Happy 2023

I hope that everyone's 2023 has got off to a great start. While I have started mine with no major goals or lists of ufos to work through, I do have hopes of being more organised and productive in my quilting life, to connect more with my online friends and community (I've been a bit slack the past year and have missed it terribly!). I'm not citing any figures but have the idea that I would like to end the year with a few less UFOs and a few less scraps - no promises though as my sewing time can be quite unpredictable due to the ebb and flow of family and farm life.

We don't tend to see the New Year in - it's not a custom we've nurtured as there have always been cows to milk the next morning - however it does seem to becoming a bit of a custom for us to babysit so various other family members can celebrate!

This year we also had YD and half her family camping on the farm so Mum, the babysitting grandies and I joined them in the early evening to toast marshmallows over their campfire.

The kids thought it was great but keeping them safe from the fire was a bit of a challenge!

I had a wee flurry of sewing on the last few days of 2022 to get my block count up a bit. The hourglass blocks for my Smidgeon quilt were closest to hand and quickest to sew. 

I also joined some more together—

And then I couldn't help myself and sewed some of my hourglass blocks to the 36-patches. Looking at the design, I can get away with this even if I haven't chosen my layout yet. It's always nice to have a little play—

And a bit more of a play; it's going to come together nicely—

I've stitched four Christmas stitcheries over the last month or so; these were a bit of an impulse buy but I couldn't resist as they represent a Kiwi Christmas in summer. ..... so many of the Christmas symbols I grew up with are from the Northern hemisphere - snow, sleigh and snowmen, lights, Red Robins, mistletoe, scarves, mittens and jerseys and so on - that it is nice to find something that better represents our kiwi lifestyle at Christmastime.

Pohutakawa under the sun —

Haha who can resist a nod to our reputation as having one of the highest sheep to human ratios! (Sadly that is declining but this is not a political blog so I will say no more!!!) — 

Christmas/summer BBQs —

And of course camping. How Santa finds all those campsites I don't know, but he manages it! —

Hehe our wingless bird has sprouted wings. Too cute —

I have no idea what I will do with these blocks but I am sure I will find inspiration.
This effort brought my December blockmaking tally to 25...and the year's block tally to 373! I was happy to report that to Prairie Moon's 350 blocks project but will be aiming for more this year :-)

Those of us who could, got together at ED's for a pizza meal the evening before Mum went home. It was a fun little gathering and the kids had a really good play while the adults had a good chat.

Mum was here for just over 2½ weeks and she got to see plenty of the family in that time. I am sure she is enjoying a bit of peace and quiet now!

Family were out visiting on Sunday, I thought this was a cute photo —

My 'baby' chickens are getting to the gawky teenage stage; they're nearly 8 weeks old now —

I'm about ready to give up on Bloglovin' as my main reader to keep track of my blog reading...I've been very patient with it but I haven't been able to access it for quite a few weeks now. I've signed up with Feedly.....my problem being of course that I have to start my list of blogs I follow all over again...I will raid my sidebar for some of them but it is a little frustrating to have to start from scratch again!

'til next time,

Happy stitches,

All sorts of things!

Season's greeting to you all....I'm a little late to say Merry Christmas but not quite too late to say Happy New Year and compliments of the season!

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas, spending it with people you love and doing the things that you enjoy best ♥

I just can't believe I have barely been near my blog all month! As with this year, the month has just flown by.

I think I will spend a while writing this post; it will become a ramble, I'm sure, as I will add to it as things come to mind. Settle in with a good coffee while I catch up!

Obligatory Christmas Eve photo with the tree in all its glory —

We had an enjoyable Christmas Day, with various family members here all day. As well as immediate family, the MOML's parents visited and Mum is staying at the moment, so it was a good chance for everyone to have a catch-up.

This is about the only photo we took on Christmas Day ; a nice 4-generation photo —

One family was laid low with a gastro bug so couldn't come, so we repeated it all again on Thursday. Everyone decided to come out to the farm again and it was lovely and relaxed with no-one needing to go anywhere else for anything else!

We still had plenty of leftovers and unopened chocolates (etc) so, with the addition of a bit of extra BBQ meat, it was an easy prep day. Here are some of us —

(The beady eyed amongst you will notice that our son is back home again...after over 400 days in Antarctica (and all winter at The South Pole) we are really enjoying seeing him again. He won't shave off his Antarctica beard but has removed the lovely curly locks he grew while down there!!!!)

The big kids were ever so patient with the younger ones, who brought all their hair, face and nails 'products' with them!

I managed to wrangle 5 of the kids for a photo - not particularly successful but oh well. Fun memories!

This is a new decoration for this year. Thank you so much, Maria. I really appreciated receiving this. The younger twins were here when it arrived and they thought it was very cool!

I can now show you the one and only Christmas gift which I made this year, which I gifted to Mum —

The pattern is called Beatrice's Boite which is a Hugs n Kisses design.

The stitchery is wrapped around a large (and empty!) tin can, which gives it a lovely shape.

Hopefully Mum can find something to put in it!!!

All other sewing done in December is best put in the 'Labour of Love' category!!

