Sunday, December 25, 2011

sscs prezzy

Here is what was in my other half of the   parcel from kate webster,  she was my swap partner in sscs 2011  . a really neat wallhanging ...thankyou kate it's  really neat! love the colours you have used ...they will go well on the wall!  I really love the cat with one eye or he could be winking?  cute!
a really cute wallhanging from Kate
I hope my swap partner liked what i sent her......  Thanks again to chookybluewho made this a fun swap.

cute wee cat '.
chippy with her yummy xmas cracker!
Our puppy enjoyed her xmas present too...can you guess what it is?? .....A rawhide chewbar full of tasty morsals only a dog would enjoy!
I unwrapped my own prezzy!

Friday, December 23, 2011

block 5

Block5-chey's quilt
block 5
Originally uploaded by susanriddell33
This is block 5-chey's quilt. I've used his star sign in the centre. The pic has come out a bit dark as to in real life colour. It was anice easy one too. Now on with the next blocks....

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Block 6-FQSQAL

Block 6-catherdral windows of fqsqal
This block is called 'cathedral windows' . It goes together so easily, it almost makes itself!  I loved doing this one!  I have top stiched the window in green contrast on the orange. I might do the pieced center on my other block of this . This one is one square as the other is 4 squares stitched together. If you look on konda's blog you will see it. here is my pic it has come out a bit darker than in real life. This is for chey's quilt.  I have yet to do my one and the next one is due tommorrow!

Sunday, December 18, 2011

"I'm injured"

On Wednesday evening I burnt my hand . I was cooking chips in a chip pot of oil and it was turned off and pushed to the side but was still in my way and i pushed it and hot oil splashed out the side of the pot and got me!  Boy did that hurt!  I shoved my hand under the cold tap and had it there for about 4 or 5 minutes . Our water is  really cold as it is in  a tank and my hand was getting so cold from the water  i had to take it out...then i put it back .....so painful!  The next morning there was a big blister and i was trying not to bang it but yes... I banged it and popped the blister...It looks sore but is ok now except the centre where the blister  bit is....I will live and won't do that again in hurry!
my "fryed' hand.

On Tuesday my sister Pam and her daughter and grand kids came to NZ to do a surprise afternoon tea for my mum who turned 80 on 13th dec.  We took her to a hall up the rd and had her friends meet us there and try to surprise her.  She got  surprised and really enjoyed herself.  She doesn't really bother to celebrate big '0' birthdays or anything much.  I made the cake and ended up doing a fruit cake which i have made before...it is actully my christmas cake recipe i make out of the edmonds  cook book. It was nice and moist not dry like i thought it would be as i cooked it in the wrong size tin! If i had left it in the oven for the full time i think it would be dry though,  So when i make our one today i think i will make the same size and cut down the time...  In the last year she has had about 6 of her close friends die. So it was a good turnout for her.
this is the cake i made for mum...very plain and simple but very yummy!

I made a beaded bauble and showed everyone and miss Tallulah thought it was pretty enough to hang from her ear lol! I am going to make some more of these hopefully over the xmas break.  There was a drama when i was making this but will tell you about that another time.




Do you like my lovely earring?


 ...don't know if i will be back here till after xmas so I hope everyone has a great xmas .

Saturday, December 10, 2011

"I got mail"

my sscs prezzy
Just after I posted my last post I told you I was hoping for my sscs swap  parcel  to arrive ...and it has!  I opened it and this is what was inside...

A lovely wall hanging ,love it thank you kate. It's so cute!   Kate was my swap partner this year SSCS SWAP 2011  organised by Chookyblue. She does such a great job too...thanks Donna.
 I have temporarily pegged  it this hanger but will adjust it so it fits.  It is already up on the wall.  She also made some lovely handstitched name tags with all our names on too i have just got them hanging on the side for now. .."Don't they look great"

a close up of some beautiful stitching.
a lovely wall xmas wall hanging

There is also a small pack of peppermint candy canes for us to nibble on but ii forgot to take a pic. (sorry)  I must get the tree up this weekend so i can put the other prezzy under it.



