Lest We Forget

Nelson Mini Symposium 2012

well what a fabulous week!!!

 Rowing Man and I toddled off last week on a road trip to Nelson, a 6-7 hour road trip... we left home about 10am Wed morning last week, and arrived in Nelson about 7pm... a few pit stops on the way.... we left a sunny Twizel but by the time we  got a bit further up the island the weather changed and it rained the whole way...

 here's Puddles doing her startled possum look!

 a good time to catch up with friends.... (bad hair day for me huh!)

 and fellow merchants

 from near and far

 we're a very happy bunch

 and love getting out to see you all

so that's it for another year....next mini-symposium in Ashburton in 2014, but National Symposium is in Taupo next year... will I see you there?

Sarah Fielke Retreat weekend...

...is approaching fast! Yes Sarah is coming to my house... well mine and Fenella's, to teach from her book

this book is just full of goodies to create, this truly is a book to umm and ahh over, and deciding which quilt to make first is a bit tricky.. Oh the decisions a gal has to make!

so where & when is this wonderful weekend then I hear you ask.. well let me tell you all... May 4th & 5th ...

@ Pudding Hill Lodge, Methven, now the owners Peter and Lesley have spent a huge amount of time and effort renovating this lodge, and it sure looks like it will be a fabulous hideaway venue for a fabulous weekend...
there will be lots of stitching, 'n' chatting 'n' relaxing...

and lots more stitching...work on a project from Sarah's book, with Sarah's help, or join one of our classes... or work on your own project
This is simply going to be so much fun, so treat yourself, come away for the weekend, we still have a few spaces left, and we would like to fill them

May 4/5/6 & 8/9 @ Pudding Lodge, Methven and 12/13 @ The Rowan Tree Twizel. registration packs available now

 email Shiree at info@therowantree.co.nz

love to see you there!

hello again...

soooo much to tell you all, what with a whole 3 - no almost 4 weeks of no posting, there has been a whole heap of goings on here in my corner of the world,

 here we have the wonderful Michele Hill from Adelaide, THE William Morris pattern and fabric designer, my BFF Colleen and I headed off to Tauranga at the beginning of March for a fabulous weekend at Village Fabrics and Needlecrafts. What a treat and a wonderful road trip for Colleen and I.

 We stayed in a cute little bach in Omokaroa, ate out at the local boat club, and walked heaps in the evening,

 I was ever so lucky to be in Wellington for my eldest daughters birthday - Envirogirl - we had a great time catching up, and I shall see her again at the end of the month when she is down,

 and I have been busy creating - in my spare time (hmmm... what is that??) - in between shop stocking, fabric arriving and a class this past weekend - all good fun and for another post huh

Ellie had a playmate when Rowing Boy (Son) and his wife (French Chic) came up for the weekend, Ellie is so tired now, and sleeping beside me as my fingers tap!!
... and I plan to spend the day updating my website - which will likely take me the best part of the day - before I head to my quilty machine - news about that too as I have updated to a new long-arm
talk again soon - have a fabulous day, wherever you are and whatever you are doing!

Gosh it has been a busy week..

hmmm it has been rather hectic, but oh so much fun!

 this bright breezy Dr Suess quilt is for my brand new - well 4 weeks old now - baby of my lovely niece Emma. Yep, 4-5 weeks old and just tipping the scales @ 71/2lbs, so a teeny tiny model

 this lovely bright one is for a very good quilting friend from our local group who very sadly lost her battle with cancer late last year, our group has been rather busy working through her stash making quilts for her grandchildren. So these are my 2 finishes for February OPAM... and I made a couple of journals also, but haven't managed to take photos yet.. on the to-do-list!

 and I have been rather busy eating plenty of these fresh goodies... off my good neighbours tree... must plant a few at our new home, they grow ever so well up here. It has been a plentiful year with beans, plums, pumpkins, courgettes, tomatoes and of course the usual lettuces, potatoes, spinach etc

 and a blog post is not complete without an update on our delightful leggy blonde.. my she is growing very fast. I can't imagine a time when she was not in our lives...

and this was on my (new) quilty machine.... all done and dusted now, along with 2 other mates, I thought I had photos, but cannot find them so maybe not... another time then,,
so, you see, I have been rather steadily busy - great fun!
how was yourweek?

Thrifty Thursday

Thursday is quilt group day every week, we meet at the local Church hall and sit and stitch the day away, on whatever projects we happen to be working on.
Thursday is also Op Shop day, so when the shop opens, right next door to the Church hall, pretty much right on the dot of 1pm, several of us march across and hunt for bargains. Yesterday was $2 bag day, that means anything and everything that you can get into a shopping bag is$2.... so did I get some bargains or what!

 some lovely cream lacy pillowslips ... will these need ironing? I wonder...

 and this pretty little white lace knit cardigan, can you see the delightful rosebud buttons... keep your eyes peeled to see what I do with this!

 and these gorgeous beads.. (currently on a t-shirt, but not for long),

the photo doesn't do this taupe cushion cover any justice, but I think if I add some beading & stitching embellishments, it will look just grand,

 not sure what I might do with this scarf and thingee, so into the later box this will go for the moment,

however, I do have a use for this linen tablecloth,

and I really like this buckle on the cute wee top,

this looks like a good basket to hold my stitching goodies,

and I am sure I will use this in the shop or studio as storage..

 this layer-cake is what I am currently working on,

and Ellie managed to unravel this jelly roll so guess I am using this one up now too... now can the question is, can I get this done before the end of the month??


p.s. another post that was 'sposed to be on Thursday but blogger wouldn't let me publish - fingers crossed it will work now!

FNSI ~ A Visit ~ A Class

FNSI saw me hand stitching on this

 the borders for Imperial Blooms - Sue Spargo's 2011 BOM

 just need to finish off the last block before I can put it all together and then start on the 2012 BOM, Earth n Twigs

 and I put these blocks together

 from these fabrics, still a little bit to do yet..

 and Saturday, Laurie called in for an overnight visit, Laurie is travelling around the South Island on a holiday

 and over the weekend I taught a 2 day class on my Mt Cook Sunrise quilt (in the background of next photo), these are some of the blocks created,

and here are 3 of the creators, I love teaching this quilt, it is such fun!
I hope your weekend was fun too!