It's Daylight Saving time again...

and as usual it is a grey, gloomy day.  It always seems to be like that on the first day of Daylight Saving here each year.  So, I think I will have to make a little sunshine of my own and make the sun block for my SKOW quilt this afternoon.
I've been around the house changing all the clocks this morning....(couldn't be bothered doing it before I went to bed)
Last weekend I went around the garden taking a few photos of things that were in flower for Spring..and it was a lovely sunny day then...so I'll let them add a bit of sunshine to this post..

the flowering cherry is out in bloom...
 and there was some blue sky there last week...

the bumble bee was hard at work going from flower to flower

my favourite rhododendron is one of the first ones to flower in the garden

and luckily I took this photo before the wind and spots of rain this week
...the camellias won't last long without blemishes..

What a game...

..we have spent the afternoon watching the AFL Grand Final..the only game this season to screen live over here in NZ and you needed pay TV to see it.  Whichever team won it was going to be all right, as my husband was a Hawthorn supporter many many years ago when he lived in Melbourne for a while ..and my mum is a Swans supporter so we were hoping for a win for her.  What an exciting game though as the lead changed hands in each quarter and at the end my mum was very excited when the Swans won....daughter in Edinburgh got up at 5am to go to a local pub to watch it on TV and she had managed to order a Swans shirt from the website and have it arrive in Edinburgh in time for her to wear it..so she is over the moon as well..
                                                

Things were going so well...

until today that is...my husband had received the call a few weeks back to say that he was finally going to get his long awaited hip replacement operation, wonderful news ...tomorrow was going to be the big day...all was ready, he'd had his pre-op visits where they checked that he had no cuts etc, the school holidays start next week so I would be at home to look after him when he came home from hospital..
...all was going well, that is, until he had a fall yesterday and grazed his shins- not all that big really, but he thought he had better go to the hospital and let them check it out..and the verdict is that they don't want to risk an infection, so he has been resceduled for 4 weeks time... better to err on the safe side but disappointing to say the least...so now we wait again...

Happy, happy mail..

Look what was waiting for me in the mailbox when I got home the other day...

a package all the way from Tasmania.  I joined in to Roseanne's and Sarah's precut party a few weeks back and lucky me I won this lovely gift.  What a way to brighten my day.

Some lovely fabric, patterns and the card which has the instructions to make the cover image.
Thank you so much Roseanne..I really enjoyed being a part of the night's sewing for your Pre Cut Party..

Just maybe...

...it is time to prioritise the projects I have on the go...and work towards finishing them off...and resist the temptation to even think about starting anything else (except of course for the SSCS gift).  So here are the projects that I have urgent deadlines for (..or at least they are the ones I'll admit to at the moment)
First on the list is this one...did all the french knots last night..might work on the lettering tonight..I just loved the fabric when I saw it...

Next up on the list is this one...fabric and pattern are sorted ,,just have to trace and stitch..yeah right!! (I thought the fabric looked like Spring to me) and it needs to be finished by early October and in the mail..but it isn't very big...

Then I have a clearfile with bits of pattern pieces that belong to my SKOW quilt..it has taken a back seat this year and now it needs to come to the fore again as the whips are cracking and the number of sleeps left to finish time is now less than 50..(panic stations!!)  Oh gosh I found this photo from way back in April and have nothing new to add...where has the time gone ???

And then I have bits and pieces of fabrics like these to have some stitching on them finished by the end of November, before I sew everything together...

Everything has gone into a basket to keep it right in front of me..there is no spare time to stitch during the day as I will be at work so I need to make sure that there is no snoozing on the couch after tea for me..the pressure is on..

Calm before the storm ???

We have enjoyed lovely, sunny days with the temperature up around 20 degrees for the past few days, (most unusual for here!)...is this Spring?  Not if the weather forecast on TV tonight is to be believed...snow fell last night on the other side of the island and they are predicting a cold blast down south tomorrow night..hopefully it won't be too bad for the farmers who are in the middle of lambing..

I have joined in for Chookyblue's Secret Santa Swap for my second year and I have received the name of the person I am making for..so now the search is on to think of what I am going to make.

A Recipe..

The recipe used for the cheesecake for our dessert on Fathers Day was written down from a calendar a few years back... 

White Chocolate and Raspberry Cheesecake

Base:

1 ¼ cups shortbread biscuit crumbs           (I used plain sweet biscuits)

75g butter, melted

Filling:

 2 x 250g blocks Kraft Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened to room temperature

¾ cup caster sugar

1 teaspoon lemon juice

2 teaspoons gelatine, dissolved in ¼ cup boiling water, then cooled

200g white chocolate, melted

1 cup cream, lightly whipped

Garnish:

200g fresh raspberries  (I used frozen )

Icing sugar

Method:

Combine the biscuit crumbs and butter and press into the base of a greased and lined 22cm spring form pan.

Beat the cream cheese, sugar and lemon juice until smooth.  Stir in the gelatine mixture and then fold in the melted chocolate and the cream..

Pour the filling into the prepared base and refrigerate for 3 hours or until set.  Garnish with the raspberries and dust with icing sugar.

It should be Spring, shouldn't it ???

...well the calendar says it is September, and the Spring blooms are making an appearance (just a shame the weather doesn't know it is!!). At my little stitching group on Friday there were bunches of daffodils waiting for us to take home..one of the ladies had brought them in from her garden.  The perfume of the small cream one is just amazing.

It was a nice relaxing day yesterday...after a barbeque lunch we enjoyed the dessert that daughter no. 2 had made..... a white chocolate cheesecake with raspberries (we had to use frozen ones as they are out of season)

Our elder daughter rang from Edinburgh to talk to her Dad for Fathers Day.  It was good to talk to her.  She has a 6 month contract, working at a recruitment agency that she had first  got some temp work through...she had to travel to Glasgow each day last week for training..and.now that work is sorted she just needs to get something more permanent as far as accomodation goes.