Tuesday, December 06, 2011

Block 4 FQSQAL

Last weekend I managed to do one of the blocks in the FQSQAL . This is block 4-quilt 2. I had abit of a problem cutting the squares...i kept reading the instructions wrong and cut the wrong fabrics, not once but two times!. got there in the end. Now i just have to do the same block for chey's quilt....i hope i don't muck stuff  it up !  At least the  current one is an easy one.
block 4-quilt 2

Last weekend I made some hummus, really yummy too.!  Then i was wanting to try out a cake recipe . It is called 'the ultimate chocolate cake from Annabel Laingbine, she has heaps of cook books .  It is a really large cake and you whizz it up in the food processor ...so really quick to mix, then cook in the oven for an hour. I sliced it in two and put strawberry jam in the middle.  It's ok but i thought it lacked chocolate....There is only about a quarter left! the boys have eaten it. Conor came out and had a midnight feast as i found half a piece in the fridge...his eyes were bigger than his belly!...

My piece of chocky cake...it was yummy!  Whoops my pic  has gone sideways ,sorry i don't know how to turn it around.
Then I made a batch of mustard pickle.  It makes quite a few jars and fairly cheap to make too, we love pickle.!  It will make nice gifts to give friends for xmas . I will dress the jars up a bit with some decorated lids and try and get the old label off as it is still on one jar.
my mustard pickle.



I bought a string of solar xmas tree lights so i could hang them in the garden  ..they go quite well ..the pic is not great..but that's just me i'm not good at taking photos but you get the general idea
The solar lights in the tree...it's so dark you can't see the tree!
.
Now i am waiting for my SSCS parcel to arrive...it's not here yet.  Maybe tomorrow afternoon it will find me. well I'm off to do some rippling.....but first I shall eat that piece of cake on the plate !! mmmmm !

Saturday, December 03, 2011

Little xmas stockings.

6 little stockings!




I have been busy making these cute little xmas stockings.  I follow this blog  where angie has the pattern if you are interested in making any for the little people in your family.  They are really easy to do...if i can do them anyone can. All I need to do now is embellish them with some flowers or buttons or anything you like really. Maybe someone's initial of their name stitched on. Then I will stuff them with some little sweets and toys.
my little xmas stockings.



what a mess this pup makes...she is chewing on henrietta ...she stole from the bin!
yep...the socks fit perfectly!

chippy suits these colours don't you think?

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Another block done !

Well I have finished another  of my blocks in the fqsqal from moosequilts.blogspot.com . I am doing 2 quilts so this one is for 'chey's quilt.   He loves penguins so i hope he will like this block.  Now I just have to do  my other block and the next 2 current blocks are also up now so I better get my "a into g" or i will be behind before i know it.  The next block is an easy one ...not so many pieces  in it...yay!   57 pieces in the last one...lots of pieces!
I have also posted off my SSCS  Swap parcel for 2011. will post pics a bit later on of course, (it's a secret)

My fiesta star block 4- chey's quilt

Saturday, November 12, 2011

"My cat thinks this is great"

My cat,Hurley, thinks this is nice and cozy to sleep on.  He's my 'golden eyed' boy.  So he is allowed  but the others are not because  they drop fur really bad where  blacky and him  do not seem to.
 It  is hard to get a good pic of this as it is gettng longer by the day  night as I sit and watch some tv while crocheting.  Usually hurley is underneath it on my knee while i am crocheting!  and as for "naughty Norbitt"  - he's not allowed near hurley as he tries to beat him up and he is half his size... he is bit of a bully to him, don't know why? possibly they need the old "snip-snip" lol!
My golden eyed boy nice and cozy here!

Norbitt has a ugly  smug face . We gave him a new look. What do you think?  ha! ha!  Poor Norbitt!

Norbitt with his new look!
I have just figured out why my uploading of pics took so long to do.....someone changed the size of the pics for emailing to really large.. must of been Mr Nobody again,,,,he visits this house quite regularly....Now it works quite quickly... and it's a breeze!

