How many RSC Projects? And a special birthday.

 I thought it was time for an update on the collapsed wardrobe fittings.  You may remember that I had to get a workman around when the wardrobe rails came away from the wall and had to be replaced.  But first I had to take everything out of the wardrobes.  The back bedroom/sewing room wardrobe was the most difficult, with everything from winter coats, crates full of whatever, and innumerable bags of projects.  So much stuff!  And it all spent quite a bit of time on the floor of my sewing room.  It wasn't easy, but I managed to still sit and stitch at my sewing machine, surrounded by all that clutter.

There are piles of it

Where to start?  I really wanted to check through those crates and  bags so I knew what was there before putting them all back in the wardrobe.  I started with the multitude of jackets, I had forgotten that Robin had so many tucked away.  Six were donated to the lady who deals with refugee families, and she was delighted to take the men's jackets off my hands.  A couple more were donated to the Op Shop, and Grandparents raising Grandchildren were happy to take two bright yellow vinyl rain jackets for their older boys.  Plus  I sold an oilskin, warmly lined sleeveless vest, practically new,  from Robin's 4 wheel driving off road club days.  It had been many years since he had belonged to that club, and we had  certainly enjoyed some fun trips driving up in the hills with the group.

Two crates were quickly replaced  in the wardrobe, one with batting, and the other holding quilt backings, flannels and fleece.  That was easy, but what about these other crates?  I pulled everything out and looked in the various bags, finding some long forgotten projects tucked away.  One crate now contains groups of fabrics, not yet started - you know how we often have ideas for future projects and gather things together.

Projects not yet started

Into another crate went another lot of bags, these contained block sets waiting to be constructed.  Most of these are Rainbow Scrap Challenge  (RSC) monthly blocks from previous years - Happy blocks, framed four patches, Hollow nines, string pieced blocks.  Also some appliqued scotty dogs, and another bag of appliqued butterflies I had worked on.  It was so easy to stitch these blocks each month, and then they got left.

A whole lot of RSC block sets

There were plenty of  finished quilt tops in various places  these are now residing on the spare chair in front of the wardrobe.  A couple are pinned up, ready to quilt, others have the backing folded up with them, and I had planned ahead and  made the bindings for several of these quilt tops too.  

Waiting to be quilted

You may remember that I have often stitched simple draw string bags for kids in foster care.  I found a bag full of bits and pieces to turn into bags, colourful kids fabrics and linings, pigs, monsters, lots of novelty fabrics here.  There are probably enough for about 20 small bags here.

A bag full of bag makings

So..... where to from here?  I've decided I'm not going to count up all these projects waiting for me, I really don't want to know the answer.  First of all I'm going to make three children's quilts for a special family, more about that later when I've finished them.  I've still got a quilt to make for my  great niece from her beloved Pop's clothes - I made one for her brother earlier in the year.  And I have two big bed quilts of my own I'd like to finish one day.

After the three special quilts are done I've decided that I'll start on this bag, the first one pulled from the crates and examined.  It contains string pieced blocks, and chickens, both long forgotten.  And I'll leave the bag full of draw string bag pieces out and work on two or three regularly in between other projects.  

Chickens and string pieced blocks

Then I think I'll alternate between machine quilting and piecing blocks together.  Guess the point is not to get too stressed out about it all.  

I did sell some special fabric online.  Who can remember the pretty Flower Fairy range from many years ago?  I purchased some to make my granddaughters a quilt, but they were both much more interested in horses than fairies.  I also had two Laurel Birch fancy cat panels, that was snapped up too.  And as I find it too difficult to take my heavy Bernina to classes these day, I was happy to let my Bernina trolly case go to a new home.    So at last the repair and tidy up of the wardrobe is complete, thank goodness, it has certainly been a bit of a challenge.

Yesterday was my beloved Robin's birthday, he would have been 78.  That was a sad day for me, and yes, there were tears shed.  As everyone knows after a death, there is a year of "firsts".  First Christmas, first birthday without him, and then my birthday and our wedding anniversary to come.  Friends have been kind and thoughtful with messages, so that was very nice.  It's not the same without you, Robin.

NIcky's BIrthday Quilt

 My secret sewing is completed, I've finished and gifted the birthday quilt to my daughter Nicky for her 60th birthday.  Nicky had quite specific ideas for her birthday quilt, nothing sharp and spiky such as stars, she wanted 9 patches.  And in pinks and greens.  I could do that for her.  I had started the quilt some time ago, gathering up fabrics in the required colours, cutting and assembling the nine patch blocks.  In between times of course I stitched away at other projects and challenges.

