Bears and some Farm Play

I had an uninterrupted sewing day yesterday and pieced together some more bear faces...these are the same (Show and Tell) pattern as the baby quilt (top) I put together last week — 

And some legs as well —

I'll put these aside until I make the small quilts these cuties hold.

Sneak peak of my progress —

Other sewing recently included making a simple purse. Cat-mad Lily happened to see a small square of cat fabric in The Palace last time they visited, and requested a purse with a zip.

I used a tutorial I had come across touted as the most simple purse pattern ever - just 6 seams and it's done!

Yes, nice and simple (and quick) but I don't like the way the zip is at the side seams so I don't think I'll be using this method again. (Sorry I didn't save the link to the tutorial so I can't share it.) I'll go back to a method with a neater finish.

But a 7 year old was happy with it so that is good - she loves anything with a cat on it!

(Warning, it gets a little photo heavy from here on in!)

School has started up again for most of the kids but Lily and George haven't yet gone back so they came to ours on Wednesday while their parents worked. Having them for a whole day at this time of the year is fun as we can get out onto the farm to play and explore.

They have a list of things they like to do —

Swing and eat fruit. Sadly this year's plum crop was a complete flop but fortunately the grapes are just starting —

Forage. The Totara trees are fruiting right now. Tiny little berries that only feed a bird, but fun to find all the same —

Go to the top of the big hill, roll down it and run back up again —

Go to the river (just a quick look this time) —

Go to the stream for a picnic and an explore —

{{As an aside; at first glance the stream doesn't look very inviting with that brown colour - but that's just because of its geological make-up. This photo shows how clear it really is — 

The stream starts as a spring in the hills somewhere above us and runs down through the bush, feeding into the afore mentioned river. It's filtered all the way down by all those stones, and supplies the farm (and our houses) with lovely water. We do UV filter it at the houses and shed but it is such a great asset.}}

Next on their list of things to do was to get the bubble machine going —

and do some sewing —

Mum (ED) came about 4 o'clock and Ganma collapsed into a heap. Haha it wasn't too exhausting but it was a pretty full on day!

'til next time,

happy stitches, 

Raewyn

Cats and Other Things

Something cute happened in our house back in August......we welcomed new family member McGeorgeous Pussycat Denton Barge.

McGeorgeous was rescued by two of my nieces after they found him and his siblings abandoned near their apartment.

They nursed him back to health and, because they already have two cats, put the word out for a home for him.

It wasn't difficult for us to succumb and once he was 'fit for travel' he came up north to our place.

After a week of living under a bed, he started getting braver, to the point of assisting me with a bit of sewing —

He was quite a shy little boy and a lot of the photos they sent through showed him sleeping in drawers, on top of towers, and generally hiding away somewhere.

Perfect I thought, I can make him a little cat house to curl up in. I'd seen a pattern online which had appealed.

It was a great way to dig into some of my non-quilting remnants and I had a merry time going through that cupboard.

Both (ginger) cats were immensely interested while I was making it.

Of course, since it's been finished, it has barely warranted a sniff. However I'm thinking that it's coincided with warmer spring temperatures so maybe it will be of interest once summer is over 😏

The 'mattress' for it was extremely fun - two old stretched beanies, padded with shredded leftover sweatshirting fabric and 'quilted' together with scraps of yarn!!

(The pattern I used is found *here*. I altered it slightly, piecing it more like a bag and using binding, rather than making a case which the 'batting' was inserted into. I used leftover Soft and Stable scraps, zig-zagged together.

It was very satisfying to make this completely from bits and pieces that were stowed away!

And catching up on (even older) news, we celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary during May. We held a small family affair here at home...it was really nice that Mum and my siblings were able to come up and join us. We had a lovely, fun weekend.

I spoke about Mum's ill health in a previous post. Unfortunately she's been unwell again and I've spent some more time back down at my sister's, and spending long hours at the hospital. I packed to leave home in a bit of a rush so had nothing to occupy my hands with. I found a ball of yarn and a crochet hook at the local Spotlight store. The new kitten needed his own afghan (see Tammy Cat's one *here*); I used a variegated ball and crocheted around and around until it was all used up.

I nearly got a photo of it being used but McGeorgeous emerged from his castle before I could grab a photo!

And then decided to lie just above it —

As Mum was still in hospital, I started another!! 

I love this neutral coloured yarn so may buy a second ball to make an even bigger afghan!

'til next time,

happy stitches,

Raewyn

Another month goes by —

I know we often start a blogpost with the words "where has the month gone?"....well I can tell you exactly where the last month or so has gone - 

- on July 13th we started calving here on the farm. In New Zealand, we have seasonal calving -for us that means Spring calving - haha not that you would call July spring but that's what it's always been called!

Because our cows are outside all year long, it means we time calving so that when the cows need the most feed it is growing the best.....

I like to think of myself as the chief (one and only) calf rearer. Now that our son-in-law is working on the farm, I'm not called on for a lot of the other calving related jobs I used to do. I used to think I would miss having my finger on the pulse but (hehe) I don't that much!!

So cuteness overload —

After coming off their mum, they go into the calf shed —

When that shed gets full, they go to the Old Pigsty —

From there they have access to some outside paddocks —

Their first time outside is always entertaining!

And then I start moving them around the farm so they get lots of yummy grass as well as their daily milk —

And I  end up taking a lot of scenic photos of calves feeding with the farm in the background!

So far I have about 100 calves of various ages and stages. It won't be long until we form a weaning mob. About 70 calves have been sold as week old calves to a couple who raise them from then on.

At this time of the year we feel that we're indispensable, but the family rallied around and gave us 24 hours off the farm as a Fathers Day gift recently.  We went up north to Russell, a lovely spot we escape to from time to time.

Going over by ferry-

It was really windy while we were there so there were no beach walks but we were okay with that.

The view from where we stayed - 

And a cool tile floor outside the old restaurant - 

It was a great time away - a lovely (belated) Fathers Day gift!

On that happy note,

See you next time,

Raewyn

How to —

— write a blogpost after a 25, 32, 43, 62, 63, 64, 65 day break 😲

Day 3 - start thinking about content for next post. 

Day 6 - have another think about the next post.

Day 8 - realise the next post hasn't happened yet.

Day 9 - give oneself a jolly good talking to.

Day 12 - oh well, take some photos so at least there will be some content for the next post.

Day 14 - open up blogger and create a draft blogpost (no content, no title, but it exists).

Days 16-64 - continue to take photos of this and that, ready for the blogpost.

Day 55 - have an idea for the theme of the blogpost.

Day 61 - write a title for the blogpost.

Day 64 - start writing the blogpost.

Day 65 - sort through the photos AND complete a post!!!

As you may have guessed from my photos, we're part way through calving - we're into week 5 (I think). It's been heads down and lots of work but we're getting there :-)

I've also been struggling with a health issue, which reared its head in June but I realise now that it's been affecting me from February at least. (Just another Auto-Immune disease.) Physically I'm doing great (now) but mentally it's been a struggle with an inability to focus, concentrate, and settle to a task. Throw in a bit of anxiety and you get little sewing done and no blogpost for 65 days!!! I'm all good now though, just need to continue to get meds sorted and I'll be back to being a box of fluffies.

There will be more detail on what I HAVE been making in the next posts, but for now I'll leave it here.

Day 65 - Push Publish.

Hugs to all, and thank you for the messages I've been receiving concerning my whereabouts ♥

'til next time,

happy stitches,

Raewyn