Thursday, November 10, 2011

my blanket is still growing ...slowly.

My ripple blanket is growing slowly.    I have now done 76 rows . It will be a single bed size i think.  I like a blanket to be longer than wide....so it covers your toes!
76 rows done!
I went to spotlite on tuesday afternoon and was looking through the bargin bins and found a lovely book with about 6 nice versions of other ripple blankets...so I bought it home with me..only $3.00 . There  is a couple in the book that i might have ago at in the future.....when i get time that is. here is a pic of my blanket so far. (I took this pic in a hurry  so it is not great  ,sorry) I will try one in the daylight , this is a bit dark.

his car

the back view
My pajero died , again.! The turbo blew it's guts!  I had no truck for a week but I got to drive my other half's car he just bought recently. It is so quiet compared to mine as mine is old, and rattly !  I recon we should swap.... I really liked it. It runs totally on LPG ...no petrol  so much cheaper and even better his boss payed for it.  I am on the third turbo at the moment!  this is also the 4th  or 5th windscreen too!  I have lost count.  I have never known a vehicle to go through so many windscreens!!   It seems to chip really easily!  This time we might sell it as soon as he fixes his oil leak in his ute.  His new car is a falcon station wagon.  They were going to wreck it for parts where he works (automotive dismantler)  for 'ford'  parts. It has  had a bump in the bumper and a wee dent near the front, but runs really well.

Friday, November 04, 2011

'Look who's here"

I have a couple of pics of the newest kid on the block.  Declan  Noel wilson  ,  These were taken  just a few minutes after he came into the world, on 2 / 11 / 2011,  about 8pm,    at North Shore Hospital, Auckland, New Zealand.
Declan Noel Wilson

Isn't he cute!  he looks so small!

He is 1 day old  in this pic.
He weighed in at 7lb 13, a nice weight.  I haven't been to see him yet so maybe over the weekend I might get a chance too I hope  and maybe even a cuddle.

I have been working on my sscs project but can't tell you anymore about it sorry....it's  a secret!!


I have been 'rippling' along with my blanket too but don't have any new pics yet. sorry.  My blocks for the fat 1/4 star quilt along are all up to date!!  amazing as i usually fall a little behind .


block 3-quilt 1(cheys)
block 1-quilt 2

Wednesday, November 02, 2011

"No baby yet".

Well we are still waiting for Amber's and cory's baby to arrive.  She is overdue by a week now so they have induced her this morning and I have been informed that she is now about halfway!  She 's going ok ...not too much pain at the moment but wishes it was over!   Maybe later tonight or the small wee hours we hope!  Hurry up Decklan,  that's his name as we know it's a boy.!  Keep you posted when the big event happens...it's exciting for both of them and all of us!  I will post a pic when I get one...soon i hope!

edit;  Well Declan has arrived  on the 2 / 11 / 2011  at 8.pm  all safe and well !  finnally !!..... he kept everyone waiting!!  pics are comming soon as!

Friday, October 28, 2011

block 3- quilt 2


block 3- quilt 2
Originally uploaded by susanriddell33
and this is block 3-quilt 2. I think I like this now, I wasn't to sure but the more i look at it the more i like it.

block 2- quilt two


block 2- quilt two
Originally uploaded by susanriddell33
This block is for quilt 2- for us. I haven't made block 1 yet but maybe this weekend I might get something done. I have made block 3 though.... it;s all a bit backwards but will be back in the right order before block 4 comes out ...I hope.

block 2 -quilt one


block 2 -quilt one
Originally uploaded by susanriddell33
And this is block 2- quilt 1.

block 1 - quilt one


block 1 - quilt one
Originally uploaded by susanriddell33
I have joined the Fat quarter stars Quilt along with Konda  http://moosequilts.blogspot.com/  Every 2 weeks we do a new block with different designers, it's lots of fun then post to the flickr group  http://www.flickr.com/groups/1726536@N24/pool/ Check it out

This is my ist block for FQ stars QL. I am going to make this into a
sort of eyespy?scrappy quilt for my nephew, Chey, he is 7. Then I thought I might as well do 2 at the same time and do one for us. I am going to use just what is in my stash except for the borders and backing which i will buy at a later date.

