A little bit of stitching...

Has been quite awhile, though have got back into working on Butterfly Garden BOM, the above is work in progress of Block 4, so loving using varigated threads to create interest within the stitching, don't look to closely at the heart as it needs a press... I worked on this block this afternoon over a leisurely coffee and catchup with my girlfriend Karen (no blog) - was a lovely way to spend the afternoon.

Now this way too gorgeous butterfly fabric is from a new range that Yvonne has at Sawmillers Quiltery - I just had to get a Fat 1/4 to add to my butterfly stash :)

Pop across to Yvonne's blog to check out the most divine Japanese fabric's that have come into the Quiltery.

Below is the BOM sampler I made to take to yesterday's Capital Quilter's club day - this is for the April meeting - I've called it "Double T in Japanese" it is based on a pattern from Quilter's Cache - this is a fantastic website to find all sorts of blocks/designs...

Ooh - how could I forget to tell you... I went for a bike ride with DH this morning - we clocked up 34.9km's today - and it wasn't just on flat roads, am so proud of myself as I faced and conquered three big hills - I may have been a few km's behind DH, though I did it, just love the free riding on the down hills - the horrid part is looking up and seeing that you've got to climb another hill - eek...

The duathlon is now 6 sleeps away - so looking forward to it :) I know that is perhaps a little weird to say - though when I think of the leaps and bounds in my fitness from Xmas - and the amount of km's I've clocked up already on my new Grace - its really quite liberating - I have to say here a HUGE THANKS to Leigh my dear Sister-in-law who was the crazy lass who suggested the duathlon to begin with; for her daily emails of motivation and txts of encouragement - she is the true champion in so many ways - love you xox.

Well Bella is curled up right next to the keyboard, she is such a dear sweetie, took her to the vet yesterday morning for her booster jab, one good thing was that she didn't start freaking out in the car and panting like the last time we went to the vet... she was such a good girl and very relaxed with the vet, once she was back in the cage we walked over the the chemist's so I could do some photocopying (well I couldn't leave her in the car) - people must have thought me the right eccentric cat lady - though Bella was quite happy she curled up at the bottom of her cage and waited patiently with the odd meow to remind me to hurry up !

Have a fantastic week.

Hugs

How was your Earth Hour...

Well I must say I was a little disappointed in the response...

As it turned out I went out at 8.15pm to pick up Kait from her friends, and pick up Butter Chicken on the way home for her late dinner... so by the time all this was done it was 8.35pm as we were driving along Fergusson Drive towards home. We past many houses with their lights blazing, Burger King and all the petrol stations were in full blaze of lights... and we were saying together "shame on you". Then we passed a few houses that you could see the 'glow' of the television - though no house lights (yeah thumbs up)... as we were heading to Silverstream, I said to Kait now I wonder if the 'golden arches' will be off - and YES they were - Well done McD's and right next door was the Mobil petrol station in full blaze of lights - go figure - when we got home we raced upstairs to get the matches and candles out, though have to admit we did leave the TV on to watch "Dancing with the Stars" - no quilting done :( - though it will be interesting to see the Late News on TV tonight to see how the rest of NZ went with the Earth Hour.

Hugs

EARTH HOUR 2009

Let's try Quilting by Candlelight for just one hour tonight!!

To participate in Earth Hour 2009 all you have to do is to turn off all lights on Saturday 28th March 2009 from 8.30pm till 9.30pm. (of course this will not affect essential street lights and security lights, safety is paramount)

If you want more information about Earth Hour the best website to check out is : http://www.earthhour.org/. The YouTube video is worth a look at.

Here is an excerpt from the Earth Hour website.

THIS IS THE WORLD’S FIRST GLOBAL ELECTION, BETWEEN EARTH AND GLOBAL WARMING.
On March 28 you can VOTE EARTH by switching off your lights for one hour.Or you can vote global warming by leaving your lights on.
The results of the election are being presented at the Global Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen 2009. We want one billion votes for Earth, to tell world leaders that we have to take action against global warming.

Other websites you can look at also are:
http://www.christchurchearthhour.co.nz/
www.worldwildlife.org/earthhour
www.wwf.ca/earthhour
http://www.earthhour.org.nz/

Have a great day
Hugs

Look who Bella found...

Look mum.... it's Frank !!!!

Bella was sitting with me as we checked out our favourite blogs and who should pop up on the screen when I double clicked the photo "FRANK"

I have to tell you Bella was so excited to see him !!!

Kitten Kisses Frank
Bella

71kms of biking this week...

Well its only about 10 days now until the duathlon - this week I've clocked up 71kms on the trusty bike, and after a stroke of good luck and great timing I've secured a fantastic bike off Trademe for under half the retail price :) its only a few months old and only done approx 10kms - spoke with the guy tonight (absolutely nothing wrong with the bike, he just decided biking wasn't for him - so lucky for me) he's travelling down to Wellington tomorrow - and he's going to bring the bike so I can pick it up tomorrow night - so excited...

