Heartfelt Thanks & Some Joy In My Life Again ~

I just wanted to say first up, thank you to all of you who read my blog and took the time to leave an expression of sympathy at our loss ~ it is with much gratitude, appreciation and heart felt thanks that I read all of your comments and it is nice to know that others care even though it is such a big wide world and in most cases we live so far apart. My daughters and I are slowly stepping one foot forward at a time ~I am so grateful that I have my 'needlework passion' to immerse myself in whilst I re-adjust to a world that is quite out of sorts ~

But amidst the sorrow is joy, joy gained from the generosity and beauty of spirit shared with those others who love to create. A beautiful friend, a friend I have not met as we live in different hemispheres sent me the most divine gift in memory of my husband. A gift crafted with her own hands and one which has been watching over her own family before she came to live with me and my girls just this past week. The gift is beyond precious to me and is just perfect, I will treasure her in remembrance of my husband every day ~ my 'Joy Angel' ~

~ We live in a converted church and she just fits right in~ 

~ O my word she is just beautiful, I LOVE her ~

~ Just look at that gorgeous gown ~

~ And that darling early American crackled face, those red lips, those eyes , that hair ~

~ And the rusticated cross with dedication to Craig and wax seal ~

~ Beyond amazing and a gift to be  truly treasured ~ thank you Rachael ~ 

~ Look Rachael, I had the perfect globe and base for her, I had already aged this for another
project but it's perfect for my 'Joy Angel' ~

I am feeling really quite blessed this post, blessed that despite the trials life sends your way, there are those that truly care ~

I met another online friend for the first time just before Easter. She lives only a few hours away and she came bearing a finished project of mine. Leeanne from Quiltmekiwi returned Mountmellick to me all quilted and needing only her binding sewn down. Thank you Leeanne it was so lovely to put a face to the name and to have a chat over a coffee whilst admiring all mine and your hard work ~

What an amazing quilt, what a great mystery project Quiltmania, what a great design Di Ford, what great quilting Leeanne ~ she's beautiful ~

~ Just lounging around ~

~ Striking a pose ~

~ Fabulous vase of chintz flowers ~

~ Twirling vines, hexies, circles and triangles galore ~

~ Love the feathering in the border ~

~ Love the swirls and twirls making everything 'pop' ~

~So much going on, just as I wanted ~

~ Those swags and diamonds make such a beautiful frame ~

~ And the back side's a stunner too ~

~ Another beautiful dutch chintz was my choice for the backing ~

~ Loving the pebbles and the 'popping' elements ~

~ I grew to love hexies doing this project ~

~ WOW ~

What more is there to say ~ but thank you SO much my beautiful stitching and creative friends ~

~ May Your Days Be Filled With Salubrious Stitching ~

Too Much Poof? Poof!

This week has still seen me faffing around with Mountmellick. I have been dwelling on that annoying fusing in the centre of the quilt and as Leeanne {my quilter} and I have been emailing back and forth about the quilting she came up with a brilliant suggestion ~ what about 'Trapunto~ing' it ~ light bulb moment ~ why didn't I think of that ~ it's even a part of the new Quiltmania BOM for 2015 by Le Fee Piroutte by Nathalie Meance AND I watched those videos but didn't think to utilise on Mountmellick ~ must be getting old ~ anyway, that's what I spent last evening doing with my sharp pointed scissors, my stuffing tool and some stuffing, I would have used wadding like Nathalie does but I didn't have any and so stuffing it was ~ I hope that's ok ~ it surely has 'poof' now ~ too much 'poof'? or just right? ~ I didn't put that much in but it 'poofed' up real quickly ~ I hope we don't need to perform an extraction Leeanne! ~ after all it was my first ever go at trapunto ~

~ Look at all that 'poof' peeps! ~

~ 'Poof ' in the swags and in the diamonds ~

~ 'Poof' in the vase too ~

~ It has certainly added some dimension to that flat and lifeless fusing ~

~ Now that's an eye popping swag for sure! ~

Anyway, 'poof' or too much 'poof' I don't need to overthink this anymore and so she is packed up and posted today, off to the lovely Leeanne from Quilt Me Kiwi.

