Sunny weekend

The weekends go too fast.  We made the most of the sunshine - gardening, washing, picking flowers for church and hanging out on the deck.  It's early Monday evening now and I have just returned from an afternoon at the medical centre after Josh (12 years) stood on a glass bottle at school.  He needed seven stitches for two deep cuts and now he is home for the rest of the week!  Would you believe me if I said that our children had never had broken bones or stitches and yet now we've experienced both, only two months into 2012!

As far as sewing goes I have managed to complete another five blocks for The Farmer's Wife quilt-along so I have finished February's set.  The blocks are #72 Railroad, #69 Practical Orchard, #70 Prairie Queen, #84 Spool, and #81 Snowball.  Next on my list is my monthly make and some blocks for Charlie's quilt.  Just as well I have signed up for Friday Night Sew In, I have plenty of projects to choose from!  Wendy

Sew Alongs

We are having a lazy Sunday, (apart from Paul who is working the weekend), the kids and I went to church in the morning, had home made bread for lunch, a Nana nap for me, and then a catch up on my favourite blogs.  This week I have completed January's sewing for Melody's Home Sweet Home and I have sewn five blocks for the Farmer's Wife sew along that I am doing with Brynwood Needleworks.  The blocks above are #9 Box, #16 Calico Puzzle, #21 Contrary Wife, #23 Country Farm, and #41 Friendship Star.  Another five to go for this month.  I am enjoying the process of working on one block at a time, thinking about fabrics just for the one block and seeing how the fabrics work together once sewn.  Very satisfying.

Holiday treasures

thri

New treasures bought during our holiday in Bay of Islands and then the fun of finding places for them in our home.  The last is a spill vase that Paul chose, it was quite dark when he bought it but he shined and polished it carefully.  Apparently spill vases were kept on mantelpieces and stored very thin sticks used for lighting the fire and candles.  This one was brought into New Zealand in 1940 for a centennial exhibition. I think it goes well with my old penny bowl.  We also collect a tea towel from each area we visit, so far we have Wellington, Hawkes Bay, Rotorua and now Northland.  Pop over to Melody to see other beautiful treasures.

On a crafty note I picked up my crochet hook and had some fun.  Apple jackets and flowers from the Mollie Makes magazine.

Home again

Holidays always go too fast.  I love the feeling of anticipating a holiday, then the enjoyment of being somewhere different and seeing new things, and I love coming home again.  Our little house seems fresh and welcoming, and new treasures get put away.  Bay of Islands was as beautiful as I remember from 18 years ago and Paul and I loved sharing it with the kids.  The weather was perfect and the colours amazing.

Isn't this a fun photo, we had so many laughs over it!  The kids were amazed at their father's dexterity!  We were on 90 Mile Beach.

I had plenty of time to relax and sew on holiday, it was the perfect time to get all those berries stitched on my Vignette blocks.

I am now halfway there, here is how all the blocks look together.

I completed two more blocks for Charlotte's quilt, gerberas and hearts.  This photo doesn't show the colours at all well, they are much brighter and vibrant.  

Three blocks were made for the Farmer's Wife quilt (I had already made the first block here.)

Block 1 - Attic windows, Block 2 - Autumn tints

Block 3 - Basket, Block 4 - Basket weave

So I was happy with our holiday and with my sewing and I'm happy to be home.  The cats missed us and are giving us lots of rubs and cuddles, sweetest cats!  And now January is almost over and Charlie and Josh start school again next week.  I am a little sad to say good bye to January, my month for lingering and ignoring lists.  But I am also looking forward to getting back to routines and getting things done!

Wendy

Bay of Islands, here we come!

Paul and I grew up with the tradition of a summer holiday at a beach and it has been a tradition that we have carried on with our kids.  Usually we go to one of the beaches nearby (1-2 hours drive) but this year we are travelling 4.5 hours up to the Bay of Islands and we are staying in a cabin rather than our usual tenting.  We are so looking forward to Monday, the start of our holiday!  The family went to the library today to sort out their holiday reading while I sorted out my holiday sewing!

