I spoke too soon!

Hardly had the ink dried on my last blog when an even larger earthquake shook my world, I watched my mirror rock back and forth and blessed my son who had fixed it with two hooks and a metal 'cord' - but hey that was days ago, so on to happier things.

Son Phil [who put up the mirror] was actually out at Baring Head taking photos, this is one of them

He said he had his hand on a fence post when he felt it move........

Thank you so much to Leeann for her write up about the award given to the Shut-in Stitchers quilting programme at Arohata Women's Prison - and for letting people know that I was interviewed on Radionz  - my fifteen minutes of fame!  We knew that the Manager of the prison, Ann Abraham, had nominated us for an award at the Arts Access Aotearoa annual prizegiving; we were awarded Highly Commended so as many as possible of the team went along to Parliament one evening.  Three of us, Elizabeth, Janet and I accepted the award on behalf of everyone - it was quite a night.

Anyone who knows me will tell you I don't need any prompting to talk about the Shut-in Stitchers - in fact after listening to the interview, a good friend told me poor Jim Mora couldn't get a word in edgeways!

My apologies for not posting very often, I think we have the medication sorted now - I certainly have had more energy the last couple of days - and there's so much I want to share with you.

I went to the club meeting for Pinestream Quilters, and this time managed a couple of photos!

- I was sure I had the whole thing in the photo!  This is a baby quilt by Cathy Linney, pieced by machine.  Hexagons are a favourite of mine and I like the idea of using large blocks for an I-Spy effect.

The next two are quite different: they are embellished photos onto fabric - Jill Wickham's daughter-in-law's sister in Russia sent them.

First a sweet little girl,

the wreath of flowers on her head and several others are embroidered, and the ribbons are free flowing.

The next one is a "painted lady" -

The flowers are embroidered and the shawl is free standing.  Something different I feel.

The block from my five inch squares class I want to share is another flower, a variation of the tried and true half square triangles in a circle.  This pattern was from an American publication, but look how complicated they made it -

My version uses a partial seam -

I made the extra piece a different shade of green to emphasise that whatever size you use for the centre of the block, you use the same size to complete the outside of the half square triangle.

I had a desire for some home made biscuits recently, so I started looking at my old recipes - trouble is of course as with my Christmas cake, if I make it, I eat it!  Look what I found -

That's my mother's handwriting - she left home at 13 to become a tweenie maid in 1914 - and here's her recipe book

with many well thumbed pages.

Now after all my excitement of the last few days - it was a new experience for me to go on a treadmill, I'll leave you with the thought that "Bad habits are like a comfortable bed, easy to get into, but hard to get out of." and with a glorious sunset photo, courtesy of Phil.

Nice chatting, greetings to my new follower, take care all - I intend to return before too long......

June