CRAFT GROUP CHRISTMAS LUNCH

YEP, I slept in!

But I am up now, and rearing to go.

I'm going to spend a bit of time in Crabby Quarters cutting out more strips for more Blue Wave Runners.

I  want to have at least two more ready for next Saturday's market. 

It is our Craft Group's Christmas lunch today, so I am being picked up at 11 am by one of the village ladies.  Car pooling today, which is really nice.

After that I'll continue working on cutting out strips, until I feel I've got enough colours ready to go.

ABOVE:  Yesterday afternoon ... these kids enjoying keeping cool in their paddle pools.  It certainly was a hot day.  I'm bloody tempted to get myself a paddle pool as well.  I wonder if Coco would enjoy it too?

Hmmm.

ABOVE:  The red Table Topper on 'Hs' dining table, she also bought a small blue/teal/green runner for her coffee table.  She was so happy with her choices yesterday.  

Right, I'm off to do some work. Catch ya later.

1.35 pm, and I'm just in from our lunch, which was very nice.

Lot's of happy chatting going on, and very yummy food.

Now though, I'm straight back into the sewing room to continue making wave runners.  

I've got one half laid out, so maybe in an hour or so I will be onto the sewing part.

GREAT NEWS!  Stew has a date for his knee replacement surgery.

March the 5th, at Braemar Hospital here in Hamilton.

Just three months to wait, which is excellent.

I'm sure I can keep myself from throttling him until then.  😂😅😏

There's three options to get this operation done.

1.  Have private health Insurance and get it done privately and it doesn't cost you much at all.

We had health insurance years ago, but Stew was made redundant for a year and that was one of the first things that had to go.

Once he was re-employed, the health insurance was prohibitive because we (by then) had some health issues, which made it too expensive.  It is STILL too expensive given our health issues.

2.  Go on the public waiting list, which would take anything from 18 months - two YEARS.  And even then it wasn't a given he would get it done.

3.  Pay for it ourselves, and get it done privately.  Which is what we are doing.  It is a HUGE HUGE expense, only made possible because we downsized and have some savings.

As for me not being a 'Crabby Nurse' while caring for Stew during his recovery... anyone can come and give me relief ... ANYTIME you want.   😂  Home baking, meals etc happily accepted!  

'Baby sitting' the man so I can go out shopping also accepted.   "JOKING"  ON THE BABY SITTING.  Stew just took exception to that. lol

10.39 pm, end of the day.  I'm ready for bed, catch ya tomorrow.

A NEW TO US MARKET TODAY

 

Today we are off to a market we have not been to before.

ABOVE:  It's here in Hamilton, being the Hamilton Farmers Market, combined with  Christmas Craft stalls 'on the side'.  I think they do it every year?  Dunno.

All I know is we got invited to attend, so attend we shall.

ABOVE: "No Mum, I did not go outside and eat grass" ... said no Coco ever.

Funny how the 'evidence' tells a different story.

And with that little funny... we are off to market.

We are expecting Steve, Bex and the children to visit us at this one too, which will be lovely.

ABOVE: Sunrise at Claudelands Showgrounds.

ABOVE: We got to watch the Hamilton balloon go up too.

ABOVE: Phew... for some reason set up took us way longer than usual. But we got there eventually.  

It's now 8.11 am and people are slowly arriving...

10.23 am and wow. We are doing very well today. Selling across the board too. 

And 2 returning customers from other markets we've been to as well. And one lady is coming to our market next weekend to get another runner,  cos she ran outta money buying some today. Lol. 

ABOVE: A couple of lovely tourists, visiting New Zealand for 10 days, and they made a bee line for that runner!  They were lucky, because I'd already sold the other big Blue Wave Runner.

They were thrilled with it, and took a photo of me with it too.  😊

ABOVE: The kids did indeed visit us, which was so nice.  I love it when family visit us at a market.

Today's sales total is not over yet... I have to take three square table toppers down to a lady who lives in our village, as she couldn't make up her mind which one would suit her dining room table.  I will take them down for her to see them on her table later on this afternoon, once it's cooled down a bit.

Already, without the added sale this afternoon, today's market was VERY, VERY GOOD!

We didn't expect it to be as profitable as it was tbh.  We are really happy, it makes getting up at 5.30 am worth it. 

4.10 pm, and we've been out to Spotlight so I could buy more BLUE fabric!  Just for the sashings and bindings of Blue Wave Runners, that obviously I need to make over the next few days.  Then we went over to Steve 'n' Bexs and brought home all my batting, now that I have a shelf for it.

Now... relax for a little while, before I head down to see my neighbour who wants a table topper.

 

I didn't tell you about the guy who turned up at the market JUST before it closed, and did most of his Christmas shopping at our stall.   He was looking and looking, counting on his fingers how many things he wanted, then BOOM.  Spent a considerable amount of money, and left a very happy man.  I like people like that, who don't dick around,  and just go for it!

6.36 pm, and we went out for dinner.  TACO BELL in Hamilton East of course!

