Delivering the Quilt

What I didn't tell you in yesterday's post was that I delivered Olive's quilt to her in person.....some of you may remember that the little family live in Hawaii - so that meant a bit of travelling for me!!

Grabbing a couple of spare weeks, I went over to help out my daughter-in-law while our son is still in NZ. Ultimately it would have been ideal for him to be on the plane, and not me, but he is patiently waiting for paper to be shuffled around (and visa approval) in order to return there

Olive's mum is back at fulltime work so it was really good to be there to support her while I could.

Olive continued attending childcare but I still got plenty of cuddle time. 

While they were both away during the day, I prepped meals, filled the freezer, did the washing, walked the dogs, and so on.

But I also had plenty of time to walk and explore. NO, I did not drive (!!) but I walked lots, and biked to the beach one day.

And of course I took Olive for walks too.

All in all I clocked up quite a few miles. 

The weather was beautiful while I was there - it was lovely and warm but not muggy, so although I did get hot and sweaty while walking or biking (ugh!), it was quite bearable.

I was there for my birthday, which was nice. My daughter-in-law told me she had to pop into work for an hour and would I mind the baby (of course!) but she came back with a delicious GF cake which my son had organised online.

And then the next day was Fourth of July. We didn't go anywhere - snotty baby - but had a great view of the fireworks and heard plenty of happy people in the streets below.

I took some stitching with me, but only pulled it out a few times, and did a little crocheting (another cat blanket). Another Holly Jolly block finished —

I spent longer than I should have trying to make eyes for the little octopus I'd bought Olive when I was in Australia back in April. The original eyes were glued-on felt and not the best for sucky mouths and small fingers. I had very limited resources (just some variegated yarn from the cat blanket crocheting) and gave up trying to achieve anything more decent after an hour. My daughter-in-law liked the 'unique' look but I thought the eyes were a little evil!

I was also able to deliver the kiwiana counting cloth book I'd made for Olive a couple of posts ago.

All in all it was a wonderful visit. I've decided I quite like Hawaii. Especially when there is a baby involved!

'til next time,

happy stitches,

Raewyn

A quilt finish

I can't believe that I haven't blogged since June - and here we are in August already.

I actually started writing this post late in June but, obviously, I didn't get any further than a few introductory words.

In my last post I was busy finishing up Olive's baby quilt. I was about to start the quilting and was hoping for a good run with that. 

I can happily announce that the quilt is finished and delivered so now I can show it in its entirety.

I was inspired to add lots of little personalised bits in the quilt.  I chose the dog for the two they have,  and which Olive is fascinated by. The design is from a BOM, Wag Tales, by Suzy Sitcom.

A touch of Hawaii (applique design from EQ8) —

A touch of Delaware,  which is where her mum is from; a Delaware cross patch (also from EQ8) —

A touch of Japan, where her parents had been living; haha if you cant find it, it's the cherry blossom used for the dog's bow!

And of course there's a little bit of New Zealand in there too, with the kiwiana fabric I used on the final border —

And I backed it with fabric from one of Mum's nighties (or nightgown, as she would say). There was nearly enough to back the quilt. I had to join a piece of white on but I put the label on top of it and no one is any wiser —

While customised, I kept the quilting fairly simple and overall I was pleased with the result —

Naturally there needs to be a photo of the quilt with the baby —

I'm going to finish off here as I have plenty more news and this will just go on and on if I don't stop now.

I'm thinking of trying a post a day throughout August---hmmm---that should get me all caught up!?

'til then,

happy stitches,

Raewyn