I see RED (in a good way)

Last day of the school holidays today.  And it just occurred to me that the next school holidays includes the Taupo Symposium - yay, it's getting closer!

Aotearoa Quilters (the National Association of NZ Quilters) is holding a special challenge to be exhibited during Symposium.  Anything goes, it just needs to be 12 inches x 12 inches and RED.  All quilts will be for sale too, so that's exciting.  I've been busy working on entries.  So far out of five starts, this one is the only one I've been happy enough with to finish to binding.  It's been a great incentive to experiment - 12 x 12 is the perfect size to play around with methods etc, if you're not happy, it's not a huge time or material investment.

It's called Manaia - which is a Maori name for bird-headed mythological creature of protection or guardianship.  (And there doesn't seem to be any restrictions on publicly showing your entry before the exhibition - yay!)

I've also been feeling the hexie love.  These little pincushions were quick to make and gave me hand piecing projects to keep me busy when I'm out and about.  The top is linen and the backs are an indigo print (for the red and black hexie flower) and a damask stripe (for the purple and pink).  Cute huh?!

The kids are I travelled down to Hamilton to surprise my niece for her tenth birthday.  And it worked a treat - lots of squeals and jumping around when my two popped out of their hiding places!  She was born on ANZAC day (stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, a day where we remember those who fought and those who fell), hence the poppies all over her cake.  Her middle name is Poppy also.

So the school holidays have been busy but fun.  A few inroads have been made on my WIP's but I'll show them another time.  The kids have been happy but I think we're all ready for them to go back to school ;)  I'll close with a couple of photos of them.  And then I best be off and try and tick another thing off my holiday to-do list - paint the bathroom!

The once-per-school-holidays iced chocolate.

Chilaxing at Cafe Utopia in Kaiwaka on the way home from Hamilton.  Now there's a cool cafe!

Holiday Roundup

So I haven't burnt the dinner, overflowed the bath or left the kids behind at the shops for a while (I've never actually done the last one, just fantasised about it).  I figure I'm over my jetlag.  And I worked a night shift on Thursday night and managed to not drop any babies, even a slippery new born one!  I'm patting myself on the back.

The reason I'm supposedly jetlagged is because I flew to Brisbane and stayed for two weeks to help my brother and beautiful sister-in-law, as they were having their second child.  Their first boy is only 22 months old and they had only just moved to Australia a few months ago, so they haven't really established support networks yet.  And I had an ulterior motive - I wanted to be the first Aunty to hold the baby!

The quilt I was hurrying to finish before I left was for the new baby and I did manage to get it all done bar the label.  I'm glad I didn't do the label as they decide to swap the order of her names after the first day or two!  I used a light cotton batting as I thought they might get more use out of it that way, Brisbane is rather warm most of the year.

I had more of a holiday than I thought I'd get.  The toddler was almost angelic and easily amused by playing outside.  I was a bit leary of all the insects and I thought I saw a snake once, but it turned out to be a big brown lizard instead!

My sister and my self holding the angelic toddler.

My sister flew up from Sydney for a few nights and my Dad, Stepmum and baby brother visited a couple of times - they live about an hour and half away from Brisbane.  I got to explore the local walkways and parks.  We visited Southbank where they have created an artificial beach next to the river.  It also has a great area full of fountains for kids.  I explored a few shops and ate more than a few goodies!

During my stay I managed to get down to Sydney for a night to see a friend.  She is a brave and beautiful young woman who is battling cancer.  It was good to share a hug.  I was really impressed with the public transport in both Brisbane and Sydney.  I was able to make my way there and back totally unaided.  Easy and efficient.

I took hand sewing in case I needed something to do and I got a bit done here and there.  I used up some paper pieced squares I had leftover from another project and sewed them up into some little pincushions.  I also hand stitched a curtain for my brother and SIL - I'm pretty good at hand sewing a blind hem now ;).

My brother even kindly took me to a quilting store, but I only bought a half metre of a red batik.  I was a little overwhelmed by the selection and had visions of not being able to stop once I started.  Then I found a place called simply 'The Fabric Store' in Fortitude Valley.  It was filled with the most beautiful silks and linens and I took away a lovely piece of indigo coloured, striped linen.  We also visited Ikea.  I've wanted to for ages to find out what it's all about, but we don't have one in NZ. Wow - what an experience!  It's huge and very cleverly set out.  I was especially impressed by their clever designs for storage.  And I couldn't resist a lovely heavy cotton fabric - I took three out of the four colour ways available!

I was glad to be heading home after two weeks.  My brother kindly woke me up at 4.30am when I missed my alarm, I had the quickest shower I've ever had and didn't miss my taxi.  Thanks bro - lucky their wee babe decided she needed a feed just at the right time!

The travel home was uneventful, just long and boring.  I was positive I was going to be in for an excess baggage charge but according to the scales I was lighter than when I left NZ.  My kids gave me the biggest hug and then demanded to know what I'd brought back for them.  Hubby was also very glad to see me - he's told me next time we'll have to get a nanny!  It's nice to be appreciated.

And to finish up, here's a pic of  what my house looked like the night I came home.  It took me about three days to get it in order.  It was an impressive mess!

Images from my Guild Meeting.

This one is especially for Cadi.  It's the pincushion I got in the pincushion swap.  How cute!  And we didn't know who we were making for, so the fact that it's a chicken (and I'm slightly mad about chooks) is serendipity.

Here is the quilt I made that provided the scraps for my little bassinet quilt I showed you a few posts ago.  A simple and effective (and QUICK) way to use a jelly roll.  Except it's not needed for it's original purpose now.  I have a spare quilt...crazy unusual for me!

I've made two wee bassinet quilts from the scraps now (I'm addicted to no-snit machine binding!).  And I don't know what's going on with my eye.  I think I'm grimacing at having my photo taken - you just don't get the whole grimace effect, just a wonky wink instead!

And another bassinet quilt for the maternity unit (yup, more machine binding).  I love being able to use up my scraps or extra blocks like this.  These are leftover from the quilt I made for my new nephew.

Belonephobia.

It's my local quilting guild meeting tomorrow.  I'm on the committee (don't ask me how that happened) and I've organised a pincushion swap between members.  I suddenly realised I hadn't made one - not a good look if the organiser of a swap doesn't make an item to be swapped!

So this is my Belonephobia box (to save you a Google - it's fear of pins and needles!).  It's about four inches by 2 1/2 inches, quite large, but then you won't lose it.  It has rice in the bottom to give it weight and craft stuffing on top of that.  And it used up lots of scraps.

And then, of course, my little darlings saw it and both wanted one of their own.  I must tell them about 'thou shalt not covet'!

So here are two for them, just waiting to be stuffed and sewn closed.  I made them a little bigger and I don't think I'll put rice in theirs.  I have a suspicion they'll end up being thrown at each other so the less weight the better!