What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

Our weather continues to cause a lot of problems. I think the only thing we have missed out on is snow, though we did have hail. But in the middle of it all, we had a gorgeous rainbow. And a gorgeous blue sky. We spotted this when out driving.

I have been finishing off a few little embroideries. I am never quite sure what to do them sometimes. I don’t necessarily want to make a quilt, so an easy solution is to turn them into hooped decorations. I have a spot above the sliding glass doors that is the ...

 My great niece Kate is turning 25 and having a get together to celebrate this milestone with friends and family.  Sadly we are unable to travel up to Hastings to join in the fun, as we had planned.  My son Michael turns 60 this month (gulp, how did that happen?) and we will be having a short caravan trip  down to the South Island to see him.  

I made Kate a cushion for her birthday and sent it up by mail.  She received it the following day, that was really quick, I though.  Kate likes blue, and she is one ...

I've been busy doing a little hand stitching lately.   On Saturday I attended a stitch-in day, organized by my quilt club.  The weather was miserable, wet and drizzly, but the hall was nice and toasty with the heat pumps working hard.  Others were machining away, but I don't like to take my sewing machine away from home theses days, it is just so heavy for me to load into the car and take it out at the other end.  So I make sure I have plenty of hand work instead.  Yesterday I starting  hand stitching the binding down ...

I have been outside keeping busy in the garden. I have been covering some of the plants as there is a frost predicted for tonight. It may not keep the plants warm, but it should prevent frost damage. Even with gloves on, my fingers noticed the chill.

I had a little celebration this week as I finally have my machine back home after nearly 10 months. One of the computer boards failed and it was impossible to get the part. After 7 months one arrived – and guess what? It was faulty! The company acknowledged they had a faulty batch, but ...

 My stitchery kiwi blocks are finally finished, just in time for the Chookshed Challenge in May.  I purchased a kit from Millie Mac Studios comprising of printed panels and stranded cottons.  These were a bit small for what I had in mind, and I'd rather work in Perle number 5 rather than the embroidery threads.  So I got the patterns printed larger, and sent the original kit up to my daughter to stitch at her leisure.

The designs show Mr Kiwi sporting his Christmas cap enjoying a variety of Kiwi Christmas activities.  Cooking on a BBQ,  and over a ...

 Number 5 is the number chosen for the Chookshed Challenge for May.  But I had two problems with that.  I checked my list of 10 challenges to find that I hadn't anything listed for number 5.  My list went from 4 to 6, very strange.  Then I remembered that I had made kiwi blocks my number 5 challenge, to join in with some of the others who were making kiwis too.  However, mine are embroidered, not pieced.

After sorting that little problem out, I went hunting for the elusive kiwi blocks.  They weren't in my bag with all ...

 A little stitching, knitting, and shopping, that's what I've been up to lately.  I always seem to have a pair of socks on the go, and these are my current triple knit (12 ply) pair.  Made with white/cream home spun wool, a gift from my friend Merilyn, with added speckled yarn, they are coming along nicely.  Once past the heels, I'm now on the homeward stretch.

 Last weekend we had a caravan trip away to Whanganui, stopping overnight on the way at Duddings Lake.  What a pretty, peaceful place this was.  We decided to camp off power so left the crowded motor camp behind and parked up around the lake on a large grassy area.  There were several caravans and campervans parked here, but plenty of room  between is all.

Our lakeside camping spot

The lake must be very healthy as we noticed plenty of bird life, and the frogs serenaded us in the evening.  How often do we hear frogs, we commented.  Their calls are ...

My knitting and stitching bags have come  away with me on our caravan trip.  I like to do easy knitting on car trips and I’m working on my blue socks.  Once past those tricky heels, the foot portion is all straight knitting till I reach the toes so doesn't need too much concentration.

Sock knitting in the car

Summer holidays means sitting outside under the shady awning working on my stitchery.  I’ve spent several pleasant hours working on one of my Christmas Kiwi blocks, and have now completed the kiwi and the BBQ.  That’s two finished ...

Just in time for Christmas, I've received my new hand crafted quilt ladder.  Robin had found a plan to make one of these on the internet, and asked his Menz Shed builder friend for advice.  While he was in hospital getting his second knee replacement, and the subsequent eight weeks recovery time, Brian the builder took the job over for him.  He measured the timber, cut and assembled the ladder for Robin - how kind of him.  Once Robin could comfortably stand on his knee again, he took over the sanding and the wood staining.  And then brought it home ...

