Spring

It is amazing the changes in the garden in just the 10 days I was away.

the wisteria has started to flower and smells wonderful

this tree has beautiful blossom

this tree was bare 10 days ago, now the blossom is finishing and the leaves have grown

the oak tree has new leaves

the fig tree is active

Mmmmmm...not so sure the Chowchow is though!!

the plum tree has blossom and leaves

the bottle brush looks amazing

as does the grevillia

I did venture into one quilt shop in NZ and came out with these

and this

this and

this, how good are the dinosaurs? I am told this is a different kind of printing and the colours will never fade. Love the colours in this piece. 

I have decided to try and sort one box a month, (taking it really slow here!!) of the boxes that have not been unpacked after moving house. As the football is on tonight it is a good opportunity to look at a box!

So off to sort I go.

Happy sewing.

Wonderful

to be back home again..I have a few photos on the camera to update here. I met up with the lovely Julie of Threadbare Cottage for lunch while I was in NZ. We met in Tirau which is famous for the corrugated iron signs in the town. We had a great lunch and then a wander up to the Christmas shop , which was amazing!

Julie gifted me a lovely goodies bag, which I opened this morning

the bag got a bit squashed in the suitcase

but inside was a beautiful candle Julie made and decorated, even  has my name on it, and a lovely handmade soap. I have had one of these before and they are beautiful to use and smell so good!!

Thank you Julie, you made my day.

We took some snaps of the signs and buildings in the town

  the local mechanic shop, and the Info centre

sadly the buzzy bee is a bit hard to see

Mrs Pukeko looks very flash with her pearls and shoes

Mr Pukeko is plainer just sitting here on the roof.

this shepherd was at the local church, you could put money in a box I was told by a man passing by and he would talk to you, I thought that was a little creepy so declined!!

I headed off and drove back over the Kaimais

I stopped at the top to take a photo out over the Waikato and to search for a geocache!

Later that weekend when I went up to Auckland Jenny showed me a book swap fridge at the end of her street

I dropped off two book crossing books and took a thriller. The contents of the fridge were  mostly children's books. Nice to swap books around.

I did manage to get a few more stars sewn

the star family is a wee bit bigger now

I must say that Jenny gave me a beautiful cup (she has the T-shirt to match)

Halloween Chowdy dogs!!How cute are they. I am very blessed to have wonderful friends.

I am off to rediscover my sewing room.

Happy sewing.

Sitting at the airport

I am on my way home!! All is in place for Mum, she has a lovely support/carer in place who is visiting twice a week at the moment. That gets reviewed in 3 months, they will slowly build up to someone calling every day. They are keen to keep Mum in her own home and she is determined to stay there. I am a little happier now I know she is in the system and being checked on.
I drove from Tauranga to Auckland today and thank goodness it is a beautiful sunny day,

I had a stop at Krangahake Gorge and had a look at the river and a breath of fresh air.

Yesterday in between doing last minute messages, those ones you have been waiting 10 days for that suddenly appear as you are packing your bag, I went over to Mount Maunganui and walked around the base of the Mount. It is an extinct volcano, and all my life we have walked up (sometimes) or around (mostly). 

It was a beautiful day, sunny a little breeze from the south

The land off to the left of the Maori warrior statue is where my mother lives

Isn't  this a great way to spend some time !!

This is the entrance between the Mount and Matakana Island where ships and boats come in and out of the harbour.

In this tree is a tui, a native bird in NZ, there were lots of tui flying between the trees and eating the red berries here, I have never seen so many before.

Ship leaving the harbour.

And finally I came around to the ocean beach. The walk is about 4km depending on where you have to park the car.

I have been making more stars but they are in the luggage!! 

I am off to have a wander thru the shops, 2 hours more to fill in before the plane leaves. No delays with Emirates thank goodness, lots of flights have been cancelled due to the fuel problems here.

Happy stitching.

A little stitching

While here in NZ a little stitching has been happening, some stars are now more like hexies

My mother listens to music and loves Andre Rieu, so it is a good opportunity to sit and sew.

Here at Jennys house we got stuck into her craft room, it had a bench/table across the end of the room that Jenny wanted to remove. Our job for the day was to remove the boxes from the table and clear the way for her son in law to get the bench out, but we got a surge of girl power and did it ourselves!! I didn't take a before photo but here it is removed

And the evidence that we chucked off the deck

And a craft room ready for creating,

Yesterday we were out and about and I noticed we were near a geocache, so we set off to find it..

And we did!! Happy smiles.

Today I am off back to Tauranga for the next stage of organising support for my mother, then home on Wednesday. 

Happy sewing.

This and that

Saturday the 9th of September saw me at the Guild for a workshop with Gloria Loughman, we were learning applique doorways.  It was a great day, I learned heaps, it would have been good to have a second day of class to get a finish. I took a few ohotos of Glorias work

Just love the colours in the Sydney Harbour Bridge quilt, Gloria made that one after seeing the Vivid Festival up there.

This is the door way I was working on

This is Glorias quilt that we are working from.

Some happy quilters busy working away

I had to rush home after the class as hubby was taking me to the airport, we had dinner, he went home and I stayed in a hotel so I could be up at 4am to get over and checked in to fly to NZ. My mother, who has just turned 92 needs help at home, she does not want it but needs it, so we had a visit from an assessor, visit to the doctor for a memory test and there is more to come next week.

I had a wonderful day out to Tirau  on Wednesday and met up with Julie for lunch and a chat, we are going thru similar mother things. It was lovely to see her, I have photos but they are on the camera and will come later.

I have run away for the weekend to Auckland to visit Jenny

I stopped at a road side park to look for a geocache, this place is where you get the first glimpse of the Tauranga Harbour, always a sign to me that home was not far away.

This carving is on the edge of the park.

This is the view from Jennys deck

Her mad seagull has settled in too!!

Must away, conversations to be had.

Happy sewing. 

Mug bag take 2

Yesterday afternoon I had another go at mug bag creating...I made my own years ago and remember starting with a  cd to trace around to make the base, so thats what I did, it was interesting trying to measure around the cd with the tape measure, slippery little thing!!
Anyway after some sewing and unsewing I finished up with these

I am much happier with these, and the mug actually fits inside!! Yahoo!! 

The stitchery is finished and pinned to the backing, now to do the appliqué and hanging sleeve. I have enjoyed stitching this but am happy to have the finish..I have checked all the arms and legs and am confident no one is armless or legless!  Now I need to do somereally boring sewing...yep I have to hem some new jeans!! But first I think I will go for a walk, the sun is shining this morning and it isnt super windy.

Have a great day.