A Kaleidoscope of Butterflies, and Elvis

Kaleidoscope, such  a lovely name for a group of butterflies, although I quite like the alternative name Flutter as well.  I've just put a top together featuring butterfly blocks.  This completion ticks two boxes this month, first for the Chookshed Challenge, as butterflies was on my list for number seven.  Plus, I made the blocks as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, way back in 2022.

I know I've mentioned my former neighbour Dorothy many times.  I received a whole lot of her fabrics when she moved away, including a great pile of her beloved butterfly fabrics.  I stitched four blocks sets using her butterflies in 2022, and still have a lot of fabric left, enough for several more butterfly quilts, I imagine. 

All these still waiting for me

I assembled the butterfly blocks together over the last week or so, choosing purples, blacks and pink, using spotty neutral fabric for the sashings and border.  There are still enough of these blocks in blues, yellows and tan for another single bed quilt.

Lots of pretty butterflies

Then today, I laid it down on the carpet and pinned the layers together.  That's always hard on my back, but the weather wasn't nice enough for me to pin it up outside on the patio table.  Gemma gave it the once over and decided she would quite like to catch a fluttering butterfly outside one day.  She has been known to catch a moth occasionally.

Mmm, just look at those butterflies, but they are not all a flutter, are they, she's thinking.

And look what I received in the mail this week, Elvis is saying hello to me.  My daughter's friend Heather is having an extensive USA trip, and went to Gracelands.  She knows I'm a great Elvis fan so sent me this postcard, how kind is that!  "Elvis says Hi", she wrote on the back.  I'm sure if he was still around he would know I was one of his greatest fans, I've been smitten since I heard him singing "Love me Tender", and that's going back a long time now.

Elvis says "Hi"

Brr, it's getting chilly

Our weather has turned wintry again, with snow on the ranges.  That didn't last long, when the rain arrived, and some wind.  It is still winter after all, it's just that we have been spoiled with calm, mild, sunny days for ages. Luckily, there is a heat pump installed, so there is clean, efficient heating here in my little home.  And it has been perfect soup making weather too.  My latest batch was pumpkin and kumara, so nice and tasty, with added pieces of fried onion and bacon, after it was whizzed smooth.  This was made in the microwave, and I do love home made soup.

Creamy pumpkin and kumara soup with added bacon

Gemma had a difficult morning recently, it was time for her annual vaccinations and health check.  I picked her up and put her in the carry cage before she realised what was happening.

How did that happen, she's thinking

Gemma doesn't make a fuss being in the car, and it was a short drive down to the Vets.

Here we are

Gemma was a little uncomfortable when she was lifted on to the table and the vet checked her over.  Everything was fine and she was given her vaccinations.  I had asked if she could get her claws trimmed as it always took both Robin and I working together in the past to get this job done.  She was most unhappy with this procedure and had to be wrapped in a towel, growling at the vet and struggling to get away.  I told the vet that I had never had a cat who growled before.  Finally, with three paws clipped, she was getting so distressed that we agreed to give up  - she couldn't get back into her carry cage fast enough.  Poor Gemma, I wondered if she would forgive me for this abomination when we got home.  She hopped into the hidey hole in her tower at home to recover from her ordeal.

I'm hiding, don't touch me.

I've been doing a bit of knitting in the evenings and more importantly, I'm working hard to get my secret sewing finalised for my daughter's birthday.  It's looking rather good, even if I do say so myself!  All will be revealed soon.

Mama Mia

I've just come back from an overnight stay in the capitol city, Wellington.   As I was away a little less than 24 hours, Gemma stayed home alone.  She was left with dry food, wet food, fresh water, and a nice clean litter box.  As she tends to snooze most of the day, I was sure she would be fine.  Although maybe her pussy cat brain would wonder where I was at bedtime?  My blue overnight case was packed, and I was ready to go.

