Sweet Victory!

It's the sort of day where you just want to make a cuppa, find a comfy spot on the couch, not too far from the fire, and do a little stitching. This is the view this morning....

... a little bleak, ay!! I'd rather be sitting out here in the sunshine - it's a far prettier place to start ...

In case you were wondering, victory was sweet!!! I was so tempted to stick my tongue out at Jake and go ''nah, nah, na, nah nah'' when I had finished - but he was in shock so I didn't want to compound matters!!! So, what has 30 stitches per zig zag, 16 zig zags and 480 stitches per row, 184 rows and edgings, 90,528 stitches in total and 95 balls of wool!!!

This has, that's what ...

... it started as a project to use unfinished wool, until I realised that I would probably need to buy some more wool to finish it - in the end I bought way more wool than I originally had to use up!!! It sort of just went on and on ... and on and on... but I really kinda like it. When I finished the last row it was a little strange - my basket of unfinished crochet had been with me for so long. It had been beside me, or close by, for many winters!! I wasn't entirely sure that I wanted it to be finished. Which is not to say that I will be in a rush to start another one. I think it's definitely one of those things that you do just the once thanks.

Other than that, I have finished Vero's block 7 which continues to delight me...

..and I've also finished the second block of Leanne's Down in the Garden quilt. Cute little blue birds...

..and gorgeous flowers..

This week I have been setting up the studio - having a ball! I've started a new blog for it, here . Pop over and have a look - it's where I'll show you bits and pieces about classes, retreats and new goodies.

Now, I think I can squeeze in a coffee before I do the school run, and I might just sneak a little bit of chocolate as well. After all, it's a cold wet day - that's my excuse anyway - a little bit of chocolate and you don't notice the rain!!

Happy stitching

Jenny

Picnic on the Peninsula

We've been on a picnic today - I love picnics!! We took ourselves out to the end of the Peninsula and saw the albatross - they are truly a magnificent sight gliding through the air. But my golly was it cold out there - I reckon the wind was coming straight off the Antartic!

It was a little hard to find a sheltered spot for the picnic but we did eventually, and afterwards headed for Sandfly Bay. Lots of my guests have been there so I figured it was high time Jake and I checked it out.

The beach turned out to be quite some distance down a track and over lots and lots of huge sand dunes - it was absolutely compulsory to run down the dunes and be a big kid again - made sure that I had nothing in my pockets that was going to fall out (like car keys!!) and I ran! You can take the most amazing big bounding steps and its so much fun!! But I do remember stopping at some point and thinking to myself - "been running down dunes for quite a while now and what goes down must go up!"....

Down on the beach we wandered along a little, too early to see any penguins sadly, and today there were no sea lions hanging around either. But the ocean was superb - the most amazing colour.

And then it was time to head back up the dunes - remember that fleeting thought I had on the way down - wished I'd taken it a little further!!! Flipping heck it was a long long way back to the top and my legs felt like jelly when we finally made it back to the carpark (this pic is just the very bottom portion!!)

Badly needed a coffee - had my trusty thermos so a hit of caffiene and several MacIntosh toffees restored the energy levels. We weren't finished! There was another track to the Chasm and Lovers Leap which we thought we oughta do since we were there - both of these are incredible cliff formations - I have a confession though - I did make it onto the viewing platform but couldn't take a photo cos had to leave the viewing platform quite quickly!!! Sometimes me and heights just don't work and today was one of those days. I asked Jake to describe them in detail!! Finally we climbed up to the little cairn at the top of the hill for more spectacular views.

It was an awesome day out in the sun (and wind) and yep, I am sure that I will have a few twinges tomorrow morning from sadly neglected muscles, but it was worth every sandy step. Sometimes I reckon you've just gotta get out into the ''air'' - blow the cobwebs away and let your mind wander.

I'm pretty pleased to say that I have now completely finished all the stitching on the Gingham Girls - it's all pieced together, minus the border. I can't quite decide on what fabric to use for the border yet, so will wait til it's on before I do a show and tell. But I can show and tell the first block of Down in the Garden - love the dresden block and it was such fun to stitch - paper pieced first ....

... and then slip stitched into place.

I've also finished a few more of Brenda's blocks for Jane Austen's quilt. There's these gorgeous little flowers behind the window pane...

..and one of her dainty little purses...

... and the words ...

I reckon take-aways are on the menu tonight - and I am going to finish a project that has been ''happening'' for four years!!! Every time I have brought this project out over the past four years Jake has rolled his eyes and laughed - he never thought I would get it finished. Tonight I will prove him wrong and victory will be mine!!!

Happy stitching, and, if you are in Dunedin, go check out Sandfly Bay!!

Jenny