some buys from the hospice shop...

Well I went a hospice shop down the rd where i work and saw these bags and thought I would like just the handles to put on some other bags i will make and they were only $3  for the red one and $2 for the other one.  I would never use them as they are so I shall pull them apart soon.  I also found a book on' bullion stitch embroidery. It has a few lovely projects in it to make. I love doing bullion stitch. It is amazing just how many things you can use the stitch for.

I have sort of started a new project. (shouldn't really...)  but I was looking at a blog of Jan mac'sand saw her Joseph quilt (sorry can't think of the proper name but you will know what I mean from the pic, I think)  I have been wanting to make one of these for quite a while now and then I found the roll of florani stitch and wash I had stashed away quite a while ago and so have started to make some petals.  I don't think I will make a huge one ,maybe just a smallish size , then it might get finished!!. Keep you posted.

A couple of weeks ago I got given these drawers ...full of wool  mainly soft pastel shades but there is heaps of white which will be very useful for the next crochet project I start but probably not till after the summer...when it gets here.!   Some of it has' fontana' on the label...don't think they sell that one anymore!  It was from Wayne's ,bosses wife, they were having a clean out. We also were given a brand new wall heater still in the box and a floor heater  too and some other bits and pieces.

I have been driving with
Conor nearly every other night , he is getting better each day. He doesn't stall the car now and a lot more confident. I got him to put some new wheels on my car today too. We take chippy for ride each time to get her use to the car as she use to get car sick! (yucky) but she is good now.

chippy admiring the view.

another sunset

the teatree is flowering now..it looks like snow when it drops its petals

I best go and start the dinner or it will be  a really late dinner and boys always moan they are hungry! bye for now.

end of the week.

I took my son Conor for another drive to the end of our rd, (our rd is 10 k long and all loose metal) and we got there just after 8 pm to see the sun setting.  It goes down just after 8 pm these days as we are into daylight saving. I have a few pics but probably won't get them in the right order so I leave it up to you to figure it out.

(These are in reverse order, sorry...so scroll up from the bottom perhaps)

gone...the sun sunk down below the horizon.

the view in early evening. looking out from Anawhata beach and over left  toward Piha beach.

all most gone.

going down...

going...

going..

going...

 

sinking  on the horizon...

As soon as the sun hits the horizon mark it is so amazing to see how fast it actually disappears from view.  Blink your eyes and you nearly miss it.!  It is a beautiful view too.

Well I have done a little sewing but don't have any pics yet. I have been doing the quilting on chey's quilt.. He will get it before xmas . It's way past his birthday but I really want it done before xmas so he doesn't think it is a xmas prezzy.  Just got to do the borders then the binding.



And a pic Chippy relaxing on the deck in the sun. Lucky dog!

chippy relaxing.

''It's finally finished".

Well I finally finished my 'fusion' blanket on tuesday!  So glad to have it done.  It has been sitting in the bag on the floor for weeks just waiting for me to do the edging and once I started it didn't take as long as I thought it would.  I did a scallop edging all round in the chocolate brown cotton.  I used 2 charm packs one on each side so it is reversible. The charm pack was 'Dragonfly summer".  I like how it has turned out.

Now to finish some other things half done....

the squares layed out 

all joined up and finished.

A little sewing ...

I was in my sewing room tidying up the rubbish off the floor yesterday but kind of got side tracked  when I found some scraps that I had put aside  for a pincushion I wanted to make and next thing I was sewing it up and stuffing it and forgot to finish tidying the room...you know how it goes. But that is all I made. These are really easy to make.

 Sunday is my eldest son, Gene's 19 birthday and we have bought him his own laptop....he should really like that!  I would like that if someone bought one for me....but dreams are free ah.
It's a bit cold and windy here today and I wanted to go and finish weeding my vegy patch but i think it can wait. The sun is out but a cold wind.

I put a small yo-yo instead of a button

On monday we celebrate guy faulkes here, 5th november.
We were meant to go to a fireworks display last night but they cancelled it till 17th November, the boys were whinging about that so let off some of there home made bombs.....then we got a complaint from the neighbor about scaring the horses.....we didn't know there were horses on there place..Nice of them to let us know!  ..I hope they get them moved somewhere else for monday night as everyone will letting off there fireworks !!  Chippy went up to the back fence and barked at them too but they didn't seem worried at all, so they might be ok.

