Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Happy New Year

Happy New Year

In a few more hours we (in New Zealand) will begin the countdown to the new year. 2009 is going to be a year of new beginnings, lots of art quilting, a new job and a new me. This year has been a sabbatical in which I have managed to do lots of sewing. I have 2 more stamp challenges for the Wellington Symposium at Easter finished. Here is a small close-up of both of them:
this is inspired by a 1960 issue 3d pictorial, and this one is from the same series but the 4d stamp.

The middle colour is actually teal, not green. I will need to take the photos with natural light for it to show well.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Something to Share

I have been able to enjoy the Pohutukawas (New Zealand Christmas tree) coming into flower the last few weeks on my daily walk, so today I took the camera to share these photos with you.
This is the flower unfurling:

In all it's glory:
Here is a tree (a very young one) with more flowers opened - just in time for Christmas!

And here is a yellow one, which I haven't seen before. It doesn't look as dramatic as the red, but still pretty.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

The New Machine is Finally Here


WooHoo! today I went into the store to find out where my prize winning sewing machine was - and they had one to give me - it doesn't have a plaque on it, as you would expect after all these weeks, but it has that new smell and lots of things for me to try out. For example, I've not used a knee lifter before, and I'll HAVE to read the manual, even before turning it on.
So, see you around!!
:-)

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

A Retirement Quilt


My friend Gendie turned 60 this last September and retires from her workplace after 15+ years. I figured that she deserved a quilt especially for such a significant birthday. So I'm feeling pretty pleased with myself that I have made this lap quilt in a week and that I can present it to her at the 'retirement afternoon tea'. It's called Sudoku and measures 49.5 inches square (126 cm).