A Completed project.

This is one of my UFOs, which has been awaiting completion. Earlier this year, I finished the binding, made the label, & attached it to the back of the quilt. It is a pattern I have long admired, so much so,  I'm contemplating  a similar one, a tad larger,  in a different colour choice. This one is Homespun Houses, from "Pieces of the Past." by Nancy J Martin. The top was complete on the afternoon of the Death of Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997. 

The cat, decided she needed to be part of the photo. Holly   certainly is true to cat character, always very curious and wants to be footpath forewoman.  

Christmas is Coming.

Today in the mail, I received an unexpected gift  from a fellow stitcher. What a wonderful surprise to open the parcel to find not only an exquisitely, hand stitched, ornament but also two lovely hand dyed threads  and a piece pretty cross stitch fabric. 

Thank you so much Bonnie for such a beautiful gift, I'm thrilled with this  PS ornament along with the fabric & threads.

Christmas Ornament Exchange

This is my stitched item for the 2012 Christmas Ornament Exchange.

I stitched  it for Mary, who has already received it, along with a locally made chocolate bar & Christmas themed thread included in the parcel.

This ornament was a PS chart featured in TGOS magazine, from a few years ago..

Halloween Ornament.

This is the ornament  I stitched for Lyn. I added a locally made chocolate bar and two witches hats thread holders.. My pattern is from  a freebie design by  Casey Buonaugurio in 2009.

                                          

Today I received  my Halloween exchange from Lyn.
I'm thrilled with the gift she chose to stitch & send to me. Oddly enough we both chose to use  greens purples & black cats, in our ornaments.
While Lyn is experiencing a rather vicious hurricane where she lives, we are having a beautiful, warm, spring day in my neck of the woods.

Quilt Completion & Awards.

I've neglected my blogging for several months & consequently, missed enjoying the many & wonderful stitching blogs I usually visit.  It seems like ages since I posted. I had intended doing so earlier, however what's that saying about, " life interrupts while you're busy making other plans" ? :)
I was busy getting the hand quilting completed on my quilt for the exhibition, which is now over.
It was a wonderful exhibition & I feel very priveledged to have been able to exhibit my work, with such talented quilters. This is my quilt, along with one of two, pillow shams I stitched, to match.

I received three awards for this quilt. Can you immagine my surprise, quickly followed by delight. My wonderful husband was instrumental in this completion, with his loving support. I awarded him  his Dip' Master Chef, as he stepped up to make many delicious dinners while I worked for hours, over the quilting frame.

Here is a photo of some of the quilts hanging in the exhibition at The Academy of Fine Arts

 I have a UFO or two, waiting in the wings for the next exibition, which is scheduled for 2014.  I now need to decide on which quilt to submit, then chose the backing & get started, very soon. I never want to be under that kind of pressure again, prior to an exhibition.

I've worked on three small cross stitch pieces over the last couple of weeks. One was a birthday gift, the other two are ornaments. One for a Halloween exchange, already headed to New York, the other for a Christmas exchange, going to Springfield, MA. Photos when my exchange partners receive the items. My next task is to organise a new stitching rotation of cross stitch pieces, knitting & dressmaking items, to keep me out of mischief for the next little while.

Update.

At last another day of sunshine after several wet, bleak & misty days.

A perfect time for stitching in the sun, although I'll do so indoors at the moment, as outside is still very cold in the wind. My quilt is nearing completion, the quilted part, then the finishing off and the sleeve for hanging.
I've spent three months getting it to this stage, with little other stitching to mention.  I have made five knitted scarves, while on the move & not able to quilt. A couple are for gifts, but three are for moi, a cherry red, a variegated blue & a silver grey. Photos soon.

I'm looking forward to moving on to other projects & being able to have this quilt off the "to do" list.
I've so many wonderful projects to chose from, no doubt one will call to me a tad louder than the others.

While quilting earlier this morning, I looked up from my stitching to see the TS Esmeralda leaving Wellington harbour. Unfortunately the photos I captured, were hardly visible owing to the murky weather conditions. this picture via Fairfax NZ.  Part of the departing fanfare, included a Port Nicholson, bright orange, tug, with the accompanying cascade of water from the fire boat,. It made a rather splendid scene. The sun appeared minutes after the barquentine  rounded the point, out of view.

