AI is Nuts!

I am tired of people, with little knowledge of crafts and the amount of time they can take, going gaga over images of cute grannies decked out in crocheted garments alongside their car or motorcycle also wearing crocheted stuff, and then suggesting, in all seriousness, that I might like to create such a garment. This type of AI example seemed to flood my now gone social media sites.

Today this find is on Nancy's Notions, once a very reputable place to go for information. While a gem in the AI genre, this statement will likely have the fabulous late Nancy Zieman extremely perplexed, along with concern from health and safety experts.

"Position your fabric under the needle, aligning the starting point of your stitching with the desired location on the fabric. Gently rock the machine back and forth while guiding the fabric, allowing the needle to create the stitches. Maintain a steady rhythm and avoid jerky movements to achieve smooth and even stitches."

This is part of an instruction in a free motion quilting article and clearly the reason I have failed with free motion quilting!!!

And before you know it, it is Saturday again!

During the last 18 months when I was "not working, not retired" then suddenly "retired" (due to illness) the weekdays and weekends melded together.  Sometimes I needed to see the neighbours' rubbish or recycling bins out on Sunday night to realise the next day would be Monday or have the kids organise to come from town to stay, to be in tune with which day it was.

The last two weeks have been quite different with travelling to town for radiation.  It was blissful this morning to wake and realise it is Saturday.  That feeling of knowing there are two days when I can stay home, sew or knit or read or garden, (raining so now unlikely) without interruption.  No radiation for two days, no 2 to 2.5 hours driving (traffic dependent) for a five minute appointment.  (it takes longer to get changed in and out of the gown and the bed adjusted than the 6 zaps of radiation take)

During my working life weekends were often crazy, kids, housework, supermarket, garden, mending, however, they were pretty much in my control and looked forward to. Clearly after treatment I need a scheme to reclaim the specialness of a weekend.

Saturday of Easter

It turned into a crazy day, unexpectedly the kids arrived a day early.  Mad panic to make the bed and extend dinner, bake cookies and generally tidy up.  

Loving the pansies that have replaced the summer petunias in my pots.  Once I was not a fan of the multi coloured pansies but as I have aged so has my appreciation of their cute faces.

Good Friday

What a rainy day!  Autumn rains are a good time to have seeds in the ground and this year I managed to sow a cover crop (oats, mustard and lupins) that will be chopped at ground level and help with conditioning the soil. (sand!)  I sprinkled more generously than the recommended weight.  I must have known the pukekos  and sparrows would be keen for a feed. 

I have other vege seeds that have sprouted but now the nights seem to have cooled their progress may be slow. 

This tray, ghastly plastic that once was once a cherry container, has a lid which is closed at night, becoming a mini hot house. This seed raising mix was like wood chips not a fine mix.  I will not buying that brand again. It has spring onion (the direct sowed ones are thriving not these), broccoli, lettuce and kale. These seeds courtesy of the supermarket promotion last year. They come enclosed in little tissue sections and generally you get six or seven plants.  I think the promotion is aimed at children but as we shop there already I am happy to receive them.

These are clove scented dianthus and I only need one plant for the seeds to have paid for themselves!  They are unfussy and our conditions, sand and gales, do not seem to upset them.

A New Year

The last 25 years of my working life, when I was at the height of my career,  I always thought of 1 April as being the start of the new year.  The time for new budgets, reviews of the previous year's business, accounts and much more. I transferred that to my personal life, less about resolutions more about action!

This year should be no different but it certainly is.  Day four of radiation was completed today, and if anything is going to shock you into thinking about the new year and life it is cancer.  It has been a long journey since the diagnosis last year.

Each day of this journey I have made sure I complete a positive task. It is easy to slip back to too much surfing or phone scrolling.

Today I started the double crochet rows on the small blanket I started last August when I was ill with shingles.  I planned to finish it and store it for a gift, however, I will be a grandmother in a couple of months so it needs to be finished😀  I had been given a Nancy's voucher when I left work and as I really needed no more fabric (Unless I know specifically what I want, I try to restrain myself!) so I bought the most gorgeous fine yarn, 50 percent wool and 50 percent mohair.  It is beautiful to work with and not at all "over" fluffy like the ghastly mohairs I had worked with in the past. (probably in the 1980s!)

It is a long time since I worked with Blogger, hopefully this post works! 

Day 2 of lockdown

Day 2 of lockdown

Snapchat just in from my sister.  Today's delivery to my parents who are in their eighties.  Glad to see she has prioritised brandy and home grown and home made raspberry jam.

Day 1 of lockdown

Day 1 of lockdown 

Life goes on!

Day 2 (prior to lockdown)

Day 2 

Not sure that the courgettes will feed us much longer, the nights are much cooler.

