Machine Quilters Conference Cambridge 2010

It has been 2 days of meeting wonderful like minded people, all quilters who are highly experienced and very knowledgable, and all happy to share themselves and their expertise,

This morning Pam Clarke, was out lovely tutor from Spokane, USA, who gave us a wonderful hands on lecture about smooth quilting and building on the basic designs, this was a workshop packed full of ideas and practice  with several samples in background stitches, including hearts, vines, wavy cross hatch, and  yes feathers, most marvellous feathers!!

 Look at all these display quilts will you...

more tomorrow....

busy Monday

  well, what a busy Monday this has been,  Rowing Man doesn't usually work Mondays, but today he is doing a locum at Kurow, another teeny tiny town about an hour south-east of here. So, as we were up early for him to be on his way on a very frosty morn, I thought that I would take the opportunity to get a few more jobs done.

So I have been cutting card, and rolling fabric all day long,

well, except for the time I took out to go and have a double shot coffee (x 2, yep had 2 of them), at one of our local cafes. And a lovely yummy pinwheel scone, filled with yummy olives, feta and sun-dried tomatoes - just heated ever so lightly, so yummy and scrummy....

so also managed to finish this first block for the Fat Quarter Shop mystery block of the month, and over the weekend I received block #2 in the mail, actually it may have come Friday, the days are kinda melding one into the other.. so that is next on the to-do-list;

and I have finished this stitchery, my most marvellous friend Margaret gave me a "Wildcraft Farm" Quilt Card for my birthday back in March, and this is the design from it, not too sure what I will do with it yet, other then use it as blocks rather then a single stitchery, will need to with the teapot lying sideways!

Well I hope you have all had a fantastic Monday, week, I forgot that I had saved this as a draft, I was in such a hurry to get to yoga class on Monday evening, and then we went out for dinner,  and I forgot to come back and post it! So it is already very old news.

what I am reading

well one would think that I don't have too much time for reading, and that would be an accurate thought over the last few weeks, however, reading is a very good way on winding down and ending the day.

...sooo, when we are ready to head to bed, which is usually quite lateish  - either side of midnightish - Rowing Man and I head off to bed with a cup of tea, he with the daily paper complete with the diversions page or his latest PC World mag - (yep we are avid code-crackers and sudoku fans), and me with my book, flannels (yer - very romantic - NOT) and my hottie (hot water bottle that is). Wonderful way to unwind at the end of a very busy day.

My sister is an avid ... and I mean really AVID buyer of books, she just simply cannot go past a bookstore ever! SO I don't need a library, we have our own "book-club" where we pass along the books my sister buys.

So I am reading "before i die" by Jenny Downham. Not a particularly well written novel, or very riveting, but it has relatively big writing and I am reading it rather quickly. BUT, there is some poignancy & sadness, tinged with a bit of reality, that this story is happening to so many people around the world.

"before i die" is the story about a young 16yr old girl who is dying of cancer, and has a list of things to do before she dies. Yep, it's been written about many times before, and Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman starred in a brilliant comedy movie, BUT there is something different about this novel, that is raw and unpolished, and REAL.

Everyone has to die, we all know that. And as I said, this young 16yr old has a list -ten things to do before she dies (and I have to say as a parent, these are not all things that you would want on your 16yr old's list of anything really)

But getting what you want isn't easy, as this young lass  finds out - even if you are dying. And getting what you want doesn't always give you what you need, and just sometimes, the  most unexpected things become very important.

Uplifting, life-affirming, joyous, hmm not sure I would use those words exactly, certainly it is not an extraordinary novel, but, it does celebrate what it is to be alive by confronting what it is like to die.

I have enjoyed - no I have hmmm, cannot think what I have accomplished reading this, but every now and then it is necessary to read something that takes you out of your usual comfort zone. I can't say that I have enjoyed this book, but it's poignancy has made me think a bit more about life, and what is important, and how important family and friends are to us. 

Don't sweat the small stuff, don't make mountains out of molehills, and enjoy the journey!

Friday Fabric Feature

These are lovely Jane Sassaman fabrics, so rich in colour and pattern...

