Excuses, excuses!!

Been trying to think of a good excuse why I've not been here for such a long time - it has been kinda busy here these last couple of months, and I've been away on a wee holiday, so that's probably the best I can do :))

Some pretties from my garden ....

... heavenly blues....

... and I don't remember seeing these last year - an unexpected surprise....

Stitching has been very much on the back burner of late - but I have done a couple more angel blocks - this one is maybe my favourite so far ....

... but the flying ones are pretty cute too...

Before I went away I was playing around with some ''stuff'' - as you know, I adore Barb's buttons, so had a wee play with a bit of this and a bit of that - just added little treasures and stitched as I went - there was no pattern to follow, no lines to stitch on - just make it us as you go - and see where it ends up.

So .... we went on a holiday and it was better than excellent:)) Ten days of perfectly blissful weather, beautiful scenery, great shops and very good company. There was a purpose to the holiday that involved carting a bike all the way to Nelson - for the first two rounds of the New Zealand champs - we had two weekends in a row doing the racing stuff but the days in between were rest and relaxation! I had forgotten how stunningly beautiful it is way up the top end of the South Island as it has been many many years since I had been there.

Fell in love with some of the houses - very very cute ....

...lovely little window boxes....

I am pretty sure I managed to visit almost all of the second hand/antique shops and I did find a couple of gorgeous little treasures. My lovely little pink jar....

... and another sweet tea cup to add to the collection...

Well, I couldn't very well come home without a memento or two, could I. Nice, ay :)

I thought I would do tons of stitching in the evenings, but in the end this is the sum total of what I did...

... it's one of Brenda Ryan's lovely little houses - I ambitiously had three of these ironed onto fabric to stitch up while away - not sure that half of one really counts as ''tons of stitching'' :)

My child had a mixed bag of results - the less said about the first weekend, the better - but in a nutshell, I have discovered that it is the most gut wrenchingly difficult thing to do, to watch your child take a 40ft crash, scrunching into the rock and gravel, and not be allowed to go and give him a cuddle as that certainly would not be ''cool'' in front of the crowd!!! He did get up (eventually) and in a zig zag fashion, managed to cross the line. Then I gave him a cuddle!! Too bad what the others thought!!! He was a little mangled, but came right for the second weekend's racing, where he did great. He's off again this weekend - as I write, he is hurtling down the mountains, over at Diamond Harbour. Round three, and then just one more to go next weekend, here in Dunedin. Hope he turns up tonight with no mangled body parts!!

Wish my child a fast, but safe, ride :)

See you.

Jenny