Last week

Last week seemed a busy one.  All my weeks seem busy at the moment - and I don't necessarily believe this is a good thing.  I don't subscribe to the 'busyness' ideal that seems to pervade our lives.  I like to have time to be slow, to enjoy, to watch and listen.  But that doesn't seem to be happening much lately.  Maybe I have to make time.

But at least I've been busy doing things I enjoy.  Well, mostly.  Housework will never go away, no matter how busy or un-busy I am.

I've been free-motion quilting this little wall hanging.  I even got most of the binding on too (let's not talk about the hanging sleeve shall we?).

I got to spend some time at the beach watching these two little loonies.  Love that expression on her face - her big brother just landed in the hole next to her after taking a flying leap.

I took a walk while they dug and snapped this pic.  We live in a truly beautiful place.  I hope I never get too busy to notice.

I spent some time appliquéing this piece of work.  I also spent quite a few hours auditioning fabrics for sky, placement of elements, thread colours etc.  But I'm glad it's finally coming together.  Once I start sewing, I can make an ever decreasing number of changes and it becomes easier to just accept it how it is, not what it could potentially be.

The dye studio has been calling my name again and I've been dyeing some skeins of thread.  These four colours got two dyeings.  The first time around I forgot to untie the loose knots I use to keep the skeins tidy, and even though they were loose, they made a stripey look - unintentional shibori.  But over dyeing worked and I managed to get my colours very close to the original ones I had.  

We were busy celebrating a birthday too.  I'm the Mum of an 11 year old!  The cake was made with almond-meal and a little coconut flour so my Hubby, who is starch-free (no grains, legumes, root vegetables etc) could eat it.  And it was delicious!  Might have been the chocolate ganache that it was smothered in...

And then I was busy tooting my horn!  New Zealand Quilter, the only New Zealand based quilting mag available, published an interview with me!  Stoked!  

It's a great issue - also featuring my good friend Mathea Daunheimer with an article on her viewer's choice winning quilt, a write up about my local quilting club, the featured blog was the blog of another quilting friend, Leeann, and there were lots of other interesting articles and pretty pictures as per usual.  Thanks NZ Quilter, and Norma Slabbert, who wrote interesting questions for me to think about.

Next week promises to be busy too.  But I'm going to be mindful of spending a few hours not worrying about what I should be doing next, just sitting and enjoying, and feeling grateful for all I have.

Living Aboard - the good bits.

Ahh, loving my life on the boat!  This is super-high tide at the beach - the beach is a one minute walk away and I walk on it usually twice a day.  The kids found a huge log floating and it became a boat, a diving platform and just the best water toy ever.

Here's another thing I love about living on MV Cerego.  We are five minutes walk from school.  And it's such a great little small-town school.  The kids planted, cared for and then get to eat from the school vege garden.  That's my boy with cherry tomatoes.

And how about this photo for inspiration?  There are so many textures and shapes around the boats and the wharf - particularly the reflections in the water.  I'm feeling a whole series of quilts coming on and I'm building up a huge library of photographs.

We are also settling in more and more.  Here are a couple of before and after photos of a corner in our  bedroom cabin.  We found a bookshelf (no great thing of beauty, but perfectly functional) and Hubby installed it.  And now I have a little nook to sit in with books and magazines beside me.  

We also put up a bookshelf in the main saloon.  With the one we put up in the kids play cabin a couple of months ago, that's all the books out from under the beds.  If you're wondering whether all the books will fall off when we are out to sea, then no, all three bookshelves are on crosswise bulkheads.  The boat rocks from side to side in swells rather than tipping upwards and downwards.  So the piles of books might shift and the ones standing up might fall over, but they are unlikely to go flying off the shelves across the cabin.  But eventually we'll be putting little lips or straps across the shelves just for extra safety.

Last but not least, I had a lovely visit from Yvonne Brown and her husband.  Yvonne is a talented textile artist from the UK.  I met her when I took a class she taught in NZ at Queenstown Quilt Symposium in 2011.  Recently Yvonne contacted me to say she would be over here again and could she come and visit.  Yes!  Go check out Yvonne's work on her website - it's gorgeous!

So yes, I'm loving this life on the sea so far.  It's slowly cooling down a little, heading towards Autumn.  I'm wondering whether I'll still love it all in the middle of Winter...

Morning Walks

We're enjoying living on board.  It's been more than a week and we are getting the hang of it.  It's a bit like camping, you have to figure out processes and procedures to make life smooth - like where to tie the dog up at night so she makes the least noise on deck (did you know how loud a Lab can snore and toss and turn?).

