Time slips by...

.....and before you know it, it is 4 weeks since my last post.  It has been a busy time here, but it should start to slow down in a few weeks and be a bit more relaxing!!!.  Some secret sewing going on and trying to meet deadlines.  I have been very lucky to have a couple of wins on giveaways..it is always exciting when the mail arrives.
From Sarah's giveaway I received this pattern by Rosalie Quinlan

 And then this lovely surprise win of the e-book for Home Sweet Quilt, when I commented on one of the blogs that was profiling Jill's new book.  I had decided that it was a book that I would just have to buy myself, as I didn't think I would be so lucky as to win one.

   My daughter and I have found the most tempting chocolate.

We were intrigued by it and thought why not give it a try.  Well the first block did not last very long at all and the 2nd block has not fared much better...
On the home front...my husband's operation went well and he has been making good progress since he got out of hospital a few weeks back.  Now that he is feeling better and is more mobile, boredom is setting in for him..he is not used to having to sit back and take it easy.  Meanwhile he has to rely on me to drive him places and I have been busy doing lots of the things that he usually does.  It will be time to do the lawns again this weekend ..oh dear..the last time it took 2 hours of pushing the lawnmower around.  The old quarter acre section gives you plenty of room around the house, but it means there is lots of grass!!!  I can understand why people want to downsize!!

I think Spring has sprung a leak here...

The weather has been very changeable considering it is the end of October.  Grey skies, rain and cold weather seems to be the order of the day of late.
I've managed to do some more blocks for my SKOW quilt..I am going to focus on doing the applique first and then will do the stitchery parts after that.  I will get some photos up on the weekend when I have a little more time.  I don't know where the time has gone...
Just a quick post.  Life is a bit hectic at the moment.  My husband had his hip operation (at last) and we've just got back from seeing him in hospital.  Hopefully he'll be feeling a bit  better tomorrow.

The Mini has landed...

The Spring Mini I sent to Helen has landed on her doorstep in Australia...it's always good to know that they have arrived.  So I can now show more than the peek from the other day.  I didn't want to show too much the other day in case it was the last one to arrive and there would have been no surprise then on opening it.

Turning Tulips..

...is the name of the mini Spring Quilt I received from Danette...all the way from the USA.   We are in Cheryll's Mini Quilt Swap group.  It is just a gorgeous little quilt and I love it. ( I was lucky to get a lovely piece of fabric in the package as well).  Thank you so very much, Danette,  for this lovely little quilt.

Here is a sneak peak of the quilt that I made.  It has to wing its way North West of here so that could be anywhere in Australia, but it is going to ...... and I'm hoping that it lands on my partner's doorstep soon. (I ended up tracing out a second pattern to make one for my Mum as well..)

It is a lot of fun being a part of the swap organised by Cheryll and you can read about what the swap entails here.  The next theme for swapping is Christmas.  Yippee!!

It's Daylight Saving time again...

and as usual it is a grey, gloomy day.  It always seems to be like that on the first day of Daylight Saving here each year.  So, I think I will have to make a little sunshine of my own and make the sun block for my SKOW quilt this afternoon.
I've been around the house changing all the clocks this morning....(couldn't be bothered doing it before I went to bed)
Last weekend I went around the garden taking a few photos of things that were in flower for Spring..and it was a lovely sunny day then...so I'll let them add a bit of sunshine to this post..

the flowering cherry is out in bloom...
 and there was some blue sky there last week...

the bumble bee was hard at work going from flower to flower

my favourite rhododendron is one of the first ones to flower in the garden

and luckily I took this photo before the wind and spots of rain this week
...the camellias won't last long without blemishes..

What a game...

..we have spent the afternoon watching the AFL Grand Final..the only game this season to screen live over here in NZ and you needed pay TV to see it.  Whichever team won it was going to be all right, as my husband was a Hawthorn supporter many many years ago when he lived in Melbourne for a while ..and my mum is a Swans supporter so we were hoping for a win for her.  What an exciting game though as the lead changed hands in each quarter and at the end my mum was very excited when the Swans won....daughter in Edinburgh got up at 5am to go to a local pub to watch it on TV and she had managed to order a Swans shirt from the website and have it arrive in Edinburgh in time for her to wear it..so she is over the moon as well..
                                                

Things were going so well...

until today that is...my husband had received the call a few weeks back to say that he was finally going to get his long awaited hip replacement operation, wonderful news ...tomorrow was going to be the big day...all was ready, he'd had his pre-op visits where they checked that he had no cuts etc, the school holidays start next week so I would be at home to look after him when he came home from hospital..
...all was going well, that is, until he had a fall yesterday and grazed his shins- not all that big really, but he thought he had better go to the hospital and let them check it out..and the verdict is that they don't want to risk an infection, so he has been resceduled for 4 weeks time... better to err on the safe side but disappointing to say the least...so now we wait again...