All packed for an overnight trip

The coach collected me outside the village, with the next stop being Coastlands Mall for lunch.  Previously, I would have gone to my favourite Butlers Chocolate Cafe, but this chain of shops has now been closed, so I made do with an ordinary cafe instead.  I felt a bit rushed in making my choice as there was a long queue behind me, so missed the fact that there was nice hot soup on offer.  Never mind, I made do with a coffee and cake.  Next time I'll take my time to read the board properly.  After lunch I was taking a photo of the coach, and the driver offered to take one for me.

On the way to a big night out

Our hotel overlooked Oriental Bay, which is named after the ship "Oriental" which arrived in Wellington in 1840.  It was a cool day, with a light breeze, and there was an hour or so to settle down and relax.  The sun was streaming in the windows.

My room for the night

The view out the window

Dinner for the evening was at the very busy Dragons Restaurant.  Our coach group was seated at tables for 10, and the food just kept coming, it really was delicious.  Then it was just a short walk to St James Theatre in Courtney Place.

We walked to St James Theatre

St James Theatre was built in 1912, and is full of wonderful decorations.  However, it fell into decline and was very nearly demolished when the owners placed a destruction order on the site.  In 1993 Wellington Council purchased the property and handed it over to St James Theatre Charitable Trust, and restorations began.  

Inside St James Theatre

The show started with a hiss and a roar and continued non stop throughout the evening.  Song after well known song was belted out and had the audience clapping along.  It was very enjoyable and at the end of the show, the whole cast came back on stage and performed an extra rendition of several of the favourite songs.  It was a great evening, full of energy and feel good entertainment.  But I must admit I was feeling a little upset during the show.  Even though I enjoyed the music, I thought to myself, what am I doing here, surrounded by all these strangers, when I really want nothing more than to have Robin by my side, sharing this experience with me.  Alas, it is not to be.   We boarded the coach for the short drive back to the hotel. and I'm sure we all retired with the words of Abba running around our   heads. 

View from my hotel window at night.

After a reasonable night's sleep, I woke early, made a cuppa to take back to bed, then caught up with the news of the day.  Then it was time to shower, dress, and head down to the hotel restaurant for breakfast.  Mmm, I decided on pancakes, yoghurt and fruit, washed down with orange juice and coffee.

Sunday breakfast

With the bags loaded in the coach, and all the passengers on board, we headed north.  The coach dropped me back at the village, turned around, then continued on the journey.  It certainly was a great experience.  Gemma barely stirred when I opened the door.  She was tucked up in her tower and went back to sleep, finally getting up, stretching, and coming to greet me after an hour.  Perhaps she didn't miss me at all!

Oh, you've come back, have you.

Chookshed Challenge for July

 It's been a bit of a rush, but I'm pleased to say that I've finished my Chookshed Challenge this month.  Number 10 was chosen for July, which was my jungle panel quilt.  This panel was donated to me from my elderly neighbour's stash when she went into a rest home.  I received a lot of children's fabrics, and I'm slowly working my way through them, although there are plenty more tucked away.  There was no piecing involved with using this panel, so it was just a matter of smoothing the layers out and pinning them together.  I took advantage of a glorious sunny but cool winter's day and pinned it up on the patio table outside.  It's hard to believe that the weather would be nice enough for me to enjoy sitting outside at this time of the year.

Pinning the layers together

How to machine quilt this panel I wondered?  I had though of outlining all the animals, trees and flowers but......  In the end I stitched gentle curves across the quilt, then straight lines around the borders.

Easy quilting lines

A scrappy green binding was next, using some left over strips from my secret sewing project, stitching the binding on the front by machine, and hand stitching it down on the back.  I do so enjoy this final part.  I spent another sunny afternoon stitching away on this outside on the patio.

Binding time

This little baby quilt didn't take me too long at all to complete.  And it was practically free.  The panel was donated, and I got a part roll of the apricot backing fabric at no cost when a local company was closing down.  This is the last piece, I had used some previously, and given most of it to my daughter.  There was "frankenbatting" in the middle, when I had several strips that I stitched together.  Quite a  bargain really.

