what's wrong with this picture

 no it's not the clear blue sky, or the  weeds in the garden

 or the stuff in the lean too that needs sorting... the back fence is fine

 Rowing Man put this shed together last week, and very cleverly hung the door... upside down!

..well if that's all that wrong, my world is pretty darn good!

 I am planning a quilting marathon this weekend, seeing as we have visitors arriving for an overnight stay today, let's see how far I get...

thinking of all you Christchurch folk!

Shaky ground...

 A level 3 emergency has been raised in Christchurch following a 6.3 earthquake today just before 1pm, and the whole area is on a high alert. The damage is reported as being extensive and the centre of the city has been extensively damaged with several building knocked down. there are a number of shelters and welfare centres being set up for those whose homes have been further damaged or destroyed.

how much more can that city take??

However, our Miss D is Ok, a little frazzled, but she is OK and so are her immediate family. That is great news particularly as there are multiple reported fatalities, as yet unconfirmed.
Phonelines are down, as is electricity to some areas, and Civil Defence is asking that phone lines be kept as clear as possible for emergency services.

check out the latest news here

our thoughts and prayer with all those in Christchurch

Friday Night Sew Along and an Exhibition

 Wow, how did it get to be Monday again so quickly? I am seriously concerned with how life is passing by. I have had a productive week, and the weekend saw a whole heap of things crossed off the list,  but as usual the week ends much sooner than I anticipate, leaving a longer To Do List each week.

Last week I was pretty busy with our local Art and Quilt Group Exhibition, which ran from Tuesday thru to Saturday evening, while the National Rowing Championships were held here in Twizel. and what a wonderful success this was!... and oh such fun!

 such a lovely lot of local art work,

 and this is Roberta's strippy quilt from the workshop that we had several months ago, Roberta was at my class a few weeks back and made a stunning job of her blocks,

and Friday night for the Friday Night Sew In, I was really busy, but not on my GJ quilt, 'cos I finished that the week before, but I managed to get a customer quilt done,

 ooops, should have rotated this one before I posted it, (shame on me), but if you twist your head sideways, this is the border of a very nice Kiwi quilt,

 and would you believe, that of all the koru feathers I show you, this one has a loop on the end, ....

now I believe is heading to it's new home in Switzerland

I am sure that it will be  a well loved quilt,...

I hope your week has got off to a fabulous start

 

fresh from the garden

 look at all this goodness, can't beat fresh!

 mmmm, methinks I will be having a fresh healthy YUMMY tea tonight!!
 

Friday Night sewing

   Friday night sewing.... I managed to get a bit of machine quilting done, and now just need to bind my GJ Quilt,

 This blogger thing is annoying me tonight, and this isn't the best photo shot...

loading photos is a bit of a hassle, and I should be out the door and on my way to a BBQ, and then a 40th birthday, so sorry about this, will try and load the other photos later,

Enjoy your Saturday evening...

(well what do you know, the photos are here after all....)

Friday Night Sew-In

 pop on over here and sign up for Heidi and Bobbi's Friday night sew in, it is so much fun, and for all you out there in quilty blogland (and that's quilty not guilty), it is a great opportunity to work on some of those projects that you have been meaning to get to for a while,

go on... what else have you got to do with your Friday night, you will pat yourself on the back come Saturday!

ENJOY!!
 

tools of the trade...

 well, I don't usually have the shop open on Mondays as that is Rowing Man's day off, and we usually do stuff together,.... but Kerry from Fastpatch called me the other week, and asked if she could call in and show off her stuff. She is doing a roadshow promoting her products, and they are so fabulous! She makes the most wonderful quilts with her marvellous "tools"

 Kerry uses her own batik fabrics, which are such a delight to use, hand dyed 100% cotton, and such good qaulity, no shrink. Have a look at the selection here

 I love this version of Kerry's drunkard's path, she made this using her own tools, and made the work so much easier...

 and this marrinier's compass, using this

 look at these delicous batik's

 and the quilting, Kerry uses a number of different techniques to hi-light her quilts inlcuding using embroidery stitches for quilting,  and embellishing...

 she's hiding behind one of her glorious quilts... camera shy??

 these 3 quilts (2 above and 1 below) are all made using the same cutting tools,

 we had a great day thanks Kerry, and all learned heaps, I will be sure to be stocking some of your great tools in my shop...

what a great weekend....

 oh what fun we had today at The Rowan Tree...

 we cut, we sliced, we shaked and moved.... and look what we come up with, oh and we ate lollies and chocolate and cake! (it helps with the design don't you know)...

 well not quite the whole quilt, but this was the class I was teaching this weekend, a class for this great wall quilt, I made this one several years ago at my Dunedin quilt group, and had such fun, I wanted to share with everyone

 

 these are Joh's blocks....

 and this is Diane's on the left and Raewyn's on the right

 and Roberta busy with her blocks,

 these are Ria's

 Lynda's,

Mary busy putting together her blades

  and don't they look stunning!

 

Lynda playing with her table runner block

doesn't it look spectacular,

we had such fun playing with all the fabrics, and putting this with that, and that with the other, this is such a FUN quilt, it looks way harder then it actually is, altho' it does take a bit to get your head around the foundation piecing. but once you have the hang if it, no looking back.... and all these ladies were fizzing!

 thank you ladies for such a wonderful time!