Family Time

Before I get on with the rest of my news, I'll share a couple of sewing photos, then you can skip the rest of the blogpost if you're not interested!

These two pillowcases are the only real finishes I have for January. I had pulled the fabric and had it was sitting out for nearly a year waiting for some sewing time!

So even though it was January (and not December) it was time to sew them up and get them onto a different pile!

Cute Christmas fabric - I'm not even sure how it came to be in my stash, but it's out of it now —

You may remember that last month I declared my Boxer floor cushion finished. Of course it was - except that it had no inner. I have now made an inner and yaay the cushion is now properly done. It's perhaps a little over full but I think it will squash down with use —

Here is a line up of other cushions I've made over the years —

The Boxer is a decent size; it really was like making another quilt —

I haven't counted up this month's blocks just yet so will need to do that asap, before I forget.

On to other news. Today marks 10 years since Dad died. To commemorate it we arranged a family weekend down at Taupo.

We drove south through heavy rain on Friday. Little did we realise that there was a trail of destruction behind us - flooding, slips, accidents. It wasn't until later that night that we learnt of the horrific wet events unfolding in Auckland and surrounds.

It was wet (but not as wet) in Taupo too but we all managed to have a great weekend. There is a lot of geothermal activity in Taupo so the swimming pools at the resort were delightfully warm and well used by most family members. Indoor activities out and about were frequented too. 

For the most part, umbrellas were the order of the day —

Visiting Huka Falls with the MOML and YD —

Hard to see from my photos that the falls are quite impressive! The colour was beautiful, too.

This was not impressive! We paid to go for a wee bush walk to see the geothermal activity. Considering Taupo produces about 20% of NZ power by geothermal power, we were expecting more than this!

Sunday was our 'official day'. We all went through to my hometown (Tokoroa) and visited Dad.

My siblings, Mum, and I (You can possibly see that Tokoroa has a very colourful cemetery. Bright flowers/colours Everywhere) —

We went to a local park where there is a plaqued parkbench and a grove of Hazelnut trees planted in his memory. As you can see it was getting wetter then. The planned picnic was canned but we did take over a coffee shop for lunch!

Quick visit to Pinetree Man - Dad was a driving force behind this (and a supplier of the shed space for it's construction!) —

 That evening we had a private buffet dinner in the resort, which was a lovely way to end the weekend. 

Nephew getting hounded by his (second) cousins!

It was amazing that most of our family was able to attend, aside from my brother-in-law who spent the weekend pumping water out of his orchard, and my brother's US family stayed home awaiting a new arrival - any day now.

And we all had so much hanging out time, just chatting and catching up with each other. Just fabulous and a great way to commemorate Dad.

It was a long holiday weekend in the Waikato, Auckland and Northland so none of us had to leave until Monday. Us Northlanders were a little concerned about the road closures and detours on the way home so we all took off pretty smartly in the morning. But everyone got home safely and without too many dramas.

Another wave of this atmospheric river is due to hit the northern part of the country tonight and a State of Emergency has been declared for Northland in preparation for anticipated rain overnight. [I have just heard that we will not be getting quite as much rain as they feared.] Here on the farm the river is already well up and our pastures are very sodden so it will be interesting to see what sort of flood we have tomorrow.

'til next time,

happy stitches,