Pavlova

I have been running around like a headless chook getting things ready for my daughter's birthday party tomorrow so just a short non-quilting post today! I was excited to get a phonecall today that an old friend of my sister's from New Zealand was in town so what does a Kiwi girl do? She makes a pavlova and takes it over to share with the fellow Kiwi! It was a great day to meet up with someone who talks like me! And the Pavlova was a yummy end to a busy but great day:)

And while I'm talking about food, here's a photo of our belated Thanksgiving I did on Sunday night...we weren't going to do the whole turkey thing but our kids were so sad that we didn't have turkey that I gave in and did it! I'm so glad I did - it was delicious!

Christmas Ornaments

Here is one of my latest projects...Christmas ornaments! The look like 4 patches in the photos but they are actually folded pieces of fabric and and really fun to make. I made 40 of them. Yes that's right - 40! They actually aren't for me. The ladies at church are having a progressive dinner in a couple of weeks and the ornaments are to be the favors.

My almost 7 year old (4 days to go!) helped me a lot - I got her to iron the pieces, pick the combinations, and place the pieces ready for me to sew. She loved it and we had a ton of fun.
So that was yesterday and today I made a quilt top. It is for a dear friend who just had a baby girl. I will take pics for tomorrow, but basically it is all pinks and browns using 9 patches I got in an online swap about 3 years ago. It's very busy but so pretty!
Stay tuned...

Thanksgiving our way...

Well today is a big non-event for us. My hubby is working, and well, nothing much is open, so the kids and I are huddled up in our warm little house watching movies! Home Alone 3 is done, now onto Edward Scissorhands. (My 4 son by the way, has decided on something he wants to collect....scissors. Oh yes, this will be fun.)

But don't feel too sorry for us - we did our Thanksgiving yesterday! We went out to lunch at a restaurant then went to the store and bought yummy things to make for dinner. For the first time since I've been in the States we didn't have a traditional turkey dinner. I don't really like turkey that much anyway, and hubby would rather have a good steak so we did it 'our' way! We ended up having the most delicious meal of rib eye steak, shrimp scampi, veges, and pretzel sticks just like Aunty Anne's - you know, the place in every mall?!! I have watched them make them, asked questions, and experimented, and have come up with something exactly like theirs! But maybe even better! I did take photos of the whole dinner but my camera decided to not work for a while and my hubby's camera won't show the photos on my memory stick. So no photos of our dinner! But trust me, it was great and we were very thankful for it in the spirit of the season and all :)

So today I have some photos of some things from the last week that I am thankful for...

A sweet, obedient and kind daughter...

The three handsome and loving men in my life...
A front yard full of leaves and kids to jump and play in them...
And a backyard with snow just begging to be made into a snowman!


Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Real applique at last!

Yes you read the title right - real applique, meaning, I finally have some real applique done! My daughter went to a birthday party today and I did the birthday girl's initial using needleturn. It was held at this wonderful new place called Miss Libby's where Miss Libby herself puts on little tea parties for girls. So much fun! This is my daughter when we were about to leave...(what I should have taken a photo of was the to-die-for red velvet couch with feather trimmed cushions!)

The theme of the birthday was 'Paris Tea Party' so I pulled out my Paris Flea Market fabrics and set to work. I used the map of Paris streets for the background, just to emphasize the theme even more! And though you can't see it in the photo of the 'K', I also quilted the rest of the birthday girl's name next to the K, along with lots of hearts and swirls. And just because there's nothing like getting a present wrapped in pink with a pink puffy bow....
And then, since I was all in the needleturn mood, I made a Christmas applique for the girl's mother. She was the one who gave me all that jewellery I blogged about a few weeks ago. So I owe her big time and I had to start somewhere! And once again, I used the Paris Flea Market fabrics. My Mother in law bought me the whole line when they first came out and it's been so hard to cut into them. I'm sure you all understand!
It feels good to be getting back in the applique groove :)

Pretty in Pink

My poor daughter - she has been sleeping on a mattress on the floor since we bought this place 5 months ago. And before she had the mattress, she was in a great big box! Totally her choice - she thought it was fun! But we finally got her a real bed. It's her first big girl's bed - she was in bunks with the boys before we moved.

