COFFEE AND A KID

 

I shall be off to Coffee & Chat this morning, having missed it last week.  I wonder if there is any gossip?  lol

After that I shall come home in time for a visit from our granddaughter Emily.

It's school holidays, so she's going to come and hang out with her Grandma.  Nice.

ABOVE:  I visited the village vege gardens yesterday afternoon, to check how 'my' beetroot plants were doing.  Seems they are doing very well, and need thinning.  The village gardener will do that I'm sure.

ABOVE: There is now a new Gardening Club here in the village, so they were inspecting the vege patch too.

Not a group I shall be joining, I'm really not into gardening.  Nice to look at, not to weed.

ABOVE: We bought one metal bee from Akaroa while down south, the two extra ones we ordered afterwards arrived late yesterday afternoon.  Now I have to find somewhere inside to put them... on a wall.

I don't want them outside, they will weather too fast being small.

I have an inkling of where to put them.

Maybe Emily can help me do that.

My big order of Batting from Spotlight should be arriving today as well... that's exciting.  I have ordered enough to last me the rest of the year (I hope).

ONWARD...

ABOVE:  This is the next runner I have on the work table.  I know it's another green one, but seriously, that's what sells.  Blues and Greens primarily.

I have a pink one.... it's been in my stash for about 3 years.  So no, I won't be making any more.  Same with Brown, not a good seller.

I am thinking of making one in orange's.  Bit of a risk as I've never made an orange one before.  Could be interesting.

ABOVE: Well the batting arrived at 8.34 am, so that's great.  I don't have to hang around all day waiting for it.  NZ Post are damn fantastic with their deliveries. They email you when they pick up your parcel, let you know the date it's expected to arrive, then another update when it's actually on it's way to your home.  You can't ask for better than that. 

It's a bit wet today.  Not super cold, though I do have the heat pump on.  I am no longer suffering in a cold, damp house.  It's not good for our health to be freezing INSIDE.  I should have listened to EVERYONE much sooner eh?  😖😏

I'm now going to try and wrap that batting up again, so it can be stored at Steve 'n' Bex's home.  There is NOWHERE here for it.  I might even cut it into more manageable pieces.

FEELING DESPONDENT

 

I'm feeling a bit despondent about markets right now.  Wondering if it will ever pick up again.  I keep spending money on fabrics, batting, threads and lets not forget the new machine... with very little return.

Yesterday I was thinking, why do we keep doing this?  Should we stop?

Then I remember all the money invested and sitting in Crabby Quarters.

AND, what would I do with my life if I wasn't making my runners etc?

I wouldn't have a life, I've not done anything else for years now. 

At some point, we will stop, but I hate to think it will be sooner, rather than later.

So yeah, right now I'm feeling quite depressed.

Yesterday we sold that cute small green Braid Runner that I finished on Saturday.  I am going to make 4-6 more in that size over the coming week, all going well.  Starting today.

It's craft day here in the village, so I'll gather up all I need and head down there mid morning.  Liz and Loretta will be there, so I'll have company.

Misery likes company.

I read this and liked it:

UNSPOKEN RULES OF A GEN-X WOMAN...

1. Our tolerance for stupid people left the building with our hormones.

2. People who chew too loud should eat somewhere else ... for their own safety.

3. "No" is a complete sentence.

4. If we sit down after 8 pm, it's game over.

5. Once the bra comes off, we're not leaving the house.

6. If it's not written down, it doesn't exist.

7. Trust your gut.  It's been right for decades.

8. Comfort wins over fashion every time.

9. Tweezers in the car are a necessity.

10.  Life's too short to GAF what others think.

Turns out one of the best parts of getting older is realising most of the rules were made up anyway.

STEW can attest to #2. 100%. 

HE NEEDS TO BE CAREFUL, VERY CAREFUL.

ONWARD...

3 pm!  All I can say is, I've been busy.

I went to the pharmacy and picked up more medications, then came home and packed my craft room trolley, and off I went to Craft Group.

ABOVE: This trolley has proven so handy!  I love it.

ABOVE:  I went down early to craft group, and spent a very happy 3 hours with Liz and Loretta, until the other ladies arrived at 1 pm.  In all, I spent 5 hours down there.  It was so nice and warm too.  We've had the most gorgeous day here, sunshine and not very cold at all.

Oh yeah, I got two braid runners sewn up and ready for quilting/binding.  I would have got 3 done, but my mouth...  yakking.  😂😅

Now I'm home, and will unpack the trolley at some point.

Re: my mood.  I've yakked with the ladies at craft group, and taken on board what they (and you) have said.

Because I love sewing, and get such a thrill when I finish each and every runner, I shall just keep on making them!  If I die with 52,000 runners still unsold, Stew, or whoever in the family is able, can either continue selling them, or just gift them away.  I don't care.    Same with all my fabrics/machines etc.  Once I'm gone, it won't matter to me.

