Sewing, Sneaky Peekies & OPAM Draw!

Hello everyone! How are you this Sunday evening? I'm sitting on the couch with my Sweetie trying to come to terms with the fact that another weekend is almost over ... SIGH!! It's been a bit of a jam-packed few days so maybe I actually need to go back to work tomorrow for a little rest! Tee! Hee! Hee!

My weekend started off with  ... Surprise, surprise!! ... some SEWING! :0) Our Friday night Sit N Sew gals enjoyed one of three mini-retreats that we have each year, organised by the indefatigable Miss Marion. It's always a weekend of good fun, good company, good food and we usually manage to do a bit of sewing too. :0)

I didn't have any "Ta Da!" moments of finishing any projects, but I DID get some hand stitching done. In fact, I finished the hand stitching part of a new design ... I'll give you a little sneaky-peeky ...

It's a little something that I'm hoping to have ready to release as a pattern in time for this year's Stitchers' Dream Day Out, which has an "Ooh! La! La! Paris" theme. So, a little French stitchery in some softly French pastel thread. You'll have to wait a bit longer to see the rest of it. :0)

Then I moved onto stitching for a new sample for an old favourite ... my Girl Stuff Bag pattern. The original looked like this ...

This was the project at the original Girls' Stitch In weekend held by the Marvellous Marion and Stupendous Steph of the Quilters Angel. It's always been quite popular ... the larger bag is a great size tote bag ... perfect for a stitching day out! :0) And the smaller bag was designed to hold your favourite coffee mug to enjoy cuppas with friends, but would also keep your threads, needles and smaller sewing bits safe. I decided to stitch the new sample in a pretty Cottage Garden thread for a different look ...

This is such a pretty colour combination ... I'm looking forward to making it up into a new bag.

So ... a bit of stitching happened in amongst the chatting and giggling. :0) A big thank you to our Hostess with the Mostest, Miss Marion!! 

And speaking of sewing projects ... well done to all you clever clogs OPAM gals! Once again, my GORGEOUS Partner-In-Crime Sweet Peg and I were blown away by the fabulous projects being worked on and finished by you all. There were 159 finishes for June! WOO! HOO!! Well done, gals! :0) And well done to all of you, too, who were working on longer-term projects. If you made some good progress, that's a positive for the month. :0)

Now to the prize draw ... the winner for June is ...

MARILYN!!

Congrats, Marilyn! Drop me a email with your snail mail address and I'll pop a little something in the mail for you. 

There is one finish that I can share with you ... it's just not MY finish. :0) Our clever Quilting Fairy, the Fabulous Fiona, sent me a photo of a quilt that she had just quilted for the lovely Gwenda ... made from my "French Amour" pattern that she bought at the Quilter's Angel. Gwenda generously consented to me sharing a photo of her quilt with you ...

Isn't it GORGEOUS!! Fabulous French General fabrics and the magic of Miss Fiona's quilting. I bet Gwenda was pleased with the result! :0) I LOVE seeing how people make up my patterns and interpret them to create their very own special quilt/bag/bear. It gives me warm fuzzies. :0) Thanks Gwenda for letting me share!

I hope you're all enjoying some time in your creative caves ... even if it's just time spent being inspired by fave craft mags, Pinterest or gorgeous books ...

Like "Happy Quilts" by my talented blogging buddy Toni Alexander. :0) Yes ... shameless friend plug there! Tee! Hee! Hee! And a bog-hop through the list of OPAM participants on my sidebar list is also sure to inspire you. :0)

Right ... it's time for me to think about hitting the shower and then the pillow ... since they're expecting me to be a grown up again tomorrow ... SIGH! Hope you've all had a lovely weekend and that your week is full of rainbows ... just like the one I bought at my Home-Away-From-Home yesterday. :0)

Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!
KRIS