I blinked

and now it is end of January - how does this happen??? Well, since the last post I have enjoyed the warmth heat and even more so the air conditioning (until the air con in the master bedroom died on Friday...), we have looked around Brisbane a bit, been to a few different public pools, driven up to D'Aguilar National Park, spent a considerable amount of time at Ikea (LOVE IT!) and in shopping malls etc.

The only time Mstr12 came on a walk with us so far lol

Literally up the road from us

Public Pools

Redcliffe Cove Lagoon

At our new 'local' pool

Two weeks ago our container arrived on the day I started work - thankfully Chris has been very productive in moving contents into our smallish house or repacking and storing them in the garage. Yesterday I finally found my threads and today my bobbins, so once it has cooled down a bit (35degC outside and 32degC in the lounge where there is no aircon), I might pull out my machine and at least get some mending done.

School is starting on Tuesday and my kids are all more or less organised (how we forgot to get stationery for Mstr10 is beyond me - I hope they have packs at school on Tuesday!). So far everything has fallen into place, I managed to get almost all their uniform items second hand or for free, and today I will get Mstr14's diabetes care plan for school organised. DH has a job application running, next step happening in a week, fingers crossed it will work out - so that would take care of all my four boys and keep them out of mischief!

It's been interesting moving into a city after so many years in the country side: The neighbours are closer but our neighbourhood is nice and quiet; the shops are much closer, and I am yet to get used to balancing the 'big shop' that doesn't fit into my smaller pantry and freezer compartment with going shopping 'frequently' and spending too much money on stuff we don't need; fast food is very handy, and if it was up to Mstr12 we would probably have Domino's Pizza twice a week at least; there is public transport though it pays to check the maps beforehand where exactly to get off, some parts of Brisbane are quite hilly and it's no fun walking up and down streets to get where you need to be.

A few snaps of our place

So altogether we're really happy at the moment, we're enjoying ourselves. Will we stay here forever? Who knows, the size of the house and absence of a pool will mean that we are very likely to move when our 6m lease is up, but I like the suburb, the proximity to the office, the fact it is tucked away yet really close. Once school starts we will see how the children settle in. Despite his original reservations "get used to my sad face, Mum, I will never be happy again, because you are taking us to Australia", Mstr 12 has already announced he will make friends at school because he doesn't want to be bored at home. 

Mstrs10 &12 at the primary school play ground

Starting work has been very interesting, the same work I have been doing in New Zealand but mainly within the Microsoft platform, where in NZ we used a lot of Google applications and iPads. For the first week I spent most of my time online / in the office, and in week two it was straight away off to Melbourne for training and then back to Brisbane to spend my first day in school. I loved being back in a school! Next week I'll be in three schools, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, and I better remind myself to take a breath every now and then! I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Melbourne, partly because two of my ex-colleagues flew over from NZ, in fact there were more Kiwis than Aussies there! My belief in the the 2 degree separation of Kiwis was re-affirmed when I met a girl at the training who had grown up in Kerikeri, taught with one of my ex-colleagues from Northland and turned out to be the daughter of someone I had played music with for many years.

View from Level 37(!!!!!)

Vertigo anyone?

My building had 40 levels, but others were higher! 

So that's all from me for the moment, I better get that Diabetes Plan done, enough procrastinating! I hope you are more productive than I am!

Happy Sewing!

151 unread blog posts???

Hi there, everyone, I have not completely disappeared out of the blogosphere but so much has been going on over the last few months and barely anything had to do with quilting!

As I had written in a previous post, I have accepted a job in Australia, so for the last few months we have been busy getting ready for the big move across the ditch (as we here in New Zealand tend to call the Tasman Sea separating us from Australia). Both DH and I resigned from our jobs, we packed up the house (well, actually the movers did it for us TG!) we found a rental in one of the western suburbs of Brisbane and on 18th December we arrived in Oz. It all sounds a lot less stressful than it was at times, 2 trips for me to Australia in Oct and Nov topped off by a trip to Germany for DH in Dec amongst the usual madness of family, school, work, conferences etc.

We have left our NZ place with a property manager and tenants which gives us options for the future. For now we're quite happy with the suburb we have chosen though the house is smaller than our NZ place and we'll definitely miss the pool. At this stage I won't have a sewing room either but with the container still a fortnight or so away there is plenty of time to come up with some creative ideas. Being in walking distance to shops and schools is a novelty for us, and even the office is less than 7km away and easy to get to by car or bus.

We have already stalked the local Ikea (how I had missed shopping there!) and DH has already suggested I might want to go and check out the quilting shops:) We're definitely missing family and friends but at this stage it's still a great big adventure. Today we finally got phone and internet hooked up hence the mention of 151 posts I had unread in my Feedly in just 10 days without proper internet!

The lovely Suz from All the Good Ones are Taken has suggested a Trans-Tasman Challenge using Vintage Revival - can't wait for my sewing stuff to arrive! (I yet have to get me the book, too lol). Looking back over the last few months there's been little accomplished on the sewing front, still some more to do on the Tokyo Subway Map and I haven't started anything new. However, I entered Uni{que}versal and Spring Fling at our local P&A Show and received 1st and 3rd place (I think?) respectively.

DH is cooking tea, the boys are enjoying being back online, so there's little else to do for me but to wish you a belated Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I will try to check in more regularly again in 2015!

Mstr10 & fluffy cat - in need of a haircut!

Big move...

... coming up for us. I have been offered a very cool job in Brisbane, Australia, starting in January, and we have decided to accept it. So the big move is on!!!

