There and back again.

I'm still here, though I have been ''there'' and now I'm back again:)  As I sat down to do this post I realised that I might need supplies - it's gonna take a while - so I'm now camped out at the lappie with coffee and jelly beans. I'm a bit disappointed with the jelly beans, though - it's so chilly down this end of the country that they have almost frozen in the lolly jar!!!

But I've been somewhere lovely and warm - just across the ditch - up north, round Brisbane.  It was a very very last minute decision to go and do something to celebrate a ''significant'' birthday - now normally I'm quite happy to let them slide by nice and quietly, but at the last moment I decided, no, not this time - I'm going to do something a little different.  So we booked a ticket to the Sunshine Coast and had a fabulous wee holiday. I spent my birthday on a bike, cycling through forest, around lakes and through little towns and disused train tunnels - great fun (except for a couple of hills that these old legs decided to walk up instead of pedal!) And a birthday dinner in a neat little restuarant on the beach.  Nice:))  We went walking through the Glass House Mountains park another day - I have always loved the Aussie bush...

...and of course no walk in the bush is complete without some pics of the local flora - truly I am amazed at Jake's patience sometimes - it must drive him nuts at times, waiting for me to take pictures of flowers - like the cutest little purple one...

...and these were so beautiful, mind you I was a little wary at where I had to walk to get these pics - through some very long and dry grass and I was remembering the snake stories the bike tour guide had told us the day before!

We went shopping in Montville!!!!  Now that is the most divine town - so pretty, and so many gorgeous little shops to browse in.  Even Jake found plenty to amuse.  I managed to find some treasures to bring home - love these - they are going out on the front verandah ...

...this will find a home down the hallway with little linen hearts hanging from it...

...maybe some of these that I have stitched this week from a book I got while I was away, called ''Made in France'' - gorgeous yummy book full of cross stitch and stitchery motifs:)

I love anything to do with hearts - this is another wee sweetie I found which had to come home with me...

We ended up getting a little delayed in Brisbane - the ash cloud saga. Sadly we had to spend another two days in Brisbane, all expenses paid in a fabulous hotel right in the heart of the city, with dinner each night!!!  Now I know that for some this was not good, as they needed to be home for various reasons, but for us, I'm afraid I couldn't find too much to complain about.  It was luxurious, and I could not fault how we were treated by the airline and the hotel. 

We had time to explore the city properly, incuding playing an excruciatingly long game of mini golf!!!  I say long, because it took about 3 hours!!!  I'm pretty sure that atleast half of Brisbane had the same idea that morning.  However, it was quite an amusing game due to the antics of the group in front of us - they had us in fits of laughter most of the way round.  We walked for miles around the city - it has some of the most glorious buildings - the architecture is astounding - I never knew!! 



Our hotel was just around the corner from Roma Street Park which is such a beautiful park right in the heart of the city.  The garden beds of cyclamen were amazing.

..the colour was stunning...



The child never fails to amaze me with his choice of gifts - have to say, I think he has exceptionally good taste:) He found these exquisite little pendants for me at one of the markets we went to...

...and this gorgeous scarf...

He's such a honey:)) Such a neat holiday - turning 50 wasn't so bad:))   Well, the jelly beans are long gone, I've had a second cup of coffee, and it's time to go and collect the child from a soccer match.  He asked if I would like to watch and normally I would, but when I discovered that they were playing at Kettle Park I decided to be a sook and politely declined!! Wished him well, and said I would be back to collect him at the end of the game:))  Mother of the Year, or what:)) Kettle Park is right on the beach and definitely takes the medal for the coldest soccer ground in the world (slight exaggeration maybe, but not much!!).

Not so much stitching has been done over the past month, but that's about to change cos the nights are long and chilly, and the best place to be is right beside the fire with needle and thread, or a pair of knitting needles.

Keep warm:)

Jenny

My "Snug'' Quilt

Now I don't want to skite, but I have to say I'm pretty pleased with myself because I have finished the quilt!!! That's the one that I showed you a couple of posts back - I am impressed with myself that I have actually managed to finish and hang this quilt in what, for me, is a respectable amount of time from start to finish. It's in one of the guest bedrooms, the ''snug'' room, and it's not going to end up joining the pile of other neatly folded ''tops''. The quilting is not perfect - in fact, it's far from perfect - but it's okay:) I nearly gave up on the quilting, though. Tried four different patterns, and nothing seemed to work - even resigned myself to hand-quilting it but decided that I wanted it on the wall this year, not next, so I went back to the machine. So, yeah, it's okay, but the overall effect I'm very happy with and I still sneak a peek each time I pass the room cos I love it :)

I've also finished the Kathy Schmitz sampler I've been working on for a few weeks - it's called ''Peace and Plenty'' and I decided to stitch it all in blue - now I'm on the hunt for the perfect frame for it. This week I've been making a start to my samples for the Simply Charming retreat weekends. These are some of the hearts and sachets I've made for the Lavender and Linen one..

...and this is the tea cosy for the Retro Vintage Home retreat...

There's more, but they are not quite finished, so I'll keep them for the next post. The crochet bug has bitten again - there's been some seriously addictive crocheting happening this week, which has been perfect, really, cos the nights have been chilly and the fire has been going, and there's even been quite of bit of decent telly for a change - well, any week with Grey's is good isn't it. It seems like forever since we last saw McDreamy :))

Can I have another skite before I go? Well, not really a skite, more of a ''he did good'' moment. Since I was here last, we took a drive down south to Bluff - an interesting quirky little town that does the best hot chips in the whole wide world (I wish I knew the name of the shop cos it is worth a trip to Bluff to taste these chips - they are amazing!!!) But we didn't actually go there for the chips - they were a delicious and unexpected bonus (you can tell that I really liked them can't you!). We went there for the hill, and the Downhill Southland Champs - and the child came away with the trophy for his age category. One happy child, one proud mother. And happy for him too:) He was covered from top to toe in mud, but grinning. Another bag of hot chips on the way home to celebrate (any excuse!!).

