NaBloPoMo Day 7: Calico Christmas

I am home again, albeit several hundred dollars poorer!! Calico Christmas was amazing. It is the first time I have been. so was not quite sure what to expect.  It was an absolute feast for the eyes and even if you were not a quilter, you would have to admire the creativity and inspiration behind the quilts.  I have loads of photos, but won't put them all in this post as there are about 200!!

I had several favourites and these appealed to me for their use of colour and their design. There were others that were gorgeous. and I could admire them for the work that had gone into them, such as the Baltimore quilts, but they are not "me".  Some of my favs....

This was designed by Wendy Oswin at Quilter's Dream.  It was called Ric Rac Jazz and she also had the pattern for it in her store in turquoises, hot pinks , purples and limes. I just had to have this! It was gorgeous.

A close up of the ric rac around the petals.

This was made by Joanna Baynes using Kaffe Fassett fabrics from his book Quilts in the Sun. 

This was made by Gea van Holst. I loved the colours in this and how she had pieced all her hexagons. The points all matched so perfectly as you can see below.

A mystery quilt by Natalie Murdoch and made by Jean Ramsay.

Justine Jones made this quilt for her daughter who stated quite firmly she didn't want anything traditional. I got talking to both Justine and her daughter and the inspiration came from a postcard and the daughter picked all the colours  to go with their bedroom. It was quite stunning up close.

Carol Mahoney made this circle quilt.  There were a few circle quilts there and the more I see these, the more I want to make one.

"Judith Bremner made this called "My Bedouin dress no longer fits" The fabric had been bought from the Spice Market in Istanbul and the dress from the Old City in Jerusalem.

Glenys Quinn made "Sawtooth Cats". It took me a while to figure out where the cats were!! Duh!

Sybil Lightbourne took a class with Hazel Foot and this was her first amazing effort in machine embroidery and free motion quilting. It is called Pacific Themes. A close up of the middle panel is on the right.

This is a design from Kaffe Fassett and won Best Use of Colour. It was made by Alison Haines and quilted by Susan Trendall.

I can detect a wee purple and turquoise theme going on in the quilts that I like. Will post more piccies tomorrow.

NaBloPoMo Day 6: Saturday snoozing

One of my cats looking very sleepy and relaxed in my strawberry planters.... just the perfect way to soak up some Saturday sun.

NaBloPoMo Day 5: Yo Yo fun

I have hunting for a yo yo maker ever since I saw them at the Craft Fair a couple of months back. I found this fabulous Yo Yo Santa pattern that I just had to have.  Of course I could have been Miss Industrious instead of Miss Lazy and made them the conventional way, but, I love new toys!! I finally found one last week.  Still hunting for an extra large one.

I got the fabric when I was in Tauranga a couple of weeks ago. Nice and bright for Santa Claus!

NaBloPoMo Day 4: Calico Christmas

Have a busy weekend coming up. Off to Auckland tomorrow night  for Calico Christmas on Saturday.  It's a quilt show organised by the Auckland Patchworkers and Embroider's Guild. Lots of amazing quilts on display and of course...SHOPPING!!  Then catching up with friends in Auckland before heading home for a work Christmas party on Sunday at Viligrad's. Christmas parties already!! Yikes, what is that about??

NaBloPoMo Day 3: The Oooooh-Aaahhhh egg

We have a few hens in our back yard.  The brown shavers we have had for ages and we inherited 3 little bantams a wee while ago.   One of my daughter's school friends had some bantams that kept flying out of their coop at dusk. Unfortunately, they were flying into the pigpen and getting all comfy and settled there and roosting for the night.  What they didn't realise is that they had just become a little midnight snack for the pigs!! So to save the rest of the hens from undergoing a similar fate, they gave them to us.

Anyway, I collected the eggs tonight from the girls and oh my.....there was a couple of cute little bantam eggs, 3 normal sized eggs and an oooooh-aaahhhh egg.   What is an oooooh-aaahhhh egg, I hear you ask? Well, as my dad used to say, it's an egg that is so big that when the hen lays it she screws up her face and she goes Ooooooooohhhhh- Aaaaahhhhh cos it must hurt so much coming out.  I am just hoping that it wasn't one of the little bantams that laid this! Yikes!!!

NaBloPoMo Day 2: Schnibbles!

This is such a cool word! I only heard of it recently on a blog post and of course had to google it to find out more info. Carrie from Miss Rosie's Quilt Co coined this term as a scrap of fabric; a leftover bit of cloth; a small piece. From these wee scraps, charm packs and layer cakes, she designs gorgeous quilts that just caught my fancy immediately. So off to a couple of online bookstores to find the best deal. Of course, I then happened to stumble upon another great book that I just *had* to have and today look what arrived in the post...

I love both these books. I know I will get lots of use out of them.  Now if I spent more time in front of my sewing machine, instead of online....

NaBloPoMo: Day 1

No, I haven't gone insane! I have signed up for National Blog Posting Month where I will attempt to post every day in November!!  My husband said it shouldn't be a problem as I love to talk. Hmmmm, I think that was a double edged compliment there!

Image: www.easymix.co.nz

We went to see Ian Grant last night at the Founders. He is a guru of relationships and parenting and had a seminar on 40 Hot Tips for Parents.  It was a great evening and he is a fabulous speaker. His key points throughout the evening were "Rules, Routines and Ridiculousness", which is what will define a functional family from a dysfunctional family. Throughout the evening he peppered his presentation with anecdotes and real life stories that helped to make it more real. It did make Tony and I realise we are on the right track with the kids and we aren't the meanest parents in the world (according to my teenager!). So Kiwis, if you get the chance, go see Ian. Well worth it and I think it cost something ridiculous like $14!!