Tuesday, 29 May 2007

Grandkids

The little girls arrived on Thursday evening with their mum and dad. Mum and Dad left on Friday morning and Grumps and Nana had sole charge through until Monday afternoon! I didn't sleep too well as I was 'on duty' but we had lots of fun during the days. The girls were very lovely company. You can see in the photo we spent some time making table mats (hanging up to dry above the dining table) for the morning tea birthday party we put on for Grumps on Tuesday just before they left for home. We also made him a birthday cake with lots of candles and white icing with blue piped icing on top and hundreds and thousands as well. We had mini gingernuts sandwiched with jam, cheezels, apple slices, dried apricots and rice crackers.

Friday afternoon was Fries on Friday with Jennifer, on Saturday morning we took the rubbish to the recycling centre, visited the $2.00 shop, met Jennifer at Indigo for morning tea and floated leaves down the waterfall in Majestic Square. Saturday evening, after dinner we had a wonderful adventure! We took a torch and visited Virginia Lake in the dark to see all the trees with the coloured lights illuminating them - and the wall with star lights twinkling. On Sunday morning we shopped at The Mill and Mitre 10 Mega and travelled home the alternative route so we could see the pigs in the paddock because on the way into town we had seen cows, sheep, horses, ducks and goats but no pigs. On Monday morning I stayed home to do the delphinium seed orders while Grumps took the girls to the beach at Mowhanau and to the octopus playground (Kowhai Park).

One afternoon, after baths and before nighties, the girls were clowning for the camera in their striped polyprops. Teddy had to have his photo taken too!

Sunday, 20 May 2007

I've been busy

The last week was mostly spent in Wellington with the family. A couple of months ago I got some cheap grabaseat airfares for this week from Wanganui to Wellington return so I flew down on Monday morning and back on Wednesday night. Caught up on office work thursday and friday morning, and spent some of friday afternoon doing messages in town, preparing for our upcoming trip to the northern hemisphere (passport photos, international drivers licence, gift shopping, etc). Then on Saturday we drove back to Wellington so that Terry could buy shoes at the Shoe Clinic in Lower Hutt! Spent more time with the family and drove back the same day. Here is a photo of Terry, Aimee and Jess building towers on the quilt I bought a few weeks ago which we took down for Sarah and Chris to use on their bed - just until Sarah gets her large quilt made....

Today
I had a great day, finally getting some quilting done - and I had company too! This photo is of Helen using my Swiftquilter and Juki today - making very short work of a single quilt and picking up the techniques very easily. Of course, she was with me the day we had a lesson from Jill in Waikanae. Just look at the glee on her face as she gets started!

The day ended very nicely with a bottle of pinot gris, roast chicken and good friends. Robert and I (we were the ones drinking the wine) won 2 out of 3 games of crib. Maybe it just pays to relax a little!

Thursday, 10 May 2007

The Orange Explosion














I finished quilting this a couple of weeks ago but I've only just taken the photos. I took it to show at Tote & Gloat. It didn't raise much interest there.... The photos show the quilting radiating out from the pinwheel with rays alternating with windy gusts of meandering. The rays were quilted in yellow and gold on the front and the thread showed through on the black backing so I've sewn a gold star to the centre of the rays on the back. Most of the binding is black but I've put a bit of patterned fabric in the binding at the points where the rays reach the edge of the quilt.

Saturday, 5 May 2007

Tote & Gloat

Some of the quilts (and sights) that interested me at the Tote & Gloat ( an annual, day-long, all-comers Show and Tell run by Rose City Quilters in Palmerston North):









Photo 1: I liked the colours and the ‘wonkiness’ of this Turquoise and Pink Ninepatch quilt.

The second photo shows a quilt that has three techniques worth recording here: the piece has been quilted in sections, some of them with a twin needle. The sections have then sewn together and the piece has been wrapped around a mounted picture canvas for hanging.

Photo three is such a simple piece but beautifully balanced in colour and form, the strong diagonals actually dominating the circles, making the circles seem to float in the foreground. I love it.









I love the intense redness of this quilt in Photo 4, I’m showing this to remind me to use an over-abundance of one colour sometime.

Photo 5 – I love the mix of stripes and circles, the combination of colours in this quilt and the way the corners seem to be rounded by using darker background pieces in that position. You can also see some of the smaller articles shown, displayed on the tables and rod ends.

I like the contrasting graduations in the quilt shown in Photo 6 – the smaller strips have the colour graduation from light to dark to light and the wider stripes are reversed.












Photo 7: a 'quilt as you go' quilt with the strips covering the joining seams on the right side of the quilt. This quilt is beautifully and heavily machine quilted and both sides of the quilt are worthy of display - unfortunately it was hung so that we couldn't see (or easily photograph) the other side.

Photo 8 shows the lunch queue – I’m glad I brought my own lunch. I had finished my lunch AND taken all the photos of the quilts by the time I took this photo of the lunch queue!

Good Call!

Thank goodness for dye catchers! Look at that red dye - it would have all settled onto the white squares if I hadn't used 2 catchers in the wash.... The quilt is now washed and hanging on the line, reluctantly drying in my breezeless, cold courtyard. I'll bring it inside to complete the drying in the warm when its dry enough to handle comfortably.

No, Helen, there was no label or any other identification on the quilt, no date or name at all. (That's a lesson we should all learn! )And yes, Elaine, I feel the same, that's why I have to buy them when I see them and give them a respectful home. This one will be very useful on the double bed in the sewing room. Its nice to have quilts for all the beds and
I have never made one this large myself.

Thursday, 3 May 2007

I have a Mission


to "rescue" handmade quilts found in the wild. I found this one today at the local second hand clothing warehouse - known as The Mill. Its very large and all hand quilted. It has a brushed cotton backing and I don't know what type of batting. Its lost one pooh bear motif and is badly in need of a wash but is otherwise in excellent condition. I don't think its ever been washed, maybe the red fabric and the size of it made it a job just too hard to tackle. However, I will wash it with a couple of dye catchers, on the wool wash cycle of my large washing machine and then I'll use it on the bed in my sleepout.