Cupcakes and picnics....

Chrissy has organised a picnic with her friends at the gardens in down. So plan A was to make cupcakes. Oh no - they did not turn out at all!
Plan B: Buy some cupcakes from the french bakery!
Add some icing and homemade decorations - hey presto - gorgeous cupcakes!
And here are all the lovely girlies having their picnic. Actually this is Chrissy's friends, she took the photo so is not in it. Isn't it amazing when your kids grow up and HAVE FRIENDS! Chrissy has overcome many many challenges in her short life, I am so proud of her. She is a lovely lovely girl. On monday she is started at a new school and leaving all her friends behind, but she still loves them and so she organised this picnic. I love you Chrissy, you are a star!

Holiday Paintings....

I took no stitching away with me at all, but I couldn't help myself. I had to do something creative! We all got stuck in and had some fun with the acrylic paints. These are my offerings. The top picture symbolises David and I growing up from our dark past into the light. The second one is about breaking out of the cage of our past and the third one is our family. In Maori design the girls are supposed to be one one side and the boys on the other, so its not quite right, but I quite like the look of it!! The light blue Koru is Reuben, the orange is James, and the darker blue, Chrissy, then the maroon is me and the dark blue is david. The red represents our love for each other as a family. I love the way Maori art tells stories and I really want to find out more about it. The children learn all about it at school and do amazing stuff.

The Okains Bay Camping ground...

These are for Susan... this is the camping ground we stayed in. There is no power, you just get to camp wherever you like amongst the trees. Its fantastic. There is great toilets and an OK kitchen, and $2 showers (we skipped those and swam every day!!). It is just so peaceful. The weather was fantastic and we all got a wee bit sunburnt.

Uses for a blow-up boat....

Pictures from the beach....

Away for three days...

We are going to Okains Bay for the weekend in our new tent. (We got it last year in the sales) There is no power but there is water and toilets - whew! Its a lovely camping ground basically just trees and grass along side the beach. Hopefully the sun will shine and the water will be warm and everybody will be happy! I am not going to take any sewing, just sit under a tree and read a book.

Take one pair of socks, add one hour of time...

Our new book arrived from Amazon yesterday, sock and glove creatures. Its awesome and so much fun. The instructions are much much better than the other book we have! I made the elephant and the Zebra, and they are both really cute too. I'm hoping I can do these with my boy's brigade boys. I'm going to get James to make one himself and see how he goes first!

And a sign for the toilet wall...

Another bag...

School holiday messes...

There has been a lot of creativity in our house in the holidays. The flip side is that this is what our dining room looks like....

and like this! Lucky we have a big table outside and eat there in the summer!
Reuben had his heart set on orange play dough this morning. So I mixed up a batch before I went out to the office. Here is my lovely daughter playing with him. She deserves a medal for being so good to Reuben these holidays.

I had a go at one of the strip scrap quilts. I bought one metre of red floral from Spotlight for $10 and the rest was scraps. I think it looks quite good, busy but good!
This is the desperate houswives quilt that I am hating! I've decided not to do any more on it, just sew a border. So I need to find a fabric to tie the horrible thing together!

While I am in bag making mode...

I am tired of my ratty old swimming bag. And seeing as my new goal is to Aqua-jog five times, yes thats right, 5 times a week! I thought i would make myself one. It is lined with a piece of brown toweling that someone gave me (looks like Mrs Noah had it in the Ark!) which is perfect for all the stray drips. For the grand sum of $10 I have a bag I am pleased to use.

Finishing projects

I set myself a goal of finishing all my UFOs in January and I'm on the last one. But I can see why people have UFOs that last for years! I am HATING this project. It is called "Desperate Housewives" from a Quilting magazine, and is a lovely design. But it is not fun to sew AT All. I can see why UFOs languish for years!!! I think I will cut my losses and just do the centre and not the rest of it. Uggggggggggh maybe I can sew all the strips into something else!! Actually I've been looking at http://maryquilts.blogspot.com/ and she does a lot of amazing quilts that she calls "Chinese Coins". I had never seen them before but hers look amazing I think. So maybe this is my big opportunity to try one!! Yes I think that's what I'll do. Call it quits with Desperate Housewives and turn the rest into a Chinese Coins Quilt. Another UFO bites the dust!

Goodbye to the 12 year old!

This is James (who turned 12 last week) standing in front of the bus at 8am this morning. Off he went to Te Anau and arrived there after 6.30pm tonight. What a long bus journey. We had lots of text messages from him as he travells, but won't hear from him now until Saturday when he hops back on the bus again! I hope he has a fantastic week and come back full of his exciting experiences! Love you James, miss you honey xxxxx

Great book I read today...

I love Erica James and this is her at her absolute best! I could not put it down and have done not a stitch of sewing today! Isn't a treat to find a book you enjoy and to sit in the sun enjoying it. Thanks David and Chrissy for all your work today giving me the day off!

Two more monsters...

The wee fella is called "Georgie" and is for James, his ipod fits in its mouth! The flying pig is for my coach, Mike, because when I first started coaching, I didn't believe I could achieve my goals and have made the first three!

Recycling.....

Take an old dress and shirt (two dollars each)....

and a short while later you have.....Cool eh! I'm really pleased with it.

The biggest sandcastle ever...

This morning after we finished our jobs in double quick time, we went off to the beach to build a sandcastle "big enough to be seen from outer space"! we had so much fun working together, and went home all sandy for lunch!