This is what I'm currently riding... 18 crappy gears that don't change properly so sometimes you end up throwing the chain, or biking madly going nowhere, horrid uncomfortable seat, frame too small, brakes that are dodgy on downhills, other than that has been a great bike for getting into the biking scene (yeah right) ...



And this is my new bike, I think I'll call her... "Grace" she is 24speed, disc brakes, front locking shocks (so can lock them when riding on road, and unlock when doing river trail or gravel rides), sprung comfy seat...

Can't wait, am going to leave work early so that I can get the car from the station and drive over to get her...

Ooh I have found another challenge for November - is a 48km charity ride around Martinborough (the other option is 112km - not ready for that yet)... so need to find a couple of more rides inbetween April and November to keep the fitness and motivation going.

Tomorrow night going with DH to see "The boy in the striped pyjamas" - have heard that the book is very good, and that the movie is very sad and moving - am looking forward to seeing this - will let you know (a mini film review later)...

And I've done some sewing today too - no pic's as yet, have sandwiched Junior Witch's quilt and have started the quilting process - winter is looking like its going to be early in the South, as Junior Witch has already started lighting her fire, so need to get this finished quick fast and pigeon-courier it to her...

Right that's about it - have a fantastic week and here is a gorgeous photo of Bella - who took a liking to MumSharon's basket that had her spare shoes in...

Misty Rain in the Garden...

I do love the misty rain, where the air is warm, and the plants get a light watering...

Hope you had a lovely day...

Just had a thought, you quilty people out there, how would you go about trying to re-create a raindrop in your quilting???

Hugs

Hello...

... well another week has roared past - aargh time is passing too quickly, Have upped the cycling over the past couple of weeks, and getting out either on the road for the 14km loop (which takes me about 35min) after work or on the indoor trainer in the darkness of morning with the radio going to detract from the boredom of just sitting there sweating! Last Sunday even managed a bike to Maoribank from my home in Silverstream - not sure on how many km's this is though is approx 20 min drive away.

Was sis-in-law's birthday on Friday, so my gift to her was a Kathmandu bike computer (and I picked one up for myself too!) to attach to our bikes and keep the challenge up of increasing our distance, and time - along with checking out how fast we are going on those down-hill "free-wheeling" moments LOL... only 22 more sleeps before our event...

Now my dear friend Steph had her '0' birthday yesterday, and today is her BBQ gathering - now she said NO presents on the invite - whaat! you can't have a birthday and have no presents... so I've made her a GIFT - the tote bag (from the pattern that Beth gave me, the tote bag I'm making from the fabrics Beth gave me is still in process...) then I thought I'd make a cover for a note book (Deb gave me this lovely idea from a gorgeous journal she sent to me last year)... now of course there are no photo opportunities without Bella aka 'Squirrel'...

Here's a slightly better photo...

I thought I'd close with some neat photo's Kait took with my camera - she was playing with the camera settings and set it to sport, then was taking photo's of the lights in the valley from our garden - with a slight move of the camera while she was pressing the shutter - she created some great pics - great ideas for stitching with variegated thread on black fabric I thought...

Have a great sewing weekend... oh before I forget Sawmillers Quiltery are having an instore demonstration day tomorrow from 1.30pm - Fused and Needleturn Applique... I shall be stopping in - not only to see the demo - I also need to purchase more green fabric for my butterfly garden project...

From Junior Witch - who knows me too well...

Just loved this email that my sister sent through to me...

My Cleaning Poem

I asked the Lord to tell me

Why my house is such a mess.

He asked if I'd been 'computering',

And I had to answer 'yes.'

He told me to get off my butt

And tidy up the house.

And so I started cleaning up...

The smudges off my mouse.

I wiped and shined the topside.

That really did the trick...

I was just admiring my work...

I didn't mean to 'click.'

But click, I did, and oops I found

A real absorbing site.

That I got SO way into.

I was into it all night.

Nothing's changed except my mouse

It's very, very shiny.

I guess my house will stay a mess...

While I sit here on my hiney!!

In training...

Now I was going to post some pic's of my sister and I in training from a few weeks ago - which was my first 10km bike ride in Matahiwi - where I sweated and huffed and puffed thinking - oh my god what am I doing on this stupid piece of equipment... though for some 'crazy' reason I don't seem to have saved the photo's to my computer --- oh I hear you sigh...

Though you will be pleased to hear that we did the ride again Sunday just been - and we were so busy gossiping that we reached the top of the hill and were ready to turn around and 'free-wheel' it back before we knew it - the biking on the indoor trainer in the mornings (its too dark for this scaredy cat to actually ride on the streets at that hour) is paying dividends - we had so much energy left that we 'raced' each other back - crickey the legs felt it then though - that penguin walk was very evident for a while afterwards...

So we've only got approx 4 weeks left before the RealWomen Duathlon - we are both focussing on the riding as the walk will be fine - am still thinking very postive thoughts that I AM going to win a bike in a spot prize :)

I also wanted to say ...

I have really appreciated receiving your emails, and kind words...

Promise more quilty pics in days to come.

Hugs