PRODUCTION LINE

Stage One of the production line:

ABOVE:  I've got all the components of the tops of the next lot of mug rugs sorted out.  This time I am doing the applique before I add the backing!

There's at least 50 - 60 mugs rugs ready for stitching there... so I reckon that's what I will be doing for the next week or so!  edit:  got that wrong! There's 127 of them!

It's not a simple two minute job, there's a few steps involved.  If I was only making one, I could get it done in about an hour, but I'm not obviously.

I'm already looking forward to getting this lot done so I can move on to the next ones, something different next time.  Got to keep it interesting!

ABOVE:  I made a bit of a mess!  Yes, I do have a bin, but I was cutting out here ... and there... and at the sewing machine... so I just dropped it on the floor.
Brylee, bless her heart, is going to pick it all up for me...  When I ask her.   *smiles*

So that will be my day, SEWING... unless Stew has an idea for us?  But knowing him, he will be perfectly happy watching sport on the TV while I sew.

ONWARD...

 ABOVE:  My new 'normal'.  I am really enjoying the sparkling water with a half strength addition of Lemon Flavouring.  In fact, yesterday I drank almost 2 litres of WATER, and only one 750 ml bottle of Diet Coke!

ABOVE:  9.40 am:  Making a start...

ABOVE:  Huge downside of sewing for hours?  I got no bones in me feet!  All swollen and feeling tight and horrid.   I will have to take a break soon and lie on the floor with my feet up on the couch.  *grrrrr*
Add to that at least 5 mosquito bites on just that foot!  They are rampant this summer.

Stopped for dinner... which was sausages, potato gems, caulifower, peas and gravy.  YUM!

I might do some more sewing later, it will depend on how I feel, right now I'm knackered.

ABOVE:  I got FIFTY TWO mug rug's applique and quilting done today!   And I have only got ... SEVENTY FIVE left to do... well that's the one's I've made a start on.
I might just finish that lot (all 127) and then have a go at a table runner or two.  *smiles*

HEY YOU and YOU:  Don't try dragging me into your friggin 'Sit Com', I am not getting involved ever again.  Keep away from each other ... problem SOLVED.  If you (J) try ringing me again, I will block your number.  You have been warned.

Winding down for the day.  Watching Saving Private Ryan... TOM HANKS.... *drool*.  lol

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMANDA

So, my eldest child is 39 today... 

ABOVE:  I hope you have a fabulous day Amanda.  Love from Mum and Dad.

I've just realised that I turn friggin 60 this year!  OMG.  Maybe I can pretend it's not gunna happen?

Last night I finished the first 'batch' of mug rugs...

 ABOVE:  They are all fairly simple in design.. I just wanted to get a few done and dusted.  Now I might take a bit of time making some more detailed ones.

Though, I don't want to be making really intricate ones, as they will take too long individually, and won't sell for much more than the easier ones at the end of the day.

IF they even sell!

I might end up giving mug rugs as Christmas gifts for the next 10 years yet!  lol

ABOVE:  I saw this on Facebook the other night and it really cracked me up.
I had to laugh at how our country (NEW ZEALAND) is depicted.  A country of sheep!

I can assure you, there's certainly MORE than just sheep over here.

Australia.. yep. It's stinkin' hot over there, both my Mother and Sister live there and find it unbearably hot over summer.
I wonder if it was an Australian who drew that?  Cos 'AUSRTALIA'  sure isn't spelt like that!  *laughing*

Right, I'm outta here, we have plans today.  We are going out and about.

ONWARD... 

12.06 pm:   I dreamed about those bloody mug rugs all night, and wasn't happy with them at all.
They are just too plain, so I came up with this :

ABOVE:  I added 'bits' to them!  NOW I'm perfecty happy with them.

What do you think???

I'm not 100% happy with the flower one (top right), so will work on that one a bit more.

We are heading out soon...our plans to go to Tauranga fell through, so we are going to the movies instead.

