Jessica's Cat Quilt

Two posts in one day after a loooooooooong drought! (see here for the other one). I know, I'll explain. While Terry was away on a business trip for four weeks, he took my camera. I don't like to post without pictures so I didn't post much, just one I think with a photo taken on my phone. Then as soon as he got back we had our grand-daughters to stay and after that I had minor surgery (all is well, it just took a while to recover from the anesthetic). So I haven't been quilting much and I haven't been thinking too well either! But now I am back doing both.

When my grand-children or my niece's children turn five, they get an "I'm Five!" quilt from me. Jessica is about to turn five and she has asked for cats. Unfortunately, because of all the interruptions to scheduled life we have had this year its not the fanciest I'm Five! quilt I've made but I hope the lovely fabric will make up for it. Here is the unquilted top. I'm going back out to the sewing room now to make a backing out of all the fabric I bought and didn't use in the top!

A Paper Quilt - it just grew!

A few weeks ago, during the school holidays, we had Aimee and Jessica to stay for a few days while their parents took a break from parenting. One of the things the girls love is to have free rein of the craft area. They have a table, a good stock of art supplies and Nana within cooee in her office. One morning they painted beautiful pictures. The next day they decided that the craft area was their office and they needed a door for it. The craft area is in an open mezzanine but I have a curtain wire I sometimes put across when it is in use as a guest bedroom and Aimee decided they could hang a door from that. So, while Jessica continued to paint pictures, Aimee started taping them together to make a door. When Aimee cut holes in paper sheets to make windows, Jessica painted the cutouts with wavy lines which she said were writing.

Essentially, it is a paper quilt - it took the girls two mornings to construct as they had to wait for some of the paintings to dry before they could finish it off.

Here are some of the blocks and both sides of the finished quilt.

More treasures!

Look what was waiting for me when I got home this morning! A parcel of treasures from Nadeeka and her boys, Hamish (9) and Nuwan (8). Remember the quilts the boys made while they were visiting me? Well apparently that sewing day was the highlight of their visit to New Zealand. Nadeeka says: "Nuwan wrote a beautiful essay about his trip to nz - it was ALL about how he made the quilt with you :-)" and "..the boys go to after school care every Tuesday. They offer craft activites - but you know, that's not what my boys usually go for. But the first Tuesday after our trip, Hamish ran to me to show what he did at after school care. I tell you what, its just so.. unhamish like. He's done it all himself! He is happy to make it a present to you." And Nadeeka also filled up the parcel with some wonderful speciality chocolates... aren't I lucky?

Hamish's pincushion is very nicely finished and such a pretty colour. Nuwan's essay is actually an extremely well written tutorial on how to do fused, raw edged applique:

Making the Quilts

When I went to New Zealand I went to my grandparent's house and my grandma told me how to make a quilt.

First you choose a large picture and trace carefully around the outside. Following that, you trace every body part separately onto a special piece of paper. Next you cut them out but not on the lines. Cut 1 cm outside the lines. Then iron them on to the back of the fabric of your choice. Afterwards, you cut out each body part along the lines and peel the paper off the fabric. Finally you stick each body part to the background fabric in its place. You choose a piece of fabric for the back of the quilt and and any piece of fabric for the middle of the quilt. Sew the three pieces of fabric together with a sewing machine.

When I finished my quilt and came back from New Zealand I showed my class and my teacher was very impressed.

By Nuwan Whyte

Not bad from an 8 yr old and written 2 weeks after the lesson!

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!

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!

So, what have I been doing for the last week and a half?

It was mostly spent with Sarah, Aimee and Jess. They arrived on Saturday (after our club charity quilt sewing session, see Helen’s blog). On Monday all of us except Terry, flew to Auckland. Our mission was to take the little girls to visit my parents and Terry’s parents. None of them had ever met Jess and the last time they saw Aimee she was about 14 months old. Jess was very excited to be flying but it was not quite so exciting for Aimee, accomplished world traveller that she, is for she remembers flying to Australia a couple of years ago when she was 2 yrs and Jess was only 3 months old. A favourite memory of that trip is little Aimee, standing in the returning residents’ queue with us as we waited for our passports to be stamped. She had taken a little notebook out of her handbag and was standing there, holding it in her hand just like everyone else who was standing in the queue with a passport in their hand! My memory of this trip will be Jess, sitting across the aisle of the little airplane, telling me in a hushed voice, eyes very big, “we flying!”

We stayed with my sister Susan in Auckland. The photo shows Aimee and Jess helping Susan play nursery rhymes on her piano. It’s a bit of a sad story. I grew up singing with my parents around the house and in the car and can keep a tune reasonably well. I started teaching my two girls to sing the same way but our son John, third in the family, has perfect pitch, and he objected so strongly to the unskilled (and somewhat untuneful) singing of his sisters that we had to abandon that lovely habit. So Sarah and Emma can’t and don’t sing very much. Consequently, neither do Aimee or Jess, much to Susan’s distress! They were both quite happy to play the piano but left the singing to Susan…

To visit my parents on Waiheke Island we had an hour long trip each way on the vehicular ferry. This boat trip was another first for both girls. Aimee was a bit worried about the intended boat trip. She was imagining a much smaller boat with lots of wind and waves. And when we assured her that the boat was a big one, big enough for cars to be carried on it, she then worried that the cars would fall on top of her!

One of the highlights of the trip was visiting terry’s dad in the nursing home where the sight of the little girls playing their game of chasing each other around the room brought all the old guys to the lounge area to watch. Next stop was the playground at One Tree Hill in Auckland where I tried very hard to get a smile from any of the mothers watching their children there but didn’t quite manage it – must have been my haircut I guess – or maybe its colour!

A Present from Aimee

Yesterday I had an email conversation with my daughter, Sarah. She told me that our grand-daughter Aimee, (4), had made me, Nana, a present and that Jess (2) had made the wrapping paper. And that, after posting it, Aimee was concerned that it would get lost or delivered to the wrong person so could I please ring her when it arrived. Aimee had also decided after packing it up and posting it that it could be for Grumps too. But that didn't matter because Nana was a good sharer, so would I please share it with Grumps. I said of course to both requests. Well, its arrived this morning - a beautiful pink and orange heart shaped brooch!! Here I am wearing it and Grumps just can't wait for his turn. The paper that Jess decorated is very beautiful too.

When I was having this email conversation with Sarah yesterday I suggested that Aimee must have known it was our 37th Wedding Anniversary. Of course she didn't and as it didn't have a zero we didn't really celebrate it greatly. I cooked a scotch fillet steak each, we had carrot, celery, tomato and avocado salad with it and for afters, we really indulged and had TWO mini muffins (almond flour and white chocolate chips) each that a friend had made me a few weeks ago. I had frozen them at the time to keep them for special treats so we felt that was a suitable occasion. Then we had a game of two handed Knights and Cities and I won! And don't believe him when he says he let me win, he didn't. We have developed our own rules for playing two-handed Knights and Cities and it makes a pretty even game and its difficult for one player to get too far ahead of the other.