Now to patiently wait for her return in 6-8 weeks ~ hmmmmm ~ it's nerve racking sending off such a labour of love to be entrusted into the care of the postal service ~ I'll relax when I know she's there safely ~ she's going on my bed so she's a she ~

~ May Your Days Be Filled With Salubrious Stitching ~

Respite & Success Brings A Fabulous Result

The heat and humidity has dampened down here in the Northern Climes of New Zealand, we've had rain and some cooling south westerly breezes, some respite from the humidity that will likely only last until the sun comes to visit again and then it will probably be more humid than ever with all that evaporating water ~ so I thought I would taste some success whilst I had the chance to work in my studio without the fan blasting everything off the work surfaces and I wanted to actually sit at my sewing machine covered in great swathes of fabulous scrappy cottons ~ this is the result ~ a finish ~ well a finish for my bit ~ I'm not doing that quilting ~ Leeanne we need to talk ? WOO HOO ~ I did it, I really really did it ~

~ The beautiful final border strip prepares itself to be cut in half, ~

~ That was scary, no extra if I mess it up, the final element of a year long project ~

~ The grand finale, isn't she beautiful, look at all that work ~

~ She looks like a stained glass window hanging on the line right outside my studio ~

~ My one and only regret, I fused the vase and swag early on as I had never done
hand applique ~ @%&$ it ~ I will never fuse again it's far too flat and lifeless ~ 

~ What a magnificent journey I have been  on, thank you Di Ford, you taught me

how to hand applique and to broderie perse and to have the patience to do it in hand

because  the result is so far superior ~ 

~ LOVING the look of all these divine scrappy repro's meshing together ~

~ Loving all those borders, one, two, three, four ~ and the rest ~

I am jumping up and down with excitement that I have finished this journey with such an awesome result, the Quiltmania 2014 mystery is solved, Mountmellick rocks!

So onwards and upwards and never one to be idle, I have started one of my two 2015 BOM's. This one's in wool with big embellishing threads and the needles are HUGE when compared to what I normally use but I am having such fun with the colour and texture. Now we are not allowed to show any progress pic's of what we are up to cos eventually in a year or so's time it will be available as a pattern or kit I believe but here's the official link just to give you an inkling ~ but  sign up's closed. Sue Spargo

~ A rainbow of colours ~

Isn't her work brilliantly colourful, fun and OSO funky, love it and I have always loved working with wool not to mention being a convicted thread addict. I completed a little project just to kick start me into the Sue Spargo mode of colour, texturising and embellishing so I can share that, it's a nifty little Yazzi case jazzed up in Sue's folky style ~

~ The pockets are triangular and roll up into a square shape at the ends, nifty ~

~ Marie Antoinette is suitably impressed ~

~ A riot of colour ~

Now for a little something a bit left of centre I have been meaning to share ~ I have a bit of a thing for taxidermy, ~ taxidermy of cute animals ~ vintage and victorian ~ bird and butterfly domes from the victorian era I find most splendid indeed but they are virtually impossible to come by here in New Zealand of a vintage age and so butterflies being more readily available from suppliers here I decided to have a go at making my own globe ~ now some might say ewwwgh yuck ~ but the butterflies come from butterfly farms and don't live long and so I do not see anything ewwwgh yuck about it but an opportunity to appreciate their beauty after they have departed this mortal coil ~ I am most happy with my display and it fit's most splendidly into my home ~

~ A fitting location ~

~ I painted the base with Annie Sloane chalk paint and 'crackled' it ~

~ We went scouring for the perfect driftwood on the beach ~ then it was painted and
distressed with sandpaper ~

~ Faux velvet leaves, flowers and real butterflies were introduced to their new home ~

~ For that eccentric touch a flock covered Bambi was nestled into leaves at the base ~

What a mega fun week I have had, kids back at school, new achievements and a brilliant finish ~ hope your week' s been just as productive ~

Two Down

This morning saw the second of my two darling little ladyes head off for the start of the new school year. She's all a flutter with excitment ~ what a great attitude to school ~ dyslexia sits on her shoulder but she's bright and keen which is great, she'll just need to work that bit harder too achieve but her new teacher is real nice and has experience with dyslexia ~ looking forward to a positive year at a school that really supports their kids ~ the school have a higher than average expectation on their kids which shows in their school motto ~ OUR BEST ALWAYS ~

~ All dressed up and ready to go ~

Bye darling ~ my first day free to do exactly as I please, all the school day at least, since just before xmas ~ bring it on!

What pleases me today is to crack on with conquering Mountmellick, oh yeah, that finish line is SO close ~ and it's cooled down just a little ~ just enough to be able to sit at that sewing machine to do this piecing ~

~ Nearly, nearly there ~

~ Pinned and ready to stitch ~

~ Production line ready to commence ~

~ There's quite a bit of fussing around to do with cutting this border strip ~

My feline helper Louis has deserted me for the great outdoors but I still have one helper now his Mum, my eldest little ladye,  is back at school. Teddy isn't allowed to venture into the great outdoors without my assistance as we live near a busy road, Louis lost his leg finding out how busy that road is and seems to have learnt a hard lesson about not bothering to cross it, don't want Teddy to find out the same way! So he is safe inside today keeping me company and recovering from the indignity of being neutered yesterday ~ what's a dog to do in this situation but sleep ~

~ He's a six month old Pomeranian / Papillion ~

Have a great day / evening stitching wherever you are ~