A Traditional day....

May be I am an old "Fuddy Duddy"  bought up in traditional ways with protocols and the right and wrong ways of doing things I believe they call it "Etiquette".

There are many practices that go on today which I find quite alien in a way ... not the way I was taught to do these things... Hark at me sounds like I came out of the ark.

One of these is wearing Black to a wedding this was always a no no ! , the fact that no one wears a suit or tie or even proper shoes to these occasions ... hey that is just me and my way and I sit and hope that these things come back in time ... but will they ?.

But yesterday I attended Margaret and Malcolm's funeral  .. what a delight to my   fuddy duddy eyes every single person attending was wearing black everything was done traditionally, we sang traditional hymns with prayers, I really felt as though they would have liked what they were seeing from their highway in the sky, they were traditional people, and this was very clear in the eulogies given by their family.

So yesterday has restored my faith and equilibrium in etiquette  ... that all is not lost with the world, and tradition still survives.

These things are no longer taught in our schools ....so come on all you Grandparents it seems it is down to us to pass on the refinements of life

I was in the Warehouse awhile ago talking to  a young chap who came in with a "Chit" from WINs ( Work and Income Dept) to buy himself trousers, a shirt and tie ... as he possessed non of these to go to an interview for a job,  he did not even realise he would need to wear such clothes for an interview,  he must have been middle twenties not a teenager, and I felt society had failed him somewhere in his education ... am I the only one who feels like this these days I am sure I am not on my own here.

In my heart I feel there is a large opening here .....for someone to open a school of etiquette and protocol.

Santa Sack Swap

If you would like to join this swap ...please click   HERE and go to "Swaps on the GO"

The sadness continues...

A few posts ago I mentioned the really bad news week I had had, well this week will leave that one behind in it's dust.

Since last Thursday I have lost three friends 1 to illness and 2 in an horrific accident just off the Desert Road on Friday.

The funeral of the first  lady I could not attend but tomorrow I am able to attend in Whakatane the service for Margaret and Malcolm Anderson, both Margaret and Malcolm were deeply involved with Rotary and Inner Wheel. 

A few years ago Malcolm was a Rotary District Governor and Margaret was District Chairman of Inner Wheel for District 293.

So tomorrow is going to be a sad day for everyone from District 293

Debbie ...please email me.

Debbie please email me you will find  with my profile ... for reply to your comment.....

Possession is 9 - 10ths of the law

Now if you don't want to use it ... I do!!

I just dropped this basket on the deck for half an hour ..... ready to be taken to the garage for safe keeping... on my return this is what I found.

Revisited a posting from 2007 ...... with the cutest photo's

Many years ago I saw this pattern at a craft fair, and thought Yes! if I have a Grand Daughter this would make a lovely quilt for her, the panels would be hand stitched with love by Grandma.

Now we all know that most of life is not a choice .....at least somethings in life are and others are not and the sex of your Grand kids is one of the no choice ones....

So after 2 grandsons I thought oh well !! may be next time and the pattern went away in the UFO box ( unfinished objects to the uninitiated)

A couple of years on and 2 more Grandsons appear so the quilt stayed unfinished.

But I needed stitching and stuff to bring to Dubai so I decided to finish the quilt, it has changed to make it a little more masculine....the original had lots more flowers bands around the borders.

So sorry boys you are just going to have to love it at Grandma's house when you visit.

OK !! it is a bit Cissy I admit. Girls all over the quilt

But it is not that bad

Have you ever taken the time to read .....

For some reason today I wondered what my first post was on my blog in 2007.

So I took a few minutes to look back ... hey! what interesting reading it was ... things I had forgotten all about ....pictures and memories

There was one lovely one about a quilt and my grandsons with such neat pictures of the boys... may be I will re-post it.

So take some time and re-look at yours.

What happened to the bag ?

Mhairi, Sugi and I had a "Bag Day" a couple of weekends ago ... The construction was completely finished on the day but a few trimmings needed to be purchased ... these could not be aquired before as it depended on the finished bag what I actually needed...

