My quilting thoughts and inspirations sprinkled with a glimpse of life down on the farm

Monday, November 30, 2015

Big achievements and small sewing

One proud mother here, on Friday our YD graduated with her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. 
Congratulations Laura, here with her hubby.
Both relieved that she's finished!
The MOML and I had a nice day off the farm and ED flew up to celebrate as well so it was great.
Family selfie
And yummy dinner afterwards.
On the crafting front, things have been a little quiet... I got my Chookyblue's SSCS gifts in the post...after a bit of an oopsie - I decided to do a last minute removal of a tiny bit of a pen mark but ended up with some colour bleeding - ouch - and of course trying to fix it made it worse! An extra day to remake my ornament and all was well and my gifts are now posted!
Crocheted on our way down to YD's graduation. The afghan is slowly growing
and gobbling up my scrap yarn well.
Recently I took part in a postcard swap...Sheila of sheilasquiltworld organises these regularly and it's always fun to play with different techniques on a small scale and see what other people make.
This time I swapped with Marsha (quilterinmotion). She was doubly organised, sending her's off before she made her annual migration from Canada to Florida for winter —
It took me completely by surprise, arriving before I'd even thought of what I
would do on mine! Looks like autumn in Canada to me!
Thank you very much Marsha :-)
Finally I got inspired by some NZ fabric which I fussy cut. I love the Pohutakawa tree, which we also call our New Zealand Christmas tree as it flowers in December. (And I've probably raved about it in previous years!)
I added some french knots and a little extra Pohutakawa bloom.
I also experimented with the script on the card by doing it FMQuilting style using hand embroidery thread (Aurifil #12). Scary but it worked - next time though I will loosen the top tension a little more as some bobbin thread showed on top.
 Speaking of postcards; when our nephew was staying in October he started making a couple... he's made them in the past and gets a buzz out of sewing them and then receiving mail himself. He hadn't finished them when he left our place but I understand they've both now been delivered to bloggy friends of mine in Canada.
Max's postcards when he left our place. All done by hand.
He wanted to get his techniques right so he could make more at home
where he doesn't have access to a machine.
[The L and P is a NZ drink, and Gilbert is a sportsgear brand name :-)]
 Speaking of the mail and cards, I think I can segue nicely into my last photo - check out one of the most gorgeous Christmas cards we have ever received ♥
The girls are about 4 months old now, at a happy chortling age.
Have a lovely week, and happy creating,

27 comments:

  1. Big congrats to Laura on her wonderful achievement! So nice you could get some time off to help her celebrate. The postcards are always so different from everywhere. How cool is your nephew...that is great. Boy your girls are growing so fast....gorgeous mail fot sure x

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  2. Congrats to your daughter! Such an accomplishment! That Xmas card gave me goosebumps! Love your afghan. I am working on one when in the car, too!

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  3. Congratulations to your daughter. Lots of wonderful things to see in this post. Bet you wanna pick up those cute girls and give them big big snuggles.

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  4. Congrats to your Daughter & I'm so glad all the family where there to help her celebrate.
    I love the wiggly stripes of your crocheted Afghan too.

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  5. Great idea to showcase the Pohutukawa on your Chrissie cards, always a delight to see them blooming, I saw a beauty the other day already pretty much covered in blooms. Lovely family photo and two cuties!

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  6. Yes, such a very special Xmas card, so sweet! And congrats to your daughter, great accomplishment!

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  7. Definitely an occasion worth celebrating! Congrats to the graduate!
    Looks like you (and your nephew) have had fun with postcards. Love your New Zealand Christmas one.
    Oh, those little babes looks so sweet. Hard on grandma to be so far away. : )

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  8. Special congratulations to your Daughter Raewyn, gosh she has done so well. Your postcards are beautiful ... love that pohutakawa fabric, have used it before in a doll, its gorgeous. Your xmas card is definately pretty special :-)

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  9. you must be so proud of Laura, congratulations to her . Loving the twins Christmas card certainly an extra special card

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  10. Well done Laura. A great achievement. Cute wee babies!

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  11. Congratulations to Laura, you must be so proud of your lovely family. And how cute are those twins!

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  12. hola mil gracias por compartir este momentos tan hermoso, mi en hora buena
    saludos cariñosos
    carmen

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  13. Congratulations Laura on your graduation..
    Lots of lovely postcards and its nice to see Max is still sending them too.
    Oh what a adorable Christmas card with the darling girls on... One to treasure forever.

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  14. Major achievement! Major congratulations! I love that you got your nephew making postcards. =)

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  15. Congratulations to your your daughter a great accomplishment ! Max makes great postcards and I am happy to own a couple . Love the cards you. The postcards sent and received in the swap are just great, thanks for taking part . What a sweet Christmas card , one to cherish for sure . Hugs Sheila

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  16. Congrats! An awesome achievement! The Christmas card is so sweet! Very special indeed!

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  17. Great family selfie, and congrats to your daughter! Love those twins, adorable!!

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  18. Congratulations to Laura and great family pictures - the twins are gorgeous too. Lovely cards sent and received - it is lovely to get a surprise in the post isn't it! xx

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  19. Hi Raewyn love the photos of the girls(older girls as well!) very very cute and I love your postcard as well so clever with your sewing machine!! xxxx

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  20. Congratulations to your daughter Raewyn, wonderful achievement for her - good thing her husband has long arms to take that lovely family selfie!
    Glad I'm not the only one to have had a whoops with the sscs ornie - mine wasn't a re-make thank goodness but it was AWOL for a day... cheeky thing.
    The crochet looks great, and the colours are fab, think of all the other items you've made with those yarns!

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  21. What a fantastic achievement! So great much of the family could attend :) Very inventive postcard with such a great NZ flavour :) Oh the cutest ever Christmas card!

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  22. Big congratulations to your daughter. You are right to be very proud parents. Well done.
    The crochet is looking lovely. And the post cards are all very exciting. Sometimes it is hard to get inspiration, especially when there is a deadline.
    And the Christmas card with the grandies is absolutely gorgeous.

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  23. What a very handsome bunch - both big and small :) Congratulations!

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  24. A big congratulations to your daughter Laura! Your little granddaughters are just adorable!

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  25. Congrats to your daughter! You have such a handsome family! I've been working on Christmas gifts and can't even post them! Maybe after the holidays!

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  26. Whew - so many wonderful things to share Raewyn!
    Hooray for your youngest daughter and congratulations! you must be so proud! Love all the family photos!

    All the postcards are so cool! Your nephew is amazing. How often does he get to come for a visit?

    And yes, Christmas cards do not get any better than that!

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  27. Congrats to your graduate - what a happy day.
    The postcard exchange looks fun!

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