Starburst QAL Week 3 and Japanese x & + blocks

 Week 3  of the Starburst QAL is the Flying Geese. I have never made geese using the no cut way, but I am totally sold on this idea now.  So easy and Melissa explains it so well.  I was tempted to make up a block, but I think I will wait til next week when she posts the next tutorial.  

I have made a couple more Japanese x and + blocks. I was dying to use Sarah Fielke's new fabric that I just got, so cut into that as soon as I got back from the beach yesterday!

I am back to work tomorrow after 2 weeks off work, so I am not looking forward to the 5.30am alarm going off.  No doubt the sewing will slow down a bit too, although I have promised myself I will try to sew for at least 30 minutes every day as my "ME" time.  The weather has been so incredibly hot the one good thing about returning to work will be the air conditioning in the unit!

Hexies and On The Pond

It's a long weekend here in NZ, so we have headed over to the caravan at the Mt. It's a gorgeous weekend here and very hot; far to hot to lie around on the beach so I went to Spotlight in Tauranga where they were having a 30% off sale on fabrics. And look what I found....Sarah Fielke's debut range for Spotlight "In The Pond". I picked out my favs. I just love the frogs eggs which is the top print.

I also managed a few more hexies...

And I just have to show you the latest baby at Hamilton Zoo. I took the kids there a few days ago and this little zebra was only 2 days old. Such a bundle of adorableness!

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Swooning and Japanese x and + blocks

I had the urge to finish my Swoon block that I started like a year ago and it has been gathering dust on my sewing table ever since.  I think bee blocks and life got in the way! I am making it all in Terrain as I love this range by Kate Spain. Actually I like most of her ranges, but I just love the purples and blues in this particular range. I am using Kona Cream as the background. One down...8 to go.

Have whipped up a couple more Japanese x and + blocks. They come together so quickly.

Japanese x and + blocks and Instagram

I have been taken with the Japanese x and + blocks since I first saw them on Amy's blog.  I managed to avoid getting sucked into the scrappy trip along that everyone in blogland has been doing, but after seeing so many gorgeous x and + blocks appear in blogland and on instagram, I have decided I cannot put it off any longer.  These little guys are so addictive.   I made 2 and then thought, just one more, then I did just one more....

I have had the Instagram app on my phone for ages but have never done anything with it.  It seems to becoming more and more popular as another way of communicating on the go, so I have joined up and trying to figure out how it all works.  If you are on instagram let me know your user name and I will add you. I have found a few of you already through looking at people's followers (it almost feels a bit stalkerish!!).  My user name is Deb_Trail on there.

Starburst QAL

I have been on holiday for the past week, but have't achieved a lot of sewing. Instead I have been spring cleaning. It feels so good to have a sparkly clean house and everything put away where it should be. Even my sewing room got a spruce up, so I have a bit more room in there now.  I have another week off, but will devote that to ME, and get in some sewing. I have a bunch of quilts that need quilting.

I have decided I like the fun of choosing fabrics, cutting and piecing them, but hate the basting with a vengeance and am not too fussed on the quilting process either.  Hence I have about 4 quilts waiting to be quilted.  Part of me feels I should just send them off to be quilted, but I figure I paid a small country's GDP for my machine so I should use it to its full potential.  However, I do love sitting in the evenings and hand-stitching the binding on. Is anyone else have a favorite part of the process?

I have joined Melissa's Starburst QAL as I have admired her one ever since I saw it.  I went to one of my fav sites Design Seeds and chose a different color palette to what I normally go with.

I am totally in love with Simply Color and ordered a bunch of it from Pink Castle Fabrics.  It is even more lovely up close. So my palette was loosely based on some of the colors from this range. I had the orange in there to start with but it looked too busy so I took it out and this is what I have ended up with.

Summer is finally here...

Oh my gosh, it is hot today...I walked out of my air conditioned office to hit the heat. Metservice says it's 27 degrees Celcius (81 F), but it feels way hotter.  Even the dogs are panting and trying to find the shadiest places around the house.

The kids know how to cool off though...wish this was closer!

Christmas Day was a quiet affair...the kids, Tony and I went out for Christmas lunch at a fabulous restaurant .  The kids dressed up and they all look so grown up. Sarah now has contacts and she looks so different without her glasses.

Hannah, 16, Nick, 13, Sarah, 11

Such lovely ambience with Christmas carols, bubbles and all the Christmas pud you could eat. Even Santa made an appearance!

I have managed to get a bit of sewing in. We have been at the beach for 2 weeks so I have been sewing hexies...I love these little things.  They are so addictive. Ever since I saw this hexie pillow, I have wanted to make something similar.  So that has been my night time project when I am exhausted from all the walking on the beach, sunbathing, reading and sleeping!

I love bees too and have joined the Modern Stash bee.  The problem with bees is everyone is always very excited to start with and interest peters out as the year goes on.  This bee is only 6 months so hopefully, the interest will stay around for longer. The hostess for the month wanted the Supernova quilt block in greys and yellows so I came up with this...