My first project is my Vignette quilt, I have finished the appliqué and am halfway through stitching the vines, then I need to stitch the hundreds of little berries!

My second project is Charlie's quilt, I have finished block two and tonight's job is to prepare the appliqué for some more blocks once Charlie has chosen the fabrics.  Here are the first two blocks.

Did you notice my cute little scissor keep?  I received a lovely Christmas card and the scissor keep in the mail yesterday from Melody at The House on the Side of the Hill all the way from Australia.  Thank you so much Melody, I love it and I appreciate that you sent it to me!

My third project is a new one, I have had the Farmers Wife book for about six months and I have finally made my first block.  I paper pieced the block and I have the next three ready for hand stitching.  After thinking about this quilt for a while it feels good to have finally made a start!

I have a fourth project too but I can't show you that one yet!
I have done a little baking to take on our holiday too, this one is a lunch box favourite so I thought it would be perfect for when we are out and about ...

It's good with milk for afternoon tea too!  It is a Flapjack, apparently a Scottish slice and it is made with oats so very yummy and, I tell myself, very nutritious!!  I have put the recipe on my recipe page if you want it.

See you in a couple of weeks ... think of poor old me having a stressful time, with nothing to do but swimming, sightseeing, and stitching!!  Life's hard sometimes!

Happy stitching, Wendy

Tuesday's treasures

About 6 years ago my parents moved into a smaller home in a retirement village so we helped sort out their things as they downsized.  We came across my grandmother's silver tea set, all black and tarnished, and my sisters said that it looked like something I would be interested in.  Sadly, since then it has sat in my garage still black and tarnished ... until last week!  As we tidied the garage we came across it and Charlie and Paul cleaned and polished the four pieces ...

Teapot, sugar bowl and milk jug

I'm not sure what this bowl would be used for

So this is part of my treasure for today, beautiful shiny silver and even more special is that they were my grandmother's who was very dear to me!

I have another beautiful treasure today ...

Charlie is a treasure to me and it was a lovely surprise to read her blog post last week.  Unfortunately she went over the handlebars of a bike yesterday and has broken the radial head of her right arm.  She was very brave until she realised it would mean no swimming for her when we go on holiday next week (and she is my water baby!) and we will need to arrange to visit the hospital nearest to where we are staying.  We are spending ten days in the Bay of Islands so we will go to Whangarei Hospital.  At least Charlie hasn't been to the Bay of Islands before so we will be able to find lots of other ways to make our holiday special!

Thanks to Melody at The House on the Side of the Hill for hosting Tuesday's treasures.  Melody is also hosting a Penny Rug sew along which is looking fabulous so far, check out her beautiful blog.

Happy stitching, Wendy

A happy home

My first finish for the year is a wall hanging ...

Happy home wall hanging - by Hatched and Patched

I love this pattern because I really am happiest when at home.   I love the detail of the bird and of course the verse is perfect.

This is my first Monthly Make for January, if you want to join in see the button on my side bar or visit The Felt Fairy who is hosting this event.

January is my favourite month, it is so nice to have a break from most of our commitments and just enjoy hanging out together, getting things done around home and sewing time for me!  Charlie and I had fun going through my collection of quilting magazines and books to choose the pattern for her quilt and she decided on 'Annie's Garden' from Material Obsession by Kathy Doughty and Sarah Fielke.  Of course, once the pattern was chosen we couldn't wait to go shopping for the fabric ...

It was a pleasure for me to see Charlotte's excitement as she put fabrics together.  We had wonderful help from the staff at Grandmother's Garden and they suggested the perfect Cottage Garden thread for the appliqué.  Charlie did a fabulous job choosing and the fabrics are really pretty.  That same evening Charlie 'encouraged' me to start the first appliqué block and she choose the fabrics for me to use.

Block one

You may be able to see the variation of colour in the close up of the stitching, the thread is so pretty and brings out all the colours in the fabric.

It is the weekend tomorrow, I hope to get some leaves appliquéd on my Vignette blocks!

Happy stitching, Wendy