Making Pincushions, Removing Trees & a Thank You :-)

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

This is what they look at as they sit & sew each week

Lois also has an amazing garden so we had a wander

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

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 . . .

the extra room will be handy for scissors, thread etc

Next we moved onto "flower pincushions"

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 . . . 

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

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

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

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

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

Hiding from that grumpy ol Mum - who does she think she is??!!