More travels

 It's been a busy few weeks since my trip to visit our new little grandie-girl. There"s not been much productivity in The Palace. 
I did get my March RSC red block made - 

And made a few more blocks for my Leader-ender project (Bonnie Hunter challenge) - 

I"m getting quite a pile of these blocks now (about 80) and I think there will be a time in the not-so-distant future when this project will morph from a leader-ender project to a full scale full time one!!

I tried to do some preparation for our upcoming Scrub Stitching retreat in Australia. I used this wee bundle as a starting point for going through my stash and cutting strips.

Last year at Scrub Stitching I was entranced by the Luna Lapins that Christine and Sharmayne had made I decided I NEEDED to make one too.....

Of course I had a year to prepare and it all got left to the last minute.

McGeorgeous helped me with the stuffing-

I fell in love with the pelletised pure wool stuffing I bought last year -

But sadly I decided to leave Miss Luna at home. She was too embarassed to travel with no arms, no eyes and, most importantly, no clothes!!!! NEXT YEAR!!!

In the meantime there has been a school triathalon-

It was a drizzly day but they all did well.

There have been kids to play - 

The MOML and I spent Easter away. We drove south to Whakatane (and Opotiki) to help celebrate my Uncle's 80th birthdayIt was great to catch up with family again; I have so many cousins and it's always fun to see who comes out of the woodwork!

We took the scenic route.

Cambridge - 

Lake Rotoiti-

Happy 80th Uncle Jimmy.

After a 'brunch' back at his place the next day, we spent some bitter sweet time at Mum's place distributing and sorting her bits and pieces. My sister has done a great job of sending out lists for everyone to put their name on, but there was still a lot of things to find homes for. mum's siblings came around and helped relief us of random things.

We drove home in pouring rain but thankfully the MOML (and uncle-advisors) had done an excellent job of waterprrofing and there was not a drop of water on anything!

And this morning I am at the airpot,waiting for my flight to Australia and Scrub Stitching!!!

(None of my photos showed up when I previewed this post so I hope they show for you!)

I'll catch up soon!

Happy Stitches,

Raewyn

Things I couldn't fit in my last post —

I cut some photos and so on out of my previous Aloha post as it was getting too long and wordy.

There were a few crafty things I wanted to include so I have pasted them in a new blogpost and here they are.

Baby Olive's quilt didn't get finished before I went over but I did make this 'Sheep Ragdoll' for her. A pattern I saw and quite liked which I thought would be fun to try out.....

And delivered —

I initially bought the yarn and pattern when spending time with Mum last year. I thought it would be a good project for my itchy fingers at the time but I didn't even get it started then.

The pattern can be found *here*.

Back in 2015 I made a quilt out of my late Dad's old flannel farm shirts. I intended it to be used by his great-grandbabies (none of which he ever got to meet). Here is the post about it *here*. Olive will be the 10th grandie to use it and I was delighted to deliver it to her when I went over.

My intention was that every great grandchild would spend some time with it.

Olive with Pop's quilt —

They don't have a huge need of quilts (particularly flannel ones!) so I encouraged its use as a floor/tummy time (etc) quilt.

Sadly the pen I took with me to add her name was on its way out and I didn't get much further than drawing the heart!

And another historical make is also being used by baby Olive.

Back when I was 16, I spent some time practicing different crochet techniques as the 'hobby' part of my Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award.

One of the techniques was hairpin crochet, a technique I really enjoyed but haven't done since.

I made a wee blanket which mostly has been stored away and seldom used ever since.

However I came across it recently and thought it might be a nice weight for a baby in Hawaii to use.

It's now officially Olive's car blanket, a nice light layer over those podgy legs —

You make long strips of the 'lace' on a hairpin shaped 'loom'/gadget which are joined together by hooking the loops at the edge of each strip together. I finished it with a standard crochet edging.

