once again, for organising this fun swap. 

Mrs Martin's Celebrations Swap; Spring!

A little while back in a FNSI post I showed glimpses of this project. To celebrate the coming of Spring we each had to make a garden stitchery for our swap buddy. We didn't have to make this piece into anything...that's up to the recipient to decide whether it is framed, made into a cushion, runner or some other larger project. We were asked to use at least 5 different embroidery stitches.
My partner in this yearlong swap is lynne, and because Lynne has now received my parcel, I can unveil the project that I stitched.
I used a Jenny Elefantz design, called 'Do Daisies Grow in Your Garden?', which is filled with lots of cute little details, such as snails with blue shells, an orange and blue butterfly and some lady bugs.

 
I couldn't seem to find the  blue/cream large print that was recommended for the background, so I used a 'sky' print in the palest I could get. I couldn't find variegated green ric rac so decided to improvise.

I wasn't sure how wide the ric rac should be and ended up buying 2 different colour greens in 2 widths. The wider light green didn't look very effective so I used the narrow ric rac. Using a technique that my mum's friend used to use, I used herringbone stitch to sew the ric rac to the background. So I've got a sort of a variegated effect there. So the stitches that I used in the project were, backstitch, satin stitch, straight stitch, french knots, blanket stitch and herringbone!
 Then of course a few more 'bibs and bobs' went in the parcel, to celebrate Spring.
Some flower fabric...

 A pretty tea towel...

Both rolled up and tied...

And lastly a fragrant sachet which is just so spring-like!

Thank you once again to Karen for organising this swap!