It’s a good day to spend inside today, it’s been raining all day.  Mother Nature is a bit tardy as the season has changed over to Summer, so where’s the sunshine?.  My slow Sunday stitching is coming along well, and I have now finished my first block of four of a cheeky Kiwi enjoying his Christmas Summer holidays.   Kiwi is camping in his Kombi van, cooking over the camp fire.  Yes, we celebrate Christmas in the Summer season here in New Zealand.

Kiwi cooking his dinner

I’m also stitching up a pair of birthday socks.  These ...

It’s another step forward with Noah's Ark – it is now pinned up and awaiting its turn to be quilted.  I went to a sewing day on Saturday and used one of the handy tables for this job. It sure beats crawling on my hands and knees on the floor at home.    Jude shared some of her batting off cuts with me, so one long piece was cut in half and Frankinbatted with my sewing machine.  And low and behold, just the right size.  The navy gingham for the backing was donated from my neighbour Dorothy’s stash when ...

I’m pleased that my Noah’s Ark stitchery blocks are now a top.  They were such fun to stitch, and this project traveled with us during our two months caravan trip around the South Island.  Stitching at lovely campsites after a day of sightseeing over the summer months, it was a very enjoyable project to work on indeed.  Not that they were completed during our holiday – but were slowly worked on when we returned home.  The designs were stitched on two large pieces of fabric, then  cut apart and bordered in different colours. 

While on our caravan trip I ...

Spring has officially arrived in my part of paradise, and along with it came Daylight Saving, so we had to put the clocks forward one hour last week.  I’m always so impressed that the computers and cell phones know how to do this themselves, so it’s only a couple of household clocks and those in the cars  which need to be altered, plus watches too of course.

The last reasonably pleasant days of Winter have given way to the tumultuous Spring weather.  It’s always so much more windy in Spring, it’s been rather wet off and ...

That’s what I've been up to with my hand work, a bit of this and that.  Remember those Noah’s Ark blocks?  Well, I’m another small step forward on this project.  So far I’ve cut the blocks apart, and have been sorting through different colours to border each small stitchery.  These blocks are tiny, although  I had already enlarged them from the original pattern.

Decisions, decisions

I need to find myself another stitchery pattern now.  Although it generally takes me a while to work on these type of things, I really do enjoy this easy stitching ...

I’ve finally completed the last block in my Noah’s Ark stitchery project, which just happens to be the Ark.   Here it is sitting high and dry on   Mount Ararat, with a bluebird perched on top getting her bearings after all that time on the water.

The last block to stitch, Noah’s Ark

Here are all  the blocks together.  I took this project down to the South Island to work on during our ten week road trip.  It was so pleasant sitting outside under the caravan awning stitching away at all sorts of different places.  Since we returned ...

I've been slow stitching on my pair of elephants  for my Noah’s Ark stitchery project.  Such magnificent animals indeed.  Now this block is completed, I only have one more block  to do, so that’s exciting.

Elephants, walking two by two

Goodness knows how I’ve come to be working on three pair of socks at the same time!  This is all secret knitting for gifts so I’ll have to keep knitting away.  Guess all this knitting cuts into my hand stitching time, but never mind, variety is the spice of life, so they say.  As a ...

Sunday mornings here always start with a cooked breakfast, which is Robin’s task.  This morning he cooked up some bacon and eggs.  Always a good start to a lazy Sunday morning when things aren't too rushed.

My stitchery block of Noah and his giraffes needed finishing, so I sat and stitched for a wee while today.  There, that’s one more block from my Noah’s Ark stitchery completed.  I had a count up and there are only two more blocks left to do.

Hello Noah

I’ve also been plodding away on my navy cardigan, I’m ...

It’s always nice to get the chance to sit and do some slow stitching.  I’ve just finished another of my Noah’s Ark blocks, and this one was tiny.  Actually, I had doubled the size of all the blocks, because I wanted to stitch mine with Perle 5 instead of stranded cotton.  So you can image just how tiny this pattern would have been in the original size.  This block contains snails, tiny bees and lady birds, and two very small butterflies.

Insects for the Ark

The other slow stitching I’ve been doing is to hand stitch ...

I’ve finally found time to work on my small Noah’s Ark stitcheries, these are designed by Lynette Anderson-O’Rourke.  I took these away on our South Island trip earlier in the year, and worked on them at various stops on our holiday.  Sadly they have been “out of sight, out of mind” for a wee while.

The first small block completed were a couple of very friendly penguins, holding hands as they walk into the Ark.  Aren't they cute!

Penguins

Next were two strange looking blue birds, clutching a silver fish in their beaks, while each were ...