A Round Up

We are still having the most glorious weather over here in NZ.  Yesterday when everyone was starting to fail due to turning the clocks and gaining an hour, (and a sleepover party for one of them which resulted in five hours sleep max!!) we decided to go to the beach.  It won't be long before it's too cold to visit and enjoy the sand and the water.

I enjoyed playing with the shells and watching the girls dig and get muddy on the bare beach.  They found some dead fish - lovely aye?!!  In the end I was forced to go and see the sight myself.  Oh yes it was well worth it I can tell you!

The orderly man had some fun too in an orderly fashion!  Miss 3 helped to finish it, being orderly herself.  I thought it looked like a place mat!

Last week I managed to make some little 'Gifts of Love' bunny friends for our friends in Christchurch.  I am expecting quite a few goodies in the mail this week for the appeal too which is fantastic thank you dear ladies.  It's coming along quite nicely now with all your wonderful help.

I think we'll have enough gifts for everyone by the end of this week.  Of course I couldn't have done it without your help, or my family's either.  These cute hats were knitted by my Gran.  Aren't they beautiful and girly?

And some more manly ones, along with some pretty ones for girls, lovingly made by my dear mother.

And this cute little monster will chase away any fears a little sweetie might have.  The picture isn't behaving I'm afraid!  Hate that.  Anyway this monster was made by Daughter No.2.  She thought she needed to do her bit to help out as well.  Sweet girl!

If you have offered to send a parcel for Christchurch, could you please send it this week.  Cat and I will have quite a bit of work to do getting them all ready and packed up for Mother's Day in early May.  Thank you so much my dearies.  I do hope you have a wonderful week.  Happy Mother's Day for yesterday to all you English Mummies out there!!!  Now I'm off to send my biggest girl to Camp Mototapu for the week! 

A Grand Old Day

Afternoon my dears!  Morning to my other dears!  Yes I'm chirpy today, am I not?  About time really.  I've been someone else lately I'm afraid.  But as from yesterday I'm back.  Yep and I'm back into my sewing which is very nice.  Not really sure why I've been a bit odd lately, perhaps it's because it's my last year with my darling little sausage at home and I'm missing her already.  Silly aren't I?  Never mind, I'm just going to get on with it again and start having fun once again.  Lots of sewing and doing fun things.  The man says I'm always much better when I am busy with my makings.

So let me introduce you to...  OK I haven't actually named him/her!  Not that it matters as it's my first toy to donate to my 'Gift of Love' Appeal.  An enormous thank you to you lovely ladies who have offered to make some things for the Christchurch people.  They will be much appreciated I'm quite sure.

The bunny came from the Softies book.  I've always like this rabbit for it's simply design and the fact that a little poppet can hold him/her so easily.  I'm betting those denim ears will taste pretty good too!   Do you like his tail?  It's a piece of Moda tape with cute dots on it.  I was also thinking that I could embroider some tape with a word like hope or love.  But I've run out of tape after making lots of name labels for No.1's school uniform.

Yesterday was a very grand day as I also made pumpkin soup for a special guest coming for a sleep-over on Thursday!   I know, a real sleep-over!!  All will be revealed later in the week.  And you know what??  That pretty pumpkin came out of our compost bin!!  Do you think I should hide this fact from our guest?  Yes probably!  It's it just the juiciest, orangey, pumpkin you ever did see? 

Last evening, after a great day, No.4 took her Daddy to kindy for a special Daddy's night.  They ate fish'n'chips and sang songs.  Sooo cute!  Anyway we weren't going to miss out on some fun, so the rest of us bought our fish'n'chips and ate them at a local park. 

Aren't we so very lucky to have this gorgeous park only ten minutes from where we live?  It's quite new so the plants are a bit small.  But the landscaping sure makes up for it.

The girls walked up this man-made hill.  I didn't want to risk breaking my shoes so I waited at the bottom.  Boring I know.  The big girls roller bladed around and No.3 enjoyed scooting on her squeaky scooter.  Must get the CRC out for that wee problem.

