Lovely project

A wee midweek update. It has been a shaky couple of days here. Our little village has been rattled by a barrage of earthquakes. Apparently we've got some kind of fault structure in the earth beneath us and it is having a wee outburst at the moment. Hopefully it won't throw in a big one as I am in heaven in my house and garden, and I'd hate to have that destroyed. Scary to feel like a sitting duck in your own home. I don't mind the smaller quakes at all. Anything up to a 5 on the Richter scale doesn't get my heart racing now. Once we get up there though, the house really shakes, and the sound of the structure rattling and groaning is unnerving. We've got the EQC people (the earthquake insurance people) coming to inspect our house tomorrow. We've got nail pops, where nail heads have lifted out of the plasterboard under the paint, all over the house. Johnny says he thinks EQC are going to be buggers about paying for nail pops. Well they weren't there last time they visited, and we didn't suck them out of the walls ourselves. Makes me stressed thinking about it.

On a much happier note, this little project has been hugely enjoyable.

This is the small wall quilt make out of a Moda charm pack (Scarborough Fair). I adore the fabrics. I pieced the pre-cut squares then made a quilt sandwich with a fairly thin batting, and quilted it using loopy stippling with my embroidery foot. The effect is gorgeous. I was really happy with my ability to keep my quilting neat and controlled. I like the way the light on the lines of stitching shows the texture of the quilt.

I was contemplating adding some buttons at the intersections of the squares. I got some of my button collection out. I've got quite a few, but would love thousands more. I love rummaging through the piles of buttons and other assorted bits and pieces in the containers. When I get some more shelving I might store them in pretty jars.

I thought the mother-of-pearl or creamy toned buttons would work, but they just looked clumsy and distracting. Well, it was fun to play. Any excuse to get into the button collection!

We're having our usual busy week at school. We started a wee fundraiser for our class today. We are baking biscuits and other goodies for staff to purchase so that we can raise money for a trip to Orana Park, the big animal park in Christchurch. Any excess money we raise will be donated to animal charities. I was pretty happy because we made $6 within half an hour of putting the basket in the staffroom. I'm counting on everyone being greedy and buying heaps of our goods.

I'm expecting plenty of time with Mum and Dad this weekend as they should be coming down for the South Island Daffodil Show. I haven't really got time to think about entering any flowers myself, unfortunately. I've barely got time to check the garden briefly when I get home from school. I'm extremely fussy when it comes to the quality of flowers. Mum and I were saying I could probably judge daffodils myself, having been exposed to the world of daffodils for exhibition for most of my life. I know a good flower when I see one. At this time of year we kind of become orphans because Mum and Dad are so busy with daffodil activities. I remember as children Mum would be up in the daffodil patch for hours on end, head down, lifting thousands of flower's faces up to find the goodies. Then she would cover the potential show quality ones, and pick others at the perfect time. There would also be the careful cross pollination of fine flowers to breed new beauties. I still love the heady aroma of thousands of daffodils all grouped together. It is a very special fragrance that brings back a lot of memories.

Well, I'm thoroughly exhausted, so should be off to bed very soon. Check in at the weekend for flower show action, and hopefully some gardening, craft and horsey news. XXX

Ps. I hope there are some interesting stalls at the daffodil show. I must take some cash, just in case.