We ordered, then took our dinner down to Parana Park, and sat and enjoyed watching the river flow by, and kids jumping off the jetty's.

ABOVE: Taco Bell staff were handing out free key chains... mine is the 'I 💙TACO BELL' and Stew's is the FIRE! one.   

Now that we are finally home for the rest of the day/evening, time to just relax.

We will sleep well tonight, it's been a stinking hot, busy day.

Might just sign off now, cos I'm not doing another thing!

A FREE DAY ... WHATEVER THAT IS!

 

Today we don't have a market... but we do tomorrow.

So, let's make the most of today.

We don't really have any plans, we'll just potter.  I will try and get the last wave runner finished, so I can take it and the others to market tomorrow.

Stew will go and do his grocery shop (read buy Diet Coke lol).

Then we will probably go somewhere nice for lunch.

Late yesterday afternoon, our village was visited by a 'Santa Parade' of Vintage cars, music and carols, and Santa etc.

ABOVE: There were quite a few old cars!  The Anglia made me smile so much though.

We had an Anglia when I was around 10 years old.  My Mum loved that little car. 

Then one night Dad came home from the pub and told her it was getting picked up the next morning, cos he had SWAPPED it for a ten foot aluminium dinghy!!!!

My Mum was outraged, and screamed at him:  "Am I supposed to damn well ROW down the road to the supermarket then?"

I can still hear them laughing about it afterwards.  Dad bought her a new car the next day ... so crisis averted.

The ten foot aluminium dinghy was our first 'boat'... fairly quickly followed by the first of quite a few bigger and 'better' boats.

Funny how just seeing that little Anglia yesterday brought back some happy memories of my childhood.

ABOVE: Last night my friends and I did a Christmas Gift swap... and I ended up with a lovely notebook, with that on the cover.   'D' said she hoped I got it, as she thought it was perfect for me!  lol  She's not wrong.  

Now back to today... I'm going to do the housework, then head into Crabby Quarters to get that last runner done.

Oh and before I forget, Stew tried out the new sprinkler last night while I was out.  He said it is REALLY great, and covers a big area in one go.  That's great.  I will put it on the front lawn tonight, as he did the back lawn and pots last night.

12.30 pm, and Stew and I have been working all morning.  Me on the last runner for now, and Stew's done the shopping and is now putting a shelf on the sewing room wall for my batting.

ABOVE: And that's IT for runners for the time being.  I should have enough to cover the next few markets.

Stew has almost finished making the batting shelf, then we will head out to lunch.

ABOVE:  And there ya go, a shelf for me batting.  And I can probably hang stuff from under it too.  Excellent, thanks Darling.

LUNCHTIME I do believe.

ABOVE: Stew and I are creatures of habit.  We went to Foundation  and had Calamari, followed by a pizza for our 'dinner' today.  Yes, we have our main meal at lunchtime.

After that, we went to MADE in Hamilton East.

I wanted to get a little something for a friend.

ABOVE:  WOW!  We didn't know TACO BELL was now in Hamilton.  How neat, we don't have to go out to Taupiri anymore.

ABOVE: Stew carrying the bags out of 'What's Up Buttercup', which is a lovely gift shop at MADE.

ABOVE:  Got home around 3.30 and I decided to whip up another little runner, cos well... I wanted to.  So there it is, a little tree runner.  A easy and simple one Dogstars!!!

It is now 5.50 pm, and I'm totally done for the day, and we still have to pack the car for market tomorrow.  Luckily that actually doesn't take us long, we have it down to a fine art.

9.52 pm, and we've packed the car, watered the lawns and pots, watched a stupid movie and now... off to bed.

We have a 5.30 am start in the morning.  Oh yaaa.

TAKING THE SPRINKLER BACK, AND A CHRISTMAS GET TOGETHER IN CAMBRIDGE

 

I learnt something new last night.  Not all sprinklers connect and work with Gardena hoses.

The sprinkler I bought yesterday certainly does not work with our hose.  So I shall be returning it today, and going to Mitre 10 for a Gardena Sprinkler.  

I don't want our lawns to die off over summer.  When we first looked at this home in around March, the lawns were DEAD.  Like crispy, crunchy dried off hay.

When we finally moved in, the gardening team had done lots of work to get the lawns pretty and green again, and I plan on keeping them that way.

So, yeah, a sprinkler at night is essential. Same with all the pots, they will get sprinkled too.

There will come a period where sprinklers are banned, it always happens over summer.  So that's when I'll just do it by hand, which is allowed.

Moving on, once I'm home I'll finish off the latest (# 4), Wave Runner.  It is looking STUNNING with blue sashings and binding.  I'm not sure if I have done a wave runner with the blue accents before?  Possibly.

Either way, I will be making more, cos OMG it's going to be so lovely.  I can't wait to show you.

This evening I am going over to Cambridge for a Christmas Get Together with a few friends from our small Card Group.  I'm looking forward to that.  I better remember to wrap my 'Mystery Gift', and sort out a plate to take too.

