Debbie's Finished Her Quilt!

Hi - I know, it's been a while, again! I have a proper excuse this time, but more about that later. I have to show you Debbie's quilt - she brought this in to stitching group two Friday's ago and it's taken me far too long to show you. This is ''A Kittens Tale'' - Lynette Andersons fabulous block of the month quilt. When Debbie unfolded this gorgeous creation a couple of weeks back there was a group gasp! The picture does not do it justice at all as it is truly beautiful.

About the only stitching that I can show you that I have done in the past few weeks is the next block of the Gingham Girls - these are from block five - cute little teapot...

...and quilting with a friend...

So I guess you are waiting to hear the excuse - well... I have been up to my ears in packing boxes! I have sold my house, bought a B & B here in Dunedin, and I am closing my shop! Phew! For quite some time, now, I have felt that a few things needed to change, so way back earlier in the year I found the most gorgeous property that was being run as a Bed and Breakfast and I instantly saw the potential of combining that business with parts of this one. I have been wanting to be able to spend a little more time with my son, Jake, and over the past couple of years I actually felt like I was spending less and less time with him. So, a change was needed and when I found the City Sanctuary I made some decisions. I'm going to continue my classes and retreats from home as it has the most amazing spaces on the second floor - and views to inspire. (I'll be able to show you some pics of the views in a few weeks time and you will see what I mean). I'm also going to continue with my website - lots and lots of fabulous patterns, some fabrics and other tempting bits and bobs like Barb's gorgeous buttons. So, this means that The Stitchery shop will be closing, around about the middle of next month. That's a little bit sad, as it's been a huge part of my life over the past few years, but it is time to move on and to be honest I am incredibly excited about my next adventure - I truly believe that we all know within our hearts when it is that time to move on, and when the opportunity arises we should grab it and go for it! So what between packing and moving out of my old house, a short stint in temporary accommodation (which turns out to be a very pleasant little unit), closing down the shop and then moving into our new home, blog entries may be a little few and far between for the next while. If you want, you can have a look at my ''next adventure'' at wwwcitysanctuary.co.nz - you'll see why I couldn't resist! We move in on 18th September, which is three weeks today. Until then I intend to unwind a little in the ''unit'' - hopefully I will get plenty of stitching done as the retreat is fast approaching and I have several projects to finish for that, but can't show you cos they are secrets. So, there you have it - what do you think? It should be fun!

Must go and get ready for the Friday Stitching girls - wonder what Debbie will bring today?

Jenny

It's been a while since I've been here - but that's not to say I haven't been stitching. A couple of weeks ago I finally got round to putting all these gorgeous little stitcheries, from Barb's Cat Club, into a wall-hanging, so that I could enjoy looking at them instead of seeing them 'resting' in a little pile on the shelf. Really happy with the end result, too!

Here's a close up of each of them..

Have also been doing some other bits - like this Christmas stocking - it's Marg Low's new pattern, and comes with this stitched version and also a strip pieced version which is the one we are going to do in the Christmas Club classes.

And then there are the Gingham Girls - this is part of block four..

...and hopefully this, along with the stocking, will be finished off this weekend. Depends on the weather! Here's Debbie's last block of her Kitten's Tale - so cute! I have a feeling that she will be bring the completed top to stitching group today - can't wait to see it.

And this is her most recent Breast of Friends block, and I think it just might be my favourite - so very pretty!

Well, I have to confess that this blog entry has been an absolute mission to complete - I have absolutely no idea what has happened since I last did an entry but it seems a whole lot of settings or something have changed. It has taken me three attempts to get to this point and I will be almost surprised if it publishes.

I hope that you are all enjoying the slightly lightly evenings, the not so chilly mornings and just how many blossom trees have you seen in flower!

Jenny