Though I do hope the fabric and machines find nice homes.

NOT that I'm thinking of kicking the bucket yet, right?  The thing is, you just never know what's around the corner. 

Right, enough of that.  I'll go and unpack my trolley now.    

9.26 pm and it's time to sign off for the day.  It's been a nice, productive day, with a relaxing evening tacked onto the end.

Catch ya tomorrow.

CAMBRIDGE TRASH 'N' TREASURE IN JULY

 

Well as predicted, it is a bloody freezing start to the day.

I doubt I will even feel one iota 'warm' while we are at market today.

Even with all my layers on, I just know I'm going to be miserable.

July is the coldest month of the year, so I can't wait for it to be over.

The only 'GOOD' thing about today?  The sun is going to be shining, so we might get a good amount of people coming to the market.  We might even make a sale or two?

Bex is also going to be at this market, so that will be nice.  She can set up next to us hopefully, like last month.

Right, time to get a move on... I've got several layers to get on, before we get out of here.

ONWARD...

Something I forgot to yak about yesterday...

My new pyjama pants were quite long, and in bed they rode up to about my knees, which was bloody annoying as F.

So I did something about it.

ABOVE:  I stitched the bottom edges closed.  Works perfectly to keep them down in bed!  And they are still perfectly comfortable to wear.  Like having socks on when I'm walking around in them.  lol   Has anyone else done this?

ABOVE: Our windscreen.  

ABOVE: 8.03... all ready for the day.

ABOVE: Bex made her stall sign.

It's pretty neat.

ABOVE: And she is all set up as well. Frost underfoot. Might take a while to go. 

2 pm, and we are home.

The market went OK, but very slow sales for us.  Bex did very, very well I'm so happy to say.

Once the frost went, we had a beautiful, sunny day.

ABOVE: The only cloud in the sky for ages.  I thought it looked cute.

Now we are home, and I'm going to get warmed up.  I might even get into bed.  I woke at 3.34 am this morning, and that was it for me.

So I am freakin' tired as.

I had a nap for about an hour, I'm all warmed up again now.

Stew and I are going out for dinner, kinda like a pick me up after a shitty day.

ABOVE: Bubbles to cheer me up as well.

ABOVE:  Dinner at our favourite Indian Restaurant, and it was delicious as per usual.

I had Butter Lamb and Stew had Chicken Tikka Masala.

Once home, we blobbed out for a couple of hours in front of the telly.

Off to bed now, catch ya tomorrow.

MARKET PREP, AND FRIGGIN RUGBY

 

There was no sewing done yesterday, even though it was on my agenda.

I just didn't  have the energy to do it.

So, maybe today I will get that second small Braid Runner made.

We have the Cambridge Trash 'n' Treasure market tomorrow, and it's going to be bitterly cold.  But not wet.  I will just have to put on many layers and walk and sit around like a mummy.  😂

While I sew, I presume Stew will watch the tv, or play SUDOKU on his phone.  He does that ALL.  THE.  TIME.  This afternoon he is going to the pub to join his mates, and watch the rugby.  Today's game is the All Blacks vs. Italy.

We 'should' win, but you never know.

Once Stew gets home from the rugby, we shall get everything ready for market, and pack the car. 

ONWARD...

Nice one... we had a fairly heavy frost this morning, and there will be another one tomorrow.

I'm already crying.

lol

So we stayed in bed till almost 9 this morning, as it was just nicer there.  When we got up, the heat pump was turned on immediately.

I also turned the little fan heater on in Crabby Quarters, as I was heading into there pretty much straight away.

ABOVE: And there's what I got done in just over 2 hours.  It's another small Braid Runner, suitable for a coffee table, small table, etc.  I love the greens.

It is now 11.20 and shortly I will make Stew and I our lunch.  Which will be our 'dinner'.  Probably some sort of meat patty and veges.

7.04 pm.  What a lovely day!  Sunshine.  Warm home.  Happy hubby at the pub watching Rugby with his mates.  

Only person unhappy?  Coco.  She is pissed Stew's not home.  She lives to sleep on his lap.

I've just seen the weather forecast for tomorrow.

-1 degree first thing in the morning, going up to a possible 12 degrees.  So as I thought, it's going to be a banging frost.

I've already laid out my thermals for the morning, Stew has too.  

The car is packed.  I think we have everything we need.  

So, that's it for the day, catch ya tomorrow.

LESSON LEARNT

 

On Monday, when I fell and hurt my knees, we ended up at the Akaroa Pharmacy.  The pharmacist dressed my knees ... and all I could think of was "FUCK, I haven't shaved my legs in months!"

And yep, the hair on my legs was LONG.  Like so long I was horribly embarrassed.

LESSON LEARNT.