Yes ! I have forgotten to buy anything over the last week  but I will get it finished this week ...just to let you know that it is in existence a quick peek...

my week of bad news... continues

I posted at end of March about the week of not good news and it continued by the Monday 4th April I had another two not good news  items.

Then one is closer to home , on 6th April my brother in law Malcolm had a stroke  lucky it was just a small one but any is not good news, he has lost sensation on left side and walking is a problem but hopefully rehab will get him back on his feet quickly he is positive and will work hard at recouping .. so he is in our prayers

My Birthday continues.....

Big hugs to everyone who have sent messages and pressies for my birthday I have had ever so many and they continue for as I  was writing for today the postman brought me  another Birthday Fat Quarter parcel from  Peg in Australia ... thank you so much ... wonderful colours just spot on my choice of fabric, could not have chosen better myself. Also chocolate eclairs "Yummmmy."

Another needle case...!!!

Along with all the other "small things " I have been doing ... I have done another Needlecase this is number 5 of this style.  "how many can one have ... with out it being to many"
As I have mentioned before I just love  small things ...  will have to start giving them away although quite a few go into "swaps" from time to time.
Sorry picture is not the best.......

May be I had better go back to pincushions for a bit of a change

Lucky Girl ...me that is.

I belong to a Fat Quarter Birthday Swap ... and Sunday being my birthday I had parcels arriving before and after the event I was very good and kept them to open on the morning of the 3rd ... here is what I have received so far .... 

So thank you everyone for spoiling me.

Spare time ...what else do I do.

A few years ago I visited the Museum with some guests that were staying with me and as I had been to the place more times that I can count a must for all guests to see..........I stayed in the back ground and during the tour when the guide was free spent some time talking to her ... she gave me the 10 cent rundown of being a guide ....so the outcome of this saga was I started to train as a volunteer guide for the museum ... once the training started it took 13 weeks after which  I emerged a fully fledged guide .. I found my niche was the booked tours normally people from overseas ... groups from as small as 6 ... one time I had 45 this was far to many but  managed.
I do on an average 3 to 6  tours a month, and really enjoy it ...... the history of the museum building itself  is my forte ... it was a spa for about 50 yrs with people coming for all over the world to be treated.... if you would like to see the museum check out this link.

http://www.rotoruamuseum.co.nz/things-to-see-and-do/the-bath-house-building/

I did a tour a few days ago when we had 58 people and these 2 lovely ladies helped me.
The museum is so busy we actually have 80 guides this is necessary as we run tours on the hour every hour 10am to 8pm every day except Christmas Day ... that is one large number of guides needed.... most guides have a regular slot each week and sometimes two slots, the amazing thing is people do this volunteer job for years it seems once you are a guide it is someting you do for ever,  very few leave.

Busy Weekend ...all stitching

On a Friday evening I join with some stitching friends and we sew for a few hours have a small supper and gossip and chat to catch up with news, we often do a project together also.

While in Dubai I made a bag and these ladies have admired it since my return, so that has got to be 2 yrs.

Finally we have decided to get together on Saturday and make one .... 1st of course for them  and a new one for me ...well a girl can always do with another bag to join the eight on the back of the sewing room door.

  So watch this space for photo's.

Then Sunday ... Ribbon Rose from Ellersly are coming to Whakatane for the day ... he ups his shop into a van and comes over at the request of Whakatane Embroidery Guild, who then send an invitation out to all who wish to visit him and browse and buy..... we do not have a good embroidery shop in this neck of NZ anymore, and our ordering has to be done  by post, which is okay when you know what you want but some times one needs to see things in the flesh so to speak.      The Guild also put on a nice morning tea so my friend Mhairi and I will be up early and ready for the hour drive for a morning of eye candy.

Then after the visit to Whakatane we are going to drive to Hamilton to visit with my Grand kids to have tea as it is Grandma's birthday .... I can not think of a nicer way to spend it Sewing and with the Grand Kids.