Carrying Out Mum's Final Wishes

Greetings lovely friends & readers

When my Mum passed away last year she left very specific instructions on where she wanted her ashes to go after cremation.    Long time readers of my blog may recall I often used to take Mum to lay flowers where Dads ashes are when I was down in Taranaki.  You can read about some of these visits in the posts  Here,  Here,  Here,  & Here

Beautiful Mount Taranaki - photo taken from car window

 As it is coming up 6 months since Mum's passing it was high time we carried out her final wishes.  

But first I needed to prepare a few things ..........

The flowers on Mums casket                                  Flowers on my deck table

When Mum passed we found a bag with all her funeral instructions inside.  You can read about these in this Post..  She specifically wanted pink & mauve flowers on her casket which I was able to arrange.  Afterwards I bought the casket flowers home with me & hung them up in bunches to try & dry them, including all the greenery.  Truthfully, I hung them up, then completely forgot about them until well after Christmas.

They dried really well but had faded - I wasn't sure what to do with them until my dear friend Sally (who trained as a florist) kindly offered to come & help me make them into a bouquet.  Sally is a whizz & put together the most lovely bouquet from what I'd dried.  Here she is in action, at my dining table, chatting away & putting together a bouquet from all my oddments - she's amazing  💕 (I paid her in Fudge Cake)

I was just so thrilled with what Sally managed to use up & it turned out just beautiful  💗  

As Mum always took red silk roses to Dad, I bought some from the Variety Store & made up a bunch to lay for Dad.

Mum always loved Lavender so I dried a bunch of my own lavender & thought it might be nice for the Grandsons to make a card each to go with this.  

The day before we left I baked Banana Bread, Chocolate Fudge Slice, Lasagne & Bacon & Egg Pie.  It saved me having to buy so much food while we were away.

Kitchen & Living area in the middle, 2 sets of bedrooms on either side each with large bathrooms

In January I went online & booked us into a nice Airbnb in a small township just out of the city & 5 minutes walk to the beach.  Because there were 7 of us going (my sons & their families) I needed something large enough to accomodate us all.  This worked out well, not flash but certainly sufficient, nice & private & everybody had their own space.  

Tucked in behind the Crematorium is a beautiful large, horse-shoe shaped garden called The Garden Of Remembrance.  This is where my Dad's ashes are - he has been gone 23 years this June.  Mum has spent the past 22 1/2 years telling us all ... That is where I am going - there with your Dad. 

 It is a lovely peaceful place with seats dotted around the edges & planted out with native trees & flowering shrubs.  The birdlife is wonderful.

My brother & sister in law had driven up to meet us here as they had Mum's ashes.

(Yes I did text them the morning we were to meet up to remind them to not forget the ashes!!!)  😉

This whole area was covered in Wandering Dew - you can see where we cleared it

The biggest hurdle I had was finding where Dad actually was - it had been 2 years since I had last visited & the growth, the tree removal & the weather storms had completely changed the area. I always thought I could find it blindfolded but it was not so.

The Resting with the Angels plaque that Mum had placed there was what I was looking for - I just could not find it & was beginning to feel quite panicked after about 10 minutes searching.

There was no way I could just place Mums ashes anywhere.  Finally I found what looked like a red rose & when I cleared away the vast area of wandering dew, there was the plaque. I can't tell you how relieved I was ... many prayers were said!!  The family helped me clear the area well & we were able to dig Mums ashes in beside where Dads were & place our flowers. 

Eldest son took lots of photos for me.

Alec saying a few words to Great Nan as he laid the lavender - he had a very special relationship with her. 

There is a huge big old moss covered tree right in the middle of the gardens - it must be VeRy old as it was old when Dads ashes first went there.  The Grandsons loved it.

Afterwards we all drove 5 minutes up the road to The Quail's Nest for a wonderful lunch together.  Although I have forgotten to take any photos of the food Or the family members ... the meal was amazing!

And the views were rather spectacular too.

