Its been a couple of busy months

I did not realise that it had been so long since posting but I have been having a very busy time with school, stitching and swapping as well as card making on the side. For another month I have had to change logins and passwords for everything so it is becoming a pain to try and remember them as now you cannot use the same word again.

Anyhow here are the photos that I have taken of work recently.

The first two are brooches that I have been making for sale in the Percy Thomson Gallery in Stratford. They currently have a textile art exhibition so very fitting they are on sale. 

Flower Brooches - one already sold

Octy pins I call these. Having fun with embellishments

On the Stampin Up side of things I have had a couple of card nights as well as having the odd afternoon with friends. It has been fun but I am trying to use up more of my supplies so the holiday break will hopefully see me making some more children's cards to sell. Pinterest is a great resource for ideas.

My next big project idea is making project bags for my conference classes. I decided that I needed a notes folder for myself so that is what i made. Then as I will be in class with a couple of friends and their usual holder of a plastic bag is not ideal I have made one for each of them. Next I decided that Marilyn needs one for her Betsy Morgan class so a quick visit to steal some of her fabric and i will have it made next weekend. They have been fun to make and I am looking at making a couple for myself rather than just the one. This weekend I have to get all my supplies organised for conference - mostly just needles, scissors, light and hoops i think plus my spending money.

On the home front Ewan and Erin arrive today with Erin staying with me the nights she is in Stratford. It will be fun and I hope that she is warm enough.

Its been a while

I am not certain where the time is going but the projects are not moving much on the stitching front but I have done quite a bit of card making and stampin up work. At the moment I am going to be looking at all my stamp sets to see which ones I need to get rid of and then also the stamp pads as my tower is full and I don't need that many more.

Here are some photos of the boxes we covered to hold your cards and the start of the one sheet wonder class. We did four of the eleven cards that could be made. I am hoping to run another one of these classes in June as it was loads of fun using up all sorts from a base. The next one will be done using one of the new DSP and card sets. What fun.

On the stitching front my ladies have finished our pendant – Archipelago. It was a great class and all the colour choices were wonderful. We purchased these kits from Melanie Potter and there were plenty of beads so the occasional flying bead was not missed. Our next beading class will be in ten days and we are going to be continuing the bezeling of items. I will have a selection of things that the ladies can bezel as well as one new student who wants to make beaded balls so I am currently getting her a kit of beads and accessories together.

 I have been very busy over the past month making perpetual poppies and selling a number through the Percy Thompson Gallery here in Stratford. It was fun and here is the latest in my brooches made from a fabric flower. A friend challenged me to do something and I had initially forgotten. This is what I came up with during the week. Our next little challenge is to do something with three yo yo flowers. Reveal day is the Wanganui sit n stitch in June. 

My brooch

 Our three entries.

Last photo for today is my latest swap bot ornament which is winging its way to the USA. I will repeat this one for the next swap. 

Got Second Place & Catching Up.

This past week was a busy one with catching up with some embroidery projects and friends.

During the week I had book club and institute. At institute they finally talked me onto the committee and I am the vice president, which means Valma best not be away. I don't really want any more responsibility as I still have a couple of other positions on boards that I undertake. also great celebration as I managed to take some flowers and I got second prize for one of the roses which I picked from the neighbour's garden. 

Friday – lunch date was great and I nearly had to bring a little girl back to work with me, though the washing fairy did go to my place and bring in the washing before the rain arrived. What wonderful friends I have.

Saturday was a busy day with sit’n’stitch at my place and we had an excellent turnout of guild members during the day. A variety of projects were being stitched with some older projects brought out of the closet including our Fisherton-del-la-mer mat. This is a nice stitch and I think I will get mine out for the next couple of weeks. I progressed a bit more on my nametag (needs to be ready for April 5^th) and now have to work out my alphabet for my name.

The next bout of stitching that I have done, is my Christmas wreath but I think I will be pulling out the last lot of stitching as the thread is very bulky and I am not sure I like it. I will finish the rest of that particular parcel this week so then I can judge.

Sunday was a day of rest. A leisurely start to the day saw the laundry completed and kitchen duty done then just as I was off to walk to mum’s she arrived to collect me for our lunch and afternoon out. We met with several of the institute members at the Windsor Cafe in Inglewood for lunch. I decided on the French toast option along with Kay and it was delicious. Bacon, maple syrup, berries and lovely toast which was actually very filling. Karen and Marie joined us and we took off on our tour of Inglewood gardens. These were private gardens and wonderfully done. All had lovely areas and the warm weather made for very pleasant wandering through shade, sun, over bridges, around ponds and through a native walk. A cup of tea stop at our second location was a delight and raffles were purchased but no I didn’t win any of them. At our last stop we caught up with an old friend of my sisters so that was a nice surprise.