Another crafty Hawaiian-related thing I came across in a tourist market/shop was this lovely Hawaiian style quilt. I really loved it - especially how it had the additional turtles on it. I left it there but half of me has non-buyer's regret. There will be other opportunities I know!

Back home, I've been trying hard to get back into my early morning hill-climbs. After 24 hours of very wet weather, Saturday morning dawned very foggy, which meant I delayed leaving the house until a bit later. I left just in time though, beating the cows as they went up the hill to their new paddock!

The MOML (bike lights) crossing them over the road —

Following me up the hill. I was pleased I was in front of them, not behind them, that would have really slowed me down —

Walking as far as the tape across the race and an open gate —

On my way back, these girls are happy grazing at the top end of the paddock —

'til next time,

happy stitches,

Raewyn

Aloha!

Warning; photo heavy!!

For the last (nearly) two weeks,  I have been a very lucky and happy Ganma spending time with our newest little grandbaby girl, Olive. 

Quite an adventure, too, as our son and his partner now live near Honolulu where her work is based.

Olive turned 4 weeks old while I was there, so she really is a newbie!

Of course the attraction was the wee baby girl and the cuddles, and giving her parents a bit of help and down time.

But we did also do a bit of sightseeing. After a day to rest after my flight, we drove to the eastern coast of Oa'hu, stopping at the beaches to soak up the warmth,  paddle in the equally beautifully warm water, change nappies, and so on.

(In the beach photos I'm just going by the location given with the photo on my phone. I don't know if the actual beaches are called what I've written, or if it's just the general area of where we were.)

Punalulu 

We even whale watched, an event I didn't catch on camera, and okay the whales were out to sea but we could see the splashing and the odd fin.

And a big turtle sunning himself —

Turtle at Kaneohe 

 

Haleiwa beach

We then had 3-4 days of really bad weather,  a Kona storm, not quite so bad where we were, but it caused some quite bad damage around the islands and blocked off some of the areas we had visited. 

Never to mind,  there was a baby to tend, and Ganma got her fair share of time with her. 

I'd been looking forward to watching my son play rugby for his Honolulu team but sadly all the grounds were closed.

Walking the dogs during a fine spell

We went for a drive another day, in another direction where my son surprised me by delivering me to a Fabric Mart at Pearl City, which apparently had the best selection of Hawaiian fabrics around. 

I had regretted not getting a few pieces at the Dole Plantation shop on our previous travels, so it was thoughtful of them to hunt this place down for me. Yes, I made a few purchases, including a fun children's print my daughter-in-law picked out for Olive.....hmmm that's pressure to actually do something with it!

This was followed by another coastal drive, on the west coast this time. The ocean was really churned up after the stormy weather and the water was not the beautiful Hawaiian colour it usually is, apparently. There was a lot of driftwood on the beach and the kids were busy building wee huts and structures with it.

Waianae.

It was a very interesting look around. Definitely not an affluent area, many homeless camps, the hills and mountains were fascinating. Usually not as green,  I believe, and we could see where waterfalls had been a few days before. 

These photos were in the Waialua area (with my son) —

A close up of part of the fascinating mountain range - 

The last big outing was a get together at Waikiki, taking advantage of the overlap of visits between myself and another grandparent, plus a few friends. 

The beach was beautiful and I can see why it's such a tourist attraction —

It was Spring Break and the kids were really taking advantage of the pounding surf.

As you can see - quite a lot busier than the other beaches we visited!

Below, the odd looking Banyan tree which sends roots down from the branches to become the interesting trunk formation you see here —

The park had a few statues. The restaurant we dined at was named after Queen Kapi'olani, photo below. I loved the way all the statues had Lei draped on them —

View out towards Diamond Head from the restaurant. 

And all too soon, my visit was over! How lucky was I?! Hopefully it won't be too long until I see sweet baby Olive again ♥. 

I had to have one last tourist photo at the airport —

Leaving Auckland Airport on the last leg of my trip home —

'til next time,

Happy stitches,

Raewyn