Direct from the USA!

My husband's been travelling around the States for the last 5 weeks so I have been VERY busy looking after our 2 girls, working part time, cycle training for a 200km event coming up in 2 months and trying to find time to do a little bit of sewing when I can. I've been staying up way too late trying to get things done and to just enjoy some me time. We were expecting my husband to arrive today (Sunday) but he decided to surprise us by arriving home Friday morning. It was a lovely surprise although I had my suspicions when I hadn't heard from him for a couple of days. He got into town just in time to attend a funeral of a lovely old guy well known in our area for his generosity around our community. The girls were so pleased to see him when they stepped off the school bus that afternoon.

As you can see he brought me back lots of yummy fabric to drool over and play with. There is a great little fabric shop in Bakersfield, California called "Strawberry Patches" that he has been to 3 times now. They have got to know him (I guess because of his strange 'kiwi' accent) and are very good in helping him find what I've asked for . He got some gorgeous "Patty Young" fabric (above) from her 'Mezzanine' range and below is some sweet little fat quarter bundles. I love how they have used tulle to tie these fabrics together. Almost too pretty to use.

And of course I HAD to get some more "Heather Bailey" fabrics. These are all from her 'Pop Garden and Bijoux range except for the one hiding at the back which is from her first range 'Freshcut'. I actually ordered these from her website ( along with some 'trash ties' and some scrapbooking stamps) and had them sent to our friends in Reno, Nevada where my husband stayed for a few days. This way I saved on shipping costs a bit.

Noddy ( yes that's my husband's nickname) was over in the States to buy an old Buick and organise it to be shipped back here to NZ. This car is for the annual "Beach Hop" festival that he helps to organise each year in our little town. He had a great time over there driving this cool car around to promote the 'Beach Hop' at car events such as "Hot August Nights" in Reno and the Land speed racing on the Salt flats at Bonneville to name a couple. I am looking forward to this car arriving over here not only because I get to ride around in it until next years Beach hop ( where it will be given away) but it has some yummy quilting magazines and books inside it that were too heavy to be brought back in Noddy's luggage.

This week I'm looking forward to fitting in alot more sewing than I have been able to lately. Oh and more blogging time. I hope this extra long post made up for my absence over the last week!