Good sewing day...

This is the weather outside at the moment....a view from the front door and no better from the back door!! A long weekend to boot! Oh well, it will mean lots of sewing! That is not an outhouse either!! That is our hen house. My hubby built it...he is a city boy and obviously thought the hens were the size of ostriches!!

A momentous year...I have finally finished my Masters in Nursing. I hit the submit button on my final assignment a couple of weeks ago and, boy, was that a good feeling. Hence, why not a lot of action has been happening on the blog or sewing front.

I have been keeping up with my bee commitments though, and this was the latest round of blocks using Nydia's tutorial. I haven't done a lot of paper piecing before, but by the end of it, I was whizzing through them. Love this block. I know I shouldn't have favs, but I love Staci's block which is the black, white and chartreuse one. I have to make a black and white quilt now.

The other bee block I have completed is one for Cille in the Modern Minx bee. We are making blocks from the Modern Blocks book. Cille wanted greens, yellows, oranges, aqua and reds.

Ok, I'm off to make use of this very wet Sunday....

Spring is sprung....

I am loving the fact that we are now into spring. Our 4 ewes have all lambed so we have bouncy white springiness in the fields at the moment. They are so cute, especially at dusk when they bounce around like they are on pogo sticks!

I have just finished up my Tetris quilt top and need to quilt it soon. Think I will just make a giant Tetris piece for the back. My son has nabbed this for his room. He loves the bright colours.

I have also been busy with bee blocks.  I love the online bees and have met some fabulous fellow quilters through them. This next one was an angel block for a member who did not receive a block from a fellow hive member. It's the Rocky Road to Kansas block from Faith at Fresh Lemon Quilts. Her instructions are always very clear and it was a pleasure to make.

This next one was a block for someone in my Modern Minx bee where we are all making something from the Modern Blocks: 99 Quilt Blocks  book. Jo wanted bright bold colours. I think this fits the bill!!

Another challenge was in the Modern 99 bee where Shawn wanted a little girl. I chose to free piece this one and it was fun. I am definitely a "follow a pattern" kind of girl, so this was really putting me outside my comfort zone! Very retro 70s I think!

And my last bit of creating came about as a bake-off at work where we were making cupcakes from the book Ripe which is a cafe in Auckland.  I love this book and have made so much from it. Just need to take a road trip to the cafe now! I had so much fun decorating these and it seemed a shame to eat them! Even the little ladybugs were edible.

Tetris QAL Block 2

First of all I would like to say a big thank you to the Fat Quarter Shop and Melissa for sponsoring the giveaways on this QAL. I was lucky enough to win a jelly roll of Birds and Bees by Tula Pink.  I LOVE this latest range of hers and had it on my wish list, so was overjoyed to find I had won it. Thanks so much FQS and Melissa.

I was excited to see the next block come out for the Tetris QAL.  I carefully cut out my shapes and coloured them as instructed, then gave them to my daughter to place them as she saw fit, so the end result is her interpretation. I will do this for the rest of the blocks as well, so each family member has  a say in this quilt.  I love the brightness of the solids...it's such a "happy quilt".

Block 2 in Kona solids

Catch-up

To be honest, I haven't felt like blogging over the last few months.  I have been keeping up with everyone's posts in Google Reader though even if I haven't replied to many of you.   Now that life has resumed to normal for me, I have far too many other things to do other than blog!!

Tony and I have just had a holiday in Hawaii. Oh my gosh, I loved this place.   Since we are in the middle of winter here the warm tropical climate was just divine. I tortured myself my leaving the weather app on my phone and checking it for the next 2 weeks after we got home.  I am already saving for my next holiday there.... did have to buy an extra suitcase for all my shopping though, gulp! 

Overlooking Haunamu Bay...amazing snorkelling

I have been sewing...lots of bee blocks and I have just joined the Tetris Quilt-along that  Melissa is hosting. I chose Kona solids in bright colours. 

First block in the Tetris QAL

Sarah has had the last stage in her journey and had her plate removed from her broken femur a month ago. It all seems like such a age ago and you would hardly believe that 8 months ago, she was unconscious in intensive care.  The human body is an incredible thing.

Sarah a couple of hours after her op.

She has been cutting up fabric today and making wheat bags.  I think we might have a new quilter in the making....

Block envy!

Well, just got back from a long weekend at the beach again to find one of my blocks has been featured on Cut to Pieces blog. Angela is one of the designers in the 99 Modern Blocks book. I am doing 2 bees that use the designs from this book. With one of them, Modern 99  we get pre-chosen fabric sent to us each month and the other, Modern Minx, we use our own stash, but with guidelines from the bee member as to colours etc.

The first block for the year in the Modern Minx bee was Envy by Angela and I used Hope Valley fabrics by Denyse Schmidt for it. The solids are Kona Green Tea and Snow. It was easy to make and her directions simple to follow. 

In the Modern 99 bee, the first block was Mondrian by Jamie Moilanen.  The funny thing is that the angel  block I made for a member in the 3x6 bee group that didn't receive a block turned out to be for Jamie. I had no idea when I made it and I nearly picked the Mondrian to make for her. How funny would that have been!! It wasn't until I had mailed it off and was looking at making the Mondrian for this bee that I twigged that the name I had written on the envelope and the designer's name in the Modern Blocks book were one and the same!!

Endings and beginnings

From this on 28 October 2011.....

To this on 10 January 2012

Sarah has finally been given the all clear to start walking so this is her first day without crutches! Yay!!!
What a great start to 2012....

I am now back at work...what a shock to the system that is after 2 and a half months off looking after Sarah!  I am enjoying being back at work, but have noticed I don't have near enough computer or quilting time now! I have joined several bees this year as a way to try different types of quilting and to challenge myself.  Doing small blocks will be more achievable than trying to do a whole quilt too. This year will be busy, as along with working fulltime, I am also doing the last postgraduate paper in my Masters degree in Nursing.

I signed up to do an angel bee block for Jamie on one of the Flickr bee groups. Her request was bright colours with a black background.  Hope she likes it!

And I have booked our next holiday...having listened to all the suggestions from my giveaway, we have decided to go to Hawaii.  So all booked and will head off there for a couple of weeks in June. We thought after the stress of the last 3 months we want somewhere relaxing and warm, somewhere where Tony and I can just enjoy one another's company and spend some time together and somewhere that won't cost a fortune!

I love summer

I am definitely a sun lover. I hate the cold and look forward to the spring blossoms and lambs as I know then it won't be long til summer is here. We have a permanent caravan site at Mount Maunganui and spend a lot of our summers here.  I wondered whether we should come over this summer given that Sarah wasn't that mobile but she insisted on wanting to come over.  So we all came over on Boxing Day for 2 weeks. Tony went back to work on Tuesday and I go back next week which will be a shock to the system after 2 months off work caring for Sarah. I just love being close to the sea and the beach...there's something about walking along the beach with the waves crashing around you and a gentle breeze blowing.

It certainly is a little more challenging but Sarah is pretty mobile on her crutches now over short distances. She was determined to go to the beach and swim today so off Hannah, Sarah and I trotted with the beach towels, sunscreen and a good book for me.  She is such an independent wee girl and so crutches all the way to the water's edge then her big sister helped her into the water.

Nick came down later and just chilled for a while with us.

I haven't done any quilting at all for over 2 weeks. I have joined a couple of quilt bees though...looking forward to getting started on them.  This time at the beach is all about family and relaxing and looking forward tithe year ahead.