Catching Up!

 I finished my "House Rules" stitchery a few weeks ago but only 

just got around to framing it. But I'm going to have to take it out as 

the fold line is still showing. Hopefully, I can get rid of it. 

The pattern is by by Leanne Knell of Petals and Patches.

 This is the prize pack I won from Toni Alexander at the

 Red Boots Gang a little while ago.

 For Mother's Day, Mitchell got me this book (he made have had 

a little help!) by Toni. There are so many lovely things in it.

 I have started a new hand project, "The Happy Stitcher". 

I bought the kit at the recent AQC.

I've also started preparing for a new baby quilt.

Last Saturday, Noel and Nelson headed off on the trip of a life time. 

They are walking the Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea. 

The trek is 96km of rugged terrain and they finish the trek on Monday. 

We don't have any contact with them but the tour company has been putting

 daily reports on facebook. They seem to be going well 

but I'm looking forward to them getting home and telling us all about it.

Well, that's a bit of a catch up here at MacDonald's Patch. 

Hopefully, I'll have some great photos of Noel and Nelson's 

Kokoda trip to share with you.

Something to Read!

Look what arrived in the letter box yesterday. My copy of the new Elm Creek Quilts book by Jennifer Chiaverini. I'll just finish off what I'm reading over the next couple of days and then I'll be able to start this one. I really love these books and have the whole series. Have you read them? Jennifer has a blog, "Elm Creek Quilts" which you may like to check out.

Have a great weekend everyone. Hopefully, I'll get some more secret sewing done!

Bits of This & That and a Blogaversary Giveaway!

Last Saturday night Austin had his 13th birthday party with his friends. There were about 20 of them and they were all well behaved (just what I like). Here they all are waiting for the fire to die down ready to start toasting marshmallows. The only hiccup was that one of the boys went through the mat of the trampoline! He wasn't hurt thank goodness. I'll have to see if we can have it patched or whether we need to buy a new one. We've had the trampoline about 4 years and the boys are on it nearly everyday so it's had a lot of wear and tear.

 

Mitchell made a gingerbread house at school and he brought it home this week. I think he's done a wonderful job for his first attempt. Of course none of the extra lollies I sent him to school with came home! Not that I really expected them to.

A couple of books arrived in the mail last week. The first book was from Christine of Once Upon A Quilt that I won in her recent giveaway. It is called Where Love Resides and is inspired by the film How To Make An American Quilt. Thank you Christine.

 

The second on is the latest Jennifer Chiaverini book, The Wedding Quilt. It's the next Elm Creek Quilts novel. I love these books and have the whole collection. I've started re-reading them and it's amazing how much I had forgotten. I'm enjoying them as much the second time as the first. Of course, I stopped reading the one I was reading to start The Wedding Quilt!

I got some new chickens last month so we are finally getting our nice home grown eggs again. One of the chickens lays eggs with very soft shells. Sometimes they're so soft they break in the nesting box. Last week she laid this giant egg. It weighed 98 grams! They usually average around 60 grams. That's a 60 gram egg next to it.

Still nothing to show you on the sewing front. All my secret sewing for the Santa Sack Swap is finished and Maria has received all her gifts. You'll just have to wait until Christmas to see what I've been making.I've signed up for tonight's Friday Night Sew In so hopefully I'll have something
to show you tomorrow.

Finally, I realised that it was two years ago on Wednesday that I wrote my first post! Boy, how the time has flown! So I've decided to hold my very first giveaway. I'm giving away three fat quarters of Robyn Pandolph's Hanna Bella Range. I'll also throw in a little surprise as well! Just leave a comment. You don't have to become a follower but you are more than welcome to! I'll draw the winner next Friday night. Good luck!