Another lockdown, another flurry of finished items.

Well just over a month ago we were going to have our embroidery meeting and suddenly we were in lockdown 4 stay at home. How many were taken by surprise at the swiftness of the lockdown and were you prepared for a lengthy stay at home event?

   

Hardanger Scissor case and needlebook - finished.

My stitching was certainly taken by surprise. It sat up, looked at me and said you have time, stitch me now. Unfortunately, it did not happen. I did finish a couple of small items, stitched the remainder of my guild project "Wessex Sampler", (thought about the finishing and decided I didn’t quite know what I was doing), sewed more masks and wheat bags as well as a stitch bob for myself. Magazines were reviewed with some since Level 3 finding a new home as  life has opened up. I even managed to complete about three days of card making which used a bit more of the stash and was a relaxing way to have a three day weekend.

Mystery Sampler moving right along

Since I have been back at school, the mystery sampler has been looking at me and I have been busy stitching, changing the stitches and sorting out the colours. The power of the black and white photo is great when looking at tonal variety. It has been interesting to view the many finished ones online, and hopefully at the next conference we should have a great display. Many are finishing them as a bag pocket or cushion which is totally suitable.

Project bag - partially made from recycled laundry bag.

Another thing i have been trying to improve is my sewing skills and making project bags. My friend makes really lovely ones and I have been the recipient on several occasions. This is my attempt at making one with a see through front using a recycled laundry bag. It took a lot of undoing before it was finished.

Fruit paste version 2 - Citrus and apple

Also this year I have been using excess fruit in making fruit paste to have with cheese and crackers, mostly becuase I no longer have jam and toast for breakfast. The first lot was feijoia and apple - this is citrus and apple. Very tasty as mum and I had some at the weekend. I am also trying to use scraps of linen to make scissor fobs for sale and this is one that is quite nice to stitch and bead.

Scissor fobs - for sale.

 Diane

Charming or Tedious

My thought for the day is:

“It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious” Oscar Wilde.

Some days my stitching is in the same frame. It is neither good nor bad, but I am charmed by the development and thoughts that happen as I stitch (currently on the ANZEG mystery sampler which is having a lot of stitch development in my case) or I find that the pattern or colour is tedious and I want to get this out of the way.

I have just finished a hardanger scissor case and needlebook and I realised why I have not done large scale hardanger projects. The buttonhole edge drove me nuts and I could only do one thread at a time. This for me was some tedious stitching but others find it charming. How are you viewing your stitching this month?

I will find time later this month to post pictures of the completed stitching and also the Wessex needlebook that our guild is creating. I am slightly behind but getting there.

Winter is upon us now!

The advent of winter in Stratford has brought with it some cold temperatures as the autumn season left with lots of rain. We have had several drops of snow on Egmont and this has come and gone with the changing from warm rain to cold nights. Last week the super blood moon was something I was going to watch but ended up sleeping through the time and missing it completely. We were exceptionally lucky to have very clear skies and seeing the reports from the night sky reserve in the South Island the sight would have been stunning.

On the stitching front things have been going well with my plans for stitching longer than the hours I have to stitch. I have started the ANZEG mystery stitch along and using stash threads and enhancing it with other stitches as only I can do. This has been fun to see what others are using on the dedicated facebook group. At the recent regional stitch day it was cool to see a number of members stitching theirs.

I have managed to stitch quite a bit in May and have started areas that belong to month 2 and 3.

The guild Wessex project is coming along and I am almost up to date but our pieces are going to the display at the Biennial Conference weekend in Wellington.

 

Are we normal or just lucky?

 Random thoughts on the new normal and how it will affect our lives this year!

Yes, I feel normal but are we really? As commented by a visitor to the Americas Cup on TV last week, it is hard to believe that where he was from no one was out with anyone else but after several days he felt that the NZ normal was great.

Watching coverage of the America’s Cup races and the crowds along the waterfront, New Zealand vs Pakistan or West Indies cricket, walking through Pukekura Park with thousands of others it really is hard to believe that the rest of the world does not have the same normal as we do any longer? Are we special or just lucky in that our distance, size of population and the fact that we locked our country down early, has given rise to this near normal state of affairs for our country. I attended a wedding with over 100 people and not a mask in sight. I have been following friends who have been touring the country this holiday break and they have been at cricket matches, dining in restaurants, playing the tourist at beaches and other attractions with others who are not in the bubble. I visited MOTAT last week and although not crowded it was still an almost normal visit aside from the sanitizer and Covid app sign in.

Even my online watching has become a bit isolated. Many regular blog writers, Facebook posters or instagrammers are all commenting on how the Covid state of affairs is affecting them. They are finding new hobbies, directions to take their creativity, waiting for numerous parcels to arrive with purchases because they cannot drive to the shop to choose a thread or fabric in person.

