Let's have a catch up.

I don't know why I always think I'll have so much more time when school holidays are over.  It's Wednesday, the first week back after a two week break, and I haven't accomplished much off my 'when school holidays are over' list.  One of those things was to finally write a blog post, so I guess I'm achieving something!

Diving back into writing after a bit of a break is always tricky too.  Do I start chronologically from a few weeks ago?  Do I start from today?  Are the blog posts I had planned even relevant now?

Today's strategy is going to be a quick recap of the last couple of weeks to bring you (and me) up to speed on what I've been doing, and then regular transmission will resume shortly...

My kids spent some time with their cousins during the school hols, one of whom turned 13....and is mostly still lovely with shades of teenage moods creeping in.  At one stage I had five kids staying the night on the boat, which actually wasn't nearly as bad as it sounds.  I offered to pay them the princely sum of $3 each in return for making the kids' cabins and play room spotless.  Worth every cent!

Even though it's Autumn, there is the occasional stunner of a day.  Warm enough still to go for an afternoon swim.  You can see what looks like evening sun in the picture above - but it's only about 3pm.  We ate fish and chips after that.

Living in the area that we do, and living on a boat, it kinda follows that my kids will learn to sail.  They've done a couple of learn to sail courses and there is a professional sailing coach who has moved into the area so we are making the most of it.  

They spent the first week of the holidays at sailing camp - this means 9am to 3pm each day!  Yay for Mummy and yay for the kids because they had a blast.  Now they are both really confident little sailors.  They toodled off in the neighbours sailing dinghy the other afternoon all on their lonesomes without an ounce of worry.  I had a proud Mummy moment.

As for me, I've been trying to get a few smaller projects finished.  I made a scrap placemat for my boy to match one I made for my girl a little while ago.  Like the skull and crossbones quilting?

I've been pressing seams open (shock horror!) because I'm making a triangle quilt for a gift.  They will be six inch equilateral triangles and it was a lot easier to construct than I thought.  I didn't starch the bias edges and I'm pleased that I had hardly any stretching at all.  I'll be able to show the finished quilt very soon.

And I've been doing lots and lots of dyeing.  These are threads laid out to dry after rinsing.  

I've purchased a swift (hank holder) and ball winder and was given a measuring skein winder so I've been winding threads like crazy and having a lovely time playing in the dye pots.  More on that soon.

Oh, and I got a haircut.  Not sure how I feel about that.  I was sick of the long hairs everywhere and I guess it'll grow back!  Lots less shampoo use though.

So, that's news for now.  This weekend I'm off to The Great NZ Quilt Show in Rotorua.  Can't wait!  I'm taking my voice recorder and I have at least one interesting interview lined up for the podcast so watch this space.

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.

The Comfort of Stitching

And the title comes with a great big nod to Lee-Ann Newton (read about her quilt 'The Comfort of Stitch' here).  And she is so right.  The comfort stitching can give, the distraction, the joy and the friendship.

I've finally cracked my fabrics and done a bit of sewing, and it feels SO good.  Yes, I had been doing a little bit here and there, but most of that was off the boat at friends or work, and it was nothing I had to think about.  The sewing that I'm talking about was creative designing and sewing.  The emotionally soothing and brain nourishing work that feeds my soul.

Aotearoa Quilters have issued another 12 x 12 Colour Challenge.  This time it is purple (previously they have run red and blue challenges).  I opened up my hand dyed fabrics and began to pull purple's.   I felt like using the improv skills I learnt with Gwen Marston at the last NZ Symposium, so I just began to cut (without a ruler, gasp!) and piece.  I was soon absorbed be the process, the intricacies of inserting little flickers of interest, the auditioning of strips, the thinking about whether the design was working or not.

Here's as far as I have got.  It's approaching the correct size, although I'll face it, rather than bind it, and I need to remember that more than a quarter of an inch is taken up by that process (ask me how I know).

It's a different sort of quilt for me, but I'm ok with that, because I'm in a different place, working within a different frame of reference.  For example (and a touch of real life) here's my working space:

Yep, a mini, portable design wall, cutting mat and ironing pad on the dining table, fighting for space with the lego and toy helicopter.

But these compromises go hand in hand with the benefits of the life we've chosen to live.  Like the sunrise while I walk the dog.  Hmm, I just noticed that there are plenty of similar colours in my quiltlet and this photo - the benefits of working in a intuitive way?

And my son being able to jump in his new birthday present any time he likes and go for a paddle.

Thanks to Shelly who left me a wonderful comment about how she spent her first years of childhood on a boat and wouldn't have changed it for the world.  Thank you so much to everyone who has left me supportive comments or sent me lovely emails.  I really appreciate it and they all make me smile. We're getting there!

I'll leave you with this photo of my son's tenth birthday party.  I think it sums up the slightly chaotic but wonderful party that was had on a rainy day in a boat!

Fushcia or Fuchsia?

Sometimes the work just works.  I sit down with a purpose and it all flows and every step I get more and more excited when I see what is emerging.  Wednesday was one of those days, I wish they'd happen more often!

There are two special ladies in my life who have a birthday on September 11.  One of them is my Mother in Law (who I am blessed to like and get on with) and the other is my quilting buddy, friend, colleague, mentor and motivator, Sue.  

I know Sue likes Fushcias (but the spell check says Fuchsias - hmmmm), so that's what I set out with in mind.

