End of October tidy-up

I set myself a simple little goal for October's OMG in the hope that I would achieve it and also that it would kickstart some work on a neglected project.

All I wanted to do was add some pink to my Scrappy Sprouts blocks...pink being October's colour in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

I still managed to leave it to the very end of the month - but - yaay - I did it!! 

[In actual fact I cheated a little as the start of the top pink blocks were kindly donated by Sue of Mother Patchwork...although I did add the white/creams and add the bottom squares, etc :-)]

The scrappy sprout blocks always look a bit odd when they are at this
stage....

...but when they are joined up with a stem they look a bit more like scrappy sprouts! 

Scenic shot of the day. I thought the tree trunk would be big enough to fit the
blocks but not quite... it was too curvey!

We have everything in that photo above, the cows walking back to their paddock, the apple tree blossoming, sweet peas growing, the grapevine taking over PLUS the re-generating orchard paddock after Miss Piggy dug it all up. Spring has well and truely arrived!

Thank you Patty for hosting the One Monthly Goal party. Patty also has Bag It 2017 running at the moment - click *here* to find out all about it...there are some cool bags and tutorials featured.
[If I'm not too late, I'll be linking up to Angela's Rainbow Scrap Challenge too - thanks Angela :-)]

I've also managed some more work on my ' A Holly Cottage Christmas blocks' by Michelle Ridgeway (the SAL is *here*). October's block is this sweet bird delivering the Christmas post —

Here is this section all joined up —

While I was busy cutting squares, I re-made July's Stocking block; my original one wasn't in these fabrics. I love how this project is growing :-)

And now for the 'ahh how sweet' moment. Nothing better than having your two young granddaughters sitting at your kitchen counter to eat their breakfast (yes that's Marmite on their toast)(they're kiwi kids afterall)... this doesn't happen very often so it made my week ♥ They're back in Australia now..sadly they both caught yukky colds while they were here and the family didn't have the most restful holiday.

Aren't they adorable?

Our last cow calved yesterday and we have weaned the first 110 calves. Life is slowly starting to return to normal... My sewing room (The Palace) is calling out for a jolly good spring clean...maybe I'll fit that in one of these days. Festival of Quilts is on down in Auckland this weekend which will be fun and I guess that means the spring clean in The Palace will have to wait...shame...

'til next time,

Happy Stitches,

80 hearts for 80 years

There's been a bit of secret quilt sewing going on in my space lately....I've managed to share the odd glimpse in recent posts without giving too much away.
First of all I made 80 hearts —

80 different fabrics...!

Then I made an applique block —

A bit of tricky maths was needed to make it all fit  

And then I sewed it all together, quilted it, bound it.

Nigel helped hold the quilt down at binding time —

It aint a quilt till it's been loved by a cat :-)

Then I packed it in the car and off we went down to Tauranga for Mum's 80th birthday celebration - what a fun weekend!
We hired a room in the Tauranga Historic Village .... a great setting!
Family and friends gathered. There was plenty to eat —

And lots of dancing. We had an awesome country-pop band and the dance floor was busy all night —

Back to the quilt - here it is in its finished state. I gave it to Mum on the night —

And invited everyone to sign it —

Spot my gorgeous wee grand-daughters ♥

Lots of lovely messages —

Lovely to spend my time with my family —

A bit of goofing - as well as lots of plaid wearing, hats and boots featured strongly. We three below had just the right boots!

The next day I realised I didn't yet have a photo of the quilt, so out came the camera again —

hehe posed shot!

Me and my Mum!
Don't you like how we dressed to match the quilt!

We had such a great weekend....it was a long weekend here in NZ so everyone was in relaxed mode....plus having overseas family here made it all the more special.
I'll share a few more quilt details in my next post but for now,

happy stitches

School Holidays - A Photo Story

Kids playing —

A continuation of last holiday's games

My night off!

Kids cooking —

Kids and Calves —

Many hands make light work

Kids and Lambs —

Young chickens laying —

Pick the young chicken's egg!

Stitching —

One more block done :-)

The holidays flew by,

peace and quiet again now!

Until next time, 

Happy Stitches ♥

Puppies, catching up, and pops of yellow

Karen of KaHolly recently put a call out for some Dog Gone Cute blocks as a way to help raise funds for Animal Shelters after Hurricane Harvey. I loved these blocks when Lorna of Sew Fresh Quilts had a QAL for them a few years ago so I was more than happy to jump in and offer to make a couple.
Here are the two I've made, pressed and ready to send away. I hope they don't look too much like I dived to the bottom of my scraps ~ hehe ~ I'm sure they will work well with other blocks sent in!

*Here* is the link for the wee dogs I sewed...Dog One...they are fun to sew up :-)

As well as this I've sewn a few more hearts —

I got a little distracted when cutting the fabric for the lower block below, so had to remake it.....!

I've also completed some applique (if not the whole block) for September's A Holly Cottage Christmas SAL—

And another bit of applique —

So I'm chipping away at my projects.However I want to chip away at some more so I'm going to be bold and join in with Patty's One Monthly Goal again this month. I haven't joined in for a wee while; a couple of goals I've had this year have obviously been too ambitious and resulted in no-shows! So this month I'll keep it straightforward. I'd like to add to my Scrappy Sprouts blocks! This has been my Rainbow Scrap Challenge project and the last time I joined in with this was June with the yellow blocks. This month is Pink, I should be able to find some of that!

The last time I added to these was in June..that was a few months ago...

 ~~~~

The end of September is when we start keeping an eye on the bush out the back for the annual flowering of the Kowhai trees. There are pops of more accessible yellow all over the countryside but I do enjoy the trek to visit 'our' trees. 

Spot the Yellow!

You can see from these photos how tall and old these trees are..reaching up for light above the other natives. We fenced off this area of bush a few years ago and are starting to see young trees growing which is very exciting.

I had hoped for better bird life photos this year as I have a new zoom lens but because the trees are so tall, the camera is pointing directly into the sun still making decent photography difficult.

There are two tui here..they spent the whole time I was down here chasing

each other. The one on the right was being very terratorial.

There was some lovely bird song from the Tui though plus the whoosh of flight as the Kukupa/Kereru (Wood Pigeon) flew from tree to tree.

Rather than get at the nectar, the Wood Pigeon eat the whole flower. This one
(upside down) was having a real feast!

Just beautiful

As you can tell, I had a thoroughly enjoyable time ♥

(Blogging friends that I've swapped with and sewn for over the years may recognise this flower. I try to use it as a touch of special kiwiana.)

Time for bed now, till next time,

Happy stitches,