A very busy weekend

I had planned all week on spending some time with one of my sewing machines this weekend.

Maybe make a start on a scrappy project. Maybe load a quilt onto the frame.

Things turned out a little different.

A couple of weeks ago Timaru was hit by a big storm. There was lots of thunder and lightening. Unusual for this part of NZ. There was also a hail storm, with huge hail stones. Many much bigger than those you see here in my hand.

As a result of that storm about half of town are having their cars assessed by hail specialists, and a lucky few are having their cars repaired. My poor wee car is not one of those. Every panel on my poor wee motor has sustained damage, there are so many dents, I lost count just on the bonnet, never mind anywhere else.

The silver lining is that I will get a new to me car.

So Saturday was spent out and about car shopping. I have to say I was over it after the first 2 hours!

Mr H had me sitting in so many cars.

Is this one comfortable?

Can you adjust the seat the way you like it?

Just try this one....

Finally we agreed on a model.

Now the real shopping begins.

I'll leave that to him and the internet.

But Saturday wasn't over!

After a cuppa at home and a lie down on the couch to ease my poor back, we were off out again.

Each year Timaru hosts a festival of roses. There is a beautiful rose garden here in town, it's a part of the Caroline Bay recreation area. 

 The rose festival features a display of many many roses and floral art competitions. These are in the hall, elsewhere in the grounds there is music and a craft market.

On the Saturday evening there was a night market, which I fancied a look at. I told Tony we could get supper at one of the food carts and he was in! There was live music playing in the rotunda and there were a few stalls, but to be honest, not much that interested us except the carnivorous plant stall!

I bought Polly the putrefying  pitcher plant. (The gentleman who sold her to me said I must name her).

Polly currently resides in a corner of the green house. I'm told she will love it in there, but I must keep her toes wet at all times. 

We wandered around for a while, chatting with a few friends and had some food.

By the time we got home, it was almost time for bed.

Not a stitch was sewn all day.

Sunday was no less busy.

First stop, the plant place for marigolds! Aphids have moved in to the green house!

Hopefully the marigolds will have them move out fast! (And of course Polly will help!)

I also purchased a punnet of capsicum. After planting our new friends we headed back to Caroline bay for another look at the rose festival. There were more stalls and more people there than the previous night, so a lot more to see and do. We had lunch from a different food cart to the previous night and while talking to some more friends learned that bikes and side cars were racing at levels raceway, just a few minutes outside of town. Janice, you and Mick should plan a long weekend sometime.

The bikes and sidecars were not what I was used to seeing on the Isle of Man. Wow, what an experience. If we go again I'll try to remember the camera!

We spent the entire afternoon out there.

After a later than usual dinner I mentioned to Tony that I was disappointed not to get a quilt onto the frame. He offered to help load one, right there and then!

It was almost 10pm by the time we had finished.

So she waited for me until this morning when, before work I made three quick meander passes.

That was fun. What a lovely way to start the day.

I had another quick go after work too.

Because I know you all love my tree, here it is laden with flowers.

Tadaaa!

The wedding cake tree at 07.15 this morning.

Now, it's almost 9 pm and my children have been chatting away on messenger. We have a family conversation going and all keep in touch there. It's been plinging away all the time I've been writing here. Better go and catch up with the happenings.

A Crochet Finish!

At last!

I started this blanket waaaay back at the beginning of May. It wouldn't have taken so long, but I overdid something and an RSI settled into my left wrist. Well that slowed down everything.

But I did notice a couple of weeks ago, that my wrist is finally getting stronger again and thought I might try my crochet. At one point I couldn't even hold my work without pain. Finally I was back to being able to do just a little. So slowly, very slowly I was able to complete this wee blanket.

Two rows, or one colour per night.

I only had four colours left to do!

Then the borders, half a round a night.

Finally I finished it over the weekend.

That's it done. It is a good size for a single/twin bed. Tony wants to keep it. He thinks we should keep pretty much everything I make. I'm not so sure, I had intended to sell it at a craft market, but changes in our working schedules means that we three girls don't get to do those any more.  Maybe I'll pop it on a local facebook page and see what happens.

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So what now? Well I've already started knitting a sweater for Grandson Floki. Slowly, just a couple of rows here and there. Want to look after my wrist now that it is feeling a bit better.

I'm also continuing to cut 2.5 inch squares, they are coming along slowly too, though I have found that if I hold down my ruler in a certain way, it's good physio therapy for my weak wrist, so long as I don't do too much.

The garden of course is taking up quite a bit of our time at the moment, I'll take and share some pictures another day.

Shopping and prezzies and all of that! And some creativity too!

I'm going to make this the last Aussie post!

I've uploaded a bunch of photos, in no particular order, so I'll explain as they come. LOL

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It's no secret that I collect tea towels so on my day out shopping with Janice I treated myself to three new tea towels. 

 The tea towel theme continued throughout the trip. I found another one at The Dish.

I have since discovered that it is a great glass cloth, good for specs, windows, mirrors and even wine glasses. LOL

There was also the obligatory fridge magnet.