I'm trying to honour my endeavour to post more frequently,  less than a month is progress.
Life has just taken over for now, although I'm still able to manage some quilting. We've had bitterly cold weather for the last couple of days, with rain & gales, a great time to be indoors stitching. As much as I like cooler weather, this current climate is a tad too cool.
I've had a quick look at a couple of blogs this morning, both new to me and very interesting. Perhaps you might like to investigate them for yourself. I'm obviously not doing the link correctly, so here is the information as best I can give right now, first one is ..happinessiscrossstitching.blogspot.... the second is the ...freebiegallery.blogspot.. hope you are can find them from that meagre information. Enjoy. K.

An overdue update.

I've been MIA of late, just busy with life & of course, hand quilting. No small stitched pieces to show, or large ones for that matter. Perhaps when I'm further along with the quilting, I'll photograph my progress.
I do appreciate receiving the update notifications from the stitching blogger group & others, so thank you for keeping me in the loop, I'll endeavour to be more diligent & post more often, from now

A Few More Stitched Purses.

A friend who patchworks, kindly lent me the pattern for these wee purses, the top two have already appeared in an earlier post.
Within my fabric collection, as with any patchworker, I have many small off cuts waiting to be put to good use. I had enough to make a few more of these for dear friends.

Stitched Ornamnts

I managed to stitch a couple of extra ornaments up until Christmas, to add to my own collection.
The one below needed to be finished & a small empty fabric container seemed to suit the piece.
It is one of the free PS cards issued when making a purchase.

Fifth day of the new year.

It's hard to reconcile we are already at the fifth day of the New Year. Time seems to be flying by so rapidly. Today is the day to dismantle the Christmas tree & decorations around the house. I really love our home dressed for this time of the year. When it is all packed away the house looks a tad bare.


We are supposed to be in Summer season in this part of the world, however, one could hardly call the last five days "summer," as I know it to be. It is so cool, lambs wool slippers & warm tops are the order of the day. The skies are overcast & the dreaded Northerly is blasting us with nasty gusts.

I am about to make up a delicious soup, to take to folk who are moving house today. Relocating can be an exhausting exercise so homemade soup might be a great help come the end of the day.

New Year.

I've made a great start on some patchwork for New Year. I also spent some time fondling fabric from my stash and deciding on several pieces to use in a few different projects.
This morning we've woken to the news of three more shakes for Christchurch. I do feel for the folk who are living through this constant upheaval of Mother Nature. I 'm made of strong stuff although I know I couldn't handle this kind of uncertainty under my feet.
We have a site called Geo net where we can see where the earthquake happened, the depth & the magnitude. These shake recordings below show the latest activity over the last 24 hour period, some 19 or so events. The map shows where the larger shake today was felt from the top of the North Island to Dunedin in the South Island.

Christmas Fare

We had a very pleasant Christmas lunch. The meal was delicious, weather perfect, the children enjoyed themselves and everyone appeared to have a great time together. We started with Paradise soup, made with tomatoes, cucumber, with other delicious ingredients, someone else's recipe, served chilled for the warm day. The children were first to the table while the adults hovered in other parts of the dining room. I made the cake above as part of our contribution to lunch & forgot to photograph it before delivery. Looks like it met something at the front. The boys were keen to eat the reindeers, however as they were paper cut outs on tooth picks, they lost interest.


Our dining room has had a delicious aroma since the Christmas Cake has been completed & awaiting taste testing & ultimate demolition. I made two this year, one as a gift & both iced as the icing is much appreciated by those who enjoy the cake. Nothing grand just amateur decorating, with ribbon & paper cut outs on tooth picks, works for us in this festive time.

Christmas Week.

Once again, we started Christmas week by attending the annual Carol Evening in the beautiful Wellington Town Hall. It was not on my "to do" list for this year, however I'm very pleased we made the effort to be part of the audience and be inspired in the Season.
Perhaps because it has been so chilly, still with baskets of cascading pansies & lobelia decorating the courtyard, I've not thought of this as Christmas time.

