TropicalSoup

My creative space. Again with the binding....

Yes, this great hulking pile of quilted deliciousness is back, and requires only the handstitching of the binding and a label before it's completely finished*. yay! Unfortunately, the size of the quilt means that binding just goes on and on and on and oh did I mention I managed to cut the tip of one of my quilting fingers the other day and also can't find my little thimble for protection of said finger and boy does that slow down the whole process! I'm so pleased with how this quilt has turned out though, and can't wait to share - as soon as that damned binding is stitched down!

Have a look at some other gorgeous creative spaces over at Kirsty's...she's gone a bit quilty herself this week!

*We may or may not be already sleeping under it, flapping unfinished binding and all. I couldn't possibly comment.

Pistachio Hot Chocolate

It's finished, labeled, washed and dried in all its crinkly goodness. And it still makes me think of pistachios and milky chocolate. The quilt measures abour 44" x 40" post washing, with cotton batting inside. I love the colourings of this line (Origins by Moda), how *pretty* and botanical it is, without being too girly or gender specific.

The quilting is dense straight line quilting through the offwhite strips (Moda snow), which gives it a great textural aspect (I love me some heavy quilting!)  whilst still having the *fluffy* aspect of the unquilted squares. Oh, and this is the first quilt I have basted using spray (thanks to some gentle persuasion from Ashley. No, she didn't write that post just for me - you know, unless she's secretly stalking me and reading my thoughts, lol, but it was the kick in the pants I needed to finally try something I've not quite summoned up the courage to do in my 12+ years of quiltmaking!) And it works really really well! And is a much speedier process than pin basting. Consider me a convert, at least for smaller quilts, since I haven't tried to baste anything larger just yet.

The back is just a fun pattern that I came up with whilst I was mucking around with some leftover Origins pieces, and Kona taupe. The binding is Kona artichoke. The artichoke/taupe combination is floating my boat in a major way....I have another little something planned in this soon!

 

And my labels, front and back:

(and just looking at this label on the back of the quilt, I have realised I have the wrong suffix on my website address...should be .co.nz. Duh! Guess I'll be making a new label for here, then! lol)

And....

[deep breath]

It's for sale here.

The life cycle of a squash

 

This is Ammalissa. She is Imogen's butternut baby, adopted today from the grocery store. At home, Immy wanted to draw on a face, and when she was finished she told me Ammalissa's story:

*This is my baby. She belongs to me but she comes from Africa. Her name is Ammalissa and she is dead. She used to be alive but now she's not, because an ant came and bit her middle right hand finger in Seychelles and then she died when a giraffe ran in front of her car. But then the giraffe curled her neck around the baby. So Mama, can you use this pen and write on the back of her head so everyone will know she is dead: I am a baby from Africa, and I am dead because an ant bit me on the finger and a giraffe curled around me. Signed: Dead Baby.*

Seriously. And also, have you ever stood at the fish counter of a busy store mid afternoon whilst your 2 4 years olds breastfeed their pumpkin offspring and offer a running commentary on how hungry the babies are? Four absolutely rocks.

This is my definition of true love...

No, not the fabric (then again, really, it's pretty scrumptious fabric!), but how I acquired it. We spent the last weekend in February in Auckland as wee celebration of D's unbirthday (leap year baby) and along with a trip to the zoo, to Kelly Tarlton's, much cafe and deli traipsing and some wandering around, we managed to squeeze in a trip to the Auckland branch of my textile spiritual home, Global Fabrics. Yum! And my delicious husband patiently waited (and ran interference with Cole and Imogen once the novelty of a giant fabric warehouse wore off) whilst I collected and purchased this stash of scrummy. And some cashmere for scarves. And a little merino knit. I have grand plans. And this was all on his *birthday* day as well. And he hadn't even had a coffee yet - those of you who know D will appreciate the magnitude of this...he would mainline beans if he could! 

So yes, true love indeed. And I'm sure the fact that he was about to get some alone time in an enormous drum store had no bearing on his patience at all....he came home with a splash*.

*a type of cymbal for his kit.

 

~~~

Meanwhile, I have a quilt in the dryer that I can't wait to share!

Mum's picnic quilt

For those you don't know her in the flesh, there are a few things you need to kknow about my mum, Jeanette. One is that she works really, really hard. She always has, and whilst I'm bummed I didn't inherit her carrot top, sharing her work ethic makes me very proud. (Even if I did get her penchant for housework, but that's a post for another day!)

The other thing is that mum is absolutely barking mad. In the nicest way, of course! Just over 3 years ago, she bought the wee petrol station and convenience store (and postal centre!) at Lake Rotoma, just down the road from her and my lovely stepdad Earl's retirement bach, since the gardening and fishing and *retired life* in general wasn't quite her speed. And she's spent all the hours God sends since down there, making it up and making it work. In that time, she's completely cleaned up and renovated the interior, added a small (2 pc) internet cafe, a bottle store, a cafe and takeaways, and generally polished a very rough diamond. It is an insanely intense job, decidedly more physically and mentally demanding than most people realise, but it's paying off. If I had $1 from every local, holiday maker, and passer-through who commented on the amazing transformation, well, we'd be able to hire more staff so mum could actually have a break! Which she is actually doing as we speak...away with some lovely friends and her even lovelier hubby, for a few days of R&R, and possibly even time for some decadent things like a picnic or two.

To that end, for her birthday this year I gave her the picnic quilt above (well, in true Jo style, she got the top for her birthday in January, the quilt itself was gifted yesterday!) to take on holiday. It's a generous size - 80in x 90in - big enough for her to lie on and Earl (who's 6ft4andabit) to spread out his long long legs. And hopefully bright and fun enough to enjoy without being too precious about the fabrics getting ruined in red wine spillages or anything silly like that!

Enjoy the break mum...I promise your 3 daughters are looking after the place! (should I mention how many times she who should be on holiday has been in phone contact with the shop already? No, probably not!)

My creative space. Pistachios and milk chocolate...

Busy piecing the back of a quilt in little time increments. It has me thinking of desserts...milk chocolate pistachio cheesecake, key lime pie with a dark chocolate biscuit crumb base...who said quilting was calorie free?

See some more decadent creative spaces (and a grassy chair or two!) over at the lovely Kirsty's.

Can you grow beards if you want to?

please to enjoy one of my favourite ads...if only I could keep count of the number of times I find myself singing the *chorus* at the end in an exaggerated, lowslung voice...

 

I love an odd sense of humour...

...and I am right at home in NZ.

This travel blog photo's source is TravelPod page: More Photos

 

I'll be back later today with some crafty goodness, but for now, here's reason number eleventy hundred and fifty six why I'm proud to be a member of this resilient, funny band of folk called Kiwis:

Christchurch trademe ad