My week

Winterwoods ABCs Sampler - designed by Alicia Paulson of Posy Rosy Little Things

I have so enjoyed this week because of lots of little things:  the rain stopped so I went for three walks; my cross stitch is framed and I bought some pretty little china plates (my plan is to hang them on the wall together); I have completed the inside of Charlie's quilt and now just have the two borders to make; and I completed a Christmas wall hanging for the Christmas Angel Swap (I have given you a sneak peek above).  Another thing making me smile is the vintage spool holder I bought recently, isn't is great?  Paul is very kindly painting the red parts white for me and it needs a bit of a clean up, then I think it will look gorgeous.  I am also loving "Making a House Your Home", my sister was given this book for Mother's Day and she loaned it to me.  I enjoyed reading it so much I have ordered my own copy from the Book Depository.  We have a 60 year old, modest little home and there are always lots of projects and wish-lists.  Sometimes it feels like nothing gets done and life races by with little being accomplished.  I think the reason I am so loving this book is that it is inspiring me to plan and organise projects and I am feeling enthusiastic about changes we can make.  This year we are planning to do up our bedroom so the book was perfect timing for that.  I bought a maths book and Paul has drawn a scale diagram of the master bedroom so I can collect inspiration, ideas and samples, I have never decorated in such an organised way before, it's kind-of exciting!  We also have some little projects on the go that I will blog about as they are completed.  Wendy xx

Mosaics

We have a few mosaics around our place, here are some of them as my treasure today.  The 52 is at our front door, the mirror is in our bathroom and the kowhai flower is in our garden marking the spot where our first cat is buried.  We have some others I will show another time and I have been told we will get some more when the time is right.  You see, my husband Paul is the creator of our mosaics and, of course, he is my real treasure.  I love the fact that he taught himself to make mosaics and he designed the mirror too.  Paul is my treasure for many other reasons, he's my best friend, he's incredibly supportive of me, he's funny, he's always the same (don't you love people who wake up happy!), and I love him to bits!  I'm linking to Melody's for Tuesday's Treasures.
I feel like my sewing is still going slow, I think because winter sport has made us busier, but I have made progress with Charlie's quilt.  On Sunday I pieced the appliqué blocks together and finished one row of the squares.  I have another row of squares to do and then I can start on the two borders which have ten more appliqued flowers, whew!!  Wendy xx

Weekend good things

Lots of good things from the weekend:

- a pretty vase of roses (Charlie chose these because she thought they looked vintagey)

- dying a beige jacket a beautiful blue and changing the button for one of mum's old ones (I will wear it now!)

- two lovely new books to read

- finishing another block for Charlie's quilt and starting on the next one

- loving having a fire on wet, dreary days, Barney loves it too

- Sunday lunch at my father in laws, yummy home-made pumpkin soup

- knowing my father is healthy (he fainted at soccer on Saturday and kept fainting when they tried to sit him up so he was taken to hospital in the ambulance with a low heart rate of 48, but was discharged late afternoon after all tests were normal.)

All these simple pleasures make my heart full of gratitude.  Wendy xx

Tuesday's treasure

I love knowing there is special mail coming for me and I had that feeling of anticipation that today may be the day; it made checking the letter box a pleasure instead of a chore. And in it I found my Tuesday Treasure, which I treasure more for the generosity of blogging friends than for the thrill of receiving exciting mail.  Today I received the gorgeous teapot wall hanging from Sheila as part of her blog hop give-away.  It is very beautiful and just my colours!  Sheila very generously also included a pattern, I think she knows I love pumpkins.  Thanks so much Sheila, I love my gift.  In the weekend I received the lovely Sweetwater quilt labels from Donna, and look at the cute photo she included of herself and her gorgeous corgi Tag.  Thank you Donna, I will enjoy using the labels.  I am linking today with Melody for Tuesday's Treasures.

What have I been working on?  I don't seem to have had as much time for sewing lately but I have finished the Winterwoods ABC's and it is now at the framers.  I love the little house, just like our little home with smoke coming from the chimney.  I also completed another block for Charlie's quilt, two more of these blocks to go and then I can sew the middle of the quilt together.  It's raining tonight after weeks of sunny days, a perfect night to be by the fire.  Wendy xx