So to celebrate her having a new bed I thought it was only fitting to paint her room. I thought it was an off-white before, but when I started painting it looked more like a yucky tanish dishwater color! Plus to make it really ugly before, the old owners had painted all the trim in her room brown. Just lovely. Now it is bubblegum pink with pure white trim! I think I am living out my secret dreams in her room - I would actually love a pretty pink frilly bedroom but I'm not so sure hubby would love it as much as I would!

'Before'... how the previous owners had it...(please take note of the lovely brown trim with the wall paint running onto it!)
A work in progress - don't you love the 'before' color?


And the quilty part of this post? Have a look at her bed - there is a quilt on it! My daughter and her Grandma in UT made it together in the weeks before we moved to NH. So it is a very special quilt to her. Please ignore the bed frame - I still have to get a pretty valance to cover it...oooh I love shopping for girly things!

....And 'after'!

"A Quilters' Gathering"

I was able to convince my DH to watch the kids so I could go to the NH annual show, "A Quilters' Gathering" last Thursday. He watched the boys but I had to take my almost 7 year old daughter with me but she loves quilt shows and I was glad of the company :)

The photo above is Diane Phalen signing a calendar for me - she was so lovely and she was the one that suggested I take a photo! I had told her about the first time I saw her work - it was about 15 years ago in NZ and my mother's friend had gone to the States and bought back a set of notecards for my mother and I by Diane Phalen. I thought they were gorgeous - quilts and fields and country cottages - so beautiful! I also told her that those notecards have been all around the world with me as I always intended to frame and hang them. They are still sitting in an unpacked box in our basement. I must get them out! I never imagined 15 years ago that I would meet the person who painted those cards that helped to spark my interest in quiltmaking!


And below are photos of quilts from the show - I was impressed, as there were a lot of quilts that were my colors and style. Here are some of my favorites...

"Wreaths" made by Nancy Henry

"Hypnotic Hypotenuse" made by Maria C. Shell


"Applique Sampler" made by Connie Krause

"Thanks, Suzanne!" made by Nancy Hahn

"Tilted Mountains at Sunset" made by Margey Keskin

"Pennsylvania Palette" made by Wendy Caton Reed

"Lady Liberty" made by Jane Raymond
"Baltimore Blues" no name

"Finding the Right Dance Partner" made by Valarie Maser-Flanagan "Spectrum II made by Fay & Merl Pritts (my daughter voted for this as her viewer's choice"!)

"Piecing the Color Wheel" made by Maria C. Shell

Happy Belated Halloween!

I have been flat tack since Halloween so thought I would catch up and start with our Halloween pics! We did the usual - kids got dressed up (my Batman son is still wearing his costume - I had to wrestle it off him to wash it!) and my hubby took them out while I got to stay home and hand out candy. It is so nice living in a family neighborhood!

Our decorations are quite tame compared to our neighbors - they go all out - theme music, fog, the works! It was just fantastic. And I promise they're not as scary in real life as they look in these pics!

And here are some photos of me - we had a Halloween party at our church where we did a "Trunk or Treat" and I dressed as someone who'd rather be in bed LOL! I wore my PJ's and rolled my hair in rags - when I took them out the next morning I swore I was back in 1986. Wow what an image! Funny thing was, my hubby went crazy for it - he just loved that it was something other than straight for once. So now I know, I may have to channel the '80's more often!! Well, once a year at Halloween anyway :)

Oh and how could I forget - I carved my first ever Jack O' Lantern! I stuck with a simple generic design - next year I will increase the degree of difficulty - maybe it will get eyelashes or something!