June Tunes

Things have been a little crazy around here lately, and Life has been much busier than usual. I haven't spent much time at home, but I have been spending a lot of time with my violin tucked under my chin.

Our concert was a huge success..a sellout, and we have now begun rehearsing for the Mid -Winter Festival concert on the 10th July. We are playing 22 James Bond Movie tunes and have some well known Kiwi vocalists to sing some of the favourites.

Take a look here...this is Tim Beveridge doing the first number.

Running alongside rehearsals for this I am also in a local production of Chess, and I have started up a String Quartet with some friends from our Orchestra.....just for fun, when we can fit in a free evening.

I have my sewing machine set up on the kitchen table, and in between cooking and practise, I am finding some time to finish a quilt for a little granddaughter.

Hopefully next week, I will have something for Fern to wrap around herself, as the June winter days are closing in.

The Last Stitch

Euphoria: Definition= A feeling of great ( usually exaggerated ) elation.

Ha, that's ME today, feeling euphoric ( very ).

The other night I stayed up very late, and put the last stitch in this quilt that I think I started making, way back in 1998. All those years ago I had just opened a little patchwork and quilting shop, I had three teenagers and two pre-teens and it was a busy and somewhat chaotic life, but lots of fun too.

I chose this quilt to teach classes on piecing, applique, putting together as a quilt-as- you-go, and of course hand quilting. Over the years, other quilts have come and gone, but this has been a stayer as a UFO for a long, long time.

It is very large, and covers our queen sized bed with the sides reaching the floor.

I first saw the design in an Australian Patchwork and Quilting magazine, and I think from memory it was made originally by Sarah ? around 1840. ( The magazine disappeared many moons ago).

This center medallion derives from a German design. Sarah (Someone) lived in the States and came from German forebears.

I have used reproduction fabrics that I had in my shop at the time. The reproductions have been taken from the quilt museums and faithfully reproduced exactly.

Another reason for me feeling so happy is that our orchestra is putting on another concert on this Saturday night. We have had long rehearsals all week and it is sounding wonderful.

I am enjoying it all so much that I won't want to be playing it for the final time on Saturday.

This is what we are performing.

Schumann's Symphony No.4 ( that he wrote for his wife Clara, when she had just given birth to their first child...and he was feeling euphoric ....definitely some great euphoric passages in this one)

Paganini's violin concerto no.1

Bull - Et Saeterbesog

The Merry Wives of Windsor Overture

Sorry, I can't give you links to this music. Our internet is on and off this morning, probably because of all the rain we have been having !

In the Garden

May is always a busy time in the garden for me, a time for preparing my little friends for the next season. Getting rid of ugly dead bits and pesty weeds then snuggling the plants down for the winter in a comfy bed of mulch, and planting lots of winter salad greens and other veges for delicious winter casseroles and soups.

I have been picking feijoas all this month for our local markets, and it has been very time consuming. If you miss a day of gathering, then the following day you see the result of your tardiness on the ground, next to the tree. This fruit is easily bruised and has very little value when not perfect !

Whilst I have been picking and walking through the feijoa orchard I have been listening to this audiobook..The Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver, and am loving it. I have just read her The Poisonwood Bible also on audio, and am reading in bed at night; Animal, Vegetable and Miracle, also by Barbara Kingsolver. They are very thought provoking and a wonderful read and listen !

The lemons are ripening up nicely and I thought I would make some lemon and coconut muffins for two of my grandchildren that visit after school on Mondays.

They will arrive just in time for a much needed tea break and a cuddle.

A JB Quilt

When I bought this book a few weeks ago I couldn't wait to start cutting small squares and arranging them in diagonal rows on the spare bed.

A quick instant colour fix using mainly Kaffe Fassett's fabrics that I pulled out of my cupboard, and

here it is, hanging on a tree with a fish !

The Kindness of Bloggers

A few posts ago I blogged about a winter coat I was knitting, and a lovely lady who lives on the other side of the world, decided to make me a beautiful felted scarf to go with the coat.

Now, I find that amazing...and feel so special and humbled by it.

The package arrived in our postbox yesterday, and when my husband collected the mail and brought it into the kitchen where I was working...he said "quick, quick put it on" and then "Wow, how did Heather make that !!!"

So here it is

This is with the coat I am knitting...Heather has found my favourite colours exactly !

I have a big grin on my face as I write this, I just can't believe that someone would do this just for me...thank you Heather !

Chocolate and Colour

This must be the fastest 'put together'of a quilt in my quilting history.



Couldn't have done it without the chocolate though !

Fun with fabrics

This was the sun coming up on Saturday morning, and my granddaughter Esmae and I walked down the driveway to check the letterbox.

A book that I had sent away for months ago, had finally arrived and we raced back to put the kettle on and peruse the pages of this beautiful book.
Jane Brocket is the author and I love reading her writings here and her other two books.
Her photos never fail to surprise and delight me, and this book has done the same.

I was so inspired by the pictures and the fact that Jane's quilts are very simply and quickly put together, that I decided to play around with my Kaffe Fassett fabrics and see what happened.

All other plans were shelved the rest of the day as Esmae and I got busy playing with different fabric combinations...so much fun was had, and finally lots of little piles of 4 1/2 " squares were laid out carefully on the spare bed.

Today I have been sewing, and sewing....

I will show you very soon.