Summer holiday

Summer holiday!  I love it!!  There was swimming, snorkeling and walks, we caught up with friends, climbed Mount Maunganui (232m or 761ft) and had too many treats (ice cream and chocolate!!)  There were books to read, easy one-pot meals to make and lots of family games.  I had time for reading, resting and stitching and made some progress with my Vignette blocks.  Also had an indulgent couple of hours to myself, while the family went fishing, to spend time in a gorgeous quilt shop, Village Fabrics, and a vintage shop at Te Puna. I came away with some lovely fabrics and patterns and some little vintage treasures too.  One of the new patterns was "Always and Forever" by Little House Needleworks and I started it straight away for a friend's wedding in March.  Only 360 days until the next one!  Wendy xx

January Christmas item

Festive trinket - Marg Low designs

I'm just back from my holiday in time to post my Christmas item for January, hosted by Narelle at Pins and Whiskers. The Festive trinket kit was a Christmas gift from Lynne as part of the Christmas angel swap.  I love the pattern and the gorgeous button so it was an obvious pick for my first Christmas project.  Well, back to my unpacking, I hope to catch up with blogging over the weekend, Wendy xx

Holiday sewing

Tomorrow we go on our Summer Holiday, yippee! I remember our family always having a summer holiday at a beach, sometimes tenting, sometimes in a bach (NZ beach house) and even a few times in a converted tram car.  With seven children it was no mean feat for my parents to organise and there would be quite a bit of tension in the air on packing day.  Once we had safely arrived the tension seemed to magically disappear and we could all get down to the business of enjoying ourselves.  We have continued that tradition on with our children and my year doesn't feel like it has started properly until we have had our January beach holiday.  We have tented for many years but this year we have booked a two room cabin at the camping ground we regularly go to at Papamoa.  Luxury.  As I ignored my Vignette quilt for most of 2012 I have decided that will be my holiday sewing and I am also packing a Christmas decoration kit for a bit of variety.  See you in ten days, Wendy xx

A new cushion, chicken bling, something yummy, and our winner

Heart and Home cushion by Lynette Anderson Designs

At the end of last year I joined Lynette Anderson's project club, see here for more information, and the Heart and Home cushion is the latest pattern for the club.  I loved it as soon as I saw it so this week I completed the stitchery and on Friday I was able to cut the 2" squares and sew the cushion together.  You may notice I need to finish sewing the bottom of the cushion together, but I wanted to make the most of the morning sun in our bedroom to take photos.  I love the flowers in the stitchery with the french knot centres.  The pattern has a cat button under the tree but, since I didn't have such a button, I stitched a little cat instead.  I may yet cover it with a button if I find one.
Charlie decided the chicken's needed some bling, so now they are colour coded - blue, purple and green! Don't hens have the cutest fluffy bottoms?
Have you tried homemade banana icecream?  We tried it for the first time a couple of weeks ago and it is so yummy and completely healthy.  I will definitely make this again.

Banana Icecream:
1 banana - skin removed and frozen overnight
1-2 cups frozen berries
1-2 Tbspn skim milk powder (optional)
Place the banana, berries and milk powder in a blender or food processor.  Blend until smooth.  You don't have to add the milk powder but it helps to make it a bit creamier.  I also added a trickle of water to help it blend together.  Keep in freezer.  Enjoy your guilt-free treat!

And lastly, our giveaway.  Thank you so much for all your lovely comments and interest regarding this.  Charlie and I decided to do the draw the old-fashioned way:

Congratulations to Kelli from Seriously, I think it needs stitches. Kelli, let me know your address and I will get the things in the post.  Wendy xx

My first giveaway

I said a few posts back how much I appreciate all of you, my blogging friends, so I decided it was time for my first giveaway.  While I was making my Happy Garland message board and the Zakka pincushion I made a second set that may be coming your way soon!  I am also including Fast, Fabric Gifts; a pretty book by Sally Southern with about 20 little gift ideas in it, and a pack of Moda Punctuation charm squares.  If you would like to win this giveaway, just leave a comment on this post and make sure you are contactable (ie. not a no-reply commenter).  I am happy to post anywhere and I will draw out the winner this Saturday, the 12th January, Wendy xx

FNWF sewing

We had a nice Friday night.  The kids and Paul had home made pizza and ovenfries and watched a movie.  Paul played his guitar.  I quilted Charlie's mini quilt.  She had requested a quilt topper which I started here with the specification it had to have a cat on it.  The pussy design is from the Anni Downs "My cat Claude pincushion".  I enlarged the pattern and went from there.  Last night I did the quilting, the binding and sewed on a little bling!  So a successful Friday Night with Friends, thank you so much Cheryll for organising this, it always feels nice knowing others are creating with you, Wendy xx

I've been sewing

Sweet hearts - designed by Carol Doaks

Happy garland message board - designed by Katrien Ban Deuren in Zakka Style

Zakka pincushion - designed by Sonia Cantie in Zakka Style

I so enjoy this time of year, everything just feels a bit more relaxed.  Although I have been working a little, mostly there has been lots of walks, barbecues, picnic lunches, movie watching, tidying, and sewing.  One of my best Christmas gifts was Paul finishing wallpapering and painting our bedroom.  I love the soft grey he painted it and will blog about it soon.  A corner of our room is my little sewing supplies corner and I decided it needed some decoration.  The simple hearts mini quilt, pattern shown here (you will need to scroll down the page), is paper pieced which I love as I always worry my piecing isn't quite accurate enough!  I even machine quilted it and, although far from perfect, I am happy with the overall effect.  Next up I made the message board from the Zakka Style book, I downsized it from 10" to about 6" to fit in my little corner.  And, just for fun, I made a pincushion from the same book.  I am often struck by a realisation that I have lots of patterns, books and magazines that I have hardly used, so this year I would like to try making more things from them, starting with the two above.  I also have quite a few Christmas patterns waiting to be made so I am joining in with Narelle's "1 Christmas item a month".  And I signed up for my first "Friday Night with Friends", see here, maybe I'll see you there!  Wendy xx