School Holidays & (two) Finished Things ..........................

Greetings lovely friends & readers

Welcome to October  🤎

School has gone back for another term & like a lot of Grandparents, I breathed a sigh of relief.  I absolutely love spending time with my Grandsons but it's also full on & tiring.    The Dinosaur Extravaganza came to my little town so I bought tickets & took Sid along.

The last time we did this was back in * this post * in early 2021 & Sid was not quite 4.  He was much less scared this visit. 

We dug for fossils again & managed to unearth some bones 😉

It was a beautiful spring day & there was a wonderful turn out of parents & children.  Sid very much enjoyed everything, though I did notice the event was a lot smaller than last time - I'd say less than half the size now.  

During the second week I drove down to Kinloch to spend some time with my older Grandson Alec.  We went into Taupo & walked along the Lake front for a bit.  

It was another beautiful blue-sky spring day but a cool wind coming off the Lake.  We decided to go to Mini Putt Golf.  Granny had not played before but very much enjoyed herself, even though she lost.  She thinks perhaps the score keeper may have "adjusted" the scores a bit 😉

A lady walking her dog on the lake front laughed at us both trying (& failing) to take a selfie & kindly offered to take a photo for us. 

After Mini Putt, we went to Baked With Love Cafe for some lunch.  Alec is such a joy to take to these places now.  

However - he is Not a joy to take Op Shopping!  He very much dislikes Op-shops. 

 My son, Alec's Dad, tells me he doesn't like the Lost Property Box at school so there's not much chance of him liking Op Shops.  As we entered the door he said "Oh Granny it's just full of old Junk".  Wash your mouth out my dear child!!!  Granny only managed a quick look but did find this sweet little plate for $5 - a Holly Hobbie plate.  

I've hung it in my Sewing Room beside the Holly Hobbie mug I bought off Trade me, also for $5.  I adored Holly Hobbie when I was younger & have never outgrown this  💙

I whipped up these Reindeer candy cane holders.  I am always looking for novelty things to add to the Grandkids advent calendars & these appealed to me.  It's a free pattern available from The Sewing Loft.  The Warehouse sell bags of Candy Canes, 8 for $1 so that's what these cost me as I used felt & eyes already in my stash.  

My 2nd completion is this Christmas Pixie, another free pattern from Shabby Art Boutique - go * here * for the pattern & instructions.

I cut this out last christmas but got no further with it.  I was originally going to make a group of 3 Pixies, as Kerryanne has done in her instructions ... but No, there will only be one elf as I found it tricky & was not sure for quite sometime if I even liked him/her? 

I stitched bells to his shoes & to his hat   .  .  .  .  

I dressed my Pixie in some of the new Tilda Christmas fabric that I used for the Angels in my last post.  I also gave mine some hair as I felt he needed something tucked under his pixie hat.  Sitting on a shelf in my sewing room - he is growing on me slowly  .  .  .  .

 I've been weeding around the Pond this week, as the weather allows.  I've had a constant "helper" as I work away down there - Little One is fascinated with the fish who have multiplied their numbers.  Our bridge is old railway sleepers & there's a small hole in one, just big enough for a furry paw to fit through !!!  I thought you might enjoy these pics Ellie seeing as you have such a soft spot for the littlest rascal. 

Thank you as always dear friends, for your welcome visits here today,

I am finding it difficult to find time to blog more regularly of late, so my posts are quite long as I try to fit everything in,

Thank you for always bearing with me - sending much love & friendship to you all,