Day Tripper

I had a wonderful day in Wellington yesterday with my youngest daughter Sarah.

Sarah has just finished her last year of university and is starting work in January, she is coming home at the weekend for a month but then heads back to Wellington to a new life with a career and wages ....very exciting !

Wellington is always buzzing and yesterday was no exception. We didn't mind that it was drizzly with rain, Sarah had wheels and the parking fairy helped us get parks outside all my favorite shops !

One of the highlights of the day was a visit Minerva , the most fabulous textile bookshop in New Zealand. There I found this magazine

Quilts Japan

Lots of inspiration here and it doesn't matter at all that I don't understand Japanese...the diagrams and pictures are great.

We had some delicious food and I met Sarah's friends and new workplace. We spent time at Kirkcaldie and Stains beautiful Christmas display and I bought some Christmas presents for the family.

I flew home laden with bags and a happy heart.

Spring Garden

I starting piecing this quilt exactly a year ago, when my garden was looking much the same as it is now.

I quilted it a few days ago and wondered why I had waited so long to finish it.

I think this could quite possibly turn into a favourite, for now anyway.

A blue blanket

I know this isn't a very good photo of the blanket I made today, I took the shot in the late afternoon and the sky was threatening rain, so the blues in the blanket look more grey than blue.
Then I brought it inside to take some photos for the Etsy shop, and I am not very happy with these either.

I hoped to have it finished before the weekend.

I have busy gardening plans for this weekend, lots of weeding, weeding, weeding. Traditional Labour Weekend is usually time when all the gardeners in New Zealand plant their seedlings and potatoes and peas, so that they will be ready in time for the kiwi Christmas dinner. Mine have been in for a few weeks now, but I think I have to replant the peas, the snails have got to them first.

Then again I might not be weeding, if it is raining again, I could be stuck inside with a good book, my knitting and listening to music like this....Ravel String Quartet .
Have a great weekend !

A little spotty and dotty

Just a quick peek before it goes to a new home.

This quilt that I started quite a few years ago is finally finished.

I will show you a proper photo in a couple of weeks time, when it is unfolded and given to a special person, but until then......sshh....not a word .
That special person could see and then the surprise would be spoilt !


Patchwork is starting to take on a bit of a resurgance in my life lately, not that it ever really disappeared, and I do love hand piecing.


This is part of a star that forms a large hexagon.
I have made the stars before using the English Paper Piecing method, but this time I thought I would hand piece using Sarah's example


from Material Obsession 2.

I love her bright quilt with the spots and stripes she has used and it has been fun collecting all the spots and and dots I can lay my hands on !

Thinking pink

I am starting to think about quilt no.2 in the bazaar series.

Phoebe, (our 3and 3/4 yr old granddaughter) is

requesting a pink and green quilt. Yesterday she chose some fabrics from my stash

and I am starting to play around a little, pulling out fabrics and fat quarters all over my studio floor, which is always the fun part.

A Quilt in the Garden

There's is nothing like the satisfaction of putting the last stitch in a quilt for a sweet little girl.

Here is Esmae's quilt finished and hanging in the garden for a "captivating" photo.

The back of the quilt. I just need to make a label for it now.

As I was sewing the binding on, I was thinking that the combination of colours were like a tropical fruit salad, with papaya, mangoes, pineapple, peaches,melons, bananas, oranges with a kiwifruit or two thrown in the mix. What do you think ?

For the series of quilts that I am making, I am using the design Tabestry Garden Quilt from the book Kaffe Fassett's Kaleidoscope of Quilts. The reason for this is that the design is very simple and showcases the fabrics perfectly...and the quilts don't take long to make ! I have used a combination of fabrics from my stash and for the large squares some KF florals. I quilted diagonal lines in each block using an orange thread.

A Tasty Treat

Bazaar 1

Last night I put the finishing pin in the quilt top from the series I am making for my granddaughters.

I am calling this series "Bazaar", because the colours I am using remind me so much of colourful flea markets and bazaars around the world, some of which I have been lucky enough to have visited.

Then, today I baked.

These neenish tarts are Ian's favorite, so I thought it was about time I gave him a little treat, he has been so good to me since I have been feeling "poorly". They are a little bit fiddly to make but do make a nice sweet treat to have occasionally. Ian's Mum used to make a plate of these for him now and then, I wonder if he will think mine as good ?

