Here is my beloved heading off into the wild blue yonder! All wrapped up to ward off killer mozzies and excessive heat - he was leaving home! Not really, he was helping out with some mowing for his mum. We had a great time visiting and caught up with some of the family.

         

What fun we have had with our visiting groups over the last week. Lots of yummy food and lots of fun doing an activity.

My husband and I had a wonderful few days break in Taupo where I even managed to get some sewing done and lots of walks along the lake. We were fortunate to be able to stay in a place with a view of the lake and on the evening following the eruption at Tongariro we had this amazing sunset which was made more spectacular because of the ash from the eruption.

We had a great day in Featherston fundraising for Family Works. Loads of wonderful people came out to support this great cause in spite of the horrendous weather! The day consisted of an entry fee for people to attend a presentation by The GourmetQuilter (me) followed by absolutely delicious scones and tea prepared by Pauline who organised the whole event. In a corner of the hall I had a part of my shop setup which seemed to be appreciated. Pauline was very pleased with the result and thank you to everyone who attended. Below are a couple of photos of the GourmetQuilter in action!

What an exciting week I have had. I was away on a sewing retreat when the news came in that Fox had arrived in the early hours of Sunday 14th October. Weighing in at a healthy 3.88kg he is absolutely gorgeous. I had better pass on credit where it is due for producing Fox, that is my son Andrew and his wife Jaz. I have been privileged to be able to spend a bit of time with them over the last few days and they are settling into family life well. Here are some photos of Fox:

 

I was just looking around and thought you all might like to look at this wall-hanging which was made for a challenge quite a few years ago using a particular range of fabrics. It won 1st prize in the challenge and, yes, there is a spider in the tree stump!!

It is dimensional, I wired the leaves and grasses. It is approximately 24" square and is still one of my favourite pieces!

Its been a while since I wrote because so much has been happening. More recently I have been a merchant at the Rose City Quilters exhibition in Palmerston North, what a great exhibition - the quilts looked fantastic! We had appalling weather all weekend but it was great to see so many people venturing out to see the exhibition and, of course, the merchants. 

Had a great time up in the North Shore area of Auckland at the 3M's retreat which I try to get to each year as I have such a productive time. I managed to get several quilts machine quilted and bound in amongst much laughter and chatter. Below are a couple of photos of us enjoying our time together.

              

 I had a great time up at Taupo with thick frosty mornings, or some days just thick fog! The exhibition was delightful and the Taupo Quiltmakers are such wonderful hosts with their delicious meals and friendly support. The Taupo Times published some great photos, go to this link to view - http://www.taupotimes.co.nz (Taupo Times, 10th July, page 18). 

Here are some photos of Taupo looking across the lake towards Mount Ngauruhoe and Mount Ruapehu - with and without fog!

           

I was thrilled to receive a parcel all the way from Belgium from my ATC swap partner Monica, thank you so much! As well as the delightful 4 ATCs Monica included for me a little gift of some fabric, a delightful handmade card and a mugrug that she had made, how lucky am I! The swap was run by Michele at Quiltinggallery.com, who always does such a great job with swaps, thanks Michele.

                   

I am so excited to see my Little Grey Monkey appearing in Quiltmania's Special Children 2012 edition. It has been such a well travelled monkey having been made initially for The Extraordinary Travels Challenge at a show in France and then travelling again to appear in Quiltmania. Look out for this publication as it is full of wonderful patterns for children! 

 

In this colder weather I always think of being snug in the house quilting! So we have made available a new downloadable block of the month for you to enjoy. The House Snax pattern is available for purchase on my website.

 Had a great and busy time in Kansas City at Quilt Market. Here are a few shots of some of the things I saw. I had my great helper Leslie came to give me hand at the show, thanks Leslie! I met some very interesting people, saw some amazing quilts and fabrics, and have come back inspired to do even more. 

        

GourmetQuilter Booth at Market                Water everywhere!                                    Main Street, Kansas City

        

Bronze statues were found everywhere - some with water and some without!

Even the dogs are well provided for!

