I blinked and ...

... another 6 weeks were gone, just like that!

A belated Merry Christmas to you, Happy New Year (and at the rate I am going here maybe I should add Happy Easter to it?). I hope you had enjoyable and relaxing time to spend with your family! The weather has been very kind to us here in the Far North of New Zealand with plenty of warm weather and sunshine, with sufficient rain in the mix to keep pastures green and water tanks full (there is no public water supply where we live). I have been off work for since 18 December, and truly felt like on holiday for about the last week (it took some time to wean me off lol!). Another 2 weeks to go, so I have decided I better make the most of it and sew to my heart's content while I can! However, I have been sewing since my last post and here are some pictures:

This little Chromebook bag came about after a twitter conversation with a colleague down in Nelson. She has ear rings sporting the QR code of her blog, so I told her about my little adventures with printing my QR code on fabric. So this idea was born! Using white sheeting I sun printed it with my Lumi Inkodye, and as my colleague is an Apple and a Google expert, both symbols had to be included. Some fmq and threadpainting, and some grey Moda Marble for the binding. On the inside some aqua polar fleece left over from ?? and closed by elastic over a Google Chrome button. You can scan the QR code off the fabric and get to her blog :)

Early November we had our P&A Show, and my mum entered several of her own pieces and as usual came home with a number of certificates :) She also entered the placemats I made her - and they won first price :) I have the suspicion there were very few quilting entries this year, but nevertheless :)

During October Megan from Canoe Ridge Creations had started the Giant Startburst Quilt Along. While I don't often let myself get tempted into QALs and the likes, I couldn't resist, and it was quite a straightforward process which led to this:

Don't try to sync your Picasa while writing blog posts, uploading pics to blogger has been taking forever so I will leave the uncropped picture here with oldest DS' cat Mickey Mouse in the backgrounds :)

I am not quite sure what I will do with it, 60"square finished is not a size I often make. With all that negative space, it would be a great opportunity to try out ideas from Judi Madsen's Quilting Wide Open Spaces (I have been drooling over this...)...

Here are some more of my recent fabric purchases:

Barcelona City Map FQs - no particular plans for this yet

Various half and full yards for binding

Just because I liked it :)

Kona Steel backing for the Tokyo Subway Map Quilt

From Spotlight's Boxing Day Sale: Half meters of batiks, yardage of white homespun and of a cream and black print (a future backing) plus some more black and whites for my no longer small collection!

My Tokyo Subway Map Quilt is making progress, just three more blocks to go! It had been dragging over the last few months, until Suz showed me her blocks laid out and now I want to get it done!

Block 24

Block 23

Block 3

Block 8 is ready to piece

It was pretty hard to get a decent photo of the progress so far, this was the best of the lot:

Upside down and once again with Mickey Mouse in the photo - two other cats joined him later!

Now I am quite excited about the project again, the end is in sight, and though it's January already (and block 8 is yet to be pieced) I will try to get through the remaining three (8, 9 and 10) asap. Suz and I have talked about the quilting; my thinking is I want to have a different fmq in every of the different (colour) lines. I am not great at sidd so was thinking about 1/8th" distance from the coloured lines instead - but that limits my background quilting options. Hmmm, any suggestions anyone??


The most time I have spent on Fireworks; all startbursts are quilted, and I am starting to fill in the background:

pieced backing - with a little help from my friend Suz:)

You know who is helping :)

Close up of the quilting - pebbles and swirls in the background, with eye-balled straightish lines in the stars all with my favourite thread Aurifil Cotton

There is a third project I have spent a lot of thinking and tutuing time on lately, the 2014 AQC Challenge 'Ten'. I had two different trains of thought and at the moment I think I will go with my original idea, hands expressing different parts of life and emotions. Here is an example of one of my practise pieces:

Can you see the two hands outlined in thread? I didn't enjoy the needle turn, though :(

Current thinking is I will go with white thread painting on white background (hence the white homespun from Spotlight), QAYG style (possibly using a nice woolen single batting I have; I had intended it for a quilt for middle DS, but he is a hot sleeper anyway, so this would not work for him). We'll see what it looks like when I have put a few blocks together, I was thinking about 'writing' into the sashing / borders - 'ten' in different languages, or maybe rather emotions / stages of life? Any suggestions and critique would be much appreciated :)

Well, that's me for today, I better go off and piece that block 8!

