January 3, 2016

Summer Holidays and Shell Collecting

It's Summer holiday time here in Australia. We have the most fantastic long, white, pristine beaches and Aussies make the most of the warm weather to enjoy family time at the seaside.  


My "Shell Collection" Cushion celebrates lots of happy memories I have, firstly from my own childhood and then of summer holidays at the beach with our children.


 Many years ago, my husband and I were very keen shell collectors. We loved walking along the beach looking for special treasures, then we would spend many hours trying to classify the beautiful shells we had found. We had our collection on display in our home for many years.


 Our interests have moved to a different facet of nature now - birds - but we can still never pass by a gorgeous shell without admiring its beauty.


My cushion pattern is in Handmade Magazine, No 34, Issue 5, if it touches sweet memories of your own and you want to make it: 


This year we DIDN'T have a family holiday at the beach! Our family Christmas was spent interstate with our son and his family who were hosts to 19 of us! We had a wonderful time with lots of fun and laughter, wonderful meals and plenty of outings together. Nine of us went to the legendary Boxing Day Cricket Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground:


We had a Mother and Daughters' morning at the Movies to see The Suffragette:


Seeing our wonderful son did most of the cooking, I had quite a few spare moments to spend stitching the new 2016 
FREE Block of the Month quilt
which I plan to launch on the 17th January.

 I have only one more block to stitch then it can be put together into a sweet wall quilt for you. I'm still tossing titles around in my head so you'll have to wait for that!

I'd better go and do some more stitching!

Val



4 comments:

Ondrea said...

Some lovely pics of you with your family. My grandmother loved collecting shells and I have a shell covered container that she made. These days it is illegal to pick up shells from the beach in some areas but probably for good environmental reasons. Happy New Year!

Kate said...

Val, I love your seashells pillow!!!
So nice to read about and see pix of your family gathering for Christmas.
All the best for 2016.

Anonymous said...

I really love the way your stitching enhanced the fussy cut on the sea star. What a lovely cushion! I'm looking forward to the new BOM, too. How lovely that so many of your family could be together for the holiday!

Jenny of Elefantz said...

What a wonderful Christmas, Val! May the Lord bless you abundantly through this coming year as you bless others. xx