City to Surf...

Before..... After....
City to surf - 12kms, time for me 2 hours 40 minutes. I did it, I thought I might not make it, but I gritted my teeth and kept on going. I was a little person playing my part in something big!

Earth Hour...

We switched off our lights (and a few other things) to do our bit for earth hour!

Le Race

Here is my husband David who is very happy with himself, he did the Christchurch to Akaroa race which is 100km over monster hills in 3 hours 19 minutes. Amazing!!

Unlimited Camp....

Home made cookies
Me making pizza bases.
The pile of pizza trays!
Some of the kids (and dads) doing dishes
The lunch machine. Filled rolls down one end, cookies down the other! Just a few pictures from camp. Quite frankly I'm too tired to clean up and put away all the gear, so have taken a break and thought I'd post these pictures! We had a fabulous time, the weather was fantastic, actually warm, and the kids were all lovely (well most of them). The food went really well and no major disasters! It was a bit tricky as there were two ovens, but only one rack in each and as we nearly always needed four trays it took some nifty moves to get it all done in time. Not too many complaints which was good. I was lucky and got to sleep in a cabin with one of the teachers. Peel forest is absolutely lovely and I might post some of Chrissy's photos sometime. I'd definitely go back there as a family, it is a truly unspoilt beautiful spot and less than two hours from Christchurch. Amazing. We are so blest in this country and I felt so lucky to have the opportunity to leave my busy life behind for a bit and enjoy the serenity of the countryside and the majesty of the mountains!

My lap top is back!!!

I got my laptop back this afternoon. I am so happy, I missed it so much!! Last night when I was praying with Reuben, we prayed that I would get it back today (before camp tomorrow) and that I could get a haircut and both our prayers were answered! I thought best I don't look too frumpy in front of all Chrissy's friends - didn't really want her to disown me!
These are the two quilts I did on Sunday. Just need to buy 9 inches of fabric to finish the binding on the one on the right otherwise they are sorted. They are not fancy, but more than adequate for the dear old ladies they are going to!!!

Camp Menu

Speaking of Camp I am cooking for Chrissy's School Camp this week. We are off to Peel forest on Wednesday. 65 kids and adults should keep me busy I think. Tomorrow I am going to take Chrissy James and Jessie (James' friend) to Pak 'n Save and give them each a shopping trolley and we are going to buy all the food. Here is the menu....

Day 1
Packed lunch
Afternoon tea: Homemade Cookies and fruit
Tea: Homemade pizza and homemade oven chips
Supper: Deb's famous chocolate self-saucing pudding

Day 2
Breakfast: Cereal and toast
Morning tea: Cheese and crackers
Lunch: Rolls with ham, lettuce, cheese, tomato, mayo etc
Afternoon tea: Scroggin
Tea: Nachos
Supper: Homemade Apple Crumble

Day 3:
Breakfast: Pancakes
Morning tea: leftovers!!

Easter

The wireless hardware in my laptop failed so my laptop has gone off to be repaired. Its a real pain to not have it I must say. Anyway I'm blogging on David's one but I can't post photos. We've been at Coalgate for Easter and yesterday the weather was amazing. Its really Autumn here though, with a bite in the air at night. I love the freshness of the air and the colours of Autumn. Yesterday I made two quilts. They are very simple strip quilts but they look fine. One is for a lady who is going to be 90 on wednesday and the other is for David's Aunty Jean who will be 87 in two weeks. I'll put up a photo when I can.
James went to the Pegasus Cycling Development day on Saturday. It was great for him to ride against people his age and I think he really enjoyed it. We miss Chrissy this weekend who is at Easter Camp. I can't wait to get her back again. She will have had fun. Four thousand, five hundred Christian Kids at Camp - amazing.

At last another project!

It seems like ages since I finished a project. I just put this together for Jackson, who turns Five this week and is having a pirate party today!! Its adapted from a pattern I saw, and its really easy to do, but look effective for kids, especially with his name on!! I've got two more of these to do in the next couple of weeks. Its a great design for quickies, also you can cut the stripes out of fat quarters, thereby using up stash fabric!! You can't see the design on the border, but its all school fabric, suitable for a boy starting school after Easter!!

My new project....

Last night I went to a class to learn how to make this quilt. It is a Japanese folded quilt. I love the fabrics for this one (all from my stash). so I have to make a whole lot more (400) as many as possible in one month for the next class. Its very cool though, each square is aready bound and quilted ready for sewing together.

Weekends....