Back home and the evening was spent in my own garden planting some flax grasses that I had purchased and digging up a bucket of potatoes which I made into potato salad. A busy end to the weekend.

I am now currently looking forward to a nice lunch and a leisurely long weekend, hopefully doing some nice shopping, walking, eating and visiting.

Its been a while

I apologize to any that check regularly for updates. 2016 has started with a busy time. As you would have seen from the previous blog we (stephanie and I) celebrated new year in scotland then we had another three weeks nearly in england catching up with friends, family and a few old haunts before coming back to a lovely summer at home. I had a week to recover while stephanie went straight back to work.

since then the new school year has started with our roll meeting ministry predictions and this is causing some concern for budgets and staffing. Still I go every day and get paid so as long as it continues that is good.

Joined the beaded journal project again this year as it keeps me inspired and also gives me a boost for completing items. My goal once again for this year is to document and complete one beaded item each month.

I have just spent a weekend at the beach with mum, stitching and beading with progress on Christmas wreath, shady colours and beaded archipelago (which is my BJP piece for three months) as well as a bit more done on a new name tag. It was great to get progress on all of these over the weekend. 

This is a couple of photos from our first archipelago class and our progress. I will take more for next month. 

Happy new year

A happy new year to you all. I hope that you are enjoying your weather, mine s blustery, wet and windy but thankfully no snow.

Stephanie and I arrived at the farm on New Year's Eve to a quiet night with heather and watt. Did manage to stay awake until midnight when we toasted the new year in with a nip and shortbread. Yesterday took a walk up the road while waiting for Dave to arrive. It was cold but not much wind, however today seems to be another story. 

Currently just after 7am and sunrise is two hours away so it's still dark but very windy outside. I'm sleeping in the new upstairs room of the cottage but it's cosier than the old loft and Watt can't close off the stairs.

Another day to relax and stitch. 

A wonderful week

We have had a very busy first week of holiday wig a trip to Dover castle, several trips to Canterbury looking at shops and even braved the Boxing Day sales yesterday. Stephanie and I took the children to London, not to see the queen but to see the Tower of London. It was a fun day and think the children enjoyed it immensely.

Stephanie and I went to the choral service at the cathedral once agin which was lovely and very majestic with awe inspiring singing. Christmas Day was filled with excitement as the children recieved tablets from their parents so have been much source of amusement since. Callum assures us that we can still come to visit even though he doesn't need the iPad now to play on.

We have walked around Luke's school which is only about 15 minutes away so that is really good for him. Callum has another 18 months at chartham and then he will be going to school in town as well. 

Breakfast each day is entertaining as we have three squirrels in the garden to watch. Today it was three squirrels, two crows, two magpies and a pigeon, so almost a menagerie flying around. The squirrels are most entertaining though.

Off on another family day out today destination unknown at the moment. 

On the road

Well life is travelling at a fast pace and now waiting in the koru lounge for departure on our adventure. Another 24 hours and Stephanie and I will be in the wintery streets of Canterbury nearly.  I have been trying to finish various stitched christmas gifts this week and so far have completed Mum's, Marilyn's (this was its own story as it started with cutting the embroidery the wrong size), Toni's and Gemma's birthday present. This did not take too long and I managed to even get it to her before her departure. 
Every night it seems for the past three weeks have been booked with at least one event and sometimes even two!
Monday night was the last official night class and we went for a class outing to mum's to see all her Christmas trees. The house looked lovely and I was most impressed with all the decorations and the memories. This year I have up the wire tree only and will put on the couple of new ones. Not a lot of creativity has been done with new balls as only one design has been crafted and no pattern written at all.

The day started fairly well with a good wake up and got the washing on. Just as I was going to hang it out thought it looked like rain so put it in dryer. Had four hours at school and everyone took a little longer than it should but all our excess weetbix and milk has been donated. Lunch was entertaining with Layla and Quinn. Picked up at 4 ish by terry and mum and literally dropped at airport. Relaxed in lounge at New Plymouth then boarded and didn't depart. Everyone off, engines on and off, bags off, engines on, engines off, bags on and we reboarded. Finally after a long while we started to taxi and it was a nervous wait. Once off the ground my thought was that if we had to make a crash landing it would be in Auckland so I would be a step closer to international. 

Finally made it to the lounge where a welcome drink was waiting - see adventures of Diane and Stephanie's blog for photos and all updates over the next month. 

Merry Christmas  to all and have a safe, enjoyable new year.