Lately

Gosh, the year is just whizzing by, it hard to believe that it is August already.  Officially one month of winter to go.  It has been a busy few days with work, visits to prospective high schools with Miss B, inter-school maths competitions,and today Mr J is home with a cold.  However the outside temperature is beautiful and mild today, so I have spent the morning weeding the vegetable garden and shaded flower garden in my back yard.  It is amazing what little treasure reveal themselves once the weeds are cleared:

• my white Daphne is just starting to flower, so it smelt divine weeding around this plant
• miniature cyclamen - these are all ex-indoor plants that I plant outside after they have finished flowering
• a tiny spreading violet - normally I am quite ruthless and pull this plant out, it spreads very easily, but it provides a little extra colour in the garden at this time of the year.

Not much sewing has been done:

• I did make a project pouch out the scrappy blocks I was creating - this has been sent to one of my Pay It Forward recipients - hopefully it has arrived at it's destination.
• another paper pieced cushion has been started - this one for my nephew, who is mad about birds. Cockatoo pattern from here

I have just started reading The Layered Garden by David Culp.  I saw this book on my friend Nicole's blog, and was delighted to be able to get it from my library.  Beautiful photos - and very inspiring.

Wishing you all a fabulous weekend - whatever you may do.

Sew Sew Modern 5 - Received

Happy clappy day.  The courier has just delivered my Sew Sew Modern Swap package.  I received the most stunning New York Beauty cushion cover, pouch, charm squares and thread pack from Pam (Sewmama123).  I had seen a couple of sneak peaks during it's progress, and hoped it might be mine. My favourite fabrics, colours and one of my favourite quilting block styles - apparently she found it just as hard to post this off, as I did mine.  Luckily I had a cushion inner the right size, so it is currently brightening up my family room at present.

Thanks so much for a great swap

Tuesday

One of the benefits of not being called into work on a cold winter's day, is the chance to do a little blog hopping.  I found this recipe and decided to try it out.  Currently we are just waiting for the icing to set before we can sample it.

Not much is happening in my garden at present, however I am so pleased to see that I have Iceland Poppies beginning to flower, these are self sown seeds from two winters ago.  I love the splash of colour and their tissue paper like petals.  Also with a few flower is this lovely pink and white striped geranium.

Sewing for a charity quilt, paper pieced bra pattern from here.   A little more playing with scraps was done too.

Weekending

Sewing

• I finished the Badger cushion - one Christmas present crossed off the list.  It is backed in the same Tula Pink fabric as the borders, has a concealed zip and bound in another Tula Pink fabric from the same range.
• They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so I made a block that two of my favourite, most inspiring sewers (Rachel and Amanda) have been making lately. It finishes at about 6"square.  If anyone knows what this block is called, please let me know.

Reading:

• Cold Glory by B. Kent Anderson.  A modern day thriller set in America with a bit of Civil War mystery thrown in.  A good read.
• Sisters of Treason by Elizabeth Fremantle.  Another great novel set in the turbulent Tudor period.

Cooking:

• Honey Mustard and Lemon Sausages.  I saw this on Nigel Slater's television show, Simple Suppers, so thought I would try it for a nice warming winters meal.  It is cooking as I write this.

Listening:

• My One and Only Thrill from Melody Gardot

Hoping you all had a fabulous weekend too.

Scenes from the Sky Tower

Yes, after 15 years in Auckland, The Scout and I, have finally been up the Sky Tower.  As a last day of the school holidays family outing, we took Miss B and Mr J into Auckland City and ventured up the Sky Tower. At 328m high, it is New Zealand's tallest building.  There are glass panels inset into the viewing platform floor at intervals, so you are able to look down as well.  We were blessed with the most beautiful fine cold day, so got awesome views from all directions of Auckland and beyond.  It is quite amazing how many little parks there are hidden away in the city, and I loved watching the ever changing harbour view.  We were even lucky enough to see some brave (mad) people do the Sky Jump.