Day one

Day 1

Practising social isolation.  Level 3 heading to level 4 and total lock down at midnight tomorrow.

What a right merry (not) pickle the world is in!

Holiday sunset at Mt Maunganui in February.

As a "not working, not retired" person I have plenty of time that to many may be considered as spare time, this does not mean that my days have not filled to the brim with useful pursuits, however, since the Covid 19 outbreak I have started spending far too much time reading news and following social media, much of which is fake news and rumours.  

This leads to worry about the state of mankind in reactions to each other in these times. 

It seems beyond belief to find a Trade Me (N.Z.'s equivalent to EBay) listing among Textiles and Linens (I get new listings emailed to me each day) for four rolls of toilet paper, budget brand, photographed with a bottle of Corona, start/reserve price $50.  It seems there have been many exorbitant listings for such items.  

We are constantly told there is no interruption to the supermarket supplies, we even have two manufacturers of toilet paper in N.Z. but still the trip to the supermarket for the usual supplies we would buy finds the shelves empty of many many items. Toilet paper, flour, yeast, baking powder, rice, pasta, canned products, even pharmacy type products like toothpaste.  I did wonder if the supply trucks were concentrating on food products not toothpaste and deodorant:-)  One can only wonder about people's mindset.

The resultant economy downturn is of concern, and when you have family members working in hospitality etc it is concerning with people staying home and not able to socialise, and of course we have no idea how long this will last for.   Some of these businesses will manage to change their menus to allow UberEats or the like to service clients.

Then there are the family members who work in the health sector to worry about.  Their high level of training and resources implemented to keep them safe should be sufficient, however, the public need to play their part and follow instructions. Stories of people barging into medical facilities demanding to be tested or turning up at a pharmacy and abusing staff because they cannot be vaccinated, because not all vaccine providers have  received their supply of flu vaccine for upcoming influenza season. Priority is being given to the over 65s, those with chronic illnesses, etc, to be vaccinated earlier than usual.  Patience is a virtue!

As the Prime Minister and others were reported saying yesterday "Be kind."  The world is dealing with a pandemic, this is the new "normal," and we all need to think of others and prepare for any eventually, not easy, but stockpiling toilet paper is not the solution, after all we have the Kapiti Observer delivered free each week😉

A baby cot quilt completed in January.

As seen in  the  excellent quilt store in Mt Maunganui

Time to plant my usual veges ready for winter greens before the promised rain arrives.

Blogging!

To blog or not to blog?  I deleted many posts some years back which now I regret.  It is a great form of diary record and a chance to keep any skill in expression going.  I now wonder if I will make a concerted effort to return.

It is nearly 4 months since I left my job of 17 years, and an industry I had worked in for 43 years.  I am not working, not retired though.  I have intentions of applying some enthusiasm to looking for some sort of paid work next year.

The four months has flown by, the house is the tidiest it has been since we moved here seven years ago, which in turn brings it own problem.  It is starting to look tatty and needing some interior decoration, I guess that happens after ten years, the age of the house.  Rather like our flag that needs replacing, however, we will wait for the serious spring winds to disappear.

I have spent a lot of time in blog land.  Whether it be reading about peoples' frugal pursuits, quilting or gardening and more.  The sharing of passions, or just everyday live, is special and the quick glimpses shown in Instagram or Pinterest are boring in comparison.

It has been great having a designated sewing room and I spend many hours sewing and listening to the radio.  We have a wonderful non commercial station and many longer format items give me something to ponder. 

The garden is still a work in progress....some patches are garden tour worthy but mostly it is still a jungle.  Now the weather has settled the intention is to work harder in it, though I have two trips away before Christmas.

There is a lot of time to just "be", something I forgot was possible after years of the two hour plus commute and long days in office.  The tui, quail, and pukekos pop over the fence from the lifestyle block next door and are fun to just watch.  Of course Boris is asleep when this happens!

It has been two years!

Two years since I last blogged!  I have not stopped reading blogs, they are still my favourite read but no writing here by me, just the odd Instagram entry.  I expect my blog could do with a more modern format, though I am not sure I can even remember how to upload a picture.

No doubt a lot has happened in those two years but the most dramatic happened just over a week ago when I resigned from my job just one month into 18 years at that company.  I loved the work, but sadly there are multiple other reasons why it was not going to be the job to see me to retiring age. 

We have just returned from a week in the South Island and are now battling some sort of Southern bug, probably not helped by the 5C days, howling gales and rain we encountered.  The locals assured us it had only turned bad the week we arrived.

There was lots of fun family time, filling in the gaps that the most night Skype sessions don't quite cover and food galore, amazing food.

We also stayed at one of my other favourite places, Kaka Point in the Caitlins.

Time to catch up with some chores and investigate a blog revamp!

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.