If anyone has any suggestions about

• how to move and stay sane
• reliable and reasonably priced moving companies
• 'nice' suburbs and great (state) schools in Brisbane
• 'must connect with' Quilting groups and shops in Brisbane, as well as
• any tips and tricks for moving from NZ to AUS

please send them this way, we will need all the help we can get :)

Not much sewing going on I'm afraid but lots of sorting out, packing up etc....

Hope you are more productive than I am! Happy Sewing!

Around the World Blog Hop

The lovely Suz from All the Good Ones are Taken - quilter, neighbour and friend - has asked me to join her in the Around the World Blog Hop. It's been a long time since I have taken part in a blog hop, so let's see how we'll go:

1. What am I working on?

I haven't done much lately, but I have out both the Tokyo Subway Map quilt that still needs more echo swirls as well as Whakapapa I for which I have a lot of ideas but not found the time and 'muse' yet to continue on.

Tokyo Subway Map - WIP - 2013 - 2014

2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?

I like to design my own pieces, but I usually only make one of a particular design - it's a bit like "been there, done that". Often I use bright colours:

I love batiks though they can give me grief with quilting at times due to the tight weave. Lately I have been doing a lot of heavy quilting on many of my pieces. Quite often I have a purpose and finished size in mind and work from that. While some projects develop over time, sometimes I just know what it needs to look like.

3. Why do I write/create what I do? 

I have always liked creating things. I like the touch of fabric, maybe that is one of the reasons why I struggle to buy material online? Quilting is 'me time', it gives me a chance to create, to play, to simply have a good time :)

4. How does my writing/creating process work?

I don't often work from a pattern nowadays - recent exceptions include Spring Fling and Tokyo Subway Map.

Springfling 2014

There is usually some kind of spark, sometimes a Challenge theme like "free" or "ten" from the AQC in 2013 and 2014, 

Uni{que}versal 2014

or just an idea like Against the Odds,

Against the Odds 2011

or something I have seen like Whakapapa I

Whakapapa I - WIP - 2014 (apologies for the poor quality photograph)

which was inspired by our trip to Germany in 2013. Sometimes I know straight away what has to happen, sometimes a piece will sit for a long time before inspiration strikes. I have yet to completely abandon a big project. Suz and I often laugh how size is one of the starting points for me (she takes quite a different approach :D). 

Thanks for joining me for this Blog Hop! To continue it I have asked Rona from Layer upon Layer and Bente from I like to Quilt to hop on next week - please check out their posts on 8 Sept!

Time out over lunch and some contemplating

I took some time out over lunchtime today and DH and I went to the concert of the Royal NZ Navy Band. It was absolutely fabulous and brought back dear memories of our time (a long time ago) playing in our concert band back in Germany. The band did really well catering for the audience of mainly school children, music, entertainment, fun, engagement and at 1h just long enough. As our sons' schools were not taking classes there, DH went back to grab Master 9 and is currently enjoying the repeat of the concert.

As an ex-musician and music teacher I am quite sad that children in our area rarely have the opportunity to hear such music life, also that learning musical instruments happens only in pockets, esp. when you look at instruments beyond recorder, ukulele, guitar and drums. I sometimes wonder if I am denying my children some opportunities by not exposing them to more different experiences, though often it is just too much of an effort to get them there.

Despite the prevalence of online learning and ubiquitous access to knowledge, are we creating a society that has a very narrow view of the world and the limited skills that go with that. What price will we pay as a society for not passing on skills and knowledge beyond what is in their immediate surrounding? How can we expose young people in rural areas to 'what they don't know'? How can we ensure we are not limiting them to the point where they are denied certain pathways - pathways of personal growth, enjoyment and for future job prospects?

(Cross-blogging this post to thebelbird.blogspot.com)

Spring Fling on a grey winter's day

Spring Fling is completed - enjoy:

Rain, rain, go away...

Term break and the weather in the first week has been atrocious! We've had a massive storm that has left roads and country side flooded (just google "Northland storm flooding 2014" to see some of the pictures...). We ended up with no power for 72h from Tuesday night to Friday night. Thank goodness it wasn't too cold (though we ended up borrowing a gas heater on Friday - that's what you get when you build a house with heat pumps and no fire place lol). Our freezer had a sleepover at Suz' place who got power back before us, our oldest son had a sleepover at Oma's (who had power and wifi ;D) and the rest of the time we just got on with things. We had access to plenty of water with 10,000 gallons in the water tanks but carrying it inside in buckets is not that much fun (incl. water for flushing the toilet...). In the aftermath of the storm we are dealing with road closures and detours, but overall our family are just fine, much better off than some other people.

As I am not a friend of handwork I didn't get much done last week - I seriously got tempted to take it up I can tell you! I have made up a little since, let's hope the power stays on :)

Here are some pics of Fireworks which I finished and washed at the end of June; as this is a UFO from 2012 (??) I will share this also on Sew It's Finished:

 

 

 

 

Tokyo Subway is getting there, still quilting endless echo spirals... I won't bore you with pictures that are just more of the same. I think I might have about 2/3rds done now.

I am getting a bit restless with quilting this big beast, so I have basted and SIDed Spring Fling. Using some polyester batting for the loft (and because I still had it on hand lol) it is waiting to be quilted further now. I might try to imitate the quilting on the original.

It's fairly puffy looking as you can see :)

My apologies, I had pinned it upside down so I flipped the photo which looks a bit strange now (at least to me!)

Weekend before last I needed some instant gratification type - combine that with a colleague leaving at the end of the month this will be heading her way:

Remember the lovely coaster Suz gave me for Christmas? I used the same pattern :)

Here is my coaster for Di :) Hope she'll like it :)

So that's me all caught up - I think? What's happening in your neck of the woods?

Happy Sewing!