When I learnt I'd sold another of my RED challenge quilts, I splurged on a Gelli printing plate - you can see it peeking out from underneath the two layers.  I used this to print my background fabric over a freezer paper resist.  Then I ironed the same resist to my organza top layer that I had already printed the day before whilst procrastinating experimenting.

Above you can see the organza layer after stamping with a few stamps and using paint sticks around the flower resist.

I used a hand-carved stamp on the bottom layer as well then layered them up with batting, basted them and began quilting.  I tried to get the warmest, reddest area of the quilt around the flower shape to bring it forward and emphasise it, with cooler green and blue more to the edges.

Here it is with most of the quilting complete.  I decided not to fill the background completely as I didn't want to lose the translucency of the organza.  I used a few coloured pencils to add a little colour here and there and to push some areas back and highlight others.

Detail shots.

I finished it with a satin stitch using a variagated 28 wt (I think - it was heavier but the gauge had worn off to spool) Valdani thread.  

Happy Birthday, Sue!!

Camping at Lake Tarawera

Sometimes I leave it so long between blog posts, that I get a bit paralysed because there is SO much to post I don't know where to start!

So I'm just going to post a few pictures of our holiday.  We were meant to tag it on to the end of my Symposium trip but that didn't happen for a few reasons.  But after I was home a week, we left again.

This time it was off to Rotorua and camping on the side of Lake Tarawera, which is overlooked by Mount Tarawera.  It's a geothermal area and we were camping on Hot Water Beach, where hot water seeps up from the sand and runs in a stream from one area of the cliffs.  The ground was so warm it was like sleeping on an electric blanket!

Mount Tarawera in the background.  It's a volcano that erupted about 130 years ago, killing many people, burying a whole village and destroying the famous pink and white terraces.

In the mornings the steam coming from the far end of the beach was beautiful.  You couldn't really swim here as it was either too hot or too cold.

But round the corner there was a stream that had been dug out to form a hot pool - just like a spa only better!

This is back at the main dock.  Hubby had to make two trips, one with us and then one with the gear.

It was my daughter's sixth birthday while we were away so we took a trip up the gondola in Rotorua and down the luge - lots of fun.

We stopped in Tairua on the Coromandel on the way home as Hubby is involved in building a marina there.  Beautiful place and it has the best playground ever - according to the kids.

We've been home almost a week and there are potentially big changes happening in our lives.  More about that another time.  I'll just leave you with this picture of what I did to myself yesterday.  Check out the egg on my forehead.  Yup, call me egghead, I stood on a rake.  Today it looks better but I have a wee black eye.  Lesson learnt I hope.

Personalised Handmade Pillowcase

My boy went off to a birthday party today.  I had a mild panic in the morning because I'd forgotten about a present.  But I fell back on another one of my trusty handmade birthday present ideas - a personalised pillowcase.  This idea is probably best for the young ones among your gift recipients, although a pillowcase with Grandma appliqued on it might be just the ticket for your MIL!

Those are my son's feet - check out the stubbed toes!

Sorry - no process photos but I can explain it easy enough.

For a normal sized pillowcase, cut one rectangle 19 1/2 inches by 29 inches (the back) and one rectangle 19 1/2 inches by 35 inches (the front).  Hem a short end of each rectangle by folding over twice and stitching down.

Draw letters onto the paper backing of some fusible web (remember to reverse them!).  Cut them out then iron them down to the front side (remember to fold the hemmed edge of your rectangle under about six inches to get the placement right).

Now straight stitch around the edges of the letters several times in a contrasting thread.  We're going for a playful, sketchy look so don't line it up perfectly.

Place your back and front sides of your pillowcase right sides together - to figure out where the foldover goes I turn a pillowcase from my linen cupboard inside out every time otherwise I'm bound to get the tuck folded out the wrong way!

Once you've got your foldover sorted, sew around the three unhemmed edged with a 3/8 inch seam.  I finish the seam with a zig-zag as it will be a well-washed item.  Use an overlocker if you've got one.

Then you're done!  Jazz it up however you like.  I've made one side out of strips of novelty fabrics before and appliqued butterflies and done all sorts of things.  They're nice done in flannel too.  Have fun!

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!

Frump

I woke up this morning in a frump - a frowny grump.  I'm tired, the kids are home from school again with snotty noses and headaches and are stretching my patience, 'someone' (no one is owning up) squashed the vacuum cleaner plug so I can't clean the floors and they are crunchy with dirt, I've a to-do list as long as my arm and all of it tedious stuff, four calves to feed twice a day, it's rained every day for about three weeks solid...........see?  I could keep whining on and on but nobody likes a whiner.

So I gave my own butt a kick and decided to be consciously grateful for things today.

The sun is actually shining and looks promising for the whole day.  It hasn't done this for such a long time, it's so lovely.

Those calves that I have to feed twice a day are cute and healthy and that's a big thing.  I know how quickly bottle fed babies can get sick.

My five year old birthday girl wanted a simple heart birthday cake, not a mermaid castle masterpiece, and just an afternoon tea with her cousins - grateful!!  Gotta love the photo bomb by her cousin.

The first bulb is up in my orchard.  I planted heaps but thought the chickens might have scratched them all up so I'm very happy to see this early cheer.  And I can see an iris budding up too.

I've got my design wall up and functioning.  I might put another sheet of flannel covered polystyrene under this one but for now my long quilts can just hang.  So grateful to have a studio space to myself and room to have a big design wall.

Now hopefully I can keep my grateful mood right through the day, especially dinner time!  I'm off to enjoy the sun and get a little vitamin D in my system.