Slowly the blocks were completed.  I stitched pink nine patches with a centre green square, and green nine patches with a pink centre square.  Webbing them together, I assembled the top.  What about the border, I pondered, and decided on a curvy ric rac with appliqued flowers and leaves.  That was a bit of a disaster, I didn't have enough ric rac!  All those curves were using up much more of the trim than I had calculated.  There was nothing for it but to drive down to Pete's Emporium in Porirua and hope they still had it in stock.  Luckily they did, so I purchased some more, and stopped off at a local cafe for a coffee and cheese roll as a reward, and thanking my lucky stars it all worked out.

I'd run out of this

Then I set to work on the borders, cutting out flowers and leaves, and then machine appliqueing them in place.  Gemma checked them out for me, she is such a big help.

Mmm, what's this, flowers and leaves.

The applique took me quite a while, then at last the top was finished and I dropped it around to get it commercially quilted.  But there was a problem, Deborah wasn't happy with the ric rac on the borders and was worried that the foot on her long arm would get tangled up on it.  The weeks were ticking by, and I was getting concerned about the timing.  Luckily Jacqui took the job on for me instead, and sketched out what she planned to do in the blocks, sashings and borders, all free hand guided quilting.

One step closer, quilt top and backing

I got the quilt back in time, and got on with the binding, stitching it on by machine, then turning it to the back and hand stitching it down.  I really enjoy this part, knowing I'm almost at the finish line.

Binding time

I used a pretty doiley for the label

So here it is, all finished.  I'm thrilled with it, and Jacqui did such wonderful quilting, it really makes the quilt come alive.  It's  on my bed while I took some photos before it was packed up and given to my daughter.  There were spare blocks so I made two cushions as well.

Not too bad, she's thinking

Last week the quilt was packed up into a bag, and traveled with me on the bus to Palmerston North.  These twice weekly off peak buses are great, and are free to oldies like me.  I really appreciate them as it saves me driving up there.    Nicky had taken her birthday week off work and met me at the bus terminal.

Birthday gift for Nicky

She had a quick peek in the blue bag, then put the bag in her boot to take back home.  Morning tea was first on the agenda, I was looking forward to a coffee by this stage,  then a little shopping to get some necessary items, and before we knew, it was time for lunch.  This was a "new to me" place that Nicky sometimes goes to.  I enjoyed some yummy prawns, and another cup of coffee.

My lunch

By this stage it was time for her to drop me back to get the bus home.  It was a lovely day out, catching up with my daughter and delivering her gift, spending time together and enjoying a tasty lunch.

A Finish and a Birthday

 I have a Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) finish, I'm pleased to say.  It all started  when I found I had a piece of black and white fabric which I decided to use as a boys project, adding colours each month.  Nice and simple to stitch, and I stitched up four blocks each month.

This is how it started.

Part way through making these blocks I had run out of the original black and white fabric, so had to go to my LQS and buy some more.  I couldn't get exactly what I was using previously, but thought the black and white polka dots blended in quite well.  The final two block sets were  stitched last month, and I had enough to assemble the top, adding a plain black border.  Then a bit of time spent machine quilting, and on to the last part, stitching the burgundy binding down.

Who doesn't love stitching the binding down!

I'm quite pleased with how this turned out, and it will be a boys donation quilt.  Perhaps this one will suit an older, maybe teenage boy?  

All done

I was invited to an 80th birthday celebration today, for my friend Robyn.  I knew Robyn at Waiwhetu Girls College, back in the day.  Although we had lost touch for quite a few years, I bumped into her at a meeting when we moved to Levin, and our friendship picked up again.  So that was really nice. 

Two old school friends

 The weather was glorious, a calm and sunny winter's day, it felt rather like Spring, with not a breath of wind.  Robyn's family put on a lovely day for her, and provided all the food.  The boys cooked up a storm on the BBQ, there were salads, savouries and sandwhiches, and a whole table of delicious birthday cakes and cup cakes.

Just look at all this deliciousness

I had a lovely afternoon helping Robyn celebrate this major milestone in her life.