"I did a bit of gardening....no sewing..

some marigolds

On the weekend I bought 2 grafted tomatoe plants and 3 normal plants to see how they go.  I don't usually have much luck with tomatoes so i haven't bothered with them for a few years now.  When I go on holiday to my mum's wayne has to look after the animals and everything else but is not really keen on gardening so if it rains a little he thinks it's alright not to water the plants .... so then they die...some men don't get it. (I know he will never read my blog  hee hee!)

grafted tomatoes

Houdini (on left) and another chook having a dust bath

other tomatoes (still have to weed this area)

"Houdini"

 I got a new chook called "Houdini".  She kept escaping from her old owners chook run and she got fed up  with her as she eats all the garden....so I put my hand up and brought her home. My fence is nearly 6ft high so she shouldn't escape or so I thought...... She figured out how to get up on the wire fence and over she went into the neighbors paddock!  I went and caught her and locked her in the'broody cage' for the night.  When I went to feed the 'girls' the next morning she had layed me an egg so I let her out but expected her not to be home when I came home from work....but she was still there!  I'll have to see what she does tommorrow.....

a table runner pattern

tweezers and p.piecing  1/2"hexagons

1/2" hexagons to play with soon.

My friend Mandy  and her son jamie,came with me to a quilt display up at Kumeu in Auckland.  Grandmothers Garden take there big red van around the country all during the year selling there goodies. I saw a really nice clamshell bag i would like to make later on, I bought myself a cute pair of over locking tweezers with a lady painted on them, a small bundle of doggie prints , a couple of  cute  tape measures,  some 1/2 " hexagon papers to play with as I want to make a small purse. a pattern for a table runner with chickens on it. We had a good day out in the country and it only took about 15 mins to get there!  We saw quite a few strawberry gardens with shops ....tempting to stop but we will do that another time.

close up of the lady

some cute tapemeasures that came home with me.

cute doggie prints for the stash.

I never had time to sew as the weather was really sunny and warm...to nice to be inside. Sewing can wait for another day!

a little more stitching...

I did a bit more stitching on the back of my tape measure but forgot to do the centre of the flower so just have that to do ,then it is done . I blanket stitched the back piece on . I don't have good close up light when I did this while watching tv as I usually go in my sewing room but it's come out ok I think.

herringbone stitch on the edge.

doing the centre of the flower.

blanketstitch 

This is a pic I took of my clivia bush . It is flowering now quite well this year and the sun was out too ....unlike today as it is pouring with rain!!! Yesterday was nice but not today and just because it is a day off tomorrow it will probably decide to rain too.  It is long weekend here in NZ...labour weekend.

my clivia bush in flower.

We are extending the chook run up in the bush a bit so I hope it stops raining.  Wayne has the week off next week so will probably get it done one of those days. Well that's all for now so I'm off to sew something or just fluff around in my sewing room for a while.

chippy having a rest .

Just for a change...

close up of the bee.

the bee is made up of bullion stitches close together.

I have been doing a little more work on the fusion blanket but felt like a change so I decided to make one of these.  It is a small retractable tape measure .  It is made using some wool fabric , then I drew up a design of little garden creatures and flowers, then I transferred the design to the wool that was a bit tricky to see so it is mainly just stitched free hand  and I just roughly followed what I had drawn and added some bees to the flowers . I haven't done any stitcheries for a couple of years i think as I have been teaching myself  to crochet   . The stitching is the fast part but sewing this up takes a bit longer .  When it is properly finished I show you it.  I have to  put the back piece on and join it carefully all around.  I like doing these. I have lots of ideas buzzing around in my head too . I have started to draw them roughly  in my book so I don't forget about them so when I want to make some more I won't forget.  I want to do some bunnys!  I love doing bunnys...so cute! here are a few pics. (sorry that some of the pics are a bit dark).  Well that's all at the moment.  

Joining up the fusion blocks.

I have finally started to join my fusion blocks up.  First I layed them out on the floor and took a pic so I can refer back to it. Then I joined them one row at a time .. I'm joining with the same mushroom colour and then I will do a couple of rows around the whole thing and think  I will do a dark brown edging of some sort.??? not sure exactly yet .

blocks all laid out before joining up.

three rows joined up one way

I'm working on some other stuff but can't tell you  or show you just yet as it is secret!  All I can say is it is coming along nicely!

I got 10 new chooks last weekend and they are settling  quite well, laying plenty of eggs too, so nice and fresh and yummy too!

2 of the new chooks .

I did a bit of baking on sunday and made this really tasty caramel slice. I had it years ago in a really great coffee shop that made slices a little different from the normal stuff they all seem to make. Saw the recipe in a book and tried it out....very yummy and quite morish.  It is caramel with walnuts chopped and sprinkled over the base and some of the base mixture is chilled and  crumbled over the top and it all cooks and comes out like this!

yummy caramel slice...mmmm..

'chip' with her bandana on her head!....

well nothing much else happening just yet so i'm off to do some sewing.
p.s.  It has taken me ages to figure out  where my drafts were on  this new interface on blogger!  It is hard to find where everything  is ....