Lovely Stuff

It seems that bog land is swamped with lovely giveaways at the moment. Take a minute and visit Happy n'Srappy and leave a comment, I promise you won't regret it. You'll have to do it fairly sharpish though as the draw is tomorrow.

Then there's another wonderful opportunity to win some goodies; Sarah of The Last Piece is giving away some fabric bundles of her new, not yet released fabrics. They are mouthwateringly beautiful and I can't wait for them to hit the shops (just in case I don't win).

I finally got my act together and finished my little gift for Jess for our "private swap". I'll show you (and you, Jess) only this much.... your guess is as good as hers ;). It will be travelling south shortly!

Happy weekend everyone.

Vreni

More surprises!

Well, it seems last week was a week for surprises. I got my very first award:

It came from here:

Katerina describes her blog this way:

 "Greek blog, about all the small pleasures in life.. and the greatest of all; Food!

Go over there and take a look at this quirky blog where you'll find loads of lovely recipes among other interesting things.

The rules apparently say that I have to reveal seven facts about me.

So here goes:

1. My real name is Veronika but I call myself Vreni, which is very Swiss by the way!

2. I am an only child; my husband insists that's why I'm so spoiled ;)

3. I have two children; one girl and one boy. That was clever of me, right?

4. When I was younger I hated handiwork. As a matter of fact, I was absolutely useless at it!

5. My husband and I have lived in eight different countries on three continents since we got  

     married nearly 30 years ago! 

6. I don't drink alcohol (don't like it) but I'm definitely addicted to coffee

7. I have a terrible sweet tooth!

And now I have the pleasure to pass this award on to:

Hilde of Quilts and Boxes who loves to make boxes, like I do,

Jess of  Scrappy n'Happy who has been very kind since I first started blogging,

Shirely of Stitcherydo who makes the most beautiful hexagons,

Sofie of SewSofie who loves making dresses for her cute little girls, and

Lynda of Lynda's Quilts, who makes quilts, not only for all of her family, but apparenatly for her whole neighbourhood as well.

Please go and take a look, I promise you won't regret it.

Thanks again Katerina for choosing me! It has been fun!

Cheers

Vreni

I've been spoiled!

Look what the postman brought yesterday all the way from Australia! Jess of Scrappy n'Happy and I decided a couple of week ago to have our very own little swap. And this is what she made for me.

This very cute pin cushion. Look at the lovely buttons on each side.....

.....and a handy thread wallet, including the lovely embroidery floss.

Jess was also one of the first people who left a comment on my blog when I first started blogging a few month ago and I was tickled pink that someone would actually read my babble ;). So thank you Jess for the lovely gifts as well as your encouragement!

Of course I am nowhere near finished with my gift for her. But I'm working on it and have decided to make a tutorial at the same time. Since it's supposed to be a surprise , I won't reveille what I'm making, but check back here in a couple of weeks.

And this Hexie Caddy I made myself with the help of an excellent tutorial by Penny of Penny's Hands. It's completely sewn by hand. I'm now planning to make another, a bit smaller one, to take along when I go to my quilting group. Take a peek at Penny's blog; it's a treasure trove of free tutorials.

That's it for now.

Cheers
Vreni

Home Alone!

My latest guests have departed on Monday, my DS has gone back to Boston for his last year at university and DH is travelling, so I'm having the house to myself for a few weeks! Bliss! I have big plans for this solitary time. Lots and lots of sewing among other things!

I've finished a few more of my hexagons rounds; just a couple more and I can start appliqueing them onto the background fabric.

I've also been reading a lot. I just finished the newest book by Barbara Kingsolver; The Lacuna. I really enjoyed it, as I did her previous books. It's a work of fiction but set in true historical background. Not an era of history I knew very much about and I had to google a few names, places and events to find out what was fact and what fiction.

I'm a big fan of Alexander McCall Smith books. I've read them all (with the exception of  his children's books) and I'm now in the process of reading the second book of the Corduroy Mansion Series The Dog Who Came In From the Cold. It's very entertaining while the characters are highly believable. McCall Smith is indeed the master of "feel good stories".

Back to the couch where I'm sewing and watching TV! Not a thing I normally do on a Saturday morning when people are around ;)! So don't tell, OK?

Vreni