The Keeper of the Quilt

 My niece Lisa called in for a visit the other day when she was passing by on a holiday trip.  I had asked her if she would like to become the "keeper of the quilt".  This is a family quilt, one I made for my mother for her 80th birthday back in 2002.  I had sent pieces of fabric out to everyone and asked them to write, embellish, or embroider something of themselves as a message to go on the 80th birthday quilt.   It was exciting to see all the individual blocks being returned. Lisa was delighted to take the quilt into her safe keeping.

Lisa and the family quilt

There were blocks from us four siblings, two son in laws, and all the grandchildren, and a very special nephew.  The youngest grandchild had his baby hand traced.  I added extra blocks in the names of my mother's sisters.  There were several photos printed on fabric, a special one of my grandmother who sadly died when my mother was about 8 years old or so.  The largest photo is of my mother and hung in the family home when I was growing up.  And underneath are three smaller photos of her over the years.

The 80th Birthday Quilt

I really enjoyed putting this together and making extra blocks to fill in spaces as required.  We had a family get together for this special birthday, and the quilt was presented.  All those very special family blocks were inspected, oohed and ahhed over, and admired.  

Sadly, as often happens, this quilt was deemed "too good to use" and was folded up and put away.  Many thanks to Lisa for taking care of the quilt now, and she told me she plans to use it and snuggle under it.  That's a nice thought, knowing that Lisa will be surrounded by all those family members, some have passed away and all the little ones are now well grown up.

And now, 23 years later, I will be turning 80 this year.  Goodness me, how did that happen?

Final red stitching and Happy BIrthday

 Each month for my Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) I've been stitching up oven mitts in a bid to finally  use up my decreasing selvedge collection. The RSC colour this month is red, and I had a small group of red and mostly burgundy selvedge strips to work with.  There were just enough of these to make the two outside pockets on my double handed oven mitt.  There is quite a bit of stitching in these, but at last I was up to stitching the binding down.  I started this job last night, and finished it outside under the Archgola this morning.  Today the weather is nice and warm, hard to believe that sub tropical  storm Tam had been lashing Northland and causing a lot of damage.

All clipped and ready for stitching

It was pleasant sitting outside, working away, with a cuppa to hand.  Gemma was outside keeping me company too.  And here it is, all finished.  This is the fourth one so far, I've made one in pink, dark blue, yellow and now this last one.  These will probably be gifts later in the year.

Burgundy/red this month

Yesterday Gemma celebrated her 7th birthday.  Goodness, time goes fast.  I can remember when we collected her as a kitten, all those years ago.  Birman kittens are born white, and their colour points come in as they are growing.  Gemma is a Seal Point Birman.  She spent part of her birthday in her tower, laying on the pretty pink blanket I had recently knitted for her.

This is the life

Cats really have the best lives, don't they.  Gemma lounged about all day, then decided to tell me it was close enough to 5.00pm so it was her mealtime.   Of course I gave her some of her favourite food for her birthday dinner, a nice helping of Jimbos.  Then more snoozing after she had eaten her fill, cuddled up to the opossum fur cushion on the sofa.

My tummy is full and I'm sleeping

And another one, just because.  I changed the quilt on the bed today.

The Birthday Quilt

I've been working hard to get a birthday quilt finished.  It all started with a bag of shirts I received from my niece Lisa when my brother-in-law Dennis passed away.  Dennis was  my late sister Kathleen's husband, and I started to make a quilt for their grandson Adam, in memory of his Poppa.  Just a simple four patch, I decided, with red and black frames.  Then my beloved Robin passed away late last year, and this got put on the back burner.

Making a start

The birthday invitation to Adam's 30th birthday in March gave me a bit of a shake up.  Goodness me, perhaps I can get this finished in time for the birthday.  So I worked away, stitching the blocks together.

Hard at work

Gemma is helping while I added the borders

The top was finally done, but being too big for me to comfortably handle, I needed to send it away to get commercially quilted.  Would it get done in time?  Of course it did!   While it was away, I got the binding prepared, and the label.  And here it is, all finished in plenty of time.  Deborah used a leaf quilting pattern, you can glimpse it in the black border.

All done, ready for Adam

Two extra blocks made a couple of cushions

Gemma a had a trip away as well, to the cattery.  She wasn't at all impressed and did a bit of hissing when she arrived.  "Don't worry", the owner told me, "I'll spend a bit of time with her to help settle her down".  As a former traveling caravan cat, she hardly ever went to a cattery, but now there is no option.