My agility is increasing.  We are tied up to a stationary dock, meaning that the boat goes up and down with the tide, but the dock stays put.  We haven't a gangway (yet) and so we climb up or down to the boat as dictated by the water level.  Occasionally I have to balance on dock lines, using my weight to push them down and pull the boat close enough to get the dog on or off.

I've only dropped one bag of shopping in the water so far....

One of the things I'm most enjoying is the walks.  Having a dog on board necessitates several times a day walks, for reasons I'm sure you can imagine.  And it's a lovely part of New Zealand to walk in.

The kids are enjoying the walks too.  There is something magical about kids and beaches.  Sticks, stones, shells and anemones are all subjects of discovery and imagination.  If they are bored, grumpy or sad, the beach is a magical cure.

And the beach holds endless opportunity for me too.  I'm trying to remember to take my camera every time with the intention of photographing one thing.  Whether it be beautiful, interesting or inspirational, just one thing that I take time to really look at.

Yes, the ideas for quilts are numerous!

I'll leave you with a picture of MV Cerego.  This was taken by a friend who was in his own boat when we took her a quick sea trial while we moved her to her new berth.  She's cruising at 10 knots, about her maximum speed.  Isn't she beautiful?

Sand in my stitching.

Hubby had to do a few hours work today, so I packed up the kids and went with him to Paihia.  Kids and I went to the beach, Hubby went to work.  Hmm, who got the best deal?

Fish and Chips - a kiwi tradition.

This gappy wee boy has made a killing from the tooth fairy lately!

Don't play with your food!

I took my paper piecing.  It's so portable.  I made the little snap-closed purse from a tutorial by Rashida Coleman-Hale, I just enlarged the pattern.  This one fits a small pair scissors, a couple spools of thread and my little needle book.

The kids played happily in the sand for ages.  They went for a quick swim but it's cooling down, Autumn is on it's way and Autumn is my favourite season.  What's yours?

Still catching up.

So after the wee winter camping holiday there was still a week of school holidays left.  And no time to take a breath because the Hamilton cousins descended on us.  That is my Sister in Law and her three girls aged 8, 6 and 6.  She also brought her Japanese Au Pair with her.  So for the next week we had fluctuating numbers of houseguests as the kids all took turns staying at their Grandparents.

Next bit of chaos was my daughter's fourth birthday.  My little nine pound baby is four years old and I'm having trouble believing it!


Four days old and getting some big brother love.



And now four years old and getting some plastic fantastic Barbie love.



A whale cake for Daycare.



And a fairy toadstool cake for home.

 "What? Two cakes? Are you crazy?" I hear you ask.  Nope, I'm smart.  Having a cake at Daycare constituted a party in her eyes, which lets me off from having a number of small excited children hooning round my house expecting party games! 

It was always a tradition in my family that we got to pick our favourite meal for dinner and I've carried this on with my kids.  Miss Four's pick?  Mince and pasta :-) Gotta love it!

Anyway, after that little busy patch was over I had my own birthday to contend with.  No baking my own cakes or choosing my own special dinner - instead I hightailed it out of there and holed up in a cabin at Camp Waipu Cove for the weekend.  I took a good book, my sewing machine and quilting projects, a bottle of wine and some yummy food.

I walked on the beach each day and spent the rest of my time sewing and reading.  And I felt really refreshed when it was time to come home - my own little retreat.

Today, however, I'm on an enforced go-slow - hence the extra long blog post.  I had day surgery yesterday (don't worry, it was minor, elective girly stuff) but it still required a general anaesthetic (blurg) and I'm a bit sore.  I'm pottering around with the quilting projects I was working on on the weekend and hopefully I'll get some photos to show you where I'm up to.

Ciao for now.

Mid-winter brilliance.

It was frosty this morning, but that turned into wonderful sunshine. 

It's the last week of the school holidays.  And I'm starting to feel it.  My youngest often stays home from her three days of daycare when my eldest is off school.  It seems so unfair to send her when her big brother is getting to play with Mum all day.

Last week we took a little bush walk.  And it was so successful that we did it again today.  It's the coastal track between Paihia and Opua.  I used to walk it a lot when my only responsibility was a dog.  But now the kids are old enough to enjoy it too.  Although we only walk a teeny way along it until we hit a secluded little beach.  There is a gnarly old pohutukawa tree root base that makes the perfect dragon lair/crocodile cave/baddy hideout/whatever game they are playing today.  And they are so entertained that I can steal time with a book - unheard of when we are at home.

Of course I do end up piggybacking the wee one for most of the trip home.

Easter Family

Easter Sunday was spent with Aunty and Grandparents and cousins at a little mangrove beach. Secluded and safe and very entertaining for the kidlets. I even got in a spot of light reading!