FNWF and The Chookshed Birthday...

                           

A weekend to celebrate..The Chookshed 5th Birthday..

                        

Friday night it was time to join together with everyone for FNWF and then Saturday was spent at my bobbin lace group workday and then after just pottering around trying to advance some of my ongoing projects..

so it's been a weekend of spent with virtual friends and real time friends..and the best thing about this weekend is that tomorrow is a holiday here in NZ.. our Queen's Birthday weekend..so I will be able to continue on and hopefully get some photos taken to add to my next post..

Any suggestions please....on what can I do in Melbourne this Thursday????

                                     
The school is sending another teacher and me over to Melbourne for a conference this week..lucky me.!!!!!! 😊😊

By travelling over late on Wednesday we will have Thursday free to shop/explore the city etc..(well as much as we can do in one day)...before the conference on Friday and Saturday and then flying back to NZ early on Sunday...so not a lot of time to spend there 😓😢.

So what to do???? Any suggestions on shops to go to or things to see..good places to eat even...anything would be appreciated, so we can make the most of the day as I really don't know Melbourne at all.

We are both interested in patchwork and embroidery so are there any shops close to the city or easy to access on public transport.

We are staying out Camberwell way as it is closer to the school that the conference is being held at and won't take too long on the tram to get to there on Friday and Saturday.

Grateful thanks for any suggestions...

Lyn

FNWF

Some more progress and another block nearly finished on this ongoing project...applique with wool felt on linen..just 2 pins left on this block..these blocks started life as applique onto a recycled wool blanket but I changed tack on this and started over again on the linen fabric and I am much happier

                    

Today was our little bobbin lace group's get together ..we meet 2 Saturdays a month and those who can meet on a Wednesday afternoon as well....so I spent a lovely morning starting to finish off this square ..joining the ends together as I work my way down the line..not far to go now on this section..next step is to do the next round/border which will be attached to this central square later.

                     

What I am reading at the moment...

A while back Booktopia had free shipping here to New Zealand.  At the time I was looking for a slow cooker recipe book and came across the books by Sally Wise.  I ordered the one on slow cooking and then this one also grabbed my attention.

I've been enjoying reading about their first year on the farm and the setting up of the cooking school. The diary-like entries are interspersed with recipes.  One that I want to try is for pineapple jam.  I have memories, from growing up, of  pineapple jam on the rare occasions mum would buy it for me..I seemed to be the only one in the family who enjoyed it...it came in a can and I can still remember the opening of it and getting that first taste each time...it is years since I have seen it, so I wonder if the version I make from the book will live up to my memories or surpass them..

             

Stitch-A-Long..

Yes...I am joining in for this year's Stitch-A-Long.  It is the quilt from the book "A Holly Cottage Christmas" by Michelle Ridgeway.  I love Michelle's designs and since I already had the book the decision to join in was an easy one.  The hardest part for me is always deciding on what fabric to use...but there is plenty of time until we start in earnest in June...until then it is getting our fabrics sorted and maybe making one of the smaller projects in the book. 

The lovely Fiona and Raewyn are going to be our hosts for this Stitch-A-Long.

If you would like to join in then leave a comment over on the Stitch-A-Long page here and the book is available from Michelle  here (you will find details on her blog sidebar).

                        

Lest We Forget

Dawn Service 25 April 2017

I've been away on a retreat..from Friday till today

Just back from a crafters retreat with a wonderful group of ladies..360 km trip there and back but well worth it...lots of fun and laughs and of course we managed to do some crafting over the weekend..so busy having fun I mostly forgot to take photos!!!  So my FNSI was spent with a 'real life' group this month!!!

Lace progress..for FNSI

                   

I am on the last quarter of this centre of the mat I am working on..and then it will be on to making the next piece, like a border, which will then be attached.  Friday night's effort was the section that has the pins in the top left..so there are a few night's work left to see this part completed. 

What I worked on for FNSI..

..a slow moving project that has earned me the nickname "Pins" and if you look at the photo you will understand why...I seem to have a habit of preparing blocks and getting them pinned but then time has been eluding me and the pins have remained.  So I am going to try and rectify that this year and get some stitches into each block so I can remove the rest of the pins and then move on to the next one.

                          

FNSI..the first one for 2017!!

                                               
Yes that's right...it is on this Friday.. the first FNSI for the year, so, to sign up, head on over to Wendy's blog... Sugarlane Designs .....and then start thinking of what you can work on!!

SSCS received

Well here it is 2017 already.  I am over in Sydney visiting Mum and head back to NZ next week..it sure has been warm here, not what I am used to at all.

I joined in for Chooky's SSCS swap again for Christmas.  I received my gorgeous gifts from Fiona of Bubzrugz blog..a lovely ornament and table runner to treasure..they are absolutely fabulous..

Apologies for the odd sized photos..the first 2 should be smaller and the table runner bigger but I am having big issues using Blogger on my iPad (since I updated the operating system..wish I hadn't). Will have to wait till I go home to fix it..in the meantime here are my lovely gifts..

FNSI

Last night for FNSI...I worked a little more on my bobbin lace..I have taken some of the pins out so that I can see the design starting to emerge..