Saturday, October 22, 2011

"It is growing slowly".

We are waiting for the arrival of my nephew's ist baby...it's a boy! It is due today saturday....I will keep you posted when the big event happens.

I have managed to get a few more rows finished on my ripple blanket. It is growing very  slowly.... Most nights i seem to get about 4 rows done ...that's if I don't make any mistakes and have to undo it.!  I hate undoing it when you find you have made a mistake when you are half way through the next row!!  It all has to come undone and it just feels like you are never going to see the end of that colour!   I have learnt to reconise how the stitch should look when you increase or decrease now, so I know if something isn't right. This blanket is just randomly picked colours just what takes my fancy at the time. I have quite away to go yet so will keep you posted as I progress...just got to remember to take a pic!  There are heaps on the flicker page of these blankets. http://www.flickr.com/groups/1802262@N23/  Lucy has started the group along with little tin bird.  So have a look and you might get inspired to if you like crochet.  It's abit addictive!

I have done a few more rows on my ripple blanket.
I got 2' huge' eggs again last week.  The first one weighed 94 gramms  the other weighed 102 gramms !  They are so tall I can't shut the egg box properly!  We ate one each with our dinner tonight...They were both double yolkers too!  very yummy!!  I will try and put a pic up.
the egg on the left is a normal size ...these others were both double yolkers!

This weekend is a long weekend too.  I am going to try and work on my sscs as time is counting down rather quickly. October is nearly gone!  I know exactly what I am going to make  so I just have to get my A into G and do it.
conor's chocolate log. 
My youngest son has just had his birthday and requested a chocolate log cake so we bought one unfilled and filled it with fresh cream...it was yummy!  I got told off because I put the wrong number of candles on....I forgot he turned 15 not 14 !!!  lol! (sorry the photo has loaded funny again) ??

Saturday, October 01, 2011

My new crochet project.

Well I have already started my next crochet project....another blanket for next winter. I think I will definitely get this blanket finished by next winter as there is no joining required, so making it much quicker.  I have undone a few rows as I was watching our team "the warriors" playing rugby league last week and not really concentrating properly...it was so exciting!!   yer we won and now I can't wait to see the outcome this week for all 3 teams as they are all in the grand finals!  So go "the mighty warriors" (as the mad butcher would say).

my ripple blanket.
The other day when I went to feed my 'girls' ,I found no eggs, not one to be seen!  Usually there is about 4 or 5 on average.....I was cleaning out there trays banging a bit and next thing one chook shot out from under the chook house...Aha! ,.I found there ' hidy hole' and...... 15 eggs !  I took them away and thought that will upset them and  they would lay them in there nest boxes but no ....they decided that a nest between the pongas and bush ferns would be a better spot,  so now that is where they are laying there eggs each day.  It is much easier than having to forage around underneath the  dirty old chook house in the dirt.

15 eggs from the chooks hidy hole
We have  also been cleaning  Shirley's apartment out...done about half i suppose....it's a big job to pack up a person's lifetime possessions ...lots of little things with sentimental value and little memories of how  they came to be there. The glass in one of her  wedding photo's got broken...we will get that fixed  when we get this other old pic of her as a baby restored too. It is a beautiful old picture.  The picture really looks a lot like my oldest son, Gene.  He was about the same age (18 months approx)  We need to get a few copies of it but will have to send it to a professional I think as the glass is rounded ,not smooth and flat as normal ones and it is dirty on the inside. I took a pic but you can see the dirt and dust on the inside.   I have never seen this photo before as it was tucked away safely in the wardrobe as the hanger had broken I think.


