Four things

Sally Ann tagged me awhile back to tell "four things". I was too busy with the Easter Fair preparations to do it at the time but I've been looking foward to it cos it's my first time being tagged.

Four movies I'd watch again

Shrek 1 and 2

Finding Nemo

Ice Age

Land before time

( I know I'll watch these again cos the "red head" watches these when I sew. We love the songs in Shrek)

Four places I've lived

Augathella, Australia

Masterton, NZ

Motueka, NZ

Queenstown, NZ

(wishing that read a lot more exotic)

Four TV shows (i'm embarrassed) I watch

Shortland street (I yelled at the TV the night Joey died)

Survivor - it gets worse.......

Americas next top model ( I'm cringing at what this reveals about me! My friends think I have the TV viewing maturity of a 16 yr old)

And because I'm a farm girl at heart Country Calender.

By the way don't ring me when any of these are on cos I won't be listening to you.

Four places I've been

Farewell spit

Fox Glacier

Castle point

Adelaide

Four people I email

Workmates and family who'd kill me if I named them here.

Four things I love to eat

Woodsmoke marinated mussels

Feta cheese

White bait

Anything from my garden especially pumpkin

Four places I'd rather be

In my garden

At my Grandmas house (now sold)

"Upperhale" the farm of my childhood

Motueka Valley River ( it's magic)

Four things to look forward to

Changing seasons

My children growing and being happy

Knitting shawls for my grandchildren

Living on a farm

Four people to tag

Anyone who wants to.

Two totally unrelated photos from our ramblings in the native bush

Do you see the weka?

Fresh breakfast

I was in a weedy, seedy part of the garden this morning because I needed bay leaves for dinner going into the slow cooker. Right over in the back corner of my garden I noticed my breakfast sitting waiting for me. (No I don't eat spiders) About half a dozen big figs, what surprised me was the fact the birds had not beaten me to them and that they were not at all dry given the fact they had no extra water this summer. Hooray for home gardening.

I have been chopping into that big fabric stash this weekend some beautiful wool fabric that was going to be trousers has become two new bags. It's got me thinking of appliqued cushions too. No time this week though. The teal coloured one with the odd design is supposed to be a paua (abalone) because the lining is the lovely paua print I won from Sally Ann. Here's where I should link to that. Sorry off to sew.

Collecting

Helen's collecting post looks like fun. L and I are collectors too, except our collections tend to turn into clutter!

Collecting now:
seeds and plants,
cook books ,
baskets,

kitchen stuff,

flowery fabric,
paisley fabric,

old bags,
Enid Gilchrest books,
thimbles, darning mushrooms and pin cushions,

teacups and flowery china,

our family stuff - bibles, postcards, pictures, stories, wedding dresses, baby clothes, books



Things we collected in the past and I'd love to get rid of: (L won't let me!)
Old tins,
old toys,
old sewing machines,
old cameras,
old pottery,



Things I'd love to collect more of:

1920's dresses and purses,
Floral teapots
vintage baby clothes
more family stuff, especially secrets!

heirloom fruit and veges

The bag goes to...

Shaken round in my peg basket, congratulations Helen.

Bags available for sale at Mapua Easter Fair and maybe online later in the year if I can get organised enough.

2008 Harvesting

The last two days have been lovely. I'm beginning to think staying home in the garden all day would be the best way for me to keep my emotions on an even keel because I feel relaxed and satisfied after doing it. It is hard to see all the goodies in the garden as they are getting overtaken by weeds and seeds but I know where to look and was thrilled to find all these chillies, tomatoes and peppers that were red and not rotten hiding under the rampant growth in the tunnel house. Now I just need to make the right contacts to be bartering these goodies with. When I was a teenager there was a green dollar system set up here in town. Wouldn't it be great to be able to use your sewing, baking and gardening skills to pay the plumber, Dr, mechanic etc. I suppose it would be a nightmare to administer and before any of you suggest it, no I'm not up to it at all!Look at that though, real milk with inches of cream on top. Guess what I bartered for this? Live rats! I know! Brilliant!

Keep the comments coming below to be in for a bag, remember to add your name/contact. I'll draw it sometime on the weekend. I'm quite excited.

