Weekend stitching (and crocheting)

After a busy week it was nice to spend some weekend time sewing scraps..... it's been a while since I've joined in with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge on Angela's blog. May's colour was Green and I'm pleased to say there are a few less greens in my scrap stash now :-)

While I was hunting out some scraps I found my cat blocks; the 2 brown (February?) cats were put away partially sewn so I whipped those up then added a green block.... the 2 darker green at the top of the photo below are are ones I made last year- all good things take time!

Cat block pattern found on ohfransson's blog

I then pulled out my HoneyBucket Stars (explanation *here*) and swallowed up a few more scraps making another set —

Here are what I've made so far.

And then a few more 9-patches for my Omigosh! quilt —

Haha it will take a while to get enough for a whole quilt.... I'm sure I'll still have
scraps galore to make these for the next few years!

Not many scraps busted I know but I enjoyed the stitching all the same.(The colours in my photos ae a bit off sorry - they aren't as murky as they look!)

Before I went away I saw a new CAL (Crochet-Along) being advertised ... I thought it looked really cool but knew the timing was wrong for me to start it. When I got home though I was still thinking about it so have jumped in hook and all and am having a blast with it.

It's called Mandala Madness and is being run by Helen of crystalsandcrochet.  Below is Part One...so far they are up to Part 11 so you can see I have a fair way to go. It would be nice to think I might catch up by the time they get to the end but I'm being realistic; after all I had already done Part Two when I realised I'd missed a round and had to do a massive undo :-( {However it gave me a chance to rethink the colours I'd used}.

Part One of Mandala Madness completed

Already I've learnt so many techniques and stitches that I never knew existed! Helen has lots of really good tutorials on her blog to help us through and there is also an instructional video released with each part - so if you feel tempted to join in.......!

Look at that scrummy texture and dimension!!!

My SIL has told me off for causing her current obsession with crochet Mandalas; apparently I shouldn't have shared the link with her:-)

Earlier in the year I was signing up for Heidi's One Monthly Goal (OMG); making a goal that hopefully would be met by the end of the month. In March I had hoped to make Block 2 of Snowflake Land (Quiltmania) to go with the lonely block below..... I didn't get it done so here's hoping I'll be successful in June - wish me luck - it's too cute a project to let it live in a box all its life.

It's really turned into nearly-winter weather this past week so snuggling up in The Palace with a pile of sewing is on for the next few days ♥

Wishing you a creative time too,

New Zealand to Pittsburgh and home again!

(Alternative title - The Country Yard goes to International Spring Market)

(photo heavy)

Wow!

Wow!

Wow!

Our feet are firmly back on the ground now after a fabulous week away. What a great experience going to Pittsburgh for Spring Market!
On the way over there we went through 5 airports and clocked up a fair few hours in the air. Got there in time to have a good night's sleep before hitting Quilt Market running and not stopping for the three days it was held.
Talk about huge!! Hundreds of stalls, lots of people, plenty of walking, talking, stalking of our favourite designers and of course discovering new ones :-)

26 aisles of booths. Numbering of booths went from 101 to 2655 (some booths took up several spaces but that was still a lot of selling spots!)

We were lucky to be able to do classes on two mornings, these were held before the doors opened on the main area so meant a couple of early starts, however our body clocks were all out of kilter anyway so what's a little more confusion?! We both found these inspiring and gave us great ideas to bring back to NZ.

Eleanor Burns class on Saturday morning.

There were dozens of fabric houses at Spring Market; we looked at these a little to get an idea of what was coming out soon but as we are served pretty well by our NZ distributers we didn't get into too many conversations with them.
We were delighted to see a strong appearance by our neighbours the Australian designers - catching up with favourites and meeting new ones - their booths looked brilliant and they certainly held their heads up high amongst the dozens of other designers.

So much to take in, new patterns, products, and ideas. Many reknown and clever designers. We literally shopped until we dropped and are really pleased with everything we have brought back with us or ordered, plenty of goodies, inspiration and future projects and programmes .... we see many hours of sewing ahead of us :-)

Laundry Basket Quilts booth. One of many beautiful booths.

Special exhibit presented by the International Quilt Assn

We had two days to sightsee before we started the long haul home again. Monday after quilt market we needed a quiet, low energy day and went on a tour around the city. The guides were entertaining and the commentary interesting.

City tour in a WW2 Amphibus or Aquabus.
 Sadly we couldn't go on the water as the current was too strong.

A lovely taxi driver then took us under his wing and showed us a few spots we hadn't seen - without the meter on (but we were good tippers by then) and then we spent a few hours at a mall doing a little shopping.

446 bridges in Pittsburgh! 

 On Tuesday we had a private car tour booked to take us into Amish country. We visited Volant, an hour north of the city, which I think is the third largest Amish community in Pennsylvania. There were touristy type shops there but we also went along back roads and were able to visit some shops on private properties. With our connection to the quilting world, we found this to be a great delight. Buggies on the road, horses ploughing up paddocks, children potting plants, home made crafts. We loved it. So interesting to see the way of life the Amish people have, and we were full of admiration of how they continue to live as they wish in spite of this fast paced technoloigcal world we all live in.

Naturally we did our bit to support the local community... this rug was made by an Amish lad in a shed at his home. He has Cerebral Palsy and works diligently producing dozens of these colourful rugs. I had imagined it would be perfect by our fireplace, and wasn't disappointed. The pets already think it is great there too.

Love the texture!

And our goal was to find an authentic Amish quilt. On another property we found a quilt shop. It sold finished items, and had a great variety of quilts and other items, most of which were sewn with a treadle machine and hand quilted.
We were treated to a genuine bed turning - what a buzz. Our guide was also blown away by the beautiful queen sized quilts and all three of us were considering which one we would like to take home....!
We went for lap quilts in the end though - this is the one I purchased.

The first quilt I have ever purchased :-)

It looks perfect in our dining room. All the family approves!

And so ended a whirlwind 6 nights in Pittsburgh. The next day saw us starting the long trip home, only 4 airports this time. A relief to finally touch down on NZ soil, to find all our bags and drive up home to our loved ones. Now spending the weekend recharging our batteries. I look forward to going into work this week and unpacking all our treasures :-)

A favourite photo taken during the flight home.
Sunrise in Sydney, Australia.

Thank you to everyone who left 'safe and happy travelling' messages in my last post. I appreciated them all but just ran out of time to reply, sorry. I do look forward to seeing what has been happening in blogland and in your sewing rooms so hopefully I will get to visit soon.
Have a great day, and happy creating,