what does Easter mean to you?

As posted yesterday, I have joined in with Cheryll's 12inch Mini Swap and have received my 3 partners for the year.

The first swap is the theme of 'Easter' .............. hmmmmmm ........ I am struggling with this :(

I am not a religious person, and Easter to me means time spent with Mr Fixit's family (mostly for the Easter eggs for the two nephews :), however we do observe Good Friday, with no meat, Hot Cross Buns and a Four Day Weekend!

For us downunder, it is Autumn/Fall so the lovely 'springy' type images do not seem to fit.

I can't seem to get a sense of what my partner would appreciate for this swap - I know I wanted to play with my new Dresden ruler, but I can't seem to find a suitable 'Easter' theme to tie it in.  I do realise that my partner will appreciate anything I do, but I would really like to produce something that she would be happy to put on display :)

EDITED: (I should add ......... I am not at all proficient with embroidery :( )

Any suggestions anyone?

Thank you for visiting my blog today - I hope you have a good day.
Remember, any day doing something you love makes it a good day ;-)

Doing what you like is freedom. Liking what you do is happiness.

in the club ................

... the 12 inch mini swap club

this is what I received in the mail during the week - thanks Cheryll :) 

I have received my three partners and can plan my attack!  LOL  there are tags to embroider or just write on and attach to our mini swaps - Now I just have to figure out how to use them and the best way to attach them LOL - the coasters on the left are turned over so that the eventual recipients don't see them  - very sneaky indeed  :)

Thanks heaps to Cheryll, for being such a great Swap Co-Ordinator and for the lovely little extras (my own personal coaster and a lovely bookmark)

cheers for now ................ off to do some housework first, then I can spend some time in the sewing room :)

Thank you for visiting my blog today - I hope you have a good day.
Remember, any day doing something you love makes it a good day ;-)

Doing what you like is freedom. Liking what you do is happiness.

On their way .................

FQs for Birthday Girl Melanie, and my February partners Anna & Virginia

I won't identify who gets what until they have arrived :)

of course, we start with some suitable sewing prep

Tease photo for Donna, February Christmas Swap partner

Tease photo for Kate, February QBSA partner

I have one more block to finish for Bellezza, my other February Christmas partner - wasn't happy with my initial fabric choice for Bellezza's block, so I went to Spotlight and got some suitable Christmas fabrics

(but I won't show them here just yet)

While I was there, some other fabrics jumped in my bag 

here are the blocks I have received for February from my various swap partners - only 1 left to receive

Pinwheel block from Donna

2nd block from Donna, Christmas Star

Thank you, I love the fabrics you have chosen

Blackfords Beauty from Bellezza

PS - the dishwasher has been fixed - we ended up we had to call out the LG repairman - he found the problem .......... it was a blocked pump ............ $115.00 later I am so very glad to say the dishwasher is back in action :)

Thank you for visiting my blog today - I hope you have a good day.

Remember, any day doing something you love makes it a good day ;-)

Doing what you like is freedom. Liking what you do is happiness.

Off to Venice ........

I wish!  

here is block #2 of Globetrotting QAL with Pat Sloan (see link on sidebar)



Thank you for visiting my blog today - I hope you have a good day.
Remember, any day doing something you love makes it a good day ;-)

Doing what you like is freedom. Liking what you do is happiness.

FAwF............

..........  LOL, no I am not swearing
FAwF stands for Friday Arvo with Friends :)  it is supposed to be FNwF (Friday Night with Friends), but I usually start early

Friday was a busy day, with Mr Fixit being home we organised for a quote on Solar panels (we have two more coming on Monday) - hopefully we will be able to wade through the information and make a good decision [Mr Fixit started working life as an Electrician, before he became an Electronic Engineer, so at least he will understand all the techno-babble :)]
Once our quote was finished, we were able to knuckle down and have some 'me' time - Mr Fixit finally getting to watch a few shows he has recorded, and me getting to do some more sewing -- win, win in my book :)
I completed the first block for the Globetrotting BOM with Pat Sloan - Washington DC block.  I had spent the last two weeks of January sorting through my stash and labouring over my colour selections - once I was happy with them, I set about cutting for the first two blocks.   I made up the HSTs last weekend, and that is where I had to stop as normal routines interfered with my sewing time :(


First stages


a few mis-alignments, but I am happy with it ............. I think ...........  not completely confident on the border fabric :(


auditioning a different border fabric .......... yes/no, maybe ?


auditioning a lighter fabric ......... yes/no maybe ?

must be off, the Dishwasher has decided to stop working, so I have to go and wash my dishes by hand :(
Hope Mr Fixit can live up to his name and fix it ;)

Thank you for visiting my blog today - I hope you have a good day.
Remember, any day doing something you love makes it a good day ;-)

Doing what you like is freedom. Liking what you do is happiness.

I love the cricket!

or should I say, I love it when the cricket is on the telly :)

last week I blogged about starting my do.Good Stitches bee blocks and realising I was using the wrong fabrics, well I got my act together and finished off these blocks.

I finished them early in the week, but with it being so hot, they didn't get posted until today.

During last week, I received these lovely blocks from Merry & Mandy, my CraftMad Family - we are making a Christmas quilt this year

as a reminder, this is what I sent :) 

New swappers are always welcome, pop on over and check out our CraftMad Forum

We have lots of swaps on the go - quilt blocks, card making swaps, card challenges

I realised I had not blogged about the lovely block I received from Michell for the December swap for QBSA

this is the first of my Rainbow Starflower blocks

this is what I sent to Michell

I enjoyed the A4A QAL so much, I have also decided to do the Globetrotting QAL by Pat Sloan ;-)   My friend Cynthia is doing it too :)

I agonised for days over my fabric selection, and finally on Sunday ............. I started cutting and sewing!

Thank you for visiting my blog today - I hope you have a good day.
Remember, any day doing something you love makes it a good day ;-)

Doing what you like is freedom. Liking what you do is happiness.