 

I had a great big day out in Opunake, Taranaki. My husband and I were able to stay nearby at a friend's bach at Warea, which made it a great weekend. Thank you so much Opunake Quilters for inviting me to the Taranaki Regional Day as merchant/speaker. It was great to see old friends and meet lots of new ones. I always enjoy going back to Taranaki and the show and tell was terrific as usual. I spoke in the afternoon with my GourmetQuilter presentation and chatted a little about what I am up to these days.

Happy shoppers enjoyed some great bargains!

Jennifer at Sew-Hooked is hosting a Garden Party Blog Hop where each day of the month a different designer has designed a foundation pieced block with a garden party theme that you can download for free. How awesome is that! Thanks so much Jennifer for hosting this, it is such a great idea. Friday the 13th is my day so here is my block pattern which I have called Garden Party Munchies! Here is their story:

'Two LadyBugs, initially attracted by the colourful bunting, discovered a CupCake at the Garden Party and could think of no way of taking the CupCake away so they had to eat it! Watched on by a Flutterby who got into a bit of a flap!'

Here are some layouts that you could make using this block:

              

I have been looking at the other blocks and there are some amazing patterns, thank you so much to all you clever designers.

As a special treat I am running a draw in which 3 lucky people will win a copy of my Daisy Love pattern - this is in keeping with the garden party theme! Just leave a comment below (use the comments button on the right of your screen just below the Blog Hop logo) and I will make a draw on 19th April. Good luck!

Daisy Love

Download my Garden Party pattern here

Click on the link below to follow the blog hop:

 I had such a wonderful weekend away in Masterton - thank you master quilters for including me in your quilt show. I had a delightful day judging on the Friday, it was such a delight to walk into such a well hung, well lit exhibition - congratulations! It was great to see so many people attending the opening.

On the Saturday morning I thoroughly enjoyed presenting my Gourmet delights to such an enthusiastic audience. 

The class in the afternoon went very well with lots being achieved. 

All in all I had a great weekend in the Wairarapa, one of my favourite places to go!

 Thanks to all of you for participating in the blog hop party. It was great to meet you all and many thanks to Michele at Quilting Gallery. Congratulations to our 3 lucky winners - Janet, Gill and Dara. I do hope you enjoy making this pattern!

Welcome to everyone who is hopping around in the Blog Hop Party. A huge thankyou to Michele at the Quiltinggallery.com for organising this. 

If you are new to the GourmetQuilter site let me give you a brief tour of my site. I design patterns for quilts, wallhangings, dolls, bags, table runners.... I sell these patterns in a downloadable form so that you can buy your pattern online and have it in your hand in minutes. 

I am also running a free mystery where each part of the mystery is available to download for a month. Part 1 of That Phantastic Quilt is available now – do have a look here for more info and to download the current part http://www.gourmetquilter.com/pages/mystery-quilts

To find out what new and exciting patterns I am working on and when the next mystery part is available Subscribe to our newsletter or like the GourmetQuilter facebook page

My Giveaway

I have 3 copies of my Applique Angels quilt pattern to giveaway to some lucky blog hoppers! This pattern makes a quilt approx 31" x 36" and features lovely appliqued angels including one that I think is probably celebrating St Patrick's Day - she is wearing green and has her hands in the air!! Yes, we are happy to ship these patterns internationally so you can all join in!

 Life has been very busy this week. I celebrated my birthday again! It seems to come round every year. As well as that I entered a draw on Linda's blog  and won a finger pincushion!!

Would you like to win a downloadable Eye-Spy quilt pattern, Lime Splice? Click like on the GourmetQuilter facebook page and you will be in the draw. Draw will be made on Thursday 15th March - Be in to win!

If you remember Sally started blogging about the mystery That Square Quilt. She was making 2 quilts and has finished one of them. Visit her blog and have a look at some photos of her finished quilt - congratulations Sally!

 

We discovered a hen with 14 tiny chicks that she had hatched in the hedge right next to State Highway 1. I am so pleased I am not a hen with that many babies all at once!

Other than that I have been working hard on the next free, online mystery quilt that will come in 6 parts over 6 months starting in March. I am so excited about this quilt and can hardly wait to see yours already!! It is called That Phantastic Quilt - keep an eye on the mystery page for the first part in early March.