Crochet Blocks - November

20 crochet blocks

handed to Maria for some blanket construction!

My Birthday

There have been a few Birthday celebrations this year -- starting early November and finishing mid-December.

This post is mainly for me - to look back on.

First up was Loose Threads
In this group - we each gave gifts to the Birthday Girl - 3 gifts starting with the first three letters of that person's name - so I received gifts starting with S U & S.
(Funny how many "U" presents we have had to find....conveniently Unicorns are popular at the moment.)

Here are my goodies from the participating girls.

Nolene:
- Sanitiser Dispenser
- Unicorn applique

- Sanitiser

Maureen

- S letter 

- Unicorn sanitiser - to hang off my handbag

- Spring Lavender hand Cream

Inca
- Shopping Bag

- Unicorn pen

- Spiral Vegetable cutter
_ 

Louise

- Silver Spotty Serviettes

- Use By <date> Cream

- Scarf 

Because it is one of those 0 birthdays - I was also gifted a lovely bunch of flowers and a gift voucher from a Quilt Shop.  I made these purchases

Much appreciated LT friends

Then there was a Birthday lunch with the Sunday Stitchers group
Two of us had the same 0 birthday - we couldn't really celebrate early in the year - so we had to double up in November.   We went to a lovely cafe for a buffet-style meal and I received my Birthday presents there.

In this group we have selected 6 things to buy for the birthday present and each person chose a colour - I chose lime (everyone probably expected purple . . but I like to be different....)

Marilyn was the giftor for me:

Apart from the limes - everything fitted one or more categories which were:

1. Something sewing / craft related 

2. Something square

3. Something spikey.

4. Something musical

5. Something hard  

6. Something nature related or natural.

I got:
Sewing pouch - with musical fabric, tiny scissors, pencil & leads, face washer - with musical ribbon, framed collage - full of sewing and musical bits.  The limes

Very clever and beautifully made - thanks Marily and thanks everyone for a lovely lunch.

Just after that I was on retreat -and the girls surprised me with another Birthday Celebration.

I covered that before here.
Again - a big thanks to Sandi, Helen, Norreen, Maureen, Lynda  & De

Normally I would have had my birthday celebrated in November for my SIMS group - but that happened in December instead.

This time - similarly to the Loose Threads plan - the gifts were 3 things that match any letter in our name

Maureen - silly shades, Unicorn pencil, Strawberry de seeder.
Inca - Star fabric, Needle threader and Skittles
Sue (went overboard and did 5 letters Plus one) - Scissors pin, Urchin fabric, Snow Spray, Almonds (ginger & Tumeric) Nutrimetics body butter. .  .and of top of that a lovely bunch of Sunflowers.

WOW - I feel very grateful for all my lovely friends and their generosity.

Of course there were also special presents from friends & family.

Thank you everyone for making my 0 birthday so special.

The Needle Girls Retreat

A wonderful retreat - at Glenrose Patchwork Cottages in Warwick (QLD).
November 15 - 19, 2021.

• Great weather - warm but not stiflingly hot & cool at night
• Excellent company - a lot of laughs - a few deep & meaningfuls.
• Eating Out & Shopping

I collected Maureen on Monday morning - late due to an accident on the motorway - on the other side of the road it seems - then we got held up in roadworks - but the other girls kindly waited for us to have morning tea - we have a ritual of scones on arrival.

What did I do??

I made a little pillow for my grandson to use in the cot he has for his anatomically correct doll - he has been using a quilt that Maureen made for him - and I had some leftovers.

I finished off a pencil roll-up case for Luka (same as the ones I made back here)

I had another Volunteer Leave Day from work - Sandi was making heaps of drawstring bags to donate so I helped her with these

(I had planned some sock guards .  ..another time)

And I worked on another "secret project".

Sandi had brought along a project for each of us - a Serviette Holder.  This is mine...

This is the collection.

Last year we decided to set ourselves a challenge:

• Firstly,  we each had to make a stocking to gift and include a treat and a fat quarter.
• Secondly, we had to make a Christmas Table Runner.
  
  (Both projects are from a Nancy Halvorsen book)

The stocking I made: - It went to Sandi

The stocking I received - it came from Sandi!!

My table runner - a bit different from the pattern as I want it to fit on the hall stand in the entrance.

And to my surprise - the gang organised a Birthday celebration for me.   I had planned on grouping any Birthday bits in one post later in the month - but will add these pictures. . . . 

and there were gifts!

It is one of those 0 numbers (as you can see from the cake) - and try as I might - it doesn't seem that I can keep it quiet . . .

"Someone" put this sign on my utensil holder 

We always have one lunch out at Warwick Garden Centre - and visit the shops in town - I forgot photos of the food that time . . .but after leaving Friday morning we went back to the Garden Centre for breakfast.  The food is wonderful - the presentation is always top-notch!

A wonderful week away - I came home pretty exhausted from late nights - kind of early mornings - and a lot of laughing, talking & a bit of concentrating.

FNSI - November

I wasn't very productive tonight - I have been on a sewing retreat at Glenrose Patchwork  - from Monday morning til Friday morning - arrived home about 4PM - unloaded the car - put some stuff away and had a Nana Nap....its a hard slog on retreat - sewing til 12.30AM day after day.
I'm not complaining - I'm very grateful that I am able to go away to a retreat!

More on the retreat later.

Apart from more sorting, putting away and taking pictures - I did some crochet - nothing exciting - but any progress is good progress.

I saw a lot of you were far more productive - well done you!

Thanks Wendy for managing to set aside some time for us - in between celebrating being a grandmother!

ABC Book - Peyton

This ABC book is a bit more special...it does look quite similar to the one in the previous post...no surprise there...

Again - for my records - even more pictures this time  . . .

DD2 and partner live on 5 acres - in Brisbane suburbia - 

but they own 2 Lowline cows - (around 5 foot tall)

The dog is theirs

I had to make an "adjustment" to the "I" page.  There are not a lot of nouns starting with "I"...Someone suggested Indians (Cowboys & Indians...right???) _ so I found a picture of a boy & girl Indian...DD2 daughter asked what that was  . .  .I explained . . ."MUM - THEY ARE NATIVE AMERICANS"...so I found a new picture of an Iguana and used no-sew fusible webbing to cover the original picture . . . ooops

All done & delivered.

I think I can pack up the ABC Book gear for a little while now.
Eventually, there could be more for another of my eldest daughter's friends 

and then for extra grandchildren . . . 

but nothing in the immediate future that I know of.

FNWF - November

Time is flying by . . .

Thanks to Cheryll who helps keep us on track with sewing & crafty projects . . . .so many things to finish off at this time of the year - and so much "secret" stuff.

The night started - as usual with a bit of crochet while watching BH&G - 

The larger yellow piece will end up with Red Orange & Yellow in one block .

Then I escaped to the sewing room and cut & sewed these - It is a possible vague idea for a border for something . . .

I'm lucky enough to have a sewing day tomorrow - 

I need some hand sewing . . .

I have a lot of projects to work on - 

but none of them are hand sewing that I can take . . .

back to the standby project I think.

Happy weekend all,
I hope you get time to sew, craft, relax - 

whatever takes your fancy.