Shirley's baby photo 
I have been doing some stitching on my Henrietta Whiskers blocks but will save that for next time.                                                                      

Thursday, September 29, 2011

African flower hexagon blanket. finished

Taa-dah !.... My African Flower Blanket ...it is finally finished!!
African flower hexagon blanket. finished 015
Originally uploaded by susanriddell33
Taa-Daa ! I have finally finished my african flower blanket...it has taken me about a year to get this completed . I stopped pretty much in the summer as i found it to hot and sticky to crochet much....so it was put aside for a while. I am so glad to have it finished! When I first started this I never knew how to do the join-as you-go method for connecting the hexys ...but now I have mastered it thanks to attic24 blog (lucy) She has a really good tutorial on her blog and i made a cushion cover to learn how to do this. On this blanket it joined with single crochet ,throughout which went quite quickly as to sewing them . I still feel like making something else with this pattern everytime I check the flickr group for these...They are really addictive things! I still have a few extras over so might have to make them into something ...??  Maybe a bag for my crochet...hmmmm....

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Daylight saving

Daylight saving starts this weekend here in New Zealand.....I hate love the start of it...coz it's cold...dark...and i don't want to get out of my bed!  AND it takes about 2 weeks to get use to the hour difference.  They started it earlier last year and finished it later too ! It goes too long at the end for me.

Sunday, September 18, 2011

The rugby world cup 2011

our lovely black flag, matches the grey sky!


Well it's the rugby world cup here in New Zealand.  Everywhere you go you see heaps of cars with flags on supporting what ever country they like.  We have just put a new zealand flag up on our house on top of the old tv ariel.  I don.t have pic of it yet as the weather is stink!  might try tomorrow.
Last friday my mother in law, shirley,  passed away in north shore hospital. she has had breathing problems as she suffered from emphaciema  quite bad  and died quietly in her sleep as she was totally exhausted,  . We had her funeral last wednesday  and it was a lovely service, lots of good memories , lovely photo  slide show of her life , no dry eyes anywhere, it was really nice.    She was a true warriors league fan, she would have got a real giggle from seeing the streaker in fridays game , lol !   we put little momentos in with her.Conor, my youngest son,  put his warriors flag in,  and I made a dragonfly with a message attached,  and chey, her very youngest grandson, put his little penguin and a cute wee teddy bear.  We really miss her heaps..but now she is at peace with her hubby again. R.I.P. shirley....never forgotten.

These flowers were from shirley's  sister barbra, they are beautiful too!
and these beautiful orchids were from one of her care givers. (sorry the pic has gone awry..dont know why)
p.s.  I will try to add sme pics of shirley's lovely flowers later as I'm having trouble uploading them...again ,sorry.

Sunday, September 04, 2011

"Poppy"---- R.I.P.

Poppy on the couch.

On the 20th of august we had to have our dog 'poppy' put to sleep.  She has had nasty old tumor on her front leg, on her elbow. It never seemed to bother her ,she still ran and walked....and chased the cats and the chickens... as any dog does. She has been on pills  since xmas time but it just kept growing and looked ghastly!!  She piled on the weight due to her medication which made her hungry quite abit. She would steal the cats bickys when she thought we wern't looking!!  She has been gone 14 days and I really miss her heaps and so do  the 5 cats!!  She use to sit with me sometimes when i was sewing and never miss anything  you did. She has lovely big brown sad looking eyes too.... She was my youngest son's dog and has had her since she was a pup about 8 weeks old, he was really upset about losing her, but will be ok.  We won't get another dog for quite a while but will in the future no doubt.  He made her a lovely cross to put on her grave and covered it with ferns from the bush. I told him to take lots of photos's,, which he did.. (300) Lol!  Time will heal .
R.I.P.   POPPY

















































































































































Thursday, August 18, 2011

african flower hexagon blanket

I was trying to add this pic but blogger just kept stuffing it up! The pic was the frilly cushion cover I am trying to make , you can just see it to the right in the pic....rather slowly though, It is a bit wobbly as i have added to many increases ...that is why it is going to become a cushion cover.. got to add a few more rounds yet ! I got this idea from lucys blog attic24 and thought i would give it ago.