Never stop shaving your legs, even in winter.  You never know when you might end up being ashamed of your hairy legs!

So, this morning I am going to shave my legs, that will take a little while. 😂😅😖

While I do that, Stew will do the 'weekend' grocery shop.

And after that we shall probably go out for lunch.

I was curious about how heavy my fabric haul from the South Island was?  It was SEVEN KILOS!  I'm damn lucky we packed light, because our bags were both JUST UNDER the allowed weight on our flight home.

I have not put that fabric away yet, that will be another job for later on today.

There's another smaller Braid Runner laid out on the work table, so I will try and get that sewn up in time for Sunday's market, either today or tomorrow.

ONWARD...

11.59 and we are sitting down at The Foundation, The Base, waiting for lunch. 

I just ordered some new glasses, progressives for wearing out and about. I have two pairs of glasses already,  one is for distance/driving, and the other is for resding/computer.  I decided while we were away having just one pair would be so much easier than having to keep changing glasses. 

I hope I like progressives. I had them before, many years ago. But my memory of them is long gone.

I got all the new fabrics away this morning, legs deforested, and Stew got the groceries in. So tick tick.

ABOVE:  Lunch, we both had the Lamb Sandwich, which was so lovely.  I would be happy to just have half a bun with the mint jelly on it, cos that's the part I love the most.  It is served with chunky fries, but I couldn't eat mine, they will be for Stew's dinner.  I also didn't eat all the bun, it's just too big.  Fine if you have a huge appetite!

After lunch we visited Steve and the boys, Bex and Lily were at the zoo with a girlfriend.

Home now, and looking forward to a quiet afternoon.  The sun is out, so nice to see it after 4 days of cloud, fog and rain in Christchurch.  And it is a bit warmer here today too.

7 pm, and the afternoon/evening has gone exactly as planned.  Relaxed.

Time to sign off for the day. 

Catch ya tomorrow.

THURSDAY, LEAVING CHRISTCHURCH

 

It's an early start for us today.

Up at 6, and out of here by 6.30.

Stew is going to drop me and the bags off at the airport, before returning the rental car.  He will get the shuttle back to the airport.

Our flight, all going well, leaves shortly after 9, so we should land by around 10.15.

Then it will be HOME TIME... and while our trip away has been fun, it's also been tiring.

All I can think of right now is getting home and relaxing.

Unpacking will happen much later on today.

ABOVE: A couple of photos I missed putting up yesterday. Our dirty lunch dishes from PASTA PASTA.  I thought there were neat, having little messages on the bottom of them.   The restaurant owner was wearing a t-shirt with PASTA PASTA printed on it, and I asked him if they were selling them?

He said no, as they had only been open 3 months.  I told him we were coming back next year and I wanted one!  I wonder if he will get any printed off for sale?  😂

And that's enough waffling from me, I really need to get a move on, the plane waits for no one.

ONWARD...

ABOVE: Wet and dark, heading out to the airport.  I can now say with 100% accuracy... we did not see the sun at all while in the South Island! 

Here's hoping we get home to sunshine. 

Our flight doesn't leave for 2 hours yet, so we have time for a leisurely breakfast here in the terminal.

8.40 am and its nearly time to board our plane.

My carry on bag got flagged at security and we were pulled aside for questions. The security officer was looking VERY puzzled about the contents of my bag. Lol. I'll show you what caused the fuss once we are home.

9.34 am and just our luck. We are sitting on the plane and our departure is now delayed due to the baggage loading machine being broken. So we have to wait for another machine to arrive. Expected delay is around half an hour, on top of the 15 minute delay we have had already.  🫩  

We arrived back in Hamilton with no trouble or rough weather, which was expected.  So happy it didn't happen.

A few of the trip home photos:

ABOVE: Sitting on the tarmac, watching the sun try to peep through. It gave up.

ABOVE: Snow topped ranges west of Hanmer Springs.

ABOVE: The weather wasn't that conducive of taking photos... this one was of some snow capped ranges  near Nelson.

We really didn't seem much snow at all.

ABOVE: Kawhia Harbour, and our plane was descending into Hamilton by then.

The flight was smooth, we arrived about 1 and a half hours late at the end of the day.

We have already done most of the unpacking.  Stew is getting ready to head into an important meeting at work that he can't miss, then once he's home, I'll be taking him to the pub.

Not sure if I will go to the pub tonight, I'll see how I feel later.

ABOVE: THESE were what caused the fuss at security!  They couldn't make out what the hell they were, so I had to explain.  The security officer said she thought we had a actual OCTOPUS in my bag.  😂😅

We got both those in Akaroa... and we have ordered two more of the metal bees, they should arrive in a few days.

ABOVE: The larger rock was the one we got in Akaroa, which cost me my knees.  The smaller one is from the Christchurch Port Hills.