Baby animals jungle quilt

The weather has reverted back to winter, and it's cold, wet and miserable today.  The heat pump is keeping us warm, and Gemma is relaxing on top of the donation quilts, folded on the coffee table.

These look soft and cuddly, Gemma is thinking

The donation quilts were ready and waiting to be shown to the Sew Wot ladies yesterday, but unfortunately I got sick and couldn't host the get together.  Many thanks to Mary for taking over at short notice.  Goodness knows what laid me low, but I feel much better today, thank goodness.

Purple and Teal

 It was time to stitch up my purple block for Rainbow Scrap Challenge for my boy's donation quilt - that was easily done.  I laid them out on the bed and had a count and discovered I only needed one more block.  So I made an executive decision and made the final block, this time in teal.  Surely the colour teal will be selected in the next month or two, I reasoned.

Purple and teal blocks

With these two last blocks done, I decided I may as well  assemble the quilt top.  I don't have room for  a design board and often use my bed to lay blocks out and rearrange them.  A couple of afternoons at the sewing machine soon had the black sashing in place.  Then the black borders were added, and voila, the top was finished.

The top is finished

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.  Hopefully I will get this layered and pinned up shortly.

Gemma has been curled up some days in her little hidey hole in her cat tower.  A good place to snooze on these winter days, especially when the rain is pouring down.  She is not too keen on going outside then, she hates getting her little paws wet and doesn't like the wind in her face!  She's such a diva.

She's all nice and cozy in here

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 Christmas Barn

 We were away for the weekend at a caravan club rally, and there was a trip organised  to visit the Christmas Barn.  Of course I wanted to go, how exciting.  We shared cars and 8 of us drove down to see all the lovely goodies.  Lots of other people had the same idea, parking was at a premium, and the barn was packed with lots of customers.

So many lovely Christmas objects inside, all beautifully displayed.  Elegant Christmas trees everywhere, all colour co-ordinated, shelves full of goodies, and the barn was full to overflowing with customers.  There was really so much to take in.  While the ladies in our group browsed, the men retired to the cafe, where we eventually joined them for a reviving cup of coffee.  Most of the ladies had a little parcel to take back to the camp, including me.  I asked if there was any Jim Shore items available, as I have a small collection of these.  There were a few items, but nothing that I really liked, and I was told that the store is awaiting the bulk of their Jim Shore order to arrive.  What I did buy was a small Christmas tree decoration for both of the granddaughters.

  

The Christmas Barn

We had the use of a meeting room for the weekend for our morning teas and evening get togethers.  Our host was an Elvis fan and was gifted all these wonderful Elvis books to add to his collection.  I had a lovely time looking through one of these, lots of info, and so many great photos.  I've always been an Elvis fan, and visiting Gracelands is on my bucket list, although I don't really think that is likely to happen now.  But I can still dream, can't I.  

A wonderful collection

On Saturday night the caravan club members enjoyed a shared dessert.  There certainly was a lot of different desserts on offer.  I had been given some limes, so made a Key Lime Pie to take along and share.  I don't know if this was an authentic recipe, as it was made with a tin of sweetened condensed milk, but it was delicious.

Plenty for everyone

Look at all these cute teddy bears in the front window of prospective member Graham's van, collected over the years by Graham's late wife.  These bears were issued annually as a fund raiser for the Cancer Society.  Graham saw me out and about with my camera and invited me to take a photo.

A whole lot of teddy bears

Gemma enjoys her time away in the caravan, she lounges around most of the day, with the occasional trip outside with her harness and lead.  But she gets upset by loud car noises, so often scurries back to the caravan to sit in the doorway.

Curled up asleep on top of the sofa

We were not ready to return home after after caravan weekend away, but have more adventures in store.  Next stop, north to Napier.