The sausage rolls I made because I just felt like eating one...you know..as you do !

Blue times

We have had a rather distressing time of late. Our daughter has had a very painful miscarriage which ended in a visit and overnight stay in the hospital, and we have been caring for the rest of her family this past week.

It has been especially hard because she had a previous miscarriage last year.

They all went home this morning and I sat at my table with a comforting cup of tea, inside the quiet house, with my thoughts, and taking long , deep, breaths.

Workshop time

With hot temps. outside and a few hours on my own, I have been able to spend some time in my cool workshop , well it's actually not that cool, but with the doors and windows open it gives the illusion of a little oasis.

I have a plan, and although I know I probably shouldn't have started ANOTHER quilt I truly couldn't help myself.

This one is the first of a series I am doing for my grandchildren. They are all going to be bright and scrappy and I am selecting fabrics with a certain colour scheme in mind for each child.

It was inspired by a T-shirt that Esmae was wearing down the bay, the colour was a gorgeous orange with a teal and green motif .Purple and pink are pretty popular with her too.

Then because I was feeling a wee bit guilty at starting yet another new project, I thought I would spend some of the precious time working on, and finishing projects from previous years.

This is Melissa's quilt that I am handquilting with these threads,

It was supposed to have been finished for her birthday a couple of years ago, but maybe I will have it ready for this year's birthday.

I have almost finished quilting this blue and white quilt. I think I shall use it as a top for my dining table as I have some pretty blue spode china plates on the wall ..... they can be the backdrop!

Hot Diamonds

I was inspired by the book Kaffe Fassett's Country Garden Quilts
to do a little photo shoot of my own this morning.
Using the hot diamond quilt top that I made earlier this year,

I had fun in the garden.

I hope you all have a great weekend.

Coming back

This last week or so has been filled with catching up with family and friends and becoming used once again to our rhythm of life here.

Our youngest daughter Sarah has been home, taking a break from uni and making lots of plans for the next six months, and trying to complete an assignment that is due when she returns next week. Her 21st birthday is almost here, and we have been talking non- stop about the celebration she is going to have in September..exciting!

We went to visit Tamsin (middle daughter) and her three gorgeous girls. Tamsin took us to her favorite wool shop where she lives and I bought some wool to make her a skirt.

which of course I had to start straight away. The wool is Cleckheaton Country Silk and Cleckheaton Mohair, both 8 ply. I couldn't resist the colours.

I am knitting this on a circular needle, so I won't have any seams to sew. Tamsin has just completed her first sock, and it is beautifully knitted..I think she is well and truly hooked now!

I am knitting this as well for number one son, Tristan. He could do with it right now as it is very cold where he is farming, but he will have to wait for his birthday in October.

Cobblestone Pullover, knitted on a circular needle with Naturally Tussock 10 ply.

There are signs of the coming Spring all around us, and I marvel again about the very special light we have here.

I have some serious work ahead of me in the garden, the flowers are fighting for a space amongst all the weeds, but this is the time of year I like the most in the garden. It is not too hot or dry, and I am often surprised by little gems that I had forgotten I had planted earlier.

This quilt top has had some attention this week , and I am off to do some more right now.

The Garden of England

We flew from Split very early on Sunday morning to arrive in a much colder UK than Croatia.

It didn't take long to get through customs and collect our luggage, then we found our little Ford Focus hired car, jumped in and drove to Tunbridge Wells, where we stopped and bought some flowers for my Aunt and made our way through the little lanes to her village.

On arrival she showed me the quilt that I had finished and sent to her, it did indeed fit her bed perfectly, and I was pleased to get a photo as I had sent it off in such a hurry I hadn't bothered to see what it looked like on a bed. Yesterday I bought some beautiful Rowan wool to make a guernsey pullover for my Uncle Tim. I am using RYC Cashsoft DK in a lovely shade of teal. It is lovely and soft and a joy to have in the hands.

Today we went to visit Batemans, the home of Rudyard Kipling.
The gardens there were beautiful and walking through the rooms in the house was fascinating, everything was left just the way it was when the Kipling family lived there. I was totally entranced, and was so pleased that I had seen the film " My Boy Jack" just a few months earlier.

This is my Aunt and Ian standing at the open front door of Batemans.