ABOVE: So this is the movie we watched.  It was excellent, even our teenagers loved it.  Lots of slightly naughty humor, a bit of action and some lovely music.  

Horribly expensive to go to the movies though!
Well over a hundred dollars.  Half that was the ticket price and half was food and drink!  Seriously, I think we will take our own food next time, even if we have to smuggle it in.

I've been sewing since, and cooking dinner, which was macaroni cheese with bacon.  Very tasty.

Now, I shall be sewing some more before going to bed.

WELCOME TO 2018

What do I wish for in 2018?

More of the same from 2017, cos 2017 was a good year for me!  We really settled into Cambridge, I made a whole heap of new friends, and I made good strides towards better fitness and health.

So let's just repeat that shall we?

The 'Resolutions' are going well already, I'm drinking water every day and I am changing how I use food.  No longer am I waking up thinking 'what can I eat today'?

Instead I am only going to be eating when I am genuinely hungry, and the biggest thing is PORTION CONTROL.  It always has been for me.

My appetite and capacity has dropped markedly in the past few months, which I am very thankful for.  Must be doing something right.

Today I plan on continuing my Mug Rug production line.  *smiles*

Yesterday I got this much done:

ABOVE:  None are finished yet, they need their backing sewn on, which I plan on getting done today.  The heart ones have been in my UFO pile for about 4 years!  They were fun to make, so I will probably be making more of them at some point.

But for now... I have a shit load of the other, larger sized ones to make yet.

Today?  Same as yesterday.  No firm plans.  Sewing.  Doing a bit of gardening/pruning.... well... to be honest... watching Stew gardening and pruning hedges more likely!  This time of year, everything is still growing like mad in the garden... except the grass.

That's dying rapidly.



ABOVE:  Pups running around like.. well mad dogs!  You can see the lawn dying off in the video.  

And that's all for now... I'm off to start the day, get some washing on, bla bla bla.

It may be a new year, but life goes on just the same.

ONWARD...

This morning... we have been lazy'ish.  I've been sewing.

Now... gardening.  Lots of gardening.  Roped Brylee in to help too.
Griffin has sloped off with his mates ... he gets to pick all the clippings up when he gets home!

 ABOVE:  We all got stuck in and got quite a bit accomplished today.  Stew did the bulk of the hedge trimming by hand as our petrol trimmer simply isn't working.  

Brylee got to climb the olive tree and do some trimming while Stew was out buying a loper that extended, so he could reach the very top of the olive trees.

ABOVE: We have olives growing!  I don't know if they are edible... makes no difference to us though, as none of us eat them.

It's now 6 pm and we have finished for the day.  I'm all sticky and itchy and need a shower before dinner.  Stew's beaten me to it, so I have to wait.

Tonight's dinner is chicken pieces, potato wedges and lettuce salad.

Then after dinner I plan on doing some more sewing.  I did get some done during the day, but no where near as much as I had hoped.

It has drizzled on and off all day, which made working in the garden very pleasant.  Kept it cool.

12.21 am :  Time for bed!  Been sewing.  Got carried away.  

DENIM

I'm going to let this little video tell you about Denim:



So, there ya have it. 
We have a crazy dog... a crazy, deaf dog!

It took me about 3 days, once we picked Denim up and brought her home from Auckland,  to start wondering about her hearing.  I didn't want to believe it at first, but it became more and more apparent she couldn't hear very well at all.

I wonder how we are going to train her?  Can you even train a deaf dog?

Let's not forget, she doesn't even want to walk on a lead, let alone learn to sit/stay/stop/come!  She's either crazy or there's something wrong in her head, maybe connected to her hearing?

I will be talking to our vet about her soon.

What a challenge she is going to be!  But fun too... cos she has such a funny personality.

So, it's New Year's Eve tonight, and as per usual, we don't have any plans at all.
*sigh*
Sad old farts we are...  but ya get to our age and seriously, it really is just another day.

Today I will be sewing again... unless something else comes up more interesting!