                            

And then I completed the first monthly block for the  $25 quilt project 

                           

Yesterday was Bobbin Lace Group day

Twice a month the little bobbin lace group I belong to meets on a Saturday. Yesterday was the day.  So armed with my bobbins, thread, lace pillow and a new pricking (pattern) off I went.
Several of the ladies in the group have already made this pattern for a mat so I was able to glean plenty of help and advice as I got started.

 I started with a very full box of bobbins and by the time I had wound the thread on for the new project there were very few left in the container.

                  

This is the beginning of the central piece and later there are 2 borders to add on.  So after a good morning's work and a little time after lunch as well, here is what I achieved for the day..the stitch holders are to keep the bobbins together when I am not working on it.

                  

..I .will have to see how much further I get before the next get together at the beginning of November.

FNWF

I spent a lovely afternoon with my stitching friends who meet each Friday afternoon.  With it being school holidays I was able to be there for the whole afternoon, not just calling in after school as I usually do.
 I have been knitting a dishcloth (yes a little late to the making of dishcloths compared with others) ...a friend gave me the pattern and a ball of cotton to use..all I had to do was get out some needles and knit.  So for FNWF I managed to finish it off, not too bad I think for someone who has not done a lot of knitting.  Now to look for some other patterns to try as I don't need the good light for knitting that I would for stitching...

                         

Is it Spring? and FNWF

Well it is supposed to be Spring but the weather is so changeable from day to day...we have had misty days where the mist has clung to the hills and above the harbour...sunny days with a cold wind blowing..and today it is a grey, rainy day..I wonder what tomorrow will bring???

Still with Spring comes blossom on the trees and lovely spring flowers..and an icecream from the Rob Roy Dairy after a drive at the weekend, best value in town..yum..caramel fudge this time.

It is the first Friday of the month this week and so it is time for ...

                                     

sign up over at Cheryll's

       

I am still here..

Time seems to have slipped by and it is a lot longer since my last post than I thought.  It's been a busy term, beginning and ending with one of those lurgies which has been doing the rounds over here..ERO (somewhat similar to the school inspectors) came midterm and so my stitching has suffered from a lack of mojo and time.
I do have a few things to catch up on including my trip up to Ashburton, at the end of August, to take a class with Katrina Hadjimichael when she was over here in New Zealand.  An absolutely fabulous weekend.
Well probably the best thing for me to do is...make a list ...of everything that I need to get on with in my stitching..will see how successful I am..
Back soon with some photos and a post on  my class with Katrina.

FNSI roundup...

As I am writing this snow is falling outside..I wonder how long it will last.  We had heavy rain till about an hour ago so the ground is rather wet, so while the snow is falling it is not laying on the ground.  Still it is great to watch while keeping warm inside.

FNSI coincided with the last day of the school holidays for me so I was able to spend the afternoon stitching with friends (in real life) before I joined in with every out there in cyber space.

My bag has made slow progress as I had one of those bugs going around and so the first week of the holidays passed in a blur.  Now that I am feeling better it is time to go back to school again,..typical!!

So here is some of the progress I have made...

          

Some felt flowers, buttons and some of the hexagons that are in progress...

I hope you all had a lovely stitch a long on Friday as well..

Just as I thought..I've come back an hour later to publish this post and the snow has stopped here but just across on the hill opposite us it is rather white across the top ...and the hill suburbs have a good coating...and it is very cold outside...

Next project in the making

..will be the Home Sewn Sampler Bag by Anni Downs.

....Stitchery panels are ready to start..

         

And the papers and fabric for the hexagons

               

And when I am finished it will look something like this photo from Anni's book

                      

Now all I have to do is finish writing the rest of the school reports this week so that on so I can get on with some stitching ...

Little design boards..

I bought the foam core board, cut it to size and then watched the You Tube clip of them being made.  Lori Holt made it look easy..but I haven't done a lot of work with a hot glue gun a lot before, so it looks like a bit more practice could be on the way..
I made them 10" squares so I got  exactly 6 from the sheet of foam core board.  I have some looking 'au naturel', waiting for their fabric binding....

...and some others that have been finished with their fabric 'binding' around the outside..I'm rather pleased with how they turned out.

We've had another lovely day to finish off the long weekend over here. A stark contrast to the weather on the other side of the Tasman with the damage that the storms have caused up and down the east coast in NSW. 

 I've had a few phone calls with Mum over the weekend, checking how she is with the wild weather.  She is fine, just a bit of a  mop up where the rain blew in where it hasn't before.   She went for a walk down to the beach today to see what it was like after the storm, met up with a friend taking photos of the surf and got them emailed to me.. the southern end of Dee Why and the pool is somewhere there under all that water..and rocks washed up here and there

It's unbelievable to see the power of the water and it's ability to cause damage..

Getting back into blogging..at last...

..as part of the celebration for the Chookshed's 4th birthday....
                                       
I've been reading what some of you have been up to over the weekend, but I need to get on to leaving some comments as well.
It's been a long time between posts..a busy beginning to the year..lots of ideas but motivation has been lacking..I could think of any number of things that have distracted me from blogging, and the longer I was offline the harder it was to get going again.
So with the Chookshed's birthday came the impetus that now sees me online again.
I have been wanting to make some design boards for a while..so after seeing Chookyblue's post I got myself organised.. It's the Queen's Birthday long weekend here in NZ so I have another day tomorrow to finish them up along with a bit of work on some other things..and then some photos to take. We have had 2 wonderfully sunny days on this side of the Tasman such a contrast to what we had last week.