In recent times I have been doing more traditional quilting items in craft but I have had a pin cushion in mind for a while and recently completed this one.

The green and gold segments are scraps of dupioni silk and I embellished the seams in a kind of crazy quilting style.

Our local quilters are having a show in a couple of weeks and this will go on their sales table to raise funds for the club.

The weather in Taupo over the past weeks has produced more cold and rain than anything else.

The garden has suffered and the lovely colours of summer have disappeared.

Still I have some images to remind me of what was there.

This image reveals the portulacus I planted out in our front garden late January.

They were called 'fuschia' and their lovely bright pink colouring certainly reflected the colours of the fuschia plant.

A lady from England saw some of my crazy quilting work in a local craft shop and asked me if I would make a cushion (pillow) cover for her
along the same lines.

Her King Charles Cocker Spaniel had recently passed away and she felt she would like to commemorate its life in this way.

She had a photo with her of the dog so I transfered the image to fabric, made a 16" square crazy quilt block in shades of cream and then embellished it with motifs, beading, stitching and silk ribbon work.

She was very happy with the outcome and I was pleased to have been able to make this for her.

James and Amber came to visit with us last August and since then have been asking for a return visit from me.

James's birthday is in April, so I decided to be there for that and decided to make a quilt for him to celebrate.

I decided to use fabric from my stash and came up with this scrappy quilt based on the disappearing nine patch concept.

It was well received and with colder days approaching I feel sure it will be much used.

When I had completed James's quilt I still had some blocks left over, so another excuse to use up my stash.

The result a good size square lap quilt for Amber.

Both James and Amber were happy with their quilts and there was bit of competition over who had the best one.

I knew that my friend would be a great grandmother by the time I arrived in Sydney. Would I have time to make a quilt for Isabella before departure? Amazingly yes, with a day or two to spare.

It was lovely to meet Isabella and her Mum together with great grandma on the day I handed over the quilt.

My visit to Sydney proved to be a good opportunity to catch up with friends I had not seen for some time.

One such catch up was with my cousin Owen and his wife Pam.

As well as being well and truly cared for in the food department, it was good to catch up on news from both sides of families.

Oroton is a real 'tiger in the grass' at his home in Sydney.

In the warmth of the Sydney climate little lizards abound in the back yard and Oroton loves nothing better than to bring them indoors as a real live toy to play with.

He is a Burmilla, very lively, friendly and with the best of purring motors.