Wednesday, January 7, 2015

A Happy Bright Shiny New Year

Greetings dear friends & readers
And heres wishing you all a very Happy Bright Shiny New Year


I do hope your festive season was wonderful & that the coming year brings good things to us all

Mum has returned home after 2 weeks with us ... there was very little creative activity during that time ... but I did manage a couple of completions just prior to her arrival


Although my golly sales have been quiet this past year, it only took the purchase of 3 of them in early December to make my golly ladder look rather empty
I found this naked body in my sewing cupboard so I made her some clothes from parisian-essence dyed calico


She is a sweet little pattern from " Golly J " called Molly. I gave her some little shoes & embellished her bodice with a small crochet flower (which also got dunked in the parisian essence mixture along with all the lace)

The 2nd completion I managed was this stitchery (started about 6 months ago & a gift from my friend Bev) . . . the actual stitchery itself was completed awhile ago but I just never quite got around to making it up into the wallhanging



The pattern is called "Making Spirits Bright" designed by Natalie Bird from The Birdhouse.  I stitched it using Cottage Garden thread Kangaroo Paw.  The fabrics I used for the wallhanging are from the Lynette Anderson range



While Mum was staying we took ourselves off to Hamilton Gardens for a picnic lunch.  It was my daughter in law Sarahs, birthday so my sons & their wives came along too ... it was a wonderful outing which I enjoyed SO very much.  We ate our picnic on a huge marble table overlooking the Italian Renaissance Garden

we all enjoyed a lovely shared picnic lunch, homemade club sandwiches, muffins & fresh fruit



I think of all the different sections in the Italian Garden, this particular area was my absolute favourite ... I just loved the combination of blue delphiniums & the lacey red yarrow . . .

. . . & must admit that I have now become quite fixated on planting some red yarrow :-)



If you walk through the large Italian Building behind the fountain you come out onto a balcony that overlooks the Waikato River



we posed for a couple of quick family snaps   :-)

Three Generations



My beautiful daughters-in-law Nicole & Sarah, my Mum, & yours truely

We briefly walked around a couple of the other gardens ... the Chinese garden & the formal English garden but Mum was too weary to do a great deal of walking ... there are many more award winning gardens to see here, it is well worth a visit & completely free to enter



Apologies for all the garden photos but my camera honestly does not do it justice, it is simply beautiful.


Before I close I wanted to share a couple of pics ... one is a handmade christmas gift, a surprise in the post from a dear friend who lives far away  . . .
His name is Cedric & I just adore him   :-)  
   And even though the christmas dec's are packed away, this fellow will be staying out to be enjoyed for a bit longer  


New (replica) vintage scales, a christmas gift from The Mr ...
 all chipped & dinged in the appropriate places to look "antique"


Finally this pic taken on christmas eve, just prior to heading off to bed




dear little Jinxy, sound asleep under the twinkling lights. I said to The Mr that I hoped she was dreaming of how lucky she is to live with us here & what a wonderful life she has . . .  but he reassured me she was far more likely dreaming of Santa, what he would bring her, & hopefully he would take Blackie with him  !!!!!

Have a wonderful week dear friends, thanks SO much for your welcome visits

with much love & friendship to you all
Julie x0x0x

16 comments:

  1. Fabulous post! Gosh the Hamilton gardens are one place I must visit! You know I have never been there? Sado aye! L*O*V*E your snowman!!!! Are you sure he wouldn't like a holiday with me? He would have friends here...........other snowmen!
    Your Golly is lovely, I bet she won't hang around on the ladder in your shop for long! Did the Mr do the appropriate nicks and knocks on those lovely scales? Lovely family photo's you are looking brown my friend..........better not stand next to me as you will make me look whiter than I really am!