ABOVE: The fabric stash from three different shops.  Fabric weighs a lot, and with all that, and the few other things we bought (and rocks), our suitcases were almost at capacity weight.  We just squeaked in.

ABOVE: Another purchase from Akaroa, I have always wanted one of these vases.  It's so gorgeous!

We bought a few other things, but they are for gifts, so can't show them.

It is now 1.20 pm, and we have finished unpacking, and putting stuff away.  Time to relax.  Well, for me anyway.  As I said, Stew has a work meeting soon.

7.42 pm, and tonight is the first time Stew has walked to the pub, and will be walking home again!   This is what I wanted when we moved here, not having to take him up there and then picking him up again IF I didn't feel like it.

So, it's taken 14 months, but here we are.

I stayed home and did a few jobs, did a big Facebook update and just relaxed.

I'm hoping we both get a good night's sleep tonight, as last night was awful.  Worrying about sleeping in and missing the plane I presume.

Right, that's me for the day.  

Catch ya tomorrow.

WEDNESDAY IN CHRISTCHURCH... ASHBURTON BOUND

 

Good morning, another wet Canterbury day is ahead of us.

First up...

ABOVE:  My right knee is still a bit of a mess.  Hopefully it will stop oozing soon.  Stew's knee?  Is holding up really well to our ventures.  

ABOVE: These were the three pieces of fabric I got at the first fabric shop yesterday.  

ABOVE: And these were the fabrics I got at Sew & Co.  I was pretty happy with this lot.

Someone mentioned a fabric shop further south of Christchurch, in Ashburton.  As it's only an hour or so away, we are going down there this morning.

After that, we plan on coming back, jumping on the tram and doing the city circuit.

So, that should take up the majority of the day.

Catch ya later.

ONWARD...

10.54 am.

ASHBURTON... and we are just leaving the quilt shop. What a shop! It's a small cottage converted into a shop. When we arrived it was JAM PACKED with ladies, no room to move! They were from Lincoln, on a day trip to quilt shops. 

So we stood back until they left, then had a look around.

The rooms were so full of fabrics, notions, patterns etc, it was almost impossible to see everything.  PHOTOS LATER.

ABOVE: I managed to find a bit of fabric. The shop owners taste in fabric was not really my taste, so I was surprised I did find some to buy.

But not too much.

It is now 11 am and we are heading back to Christchurch for lunch, then tram tripping.

ABOVE:  I think this was us going over the Rakaia River.  The bridge was almost exactly the same as the bridge in Bulls (Manawatu), but way, way longer.

ABOVE:  Annies Country Quilt Shop in Ashburton, bursting at the seams with ladies!

ABOVE: A gorgeous wood burning heater in the shop.

ABOVE: There were 4-5 small rooms in the shop, and how you could find anything in there was beyond me!  Just so much crammed in there.

ABOVE: the owner of the shop collects ... egg beaters!  I've never seen a collection of those before.

ABOVE: We went to PASTA PASTA again for lunch today, because the food is soooo good.  Stew had to eat half my lunch. The owner recognised us... and my jacket.

My jacket gets SO MANY comments, both men and women ask me where I got it, say how lovely it is etc.

One man tried to swap it for fabric yesterday!!!

I think he was joking.  Not too sure.

His wife certainly wanted my jacket.

ABOVE: On the tram, which was packed!

ABOVE: We got off at Regent Street... walked up and down, then got back on the tram.  It was a very pretty street.

ABOVE: Got off again at the Bridge of Remembrance.

I wondered what the guys (Stew included), were looking at?

 

ABOVE: EELS.  Huge eels all along the river bank, looking for a free feed.

ABOVE X'S 3:  The Bridge Of Remembrance. 

ABOVE: Who said "Don't go to Ballantynes"?  We went.

We had a delightful afternoon tea there...

ABOVE:  I bought some 'farts'.

ABOVE: In the downstairs Tea Shop.  So pretty, and lovely service.  Not that pricey either.

ABOVE: And again, Stew had to eat half my food, this time it was a delicious Apple Crumble Cheesecake.  He had an Afghan biscuit as well.

ABOVE:  I bought these two gorgeous dishes in Ballantynes.

ABOVE: We talked with the storeman about how we'd been told Ballantynes was far to expensive to go into.  He said not EVERYTHING was very expensive, but YES, some stuff was.

ABOVE: In the menswear department, Stew spied this lovely blue winter jacket.

ABOVE: And then we saw the price.  Yep, it stayed in the shop!

After all that, we came back to the motel.  I'm exhausted.

Time to lie on the bed and relax.

In a couple of hours I will sort out our luggage, in readiness for our early start in the morning.

4.45 pm and I am signing off REALLY EARLY today, as I want to get our packing done, and not have to worry about anything else.

Catch you all tomorrow.