Quiet Moments

I'm off to night duty tonight.  People often comment on how hard doing night shifts must be.  And they are right - it sucks to lever my body out of bed at 10.30 pm after an hour or so of snoozing and head off to work.  And yes, you are pretty tired the next day.  But I also privately savour night duty.  It's quiet, there is often not much to do and my children aren't with me.

That last one sounds a bit mean, but anyone who's been a parent knows how precious some quiet, kid-free time can be!  Mental rest and recuperation.

And I figure I deserve a little mental R and R.  We took six little kids down to Whangarei (an hours drive) yesterday to play LaserTag for my son's eighth birthday.  (I have to let you know that I bet the pants off my husband - just saying!).  After we had played LaserTag and had a snack, we found the best playground near the Marina, next to Reyburn House.  If you are ever in the area, take a look.  There is a huge rope climbing frame and lots of whirling, twirling equipment that made me a bit motion sick just looking at them, but the kids loved it.

If it's busy at work, it's quite satisfying.  Time goes fast and I know that the work I do as a midwife is important and meaningful.  If it's quiet, then I can get my list of jobs done uninterrupted and then settle down to some serious quilting.  Occasionally I'll read a book - sometimes I can almost finish a book in a night, but usually I go 'blurry' at about 4 am.

I've been stitching a few artist trading cards in my recent quiet moments.  I put together a couple of little bags with some scraps, threads, bits and pieces and needles and it's interesting to see what comes together.  Then when I get home to my machine, I can back them and edge stitch them to finish.

So now I'm off to bed for my precious couple of hours.  Think of me when you go to bed tonight - I'll just be getting up!

Smuggling a noxious species into Australia.

Just a couple of little rabbity artist trading cards that took a wee trip on an aeroplane to Faye of fayesplace.  I think they'll be there by now so I'm posting these pics.

I know artist trading cards are meant to be cards not hanging ornaments, but I figure you can fold or snip off (gasp!) the hanging loop if you don't want it.  And if you do want to hang them on your Christmas tree, then you can!

These were lots of fun to create.  If you've never given a technique a go, then these 3 1/2 by 2 1/2 inch cards are the perfect size to have a little try.  I was practicing my free motion zig-zag.  That's what made the grass (you can click on the pic to have a closer look).

Enjoy!

(and I'm off to pick up an orphan lamb!  I'm gonna be a lamb maaaama!)