 Another towel from the Motor Museum and a notice for the garage door. 

 It was Tony who discovered these cute magnets at the Royal Flying Doctors visitor centre, right beside the ones with creepy crawlies on them. ((Shudder))

And another towel of course. LOL

 I took gifts with me, for our hosts.

I stitched this cute wee caravan for Janice and Mick.

I opted to leave it in the hoop and covered the back with a piece of felt.

I also found a tea towel with caravans on.

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 I stitched another piece for Chooky.

 It was also accompanied by a tea towel, this time native NZ birds.

Gifts from Janice were many and exciting. They came in a large gift bag, which seemed bottomless.

many of these pics are sideways on, sorry.

 Janice had been busy in her room and made me a lovely table runner with an Aussie themed fabric.

 There was a news paper special magazine all about the moon landings and the part that The Dish played in receiving and transmitting the pictures of the moon landing, and this cute wee wot not dish, which I believe Janice found in an op shop.

 A cross stitch kit, also from an op shop. 

 One of my Favourite designers, Joan Elliot, this lovely lady is called Winter Fairy.

I wish I could be lucky and find treasure like this in my local op shops. 

Chooky gifted me this great bag.

London. Been there, boring!

Paris. No appeal for me.

Rome. Been there.

Coonamble!!  Amazing place, you should go. The locals are lovely people. 

 New York... Yeah....Nah.

While visiting the Chook shed I was let loose in a box of cards and told to take my pick.

Chooky has a good camera eye and there were some beautiful cards in there.

 I had to squeeze in a quilty themed card.

 I told you about my visit to Anni Downs store and my purchases there, but thought I would show them again anyway.

A Boys Story I have been wanting this book for some time. Finally it is mine.

 I found and treated myself to a new pair of quilters gloves in Dubbo, I think!

And essential reading for the plane ride home.

 Look at the wee mandala that was in the box of tea bags I bought to drink while I was there.

I'll need to sharpen my pencils. Sadly that particular brand of tea is not available here in Timaru.

 And last but not least, Janice had a whole file full of cross stitch patterns.

She said I could take my pick. Most of them were samplers like this one. Not really my thing, but this one has an anchor and one or two nautical themed motifs. I can work with those.

So there you have it. Gifts to and from, purchases made and treasure to cherish.

That's it. My last post about Aussie.

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Since returning I have changed about in my room, and actually managed to spend some time in there. OK, so today it was only to iron the laundry, but I have started to cut some of the over 1200 2.5 inch squares I need for a scrappy project.

I managed to complete another advent calendar.

Of course I added a little bling.

Look at the cute ribbon I found in the ribbon jar.

I don't have to go far to visit this one, it is right next door. My neighbour bought it.

And finally for this post, I framed another cross stitch.

It's hanging in our bedroom.

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Phew, that turned into a much longer post than I thought it would be.

Thanks for sticking with me.

I hope you enjoyed reading about my trip to Aus and meeting some lovely people.

Thank you to both of our host families. 

We very much enjoyed your company and our time in your beautiful country.

We are so lucky to have you as friends.

I blame Janice

Remember in my last post, I had a few pictures from a quick show and tell that Janice did? 

This is a corner of one of those lovely quilts. Do you see the door knobs behind the quilt?

That is the entrance to a very lovely room.

Why the chain? 

Well those doors concertina if you push them in just the right place.

A certain furry member of the household discovered this, so steps were taken and preventative measures were put in place. LOL

Poor Joey.

He's such a handsome boy, how could you deny him a snooze in a cosy bed?

Sew, anyway.....

Once you unhook the chain and step through those doors you are in a wonderful space.

Janice has a fantastic setup, with lots of storage, work space and things on display.

Such a great room. It inspired me to have a shuftie about in my room. It's only half the size of Janice's. But I'm not jealous, much....

Tony had an idea and wanted to try it out for me. We had a move about and tried out a few things. We finally settled on a new layout,  after we acquired me a new desk and a new chest of drawers. Taking inspiration from the way Janice has her room, with a sort of island coming out from the wall. 

Mum/Grans kitchen cabinet has come back out of the wardrobe, I have much better light for cutting.

And there is still plenty of room for a bored/ lonely husband seat.

The last of the cardboard moving boxes that were stashed under the old folding table were finally unpacked.

It's all turned out rather well and I've enjoyed pottering about in there.

Of course, one thing that did create more than a little extra space was the removal of another of my Grans cupboards and all of my knitting and crochet supplies to another room! 

It's now tucked into my quilting studio.

 Tucked away into the corner.

Mum used to keep her knitting yarn in this cupboard too.

Gran kept it in her bathroom, filled with towels.

I'm so lucky to have these family treasures.

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And now Debbie has started! 

Her room is slowly getting a big reshuffle too. LOL

As I said right at the top of this post...

I blame Janice.

It's all your fault!

😉

P.S. Blogger has stopped forwarding your comments to my email...

Grrr, better go try to fix that.