The boys ate their meals then had a run around outside for awhile.  After lunch we made our way back into the city - it was the weekend of the annual Americarna event..   We all went for a wander around looking at the American cars ...   I especially loved the Buick below because it came with its own matching luggage & travel rug (!!)  And a gorgeous pale green colour 💚

Back at the B & B youngest son went for a surf & the Grandsons found the biggest surfboard in the world!!!

The following day (Sunday) we all packed up & headed home again - it had been a wonderful time together carrying out Mum's final wishes.  I feel so pleased that we were able to do this last thing for her & I can "visit" anytime I am heading south in the future.

Thank you all if you've managed to stay through this long photo-heavy post. 

There is still time to enter my Easter Giveaway should you wish - go to * this post * to enter the draw.  Thank you to those that have already.

Wishing you all much love & friendship dear friends,

Love Julie & the furry three x0x0x0

A Bunny Themed Giveaway for Easter 💚

Greetings lovely friends & readers.

I have wanted to do a Giveaway on my blog for quite some time now ... but the weeks & months got away on me.  

I decided with Easter being earlier this year, I would do a small Easter themed Giveaway ... & keeping in line with my Green Phase I decided to give it a bit of a Green Theme  💚

No the Vintage Tray in the Background is NOT included in the prize (sorry)

Here is the prize (above) - & below is all that I am including in the prize ...

Front of Bunny                                                  Back of Bunny

I found some pretty pale green fabrics in my Tilda Stash & made the Tilda Bunny which is a free pattern from * Here *

I enlarged the pattern slightly so this girl stands at 32 cms tall. She has a leather tag on her dress & a made with love silver charm on her neck tie.  Her face is embroidered.  Both the body & the dress fabrics are Tilda.

Front View                                                     Back View

Also included is this handmade bunny sewn from a Vintage New Zealand pure wool blanket.  "He" stands at 27 cms tall & if you removed the wooden heart from his bow he would be safe to gift to a child. "He" has a fluffy pom pom tail. 

I have included one of my knitted cotton wash/dish cloths along with a handmade green soap scented with lemon myrtle.  These come packaged up in cellophane with a ribbon & a heart tag.

I have also included 2 vintage doilies from my own collection, one is round & embroidered & the other battenburg lace one has handpainted pansies on it.  Both have been washed, lightly spray starched & ironed.

Last but not least a couple of Lindt choccy treats ... not too many as I have zero willpower & they would inevitably end up in my mouth before I draw a winner (!!!) 😐

All the above items will come to you beautifully giftwrapped & tied up with ribbon & a swing tag.

Here are the rules ...  

I will post to anywhere in the world.  You may enter the draw no matter where you live.

To enter you must leave me a comment below.    If you have trouble getting it to Publish then email me at stitchedbyjulie@hotmail.com & I can copy & paste your comment.

If your comment publishes as Anonymous please write your christian name at the end & your Country eg : Julie from New Zealand.   

If you would like to then please tell me your favorite colour but this is not a requirement to enter.  I just thought it might add some interest to the comments. 

I will draw a winner on Friday 15th March so that I have 2 weeks to post it to where-ever the winner lives.  This gives you just over 3 weeks to enter.  

Please feel free to take part dear friends  🖤

My dear friend Sally lost one of her beloved cats Chloe, a couple of weeks ago.  I decided to make Sally a heart from vintage linen & embroider Chloe's name on it.  The red cat & heart buttons are from Theodora Cleave.  I filled the heart with my homegrown lavender.  

Sid & his Dad Kayne decided to enter the X-Race event as there was one being held locally in Cambridge.  Sid got 5th in the 6 - 7 year age bracket & wore his tee-shirt & medal non-stop for 2 days & 2 nights!! 

Some of the challenges are mystery but the "tie a tie" challenge they knew about, so could practise at home prior.  

The "Painting Dad's Toenails" challenge was not known about so required some concentration on Sid's part. 

Lots of physical challenges & some problem solving ones too.

My son Kayne is wearing a blind fold in the right hand pic & Sid was to direct him but I notice Sid has his eyes shut also (!!)

Such a wonderful event & well worth the entry fee to participate.