** Mending of farm overalls. Sigh. No story to tell except the men are hard on overalls and they are expensive to buy.  (NO photo!)

** My sister asked me (a while ago) to attach a print she had bought while they were living in Singapore to a duvet cover. As it was intended for my nephew to take to varsity this coming year I thought I really needed to get onto it. What a bear - the duvet cover was Super-King so there was a lot of fabric to cut square(-ish), lay flat and man handle!!  Instead of the usual t-shirts and lollies Christmas present, I'm pleased to say that I finished it in time for him to receive a duvet set and lollies present!

**And ED had asked me to shorten the hems of some of her long skirts. As they are made from floaty polyester type fabric, I decided to purchase a rolled hem foot to make the job easier.  Once I took the plunge and started sewing it didn't go too badly! The foot was a very wise investment.

I was a bit worried about the pink pleated skirt but I pressed it with a damp cloth and it came up ok.

December was when our eldest (step) granddaughter turned 16, and all of a sudden we saw the revival of the paddock parties our kids all enjoyed as they were growing up!

It was such a lovely evening. Family was allowed there - for a while - the younger ones had a great time! —

The MOML had some very rare time off the other day, (24 whole hours) to attend one of his old school mate's 60th. I was in charge of the cows while he was away.

Getting the cows in for afternoon milking —

Partway through milking —

After the morning's milking, happily in their paddock —

He had a great time away, remembering all their stories and adventures from a long time ago. 

We had a really wet November and much of December was showery too but the switch has been flicked and we are now 'enjoying' some hot, dry weather. The river has been visited a bit more often lately —

It's unusual for it to be up as high as it is in the above photo at this time of the year; it just shows how much rain we've been getting.

Just a couple more photos and then I think I'll call it a day!

Crazy cousins up to no good —

Last Christmas I made Odie a Hound Dog which has been a bed companion for much of the year. Lately he has started carting it around a lot. One day the Dog was doing some sewing at home. Dog kept saying 'Ouch' every time he touched the needle —

And Dog also had his teeth brushed one day —

On that silly note, I will finish off. Well done if you have got to the end. I apologise for the overload of photos but once I started.......

I thank you all for your friendship this year, for reading my blog, and leaving comments. I enjoy the interactions but do admit to having a bit of an 'off year' as far as my blogging has gone!

I wish you all a very happy New Year. I hope 2023 is a creative, happy and productive one for us all.

♥Hugsxxx♥

What next?

After a flurry of wee finishes recently, and being away three times in the last 5 weeks, I was at a bit of a loss as to where to start next in The Palace.

Yes, I wanted to carry on with my Churndashes but I wanted to work on something else as well.

I used the ever-helpful and very scientific method of standing in the middle of the room with my eyes shut, turning around three times, then picking up whatever I saw first.....

My Boxer floor cushion (details *here*) won the day!

He was already basted so I chose threads and started quilting straight away.

I stitched in the ditch of the dog using black, which gave me time to think about what to do on his body. A few lines here and there —

A lot easier to see on the back! —

Now I'm onto the hourglass blocks which are around the outside. I won't stitch in the coloured triangles of these blocks and that will save me time by not having to change threads.

So far so good —

I'm linking up to Andree of Quilting & Learning- What a combo! for Free Motion Mavericks. A fun and motivating way to get some quilting done :-)

I've done a wee bit of stitching at nights, and have completed this piece. It is to be made into something secret so this is all I will share for now —

This is the first time I have done a bullion stitch (the lilac petals below) - a bit scary, but as they say, a blind man would be happy to see them —

It's a while since I've done an update on my calves. My job as chief calf-rearer is at the point of redundancy and I will become on-call farm hand and also She who Needs to Catch up on all the Bookwork.

I have reared 122, and 107 of them are now weaned and happily grazing out the back of the farm. 

The last 15 will be fed for a while longer; their mums dragged the chain a bit with calving - always the way - so these calves have a bit of catching up to do.

I took this photo the other day after all the heavy rain we had overnight, which I mentioned briefly in my last blogpost. You can see that the river came 'well up' but we were pleased it didn't flood at all. These calves had higher ground in their paddock so there were no worries about their safety  —

This morning the cows went into the paddock next to the calves. While they did stare wistfully through the fence for a bit, they soon remembered that me and my feeder gave them a much better bellyful —

These four are supposedly weaned. While we sold all the beef heifers (girl calves) at 4-10 days old, we kept 4 back to raise for the MOML's father. To keep them happy they get half a bucket of the milking machine rinsings (mostly water!) every morning. Tomorrow they go to their new home so are going to have to do without!

Actually I tell a lie, I didn't raise 122. The older twins reared a calf each for their school Ag day.

They were nice and big by Ag day and led reasonably well. It was a fun day and I think the girls were proud to have their calves there.

Kaliah and Bella —

Saydee and Penny —

Weather-wise it wasn't the most pleasant of days, especially on the exposed 'top field' of the school but we all coped.

Here the girls are resting and eating lunch while chatting to their great-grandparents.

Anyway, enough of my ramblings for now,

'til next time,

happy stitching,