Surprise Gifts In Time For Halloween...A Christmas Wish Quilt Update and Delicious Chocolate Cups!!!

Last week JoJo and I had the best surprise...

a very special gift all the way from California from Vicki

Part of the gift was the very cute Owl from Harry Potter...

found in the box below...

(as you might already know from a previous post I'm a Harry Potter fan...

and have a collection of the stuff!!!)

This is the box we went to pick up at the local Post Office...

Opened up with a card and wrapped gifts!!!
How excited were we to see this!!!

But before opening them we set up our own little party to celebrate!!!
A glass of pink bubbles for me...iced coffee for JoJo...
together with some Rice Crackers and a dip!!!
All by candlelight!!!
Hubby was away overnight and it was just '2 girls' as JoJo calls it!!!

Amongst the gifts...a deck of Harry Potter cards...
Harry Potter glasses....wands...1 each!!!
Party favours...a hard candy kit...

Our very own Sorting Hat...
Boy were we blown away by all this!!!
Thank you so much Vicki for this very very special gift...
and your thoughtfulness...
We are over the moon !!!

This has really gotten us into the Spirit of Halloween...
Halloween is not widely celebrated here in The Land Down Under but I have noticed over the last few years it is slowly creeping in...with shops starting to stock costumes for the children...party treats etc...

So I thought I would research Halloween a little...find some of its' origins and a bit of history to go with it all...
A quick look on Wikipedia led to this...

Halloween (also spelled Hallowe'en) is an annual holiday celebrated on October 31. It has roots in the Celtic festival of Samhain and the Christian holy day of All Saints. The day is often associated with orange and black, and is strongly associated with symbols like the jack-o-lantern . Halloween activities include trick-or-treating, wearing costumes and attending costume parties, ghost tours, bonfires, visiting haunted attractions, pranks, telling scary stories, and watching horror films.

There is a lot of fun associated with this celebration...
so we are going to have our own fun here...
we have never done this before...
we are going to play the Harry Potter cards...
get dressed up for the occassion...
put some Harry Potter movies on...
and hope that the Trick-or-Treaters come again this year...as they did last year and surprised us all!!!
Yay...it's party time!!!

On the stitching front I have put the strips on to my A Christmas Wish quilt by Gail Pan ...
it's now ready for a border...

From the garden these beautiful roses...

it is our 3rd Spring here and I have never seen roses here this size!!!

And a special treat you might like to enjoy this Halloween...or any time that is chocolate time...Chocolate Cups...for the recipe hop on over to my other blog My Dolce Vita !!!

Bon Appetit...and Happy Halloween!!!

And Thank You again Vicki for encouraging us to do this...we are certainly going to enjoy our first Halloween celebration!!!

By Royal Mail...A Surprise Gift!!!

Good Morning on this beautiful day by the Coast!!!

Last week I received a package from Jane all the way from England by Royal Mail!!!

Here is the package with the sticker on it with a pic of a coaster JoJo made at one of her programmes...

all wrapped up in pretty paper...

Real English Lavender from a real English garden all tied up with sparkly ribbon and in organza bags...in one of my favourite colours!!!
The smell is just so delightful...filling up the room these little satchets are in...just heavenly!!!
I must say that I have never ever smelt Lavender like this before...
Just absolutely gorgeous!!!
The generosity and kindness shown by bloggers is astounding...I am blown away!!!
Thank you so much Faerie Queen...I am in Lavender Heaven!!!

While talking about gardens here...recently on a trip to Foxglove Spires I purchased this strawberry plant...and look our first strawberry!!!
It's going to be ready anytime now...just perfect for some pink bubbles!!!

A bromeliad for the wall!!!

And also from Foxglove Spires this clematis...a very very pretty periwinkle colour...and it's supposed to flower from Summer through to Autumn...how beautiful is that going to be along the back fence...along with a pretty pink colour!!!
Desiree at the Nursery there gave me some advice on how to place the periwinkle and the pink...so hopefully next year we will have a gorgeous back fence!!!


Have a great day and enjoy this sunshine...
Looks like another salty blue day!!!

Giveaway At Pumpkin Patch Primitive Quilt Shoppe!!!

A Primitive Lover's dream...Fat Quarters...they are earthy, muted and whimsical...You will LOVE these! Sunflowers, pumpkins, checks, stripes; this collection has it all.

For your chance to win in this Halloween Giveaway go over to Brenda's

and tell her I sent you!!!

Drawn on Halloween...Good Luck!!!

A Christmas Wish BOM...followed by a Pudding!!!

At the start of this year I thought I would do my first ever Blog BOM (Block of the Month) with Gail Pan...

some fabrics I already had...and a few new fat quarters...

All cut up into neat 128, 2 and 1/2 inch squares...and pinned together in lots of 10...

This was a mystery BOM...suggesting the use of red fabric one month...green the next...along with green/yellow/red/white thread...

