BIT OF THIS AND THAT

On Friday, while in Tauranga we visited the Bernina shop, and I bought some fabric.

One (on a bolt) appealed to me, so I got some.

Now, most fabric on a bolt is what you see...

ABOVE: That's what I could see on the bolt.  That is what I thought I was buying.

I didn't see the lady roll it out and cut it, as I was in the bathroom.

IF I HAD, I probably wouldn't have bought it, as this is what it ACTUALLY looks like:

ABOVE:  NOT exactly what I thought I was getting!

I was going to ring them and ask if I could bring it back, because I couldn't imagine using it for anything.

But, give me long enough... and I reckon I can use it for runners.

Live and learn though, bloody well check out what might be hiding behind the folds.

Oh and FYI... Bernina Tauranga's prices are some of the highest I've seen anywhere in New Zealand!

Like the price per metre just keeps creeping up and up!

In Bernina Tauranga, most fabric is $33.80 a metre.  Just so ya know.

Happy happy!  I got a parcel from SPARKING MERLOT (Aussy friend) on SUNDAY.

Yep, our posties are working every day of the week right now, to get all the parcels delivered after a huge backlog thanks to lockdowns.

ABOVE:  Bex bounced on these!  She is going to make them up for the boys.

ABOVE: Cat fabric.  Yes, I know I'm making cat runners... doesn't mean I like cats like you SPARKLING!  Freakin' cats.  That fabric screams some sort of friggin cat runner I suppose.  

ABOVE:  SPARKLING makes runners too! Only she weaves hers.  She sent me this one... it's gorgeous, I love it.

Thank you so much Chick.

link to SPARKING'S blog:  https://sparklingmerlot.blogspot.com/

Go visit her, ta.

OMICROM

 Yep.  Hold ya breath.

ABOVE:  About a week ago Lacy jumped off the woodpile on the farm, caught her leg on a piece of wood, landed badly.  Hurt her knee.

Put up with the pain for a week, then finally went to A & E.  Several x-rays later she was told she'd done some serious ligament damage, if not more.

Now?  Has to see an orthopaedic surgeon.  Wonder how long that will take?

For now, she's wearing a knee brace, and is on crutches.

So, what am I doing today?  I will do a bit of sewing, but not all day.  I will work till lunchtime, then come in and put me feet up.

Summer plays havoc with my fluid retention, so best I take a bit more care over the next few months.

8.30 am: I sent an email to the asphalt company yesterday, asking for confirmation of when they were doing our driveway?

Bearing in mind she said she'd confirm the date last Friday, but didn't.

Well I heard from her bright and early this morning.

Seems a couple of men will be around today to sweep the loose stones etc off the driveway and then look to seal on Friday.

Ummm, what does 'look to seal' mean?  Is that a definite, or a maybe?

I have put my car out on the road, so it's not in the way.  Here's hoping they turn up.  It's raining!  So welcome, means I don't have to water the pots outside, or top up the pond.

I've just had me breakfast/lunch.  Muesli with fruit.  That should keep me going all day.

It's now 12.10 pm and I have been a busy girl.

I had to get more black backing fabric from Spotlight, so off I went.

Did that in record time, bought a few Christmas things too.

Was gobsmacked to get up to checkout to find the fabric was reduced HEAVILY, and my bill was like, HALF what I was expecting!  Gosh I sure have some luck with bargains.

Got home, put that lot away and decided to clear the driveway of overhanging vegetation and all the pots and bins.

ABOVE:  I'm really happy with how much I got done!  The asphalt contractors now have one less job to do.

ABOVE:  Well, actually two less jobs cos I moved everything off the driveway and put it on the concrete slab over there.

Except ONE big pot.  I couldn't move him.  The men can do that one.

ABOVE: This is the messy corner outside my sewing room.  The contractor said he would tidy it up with asphalt.  Should look way better once it's done.

