50mm of snow in my rain gauge and still snowing!!!

Well the snow is just get bigger and thicker as the day goes on. We have just been out catching flakes trying to get the biggest. So far the biggest is about 5cm across. I have never seen snow so thick.

There is 50mm of rain and snow in my rain gauge and still it is coming. We have had some fun outside though Albie was incredibly unimpressed when he got hit in the face by a snowball that Jakob threw.

Since then we occasionally pop outside but generally are occupied doing other things. Albie has been into the guns and swords with Jakob. Montana-Rose and Eli have been crafty.
Whether Anna and Mark will get to fly into CHCH from their holiday in Rarotonga will remain to be seen.

My little box of treasure

My mother in law gave me this treasure tin on Friday night. I could not for the life of me work out what it was. Then I opened it. Oh glorious glorious buttons. Amazing old ones, all sorts of styles and sizes. What a fantastic gift. There is a story to this. When they moved house (just a couple of months ago as their old house literally fell to bits in the Christchurch earthquakes) they cleared all their bits and pieces. And that included her sewing things and her buttons. I shrieked when I found out. I went through the rubbish bin outside (I mean how desperate was I!!!) and managed to retrieve some, but for the main all her buttons etc had gone to the tip. Oh how I groaned.

Anyway she was out with her tramping group on Wednesday and one of those ladies was permanently moving to Wellington. She too was having a clean out and lamenting that there was no one to give all these collected and useful things to. My mother in law quickly piped up that she had a very willing recipient in mind. And it was me.. oh lucky me... I just love getting treasure like this.

In the kitchen making Feijoa Alcohol!!

Last year I had a glut of Feijoa's from our lovely tree. After preserving, making jam and all those industrious things I had little ones left over. Now I make Lemoncello a lot. It was from a class I did once with Ruth Pretty out at Michael le Richards house in Governors Bay.
So I played around a bit and yes Feijoacello is fantastic!!! Straight on ice, or ice with dry lemonaide or if you want something really alcoholic then with a dry sparkling wine as a top up.
In winter or in summer this gives you a heavenly taste of the feijoa season to come.

To make Feijoacello - my recipe

300 - 500g feijoas
Juice of 1 lemon
3 cups water
4 cups sugar
700ml Vodka ( I use 40% proof but you can use the cheap 20% only keep it in the fridge after making)

Wash the feijoa's and if small cut in half, if larger cut into 3. Put all ingredients into a bowl and stir for the sugar to dissolve. Muddle the fejoa's (that is get a cup or rolling pin or something to give them a bit of a bash). This bruises the skin and releases more of that feijoa flavour. Cover in plastic wrap or put the bowl into a plastic bag and leave on the bench for 48 hours. Strain and put into sterilised containers.

enjoy

In the sewing room - boys shorts

These shorts are for Eli. A couple of weeks ago he had a rugby game in Oxford. On the way home we visited the Fairy and Patchwork shop in Cust. I did not find any material for me but.. Eli found this dog material for him. I bought 1/2 metre for some shorts (what i had not looked closely at was the words are directional and I just had enough material to squeeze the shorts out of). I tried to convince Eli that they would be great as summer PJ shorts but no.. Mr determined said they would be great as shorts to play in.

I cut the shorts out (using an old pj shorts that I chopped for a pattern) that night and then made them when I was away in Hanmer Springs with the girls. Only I get home and Eli told me they were too long and the logo I had put on was too girly. So a trim and a new logo and they have been happily worn ever since. Boy it is good to see something different as boys clothes are sooo samey.

Recycle / upcycle project - Making gift bags

Last night I started my big tidy up of my craft area. No more new projects, get everything off the floor, organise my stuff etc. Why do I have to do this every three months??
Anyway I had previously cut all the paper out of a wallpaper sampler book ready to make into gift bags. So I sewed and sewed and sewed!!! It took me about 1 hour to get them all done, but now I have all my wrapping for gifts done for the year.
I take the simple approach. Sew two similar sized sample pieces together. Then when the gift is in I punch holes in the top and either thread homespun wool through or a ribbon to tie them off.
I have seen on-line where people get really fancy and make them have proper bottoms etc - yes they look lovely but Oh they take so long!!!

Tips on making the double hourglass quilt

As I have said in some other posts I have a few tips on making the double hourglass quilt, listed by Alison at Cluck Cluck Sew. Refer to her easy to understand instructions but add a few of these tips and you will have a double hourglass quilt of your own, whipped up in a jiffy.
1. It's all about the ironing. 

a.When sewing the initial coloured strips and solid colour together press the seam to the patterned material.

b. Before opening each sewn triangle press the seam in the closed position first. This will set the seam and stop the stretch and buckle happening that can occur when dealing with seams on the bias.

c. When opening the first set of triangles sewn together (after setting the seam in the closed position), press the seam toward the triangle that has the print material.

All of these items will ensure that when you sew blocks together and / or assemble the triangles that the seams will all be in opposite directions so that they butt up closely and form really sharp corners.