Here are our beautiful children taken the other saturday when we went to Lyttelton. I have done no quilting this week, and the only sewing is to make a batman cape for david to wear to a fancy dress party tomorrow! I need to get moving on something. This weekend is full of fun social activities which will be great. Maybe I'll get sewing next week.

Sally Barbara Becker 1969-13/2/07

Tomorrow it is one year since my friend Sally died. Sally was the bossiest, most straight-forward person you could meet. She loved to laugh and have fun. She did everything just so. She lost her hair, her figure, her memory and her control over her body, but she never lost her desire to live. I miss her so much, I feel like I just lost her yesterday. I think we have friends who fill different roles in our lives and the Sally hole is still very much empty in my life. She was the one I could go to and share my struggles and we could pray together. I felt safe sharing with her. Sally bossed us all around, but we all did what she said. Sally was always right.

I have no photos of her, we just did ordinary things together... watch our kids play, go for a walk, sit on the sofa and have a coffee. Sally's legacy to me is that I always carry a camera in my bag, every moment is precious and i want to be able to capture them.

I love you Sal, I miss you so much xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Quilt for Ashleigh...

This is the one for Shenleigh's dad who is 70 in may. I did post it before, but i wanted to remember it all done!! These four are all quilts that I sewed over christmas (my UFOs) and Verina has quilted them, I just had to bind them, which I did yesterday. But now I have no UFOs, just a project I'm working on. I'll have to generate some more, I feel naked without them!!

The triangle quilt...

This one is going to England. It was me trying to do triangles (which I'm a bit scared of actually) but it turned out perfectly fine, so i might have to try again!!

The finished baby quilt....

This is the baby quilt it made and then my friend had a boy so I thought it was too girly!! Anyway the lady who does the quilting has brought it for her grand-daughter, so its actually sold! amazing.

At last some completed projects....

Finally some projects finished. I made this from some Amy Butler fabrics and I'm please how it turned out. I may give it away or sell it, can't decide which!!

Another dress quilt....

Look at this awesome quilt. I'm so stoked to see it. It was made in Thailand after I left by Samphan Crafts. They copied it from a minature one that I was making. Its just such a buzz to see things that people are making that you had a hand in! This will be a large twin size - they make enormous quilts in thailand.

Sarah's quilt... (at last)

At last some quilting success! Finished the quilt for Sarah's baby (its only four weeks old!!) considering how little my heart was in this project, i'm happy with the result. I made a quilt but it turned out quite girly so this is quilt number two. (Quilt number one not bound yet so not shown on here!)

aWW MUM!

Can you see what my daughter is saying "go away mum"! it's just not cool to have your photo taken on the first day of your new school! She looked so grown up in mufti.

Saturday morning...

We saw this truck this morning. Isn't it funny? Great line! We went to the Lyttleton Farmer's market this morning. I can't believe I haven't gone before. I will be a regular now. It was great to buy things and ask the people how to cook them. We brought a courgette that was over 1m long and we used 6 inches of it and made fritters for lunch which we ate with a dip we brought - yum!

Books I've read this summer...

Another one of my goals for the summer was to read at least five good books. Here are the ones I've read so far...

1. When Fish Fly by John Yokoama and Joseph Michelli - this book is fantastic. As a small business owner I am inspired and encouraged by reading this book. We are making it compulsary reading for our staff!
2. An Unbrian Love Story by Marlena de Blasi - quite a slow pace this book, but having read two others of hers, its kinda cool to follow her story.
3. Tell it to the Skies by Erica James - loved this. I think that Erica is getting better and better!
4. How Starbucks Saved my Life - this was great also. Kind of follows on for me by When Fish Fly. It helped me see "being" in action.
5. From the heart - On being the mother of a child with special needs - I was just so keen to read other people's stories. As we have struggled these holidays with Reuben, I wanted to see how other people felt. I think more needs to be written, or maybe I just need to find it out there somewhere! Any suggestions?
6. The Memory Keepers Daughter - a story about secrets, but also I felt about redemption. It was heart warming and sweet.
7. Wisdom of daughters - two decades of the voice of Christian Feminism - This book is so refreshing, it makes me want to cry. I may not agree with all if it, but gosh there is a lot of insights here. What a relief.

Now isn't that an eclectic lot of books? I brought a book last year to record the books I read, and its great, otherwise you forget what you read and what the book was about. I would have said I was a bit of a chicklit girl, but this list shows me that no, I may enjoy a girlie book, I do actually read all sorts!