Home again

Chrissy, Reuben and I came home today. David and James have been doing fantastic work around the place, especially paving and such like. it looks great. I had forgotten that all the Christmas decorations would still be up - shame. Memo to self, PUT THEM AWAY BEFORE YOU GO ON HOLIDAY! Nevermind. Some more great books had arrived from Amazon. I wish I knew how people put links to things in their blogs or I could show you. Anyone who wants to tell me, please feel free!! I've posted all the photos of my very productive two week.

Two more projects....

Here is the beautiful bag (I'm thrilled with this) I made for MYSELF from the pattern by Leanne.

Here is a wee project I 'faked' for one of our staff whose wife is having a baby. I made a bag, change mat and zippered purse thingy. I'm terrible at zips though, I wish i could conquer them. Anyway once I load it with wipes, lotions and nappies it will look fine!

Photos as promised...

Here are the little monsters we made yesterday. Aren't they great? The kiddies love them!

Here is the family holiday quilt pieced ready to go off to Verina.

Here is the blue boy quilt. Actually I have completely finsihed this quilt. But did not take a photo of it. It looks great. I just need to put the boy's name on it (when I find out what it is!!).

Here is the baby quilt for Sarah.

Here is the whole thing, unfortunately she had a boy and I think it looks a bit girly. So I don't know if to finish it or give up and make something else.

Here are the first two monsters. (We made six all up)

Here is the Red Thailand backpack.

Here are the embroideries for the Family holiday quilt before I pieced it.

Here are Chrissy's snowglobes before I packed them up. She gets one each year.

And the final tally is...

Tomorrow Chrissy, Reuben and I are going home. We've had a great two weeks here at Coalgate. It's the longest visit to our cottage here, and its been fantastic. Because we were keeping Reuben quiet, I have listened to a lot of kids TV while I sewed! I have been so productive. This is what I have achieved....

1. Pieced and quilted blue boy's quilt


2. Finished embroidery and pieced Family holiday quilt


3. Pieced Baby quilt for Sarah


4. Embroidered and pieced bag (for me)


5. Finished the Red Thailand backpack


6. Made baby nappy bag, change mat and bits bag for Jenny


7. Made and helped the children make 6 monsters from the Plush-o-ama book from amazon.

Isn't that amazing? I impress myself!! I'll put all the photos up tomorrow.

Success!

I'm feeling very happy tonight. I managed to completely piece the Family Holiday quilt (by Ani Downs I think). It looks amazing though I say it myself. Still can't upload the photos but will do them all on the weekend when I go home. I left off all the 'girly' bits as it is for my best friend's dad who is turning 70 in May (how organised am I?). I'm going to send it to the lovely Verina for quilting. I am absolutely stoked to have it done so early, when I did the same one for my mother-in-law I finished it the night before! I'm having a very productive time here at Coalgate. It's been a beautiful day here, probably around 30 degrees C, just magic. My neighbour invited us to the school pool for a swim this evening and the kids had a lovely time. Reuben is a lot better tonight, although he still looks like an absolute wreck. We are seriously considering not going on holiday because of his mental health (or lack thereof). I was so pleased to have some time hanging out with our lovely neighbours, it restored my sanity!

Great start to 2008!

I've been busy this year!! I've finished all the embroidery for the Family Holiday quilt. Hurray! I may even get it pieced tomorrow, which would be awesome. Chrissy and Reuben and I came back to Coalgate at lunch time from the Cuzies. Reuben is really bad at the moment and is driving me around the bend. He has just got overtired and his mental health has correspondingly gone down hill. What can one do with an anxious, jumpy, paranoid 5 year old?? Thank God for family TV and a fluffy bean bag. Anyway I still managed to finish the top for Sarah's baby quilt which is great. That's two tops in two days! Yesterday I sewed a little boy's quilt in blues and yellows, its an easy peasy design which I adapted from one I saw on Leanne's website. All horizontal strips. I've put some words on with coloured felt and I like the effect. Also today I pieced the front for the bag I'm making (from another one of Leanne's patterns) and made two monsters! I got this really cool book from Amazon with all these monsters etc in it, so we adapted a pattern and made two. I'll post the pictures when I get home on Saturday, the vodum doesn't let me upload pictures for some reason. All in all a very good day, apart from Reuben that is! Chrissy and I even took turns going for a walk tonight. The dogs could not believe their luck!

Red Toe Nails

I decided that I wanted red toe nails. It seems so silly but i decided that painting my toe nails was a way to show that I cared about myself! so my 14 year old painted them for me yesterday and it’s true, I feel great when I see them.

See more progress on: Paint my toe nails red

I want to make a difference...

“The relationships we have with the world are largely determined by the relationship we have with ourselves.”
- Greg Anderson

“Until you make peace with who you are, you’ll never be content with what you have.”
- Doris Mortman

See more progress on: I want to make a difference.

Christmas is fun...

Wasn't Christmas fun??? we had a great day with our family. It was a beautiful sunny day and we were at our cottage at Coalgate. We sat on the verandah and chatted and ate! the youngsters went down to the river for a while and we all relaxed. Thank you God for a beautiful day. Today we it rained and poured but we still had a good day. Off we went to Ohoka to the 'cuzies' and spent the day there. We watched a movie (dejavu) and ate more good food. The kids watched Hairspray and ate a ton of chocolate favourites! I finished the red backpack we started in Thailand, it just needs a button and one of the embroideries for the bag by Leanne that I am making. I tried to post a photo but with the vodum it doesn't seem to be working. I'll have to do it when I get home!!

Merry Christmas....

Merry Christmas everyone! Give all your friends and family a hug and remember isn't it great we aren't perfect either!