Wishing you a wonderful rest of the week dear friends,

Please do enter my Giveaway if you would like to - it's my way of thanking you for this wonderful community called Blogland that I feel grateful to be a small part of.

With much love & friendship to you all,

Julie & the furry three x0x0x0

Cleaning & Creating

 Greetings lovely friends & readers

It has been wayyyy too hot to work outdoors this past week plus the Inside was looking like it was desperately in need of some attention ... this dry weather brings the dust which just coats everything.  

Oh This Is ME to a tee !!

I decided to start with some jobs that I had been putting off for a VeRy long time!

The vintage Chandelier in our bedroom was constantly blowing bulbs - one every few days sometimes.  The Mr ordered some fancy filament bulbs through our electrician who assured us they would last for years.

  I decided to clean the chandelier as it has been years a very long time since I had done this.  I cleaned all the crystals with vinegar water & wiped down the rest of the light thoroughly.  How it shines now - the new bulbs are just wonderful & I am so thrilled with it. 

I have Indian Cotton drapes in my lounge with crochet panels at the hems.  I love these drapes & have 8 drops ... 2 at each set of French Doors & then 4 at the big picture window at the end of my lounge.

  I last washed them in January 2020,  so they were looking dull & grubby.  I can wash a pair at a time in my machine on Delicates, hang them out quite wet & then iron them.  The ironing takes FoReVeR! All those gathers & the crochet lace at the bottoms ... I began doing a pair a day so it took me 4 days in total.  I worked out it took me over an hour to iron each pair. 

Of course ... there was quite a bit of this going on ... Little One thought they made the most wonderful hut under the ironing board & just look at all those tassels to play with !!  😸 

 I cleaned all the windows & doors thoroughly & hung them all back up.  Phew what a mission it was but it felt great to have it done.  

The Before

I did not have it on my list to clean out the Linen cupboard but when I went to get fresh pillowcases the whole lot fell down on my head.  That did it!!  I hauled everything out.  Many items that came home from Mum's had been shoved in & older items pushed to the back.  I plonked all the piles on my dining-room floor to sort through.

I decided to use up some plastic baskets that I no longer used in my craft room.   As you can see - I had the utmost helpful assistant (!!)  Can you believe dear friends - I removed 62 items from this cupboard ??!!  Does one person seriously need 24 handtowels ??!!

The Mr took quite a bit for wiping rags, I kept some cotton sheets for dropcloths & the rest went to the Salvation Army Op-Shop - here is my car boot load to prove it.

And the "After" ... Yes I even labelled the baskets because I am pathetic thorough like that  😉

This stack of primitive boxes were all stacked inside each other in my sewing cupboard.  I think they came from my friend Elaine quite sometime ago & I'd never used them for anything.  I decided to revamp them & use them for storage in my craft room.  The labels mostly came off easily, some of them required a scraping & a light sand.  

I wanted to paint each one a different colour but just use what I already had on hand.  Some of these paints were hard & needed water adding to soften them a bit.  But they did the trick okay. 

These are the colours I used from top to bottom.  Pavlova, Grey Mist, Aged White, Soft Duck Egg & Old Linen.  I lightly sanded them & then added some of the left-over botanical transfers from when I revamped the stool 

in * this Post * 

A good coat of wax to each box & they are ready to use & look much nicer don't you think?

This was Mum's favourite silk scarf, hand dyed, & purchased on one of our trips to Australia - she loved to wear this & the colours really suited her.  I knew I wouldn't wear it so I decided to cut it up & make it into lavender bags.

I got 10 bags altogether - the silk was a horrid thing to sew.  I filled them with this years dried lavender from my garden.  As I am going to be gifting alot of these I decided to make a label for the back just to add that special touch.  My sewing room smells wonderful  💜

My dear friend Julie is downsizing & gifted me this beautiful picture that she thought I might enjoy.  I just love it & it fits in perfectly on my mantel along with some other gold/brass coloured items.  So special.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend dear friends - thank you so very much for your visits here today,

Remember to be kind to yourselves & to each other,

With much love & friendship,

Julie & the furry ones x0x0x

February Ramblings ..................................