She is not at all happy

The drive up to Hastings was difficult, as I haven't really done long journeys on my own.  Obviously, I was a bit nervous, rather tense and ended up with a sore muscle on my side!  I drove through  drizzly rain, and the never ending road cones on the side of the road.  But where were the workers, I wondered?  The road cones are set out, together with the signs to reduce speed, with not a single worker on the road side in sight.  My little car behaved well on the trip, and as a bonus, I had discovered some petrol vouchers tucked away in the caravan when I cleared it out, so that filled the tank for me.  After a couple of stops along the way I finally pulled into the motel, pleased to have arrived.  It wasn't the best motel I've stayed at, but I guess you get what you pay for.

My home for the next two nights

Adam was having his birthday celebrations at home on Saturday evening, nice company and a home cooked meal, together with a birthday cake.  I'm pleased to say that he seemed very pleased with his 30th birthday quilt, and recognised the fabrics as his Poppa's shirts.

Adam and his sister Kate

Happy Birthday Adam

It was a very pleasant evening indeed and I'm pleased that I made the effort to make trip up by myself.  My niece Lisa presented me with this lovely quilting fridge magnet, those words are so true.

A gift from Lisa

The Final Step

 The final step to quilt making is to stitch on a label.  (Although I don't do this on donation quilts).  Adding a label is like "signing off" a quilt, giving the details, and I always add one to those quilts I gift to family, and those I'm keeping for myself.  I've just finished hand stitching this simple label so Birthday Bouquet is now finished.

Like a lot of my projects, this one had a long gestation period.  Way back in the year 2000 I took part in Southern Cross Quilters Birthday Block Swap.  We were matched to 11 other quilters and during their birthday month stitched and posted a block to each one, with me getting 11 blocks back for my birthday.  We had already swapped any fabric we wanted included, and because I wanted a big bed quilt, I took part in two birthday block swaps that year.  I had sent a piece of the floral fabric in the label to each participant, which also gave them some idea of the colours to use, and they could stitch whatever block they liked.  I was so thrilled when the blocks were returned on my birthday month, but they sat in a bag for sometime.  Why?  Goodness knows, guess I got caught up doing other things. 

 A year or so ago, the blocks were finally stitched together, and I added the border, using up the rest of the floral focus fabric.  Then it was sent off to be commercially quilted. Another wait for a while, then the  binding was added, then I stitched the final step, the label.  I really love how this has turned out.

Birthday Bouquet

So it is a rather belated thank you to all those (mostly Australian) quilters who took part in this block swap so long ago.   I had fun stitching your birthday blocks, and love what you have done for me too.

My birthday socks finished, and gift

 I have finally finished this pair of socks for me.  This 4ply sock wool is branded Happy Feet, no colour named, just a number, and I received it as a birthday gift last year from Sew Wot friend Mary.    As most of you know, I knit my socks flat, two at a time, and packed the finished socks in my knitting bag on our recent caravan trip planning to get side seam stitched up.  That never happened, and I finally completed this task once we returned back home.  It's about time I finished them.

Although it is now Spring, we are having awful weather and no doubt I will be wearing socks for a little bit longer.  I'm really looking forward to the weather co-operating more and being able to wear lighter Summer clothes again.  The last couple of days of our trip home were cold and bleak.  Just look at this weather out of the caravan window!

Brr, it's chilly out there

Low clouds followed us as we drove along the Desert Road, and the traffic was quite heavy as it was the last day of a long holiday weekend.  There is no actual sandy desert as such, and the scenery changes dramatically, from sub alpine trees, to miles of tussock covered land which is used for military training, and then changes again to rolling farmland at the southern end. The rain and low clouds followed us, obscuring my view of Mt Ruapehu.

It was time to stop and catch our breath at Waiouru.  Robin attended to the fuel requirements while I went over to the coffee cart.  I had an interesting chat with the owner and another customer inside when I mentioned we were on our way home to Levin.  Both of these ladies had lived there in the past. 

Time for a coffee

The weather had cleared and it was sunny again by the time we reached the last stop on our trip, Marton.  Gemma was keen to get outside and smell the flowers, but that didn't last long.  Before too long, down came the rain and wind again, and we spent the last night of our trip tucked up cozily inside the caravan.

We returned home safely the next day, unpacked, and put the first load of washing on.  My friend Dot called around with birthday gift, isn't it lovely!

