Hello there friends & readers,
Last week was another busy one in my funny ol' threadbear life.
I travelled to Kawhia one morning to teach a small patchwork group to make pincushions.
Kawhia is situated an hour 1/4 from me out on the coast.
The day was organised by Lois whom I met a couple of years ago when she came to my cottage.
I well remember meeting Lois because I was in the middle of painting my dining room when she arrived
& I was sooo pleased for an excuse to down tools!!
Lois is one very creative lady & we found we had alot in common.
I had been trying to get out to her group - (which meets every Wednesday) - all winter, but things kept preventing me.
Finally I headed off to an area I had not travelled to for about 20 years or more.
I stopped along the way to photograph the sea from a Lookout
Eventually I arrived at Lois's -
it felt like I had travelled to "the back of beyond"
but when I saw the views from her lounge window it made me catch my breath
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| This is what they look at as they sit & sew each week |
Lois also has an amazing garden so we had a wander
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| Her perenial border - full of cottagey flowers |
Iris's are one of her favourites
& she had some stunning colours of them
But it was inside I was speechless (unusual for me!!)
The Roman Blind she had made & appliqued with gollies, in her spare bedroom! ! !(when do I move in??!!)
wooden golly cutouts dressed in fabric on the wall
And in her bathroom . . .
On one wall Lois had hand cut out diamond shapes from old copies of glossy N.Z. Gardener magazines
Glued them on & then laquered them many times
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| she had bordered the wall with green squares of ferns etc |
the effect was stunning alongside the rag rug she had made to complement the wall . . .
Made from old t-shirts bought from Op Shops ! !
(& chopped into strips to be woven)
Wow - that is one very talented lady :-)
The group was down to 3 that day due to some of the ladies being required to help on their farms with docking, shearing etc
they missed a fun day
first we made teacup pincushions -
the ladies had all bought along their own teacup, fabric etc
Sue had lots of fun getting glue everywhere! !
the finished articles
Sue had done a beautiful piece of cross-stitch to match her lovely cup & kidney-shaped saucer
Hers looked stunning . . .
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| the extra room will be handy for scissors, thread etc |
Next we moved onto "flower pincushions"
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| before shaping the "petals" with ribbon |
the finished articles complete with pins :-)
This was our afternoon tea-
I told the ladies I think I will come out every Wednesday
if this is what you sit down to . . .
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| Sue, Pauline & Lois - 3 VERY talented ladies |
As Pauline is due to move across to the other side of the country the ladies had pooled their fabrics awhile ago
& all made their own version of the same quilt pattern
here are the results - all quite different
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| Sue, Pauline & Lois - very clever ladies |
All quite stunning friendship quilts!!
I had such an enjoyable day out
I didn't leave til 5 o'clock to travel home
such lovely, clever, friendly, talented ladies
a pleasure to spend time with them all
& of course I didnt come home empty handed
being country folk, I came away with baking, cuttings & punnets
of tomato plants :-)
Early the next morning we had the Power Board coming
we needed to have some trees removed that had gotten too big
some were under power lines so it was a job for the big boys
"somebody" thought it was wonderful to supervise this work
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| Yes this is WAY more exciting than being stuck at home with boring ol Mum all day |
& made quite a "nuisance" of himself (as usual)
First they trimmed all the branches off
then tied a rope to pull on it
before cutting a wedge out to "fell" it
it made a huge crash as it hit the ground
"someone" had been growled & told to stay well back
as you can see . . . We do as we jolly well please!!
I now have some lovely piles of mulch for the garden
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| I have 4 piles this size |
Guess what I will be doing over the next few weeks??!!
Finally friends, just wanted to say a big ThankYou to all of you
it means a great deal to me that you take the time to read my blog
that you comment on my ramblings
from my little corner of the globe
your comments trully do brighten my day :-)
& especially to Sophie of Fading Grace
she so very kindly gave me a "mention" in her last post
the friends I have met in "blogland" are very dear to me
Thankyou Sophie - you are a very kind soul
& I enjoy your blog immensely
Wishing you all a lovely week
& little tin prams filled with red geraniums! !
Hugs/ love/ friendship,
Julie & her disobedient dog X X x x
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| Hiding from that grumpy ol Mum - who does she think she is??!! |