ABOVE:  JUST in case you are wondering why we are re-sealing the driveway... try walking on those loose stones!  And every time you drive over them and into the garage, you bring stones inside the garage as well.  And then they get traipsed all around the house on the bottom of shoes too.

NOT nice to stand on in the garage or house I can assure you.

So, that's a good job done.  Now I wait to see if the guys turn up to sweep the driveway?

I found a long worm and a snail while 'gardening'. Thought, hmmm... wonder if the goldfish would like them?

Why YES!  Yes they did.  There was a literal fight over who was gunna gobble up the most!

LOL... must find more for them.

Time to go and get changed.  I got pretty wet working outside in the rain.  I'm starting to cool down.

ABOVE: And I got three finished today.  Tomorrow I will start stitching the 3 'Wine' ones.

That will take me a while!  

Time to stop (5.20 pm) and make a start on our dinner.  Humble sausages and veges this evening.

11 pm:  And it's been our usual quiet evening, just watching TV.  Time to call it a day.

Catch ya tomorrow.

BACK TO IT

 Ahhhh.. Monday.

I really love Mondays.

I can get on with my projects without feeling guilty.

When I left the sewing room last night, this is what I had done:

ABOVE:  Eight runners ready for the start of stitching, before the titivating starts.  

And borders to make them slightly bigger.  The stitching is gunna take me a week at least, so I won't be bored any time soon right? *smiles*

ABOVE:  And... I left the sewing room tidy.  Cos there is nothing worse than going in there to start the day and it's a bloody mess.

I don't actually 'DO MESS'.  Ask any of my family 😆😅😊.

*Posted with permission* ...

ABOVE:  Brylee and her boyfriend 'D'.  They went to Mount Maunganui yesterday and had a lovely day together.

Bry is still flat hunting... looking more and more likely she's going to be coming home on the weekend for a little while.

I must get the duct tape ready.

And on that note... I'm off to start me day.

I hope everyone has an awesome day, sorry if ya have to go to work.

12.30 pm:  And I've been a busy bee.  Done three loads of washing.

Tidied the house.

Sewn for the past 3 hours.

Ate lollies for lunch.

Answered Brylee's SIX questions of the day.

SIX QUESTIONS.  No more.  Done getting at least a dozen questions a day, having to stop to answer them.

  

DUCT TAPE Dogstars?  To put on her bloody mouth!  She never stops asking questions, and while some are OK and worth answering, some are simply just STUPID.

I don't DO stupid.

And I get sick to death of having to stop what I'm doing to pick up the phone or go on the computer to answer her.  ALL.  THE.  TIME.

I just told her to move on to the next person (sorry Bex or Stew!).

ABOVE: Bex has made a start on Christmas.

Not to be outdone, even though I'm NOT doing the tree until next week...

ABOVE: Reid and Rowan are minding a present in the corner.  River is over by the TV.  That's it for now.

Now... back to me sewing.

5.20 pm:  And I've had to stop for the day.  My feet and lower legs have swollen up something shocking from sitting all day.

ABOVE:  Not a good look at all.  My left foot looks like a brick!  Ikkkk.

So, I've now got me feet up and trying to reduce the swelling.

I won't be able to sew all day tomorrow that's for sure.

Bex and the boys came over for a swim after school, which they loved.

I should have joined them in hindsight.

There is a beef stew on for our dinner... I am trying the 'cook it in wine' thingee.

Possibly not a good idea, but let's wait and see shall we?

SPARKLING:  My beef stew?  Well I decided to try making a stew with wine.

Red wine.

So I grabbed the first bottle in our cupboard that I could see was open already, and was RED.

And I poured the 3/4's of a bottle into a pot, added chopped up beef and left it for a couple of hours to just sit.

Then I added chopped up onions, beef stock, a tin of chopped up tomatoes and a good dollop of butter.  Sprinkle of salt.

Then I simmered it for a couple of hours.  Then thickened it with cornflour.

BOOM.  Done.