Thanks, Dot

Caravan Trip and Another Birthday

 Last weekend we were getting ready to leave for a caravan rally.  Gemma decided to make life difficult for us, with all the hustle and bustle of packing the caravan going on.  "Why not give my people a hard time and hide for a while", she thought.  We were all ready to go and searched here, searched there, to no avail, then searched again.  Robin finally found her curled up and keeping low in a place I had already checked twice!  I don't know why she acts like this, after all she goes away in the caravan once a month at least so should be well used to the routine by now.  Finally she was secured in the car and we got on our way.

She can be rather naughty at times!

We were heading off to the Pohangina Domain, formerly the village school.  As we had a lunch date with my daughter, we were the first to arrive, put our van on site, and left before anyone else arrived.  The old school grounds are surrounded by lovely mature trees, and there are plenty of native birds everywhere.  And because it is a rural area, lambs were bleating, cattle were mooing, and the roosters were crowing!  The name Pohangina translates to "ulcerated night", suggesting that the valley had been a place of bloodshed between the local Rangitane people and their enemies.

It was a short 15 minute drive to The Herb Farm where we were meeting for lunch.  Nicky used to work here for several years in the laboratory, mixing up potions and creams. 

 We had a lovely lunch and then she had a couple of gifts for us.  One for Robin, for his birthday several weeks ago, and another for me.  I'm keeping mine to open on the actual day.  I had something for her too, several balls of crochet cotton which were looking for a new home at my last quilt club meeting, plus some extra  reels of thread I had.

The weather for our caravan weekend away was glorious, fine and sunny, such beautiful Spring weather.  The sunhats got their first outing of the season.  We took a trip to check out Totara Reserve, a rather nice camping spot.  Not yet open for the season, we left our cars at the locked gate and walked in.  

Enjoying the peaceful surroundings

On Sunday morning our caravan group packed up and headed away, most going home, but we were heading north, to Hamilton.  We stopped the night at Ohakune.  I know that towns in Australia are famous for the Big Pineapple or the Big Prawn, but here in New Zealand Ohakune is world famous for the Big Carrot!  Plenty of carrots are grown here, as well as potatoes and swedes.   In case you are wondering, the name Ohakune means "an opening to a new world" and refers to the descent from nearby Mount Ruapehu into the valley and swamps of the area.

The Big Carrot of Ohakune

We drove past Mt Ruapehu as we continued on our journey, it's always such a lovely sight to see.

Mt Ruapehu

The plan was to stay for two nights at Otorohanga, the name means "food for a journey".  There is a legend which tells of a Maori chief passing by, who chanted incantations that stretched out his meagre supply of food to last the full journey.  Otorohanga has a Kiwi House where visitors can go and see our elusive nocturnal national bird.  How about this colourful statue on the side of the road?

We arrived in Otorohanga

We decided to go out for a celebratory birthday dinner at the Otorohanga Club while we were here, a day early, as our next stop is in a very small settlement indeed and may not have somewhere to celebrate my birthday.  That wouldn't do at all, would it!  We both enjoyed roast pork and veggies, and bubbly for me, and a beer for him.

Our meals were delicious

After breakfast the next day (my actual birthday) I had cards and gifts to open, how exciting.  Such  a lovely time opening parcels and exclaiming over the contents.  First up was the parcel from my daughter Nicky.  She had buttonhole stitched around three new flannels (face clothes) and had included a bag of Russian Fudge.  

From my daughter Nicky

I had two exciting parcels from Sew Wot friends too.  Heather had wrapped up a pretty candle, a crochet dishcloth, a packet of pretty paper serviettes, and just look at that cute little pink pig!  

Thank you Heather

And lastly, the most lovely knitting bag from Mary.  At our last Sew Wots morning I had admired the knitting bag which Mary had made for Jude, and now she has stitched one for me as well.  This  bag is made with pussy cat fabric and the words say:

The Quilter's Cat.

Between layers of fabric stashes snuggles the Quilter's Cat

Sleeping by day, prowling by night

Shedding hair for all to wear

The Quilter and her Cat

A picture of contentment at that

Knitting bag from Mary

I had a lovely birthday with plenty of messages, and a phone call from my son.  "You are getting old, Mum", he commented.  "I'll be even older next year with my BIG birthday", I replied.  Where have all those years gone?