Double whammy quilty hugs

Wow! How cool was it yesterday to be doing my usual morning scroll through my blog reading and suddenly 'whammo' there is a photo of one of my quilts on Em Celebrates page - that funky lady had featured two of my quilts full on!!!!!!
They are Emma's 21st birthday quilt

And Jen's 23rd (I think!) birthday quilt

But go over and check Em's page out cos she has the most fun competition (as only Em could have) running at the moment and it will explain why all this chaos is happening!!!!!
BUT why the double whammy quilty hugs???????
WELL not only did I have the warm fuzziness when I saw what a biiiiiigggg feature she had made of the quilts on her blog page, but about an hour later there was a package in my letter box

from the above mentioned crazy funky Em that contained 

Such an Em card and just love the fairy sprinkling her magic fairy dust over.....

these oh so me fabrics that I won a voucher for in yet another oh so fun random competition Em had. BUT I gave Em the challenge of spending my voucher for me and giving me a surprise of seeing how she spent it!!!!!!! AND what a neat surprise it is - so the sort of fabrics I would chose - YAHOO:) Now to mull over what scrumptiousness to create with these - maybe I will try my first wonkiness in honour of you EM:)
Ciao,

Black n white n zing quilt

While Sam's having a super experience in Jakarta, we headed off to his best friends 21st birthday armed with a quilt that I hope he will like. Pete and Sam were at primary school from when we moved up from the South Island, and have been through high school, rowing, and many experiences that probably I'd rather not know about!!!!!!!! So I wanted to give him something that, while he might not necessarily have put on his "Top Ten List of 21st Presents" , when he was older he might come to realise the meaning and love that had gone into making it.

I've always been a fan of the stunning clarity of black and white but this quilt particularly appealed with the addition of the bright jewel colours. Think it's the rainbow and sunshine part of me coming out :) Of course Pippa felt a particular affinity for this one - must be something to do with the similarity of her fur colouring!!!!!!!!

It was interesting how some of the black and white fabrics I went to use almost read cream and just didn't work. The squiggles worked in helping bring the border colours into the main part and link everything together.
We gave Pete his present but he didn't open it at the party so I don't know yet how he feels about it........mmmmmmm. Have my fingers and toes crossed on this one.


Ciao, 

Ikea Care Package

How lucky can a girl be? Not one but two surprise packages this week. I just love getting parcels in the post :) This one wasn't hard to guess re it's place of origin as it was almost completely covered in tape that had Canadian maple leaves on it.
Oooooooh a parcel from Emma and Jen. Wonder what this was all about?????? Well, as you know I'm pretty good at opening presents so...........

Oh boy!!  They've been to Ikea. Why don't we have an Ikea in New Zealand????? Oh why???? But I guess it makes moments like these just so much fun. Now I have zip loc bags in almost all the colours of the rainbow. All I need now is the pot of gold at the end (teehee). Very funny re the Pop Tarts container. You can't actually get Pop Tarts in supermarkets here, but my buddy Sam took me to a special place in Auckland not too long ago so now I know where to get some .... so guess where I'll have to go next visit to the big smoke? 

I was able to share some of the wee matchbox post-it notes with Mal's young lady Jordan, and my cousie Bee. They are too cute for words. And of course I'm not meant to be buying myself stationery but that doesn't mean other people can't buy it for me!!!!!!!!

But look at these ...

 

Oh Jen - how did you know I was having a flat world week?????
These will now be my oh so special glasses to lift my world should I have blah times again.
So to the sewing room they have gone ........

....... and into their own wee kimono pouch on my 'Happy' board so they will always be within reach. They're right beside my Fairy Godmother Wishing Powder and wee wand, and the funky doll I bought when we were on Granville Island, Vancouver, so in very good company.
Wow, blah week sure took a real turnaround.
Surprises are just so great - makes me think maybe I should surprise someone and make their day turnaround.

Ciao,

Exciting treat!

The knock on the door was our friendly courier man bearing a parcel with a surprise - Vince and I had won a competition we'd entered the other weekend when we'd gone up to Auckland to go to the first Auckland Art and Craft Fair, held at the Art Gallery. Yipee!!!!!!

Such cool packaging - but can't see what's inside! Gee, what's a girl to do? Mmmmm......

...... well didn't have to think too long about that one!!!!!!!!!


Check out all those sweet goodies from the Frankie magazine peeps. Way cool. This neat pack includes the latest Frankie mag, their Sweet treats baking mag, Frankies 'the photo album' (might sneak that in Em's birthday parcel- shhh don't tell her), some very cute Frankie postcards, cards, and button badges, a very sweet t-shirt and dah-dah-dah---dah ------

What's this?
"Open me for a treat......
AND what a treat! A 6 month subscription to Frankie magazine. And even better I can start it from when my current one (thanks Em and Jen) ends.
What a lovely prize pack that was. And I really enjoyed the craft market, even though it was kind of cramped in the Auckland Art Gallery foyer. Maybe next time they will have it in a bigger space. There were some amazingly creative people there who really deserved more space for all the people who were trying to get to their stalls. But I think no-one expected it to be so successful.
Can't wait for the next one - maybe we can win another competition!!!!!!!!
It certainly helped put a little less blah in the blah day.


Ciao,