I used a different fabric each month...except one fabric was used twice...

squares and fabric all ready...

4 rows of 16 squares...

12 rows of 4 squares...

laying it all out...

I hope to have the quilt top ready soon...not sure if I'll get the quilting done though!!!

I have thoroughly enjoyed this project...the individual blocks were quick to accomplish!!!

I hope to hand quilt this one as per Gail's instructions...basically going around the blocks and diagonally across the smaller ones...

And I'll post it up when complete...perhaps I'll aim for Christmas in July LOL!!!

Thank You Gail for this delightful pattern!!!

A few weeks ago I posted this pic from one of my TAFE classes...

Steamed Golden Syrup Pudding with Anglaise Sauce...

Clarity has requested a copy of this recipe and I have posted it on my Food Blog...

My Dolce Vita...I have slightly altered it and made a gluten free version...and I'm in 'pudding heaven'...not being able to remember the last time I had a regular pudding!!!

If you get a chance...hop on over to Clarity's Wonderland...Clarity's use of words is just dreamy at times...

And here's a pudding of a different nature...a free pattern by Joy Patch...

one of the many talented Designers over at Gum Tree Designers

so hop on over and grab a copy!!!

Enjoy your pudding...be it stitched or from the kitchen...Dzintra

Stitching on the Bay - Part 2...

Hi there...I hope you all have had a lovely weekend and been able to fit in a little bit of doing your favourite thing...this weekend I took myself off to see the move Julie & Julia...

thoroughly enjoyed myself...went out and bought the novel after the movie...then a cookbook...

and thinking now...perhaps I'll work through a cookbook...just like Julie did...and then blog it...

I even checked out Julie's blog and left a comment...

When you get to her blog...have a look at links on the right hand side also...the Julia and Julia project is over there...

Might start off the New Year doing this...see how I go!!!

Further to my last post...here is Part 2 of Stitching On The Bay with pics of 2 delightful shops that were there...

Above is Anni Downs' Advent Calendar which was on the display put on by Steph at Moruya...

A gorgeous French General display...

Some of the Stitchery display





As the day had a Christmas theme above and below is part of the display put on by Emma at Country Inspirations...



The above 3 pics are from Emma's...
And my purchases...the above Tilda books full of lovely inspirational stuff...gorgeous patterns...these books are just an absolute delight...ideal over a cuppa and planning more projects!!!

Lovely pink berries I purchased along with these pink and green Christmas themed Fat Quarters...

As JoJo is so into Christmas I couldn't resist this little decorative Christmas spade for her!!!

A great day was had...I thoroughly enjoyed myself and looking forward to the next one in Autumn next year!!!

Thank You Fiona and Sylvia!!!

Stitching On The Bay Part 1...

Last weekend I had the absolute pleasure in participating in Stitching On The Bay here...

hosted by Fiona and Sylvia

Upon arriving this is the scene that greets one at the door...

goodie bags for everyone...and then towards the back of the photo are 2 shop stalls

set up by Stephanie and Emma...

This is the table that I sat at...the farthest seat on the right at the head...

Some of the Fat Quarters available at Steph's...


The Raffle Quilt put together by one of the local Sewing Groups...

to be drawn later in the year...

Starting from the left and going round we have...

Trish, Mary, Shirley, Jenny and Marianela ...

Marianela took this pic...I won a Lucky Door Prize!!!

Aussie Stitching magazines, a Tilda Stitchery at the back and a Thread Holder...

The stitchery says...chugs for all that centers!

Not entirely sure though of what it means!!!

Back of the stitchery showing some of the other designs...
Tilda originates somewhere in Europe...

The board out the front showing the projects for the day...

all of the projects had most of the materials available in a kit

with minimal pre-preparation!!!


And hanging on the board was this sweel little strawberry pin cushion and Clover Thread Cutter holder...that made my decision easy for today...I fell in love with it and I was determined to finish one today!!!
All I had to supply was the thread and the Cutter!!!

Lunch ended up being a gluten free one...lucky for me!!!

Pumpkin, Leek and Feta Frittata...

and Fruit Salad Cups...

And blow me down...I did it!!!

My own little Strawberry Pin Cushion and Thread Cutter...

I thoroughly enjoyed doing this and learning the stitches...

Feather Stitch...Fly Stitch and Herringbone

I'll be back in a couple of days with more pics...

this time of the treats available for purchase!!!

Thank you Fiona and Sylvia for hosting this day...

Poor Syliva couldn't make it this time due to an unexpected happening but she was with us in Spirit...and in contact a few times during the day!!!

I had a great day and Fiona said they were thinking of doing another Stitching Day in Autumn...Bring it on Girls!!!

And the wonderful gals over at Gum Tree Designs have released the first of 9 free Christmas designs...this little Christmas Rose bag is by Judith at Creative Studio...

so if you have a chance hop over, have a look and grab yourself a copy of this very useful little bag...Thank You Gum Tree Designs and Judith!!!