A Girlie Weekend

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What a fabulous weekend spent with my two sisters in Wellington.  These photos were taken on Sunday from Oriental Parade.  It was a beautiful day.  I so love being in Wellington when there are blue skies and all is well.  The scenery is gorgeous.  We had morning tea on the boat after shoe shopping.  For Me!!  I can never find shoes because of my big feet but we found 3 pair in one shop and bought them all!!.

That's my two younger sisters.  They don't like having their photos taken.

 We went to Fabricabrac where there are stalls with fabric, fabric and fabric, braids and embellishments, and buttons...Yes my friend Ruth and her beautiful buttons.  I bought myself an early birthday present or two

Painted glass.. awesome for a brooch

Bakelite, Celluloid, another Head for my Head collection and four gorgeous little lustred black glass buttons.

yeah I know I'm sad but I love buttons!  On the way home I called into my button friend to collect some card and she gave me these gorgeous buttons.... I love the colours

They are an excellent addition to my collection of Moonglow glass buttons

Make your quilt into a Rubiks Cube

I found this on a friend's blog so gave it a go.  Hehe  You just insert the photo of one of your quilts on Rubik Cube and here it is.  A great way to waste 10 minutes. 

Free pattern for a fun quilt

The Q and the U have a fabulous scrappy quilt on there blog called the  Not Wink quilt.  It is gorgeous but when I had a look at the tutorial I was stunned by the creativity.  You just need scraps of 2 1/2" wide..

And now that I've shared that with you all, I'm back to reverse quilting my baby quilt.  Don't like the cotton and the stitching so I'm going to quilt it with wavy lines in a creamy white colour.  Binding problem is solved AND out of my stash!!!   And I'm quilting his name into the middle of the blue squares.. there's enough squares plus one so that will be a heart! 

Deadlines

Quilt for Isaac

Today is Monday and I'm having a day off.  I'm not feeling 100% with a tummy bug.. but well enough to sit and sew.  I've been at a sewing Retreat all weekend and was hoping to finish my quilt for Isaac which I want to give to my sister on Saturday.. Running Late as Usual.  Well, after arranging and rearranging and reverse stitching, the top was ready but THEN......
I had bought Homespun for the backing.  Cheap, right colour but sadly ME who knows all (yeah right) was asked if I'd washed it.... ah.. ????  Well, turns out Homespun shrinks heaps and is not good for quilting soooooo  my lovely weekend came to an end and I raced off into Wellington to get some new backing. 

New backing.  The green is just an allowance which I'll cut off again.

While I was there I bought some batting for another quilt I'm making and they included the instructions for Warm and Natural batting.  Turns out it has to be washed and dried flat before using it.... Ding Ding.. I had planned to use that for Isaac's quilt too.. where were the instructions on the piece I bought 4 weeks ago???.  So now it's back to 80/20 batting and today I am hoping to get all the quilting done.  It's 11.14am so watch this space.

I'll leave you with some gorgeous quilts from Retreat.  I hope my friends won't mind me showing off their photos.

Phoebe's quilt absolutely beautiful

Colourwash by Mrs C . love the border fabric - all made from five inch squares

This is all made from curtain sample fabrics except the border. 

Autumn quilt by Jenny handquilted and hand embroidered.  A labour of love.



Eye Spy by Debbie



7pm and why didn't I do this quilt as you go???  I tried freemotion but ended up with my walking foot and straight line.  I'll agree I'm not a quilter, however time and money and the fact little Isaac won't care made me keep going.

More Lovely Quilts

Just a few more quilts from Tote and Gloat.  I was also wrapped tonight to talk to my

11 year old grandson Cameron who is sewing at technology studies for 3 weeks.  He loves sewing.  Ever since he was a little boy he would sit on my knee and hold the fabrics, choose the colours and tell me how to sew it.  His Dad is a real bloke and didn't want my old sewing machine.  Now I wish I'd kept it just in case.  Cam can't wait to come for a holiday with Nan and sew. haha

Some photos from RCQ Tote and Gloat 2011

I wish I could acknowledge all the talented quilters who made these quilts but a lot of the photos I took were of quilts that were only shown at Show and Tell and not hung on the display.  Sad I reckon.  I'd have loved to get better photos and have a long look at some of them.  Hope you enjoy these.  I'll post some more another day.