Belated 100th post giveaway

I'd been looking forward to doing the 100th post giveaway but when I looked I was up to 105. I've really enjoyed sharing my garden, crafts and family challenges benefiting alot from the feedback I've been receiving. Bloggers are a great bunch. My favorites make me laugh, make me think, and inspire me often. Thanks so much.

The top bag is my current favorite and if I didn't already have about 10 bags I'd keep it for myself. I'd love to give it away instead of selling it. The handles and contrasts are made of leather, the fabric is old curtain fabric and it has a simple pocket inside. The bottom one is also old curtain fabric, another favorite because of the colours. I'm offering it as a vegetarian option cos I know not everyone approves of leather. (I use leather that would otherwise be going in the landfill though) The middle one I would have loved when I was 18 cos purple was my favorite colour, orange is now.
So please post a comment weather you've commented before or not. I'll draw one winner and they can pick the bag they like best. I'll send anywhere in the world.

Just words for now

I'd prefer my blog to be a positive place that's why I havn't been here I guess. I've been away from my computer concentrating more on my kids who are missing their Dad and giving me a hard time. It's a real challenge not to snap back at them, we're all tired.
My beloved Bernina broke last week too, in the middle of the "Taste Tasman" sewing frenzi and a trip to the Bernina fix it man in Nelson only made me want a new Bernina which can sew leather without a walking foot. Dreams are free or so they say.
I'm making retro jam instead of sewing.
And I am celebrating the small triumphs. The "red head" has finally decided to do no. 2's on the toilet instead of on the grass or the carpet in the sunroom.. Yeeee haaaa fourth child nearly out of nappies!! I'm certainly a long way from where I began washing square naps in a stream whilst living in a 12 metre house bus on the West Coast.
-Slowly remembering to count my blessings.

Days like this.

A peaceful day was had here until 3 o'clock. I've been sewing for the Murchison A and P show. (remember plenty of water middle of nowhere) A and P shows are pretty old fashioned community shows. All ther farmers bring their best animals to be judged and the housewives bring their sewing, knitting, baking and bottling. When we were kids these were the best events of the year and now I quite enjoying entering, bit of a competitive spirit I guess. Murchision has a great selection of catergories and stiff competition. So here are a couple of entries from me for this year.

The same pattern as the skirt I showed a couple of weeks ago, except I sewed this one really carefully and hemmed it by hand.

These softies took most of the day to complete giving me new found respect for toy makers and the price of handmade toys. PJ came in from school while I was stuffing them and immediatley claimed the one on the left so the other one will go to the show. The pattern came from a new book in the public library simply titled "softies" and most of the patterns are from bloggers! Pairie mouse contributed the monkey and some other patterns in the book which I might just have to buy for myself because I don't want to give it back to the library.

Anyway as I was saying life was great until 3, I had watched Dr Phil and was feeling all calm and inspired to be a thoughtful Mum but dispite my best efforts the kids were determined to be grumpy and horrible all afternnon, grumbling and fighting til about 10 minutes ago when I sent some off to bed and some to have showers and do homework. I'm missing my partner, I havn't got anyone to back me up when I have afternoons like this. To top it all off, now instead of conversing with bloggers and searching for the ultimate piece of fabric on "Trade Me" that everyone else has over -looked, I will go and fold washing among other boring household chores and put myself on auto piolet til the weekend as the diary this week is full of things I don't really want to do but feel I have to. See you on the other side. (of the week I mean)

Remember fingerknitting?

I have offered PJ crochet, knitting and crafting oppourtunities alongside me for years but I'd completly forgotten about fingerknitting. She's acting like I do when I've got a craft project in motion, can't put it down and showing everyone. My neighbour who has three girls taught her how to do it yesterday and there has been a fingerknitting frenzy here since then, see the pile growing next to her. It's exciting to see her enjoying crafting stuff as much as I do!! I might have to keep an eye on my stash of wool though.

Beach bag.

The big kids have been away with friends this week so the two small ones and I have developed a routine that suits us all perfectly. Housework, sewing, knitting, gardening or visiting in the mornings. A wee nap for the children after lunch and the reward for not teasing or yelling at each other during the day is a trip to the beach about 10 mins from home. It's working so well I wish summer holidays could go on for weeks. Today I set about making myself a bigger beach bag, I was getting sick of carrying about 3 bags and one toddler down to the shade. It's big enough for towels, clothes, toys and food with 3 pockets in a row for keys, phone etc.

Watch this space for a bag giveaway soon.