2. Use the square rulers you have available
Alison's instructions regarding how to get your quilt triangles the correct size do work well. But I found that I could not cut the material off the template plastic, so had to put my ruler over it to have an edge, then it gets messy.

For using a Jelly roll - 2 1/2" strips I used my 6.5" ruler. The 45deg angle line is aligned to be straight with the bottom of the fabric and then you cut. Just like that.
For a Jolly roll - 1.5" strips I used my 4.5"ruler.

3. Chain piece
It will make the quilt sew a lot faster than getting up and ironing after every small seam.

4. Concentrate on each individual seam as it goes under your presser foot.
Make sure the seam is aligned and butting up. If you have to use pins then put one through each join. If you are confident without them just check each one as it goes through.

Have fun.

Quilting weekend in Hanmer Springs

Sheryl and Kylie working hard

What a fantastic weekend I had. Four friends and one gorgeous baby all having a girls quilting weekend. We made Giraffes (from the Melly and Me pattern), had a walk, had gorgeous food made by us. Lots of sewing, cutting and relaxing. Though I felt shattered by the time I got home.

Paula sorting her split nine patch quilt

Cora had one mother and four aunties this weekend!!!

We hired a holiday home in Hanmer Springs. Great place to stay. Must do this again.

Tiny Happy

I have just found a new blog to follow. Tiny Happy - what a fantastic blog and she also has a shop on etsy -  http://www.etsy.com/shop/tinyhappy.
Lovely use of recycled material and inspiring!!!

Hodgie Podgie Day

Yesterday we had a family Hodgie Podgie Day (a day out where anyone, including the kids, can stop us to look at something or do something).

On the ferry

So it started with the kids calling in - they went to K-Mart and got some new MGP wheels.

Aaron proving that he cannot climb trees

Then we went to Lyttleton and caught the Black Cat Ferry to Diamond Harbour. What a great we ride in gorgeous weather. Poor Morris sat on my knee (well actually tried to crawl inside my skin!) and shook the whole way across. Then we played around at the Godley House Domain. The boys up trees, Aaron decided he could climb too! Not!

Eli was official photographer - us at Freemans

We thought we would try the new cafe at the Diamond Harbour Store - HMm - coffee was great and the icecreams so big that the boys could not finish them. But the food was minimal and did not appeal.
Then off for another short walk along the cliff top, back on the ferry and arrived hungry in Lyttleton.
We thought we would try the revamped cafe / restaurant Freemans as seen on the TV about their restaurant expansion going bung in the earthquake. Fanatastic venue. Great food and really amazingly good prices.
Plus at 3.30pm live music started. Very cruisy Jazz by Carmel Courtney and her three piece band.

Gorgeous Pizza and handcut fries that were fluffy inside.

$12 for bread and dips for 4 people!!

As soon as we arrived and the staff saw we had children they had a pile of drawing materials on the table . The boys really appreciated that. What a fantastic relaxing day out.

Melly and Me patterns

Well six weeks ago I was invited to a baby shower. I came home all enthusiastic and started cutting out my Melly and Me patterns. Had them cut and sewn in a night. Then the next few soccer nights I stuffed them. Then it has taken me 5 weeks to get them finished!!! I kid you not. Why does the sewing up and finishing take me so long. Because I PROCASTINATE. Big time!!
So a frantic finishing session last night and they are all done.

My big hint when doing a Melly and Me pattern is that you trace it with freezer paper and then use that, rather than having to cut out plastic templates.

So I have decided "No more procrastination".
Last night I finished the toys, made the vanilla essence (which the ingredients had been sitting on my kitchen bench for three days). It only took 5 minutes.
Made a huge batch of shortbread (the butter had been "softening" on my bench for two days as well!).
Then to finish the night at 9.45pm I cleaned the toilet. Toilets bug me as they get dirty so easily and yesterday I thought yicky so last night I did it before I had a shower and bed. (It did make getting up this morning easier as all those jobs were not still staring me in the face).

I often "relocate" things to another place or put them on my "to do" list. Really it should get done there and then. On the way home from rugby at Oxford today Eli bought 1/2 metre of fabric at the Cust fairy shop and wants shorts/pj pants. I am going to make them tonight before that too sits around for the next four weeks!!!

Lets see what can get achieved with no more procrastination.

Double Hourglass Quilt - Finally finished!!

Well I said about 6 weeks ago that I could not make a quilt in a week and I was right!!. Since then this is all I have worked on. On Mothers Day I did a last ditch clean up of my overflowing craft stuff. Completed all my mending and cut and sewed the last strip on this quilt.
I still felt it was not big enough for the bed (Aaron agreed!!!). But I am over it and it will have to do. It is more of a summer quilt anyway so does not have to cover so much. It is also going to be very hard to quilt as it is soooo big.
Aaron immediately got under it to test try and then we discussed how to quilt it. So that is now the quandry, a good quandry to have.

This quilt and the method came from Cluck Cluck Sew. Though I have quite a few tips re ironing that makes the assembly of the blocks easier. I also tried to make the template occording to her directions but in the end the good old 6.5" square board does the trick.
So with the left overs I am going to make a little quilt for the charity I support, so will take photos and put up my tips later.