I sew....

For the first time in a long time I am working on a quilt!  I love watching Missouri Star Quilt Company and Jenny Doan create on YouTube and this is one of their designs.  Jenny is inspirational and for a time short quilter such as me she takes the stress out of creating a great project.

A dreary weekend weather-wise

A damp, windy weekend makes an ideal environment for crafting.  Today I found some lovely blogs to surf between rows of knitting.  I am on the homestretch on the scarf  I started in Queenstown during my holiday in February.  The yarn, merino, silk and possum, is a dream to work with.  

Boris decided the newspaper left lying on the floor was a fun place to hibernate under.

Nearly half way through 2016

It is nearly June and "proper" winter is close.  Summer has lasted through autumn and even as late as last weekend I was still wearing shorts.

Early January saw my sister come for a quick visit for a 70th and 80th combined birthday party.  She landed in winds that saw the airport closed 25 minutes later, which for a freaked out flyer like her was brilliant.

We headed south in February for two weeks, flying in and out of Christchurch.

We caught up with my family, celebrated my mother's 80th birthday early and generally played tourists in my hometown Dunedin, before moving onto Queenstown, Hokitika and back to Christhchurch. It was a fabulous break.

Dumplings in Glenorchy was a surprise:-)

There has been a little sewing with help...

And  a very small amount of gardening.

Of course there were some great meals while on holiday.

Hard to beat a cheese board with ginger beer in a beautiful garden at Akaroa or

brunch on the waterfront at Lake Wakatiupu, Queenstown.

Our usual weekend at W.O.M.A.D. in New Plymouth in March which usually signals the end of summer, so to have a further 2 months of warm weather has been rather special.

And this week I entered my 60th year....I am trying to keep the thoughts positive! 59 years old seems rather ancient.

Learning to relax

The craziest work year is over and I am struggling to relax and switch off and do more than go between projects, reading and napping.  I also have the worst hayfever I have had in years.

I ended up working 60 hour weeks not including the 20 plus hours of travel time each week, a combination of the job getting busier and disasters with computer hardware and software. The software has been renewed, (not an upgrade but brand new) and I finally got an assistant two weeks before the vacation.  I am hopeful 2016 will at last become a better balance of work and life outside work!

Every project during the year was done at a frenetic pace, such as this hat that my daughter ordered based on something she had seen Taylor Swift wear.  The alpaca and silk wool was a dream to knit though rather expensive.

Happy Christmas 2015

Made it to Christmas!  The worst work year ever,  I am exhausted, however, the plan is two weeks relaxing, reading, crafting and gardening, and perhaps a blog or two.  Bliss if I achieve the afore mentioned:-)

The pohutakawa in our front entrance decided to be festive on cue. The flowesrs on the other trees we have are being slow to open.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!!

Happy 2015

Happy 2015!  May it be filled with lots of craftiness.

Happy Christmas! (belated)

It is the fourth day since I stopped work and finally I feel like I could manage Christmas, but it has been and gone for another year:-)

 Some Christmas cheer, a modern arrangement of mint, which is flourishing with all the rain we have had.

Last weekend before work finished I did bake Gran's biscuits (as we call them in my family, my great grandmother's recipe, a version of German, later known as Belgium biscuits), to give as gifts to my colleagues. Alas they are still waiting for the raspberry jam and brandy butter icing.

 Peace and joy from the "wise man" of the house!

I made the "ten minute table runner" on Christmas day, which this photo indicates needs another press after it's outing with the "wise man."