Let me tell you about the birds and the bees..........

Hello lovely lovelies. I do hope you are all well. 'Tis been a little while since I chatted here at my little wintry place. To be honest there has been many a day where I haven't even turned the computer on. Down here on this little island we are all braving the outside world, though admittedly with social distancing and all the proper and sensible COVID precautions upmost in our minds. We have been fortunate here in Tassie as it has been quite a while since a person has reported positive to COVID. Though in saying this, just this week a person returning from mainland Australia has been quarantined after testing positive. But other than that, this little island whose borders are still closed is doing quite well. We have had excellent governance here in Tasmania.

Here in Tassie I sense a change in the wintry days; the slightest of change in the light. Just a wee bit of a change, but change nevertheless.  The days are ever so slightly inching towards more daylight and Old Man Winter has thus far behaved himself. Oh, he has unclasped his bag of frigid tricks and dived deep down where the chilliest of glacial gimmicks lay waiting for him to toss them wherever he will, but he has also acquiesced just a little, to enable us to enjoy beautiful, sunny days as well. Of course it is a wee bit chilly outside but each day, here inside my family room, with the sun's rays reaching across the room warming everything, there is a delicious sense of warmth. I won't speak too soon though, because I am quite certain Old Man Winter might just have the last biting laugh. But.....I won't think about that now because today was a glorious, sunny Sunday.

Though I have been rather lax in chatting to you all, I have been stitching. Here in my humble abode, with the fire ablazing and warm, sunshiny beams warming my heart, mind and soul there have been many delightful moments filled with joyful, slow hand stitching. Joyful embroidering of the finer details on the flowers of my garden quilt. The pansies' sweet personalities are now apparent on their faces. Simple long and short stitches, but oh, how the pansies have been transformed. It is always amazing how just the simplest of touches of embroidery adds dimension and charm to a subject. The cosmos fern-like leaves have been embroidered, too, along with the veins of other leaves. Oh.....and those sensory appendages, the antennae, have been stitched onto my flutter of butterflies.

Let me tell you about the birds and bees that have found a home in the fabric garden. Sweet birds perching on a flower or two and bright and happy bumble bees taking delight in the fabric flowers. I snippety-snipped the birds from a fabric which has been laying in my stash for yonks and as for the bees; well, I happened upon a magazine called Daphne's Diary this week and lo and behold there were a few sheets overspilling with buzzy bees. Once again a 'happenstance' kind a moment. Aah...such serendipity.

So......I photocopied the bees onto transfer fabric paper, snipped around each little bee and appliqued them onto my fabric garden. They were a tad finicky but so glad I persevered. Would you believe each little bee took an age.

Today was one of those gloriously sunny, wintry days. I spent a good part of today travelling around the countryside with my husband, who was the guest speaker at a few churches, deep, deep in rural Tasmania. So, as he drove merrily along I enjoyed some slow stitching as the countryside rolled by. The stitching was slower than slow as there was many a bend in the road. Not to worry though as I enjoyed the best of Sundays;  meeting and chatting to gorgeous people, drinking in the countryside vistas outside the car window as I happily embroidered away; oh....and a coffee or two in a cafe. Those country roads have taken us back home again, where this evening I am going to put my feet up and continue embroidering as I watch TV.

Thank you for popping by and gifting me with your visit. The very best characteristic about this bloggy world is all you lovely lovelies who take time out of your day to visit my little place, to see what I have been up to. Hope you enjoy a lovely week. Mine no doubt will see me enjoying more embroidering of details on the flowers and leaves. Such a pleasant way to spend my week, don't you think.

Until the next time....................

Linking up this week to Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching

Spring Flowers in Winter????

 

Hello lovely lovelies, and a top-of-the-morning to you❣  Another Sunday morning and one I might say, is beaming with glorious sunbeams, slowly warming my humble abode. Why, at this moment I am enjoying a cup of Melbourne Breakfast tea, looking over the rim of a pretty teacup, to the wintry world outside where blue skies are smiling down upon this little, bucolic paradise. Aah yes.....the sunshine is splashing magic everywhere. Thank you all so much for your beautiful comments re my  Sweet Sunday quilt this past week. I have spent many moments snuggled under my pretty, delighting in it's warmth and sweet, Liberty loveliness.