AND... just like that, after sleeping on it for a few days, I have changed my mind about getting 'Eat To Live' tattooed on my finger!
I will instead be getting it engraved on a piece of jewellery.  What piece of jewellery is yet to be decided.

Having it written on my finger in 'normal' ink for the past few days made me realise it wasn't what I wanted, and Stew felt the same way, but wasn't going to say anything to me!  He just hoped I would change my mind eventually.  Freakin' man!  

I would have canned the idea immediately if I'd know he wasn't keen on it!

ONWARD...

Since getting outta bed I've been cutting fabric for mug rugs, and am finally starting to sew the various bits together.
And that's it!  Seriously, I've done nothing else all day.

It's a gorgeous day outside, so later on I might lie out in the sun for a little while, work on my tan.

We don't have any plans for tonight... 'just another day' scenario here.

So clearly I've been busy all day, sewing mostly.
Very quiet here.  I hope everyone is having an awesome New Year's Eve.  Be safe. Catch ya in 2018!

MY 2ND NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION...

Well... I decided not to torture you all, and make you wait till the 1st of January.

So ... without further ado, my 2nd resolution is to do this:

ABOVE:  Part one:  change my MINDSET.  I am a 'Live to Eat' sort of person.

I am going to turn it around in my mind and philosophy to 'EAT TO LIVE'.  

Part Two:  Get it tattooed on my finger, just like that demo above. 

I have to wait till the 4th of January to book my tattoo in Hamilton, but that's fine.  As long as I start my new way of thinking NOW.

So... what do you think?  Was my revelation worth waiting for?  A good idea?  
The tattoo is going to be a permanent reminder and inspiration to keep on track, both with my diet and exercise, and with my positive thinking.

I'm NOT going to exercise so I can then eat a bloody donut!   I'm doing it for my health, full stop, end of story.  Oh and let's not forget, it's actually FUN when you do it with friends.

Thanks Fat Bottomed Girls!  I love my walking girlfriends. ⇨ ➜➦➨➽

Today I am sewing... as I want to do the February Trash and Treasure Market here in Cambridge.  So, I have 6 weeks to make as much as possible so I have something to sell!

And that is all for now... looking forward to reading what you think of my New Year's Resolution.

ONWARD...

Spotlight have a huge sale on, so later on we are going into Hamilton.  Griffin needs to pick something up or order something from EB Games... so killing two birds with one trip.

Weird.  I say I am drinking WATER... and just a few of you comment on it? I don't get that at all.  Like... I HAVE NOT DRUNK WATER IN ALMOST 25 YEARS... and everyone knows it.  It is a HUGE thing for me to be doing.  *sigh*
Feeling ... I dunno... a bit confused?  I really thought you guys would be gobsmacked I was drinking water!

But, moving on.  I'm cutting fabric out for mug rugs.  Then I will start sewing them up.  Now that I'm not doing 'binding' edging, it's so much quicker and easier to make them.  I've chosen an assortment of fabrics, hopefully they will appeal to a wide variety of people.  I will show you some once I've made them.

LYNDA:  Thank you for your suggestions.  BUT... I will not be testing my blood for reactions to foods.  My doctor has not asked me to test my blood with a testing kit, nor has she supplied me with one, so clearly she doesn't think I need to.

As for the best place to prick your finger... well that is purely an individual thing.  I find it painful where ever Stew pricks me, on the rare occasion I have asked him to do it.

Nicole... you have a grubby mind!  lol

So, we went into Hamilton and I bought some wadding for 30% off, which was nice.

Then we had lunch at The Base, did a bit of shopping and came home.

I lay in the sun for a little while, then showered and have just sat down to relax before thinking about dinner.  Now that we don't have a wee 5 year old to factor into our lives, we can eat later, which I'm enjoying.

So an enjoyable evening cutting out fabric and watching some tv.  Stinking hot as per usual... constantly turning the fan on and off.

Heading off to bed shortly.

PIDDLE PIDDLE PIDDLE!

