A new family member

Welcome to our family, Jen.

Wedding excitement

The last few months has been busy with Wedding preparations. My son got married to his long time girlfriend. I am in the process of making a quilt but it had to be put aside in the last week as there were too many things to do to get ready for visitors and also finishing up at school. I  decided to make a little mini quilt with the fabrics to be displayed on the day. I was going to make for myself to display at home but now it is a promise to them before they get the real thing.  

It was a beautiful day and a great family time. Thanks to all for their contributions. My friend Shirley came to stay and filled any gaps with meals and things that needed doing. A great help in a busy time.

Now to get ready for Christmas and finish the quilt! 

Bye, Sue.

Friday Night Sew In

I settled in with some unfinished projects last night. One project I was adding a facing and have all but finished it. Unfortunately I can't post photos at this time as it is a gift for my daughter and I'm not sure if she might be watching here. ha ha. I will post a photo once it has been delivered.

Another project had it's binding hand stitched on. and here is a picture:

I still have some buttons to sew on but it is nearly finished. All in all a good night. I look forward to checking out what others have done last night as well.
Sue

Wedding in Brisbane

Mid August Peter and I headed to Brisbane to celebrate with my eldest brother and his new wife for their 

Wedding.

 

  The happy couple.

The stunning view from the wedding and reception venue.

 The wall hanging that I made as a wedding present. A little bit of  Dunedin with the Albatross colony at the entrance to our beautiful harbour.

A chance to catch up with my 4 brothers 3 of whom come from different parts of New Zealand as well as the one from Brisbane. It was a great time of family and friends both new and old. Next time we will have to spend a few more days.

Sue

Back to work

It has been a lovely couple of weeks doing all sorts of  crafty things as as well as some gardening when the weather was right.  I did go to the Gloria Loughman class but it isn't quite ready to reveal just yet. Although I was busy I don't seem to have much to show that is finished unfortunately. I did finish the items for Michell at the beginning of this time. Also helped a friend to quilt her son's quilt which looked great when she had finished. 

 This is what I sent to Michell

Hopefully I will get a little time in the coming weeks to show some finished items.

Bye for now,
Sue

Christmas in July present time

A big Thank you to Michelle for my Christmas in July parcel. It was so hard not to open before the allotted time!

 Close up of the two ends of the runner showing the beautiful hand worked blanket stitching.

I opened them up and went off to a stitching class so hopefully tomorrow night I can show you all a picture of my nearly finished quilt. It is a Gloria Loughman class doing a Luminous landscape.
Looking forward to seeing everyone's post tomorrow.
A great swap thanks, Cheryll and once again a big thanks to Michelle.

Friday night with friends

Had a good Friday night and Saturday afternoon working on my Christmas in July with Cheryll. So obviously can't show any photos yet. Only a week to go and then it's posting day. Feeling a lot better now I've made a bit more progress. It will be fun to have the big reveal on the 25th July.

I also finished quilting and binding the quilt for my friend in the last post. I  couriered it away and it was received well. Made it all worthwhile.

Bye for now,

Sue

Love heals

It is a long time since I published a blog entry. I have watched some activity from others which has been good.  I was reading the latest Machine quilting unlimited magazine and found an article that led me to this pattern that a lady had designed to make quilts for women with Cancer and undergoing chemotherapy. I got to thinking about a friend with breast cancer and decided to make one for her.  I just happened to be on holiday and near a quilt shop so went in and chose these fabrics for her quilt. I have finished the top and have a flannel to put on the back so it should be cosy.

Here is a link to the article and pattern. Love Heals pattern

I hope to get it quilted as soon as I can so it can head south to my friend. 

Bye for now,

Sue

A bit further on the way

This is what I got up to on Friday with friends:

Got the top pieced together now need to quilt it.

I started it at a class I went to at the end of February using Jewel box templates by Cheryl Phillips. www.phillipsfiberart.com
It was good to get all the piecing finished. I hope you all had a productive time.
I hope that answers your query Cheryll ?

Friday Night with friends

 http://stitchingcubbyhole.blogspot.co.nz/

I am looking forward to spending some time stitching with friends tonight.

Waitangi Day

In New Zealand today is a national holiday to celebrate the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi between the Maori and the European settlers. It also happens to be our  29th Wedding anniversary so we get a public holiday every year for our own celebrations.

It is a very overcast day today but on the actual day it was raining steadily. It was up in another part of New Zealand from where we live now.

Some of you will know I have been having problems accessing my blog in the last few days. I have managed to find my admin rights attached to another Google account that I have for Work so I can at least get in but there are a few issues that have been caused because of it. Hopefully I will get them sorted out.

Have a lovely day,

Sue

Julie's quilt

A few years ago my daughter went to America to be an au paire for a family. During that time she started a patchwork quilt and set about basing it on Jan Mullen's Making Roman Stripez  like mine. This is found in her book Cut loose quilts.

Towards the end of last year she brought it home and asked me to finish it for her. I put a navy narrow border on and then made more blocks for the outer border. I then quilted it and bound it. She was thrilled when I turned up with it finished for Christmas. What are Mum's for?

The individual fabrics she had chosen were very nice and worked well together. It is just the right weight for this time of year where she lives so is sleeping with it every night. I think it will be well loved and used.

Bye for now,
Sue

Happy New Year

Happy New year to one and all. My intentions over the holidays have all come to nought with a series of events which have prevented me from sewing or posting on my  blog.  I have enjoyed reading some of your blogs and getting inspired by what you have been up to.

A highlight was going to Milford Sound in New Zealand's South island on a glorious day. On the way  home we passed through a valley with Lupins as far as the eye could see of all shades of pinks and purples. The scent was amazing. I could have stayed amongst them far longer but work called my husband on.

Juts a small selection and it doesn't do them justice. They lined the banks of this river and you can just make them out in this shot if you look hard.

A lovely trip that now seems so long ago.

Next post I will put up a photo of my daughters quilt that I finished and quilted for her.

Bye for now,
Sue