Happy Sewing!

A six week post!

Trying to sum up the last six weeks in one post - where do I start? Maybe here, this is the view I had at breakfast this morning:

Work

Work continues to take up most of my time; I went to Ulearn 2013 in Hamilton in October which was great on many levels. I met up with lots of people I had only known online, I scored some freebies from exhibitors and I came away with the realisation I am not as dumb as I sometimes think;) I also presented there on why and how to connect with learners. I am very passionate about the topic, but I did some key mistakes with assumptions about the participants - a big learning curve! You can read more about this on my other blog, thebelbird.blogspot.com. You can also find me on twitter regularly - well maybe lots? or - ok then, almost always! @BeLchick1 is my twitter handle, but only follow me if you are interested in future-oriented teaching and learning, e-learning or game-based learning, otherwise you might find me very boring!

We had a couple of f2f events over the last 6 weeks which are always great, tiring and a mission to juggle with DH's work roster and the kids' schools. One of the coolest experiences was when one of the guest speakers tweeted about our event that she was meeting with the 'who is who in NZ e-learning'! She surely must have meant everyone else there?

Then there was the big data day last Wednesday where we had to have loads and loads of documents and evidence submitted. This was my first experience of this, I can see how I could improve this for me for future occasions.

On top of that I took on a few other work related commitments, such as presenting at another conference in January, signing up for the Google Summit in Auckland next April, dabbling with offline Minecraft servers and setting up a Google site for it...

Did I mention that in between I did my actual work like in-class modelling, online tutorials, workshops and staff meetings??

Jobs

As usual for this time of the year, there was worry about jobs. My contract is due to expire on 31 December so I had to go looking for jobs. While I love what I do (and I think I am not too bad at it either ;D), I find I quite hard to juggle the kids with it. I seriously looked into going back teaching but have not been accepted in a position locally yet. I even made a digital CV for my applications! In the meantime my contract has been extended by 12 months, so the whole scenario will repeat next year. In addition we will be working with more schools, further away from each other. I am really not sure if I can do the kids and the job justice?!

Schools

Middle DS is finishing primary school and has been accepted at the high school we had hoped - yay! Oldest DS unfortunately has not been accepted there. We will have to make some serious decisions, he will be in Y10 next year and it is very important that he can take the subjects he needs for his chosen career (programming) as well as a broad range of other subjects. At least the youngest boy will be fine for another couple of years!

That finally brings me to sewing!

I have actually made some progress:

I have also pieced the back, but it is a bit short (no photo yet, sorry). With a little bit of help from my friend Suz I will have enough pheww. Threads have arrived at the Country Yard and should be here some time this week so I can start quilting!

I have also worked on the Tokyo Subway Quilt, we were doing blocks 19 & 23 in October, and 24 & 25 in November. I laid mine out in a different order, so 19 and 25 are done, and 24 is under way:

Suz and I have had numerous discussions about the new AQC Challenge, "Ten". I just need to find that mojo somewhere... By the way, my Frei quilt is on the way home now, will be interesting to see how it has lasted...

On the hunt for that mojo Suz and I had a play with scraps yesterday. Inspired by a recent post on "Me and My Quilts - Exploring Possibilities" we made some cards. This is my finished collection:

With summer just around the corner and beautiful sunny days as of late, DH and I have been busy weeding and mulching, alternating with dips in the pool which today was at 31degC! I better go out and water the garden tonight!

Christmas will be over if I wait another 6 weeks to my next post, I better get onto it! Love reading everyone's posts, though!

Happy sewing!

That will teach me! (maybe...)

Late last night I wrote a post and it vanished without trace!!! That should teach me about late night blogging, shouldn't it? See, the tv programme is rubbish at the moment and DH goes off to night shifts at just after 9pm - what's a gal to do?

