I'm away

Just popping in to say that I didn't make it to the quilt show this year. I made a last minute dash to New Zealand last Saturday to help out my daughter who has injured her back. Thank goodness I managed to get a flight with the Chilean ash cloud causing so many flight cancellations.
There are four lovely grandchildren to spend some time with and my son to try and catch up with.
I apologise for not being able to reply to my emails and comments, back next week.
Janet

Doll quilts

Exciting mail arrived with Christine's doll quilt she made just for me and I couldn't be more thrilled, I love it!

 The itty bitty half square triangles are squeal worthy and check out the gorgeous hand quilting. Thanks Christine.

 I love the wooden needle case and needles too that she included in the package.

 I can finally reveal the quilt I made for Christine.

The house blocks are foundation pieced and are 4" It was hard to find a pattern so I just reduced one down until it was the right size. From memory, the quilt measures close to 20" x 15"

I still haven't gotten back to much sewing, I've been sick again with a stomach bug. Hopefully I'm all better for the Sydney Quilt show this weekend. We're spoiling ourselves and staying in the city for two nights. There are plans for a blog meet up but I'm not sure how that's going, domestic flights have been cancelled this week due to volcanic ash cloud.

P.S. winning quilts from the show can be viewed here.

Back to sewing and blogging

I had a lovely afternoon in the sewing cave the other day. I shut out the world and enjoyed a bit of me time.

I've been battling bronchitis the last two weeks but I'm feeling more like my normal self now thank goodness.

Poor David has had it too but not as bad and on top of all that, had a day in hospital  (nothing serious) and a bit of minor eye laser surgery. It sounds like we're falling to bits!! We're good now and life is slowly returning to routine as much as it can.

I felt like a little sewing project that was easy, inexpensive and fast to do from whoa to go.  You can see I couldn't stop at one and I even tried a couple of different sizes.  These are great as thread catchers, containers or to put gifts in.

They're even reversible, how good is that? I found the tutorial over here if you need to whip some up.

Have you seen Mary's hexagons? I needed something happy to play with and made a few of these big ones. I was going to surround them with a row of white but now I've changed my mind and might come back to these a little later on. It's a bit of  frivolity and may not grow up to be a quilt.

I decided to simplify and go for the single petaled blooms for now.

As you can see, they've been a great distraction and I'm enjoying the simplicity of English paper piecing.

Look what came in the mail!  A fat quarter pack of Sew Cherry by Lori Holt, I had to have some after seeing them on Nannette's blog. I even got some yardage that I have plans for. Yummy!

 

I've also been doing a little painting. These two boards will have different colours on the backs. They're to help me with photos for the blog. I have such a dark house and very little natural light so it's hard to find anywhere to take photographs. I read about this great solution from Amy and swung into action.

 

That's all for now, except to say thanks a bunch for all the wonderful messages you've left me. I couldn't bring myself to reply to you all individually, I know you'll understand. I'll be doing my best to catch up.

Janet xoxo

Overwhelmed

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all the wonderful, kind messages left on my last post. David and  I have read every single message left for us and are overwhelmed by the caring words and the comfort they have brought us. In his words, bloggers and quilters are the kindest people! Words really do help.

We have been inundated by family the last two weeks and as you can imagine, there has been so much to take care of.

Because David's children are of Maori descent, a Tangihunga was arranged and it was a very positive and healing experience for all of those involved. It made the funeral and the grief a lot easier to bear.

It hasn't been gloomy around here all of the time.  Bradley was very passionate about  motocross riding and competing. Many of his friends, family and even his wee boy gathered together and enjoyed a lovely day out celebrating his life.

 

I'm not quite ready to get back into routine just yet but it'll happen soon and I look forward to the time when I'll be sewing and blogging again.

Janet