Gotta go - homemade pizza night - and I can hear the crochet hook calling me already - there will be many more mini granny squares littering the couch by the time I have finished tonight.

Happy stitching.

Jenny

Simply Charming

I've been busy making a few plans for the winter months....

''Simply Charming''

Weekend Craft Retreats at the City Sanctuary

Indulge yourself this winter - come and join me for a ''girls weekend''.

The weekend retreats include accommodation, food, a tour of a beautiful historic home, stitching, coffee and cake, ''chick flicks'', relaxing in front of the log fire, chococlate (of course) and a project kit and tuition for one of these....

Lavender & Linen

Crochet Chic

Retro Vintage Home

Needles & Pins

Sound like fun?

A nice treat to brighten up the winter months, a girls weekend with your best friends, or simply a ''just for me'' weekend escape.
I've got more details on the web - www.thestitchery.co.nz .

Off to make a few more plans:)

See you

Jenny

Happy Easter

Have a happy and relaxing Easter holiday - indulge in a little bit of chocolate (or lots!) and some hot cross buns - and enjoy:)
Happy Easter!

Stitching Time

I'm not sure about the rest of the country, but down here in the south winter seems to have arrived slightly early. These past few days have been shiver weather!! But, that can only mean one thing - more stitching time! Cos it sure ain't gardening time!! So I've been playing a little in the sewing room - made a start on a quilt for the wall of one of my guest rooms - this is the pile of nine patch I started with a couple of days ago ...

I'm thinking that tomorrow could still be playtime in the sewing room, so hopefully the pile will be joined with strips by tomorrow afternoon. I also finished the little bag that I did the button stitchery from ''Stitch with Love'' for - I'm happy with my wee bag.

Been rearranging some ''stuff'' upstairs and decided to hang a couple of quilts in the office room - I have the perfect wall - big and out of the direct sunlight - I chose this one to hang - you can see it's been folded for far too long, judging by the fold line down the middle, but it's already looking better after hanging for a few days. The quilt is one of Barb Smith's designs - the Company of Angels - love it :)

I stitched this sweet little door hanger for a friend - a very late birthday present! Filled it with some lavender from my garden and posted it off. It's a Kathy Schmitz design - lovely to stitch.

I'm stitching another of her designs at the moment - more of a sampler - with bunnies on it, of course. It's rather large so might take a while, but it is quite addictive - there have been a few late nights stitching.

Found this wee sweetie on a walk yesterday - it was on the grass verge right beside a fairly busy main street and I must admit I did feel like a bit of a nutter getting down on all fours to take this pic with cars whizzing by - but it was worth it.

Now I think I have a little bit of time to do a little bit of stitching before dinner:)

And then some more after!

Happy stitching

Jenny

March??

I have the oddest feeling that somebody stole March!!! Pinched it, right out from under my nose - quietly slipped in when I wasn't looking and just plain took it - either that, or I have no concept of time any more, which is related to age or so I am told by the child every so often (once too often, some times!)

I was reminded today that it's been way too long again since I've been here - so, I'm back, and here's what I've been doing:)). Actually, when I think about it, I do know what happened to March - I've been stitching lots of bits and pieces for Barb - love to show you, but I can't! I was having a ball - stitching up some of her fabulous new designs and buttons stories - you'll be able to see them over on her blog - www.theodoracleave.blogspot.com/. Barb has the most gorgeous adorable bunnies, just in time for Easter.

I've got bunnies on the brain - I got some of Stacy Nash's fabulous new patterns recently and she had one for a Spring Hare pincushion - I resisted the urge to start it for all of about two hours!! So here's the bit I've done - the Spring Hare is still to come - he's on the other side:)

And the knitting urge took hold too - it's been ages and ages since I've knitted and I just wanted to knit something really really simple - so found this chunky wool, some chunky needles and started knitting - I've done the back and now thinking about how to do the front - in one piece or two??

These cute little button designs are from another book I've recently got in stock, called Stitch with Love. I stitched them on Saturday night - I've got a little bag I want to make and these are going to look perfect on the outside.

Jake and I took a short trip up to Geraldine for my Mum's birthday last week. We were given strict instructions that there were to be no presents!! But you can't not take a present can you - that wouldn't be right - so I made her some little covered coathangers - didn't think she could get too cross about that :)) I filled the little hanging hearts with lavender from my garden and was quite pleased with the finished effect.

Mum has an incredible flower garden - wish I had half her talent in that respect. These beautiful blooms are from her garden.

This week I've been forced to clean out my fabric cupboard (so I could close the doors properly!) As I was sorting and stacking the fabrics I came across a couple of piles of fabrics I had put together in the past with intentions of creating something but had completely forgotten about them. This one I had sorted out to do Butterfly Garden, I think - very soft and pastel pretty. I still like it so it will stay together and I just might get round to it over winter.

And this one, I don't remember at all (it's a worry I know!) It's quite pink for me, but I like it too, so who knows...

This one I put together as I was stacking - I liked all the soft browns I was finding and then the gorgeous orangey fabrics just seemed so perfect - so it has possibilities too.

So that's what I've been doing, and a bit of other stuff as well -like ordering some new goodies for the StitcheryRoom. I'll be posting some pics of the new ''stuff'' on the StitcheryRoom blog, hopefully today. I haven't been there for a while either, I know :)) But that's about to change - have got lots of new stitchy things coming in and I'll keep you up to date over there - http://www.stitcheryroom.blogspot.com/.

See you later - happy stitching:)

Jenny

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