 Greetings lovely friends & readers

Phew it is HOT outside today - I have come inside to the cool & have the air conditioner going.  The Mr tells me it is 31 degrees at the farm today.

My roses are just finishing their second flush & looking a little straggly.  The hydrangeas were picked nearly a fortnight ago & I think they will dry themselves in the Jug once they have drunk all the water up.

After all my green painting in last weeks post, I decided I wanted to try stencilling a teatowel to match everything.  I had this waffle fabric pillowcase & stencilled this bee design onto it using the same Country Green chalk paint as last week's Egg crate.  I am still very much learning with stencilling, but I was really pleased how it turned out so I sewed it into a simple rectangular teatowel.

I have hung it on the oven door handle & threatened everyone in the house (including furry beings) that it is Not to be used to wipe their dirty hands (or paws) on (!!!) 😉  Lets see how long that lasts!

I want to place an Order for some more Soy Wax but wanted to use up the last bit in the bag first.  I found these 3 containers & made candles into them using my last 3 woodwicks.  The quantities worked out perfectly & I had not a drop left over.  The Fragrance is Apple Crumble ... again some left over Fragrant Oil that got used up.  These will be going in the Gift Box once they've dried well.

My dear friend Shirley had a beautiful Cath Kidston Ironing Board cover that had seen better days.  She asked me if I could make her a new cover but attach it to the old one as it had good padding in it.  This was trickier than I thought but I managed it eventually - using this gorgeous floral fabric that Shirley provided which reminded me a bit of Sanderson floral.  Here I am trying it on my own ironing board to make sure it fitted & sat nice & flat.  Shirley was thrilled when I delivered it to her & we fitted it on her old ironing board.  💙

You can see some of the rips or wear & tear where I have put the arrows.

Our couch is old, squashy & rather low.  When I sit at nights to watch TV & stitch or knit, I always tuck an old hard cushion behind my back.  The Grandsons commented that my cushion was all torn & tatty - I had not really noticed how bad it was before.  

I decided it was time for a new cushion cover & found this lovely patchwork one in my stash, no doubt an old Op-shop find.  I made a new firmer inner, stuffing it really extra tightly  ... & love how firm it feels behind my back now when I sit down.  Plus it looks much more presentable than the old torn one!

Remember in * this post * how I mentioned The Mr was having good success growing cucumbers at the farm?  When he purchased the assorted cucumber plants he'd obviously picked up an "odd ball" as this is what grew.  He took a photo & we managed to discover this is a Kumi Kumi or Kamo Kamo.  I'd never cooked them before so I googled some recipes & choose * this one * due to already having all the ingredients in the house.

Before baking                                                         After baking      

You scoop the inside out, fill with the mixture, then bake it for 45 minutes ... I drizzled Olive Oil over it first.  It was delicious but The Mr felt like it needed something extra, perhaps some curry added or some spicier herbs.  We shall certainly be having this dish again as I really enjoy having meatless meals now & again.

The Mr also bought home from the farm a large bag of Japanese Millet seed heads.   He grows this each summer as a supplement feed for the cows as well as making some paddocks into silage for winter feed.  I love the seed heads for my citrus pot-pourri,  I stripped the leaves of it all & made 8 bunches, which I hung outside to dry.  You have to be mindful where you store it as mice really love it (as I have found from experience)  😉

After sulking for about 5 years my Peace Lily has finally decided to flower again.  I cannot tell you how delighted I was when I noticed this.  So far it has 2 flower heads on it ... such simple pleasures that made my week 💚 

As mentioned earlier I am inside with the air conditioner going ... Madam Pip has taken up residence in my underwear drawer as she is situated not far from the nice cool air flow.  Please take note ... when I saw her heading in this direction I quickly plonked an old tee shirt on top of everything & she was most delighted that I found one that matched her colouring (!!) 🧡

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

Wishing you a wonderful rest-of-the-week ... remember to be kind to yourselves & to each other,

With much love & friendship to you all,

Julie & the furry three x0x0x0