Much to my surprise, I am managing to drink 3 glasses of water easily!
It's chilled water from the fridge, then carbonated in the Soda Stream.  Then I add some slices of lemon that Stew cut up and froze.

So, it's quite nice really!  Only thing I'm not really enjoying is the amount of times I  have to go piddle!

Seriously!  Middle of the night, crack of dawn, then every 2-3 hours during the day!  Is that NORMAL?

Not for me that's for sure.

I thought today I might do some sewing, I want to make a few mug rugs, then table runners.  I've got quite a few of the 'Fat Bottomed Girls' fabric cut out already, so will run up a few of those first.

And that is about all I have for now!  If I can get the house spic 'n' span I might even do a 'walk through' video of the house to show you our home, instead of photos here and there.

Oh and here's a clue to my 2nd New Year's Resolution:

ABOVE:  Any guesses?  And NO one from the family 'in the know' is allowed to say a word!
Well actually, ya can't spill the beans cos your comments won't get through.  lol

ONWARD...

PETA: I deleted the comment you left yesterday. I hope that was the one you were referring to as I haven't seen another one come through?

I just took the video walk through of our house.  It will take a while to upload... once it's done I will post it on here.

We've been out to Mitre 10 today.  ALL the door handles in this house need to be replaced.
The builders on this house made a stupid mistake when making the holes for the door handles... they made them too big!  So the handles keep moving up and down on the door itself, and the bit that actually latches the door to the framework jams.

So our job this year is to slowly replace all of them.  We have already done 2, and today we will do 2 more.

Just as soon as Stew gets off his lounge chair...

ABOVE:  So Stew just said not only were the door handles fitted into too big holes in the door, but they had also been attached wrongly too.  It took him ages to get that bloody door handle off!  

But he did it eventually... only 6 to go now.

New Year's Resolution # 1: Drink water
New Year's Resolution # 2:  Has nothing to do with my finger nails!

Another guess:
You're going into puppetry? 
(I couldn't post this as a comment) 
Belinda :)

ABOVE:  Love ya thinking, but no... I'm not going into Puppetry Belinda!

Stew is being a busy boy today, he's in the garage...

ABOVE:  Sorting nuts, bolts, screws, nails and all small bits 'n' bobs into these boxes.
They used to be my cotton boxes, but now I have the thread holder on the wall... I didn't need them.
He's putting them to good use.

Do you want to know what #2 is today, or wait till January the 1st?  I'm leaning towards January the 1st... cos it's a New Year's Resolution after all.  *smiles*

I will give you another clue tomorrow.

OK, I finally have the 'House Walk Through' video uploaded and ready to publish here:




Is the video blurry part way through for you?  Cross if it is... cos it isn't on YouTube.

Well... the video came right eventually... computer glitch on my end I think.

I've got a chicken roasting in the oven for dinner, served with roast potatoes, onions and a lettuce salad.  Should be yum.

7.45 pm:  And yes, dinner was YUM!  
Sorry, no one is anywhere NEAR guessing correctly.  So, I'm going to put you out of your misery tomorrow.
So... until then, I shall be in my sewing room, doing a bit of sewing before Coronation Street comes on.
Then bedtime.

Catch ya tomorrow.

THIS MAY SURPRISE YOU

We bought a Soda Stream, with the idea being I would drink some water!

Yep. Me. Drink Water.  And on Boxing Day I actually did manage to drink about 3 glasses full!

It may not seem much to all you crazy water drinkers, but for me it was a huge achievement.

And OMG did I piddle heaps!  Me, who usually only 'goes' about twice a day, went probably a dozen times!  Even had to get up in the middle of the night (what a fag!).

But... and here's the amazing thing... I lost 2 kilos in a day!  All from drinking 3 glasses of water?  Amazing.

So, yesterday I did the same thing, and today I will do it again.  It's not earth shattering or anything... but it's a pretty big deal for me.  I don't expect to lose that much weight by just drinking water, by the way. 

