I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and are now are now looking forward to New Year's Day. I'm staying with my mum and dad in Auckland at the moment. It was lovely to surprise mum with the latest issue of New Zealand Quilter magazine.
Both of our la passacaglia quilts are shown and there's a little article about the quilts. Mum was very surprised to see her quilt there when she turned the page. It seemed a lovely way to end 2016 for us both. We're both very pleased we made our quilts, but they were a lot of work and required dedication to get them finished. Now we can both move onto other exciting things.
A few days before Christmas I saw some beautiful knitted Christmas Balls on Instagram. I discovered the patterns were by Arne & Carlos - Norwegian guys who design fun knitting patterns. Naturally I had to give it a go, so I rushed out and got their book from the library and a set of 5 knitting needles. I've never kitted socks, so this was always going to be an adventure for me.
I used scrap wool for my first attempt while I struggled to keep the knitting on the 4 needles. It turned out a bit too big for mum's little tree.
I've never been one to give up easily, so I found their pattern for mini Christmas balls online. This one is smaller but still a bit chunky because I bought 4mm needles and had to use 8 ply wool. At least I've mastered the technique and could make more for next Christmas with 3mm needles.
I gave mum this Stars Upon Stars pattern by Laundry Basket Quilts for Christmas. We've been making a test block out of these fabrics, and learning as we go. I'm not sure which fabrics mum will use in her blocks yet.
On Thursday I went shopping with some friends and came home with this lovely selection of fabrics. I'm naturally drawn to the blues and greens. I purposely chose fabrics that I hadn't seen in my local Wellington shops.
Finally, as it's summer here in New Zealand, here are some photos from my mum's garden. Happy New Year everyone and best wishes for 2017.
 |
| Lilium Regale - known as New Zealand Christmas lily. |
 |
| Dahlia - Tsuki Yori No Sisha - Messengers from the Moon |
