Christmas makes

I should have been looking forward to the arrival of eldest daughter from Devon today but quite sensibly she has decided to postpone her journey, I can only hope that the weather improves enough for her to get home at all. So instead I took the dogs for a long walk which was bone numbingly cold but fun, and then had a go at a table decoration.  Flower arranging is not my forte as my sister-in-law told me but I'm very pleased with the result.  The mat under it was my first go at patchwork a couple of years ago, It one of my Christmas traditions that I make a new decoration every year, previous years have included felt tree decorations and Christmas bunting.

This is this years, they were originally lavender bags but I got this idea and I like it although I should have made 5 hearts. (Sorry about the flash)  Never mind I like it and that's what counts isn't it.

 Looking quite festive.

This is another of our traditions. I bought this when my children were very young and filled the pockets with sweets and little gifts.  They took it in turns to have a pocket.  All my brood are in their 20's now but every time I suggest not doing it they are horrified, I even have to send eldest daughters down to her so she doesn't miss out before she comes home.  The gifts are still the same as well.

Just so you know that the sewing machine hasn't been idle on the run up to Christmas, this make up bag is supposed to be a present for a friend. I could always make her another one, I just love the colours.

We have a close friend who is unfortunate enough to have his birthday on Christmas day and I always find men's birthday cards so uninspiring so I thought I'd make one and came up with this. I'm so pleased with it I think I'll make some more in different colours.

 Anyway this is probably the last time I will write a post before Christmas so I will wish you all a GREAT CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR.

Gillxxxxxxxx

patchwork lesson

I have so much going around in my head at the moment that I can't sleep and have been up for hours so i thought I tell you about this lovely lady I met on holiday.
She is the mother-in-law of a friend and was kind enough to put us up for a couple of days even though she didn't know us from Adam. I was very nervous about staying with a complete stranger but I needn't have worried. Her name is Edith and she has been quilting and crafting  for years so of course we hit it off straight away.  She had a whole photo album full of photos of every quilt she had made and given away and a cupboard full of the ones she had kept.
Quilting is something I haven't done too much of and so I was given a lesson on accurate cutting and sewing the pieces together, so watch this space.  Mind you she had a very posh machine compared to mine. Any way here are some of her quilts from her cupboard

.

This is a panel from her latest project. a clever lady.


Gillx

Surprises

I love surprises and the one I received this week was especially welcome.

I have said before I hate technology, more from frustration than anything else, lets face it I spend half my life on a computer but every time mine crashed I just wanted to scream and throw it away.  Well this week my laptop referred me to my administration for the third time this year and enough was enough. It was costing me a fortune just to get it repaired, so i decided to buy a new one.  As Mr T and I were going Christmas shopping anyway this seemed like the perfect opportunity.  Having been blinded by science in the apple store I have my new laptop, which I am getting to know my way around bit by bit, but it is very annoying because of course I have lost all my bookmarks and history etc.  Luckily I had just backed up everything else after putting the holiday photo's on.

Anyway to get back to the surprise. When we got home having spent a fortune not only on my laptop but also on Christmas I was fairly depressed but there sitting in the porch was a parcel addressed to me. I thought it might have been my "Secret Santa" and was quite excited, but No.
A few months ago I signed up for PIF  at Em's Shabby Shack and I had totally forgotten that I hadn't received my little gift, well here it was.  How fantastic was that so thank you Em you made my day.
Here a couple of photo's of what I got

I think this Guy is great fun.

I have never had a Christmas mug, the photo is awful but the mug is great. The strawberries in the back ground are on my new oven gloves( I set fire to the others).

This is something I have bought one of my girls for their stocking( haven't decided which one yet) but I think it's a fantastic idea for someone starting out in crafting like my two are. Of course I could always borrow them, just to have a look.


On a Sadder note, my Friend Karen from Tilly Rose has had to take a break from blogging as her husband is ill and I just want to let her know I'm thinking of her.  She is such a lovely person and if you read her blog you know she has enough health issues of her own without this.  Hang in there Honey.

Home again, Home again.

Back to normality, well almost. I want to know what you have all done to the weather while I've been away, we got on the bus at Heathrow on Sunday to travel back to Norfolk and of course promptly fell asleep, only to wake up to find the everywhere in Norfolk covered in snow.
I would complain but I love the snow and it makes me feel Christmassy which I must I just couldn't do in the sunshine it just didn't feel right somehow.

I did see some great Christmas trees though.

I want one of those pressies

This one is made of old push bikes.

So I now need to write my cards and send off my parcels including the one for my Secret Santa. I have brought her back something from every where we went. but when you find shops like this one in Kia Koura I couldn't resist. 

 I love patchwork quilts but have never actually attempted to make one myself, but I have had a lesson while I've been away. But that's for another post.

 My son would approve of this on his bed.

 I love these fabrics but would you believe I was close to my weight limit so had to resist these.

 This is just a small selection of the fabrics, they had every colour in every shade.

These I just couldn't resist, well I am an unreformed fabric addict, and button addict, I bought some of those as well. A few buttons weren't going to take me over the limit were they, and as for the magazines well they hid in my jacket.