This is called Fractured Pansies by Alison of RCQ

I love this.  Reminds me of See the light within the trees

Scraps, scraps and more scraps.. gorgeous

I know Dale from Capital Quilters made these using strings of fabric sewn onto the pages of a phone book



this is the back of a quilt!!



HAPPY MOTHERS DAY TO MUMS EVERYWHERE

It was Mothers Day in New Zealand yesterday but for my friends overseas it is today.  so since I had problems last night downloading photos I thought I'd do this post today anyway.  This post is to honour all Mums, and those who haven't had children of their own but like my youngest sister are always 'doing' for everyone else's children.   

I am lucky enough to still have my Mum alive and well.  My Mum had a terrible childhood.  Her own mother ran away not long after this photo was taken and she never saw her mother again until she was 52.  Her stepmother was mean and nasty and physically abused her and her little brother.  As soon as she could she left home and moved into town to board with an aunty.

Mum and Dad on their wedding day.  Mum 5 foot nothing and Dad 6 foot 4 inches.  Mum worked as a dressmaker and made her own wedding dress.  It was gorgeous, so much detail but I none of the future girls in the family has a 19" waist on their wedding day! 

Mum and Dad had four children, my brother and us girls.  This is my sister in this photo.  And now she has 8 grandchildren and 5 greatgrandchildren. 

Mum and Dad, not long before he passed away.  When my grandson was 5 he asked Grandma if she was going to die soon.  She was a bit taken aback but assured him she wasn't and asked Why?  At school they had been told that as people get older they get shorter... Obviously he thought Grandma must have been as big as Granddad once!!   We have never stopped laughing about that.

All of her grandchildren are taller than dear old Mum and my eldest grandson towers above her but like she says "Good things come in small parcels" and they do!!

Rejected - Help?

I am trying to download photos but I keep getting a message saying "Server Rejected".  does anyone know what this means and how to fix it????

A Week of Celebrations - Easter photos

My littlest grandson Alex at Easter 5yrs

I haven't blogged for awhile because my little home has been invaded haha.  I bought my son (32) back with me after Easter to look for jobs down here and he's sleeping in the computer room  (I'm going to shift it haha)..  We arrived Wednesday night and by Thursday lunchtime he had a job!!  It's driving a truck which is what he wanted after passing all but one of his licences recently, but starting at 2am!!!  Since Monday he's been a very tired man and I hope he will cope with the change in routine but he is so happy to have a job doing what he likes.  With jobs being so scarce in New Zealand at the moment this is amazing!!

Sadly it's 8 kms away and I have taken him to work every day so far but yesterday he bought a ten speed so I can stay in bed.  YAY.  He's not afraid of exercise and used to walking everywhere.  He didn't get his licence till he was 29 but lost his job 2 years ago and had to sell his car. 




George who hates me taking his photo.  I love this one. 



During the week my grandson rang to say he'd passed his learners licence first go.  He and his parents will be really pleased.  George is still at school but a hard worker after school and weekends so eventually when he's finished his lessons etc he will be able to get there himself on wet days.  When it's fine he bikes too.  Loves mountain biking.



My Princess Olivia 7yrs old doing gymnastics this year.

AND THE REAL CELEBRATION OF THE WEEK... DRUM ROLL!!
Myra has finished her chemotherapy round yesterday, with excellent results so far.  I could have been there with her, the texts were going backwards and forwards all morning.  I felt like I was there and I am sooo happy for Myra.  She doesn't have to think about 'next time' now, she can CONTINUE to get well and feel better in herself.  AND I'M GOING TO SEE MYRA SOON!!  YAY.

I love my friends and I am so lucky to have the close friends I have.  I never feel alone.  This is my friend Emma who is also a breast cancer survivor.  Every year in New Zealand a 24 hour walk is held for fundraising and teams camp out for the day and night and take turns walking or running laps around a track.  There are fancy dress costumes, music, a lot of cheering and the atmosphere is electric.  Emma has been there every year.  She is so positive and bright and funloving.  Love her Madonna bra. 

At night they light candles in these paper bags and place them around the track.  Lovely Emma made one for Myra and me.  I love you Emma.