It Was a Good Day

Long time no blog! Had a problem with not being able to view any photos and was too busy to try and sort it out. Seems to be OK at the moment.

Also, this particular blog is new to me – I am blogging from within Word and will then add it to my blog afterwards – fingers X-ed (thank you, Ian, for the tip – hope it works for m).  Did not work!!!  Back to the drawing board.

Normally the Hutchins Quilters meet at work and we get together in one of the Science labs – great venue with lovely large tables, plenty of space for us all with the staffroom and kitchen as en-suite, just down the hallway. Because we were going to be a small group, I invited everybody to my home.

Carol presented our Try&Learn morning session: Hand Appliqué – loved the bright and kissable fish!

 Invariably, when you get to the pinning part, you end up on your hands and knees, crawling around the carpet, rear-end in the air, BUT Saddle did a quick about turn to prevent us getting this side of her; love the piece you are now working on, Saddle!

And what makes you think MJ and Carol were not having fun?

And just in case you think we did not do any work, and to set the record straight, this was taken during lunch time! No, really ……… Scout’s honour!  Here are just some of our snacks

It was an ideal day for quilting, chatting and having fun. This is a view out of my lounge window (with my sewing machine set up, iron ready and puppy in his bed, etc) – all misty outside – yet it was N I C E!

Thank you, Girls, for sharing my day and making the effort to come out on a wet and coolish day (at least we were warm inside!). I thoroughly enjoyed it!


And whenever I now look at a chilly, I will have a total new perspective on it LOL

Warm regards

WOW - what a great Craft & Quilt Fair day I had!

Woke up with a start this morning, looked at the watch, and jumped out of bed, thinking I had only 30 minutes to get dressed and get myself to the Derwent Entertainment Centre in time to meet Suzanne!  Whew, then realised it was only 8.15 am!

We got there in good time and our first pit-stop was a decent cuppa!  Our noses followed the aroma!  Then a quick shuffle on to where the workshops were being held - OK, too early.  No problem, we moved over to the quilt display area.  Gosh, there are so many amazing quilts on display, you struggle to take in what you see.  So many hand-quilted quilts of excellent standard, it just blew us away!  Magnificent work done by these people!

Shoot over to get to our first workshop, followed by the second one.  Met up with two other HQ quilters, MJ and Carol.  Carol stayed with Suzanne and I.  From the workshops we moved to complete our tour of the quilts.  Then we stopped off for a bite to eat - and met up with MJ again!  Finished our lunch and started our stall tour.

We stopped at each quilt fabric and sewing machine stall - and bypassed the other craft stalls such as beading, paper craft, scrapbooking, dolls and knitting.

My first purchase was this jelly roll and pattern.

This roll above will be turned into this quilt below.

Then followed this Ginger Jar and Kimono patterns:

I just could not pass this sashiko piece by:

And then these bright and proud chooks (I know, I have a thing for chickens!!)

Damn, he looks so proud of himself, strutting about and puffing himself up!

And later some jellyroll rulers, etc.  Put together, my purchases looked like this:

Left there just after 3.30 pm.  Could go back again tomorrow!!  Anybody want to lend me their credit card, please?

Oh well, with all my new goodies, it just means that I have a lot more sewing to do now - and new techniques to learn, such as sashiko, amongst others.

Where does one go to renew your lease on life?  I need a longer one - concerned I may run out of time to complete everything I still want to do!!

Warm regards 

 

Close-up on Winter

How do you know it is winter? 

• Well, when the grass, weeds and leaves look like it has been inside your deepfreeze!
• When the ground under your shoes go 'crunch'
• When a misty vapour rises when you exhale
• When your eyes water as the wind blows

These photos I took in the parking lot this morning when I arrived at work.  There was layers of black ice in various places as well - luckily none where I travelled.  Coming off our road from home onto the one main road, visibility was extremely poor and it felt very ghostly driving in the thick mist!

But on Saturday, 10 July, I will be warm as toast in the Derwent Entertainment Centre, feasting my eyes on all craft and quilting things at the fair!  Lots of workshops lined up to do too!  Gonna hit that credit card until it sings!  Cannot wait!

Warm regards 

Red Dawn with a Navy Visit

It certainly does not get much better than a sight like this!  Watching the sun rise across the Derwent, over the Eastern shore ..............................

and reflecting onto Mt Wellington in hues of orange ....

And then, we had the Navy drop in (yip, quite literally) for a visit to work today.  I am sure the little boys thoroughly enjoyed that!

Mmmmmm, I love a man in uniform (oops, that pilot is female!)

Warm regards

 

The arrival of the Electric Quilt 7 software

Woo Hoo

Finally and at long last it arrived!  Waiting with great anticipation for over a month to see this land on my desk has most certainly only hyped my inquisitive nature into high gear to see it put into practice!!

What the heck is she talking about? - you may be asking yourself.

Listen, do you hear that too?  Drum rolls .................... and .....................

Ta dah:

I now need to make myself a huge cup of tea, boot up my computer (preferably at home!), close the door and insert the disc into the CD tray to have a goooooood look!

I have also received two of my four books recently ordered.  So what if some of these books are for miniature quilts?  The one is called Twenty Little Amish Quilts and the other Tweny Little Log Cabin Quilts, both by Gwen Marston.  Cuuuute!

Did my duty at the Miniatures Extravaganza the past weekend and, Boy, was I impressed by the work the Ladies did!  (I have not attended meetings for quite some time so none of my work is there). Nearly finished with my studies, then I will not feel guilty when I do leisure things!!!

Check out some of these gorgeous miniatures:

The theme was Doorways to a Miniature World

And this weekend I promise you one thing - I will not feel guilty when I attend the Craft & Quilt Fair on Saturday.  It will be a busy day with loads of workshops to attend!  Gonna have some ME time!

Warm regards