Anyway time to catch up with 6 weeks worth of your news.
Gillxx

G'Day Folks

Hello everyone.
Well we are on the homeward bound part of our journey. Have stopped of in Sydney for  few days with my cousin who lives here. Well I couldn't come all this way and not see her could I (which is what I said  to Mr T) then on to San Francisco for a couple of days and home.  But it means I have access to a computer without having to pay so I thought I'd just show you a couple more photo's.  There will be another post next week when I get back .

 This is Fiona and our home for a month, I shed  little tear when we left her.

 30 seconds later it erupted and sent hot water 20feet into the air. It was great.

 Long empty beach anyone. We saw a few of these, this one is just outside Wellington.

 This is in the sounds on the South Island and was just so picturesque.

And finally a shot of me having a go at fly fishing which actually I really enjoyed but didn't catch anything.  Mr T being greedy caught 5.



Gillxx

I'm still here

Just a few photo's to let you know I'm still around and having the time of my life.

It really is beautiful here. These were all taken in the north Island and I have obviously taken a lot more but computer time is limited and it isn't as easy to down load as at home.  i hope these give you a feel for New Zealand North Island. This was taken in the Bay of Islands.

we got lost and took the wrong road.

But the view was worth it.  You can't be afraid of heights here, some of the roads have long drops.

will speak again soon with hopefully some more pictures.
Gillx

A couple of days in Hong Kong

Greetings my friends.

Just a few photo's to keep you up to date on what I have been up to.  Our first stopover was in Hong Kong for two nights as both of us have always wanted to go there.

We were staying on the Kowloon side of the harbour so had to get the ferry over. It cost all of 20p and is a great way to see some of the city and what is about on the water.     

 i was amazed at how much water traffic there was and in some parts there were hundreds of ships just sitting at anchor doing nothing. I seriously have never seen so many boats in my life.

It has the longest escalator in the world going through the city from the big shopping centre all the way up to the Mid levels 800 m  up. It was a great way to see the back streets and beat the long walk towards the peak tram.

The tram takes you up the mountain in the middle of the island where you get the most spectacular view in all directions.  Unfortunately they have a big problem with smog from China and visability was not good while we were there, still it was good enough for me.
The tower blocks were hugh and so close to together and as exciting as I found the city I couldn't live there.  Apart form anything else the smog played havoc with my eyes.

And at night the light show is as good as you'll see anywhere.

the people were so nice and friendly,they also all speak a certain amount of English which is handy as my Cantonese is a bit rusty. We had one old man come up and tell us we were honoured guests and had the right to go anywhere in the city as being British we had done so much to create it.  

The other thing I noticed was in general how clean the public areas were with road sweepers going around all the time but there did seemed to be a huge gap between rich and poor.

Shopping was good though if you like designer labels, didn't see any shops selling fabric unless of course you wanted a suit made up in 8 hours.

All in all a place I would recommend and with an exchange rate of 11HK$ to the pound it's fairly cheap as well.

We are now in New Zealand and are having a couple of days with friends in Te Awamuta. I have got a few funny tales to tell already and I'm sure there will be many more by the end of our time.

hope you are all well and I'll try and get back to you in a week or so.
Gillxxx

From NZ

Every flyer who ventures across oceans to distant lands is a potential expolrer in his or her breast burns the same fire that urged adventurers of old to set forth in their sailing shiopos from foreign lands.
Jean Batten 1979.
Thats me folks.

Crafting NZ

It is only a couple of days now before I head of to sunnier climates in the Southern Hemisphere, and I must admit I'm getting a bit nervous as well as excited. Four weeks touring New Zealand with Mr T is going to be interesting, how many of us spend that much time alone with our partners.I know we never have.

Anyway I thought I would have a look at Etsy and see what is about from sellers in  New Zealand.

This is called Tiki and is a felt kit from Fix design.I think is such fun.

I love this bunting from Birdspoke has Imps on.

I just adore Babushkas anyway but these softie dolls are

my type of doll.

They come from cupcake cutie 1

Big Little makes these beautiful baby shoes. I just wish I had someone to buy them for.

These are downloadable from charmedmemory collage and are on my wishlist to make my Christmas labels.

This vintage japanese necklace from Kiwibird too is also on my wishlist.

And finally

I just love the models of these knitted dog coats from Mr soft top. They look so cute.

  I have only really been posting blogs since March but it has become such an important part of my life so I will try to  do a couple of posts while I'm away but I know I'm going to miss finding out what all my friends in blog land are up to. I shall be back in the UK at the end of November.

Speak soon

Gillxx

Rats and Bats.

Look what arrived by that nice man from the post office, my Pumpkin Patch Swap from the lovely Nic at Halfpenny Home. I love getting swaps because although you know what the theme is, everyone puts a different  interpretation on it and I find it fascinating to see what people send. And of course I love surprises.

The first thing out of the box was this fantastic halloween bunting. The skull and cross bones fabric is great fun. There are felt appliqued pumpkins on the plain black fabric. This is going to be great hung in the front porch for the trick or treaters. 

 A fantastic knitted pumpkin tea cosy. I absolutely love this and so does Mr T but it gets better-

It came complete with a very elegant white tea pot. It was put into use straight away.

 Then there was chocolate eyeballs. jelly fingers and bat hair slides hiding in these little parcels.

All in all I feel a very lucky lady, it really has made my day especially as we now get to the rats part.

I've got a horrid headache that won't go away. Blah.  More tea I think.

Gillxx