The evening was just perfect.  Warm, not windy and very peaceful.  Just look at that heavenly blue sky. 

Well I better get my boots on and get a bit of house tidying done before it's full of children once more.  Not that they will care of course!  Does your house always look messy?  Ours sure does, every jolly day!  Alright, have a super duper day yourselves!  See you next time!

Cookie Swap Tradition

Our Cookie Swap Christmas Evening has become a tradition among my friends.  Dear Glenda has the task of putting it on, which is quite unfair, but she does have the most beautiful English looking house among us. She decorates her house for Christmas and has a pot of mulled wine on the stove.  It's the event of the year and not one to be missed for any reason. 

I think the most fun for me was making these little packages up.  I do like a bit of embellishing!  The girls enjoyed helping me too.

The day before most of us can be found in our kitchen preparing for the big swap.  Our houses are filled with the glorious smells of baking dough.  There are more often than not little helpers either making cookie cutter biscuits or licking the bowls.  It's a really exciting time for the whole family as they all know when they wake up there will be a visual feast for them.

Here are my chocolate macaroons just out of the oven.  Perhaps a little tanned but very chewy and rather delicious.  No.1 was home from school with a cold, so she was a big help to me.  The whole idea of getting my hands in and mixing was a huge turnoff!  Luckily she thoroughly enjoyed it. 

Here are some photos of the table when everyone had displayed their cookies.  All so nicely wrapped with ribbons and looking very festive.

It's the most exciting feeling when you go around the table selecting little packets put together with so much care and thought. 

Take a look at these very impressive tags that dear Glenda made for us.  They are wrapping papers cut to size and mounted on board.  Decoupage apparently.  Very nice and special.  A little momento of our lovely evening together.

 Oh lookie, there are my biscuits!!

And here is my filled basket that I took home at the end of the evening.  Can you imagine how much fun our girls had selecting their favourite cookie in the morning? 

And just look, two of them chose the same one!  Yes Liz, (devoted reader of my blog) they are yours!!!!  You are now a famous cookie maker!

 

And when the girls got home from school they were raving about them.  They have a big piece of peppermint chocolate bar in the middle of them - YUM!! 

If you haven't been to a cookie swap before, I'd say organise one, they are so much fun and completely worth all the baking the day before.  I've taken cookies to my mother, served them to more family members this morning and the girls are provided with a lovely selection for a whole week. 



Thanks so very much for all your hard work Glenda.  You did a brilliant job as usual and we all had a fabulous time.  My pretty tag is hanging on our Christmas tree.  I'm looking forward to next year's swap already.

Fancy a Cuppa?

What a wonderful weekend we've just had.  Saturday was the annual village Santa Parade which was full of all the usual delights.  Bands playing, kids dancing, floats and of course it ended with Santa himself.  The girls thought it was really fantastic, I just don't see what they see, clearly.  Perhaps it's age!  Anyway speaking of age, I've just turned 29... well you can add ten years to that if you really have to, but my mind is still at 29 thank you! 

Fancy a cuppa from my fancy new teapot ladies?  Isn't she a beauty?  Oh yes that's a new CK cup too.  I've can even offer you a slice of birthday cake, it's calorie free of course for you ladies who were about to say no!   Seriously, what birthday cake isn't?!!  And because I'm so nice I'm going to let you eat my last mint chocolate - they are the best in the box.

After you've eaten we'll have a gander through my new craft books.  Gosh they are wonderful, full of lovely ideas.  I wonder what you'll want to make?

My thank you letters are going to look grand if I can part with these little CK treasures.  All the way from the UK just for me!  I adore the little envelopes and stickers.

And how about we plan a new quilt with all my new fatties?  I would think it would be very pretty in the lovely Sugar Flower range.  I must cut some squares out first so I don't get too excited and use it all up.  The others were especially chosen by my little girls.  Didn't they do well?