My New Year's Resolution (and I DON'T do NY's Resolutions normally)... is to drink a minimum of 3 glasses of water a day, and one other thing.   I ain't telling you what that is right now though. 

Who else makes New Year's Resolutions, and actually keeps to it?  Are they doable?  Realistic?  I have chosen two things that I know are totally doable and realistic.
Though the second one is going to be a huge change for me!

MORE on that one ... on a later post.

 ABOVE: I'm finally able to use the 'Craft Room' as I intended.  Bex and I did a canvas each with the Alcohol Inks yesterday afternoon.
We hadn't used the inks on canvas before, it's another learning process.
But fun.

 ABOVE:  And the 'fireplace' with my coloured candles on it... just like we had in Auckland.  (without the actual fire!)
It's so pretty.  I'm so chuffed with it.

Today we don't actually have any plans.  We will just see how the day evolves.  We might end up at the movies in Hamilton...

ONWARD...

 ABOVE:  Cute photos of the kids after they had been playing with Keera's hair bands.  

Stew, Brylee and I went into Hamilton.  A book I had ordered from Grandmother's Garden had come in, so we picked it up, then had lunch at The Base.

 ABOVE:  The book will come in very handy, plus a needle threader with a light.  Stew got some new work shirts (Thanks Kelly, very handy Xmas present), and I also got a cute little crystal heart for the house.

 ABOVE:  The heart could be unscrewed, which was perfect as I only wanted a half for the lounge wall..

ABOVE: The other heart went into the low dish on the coffee table in the family room.

ABOVE:  A few of the table runners/toppers in the new book.  I plan on making a few plus some mug rugs and having a go at selling them on Facebook and the local monthly market.
Nothing lost if they don't sell, as they can be used as presents next Christmas too.

Right... dinner is done.  Stew is watching tv in the lounge and I'm about to watch Coronation Street in the family room.  
Then it will be bedtime... it's been a very lazy day!

IT'S NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN

I don't know if many of you would remember, but when we tried 'walking' Denim on a lead, she refused point blank to walk.  Instead she flopped down on her belly and had to be dragged along.

Well... now we realise that she will probably never be able to walk on a lead.
Cos this is what she does even with toys:



She drops and ENJOYS being dragged!  So, walking on a lead is NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN.

ABOVE:  I finally opened this home baking that was given to me by one of my neighbours, who also happens to be a Fat Bottomed Girl (walking group).  The shortbread and chocolate balls are super YUM! Thanks Hayley.

Today Bex and I have an appointment in town, so after lunch we can slope off and leave the guys with the little kids.  Yaaaa.... might have to have a wander around the local shops at the same time.  *smiles*

I'm not sure what else is 'on' today, time will tell eh?  

ONWARD...

Well I've spent the morning re-arranging stuff in my sewing and Fabric/Craft room and tidying up various other areas of the house.  

Last night (late) I took down all the Xmas decorations too.  I couldn't help myself.

Trouble now is... I've totally overdone it and my back is going into spasm.  Very painful... so I've had to stop and sit down.  Taken some Voltaren Back and Pain pills.  Hopefully that works, or I'm buggered for the next few days.

Lunchtime soon... so I shall just sit here and get waited on I think. *smiles*

Steve, Bex and the kids leave tonight, it's been lovely having them over Christmas.  Kids make Christmas eh?

They have loved playing with the puppies, Dante used to be fairly scared of them, but not now.  He's the one always asking for them to be brought into the family room to play.  So cute.

SANDWICH THINS are the bomb!  Just sayin'.

ABOVE:  The family just left.  Their car was jam packed!  Just as well they got a new, bigger car.
Hopefully their trip home will be smooth sailing.  The kids will probably sleep most of the way... if their parents are lucky.   lol

It's so QUIET now!  We have an hour or so before thinking about dinner, so are just relaxing in the family room.  It's blissful. *smiles*

Stew made a lovely dinner tonight, I am so grateful he's such a good cook!  My back is feeling quite a bit better now, so if I'm lucky it will be even better by tomorrow.

Time to sign off for the day.