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  2. Your new makes are gorgeous Julie! I love to visit the gardens too, they truly are a beautiful spot and so many different parts. Lovely family photos and your snowman and scales are perfect. I hope you have a wonderful new year!! Hugs Wendy

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  3. Julie this is just gorgeous!
    I loved seeing all of your family together. What a happy day for you. It must have been like a trip to heaven.
    You look amazing!!!
    Summer has been good to you.
    I love the picture of your kitty under the tree. sweetest thing ever :)
    I do hope you had a wonderful christmas and a happy new year with your family.
    Talk to you soon.
    xoxo
    Amy

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  4. Ah! The Jolly Golly, the 'soul sister' looks lovely....Love the face! :).

    The Italian garden looks splendid to...Something restful about a lovely
    garden. I'm no gardener, just a lawn back and front, surrounded by privet!
    And, a pond at the top of the garden! There's a Chinese garden to, close
    to where l live here in the UK. Lovely place to visit in the summer.
    I do like a nice garden...!

    HaHa! And Jinxy....Reminded me of the pussy~cats l've had over
    the years. Especially when they were kittens. The Christmas tree
    was always a mess! They used to run up and down it, knocking
    the decorations off balls and all! HeHe! Bless! Love'em! =(^..^)=.

    And, yes, A Very Happy New Year to one and all....Especially the
    furry ones!x

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  5. Hi Julie,
    I really don't think gollies are ever not going to be in vogue.....they're adorable. Beautiful stitchery and
    love the pics of the garden....wish mine looked like that. lol Gorgeous family photo.
    Cheers, Anita.

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  6. You lunched in my favourite garden!! I love those gardens and all your photos are stunning, especially the family ones. Jinx looks so cute under the tree, little sweetie.

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  7. A lovely New Year's post Julie. What a lovely family you have and your dear little Mum looks so sweet and proud standing there beside you all. I shall put those gardens on my list of places to visit.......just in case!!!Tons of hugs. xxx

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  8. Absolutely beautiful, love Molly and your Christmas stitchery. Think I might try and get some Christmas stitchery done earlier this year. You are so inspiring Julie.How wonderful a time you must have had with all your family this holidays. Hugs Shirley

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  9. Happy New Year to you and yours Julie xx I'm finally getting to catch up on all the blogs, your place looked so wonderful with the Christmas decorations, just beautiful. Your mum looks well. I intend to get my crafty mojo back this year, been a bit slack with everything over the last few months, Joe is back to work properly now and so I hope to get my life back on track. It would be lovely to meet up again, perhaps you'd like to come out here with Sue. Let me know. Speak soon, luv Sue xx

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  10. Wonderful photo's and post! My Christmas bag that I bought from you is also staying out when the decorations get packed away as he is too cute to put away so soon!

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  11. Beautiful Golly! Love the gardens, I loved in Hamilton years ago and dont ever remember seeing them! Your blog is lovely had a meander around, my Ambrose does look like your Blackie. Thanks for your visit and lovely words. Zana

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  12. Hello dear friend, Happy New Year! What a lovely outing to the Hamilton gardens. I didn't realise that they were so remarkable. Thank you for showing us. I'm with you on the red yarrow. Let me know if you figure out where to get it from. Yes, fabulous with the blue delphiniums. What a nice family outing. I'm sure you'll be enjoying catching up on yourself & your crafting this week after all that bustle. What a classic pic..Jinxy asleep under the tree. Much love for a relaxing week, Catherine x0x0x

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  13. Your makes are all very desirable. How beautiful red yarrow is, I have never seen it before. I love that picture of little Jinxie - so sweet. Lovvely to see pictures of you/family - you look so happy. Wishing you lots of good things in 2015. Betty

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  14. Julie, those Hamilton Gardens are stunning. I must right them down so that whenever we head your way I remember to go and look further at them. I just adore your Golly's. I must come back and have a further look at your makings.

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  15. Happy New Year! I'm coming from Leeanne's blog to see yours. You have a wonderful blog and makes lovely things!

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  16. A lovely yummy post Julie- I love your Molly Golly and your Christmas stitchery - gorgeous. I hjave't been to the Hamilton Gardens for years - I played netball there for 5 years (while at HS) but it didn't quite have the reputation and gardens then! Cedric and Jinxy are gorgeous. Wishing you a very creative and happy 2015 :-)

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