Well, I'll try to remember what it was I had been talking to you about. Firstly what do you say to this?

 My organised random layout of the starburst blocks - I can see there are too many yellowy greens centre left so I will change this :) (I'm just a bit particular, I know!) As laid out I will set them with about 4 1/2 - 5" wide sashing which will give me plenty of negative space. Another grey border around it all, brocken up with a pieced strip of the prints and voila another quilt top. I will need a) more Kona Solid Steel (I guess), b) batting and c) backing! If I can find another solid that goes well with the prints, I might piece the backing with a vertical row of blocks off centre.

The pattern came from Lee Heinrich from freshly pieced:

At that time it was a free download, but I believe she has since turned it into a full pattern paid version. It is a very forgiving block, just the centre seams to match. Lee uses paper piecing, I just made myself some templates: 

 They look a bit worse for wear now lol. This is one pattern I would do again, possibly even with paper piecing for accuracy, look at the secondary pattern you can get: 

 Maybe have a star burst all in the same print, change size etc. etc. I can see plenty of options.

I also managed to get something arty started. For a long time I have had this image in my mind of the small mountain Gugel. My parents' house is at the edge of the residential area on the Gugel, so I have plenty of times walked, biked or driven up and down that hill. I haven't been able to find a suitable picture online, but here is an image of the chapel on the slope of the hill: 

 Google Earth is not much more helpful, really:

Well, as long as it exists in my head! Here I have started out putting a background together, trying to show rolling hills, with the road in the middle:

 It's still a bit dark at the moment. Once that is done, I will have to add a lot more detail, the freshly ploughed fields, trees in blossom the chapel sits to the left of the road, partly covered by trees... I'm thinking of applique, maybe some silk chiffon overlaid, definitely thread painting...

Since our trip to Germany I have been struck by similarities between Frankonian traditions and Maori tikanga: The reference to awa, the river, in Frankonia the river Main which has been a major transport route, and maunga, the mountain, in Frankonia probably the best known mountain is the Walberla. Family and relationships have played a big part in Frankonian life as they do in Maoridom, when you used to meet someone, you were often asked about who you belonged to (you were expected to say who your father or your grandfather is), which house you came out of (houses can have their own names, and occupant families of these have varied over the centuries), and what your nickname was (which often was inherited from your father and / or your grandfather. My family has only been in that town for 37 years, relative newcomers still, and in their residential area houses did not get given a house name, and while my late dad was well known, I don't think he got a nickname either - though still today some people will say "she is Dieter's daughter".

So following on from this I think my Germany inspired piece(s - if i ever get that far!) will go by the theme of 'Whakapapa', translated as geneology or ancestral ties. It goes with one of my personal and professional themes this year of "who am I" and "what makes us who we are". I have blooged a bit about this at thebelbird.wordpress.com if you are interested.

Well, tomorrow I'm off to Hamilton for ULearn13, New Zealand's largest e-learning conference. Lots of great workshops to attend, catch up with friends, colleagues, tweachers (teachers on twitter) and on Friday it's time for my workshop of Connecting with your learners - wish me luck!

Happy Sewing!

Me again...

 Tokyo Subway Map Quilts, blocks 13&14 (September) completed:

Suz and I decided we will stick with the colours we have already cut and tackle blocks 19 & 23 for October, that leaves 24 and 25 before we have to cut dark green, our last colour. It's great to see how we are making progress, just 8 more blocks!!!

I've been thinking about using black batting to avoid the white coming through my background fabric. Has anyone tried this before, pros, cons? Can I even get black batting in NZ, and at a reasonable price?? US postage cost is making ordering batting from the States quite costly now.