Have a look at the lovely free quilt pattern available on Jane's site for this range of fabric 

(I am really not enjoying this new blogger look, I know it is really simple, and yes Deb I know that I need to download whatever is was that you so very kindly e-mailed me about, but I simply don't have the time right now, oh why do things always change when you are so busy!@#$%^&*())

playing catch up today...

well, has been a great day catching up with the blocks from the jelly roll sampler so here they all are so far, on parade... now on to the next project

random photos from today's road trip...

the fasterer I go the behinderer I get

well, I have been in meltdown mode pretty much all week, and that was after starting the week skiing on Monday. So much for blowing out the cobwebs huh. This house is bursting at the seams, and I am not really coping with all this mess. I am pretty much an organised person, but not too over the top or OCD..... no no no .... not me!!

Somehow,  I need to manage to put 3 houses into 1, and it does not fit too well. It is a bit of a breeze for Rowing Man, as he escapes each day to work, someone else does all the organising and sorting for him, easy peasy! As I write he has just taken off to put another coat of paint  on the walls of the garage/shop - good man! Me I am sitting up in bed with a cuppa writing this post. Waaaaaaaaay to cold to get up yet!!

The first time I got up this morning it was -,  YES minus, that is below zero; -9C. Now that is pretty darn cold in anyone's books. But the sun is now shining and it will warm up pretty quickly. To be honest it doesn't actually feel that cold. 

yep, this is the inside of the window!!!

On Wednesday I went to visit my sister who was holidaying in Cromwell . Over the Lindis Pass, which was ever so pretty, but oh so treacherous. OOPS, can't show the photo, I have been on here so long the battery in my camera has just died, but trust me, it was pretty spectacular.

Anyway, I bought these;

good solid (summer, well definitely not winter)  shoes for the Twizel stony footpaths; and when I got back to Twizel, I bought this...

I have just the spot for this, Rowing Man commented that we didn't have any lamps about, that is because in our current holiday home we have ten thousand down lights, of which any number can be on or off, ... and besides all our lamps are packed away in boxes!

 So, despite all the melt-downing, these got finished (well started and finished)...

 and this was loaded up, and I did quite a bit on Tuesday evening,  was going along swimmingly until the top thread broke, and I put my hand underneath to cut the bobbin thread, and touched a whole mess of tangled threads, ... tension problems, so that was a lot of unpicking to do - got to bed at 2am that night!

Oh well, it is now Sunday after all and the beginning of a new week, the sun is shining, I can hear a birdie chirping, the day is well into the morn, so up I must get and off to paint!!!

Have a great week!

(this new blogger thingee is a bit of a pain in the butt ... it has taken absolutely forever to do this post, and uploading photos and moving them around... uuurghrhr!!, and then my font keeps changing... hmmm 'spect I will get used to it)

oh how my life has changed!

well if anyone had told me that this is the life that I would be living I seriously would have laughed at them,

this week has certainly been one of trials and tribulations, and I am here to tell the story, (actually that is probably not that true in the greater sense of stuff, but it sounds like it will make a good line...)

We have had no phone all week, and broadband working some of the time,

twice I have had to wait for the water pipes to defrost before I could shower

most days it has been -3C and no sun until Thursday, and no fire,

it is too cold to get up early (I wake at 6am)

hoar frosts are lovely when someone else is living with them,

washing has been strewn all around my lounge so it will dry and we will have clean clothes

I need to move at least 3-4 things before I can get to the item that I originally wanted, sometimes I forget what it is that I was getting in the first place

You wouldn't think that you could lose things in a small house, but I cannot find my sunglasses or my warm leather gloves

While the builders are working hard, they still seem to be taking an immeasurably long time; no they are not slow I am impatient. (and then we will leave our newish home and move to an old crappy one)

So words like tolerance, patience, humour, humility, well yes they are just words after all.

But, I live in a really beautiful place, and I wouldn't swap it for all the tea in China

Life is sweet!



p.s. I have learned to get up early and make a cup a tea, and take it back to bed and read my book or catch up on e-mails

I have learned to leisurely enjoy long hot showers in the middle of the day

I enjoy long walks no matter what the weather

I enjoy baking hot scones for the builders, and I enjoy their company and bloke chatter

If I am out walking (or running) I can't see the washing

I have found another pair of gloves....

BUT, the very best bestest bit, is that I will have my very own real life quilt shop - The Rowan Tree

How wonderful is that then, I get to live the dream!!!