I am finding that my new normal for projects is looking at what I have and trying to use something up. I did this last year for the Peppermint Purple SAL. I used a piece of hardanger fabric and threads purchased in 2016 and 2000. The final item was made from material I already had except for the outside piece which I purchased especially. That fabric is now being used by my sister for her Japanese quilt.

Inside fabric and border fabrics were from the stash as was the wadding and calico.

Finished Peppermint Purple SAL 2020. 
Quote is from Eeyore.

Back fabric - bought for the project

Our guild project for this year is going to be Wessex embroidery. Once again the normal thing would be to start the project but in the interest of using stash I am going to continue my sampler with chocolate sayings and see how far I can get. It may also be possible to turn it into the needle packet Holder but I am not holding my breath. Perhaps it will be a holder for knitting needles. Who can tell in this new normal when stuff may be in short supply and my stash is going to be more important.

Summer holidays are different now

Summer holiday this break has been several days at Oakura beach including new year and the Festival of Lights, then Stratford and now Auckland for a friend’s niece wedding. Enjoyed the summer sun at the Chelsea sugar factory cafe for brunch and having a doughnut for afternoon tea today.  Relaxing is great when you have a good book, bit of embroidery and a friend to share it with including cups of tea and coffee. We have semi binge watched Bridgerton which was great. I have read the books and they are really fun.

    

Lunch at Mokau. 

Oakura beach 

Lunch at Chelsea sugar factory. 

Pretend tropical vacation

It’s vacation time in a post COVID world. Stephanie and I were planning a summer vacation in winter so Port Douglas was the chosen spot as it usually has temps over 25 in July. Unfortunately with the post COVID closed borders and no international travel m6 passport received a slight shock and was taken for a walk around the house before being put back in its folder.
Vacation planning had our flights to Aussie cancelled but not my flight to Auckland so I chose to visit and we have had a three day vacay; Cambridge one night, the Rotorua two nights. A visit to a friend Leah in Cambridge was lovely and onto Hobbiton the next morning. Arriving in Rotorua we checked in to our not adult only hotel, found our way downtown and booked tickets for the redwood tree walk. We wandered through the government gardens and drove out to the redwood forest as dusk came upon us,  it was a magical experience with the lights and bridges and mystical felling being high in the trees.  Dinner that evening was at an Indian restaurant in Eat Street.

Hobbiton: being hobbit sized we fit nicely

Amongst the redwood trees. 

The government buildings.

Tuesday 7 July: day three of the vacay had us sleeping in and breakfasting leisurely at the hotel. Shopping was the agenda item for the day so we visited the Central Mall and picked up the various items that we had on a list from Stephanie’s Mum.  A drive down to the lake front and a very short walk along the board walk we found ourselves by the Lakeland Queen paddle steamer. A chance discovery found that the cruise was going for an hours tour so we booked ourselves on it and filled in the next hour by driving past the government building to Sulfer Point lookout, a walk and photo op at the buildings then back to the cruise.  Thanks Ewan for lunch. Once back we decided to do the day walk through the trees but it was raining so carried onto the Blue Lake and lookout point to see the Green Lake. Back down to Rotorua the rain was heavier so picking up swimsuits we took ourselves to the Polynesian Spa for our Swim. A luxurious hour or more passed in the different pools as we felt ourselves relax.  Back to the hotel for a short rest, vacationing is Very tiring we braved Eat Street once again to try El Mexicano Zapata, which was delightful. Rather larger portion sizes than we expected we left by waddling out the door and home to rest and have a reasonable early night.

Selfie time at the Green Lake. 

Final days

Just found that this blog had not got posted so posting it now. What a different world it was when I wrote this on getting back to NZ in January. Posting date July 6, 2020.


Our final days were spent in Hong Kong which was an experience. Smallest hotel room ever but on the 21st floor. Lots of fun travelling on a great subway system, finding ourselves on the big bus tour before we had even thought about it, going up Mt Victoria and nearly being blown away, walking up to see the giant Buddha as well as travelling back on the local bus and seeing more of the Various islands. Lots of native forest and walks that could happen.  The sheer size of the buildings, number of people, in various places, juxtaposition of high end shopping with barely basic markets and Mum and dad stores. The fact that the high rise buildings had stores all around the bottom and there were 20 of the same in the one block. The goldfish market we were told about was stunning. Trying dim sum at a restaurant where no one spoke English and Hong Kong Disney where the ride “It’s a small world” was closed.
These are the final days of another amazing trip to the uk with Stephanie and meeting friends and family once again. Hoping to do it all again in four years.