This little bag for my new Chromebook has been in use for a couple of weeks, but yesterday I finally added the binding:

 A leftover piece from the lapquilt I had made for oldest DS' school auction, backed with a leftover piece of good quality polar fleece, fmq feathers all over it. A little bit of crafty creativity in my day job :)

While I am still looking for inspiration for a new piece (which needs to give instant gratification I have now decided), I have picked up my 'Fireworks' quilt again:

Following Ms. Lottie's navel gazing today over at The Slightly Mad Quilt Lady I am wondering where my creativity is heading... My head is full of art quilting ideas, but finding time for it... Today I managed to oil the wooden outdoor furniture, pull out loads of (wo)manhigh weeds from the vegie garden, set up the badminton and tennins sets and get the younger boys into playing frisbee for 1/2h. There's 4 loads of washing waiting to be folded, the floors are crying out for vacuuming and washing, I will have to go hunt for the duster that's how long I haven't used it and as for the windows - do you reckon they are ok while light still comes in?! I have been trying to talk DH into getting a cleaner again, but then so far I am jobless after 31 Dec (plenty of time to clean then, aye?). Well, back to work tomorrow, so I better get some of the firework blocks pieced tonight!

Happy Sewing!

I lost my mind...

...somewhere, and picked up an AWFUL cold instead! It's no fun, especially now that the weather has fined up! So while I would love to show you some fancy no project, it's just some more mindless piecing:

See what I meant about the seam allowances in my last post? To the left block 13 completely pieced, to the right block 14 with the first lot of string piecing done. Of course I know how much the 1/4" sesm allowance is, but every now and then it still surprises me! I'll try to get block 14 done tomorrow, and then I better find out from Suz what's on for October :)

I promised you some pics of my German fabric purchases; remember that I had a hard time finding material and I never found any 'German' themed ones at all? These came from Ikea, not necessarily patchwork fabrics but they will work:

Just 3m of cream and 1m of cream with black handwriting. At Ikea you had to cut your own fabric. this was then weighed by the attendant and the machine spat out that little sticky. The prices were incredibly cheap (1€ approx. NZ$1.60, and with my SiL's family card they took another € off per metre!). I had two more pieces but they have come to live with Suz and with our housesitter Donna.

I also bought some curtain material to replace the cute but outdated Dino blinds in the boys' bedrooms :) One (two!) of the when I get (a) 'round to it' projects!

I really liked these fabrics though they are nothing like my 'normal' colour palette. However, I have since realised that they are polycottons, so I am not quite sure yet what I will do with them.

I also got something very special, my MiL gave me some Damask for duvet covers from her hope chest. I need to make a start on these :)

Last but not least Suz gave me this for my bday last month: 

All about music - I love it! Will have to save it for something special!

In between coughing and sniffing I haven't achieved much today, I tied up some of the piles in my sewing room and mended a few shorts etc. but nothing that would be obvious to anyone but me. I think I need to start some little creative project - middle DS' Great Barrier Reef quilt? A Germany inspired piece? Make a start on the next AQC Challenge (I better check dates)? I have a nice pile of pinks, but inspiration hasn't struck yet.

Then there are these grey/black/white/reds (not 100% sure about the ones on the left). Hmmm...

Lastly a saddish photo: My Mended Heart didn't sell so was returned to me (that's not the sad part yet!). This is what it now looks like: 

Can you see the hole in the right half of the heart? It must have happened in the mail, as the envelope has the same hole through and through:

I still haven't done anything about it, I don't think there is anything that can be done. However, I will email the organiser to please return quilts in bubble wrap envelopes in the future to better protect them.

I hope you have a productive weekend! Happy Sewing!

Seam Allowance Shrinkage

It's amazing sometimes how much material you can loose in the seams. Compare this picture of blocks 13&14 (set out) to the picture of blocks 21&22 (pieced) from yesterday:

Slowly but surely the blocks are accumulating....

Happy Sewing!

Another Month Bites the Dust

Well, I've caught up a bit on my Tokyo Subway Map Quilt, blocks 21 and 22 (for August) are finished!

On to September next - Suz gave me a bag of pinks last month, I better check on her blog what the September blocks were :) Somehow this quilt has been whispering to me "quilt every colour in a different fmq pattern"...

If my cold lets off tomorrow, I might get around to posting pics of the fabrics I bought in Germany back in July.

Happy Sewing!