Gosh I do enjoy my birthdays.  Hubby excels himself every year.  I get so many thoughtful gifts, way more than I'd ever choose for myself.  I felt so spoilt all day Sunday, even though my birthday wasn't really until Monday, but who wants a regular work/school day on their birthday?  Hardly any time for pampering with the family out most of the day.  My parents put on a very lovely dinner for me with all the local family present.  Very nice with my favourite meal served - roast lamb!  Thank you dearest mother for my lovely pink peonys too - they are opening out beautifully.

I've managed to get all the girls to write their Santa letters already.  I find it a good thing to get out of the way early and it's great that Santa knows what they want in plenty of time so he can put the appropriate gifts aside.  We don't want the girls missing out now do we?  The littlest one wrote hers with my help yesterday.  She not into writing but it turned out alright in the end.  It was a little hairy for a while!  And the eraser she's asking for is the pricey sum of $2.50.  What else does a fourth girl need? 

Well I must be off now.  Got to do the kindy thing soon and then do a bit of shopping for my cookie exchange on Thursday.  Exciting times are ahead!  I'll be back soon with some new makes.

Charming I'm Sure

What a busy few days I've had.  It began with a very lovely outing on Friday to a quilt show over the harbour bridge.  I took my mother with me and No.4 was invited as well.  The other three went off to school feeling rather left out.  Well actually No.3 would rather have had it that way, she's not the going out sort of girl. 

Now I must tell you that I met my second ever Bloggy friend at the show.  We had planned to meet and managed to eventually.  What a lovely lady Lisa from Lydias Treasures is, and I still have dreams of the very lovely bag she was carrying.  Yes she had made it, from fabric she had won no less.  It was so nice to meet up with you Lisa, we must do it again sometime.

Now I happened across a rather lovely Moda Bliss charm pack on our outing and made the appropriate purchase.  I'm quite pleased with it and have used quite a few charmettes already.  Might just have to get another pack or two! As you do!!

No.3 had been hinting rather bluntly lately about the lack of a sewing bag.  She has a perfectly lovely basket, but as her big sisters have a bag for their sewing kit she felt left out.  Well, since she loved the charmettes as much as I, I let her pinch nine of them, her own choice too I might add!  There was only one I would not allow her to use. 

And every new sewing bag needs a new matching pincushion does it not??  Again she chose all the bits for it.  Quite nicely chosen too I think.  Isn't this charmette just perfect for a circular pincushion?  I love it!

Here's the leaflet of the show we attended...

Not sure about the retro theme.  Didn't really notice anything much suiting that description, BUT I did happen to purchase the most fab bit of retro fabric that I've completely forgotten to photograph.  Shock horror!  I will show you another time though, it's worth it. 

Now what do you think of these next quilts?  I'll just leave you to look at them for a minute then I'll be right back to continue our session.

Lovely weren't they?  The truck one was my mother's and my favourite quilt so we voted for it.  No idea who made any of them.  Very nice all the same.  And here is a selection of fatties I purchased.  There were three others that were gifted upon the girls as they came home from school.  Yes I did let them have first pick!  Gosh sometimes I am sooo nice. 

And this morning I was going for the title 'Housewife of the Year.  I'm quite sure they will be gifts and ribbons bestowed upon me as the family return home.  Yes the whole lounge is sparkling clean and my sewing corner is looking proud.  I've added my new fabric storage containers and ribbon boxes to the arrangement and am feeling rather pleased with myself. 

And if you have a few spare mins or even hours, please have a seat in my sewing corner and we'll have a natter about upcoming projects.  I do love some new ideas and I have a few to share too if you have the time.  Hexie quilt made by my Gran years ago.  Clearly she has much more patience than I.

Until next time, have a happy time.  I'll be back with some lovely Christmas ideas next time.  Bye!!

I'm Going Bananas!

It's nice to see so many of you are wanting to make lemon cordial and lemon curd now after yesterday's post.  That makes me feel very good because now I know you aren't missing out on two of the tastiest things. They are so yummy! 

