Visiting with Mum

Hello dear friends & readers

I have been away for a week to visit my Mum :-)

However, I have been home for a week now & had not planned to be this long between posts ...

but while I was at Mums my camera had a "hissy fit"

then when I got home my computer decided to have a "hissy fit"!!

then yesterday when my sewing machine had a "hissy fit". . . 

I very nearly had my own massive Hissy Fit -

and threw the lot out the window!!!!!!!!

Now - thankfully - normality is restored :-)

(well - as normal as we know it)

One of the highlights of visiting with Mum is that my friend Claire lives down there

Claire invited me for lunch one day - I accepted with enthusiasm

(to be honest with you - I would accept even if Claire told me she didnt actually feel like speaking with anyone that day & I could just visit & wander around her house!!!!!!)

Visiting with Claire is always such a tonic & an inspiration

& was exactly what I needed

I didnt know it at the time, but she had invited her Mum and also Michelle who had joined us from here

we had the most lovely time together

this was the table where we ate our lunch

Yes - I fretted about eating off a quilt!!!!

Michelle had made THE most lovely raspberry muffins & bought them in a colander with a doiley under them !!!

How perfect

Our serviettes on plates :-)

Claires Easter display

Eating by candlelight for lunch ???  Yes I could get used to this!!!

Michelle wrote a post about our day here 

More eye candy

bunting made from vintage handkerchiefs/brooches

I never tire of looking at Claires displays - she just has this amazing instinct for putting treasures together - many of them are Op Shop finds

She had re-decorated her bedroom since my last visit...

And I can see why she feels like she is "on vacation" when she sleeps in here !!!

Also her spare room has had a make-over . . . 

It was just stunning with its colourways & its feature wall

She had just completed another room the day before our visit

This was where my camera had its first "moment"

but Michelle had captured some really good photos on her blog

I did get these couple . . .

                        of her lamp she had "embellished"

And this quilt actually matches her sewing machine

sitting in front of it!!!!   :-)

Michelle & I pulled this gorgeous basket out from under a dresser

& offered to "go halves" sharing it between each other

beautiful vintage laces wound onto old music paper & vintage wooden spools

(Claire - if it goes missing .... it may well be at my house!!!)

The visit was such a treat - thanks Claire & Michelle & Nancy

& best of all ... they let me sit there talking about the fat fluffy for ages too !!!!!!!  (thanks so much girls xxx)

While I was down there Mum turned 84 :-)

I had stitched her this cushion over Easter - I told her there were lots of tears stitched into the fabric as Mr Wolf had just passed away - Mum LOVED her cushion :-)

(by 84 it kinda gets hard to know what to give them)

This was a Natalie Bird design but I changed the verse as it was written about "friends"
also it was a bolster cushion but I knew Mum wouldn't be into the bolster style so I altered that

& I changed the words to relate to "mum"

(I used a variegated thread to stitch this & was a little disappointed in the result - the Mr asked me why it was ":faded" in some places - Mum, thankfully, didnt notice)

Mum & I travelled many miles this visit - on one occasion I took her down to Foxton to visit her brother (who is 86)

we also visited family gravesites at Palmerston North

Mum commented that her sisters grave was looking "very old"

I reminded her that little Yvonne did, in fact, pass away in 1936!!!

While I was down there I did indulge in some retail therapy

of course, for me, this mainly means Op Shopping

some of my bargains included . . . 

THIS gorgeous little oven cloth - I loved the applique detailing on it

- & all for 50 cents !!!!!

This lovely little swan with a "repaired" neck which I shall disguise

This little verse appealed to me - from a craft shop in Sanson

this little "planter" was just ideal for my vintage kitchen utensils & sits perfectly on my egg holder

And THIS lovely box made from old rulers (which was NOT an Op Shop purchase) but was bought brand new to hold bits & bobs on my sewing desk :-)  (I could NOT resist)

Since I have been home I have battled with my sewing machine & only achieved one completion

which was this cushion made from the doiley I purchased back in January, from Raglan

I had in mind to make a squashy cushion for my chair for the winter

And I especially didnt want to cut this doiley up!!!

Finally friends, I just wanted to say Thank You to you all for all your lovely, very kind comments on my last post

your heartfelt words wrapped themselves around me at a very sad time & made me feel comforted

I miss the fat fluffy more than I could ever have imagined

Yesterday while mowing, I saw a birds nest on the lawn

& upon inspection, I noticed it had lots of his fur wound around inside the very middle of it

I liked to think that he was still "giving back" even though he is no longer with us

to all creatures, great & small :-)

Thanks - as always - for stopping by 

Have a great rest of the week everyone

much love/hugs/friendship

Julie Xoxo