Fabric is bunching - any ideas?

I am having a bit of trouble sewing part of a quilt block together.  The seam is catching underneath, here is a pic:

I have tried adjusting the presser foot but that doesn't seem to make a difference.  I pin the seams down and take the pins out as I near the seam but it still bunches...  Does anyone have any tips to help prevent it catching and bunching? 

Santa cross-stitch progress pic

Quick post to show off a pic of Santa's progress.  The top of the Christmas tree and Santa's glove with candy cane in tow are now visible, hooray!  Am currently stitching the window frame of the design then will continue to fill in the rest of the right hand side, which comprises mostly of the Christmas tree, more green threads!  I am adamant my next cross stitch will not contain green, or if it does it will be very minimal lol.  Actually, come to think of it, I think I know which design I will make next. I purchased a Frangipani cross stitch kit years ago and from memory I don't think it does contain any green :)  It looks like quite a simple, quick design to stitch too which will be a refreshing break from the more complex cross stitch kits.

Mystery Folk Art Revealed

Now I know I posted a long time ago about this painting and couldn't post any pics because it was a Christmas present for my Mum, of which she loved by the way.  Now that Christmas is over and the surprise has been revealed here are some pics I took along the way:

 This was painted on a wooden tissue box cover and has a different painting on the other side which looks like this:

This design was created by Renee Mullins, as are the majority of the paintings I do; I cannot get enough of her designs, they are simply gorgeous!  This is no exception and was a lot of fun to paint.  The blue background is the perfect colour for a tissue box holder as the tissues actually look like snow on top.

Santa cross-stitch update

Have made a fair bit of progress on the Santa cross-stitch since my last cross-stitch post.  I am determined to get this finished as it has been a long while in the making.  Plus I have since purchased a number of other cross-stitch kits (yes I know I am a sucker, but secretly aren't we all lol) and I am not allowing myself to start any of them until this one is done, otherwise I know I will never finish it and it would be a shame to leave it incomplete.

I am so glad to have finished the greenery at the top.  There was so much of it!  And with up to 5 strands for some colours it seemed like it would never come to an end.  I must admit though, the dense tree effect does look impressive so it was worth the time spent on it.

Bears Paw finished quilt

Well, the Bears Paw quilt is finally complete!!!  The quilter did an absolutely amazing job!  The quilting around the applique in particular has really made it stand out.  Here's a few pics:

I don't know about everyone else but seeing one of your projects completed is always so motivating to start on the next one (of course I have already started on the next quilt, who could possibly resist :)

Owls

Hi everyone!  Didn't realize it had been so long since my last post. Those of you who follow Bec's Cross-stitch creation blog would have already seen pics of the Owls I painted for her, a little while ago now.  I know Bec is a fan of owls so I just couldn't resist the chance to paint a few for her :) 

Below are some progress pics of the paintings.  The owls were painted on a wooden door hanger.  These are always great to paint on as they are quite small, which means whatever design you choose will be very quick to paint, and you can have your painting up on display in no time.  The flat surface is wonderful also, no tricky corners to get your brush into when base coating the background colour or varnishing at the end of the project.  It is so much easier to be able to rest your hand on a flat surface also, unlike when painting a wooden tissue box cover for instance. 

I decided to paint one owl on either side, that way the door hanger can be flipped over at any time for a different look.

You will notice Baci is a fan of my paintings.  You can always count on him to supervise the latest craft happenings, gotta love our helpful feline friends!

 

Bec, I hope you are enjoying having the owl painting/s in your home.

In other news the Bears Paw quilt is now finished, quilting and all!!!  Will post some pics up shortly.

Mini holiday in Sydney

My fiance Daniel and I visited Sydney 2 weeks ago primarily to attend a 3 day conference about wealth, success and happiness.  There were about 12 speakers who each told of their financial success and offered advice relating to business, internet marketing, real estate, stock trading etc.  It was eye opening to see what others have achieved in their lives and to see that this could be possible for anyone if they are willing to put in the time to see it through.

We went down a few days early so we could explore the city and visit Taronga zoo.  You would not believe the obstacles we came across on one of the days.  We headed out early (on a Sunday) with the goal in mind to go to Paddington Markets, as we'd gone past them the day before, and then go straight to the zoo from there, be there by 10:30am.  So we head out of the hotel and as we weren't exactly sure where to go and we didn't have time to waste, as we wanted to go to the zoo as well, we hopped in a taxi.

Well the roads we needed to go down were blocked off so the taxi driver took a detour.  We spent about half an hour going 200 meters.  Then a young lady ran in front of the taxi (she didn't look before running across the road) and of course the taxi driver crashed into her.  She was ok though, luckily he wasn't driving fast.  She would have had some nasty bruises though.

Then we get to the street the taxi driver was trying to get on since taking the detour and it was blocked off also!  We decided to walk the rest of the way, which was about 2 blocks, in the sun.  40 minutes later we reach where the markets usually take place only to find they don't open on a Sunday, oh my gosh!  This was now 10am already and we had just spent all morning trying to get to markets that were not open.

We hopped in another taxi to get back to the city as we needed to hop on a ferry to get to the zoo.  On the way back the roads were blocked still and we had to walk again (not as far this time) to get to the ferry but on the way we discovered the reason the roads were blocked:

There was a fun run being conducted through the city.  We of course were on the wrong side of the road and had to literally dodge between the runners to get to the other side that we needed to be lol.  We ended up making it through and jumped on the ferry, now off to the zoo.  Does anyone else have days like this?

Here's a pic of Dan and I on the boat, with the Opera House in the background:

And here's the Harbour Bridge:

Finally arrived at the zoo.  The animals were all gorgeous (I'm an animal lover).

I'm certain this lion just spotted lunch!:

There was a bunch of us standing outside the glass and the lion had her eyes fixated on someone because every time they moved the lion would move her head and stare intently.  Scary.

This was one of the most beautiful pelicans I have ever seen, the photo doesn't do it justice though.  It was immaculately groomed, definitely well looked after.

Giraffes, with a view of the harbour!:

Can you spot the Chameleon?:

This baby elephant was just adorable!  It was rolling around in the water having the time of it's life with the elder elephants looking on in awe.  So cute:

All in all it ended up being a great day, and week, out and about in Sydney.