Sometimes you just have to sew something

It's official, I can't go too long without sewing something, it's not a compulsion it's a need I tell you. This little baby belongs to DD. I also raided her fabric bin and supplies. I thought a little sewing accessory might keep me happy for a little while and remembered an easy tutorial. Thank goodness for sharing bloggers. This is a thread catcher tutorial from Susan on Hanging on by a needle and thread. It's quick and easy and I think it has other uses as well because it's a cute box shape.

See, lots of room inside to stash a few treasures. I made these to stay here and I'll definitely be making more when I get home. I just need to find some nice buttons to sew the flaps down where the pins are.

I have a few smaller soft little thread catchers at home that I made from another tutorial I found last year at The Stitching Room. When stitching friends come around or I go out to stitch, they are perfect for putting in the sewing kit.

Here's something else that I had fun with. I had two little helpers. Isn't bread dough fun to play with?

Thanks to my blogger friend Lurline for sharing her recipe for this quick and easy bread. It was delicious! I did make a change and put it in a preheated very hot oven with a container of water to make steam. It helped to give it more oven spring.

A cot quilt and a cushion.

I really wish I had bought some more applique to do on my trip but I didn't plan to be here so long. I'll have to settle with showing you DD's 2nd quilt. She made this out of small leftover strips of Japanese fabrics in my scrap bin on one of her visits to me. Wonky stars crib quilt a la Gwen Marston, aren't they great?You can see I showed her how to do the big stitch quilting with perle cotton which is ideal for beginners that don't have a lot of time or have the skills yet to machine or hand quilt.
Unfortunately, the bright pink perle cotton bled a little so be aware and plan for the washing with dye catchers if you use the cotton.

I've taken the opportunity to wash a few cushion covers and quilts while here and this bolster cushion I made for one of the grandchildren needed new ribbons.

I quite enjoyed the stitchery on this but I'm sorry, I just can't recall the name of the book I used.

Two fabulous giveaways to tell you about that maybe you have already entered. Kellie from Don't look now has a quilt that she's giving away that will knock your socks off.Rush over to Lekaquilt to be in with a chance to win an adorable pouch, she has five to give away and you have until September 9th.

Thank you so very much for all the warm and wonderful best wishes for the new baby in our family. It really is appreciated. As yet he still doesn't have a name.

A new family member

As rule our family doesn't have big babies but DD has managed it. This is my first grandson and he has no name yet, born in the early hours of Monday morning. Just shy of 10 pounds, he has asian eyes that are very blue and dark hair. His three sisters all look different, both in looks and colouring. My DD is fair with red hair and SIL is blonde.

Here's me with him. Excuse the disheveled appearance, not enough sleep you know.
Thank you for sharing all your good wishes.

I'm not at home

I was due to fly home from New Zealand back to Australia today but this baby was not in a hurry unlike the others so yesterday I re-booked my tickets and I'll be here until the 4th of next month. Wouldn't you know it, labour has started so I'm sure it will be born today. I've found a few things around DD's house that I've made as gifts, this one is an armchair caddy that has pockets on the inside flaps. Two pockets per flap. I got the pattern out of a magazine but don't ask me which one, I can't remember. I love the outer fabric.

I did the pincushion of the month with Quilt Fabric Delights last year and DD grabbed this wool felt one, filled with wool roving which is good for the pins. I still haven't made them all.

This little doll quilt makes me smile whenever I see it again. It was a challenge quilt for a group I belonged to at the time. The challenge was to pick out a playing card and interpret it. I really didn't want to do it but got talked into participating for fun. So for fun this is what I literally whipped up. Three of hearts. I joined in just to appease the powers you understand!

The funny part is that when the quilts were hanging, I was standing next to a lady who declared that she wouldn't hang this in her toilet! I was not offended but never said a word and it still makes me laugh. Gee the kids use it all the time for their dolls and it's fairly faded now but they don't mind in the slightest and I'm sure they like the fact that it's bright.

Just take a look at the lovely weather in Auckland city yesterday. I had a great day out for Yum Cha and a walk around the harbour front with my son, sister, brother in law and one of the grandkids. This is the sky tower which gets lit up at night at the moment in red and green. (My favourite quilt combo)Yes it has a revolving restaurant at the top, just like the Centerpoint tower in Sydney.

More news next time!

Little quilts and little people

Here's a little doll quilt I made to go with a bassinet that I did complete with bedding and a soft doll for one of my GD's birthdays. I used 30's fabrics and hand quilted it, you can't get much simpler than strip pieced squares. It gets used a lot. I don't think I have any more of this rabbit fabric left but it was a good one for the back.

My first GD made this doll quilt when she had a holiday with us when she was eight years old over a year ago. I had a pile of left over 1 1/2" strips left over from another project and she sewed them together and I quickly machine quilted and bound it. She gifted it to her younger sister for her dolls.

On her holiday to us the year before that, this was her sewing project, a cushion for her to give away, again to her sister. Notice how the Perle stitching got really big? I think she got a bit bored and wanted to finish it quick smart. I hope I've passed on that quilting gene.

The two little people proved a bit challenging for me to take care of today. While Mum was having a sleep and I was in the bedroom sorting myself out, the elder of the two appeared at the door with a arm full of tissues. It wasn't just one box that got emptied out, it was two. Large ones!

OK just put them in the dining room and I'll sort it out. So all up the hallway and up the stairs lay a trail of tissues.

Nana doesn't enjoy doing the whole time out thing on the step but this called for some discipline I tell ya!

Next thing was the word toilet being repeated by the older of the two and thinking she needed to go, I took her to the toilet and what do I see........? ARGHHH, so close to overflow, lucky I could fish it all out.

The story didn't end there, when I went up to the lounge room to sort out the tissues, I spy polystyrene beads all over the floor. Yes the girls had found the zip on the bean bag.

At the "Nana is angry now" statement, Mum gets up and sees everything in one glance and questions the girls. We nearly burst out laughing when little person #2 pulls out a polystyrene ball out of her pocket and offers it to mum like a gift.

I can tell you, it took them awhile to pick them up.

Did you know that having grandchildren is supposed to be the gift for having kids? It's true.

Catching up

No baby news yet so I'm just catching up with a bit of this and that. Here's the wonderful banner my three granddaughters made and greeted me with on my arrival in New Zealand. And just so I would know which bedroom was mine, they made this great sign.

I was fortunate enough to be here when my DS turned 24 last week so we went out for a great Japanese meal in Auckland city. Not everyone likes Shashimi but we love it. Favourite dish was the raw octopus in wasabi.

I do have something quilty to show you. This is my DD's wisp. The first quilt she started and it's not that far off being finished. I taught her how to quilt it using the big stitch with perle cotton.

Since the quilt is for one of the children she had the great idea to quilt the two year old's hand prints in the border along with flowers and butterflies.

There are a lot of eye spy blocks to enjoy. They were all sewn with the english paper piecing method.

I'm missing my sewing machine but I did bring a little stitching with me so I do get to do a little applique and some Hardanger embroidery in the evenings.