Christmasummertime

Just like that, here we are on the other side of Christmas! We've had a lovely few days, and with some family still staying, the relaxed summer holiday feel is continuing.

First up, I must show some Christmas goodies - I took part in Chooky's Secret Santa Swap and Sonia(foreveralwaysonline) sent to me. Here is the gorgeous runner she made me —

A better photo, had to hunt to find a place out of the sun :-)

Here it is with the tree decoration I opened earlier in the month.

Thank you very much Sonia, I have found a nice spot for my new runner - it looks quite at home!

You may remember recently I showed some little tree hangings for some friends that I had made from wee (2 1/2") star blocks... the bug well and truly struck and I made some more. This time I joined them and made them into a little runner for another dear friend —

This photo shows the 'organic' straight line quilting - this was fun to do.

It's a little daft giving a gift that gets put away as soon as it gets unwrapped but I really couldn't resist!

I also recently took part in another postcard swap, organised by the lovely Sheila over at sheilasquiltworld. Virginia of Canada and Florida (who has no blog) sent me this sweet one...there is light gauze over the applique which gives a neat effect, and little sequins sewn on too. I always wonder what the posties think when they come across these delights in the mail!

Thank you, Virginia

Below is the postcard I made for Virginia. This is where my small star decoration craziness started!

There's been no crafting around here lately, although I did tidy up The Palace and can actually move from one end to the other without tripping over 'debris' now! It felt like I was clearing my mind and that was a good feeling!

Summer has come with a vengeance, we are having very hot days and the farm is quickly turning very crispy... the MOML (man of my life) is busy making sure all our stock have a good supply of water, the odd leak or blocked intake at the pumphouse result in angry thirsty cows!

Mum and I had an outing today, visiting the Quarry Subtropical Gardens - amazing what has been done with this area considering it supplied rock for most of Whangarei's roads till the 70s and then was a dumping ground for the next 20 years! It was hard to get the lovely effect in the photos but you get the idea anyway.

Chiling out totally, Mum has read about 4 books while she's been here :-)

Other family members have been wakeboarding and fishing (not at the same time),

We're really enjoying laid back meals and long evenings on the deck.

Watching the sun go down.

I have a few more makes to share but really need to sort out my photos first so that will be for another time. Hope you're having a safe and happy festive and holiday season,

till next time,

My Easter -

I hope you all had a lovely Easter and were able to spend the weekend doing things that make you happy.
I spent Easter with my son and his wife, who live in Queensland, Australia. It was great - I cant say we did lots of touristy things but I really loved spending time with them and enjoyed the outings that we did do.

Me and my boy ♥

As our dil is halfway through her first pregnancy there was plenty of baby talk and baby related purchases... I spent some time sewing up fitted cot sheets after we found some wide flannelette on sale and have some lovely bamboo towelling (also on sale) to play with; maybe bibs and burb cloths - and whatever else we think of :-)

I had a special time on the first day I was visiting - I got to meet and spend the day with Michelle Ridgeway.... I have followed her blog and loved her stitchery designs FOREVER so I was tickled pink to actually meet her!
She is such a lovely person - after swapping gifts —

A lovely bundle of Aussie goodness from Michelle, including some of her
designs :-)

we shopped a little —

and visited Ipswich's Queen's Park where we drank coffee and talked for ages and found their small nature reserve where quite a few happy Australian animals lived —

If you look closely you will see the croc in the stream... and the only barrier there
was a rope fence!
If you look even more closely you'll see it's just a floating head! hehe!

I've borrowed this photo from Michelle; the Wombats' burrow was up against
the glass so we got an awesome look at them.

There was also some mosaic work, Aboriginal style, gorgeous!

and sheltered from the pouring rain —

The lovely Michelle

...... and all too soon it was time for me to to be dropped off and both of us were off on our merry ways. Thank you again Michelle for a lovely day :-) I hope we can do it another time!

My son and dil are still unpacking after moving house but they did make sure the wall hanging I made them was unpacked and up for my visit! This is the very first project I made when I first discovered The Country Yard and started attending Stitch and Chat Thursdays. I made it for their first Christmas in Australia. I think the design was in The NZ Quilter. I smile when I see it, I'm sure it would look a little different if I made this up now but it is still fairly cool!

The label says something like
"a bit of New Zealand to remind you where you come from" :-)
Pretty certain this was made about 7 years ago.

I had some special mail waiting for me when I arrived back home .... I'd taken part in another postcard swap recently, hosted by the lovely Sheila of Sheila's Quilt World. This time I swapped with Annette of in stitches and seams and this is the card she sent me —

Isn't he sweet? He is beautifully embellished!

Annette enclosed the postcard in a clear envelope and also sent this special card
commemorating the 50th anniversary of their flag.

