Big family small car !!!!!!

Just got back from a 2 1/2 month visit to our family in Germany.  We didn't stay with them the whole time as we had lots of adventures to be had.   This is just an update as I haven't been on the blog all this year.  Shame on me.  I have had a few quilting retreats too and must put some photos up.  Took Julian (the oldest) with us to watch a bit of the Olympics in England.  Had family playing in the woman's NZ football team.  They did really well and nearly got through to the semi's.  Had a great time catching up with family friends also over there.

Royal Wedding sleep over..

Five of us had a great time to celebrate William and Kates wedding last month.  We decided we would each make a quilt over the weekend.  We started off with dinner Friday night and then got into it.. Set up our tables and took over the lounge.  My husband had decorated the room with banners, flags and balloons before he took off for the weekend for a nice relaxing time...We had all our fabric cut and ready so we were straight into it... Stopping of course to watch the wedding in fits and starts.. Just before the bride arrived one of the girls disappeared downstairs and came walking up the stairs in her pyjamas with her own wedding veil on.  I have been threatened that no pictures are to be put on this blog so I had better do as I am told..We got to bed at 3.30 am would you believe.  Arose fairly early in the morning and started into it all again. What fun.. Got the tops all finished and then onto the quilting.  We all quilted a new style.  Roughly 1/4 inch apart in strips. No lines just using our eye as we didn't want the lines too perfect.  I like the look better also. We were all really happy with the results but it did take a bit longer than we thought.  Finished them on the Sunday arvo.  I did mine in the French General fabric which I just love.  Until next time.. Hopefully it won't be so long in between posts..

Quilting Retreats

Yay, I have been to four retreats since I last posted.. Shame on me not for not posting sooner...First one was last year and I went with the intention of finishing UFO's..We always have late nights so there is lots of fun and laughter going on. The other three were much of the same.. I will put some pics up of the quilts I have finished but probably onto on this blog...  I will have to find the pics and get organized.. I don't know where the first half of this year has gone...Our winter has started but we are still having lovely summery days.  Poor farmers who are screaming out for rain.
These pics are from a book I made for our friends who were moving back to Australia to live.  I made it on my Janome 11,000.  It was fun and the little girls just loved it.  I also made one for our Grandie who lives in Germany.  His one was all boy colours and not so pretty..

Can't wait..

I have ordered some of my favorite material. Lumiere de Noel - French General  from Jenny at The Stitchery in Dunedin.  I have stitched the Christmas redwork quilt and have not known how to finish it.  When I saw Jenny's quilt Redwork Santas using the fabrics I had to quickly order some off her.  I can't wait for it to arrive now and get sewing it together.  Think it will have to wait until next Christmas. Go and have a look at Jenny's blog at
www.stitcheryjen.blogspot.com.  It is gorgeous. Well I must go and catch some sun.  The days are so lovely and hot here.  Sorry to hear about the cold snap for you ladies living in the Northern Hemisphere. We are enjoying 30 degree days. My daughter is finding it cold after spending 5 months here with us last summer.

Finished at last.

I thought I had better post a  photo of my bag I made!!  A few people have thought I had made the bag Rosalie Quinlan taught at a retreat we went to. I even got Rosalie to sign it before I put it all together.  Mine is pretty much the same as I am more of a copier than a designer.  Even tho Leanne Beazley taught us how to design our own quilts..Thank you Leanne.  I must put some of it into action. I have just learnt needle turn and I must admit I'm not "in love" with it.. I am having trouble finding photos as a month or so ago I lost everything on my computer.  I was changing over to Windows 7.  Big mistake.  I lost all my data..I have to tell you tho that I had backed up everything to an external harddrive but when the data was transferred over it got corrupted... I have managed to get all my photos back but not any of our MYOB,Excell spreadsheets and embroidery designs....And lots of other stuff that I can't think of.  Never mind that is all in the past now and at least I didn't lose my sewing machines..

Three Quilting Retreats since my last Blog.....

Well I think it is about time I put some more pictures up... I have finally finished my rose quilt that I have been working on and off for a few years.  All I had to do was put the beads on..So it can hang up with my Christmas quilts. We have been to three retreats lately and so I have managed to get quite a bit of stuff finished.  I worked on small Christmas gifts so didn't only do quilting. I shall add some more photos today. With only 20 days until Christmas I had better get finishing things...

Grandies

Our daughter and family came over from Germany for 41/2 months. Her husband only stayed for the 6 weeks as he had to go back to work. Ishla wanted to give the kids some good old Kiwi culture by putting them into school for the first term.  They arrived early December so it was good for them to have a nice hot summer instead of a freezing cold Christmas.. They settled into school really well and their English was excellent in the end.  Even little Taine learned to speak English and now that he is home is still talking English.  His German grandparents can't understand him...Our daughter keeps speaking English (when she can remember) to them so they can communicate to us. She has been living over there for 15 years now so we call her our German Frau.....We miss them heaps but with internet and skype etc it makes things a little easier. I am a little bit late with all this news as they have now been home for over a term.....It is amazing how resilient kids are, as they had to speak English and do all the school work here  including spelling, and then back to Germany and pick up where they had left off.. I can't even learn German.....