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.  

A busy weekend

This weekend has been a busy time with a Christmas function last night which had me cooking a turkey. Very successful evening once again and nice to spend the time with friends from all walks of life.  Some sad moments as well as two friends lost their mother this week and MaryLee also sent her daughter away on her big OE this week as well. 

 I have started packing for our holiday and hopefully the bag will be under the 20kgs, although more things seem to be going into it. I don't want to be cold. 

Today I went to the gallery and had lunch with mum, then we stitched for an hour while i was finishing another Christmas gift. Came home and made a few more Christmas cards before getting started on another snappy bag. Tonight making snowflakes for night class so that will the end of a busy weekend. 

A selection of cards that I have made to sell and other gifts being done.

Most amazing bag

Very amazed. Went to Taranaki Patchworkers today to have a look at the shop Cushla's Village Fabrics. It was a wonderful selection of fabrics but only bought the one piece as on this bag. Marilyn and Jill then showed me the grocery bags that were covered in fabric do after a coffee with them I came home and made mine. Lots of fun stitching and making sure the colours looked okay I have made mine. What a wonderful day. Finished two other projects today as well, hand towel for toilet and a snappy bag using a piece stitched at seminar two years ago. 

Stash deprevation: after a month

It has been a while since I have written and things seem to have been a bit crazy. The holiday break is over with a few activities to keep me entertained. Mum and I went on a coach trip to Pirongia Art and Craft Market which was fun. Would go again but possibly take the car so a later start could be made. While we were there we caught up with my cousin and her husband so that was nice. Our next outing was to take institute ladies for a day to teach them how to macrame. It was amazing how easy it was and the little group made it worthwhile. I think all the ladies enjoyed themselves and hopefully we get a few entries into the competition next year.

At the start of October mum and I went to Wellington to catch up with an old friend, Jennifer who has moved into a rest home in Johnsonville. While there Jenny gave me a number of her books, threads and other bits she is downsizing. I also was the recipient of the chair that she needlepointed a number of years ago and this is now in my sewing room as my sewing chair. She says it’s uncomfortable but it will make me stitch faster. While in Wellington we took David out for dinner on two nights at great restaurants, shopped at Nespresso, Pandora and Swarovski with a quick stop at the Christmas shop in Kirkcaldies. Lunch was had at Charley Noble’s which was lovely. Very nice, relaxed place to while away a couple of hours and drink champagne. Mum and I then walked along the waterfront to have a look at the "Scale of Our War" exhibition in Te Papa, an ice cream and the lonely purchase of a postcard at the gift shop. On our way home the following day we stopped to visit with Alice and took her to lunch in Palmerston North at the Joseph Street Kitchen. This was a wonderful place and a real find.

On the stitching front I have been busy with my stash wreath and although I did not get as much completed as I wanted I did get a few other things done or started. I have nearly completed another parcel and trying to stitch some of the surrounds so I don't leave the basketweave to the finish.

Projects I have started are my doll knitting (pink) so I will be able to return the pattern to its owner at some stage. I made these little brooches and also am making a few small gifts for my night class ladies if they all get completed. I also managed to knit another two coat hanger covers and make one up with two still to be made. This is a great project for institute nights as I can knit during the meetings. I have finished the bag insert stitching only in blue which I am hoping to give away as a gift (so now to make up the bag this weekend).

Stash deprivation continuing

Progress to date on the stash deprivation project. I have been trying to get one parcel a week done and so far seem to be keeping to this. using all sorts of threads for this has meant a bit of unstitching as some choices were unsuitable. I also have managed to stitch one parcel completely the wrong way but you will only notice when it is placed next door to another completed one.

As well as this project I have done a little on my Thracian embroidery, started a piece for a present for christmas and done several ATC and prayer flags for swap-bot. I had also nearly finished the rug I was knitting but discovered about six dropped stitches so had to undo a lot and have not really picked it up again. It will come back into the handwork rotation soon I am sure.

Along with stitching over the past month I have read two new authors, JR Ward (Maree says it will rot my brain) and Darynda Jones - funniest books for a while. This past weekend I was able to read the latest Jack Reacher novel "Make Me" which I thought was quite a bit mellower than some of the novels but a good ending. At the beginning of August we had a chocoholic night at book club which was great fun and I came home with a bottle of wine so that was nice. Thanks marilyn for the chocolate fountain.

Only four more weeks and it is holiday time so getting prepared to take macrame lessons with the ladies from institute.

Stash deprivation starts

Our night class group are starting on a group project and I am using the stash deprivation method to use up some of the fancy threads that I have. It is Laura Perin's Christmas wreath and I will be using some different ribbon and perks threads as I have these in my stash. First step was to grid the cavvas and last night the first stitches were put in. I am using a pebble perks, close colour match instead of the perle5. Going okay so far.