What have I been playing with this week???? With the stitching of my Sweet Sunday pretty finished, and though there are a few fabric imaginings colliding around in my imagination, whispering "start me, start me", I didn't want to begin something new. So, this week I have been amusing myself with stitching my flower garden quilt. The flowers hereabouts are practically non-existent, excepting those I brought home with me from the green grocer; lovely bunches  of alstroemeria. As Hans Christian Anderson once said, "one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower"..........so say I. So, delighting in a little stitching of my quilt seemed like a fabulous idea. Gosh, it has been over a year since magical flower seeds were planted and flowers 'growed' on this quilt. Do you remember my quilt, where hydrangeas, irises, daffodils, daisies, gladioli, poppies, pansies and other blooms jostle for space?? You are forgiven if your memory is a bit hazy as I understand perfectly that you may not be as enamoured with my flower garden quilt as  I. Let me help rekindle your memory.

The last time I waxed lyrical about my pretty there were happy flowers flourishing all over. When I last chatted about this quilt I was deliberating about what to do about the wisteria that I thought would look fabulous weaving and tangling it's way across the top. Well, I am still contemplating my belly button re the wisteria, but in the meantime,  I have stitched  more little flowers kissing the edge of the pond.  Each petal is smaller than the tip of my little finger and it took me two days to 'grow' these. No mean feat, I tell you.....not difficult, just fiddly. How could petals and flowers possibly take so much time?? There is also a flutter of  butterflies, fluttering here and there.

I was going to piece smidgens of fabrics together to form the butterflies, but that changed when I happened upon lovely fabrics a couple of weeks ago. The two fabrics which had to, had to come home with me are from Moda, called Flights of Fancy by MoMo. Besides the overall pattern and gorgeous hues catching my beady li'l eye, at the time I thought the butterflies in muted colours would be perfect for my quilt. Also, I would not have to fiddle with itty bitty crumbs of fabric, which having just appliqued those tiny flowers caused me to be one happy gal. I am loving how these butterflies hover here and flit there perfectly among the flowers. For, what is a garden if there are no sweet butterflies finding a peaceful haven among the flowers. They have a painterly, impressionist ambience about them, fitting  in perfectly with the Monet-esque aesthetic of my flower garden. So, so happy with all the sweet little butterflies. Why, I don't believe these butterflies could be more splendid if I tried. So, so very pleased that I didn't have to try.  Aah......how serendipitous!

I have delighted in appliqueing the little flowers and sweet butterflies to my garden quilt this week, reminding me once again of how much I adore this quilt. I had  forgotten too, how much I love  appliqueing with all the tiny stitches.........yes, really; I speak not with forked tongue. =) Somehow, the flutter of butterflies fluttering here, there and everywhere couldn't be more perfect. As it is Sunday today, I am going to stitch a few more sweet butterflies and begin to embroider the antennae to their heads. Even if the cold, wintry days are a tad tiresome, nor indeed if no flowers bloom in the garden, there is a plethora of spring blossoms blooming on my quilt, to sprinkle cheer to my days. Perhaps this coming week, more sweet flowers will sprinkle from that magical packet of seeds of mine. Aah yes.....there are yet more flowers to bloom. I might too, think about the embroidery that needs to be stitched on the flowers. Why, every pansy must, must have a pretty face. Thank you so much for visiting my little place. May your day be sprinkled with flowers, a flutter of butterflies; and a little beauty. May God bless your day with many a smile♥

Until the next time..........

Linking up this week to Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching and Frédérique at Quilting, Patchwork, Applique.

A Sweet Sunday Finish❣

A lovely hello from my little wintry world❣ 'Tis Sunday morning yet again.  It is a chilly, wintry kinda morning here, with a biting nip to the air. Old Man Sun has not made an appearance for days. Where oh where is he?? How I miss the radiant magic of his cheerful beams. Day after day of impenetrable, threatening clouds and drizzles of rain have been the order of my little world. I could've, would've, should've jumped out of bed to behold the magic waiting outside of the early mornings, during this last little while. I just know that God's masterful handiwork would have been a sight to behold........oh well. If only my hand stitched, hand quilted, squishy squashy quilts that bundle me up during the night would relinquish their cuddly and snug grasp, then I would jump crawl (never in my life have I ever, ever jumped out of bed) from my oh-so-warm-and-comfy place of slumber.  Then of course, when indeed I do finally throw off peel the bed covers, layer by layer, from my quiescent frame and arise, there is the cosy fire and a warm cuppa which entice me to linger in the warmth of my humble abode. Who am I to ignore these creature comforts. I don't seem to want to stick my nose out in the early morning, glacial air, where as far as the naked eye can see, ice-sheathed paddocks sit shrouded in mist.  Even Maisie who relishes her early morning walks, has been loathe to greet the morning  with her customary ecstatic wag of her tail and a smile on her face. For some reason she is a little tardy coming out of  her kennel.  Mind you, I am quite certain if shes sees me with her leash in hand her excitement will abound. Perhaps the two of us are just feeling a little aged these days. Winter can do that to me. =) I hope the two of us find our zeal and vigour for traipsing over the countryside soon, as I do love (well I did last winter) to capture, through the lens of my camera, those wondrous moments that wintry, early mornings gift. 