And according to Stew... DELICIOUS!

The 'wine' I grabbed out of the cupboard?

ABOVE:   WHOOPS!

It was PORT... very strong shit.  Lucky the alcohol content gets cooked out, otherwise we'd be well drunk by now!  Port is 20% + alcohol content!!!

It was so YUM!  And I'm NO fan of beef.

Might do that again, with a 'normal' red wine next time.  🤣😅😊

Right, time to wrap up the day.

Catch ya tomorrow.

CATS...

 I have 10 pieces of fabric cut out, ready to make 10 cat runners.

NO WHITE backgrounds this time.

Doing the black cat with the green background inspired me to try more colour.

So, that's what I will be doing today.

Deciding what cats to do.

Definitely 2-3 'WHAT' cats.

Probably at least 2 more 'NEED WINE', even thought they are a right pain to stitch!

I'm not sure what Stew has in mind for today?

Possibly nothing but watching sport, which is fine by me.  I've got no jobs lined up for him!

Next weekend we will probably be busy putting that 'parcel' together.  As long as our driveway is done.

AND move Brylee... either to a new flat, or back home till she can find a new flat.

Right, that's me for now.  Catch ya later.

12.50 pm: And as I said... I've been in me sewing room all day.

I've got 8 Cat Runners on the go... It's been great getting a few ready.

There's still HEAPS to do on each one of course, I've just done some preliminary work on them for now.

But... I'm sure I will get to work on them over the next few days and even get some finished.

But right now, my stomach is grumbling, so I am going to stop for lunch.  Might check out what Stew is doing too.

He's already been out to The Base to get ear plugs, he gets sore ears from swimming.

AND he bought me Christmas Paper, cos that's ANOTHER job waiting to be done. 

ABOVE:  7 pm.  Stopped for dinner.  I've made a big mess today.

But, there's going to be 8 Runners ready for stitching tomorrow!

But only if I go back in there after dinner and finish making lettering.

I've not done any 'fine tuning' details yet... but it will happen sometime during the week.

Clearly it's been a quiet day around here... I hope you have been enjoying your Sunday?

I've lost track of the days .... always happens when Stew has extra days off.

Monday tomorrow, back to normal.

But now... I'm gunna sign off early cos there is not much happening here, I'll do a bit more in the sewing room then watch TV before bedtime.

MAKE IT PRETTY

ABOVE: This is the little stool we got in Tauranga yesterday.

Today we are going to buy some foam so I can re-pad and recover it.  It is going to end up looking really pretty.  And NOT orange!

I am 100% sure the dogs have fleas.  They won't stop scratching and gnawing at their rumps.  So, Frontline is on the 'to get' list today.

Stew and I have a little list of things to get today, once that's done we will come home and get on with things around here.

ABOVE:  This is a panel I got yesterday.  I'm not sure what I will do with it.  But I am keeping it cos it's really neat.  It's a bit like having a Colour Wheel, that you can use to see what colours go together.

Right, that's me for now.  

Catch ya later.  

12.35 pm:  And we are home after being out and about.

We went into town to an amazing Game/Card/Puzzle shop for some ideas for Christmas for kids.

Bought a couple of things... very helpful shop owner I must say.

We stopped at a little Op Shop on River Road... mostly 'sell on behalf' stuff.  Beautiful little shop. We saw this cute little guy, and Stew bought him for us.

ABOVE:  His name shall be River (cos that's the road he used to live on).  According to Stew, River is a Woodland Conservationist.   He's from a collection called Woodland something or other.

So.  He's joined the family.

We are now having some lunch before doing anything else.

ABOVE:  Just for you ROBYN.  Steve wearing the best singlet ever.  😂😅😆

ABOVE:  We got tarted up...

ABOVE:  Stew's idea.  Dinner at Lone Star.

ABOVE: We are not very adventurous.  He had steak and I had Pork.   Tonight, HANDS DOWN, the best Loaded Hog I've had.  Such a relief, I almost didn't order it after the last two times, when it was not very good.