Here is the card I made and sent to her —

Thank you Annette for the lovely swap and also of course to Sheila for organising us all!

I haven't had a chance to do any sewing since I've been home - roll on the weekend! - but did sew up these booties last night... I knitted them while at my son's but we kept forgetting to buy a darning needle when we went out. I had to bring them back home to complete!

This is the same pattern I knitted up *here* and found on Ravelry *here*.

That's me about done for the night I think...sorry, I do seem to have rambled on a little :-)
Thank you for visiting and taking the time to read (or look at the photos!),
Happy creating and have a lovely weekend,

Big things and Small things

Once again I can report that we have been busy and I don't know where the days are going :-) We've just had a lovely weekend away, down at the big smoke for our eldest daughter's graduation. Of course there were lots of proud parent moments as she received her degree and became a 'Doctor of Chiropractic'.

More proud moments as she and her classmates took the stage to take the Chiropractic Oath and then when she received two major academic awards. It was a great day after 5 years of study, now she is back in the real people's world healing people.

I recently took part in another one of Sheila's postcard swaps, a Valentines swap. It's a fun way to have a little play with fabric and machine. My swap partner and I are both waiting patiently for our cards to cross paths and land in their respective countries but I can show this extra card I made. Sheila let us know that Jeanneke was having a major birthday on Valentines' day. Here is the card I sent her. (If you click on her link you will see how varied the postcards she received were).

Happy Birthday Jeanneke!

 Last night our sewing group gathered for our Christmas get-together... yes, it's a little late but that's how it works sometimes and it was fun to do it away from the hustle and bustle of the real thing :-) It was a nice night and we exchanged secret Santa gifts. Here is what Kerry made me....

...a beautiful French General wreath...

....AND  this handsome fellow!

Hasn't he got Personality Plus?!!
And wasn't I spoilt?

Thank you Kerry I love them both ♥

Leeanne was my recipient and I felt quite inadequate as this year all gifts were quite big (cushions and so on).... What I made for her was tiny in comparison!

This wee pouch from Yoko Saito's book My Quilting Life has always appealed to me and I know Leeanne likes dinky little things so hoped it would be ideal. It was fun to make but a little fiddly at times - insert a grin there!

 Friday Night Sew In is on this week so do head over to Wendy's to sign up if you want to take part. I feel like it's been a while since I had a REAL good sew... you know with foot down and thread everywhere so maybe I'll do a bit of that - or maybe I'll opt for the slow and calm approach and do some handwork...not sure yet, watch this space!
Until then, happy, creative, sewing,

Giftmaking and a spot of summer

*warning!!lots of photos*

I've just realised that as it's the last day of 2014 I'd best share the rest of my 2014 makes so they can be on my December OPAM list :-)
In my last post I shared what I had received in Chookyblue's fabulous Secret Santa Christmas Swap from Cheryl.
Here is what I sent to Sue —

A stocking with sewing goodies in it

And this table runner.
This was called Strawberries and Cream by Christine Book from Homespun #48.

A fun project. The red strips were sewed on to a foundation meaning it was
pretty much quilted all by itself!

[I also made Sue the ornament shown *here*]

Do you remember me saying in a pre-Christmas post that I was not going to launch into any last minute Christmas sewing, no matter what? Well, I did keep my resolve - NEARLY!! While packaging up a box of goodies for my sister I decided she needed a (decorated) hand towel in it to stop the bottles from rattling..... that's allowed, isn't it?

And then I thought it would be fun to send DH's nephew a Christmas postcard - homemade of course. He's the nephew (seen *here*) who comes and visits during calving and loves to make postcards at Aunty Raewyn's.. so I whipped this up and managed to get it into the post before the big day - phew :-)

I hoped he would appreciate the cow in Christmas garb!

My post title mentioned a spot of summer - here is a 12" summer hanging I made....

This may or may not have been inspired by my garden - it was looking lovely in early summer; the roses have been particularly beautiful  —

We don't usually have a summer holiday as the cows still need milking but we have just managed a quick night away while ED and her Hunter/Diver milked for us... we hopped in the car and headed north... the further north you go the less people there are but the beaches are just beautiful and cant be beaten, I reckon.

First of all we had to wave goodbye to two little dogs - don't they look so sad
that they cant come and frolic on the beach too?

Watching these two guys have a little chat while eating our lunch...

...here...

...at the World Famous Mangonui Fish Shop - delish!

Beautiful beaches...

...and gorgeous Pohutakawa trees.
aka New Zealand's Christmas tree.

 You'll see the Pohutakawa on many of us kiwi bloggers' blogs over summer. I know I'm not alone in considering it a favourite NZ tree.

I'd like to end this year by thanking you for your visits, feedback and friendship. And I'd like to wish you all a happy, healthy and creative 2015. 

May your dreams be fulfilled and your bobbin always be full :-)