Nothing like a holiday

There is nothing like a holiday is there, a change of routine, new places, new experiences.

Hubby and I went to Sunshine Coast Australia to visit with family and meet the newest members to the family, my nieces partner AJ and their son Harlan. My great nephew has made my sister a grandmother for the first time and of course we wanted to spend time with them all before Harlan gets too grown up.

This trip took place at beginning of June when the temperatures here in New Zealand were starting to get a little cool. We flew back into New Zealand on the shortest day and we all know that things get a lot colder after that, and they sure have.

We thoroughly enjoyed getting back into summer clothes for several weeks and being able to enjoy meals outside again.

The view from our apartment, surfers were always out there long before we got up each morning. They are just black dots in the water until you look closer.

Sunset at Noosaville, where we had dinner out on the patio. Sheer bliss.

Hubby with greatnephew.

Rainbow beach, where the beach becomes the road.

Dicky Beach, very cool beach.

These birds always fascinate me, however my sister says the ibis are a nuisance and are always in rubbish bins and scavenging, a bit like the pukeko here in New Zealand.

Had never seen Pelicans in real life until I saw these. Absolutely fascinating, I couldn't get over how big they are and yet they can move so quickly.

Another sunset, this one is down by Mooloolaba Fish Market.

We can't wait until we get to go over again, although we get photo updates it isn't quite the same as having cuddles and conversations with loved ones.

Until next time, happy stitching everyone

Donna-Maree

The hexies continue...

With spring cleaning  and preparation for Christmas underway I haven't got as much sewing done as I thought I would. However I try to sit and stitch for at least half an hour a day and it is working, even these little snippets of time accumulate into results.

Here is my hexie progress to date, in terms of pieces being sewn together. I have chosen to use all different colours of fabrics, I considered using just one fabric line but I can't do it. I am a scrappy, throw it all together kind of gal. 

It is surprising just how many hexies you can get out of some scraps of fabric. Maybe this quilt will be the quilt that shows my history - the fabrics through my quilting journey, scraps from special fabrics evoking special memories. 

I really enjoy sitting and stitching the hexies, I find it incredibly calming but incredibly addictive!

I am very grateful to have the scraps of fabric to enable the variety that I hope will be in this quilt, I am also very grateful for the time that I can just sit and stitch these small pieces of fabric together. Funny that as we sit and make sense of the fabric pieces we also take time to sift through our thoughts and make sense of the pieces of our lives.

I have much to be grateful for especially coming up to Christmas which is such a special time giving us the opportunity to spend special quality time with those that are closest to us, our friends and family. 

Some stitching time is waiting for me - so until next time, happy stitching everyone.

Donna-Maree

November is moving on

I don't know where the last few weeks have gone. I have spent some time away with mum to get the results from some tests. We are just waiting now to hear when her treatment starts.

We spent some time with mums brother and his wife along with their grown daughters calling in to catch up with us too. It is really nice being so welcomed and having the support from extended family especially through these stressful times. My sister who lives in Australia was here for several days which was nice and my sister who lives in Auckland managed to get some time off which allowed us to spend an afternoon and evening all together with mum. It has been a very long time since mum has had her three daughters all together like that, special quality time. The time spent with mum, my sisters and my relatives made me appreciate anew the support of people who care about each other. 

I worked on my hexies a little while I was away and it was very special sitting with my Aunty Bev and us both working on our hexies together while visiting with each other. My hexie collection is growing, I will have to start sewing some together soon.

I have spent some time doing more organising in the sewing room and have now completed sorting all fabrics into bins by colour. This took longer than I thought it would and I now have better knowledge of my stash. I don't think it matters how large or small your stash is, I do think we all have more fabric than we remember and I do have more than I thought I did.

This afternoon I watched some videos on machine quilting by Leah Day and then had a bit of a practice session, trying out a couple of the design ideas I had seen on the videos. The first one was a meandering ribbon type design, this was more difficult than I thought it would be. The scale I was doing this on was a little small and I will try it again on a bigger scale. 

The second pattern I did was a curved line pattern which I really enjoyed doing and love how it looks. I think this one will appear on some quilts in the near future. 

The biggest thing that I got from watching the videos of Leah's today was to give myself permission to play and explore and that practice will develop my repertoire of designs while developing my self confidence in using them. Yes, I knew this already but sometimes it is good to have a reminder.

I also spent some time de boning some of my husbands shirts that were worn around the collar. The shirts were still in good condition other than the collars and will make a good contribution to my strip drawers and scrap bins.

That is all for today, so until next time happy stitching everyone.

Family interlude

Recently I made the trip to Whangarei to be with my mum when she had some day surgery. I stayed a couple of days up there and then we returned home where mum has spent some time with us before returning to Whangarei with my daughters and grand daughter. While they were all here we were very busy trying to fit everything in, as you do. 

We did manage to spend most of a day in Hamilton where we had a picnic at the Hamilton gardens overlooking the awesome lake and then power visited as many gardens as we could in the time we had - not easy to do with your mum and a toddler in tow, their paces being very different to the more energetic members of the group. I didn't think to get pics of the lake, but I can tell you that the gardens were very busy and there were quite a few families enjoying the sunshine and enjoying picnics too.

Some pics of my favourite gardens. 

Wouldn't this design look amazing on a quilt?

We have all lived in Hamilton previously, me with my parents and family as a child and teenager and as an adult with our own family - so the trip was significant for everyone as we all have memories and were keen to see some of the many changes that have happened since we were there last. 

My dad was in the Air Force and not only did he work at Te Rapa but we also lived there for a time. I remember the first time that I shopped at The Base at Te Rapa and the emotions that I had, sitting there where my family had years ago lived and worked with no visual evidence of what had been there previously. I really wanted mum and my girls to see and experience it too. It totally blew my mum away and I think she experienced emotions similar to the ones that I experienced the first time I went there since The Base was developed. 

With the Air Force bases being converted for other uses, the places that we have lived as a family through my lifetime have slowly all been changed with very little of the history being visible. I have found this very hard and I can't exactly explain why, other than that you question whether your experiences ever really did happen as there is no physical evidence that anything ever existed there. All you have are your memories and some photos from that time, which aren't plentiful compared to now with digital cameras.

All in all though it was a very enjoyable day and a fantastic opportunity for four generations to spend quality time together and to make some new memories.

Until next time, happy stitching everyone
Donna-Maree