Escaping with needle and thread

 I almost forgot how to write a new blog post this morning so I must try to do it more often. (How many times have I been saying that!). So greetings from sunny South Australia ☺ It was a lovely email that I received today from Claudia in Northern Germany that prompted me to write this....Hi Claudia! The internet certainly allows us to meet others from afar and it is especially wonderful that we can share our love of stitching. I am so very grateful to have a sewing space to escape to and I cannot imagine my life without the solace of stitching. At times I will have a burst of energy and spend days on end creating but then boom, the fatigue hits as I am reminded of living with a ticker that decides to tick erratically from time to time. Seeing as it has been well over four months since I said hello that means there is lots to show........but can I remember how to upload photos??!! First up is a stack of little gifts made for others...prizes for a village dinner that include handy cubes, spectacle case and placemats.....

Some weeks back I was given some furnishing fabric swatch samples that had been donated to a local op shop so I turned them into zippered purses and donated them back to the op shop to sell......

A small group of friends and I  make quilts for others and we were recently donated eight hand appliquéd blocks so I turned them into two quilts to be donated to a palliative care unit........

Another finish of a quilt for a new baby girl and another on the bed from a Morris jelly roll I was given (and thanks to my dear friend Faye for machine quilting it for me)......

I've also been "repurposing" some very old quilts of mine. They are too old to give away and are just languishing in a cupboard. So now they are zippered items to give away at special events.....

It goes without saying that we have had some precious times with the younger people in our lives. We had their company during the Christmas holidays and again just last week for the term one break. Maisie and Wade enjoy each others company and the first image was at Christmas and the other a few days ago......how quickly they grow......

Our local library puts on great free holiday activities that Beau and Maisie enjoyed in January as well as time at the nearby beach.....

Last week Wade and Maisie created a pretend cafe in the nearby playground and produced delicious wraps from paperbark and vegetation....Maisie is so imaginative.......

A stroll through our village (that we really call a small town in South Australia), you can find history recorded on some of the cottage fences.....

Christ Church Yankalilla built in 1857 is a short stroll away and on that link you can read about an image of the Virgin Mary that has become a shrine that people from around the world have come to visit......

During holiday periods the small township of Yankalilla becomes very busy with visitors. We are amazed at the number of caravans and there is always a long line up outside the bakery.....

So that has been a small snap shot of our lives these past few months. Thanks for dropping by and reading this far. I will leave you with my latest skill of finally perfected a victoria sponge! It reminds me of recent a visit I had from a couple of roving reporters from SA Quilters. Cindy and Jane have been visiting sewing rooms for about 3 years now and a few weeks ago they came to see mine. I insisted on a couple of special friends being with me so I baked a sponge for the occasion. Hope you can see the video link! Till next time take care x

Hello from the Hill household!

 Once again it has been way too long since I posted so I thought it might be an opportunity to say hello and send good thoughts and wishes. As the end of another year approaches it becomes a time of reflection and also a chance to update my settings in case blogger decided to delete it all! Sadly it has been another year of world turmoil as war devastates many lives and it is hard to comprehend when we are safely tucked away in our comfortable surroundings. We have had some very unusual weather and today it was only meant to reach 17C and tomorrow it will be up near 30C! On the east coast of Australia they have had a heat wave while here we are experiencing Winter in the second week of what should be Summer. We have had a months' worth of rain in one day and the winds have been horrendous, but the little garden seems to have survived........mind you the kangaroos have taken a liking to nibbling the petunias.....

We have been in our little cottage for 8 months already and things are flourishing in our low maintenance planters in the back area.......

We are loving living in a small country community and especially that we can walk to the shops, doctor, hairdresser and library! We have been thrilled to have so many come and visit so scones are baked at the drop of a hat and there always seems to be flowers inside either from the garden or from visitors.......

My spring ranunculi were stunning and I look forward to seeing them pop up again next year.......

We enjoyed the local Agricultural Show a couple of months ago and the local quilt group encouraged me to enter my latest work and I was thrilled to receive a "Grand Champion" ribbon in the needlework section.......

A few months back I also spent some time making the local Lions Club a new banner. It had to be in the colours of purple and yellow and badges reapplied from their previous banner that had seen better days. I appliquéd it all so it was right up my alley but it was very different working in felt. I did this at no cost to the club and as my way of giving back to an organisation that does so much for the local community. So you can imagine my surprise when the President turned up unannounced one Sunday morning to deliver a framed certificate of thanks and a basket full of goodies.......glad I wasn't still in my nightie!......

I have also recently been busy making Christmas table runners and hanging hand towels for prizes at our village Christmas dinner that is on this coming week......

I've also made more hand towels and zippered purses for a Christmas market that I have been invited to that is on next weekend........

I decided to make some necklaces as well with hand stitched teeny tiny pinwheels. They are quite time consuming and take about 5-6 hours for each one but I never like idle hands if I am watching the telly at night anyway......

Of course this time of year comes with lots of catching up with friends and admiring and indulging in some of their culinary skills and this was delicious.......

We had a very special wedding a few weeks ago in a gorgeous historic venue.......

and we finally got to see a newly installed large mosaic in our local area all done on the artist's front verge so people can enjoy it...quilt and all!.....

Health wise we are ticking along with all that ageing brings! I see my cancer specialist tomorrow and my cardiac loop recorder is showing what we expected but at this stage the pacemaker is on hold while I consume many medications! Family are growing way too fast but we love it when we see them. As I decorated the Christmas tree I was reminded of places we have been and decorations we have been given......all wonderful memories. So as the lights twinkle at night we are thankful for all that we have. May 2024 be a kind one to you all near and far. Lots of love from us.......