One thing I did when making the lemon curd, was I beat the eggs and left them in the fridge for ages so when I mixed them into the hot mix they had time to combine before getting too hot.  Otherwise you can end up with cooked egg white bits in the curd.  Bit odd looking. 

See my lovely red bucket of lettuces?  My mother bought them at market day on Saturday for me.  How jolly sweet of her.  How jolly sweet of my father who got the job of carrying them home too!

Well No.4 and I had another very lovely outing yesterday to Spotlight.  We bought what we needed and then headed to our fav lunch spot.  The sushi was truly divine.  Very nice indeed.  I LOVE this one, Teriyaki.  Please don't tell me if it's not good for me, I really don't want to know.  The little girl picked out a pretty pink donut for her lunch.  It's such a treat to eat out. 

On the way home we stopped to buy our fruit and vegetables.  Who could resist a box of bananas for $3?  Not me that's for sure.  So this morning I googled and found this marvelous recipe.  I must go back to the site and see what else they have, as it looks like a winner. 

I secretly made them before I got help from No.4.  Was that mean of me? 

I did let her arrange the cupcake wrappers on the bench.  Don't they look great with the granny blanket in the background?  Oh domestic life is good.  (Stop laughing mother!)

The recipe states that you can leave the eggs out if you like.  That's lucky as I forgot to add them!  I'm always doing things like that.

And it's not such a great idea to drop the whole tray when getting them out of the oven either!  Honestly I'm like an old lady sometimes.

 

This is how many one batch made.  But I made a double!  I want to freeze some and we are going to a friends for afternoon tea today - it's always nice to take something along I think.

Aren't they pretty?  Considering I've never liked baking, or anything to do with the kitchen, I'm spending lots of time in there.  The girls helped me fill the bread maker containers last night.  That's the best time saving thing I've thought of in years. 

Now I'm off.  I'm taking homemade bread and veggie soup to eat with my mother.  We'll take her a muffin too.  I'm thinking that I just might have to make some gluten-free ones for me.  I hate to miss out on all this good cooking.  It kills me in the weekend when I serve up freshly made bread and then reach for my two slices of frozen stuff from the freezer.  Never mind, at least I can eat all the food I'm growing in the garden. 

Goodbye for now my sweeties!  Have a good day and thanks for coming to visit me again. 

A Very Lovely Afternoon in the Sun

Well goodness me, did it rain the other day?!  This was the back yard...

And this was the front, which is much worst than the photo I showed the other day isn't it?  We were lucky, others had floods in their houses and the South Island didn't fare too well at all with some farms completely under water.

But after the rain we have had the most beautiful days.  It's really quite warm again which is absolutely heavenly.  The washing will dry on the line too which I love.  So on Wednesday, after kindy drop off, I took myself for a nice walk around the village and went into shops that aren't too suitable for taking children into.  And it was so lovely.

Here are some photos the Anglican church, which is quite a landmark in the village.  It's a very pretty church, this being the small old one and not the new one.  The archway is beautiful as well,

and the picket fence, and the gardens,

even the headstones too.

And while I was wandering around I stepped into the Antique Shop.  There I spent a good part of half an hour sifting through baskets of doilies and other linen.  What fun that was.

Here are a few little treasured cloths I found.  After a good soak and an iron they have come up a treat.  I'm so pleased with them I'll have to go back for more.

The idea was to cut them up and make a garland for little Sophie's bedroom.  But now they look so much nicer I just can't cut them, well most of them anyway. 

This is a hanky but perfect for a garland I think.

And this one Lululiz won't let me go near with a pair of shears!!  I couldn't anyway.  It came with a huge brown stain on one corner but that's mostly gone now.   This mat was the most expensive at $4.  What a bargain!  The others were only $1 each.  Think I can afford a few more. 

But why are they so worthless?  So much work goes into them and they sell for pittance.  I'd have more fun with these than a metre of $12 fabric.