Anyway, we are now both in food comas, and just blobbing out at home till bedtime.

Catch ya tomorrow.

OFF WE GO

 Stew's company gave every employee an extra day off, to be used in November.  I can't remember why, but thanks!

So, Stew has taken today off work and we are possibly going to Rotorua.

Thats the plan right now... but it could change yet.

Here's something really random.

Do you have a favourite knife in your kitchen?

ABOVE:  This is mine. It's a bit big and chunky for some things.... like stabbing people, but chopping up veges and the like?  PERFECT.  

I am sure you really wanted to know that eh?  It's called SHARING.

ABOVE:  side note.  Do ya reckon paint helps strengthen ya nails too?  Yeah or nah?  😂😅😆

So anyway... I suppose we shall get outta bed shortly and see what the day brings.

9 am:  ha ha! Ain't left yet, but about to.  We are going to Rotorua, then after checking out a couple of shops there, we are going to Tauranga.

And then... who knows where we will end up for dinner?  lol.

We are just gunna take the day as it comes.

...

OMG just spent a bit in the fabric shop in Rotorua! I actually bought my first ever Quilt kit.

ABOVE: I got a freakin CAT quilt kit! WTF is it with cats lately? I don't even LIKE cats. 😒🤣😅

ABOVE: Selfies at Lake Rotoiti, just out of Rotorua. Its a stunning little lake. We are now heading over to Tauranga. 

3.34 pm... and YES, we are having a really lovely time here in the Bay. 

We had a delicious lunch at a Turkish Kebab shop.

Then we checked out the beach.

Quite a stiff breeze so we didn't linger there.

Next stop was the Bernina shop at its new premises.

Very nice shop. Probably a quarter of the fabric they used to stock, but I did find a couple of fabrics to buy.

Then we thought we'd head home. I umm'd and ahh'd about us stopping at the Waipuna Op Shop in Greerton... we almost didn't.

So glad we actually did cos we found the perfect little seat for our front door.

It had only come into the shop today... must've had our name on it!

ABOVE: It's solid oak. Needs re-padding and covering... but it's  gorgeous.  Very happy and a bargain at $35.

6.30 pm: And we are home.

We had thought of going to our favourite Indian Restaurant in Cambridge on our way home, but we went through there a bit too early for dinner.

We had a fairly late lunch (1.40 pm), so yeah, won't be having anything for dinner till much later this evening.

Now.  More photos from our day trip:

ABOVE: Lake Rotorua, quite dismal looking today.  At least from this view it was anyway.

ABOVE (X's 3):  Lake Rotoiti... it was so pretty.

ABOVE:  A lovely view of the countryside somewhere south of Te Puke... on our way from Rotorua to Tauranga.

ABOVE: Not too many people on the beach at the Mount this afternoon.  While it looks nice and warm, it wasn't really.

ABOVE: The New Zealand Christmas Tree, our gorgeous  Pohutakawa, starting to bloom red for summer.

ABOVE: On our way home we swung by Lake Karapiro.  This park has evolved quite a lot in the past 4 years, new carpark, tar seal roading, playground, toilets etc.  

But the water edge has not been developed at all, so you step off a grass bank straight into the water, and the bottom is soft and muddy.

I hope they do something to protect the bank's edge, or it's going to crumble.

ABOVE: Look at that.  I didn't go nuts at the two fabric shops we visited!  Though that quilt kit was just a bit expensive!  

But, I can use the cat patterns over and over again, and I will.

Not long now till we think about dinner.  Won't be the lovely curry (Butter Chicken for me) that we had anticipated.

Probably fish 'n' chips!  Never mind.  I don't have to cook, that's the main thing.

9.30 pm:  And that's our day done.  Dinner was fish 'n' chips... nice and easy.

Been watching TV since then.  And off to bed in an hour or so.  An early night.