Treasures

I know that the New Year has well and truly arrived,
but,
I'd love to show you some
Christmas treasures
I was lucky enough to receive.

This gorgeous notebook cover was made for me
by a very special friend -
we went to primary school together so
we go waaaaaay back :)
Margaret's stitching puts mine to shame.
So incredibly small and neat.
Beautiful, isn't it!!

And Anne-Maree always seems to be able to find,
the perfect bunnie treasures,
'cos she knows how much I love them :)
How cute is this little creature,
and what about all the little bunnie cutouts -
bunnie heaven :)

This box of treasures came to me

across the water,
from Barb :)

What a treat ...

You can imagine the smile on my face

when I opened the box..

and this is what I found...

Divine birdie brooch...

And simply the sweetest little peg doll :)

Thank you for such
beautiful treasures :)

Making Jam

I've been making jam this week.

There's not been much stitching going on lately -

but there's been a whole lot of gardening,

and a whole lot of bed and breakfasting,

and a little bit of jam making :)

I remembered to pick my gooseberries this year,

before they over-ripened,

and then I thought,

what should I do with them,

and I decided that it couldn't be too hard

to make

gooseberry jam.

So,

after much boiling,

('cos the recipe said

"boil til the berries turned pink"

and it seemed to take forever for them to turn pink!)

I got jam :)

It looks quite pretty,

and honestly,

it tastes fantastic !!!

This year for our New Year's Day walk,

we went flat,

instead of uphill.

We went to some beaches we had not yet explored -

Long Beach first ...

...and no walk is complete without

flowers...

...and not technically flowers,

I know,

but still so pretty ...

Then it was over the hill

to Purakanui,

which seems to be the perfect place

for a lovely wee holiday bach.

It's truly delightful :)

This is very probably

the cutest

bach you will ever see :))

... and yes,

more flowers...

... and again,

not really a flower,

more of a weed, really,

but quite beautiful all the same.

Not another flower,

but a gorgeous boy chook...

isn't he fabulous :)

So,

that's the end of our New Year's Day walking tour :)

It was a nice way to start the new year,

talking stuff over,

making plans,

and dreaming of what may be :)

Hope your year has started happily too.

Jenny