1.30 pm.  I have been a bit busy so far today.

First up I took the cheap and nasty sprinkler back... the lady at The Warehouse pointed out it was already rusting!  As I'd only bought it yesterday, she happily refunded my money.

Then I went to Mitre 10 and bought this:

ABOVE:  You get what you pay for, and this sprinkler cost WAY more than the first edition!  It looks complicated, for a sprinkler.

BTW, we pay our own water rates, so if I choose to have a sprinkler on, it's perfectly fine.

After shopping, I grabbed some food and went over to Steve 'n' Bex's, where I spent a little while with Bex, Lily and Dante.  Archer is still in school, he finishes on Monday.

I grabbed some more of my batting, which they are storing for me, and came home and sewed till now.

ABOVE: This runner is now finished, and it's a rather BIG one.  Hopefully someone wants a big one.  I love it in blue too.

Once I've had a bit of a break, I'll head back into Crabby Quarters and start a smaller blue wave runner.

Then get ready to go to Cambridge later on.

Well it's now 5 pm, and I've stopped sewing for the day, I'm knackered to  be honest.

The next blue wave runner is not small ... it's ended up being a long one.  But not too wide.

I've wrapped up the mystery gift for tonight, sorted out an easy plate (chocolates) and now just have to get myself ready.

But first I'm having a little break.

DOGSTARS: I don't do 'easy, or simple' runners.  I do ones that I love, and would want for myself.   And I take pride in how they look.  I really enjoy people seeing them and going WOW!

It makes me smile.

9.54 pm, safely home after enjoying a lovely evening with my Cambridge girlfriends.  We played cards, had snacks and exchanged gifts.

Now that I'm home, it's time to head off to bed very soon.

Thank goodness it's not too hot tonight.

GOT ME SEWING GROOVE BACK, AND NO MOSAICS TODAY

 

Yesterday finished on a bit of a high.  Stew's operation is on the agenda, and I got three runners done in two days.

ABOVE:  I am really happy with these three, all different sizes, should suit someone or other.

Today instead of going to mosaics, I am staying home.  Because our new fridge is getting delivered 'sometime' between 9 and 4 pm.  Shame they can't narrow the time frame down more, but it is what it is.

I'm just happy we are getting it so quickly... I can organise the food and drinks by the end of the day.  Yaaaa.

While I wait for that to arrive, I might just make another runner.  Might at well have a few up me sleeve... ha ha, like I don't already have enough?

I am also expecting a visit from two ladies here in the village, who want bowl cosy's for Christmas Presents.  My name is certainly getting around this village.  😊  Doing the little village market got my name and products talked about in a positive way.  That's nice.

ABOVE:  My job last night, pinning up all the strips I'm working with right now.  It makes it so much easier to see them, rather than fishing around in a box full.

12.25 pm, and I've had to stop making the 4th Wave Runner as I need to buy blue fabric for the sashing and bindings.  

And I can't go out until the fridge is delivered.  

I JUST got a phone call ... the fridge will be here in 15-20 minutes.  Yaaa.

ABOVE: Done and dusted.  Now I can pop out and get the blue fabric I need to finish off that runner.

My neighbours are all home, windows and doors wide open... cos it's another stinking hot day.  And virtually NO WIND... I'm not looking forward to walking down to me car in this heat.

3.09 pm and I'm home.

OMG it was so hot in my car when I got in it, I nearly expired on the spot!  The steering wheel was BOILING to the touch, I had to drive using a cloth under my hands until the aircon kicked in and cooled it down.

I'm happy to say I got just about everything on my substantial list, not just fabrics.  A sprinkler for the lawns (an me), more clips for market,  hand wash and power point thingees.

AND a reflector screen for my cars windscreen.

That should stop it being quite so hot?  I also parked my car in a different spot, so hoping it gets more shade, at least in the morning.

ABOVE: When I arrived home, there was a lady about to knock on my front door.  A Real Estate lady, handing out Christmas cheer and a little calendar.  She sells the majority of homes in our village.  The picture of her needs updating, cos that one has to be 20+ years old!  😂😉

She came inside and we had a lovely old chat, she's a sewer, so was very interested in my sewing room/fabrics/machine/what I make, bla bla bla.

Now she's left, and I've eaten two of her Tarts!  lol

Stew arrived home at 4.45 pm, and I shooed him off to the pub.  I'll walk up later and pick him and the car up.  No visit to the kids this evening, they have other plans.

So I'm home, just hanging out in front of me fan.  I have done the fridge shift around, all the drinks and excess cheeses, etc are now back in the garage in a fridge, and we have plenty of room in the kitchen fridge for day-to-day food again.

I'm happy about that.  I can now get stuff without having to worry I won't have fridge room for it.

8.04 pm, and we are just in from the pub.  It was a nice little walk for me to get up there, have a quick chat with the regulars, before bringing Stew home.

Now we get to relax till bedtime.

Catch ya tomorrow.