Spending more time than I normally would inside has induced me to stitch my Sweet Sunday quilt until the final stitch has been stitched. Yes indeedy, the hand quilting is done and the binding is dancing around the edge. AND.....even if I do say so, I am loving it. I am loving the hand quilted texture to it and the fabulous soft, tactile essence of the Liberty fabrics. Those of you who have stitched with Liberty Tana Lawn fabrics will know exactly what I mean. For the binding I used leftover Liberty fabric to make strips, stitching them together for a patched effect. Oh.........and just because I could, I gussied up some pillowcases to sit merrily with my little quilt. I don't normally do matchy, matchy but in this instance, well, I could not help myself. Just one of those spur-of-the-moment, kinda things. I must say, they do look rather fab........but that's just me. =) Mmm....I could get used to this matchy, matchy phenomenon. 



Sweet Sunday was a joy to stitch. Every facet of this quilt was a delight; from the playing with gorgeous Liberty fabrics and vintage embroidered linens, the hand piecing of each triangle and diamond together to form my favourite shape, the hexie; to the hand quilting, and the hand stitching of the binding. It is a pattern designed by Emma Di Stefano of Treehouse Textiles, but I didn't follow the pattern. I wandered off the patterned path and explored other possibilities and delightful discoveries. The slow meditative essence this quilt bestowed to my days spent in my humble abode, during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown was akin to many warm hugs. When I look at and touch this quilt I will remember this pretty as being the one fashioned during a most bizarre time in our world's history.......which is still being played out in every country of the world. It seems to me, with each new day there is a new situation that is demanding our attention, our immediate consideration; injustices which need to begin to be put right.

Whilst hand stitching this quilt from start to finish, the rythmic  and repetitive steps of stitching have stilled my thoughts and calmed my mind; helping me to think upon positive things during these disturbing times. This is what slow hand stitching does, doesn't it, it quietens those troubled thoughts that persist in seeping into the consciousness, which can sometimes bring a dark cloud to one's day. With needle and thread, stitching each little stitch, in...out; one just breathes, inhaling...exhaling; pausing; I suppose reflecting upon anything and everything; with hand, mind and imagination harmoniously working together to create something of beauty, something of intrinsic value to each person who joys in the pleasure of hand stitching. It never ceases to amaze me just how therapeutic slow hand stitching is. Many a time throughout the stitching of these gorgeous Liberty fabrics and happy hexies, I often smiled, wondering how disquieting thoughts could possibly persist when playing with Liberty Tana Lawn, vintage embroideries and hexies....as they are always the perfect pick-me-up.

So.....another queen size quilt, completely hand stitched, is finished. Another quilt with so many thoughts, reflections and memories whirling around it. My first quilt fashioned from Liberty Tana Lawn and I am quite certain will not be my last. I do believe with the exquisite silken touch, the gorgeous colour palette and beautiful patterns, these iconic fabrics will once again stealthily find their way into my humble abode.

Down here at the bottom of the world the doors of our homes have creaked open and we are allowed to once again amble through the countryside whenever we desire. Once again we are able to go to a city park and play 'photo-shoot' and walk and skip over carpets of  crispy leaves which scrunch underfoot. Oh, how wonderful it is to walk among ancient trees whose appearance are worthy of a J.R.R.Tolkein tale. Why, I do believe we might have stumbled upon a relative of Tolkien's Treebeard. Do you know what, I think 'he' might have winked at me. Oh, 'tis good to have fun with a photo shoot and entertain passers-by as they smile at my husband's, and my antics. My husband is an hysterical fellow who is always up for a merry photo-taking outing.  Photo shoots can induce much merriment. Yep, our days are beginning to sleepily arise from all things lockdown. We, on this little island, are once again allowed to twirl and whirl in a merry dance with our friends.

Thank you lovely lovelies for popping by this wintry morning and gifting me with your sweet visit. As always each one of you has beamed sunshine and cheeriness to my  wintry day♥ Now, if only Old Man Sun could beam some rays of sunshine through those clouds and warm dem ol' bones of mine. I wonder if........and when he will??

Until the next time.......................

Linking this week to Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching. and Frédérique's Quilting Patchwork Applique