Today is overcast, 13C with a Southerly still apparent & the heating turned on for now. Maybe if this continues, a traditional Christmas dinner will be in order.






The tree has been setup & the house in varying stages of decoration since advent, so I'll be happy to enjoy the sparkle until it all comes down, on January 5th.

I've managed to bake two Christmas cakes, one for a gift, so they will need to be decorated very soon.
On Friday we attended the end of year celebrations at school, where Josh had a part as one of the announcers for his class's performance. We had lots of laughs during the performance, especially when they sang & acted for the Boa Constrictor song. Josh awaiting his cue.

Well done Josh for reading your script without fault & realising new batteries were required for the microphone. Great hat!


No Christmas stitching, so to speak, apart from a couple of small ornaments to add to my collection, along with the two seen earlier & done for exchanges, which seems so long ago now.

Here's the ornament tree for this year although one can hardly decipher the ornaments.

I've made a couple of small purses, using some of my patchwork stash. They required so little fabric it has hardly depleted the collection. :)




The press studs for the tulip one are yet to be attached, put away so carefully I can't find them right now.

A Very Special Birthday Gift.

Our friends who visited for DH's birthday, brought him a special quirky gift.
Because he & his friends have been involved with Ham Radio, for ever, those visiting found a valve which was manufactured the year he was born. It was a new one, that had been around for some time obviously & never used. It was still installed in a radio set, type #19, used primarily in tanks during the second world war. They were made in Australia, the UK & the USA.
Our friends had it mounted on a piece of Australian native wood, called Jarrah, a beautiful, rich, warm coloured, hardwood. My husband had one of these radios when he first gained his ham radio license, way back as a teenager. They also had a commemorative plaque made & fitted to the base, along with commissioning someone to make a card, depicting this valve in paper crafting to accompany the gift.. He was thrilled with both the thoughtfulness that went into the gift & their surprise visit.

Arrival of an Ornament from Florida,

This is one of my Ornament exchanges. I am so thrilled.
It is beautifully stitched for me, from Lisa in Florida, unfortunately the photo does not do it justice..
The edges are embellished with tiny beads which also make up the holly in the design, along with the hanger.
I love being part of the Christmas exchanges, looking forward to them as the run up to celebrating Christmas, my favourite time of the year.
Thank you Lisa I will hang it proudly with all my treasured ornament exchanges.

Birthday Visitors, & A Happy Surprise..

Some very dear friends, from Australia, organized to visit as a surprise, for DH's birthday. It was also to be a surprise for me. However, the cat was let out of the bag so to speak, when we visited Sydney at the end of June this year. I was then sworn to secrecy, something not usually hard for me to achieve, although I had not expected it to be so difficult as we approached the time of their arrival. With preparations underway it became more challenging not to make a slip up. On the morning they were departing from Sydney, I stopped myself mid thoughts, as I was about to mention they would be boarding their flight. Another couple of times, I did inadvertently make a comment. Luckily, my dear husband, is not of a suspicious nature, so I was able to gloss over any of my odd remarks.

I've read how studies have shown how many folk hold their breath, when writing emails.
Well, I feel I have been holding my breath for several months now, not only while writing emails. It was rather exhausting in hindsight.

At last the visitors appeared. I contrived for us to be out for cocktails with family, Friday evening. My very dear husband was so surprised to see our close friends, of many moons, appear at the restaurant. He is not a gentleman who is usually surprised by much. This time he was almost overcome. He was amazed & also delighted, to be sharing this right of passage with friends from as far back as school days. I felt for him, as I really hate birthday surprises. Not something I would have relished.
However it turned out to be a really wonderful three days, sharing time, sightseeing, and much laughter with our longtime, dear friends, from home.

Cake Is Ready..

Although the birthday is tomorrow we will be celebrating again on Friday, Saturday & Sunday.
The cake is completed and will appear after tomorrow evening, ready for dinner on Saturday.


In the meantime, as it is the month of Halloween, I've had my decorations out and am ready for the main event, next Monday.