The wonders of blogging !!!!!

It never ceases to amaze me how wonderful bloggers are .... after only a few hours of posting my dilemma of losing the requirements sheet for the Little House Neighbourhood I receive an email from Miss Deb's in Christchurch with the same pieces as I already have ...ugh!! my elation was very short lived .... but hold that thought ... for  2 minutes later another email from her with the exact piece I needed ... so thank you  from the bottom of my heart Deb.

Also thank you to the others that offered it.

I have made sure I have copied it more than once so as to file the original away safely...

I have been thinking on this for ages now that one should make a working copy of the pattern you are using and file away the original but then I bet you all,  already do ...yeah!!

 I already increase the size of patterns especially cross stitch ones .... as they are printing them smaller these days and that's my story and I am sticking to it ....LoL.

 

Little House Neighbourhood,

Calling all cross stitchers

Little House Chart 58

This is a plea ... 

I have this pattern and have done many of the houses as individuals .... used it for christmas decorations and various other things. It has been a useful pattern ....BUT

I have lost the instruction sheet ...
i.e. the sheet that tells you which fabric to use,  what size it all is  etc.
I have the charts no problem there...

 I have searched the sewing room ...it has to be here somewhere ... but I also may have left it somewhere while doing it in bits and pieces.... as it was a nice small project that was easy to carry around with me.

 So if there is someone who has this pattern ... I would love to obtain the above details. As I now  want to do it in it's entirety

Autumn is almost here and our thoughts.....

Yes ! our thoughts begin to change... from the long hot days of summer to the crisp autumn morning with the leaves changing colour and some windy weather scattering them all around.

We begin to put away the cut offs and short sleeves in exchange for a little more cover up with long sleeves, then the  food changes ... I have been thinking on soups ... now I adore soup can eat it any time day or night....
I have favorites and minestrone and veg soups are top of my list ... but like stitching patterns I can not leave them as they are ... have to change things so here is my latest soup from a basic to a ....
a veg soup with a  Thai  twist .


Laurie's basic  Kumara and carrot soup with a Thai style twist ....

3 cups  veg or chicken stock
I Kumara peeled and chopped small
1 large carrot peeled and chopped small
1 Onion chopped small
1 teasp. chopped or crushed garlic
1/2 teasp cumin
A few chilli flakes or  a very small amount of chilli powder
( I prefer the flakes they have a smoother taste)
1 teasp. tumeric
1 tablesp. butter
salt and pepper to taste
1 small can coconut cream or milk 150mls.

In saucepan add the onion and garlic with spices to butter and fry for 2/3 minutes ... then  add all the veg and stock ....
Boil until veg is very soft ... I do this for 30 mins allow to cool and then reboil for another 30 mins.. double cooked seems to bring out real flavour.
Liquidise till smooth.... return to pot add coconut milk or cream and heat but donot boil.
Serve with toasted pitta bread .... yum! 
Freezes well so make a big batch.....

Open Heart surgery

A dear Stitching friend Fran  this last week was rushed into hospital with chest pains..... and our stitching groups world has been shaken a little here in Rotorua ... May be you know or may be not my Daughter Kathryn  works in the cardiac cath lab  in Waikato  Hospital.... very very useful.
This is where you are taken for such surgery from Rotorua an hours drive away so not some where you can just pop into to make a quick visit..... 
Now Kathryn has blogged about this and I am going to once again uplift her post as she explains things so well  and " why invent the  wheel" we often do this on our blogs share posts on the same subject.... so here is Kathryn's post ....

Support Person by Kathryn


I have unexpectedly become a support person this week.
Sadly not for someone about to have a baby but for someone who is going through open heart surgery.

A dear friend of my mum's has come to Hamilton from Rotorua (only place to come) and today she went to surgery.
She came to Hamilton on Sunday and I got told she was here Tuesday. So I skipped and jumped as fast as I could to her ward and said 'Hi'.
Now I have been visiting her everyday, supporting her through her stay and today I supported her all the way to theatre.
As I write this I am waiting for the call from the hospital to tell me she is out of theatre and that her triple bypass heart operation was successful. She does have relatives but as her brother lives on an island 30 kms  East of Auckland he is not readily available to her and her Nephew is in Rotorua but he can not be here in Hamilton all the time to support her. So she asked me to be around if possible, I was more than happy to help her as I know she is very dear to mum and their friends in Rotorua.

We have a long road a head.
She will spend the weekend in Intensive Care, I will visit but she will hardly know I am there.
Then she will move to the Cardiac ward and I will visit her lots more there.
Eventually she will be able to return to Rotorua where she has many wonderful friends to support her through the next 3 months of her recovery period.

Definitely turning into a village supporting one of their own.

We all want to thank Kathryn for all she has done for Fran and for us here in Rotorua ....  keeping us informed along the way almost hour by hour .... thanks a million from us all here ..... hugs Mum xx

My Christmas Ornaments finishes

I belong to Christmas 2012 ornament group... to finish 12 ornaments  at least one a month for the whole year ...but have told you all this before some where ....  so as not to bore you completely with the details  .....  here is my February and March offering.....

Prairie Schooler Pattern from Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornaments  Collection 2006

Julia Lucas design  from JC  Christmas Collection 2007 ......... but altered some what by me.
I enjoyed stitching these while I was away in the campervan so easy to pick up and put down.

Another Question

I am having problems commenting again ...this time with that dratted double word verification

any one else having same difficulties ?

Hello again

I just don't know why I have not blogged for awhile, but I have been on the run it seems since my return to normality ... Although I have been checking in and reading my favourite blogs.

I have returned to the Museum as a guide and Arthritis Pool classes as a tutor, Embroidery Guild and Patchwork and Inner Wheel.... I have been to Taupo and Katikati this week along with all the above  sometimes I think I over do each week... but I actually love being busy ... on that note ..... Yeah!!  taken on another thing.

Embroidery Guild could just not get a President no one would step up .....  and we have  at least 50 + members .. hated to see things in this situation so  a friend Beth and myself said "we would do a shared Presidency"  so that's the way it is ... we have decided we will have a theme for our year  we call it the "D theme"  which stands for DELIGATION, so although all these folks would not put up their hand they will all be delegated a job of sorts during the year and it will become a real shared  job with everyone putting in a small part to keep the wheels of the guild turning.

Katikati ... Thames Embroidery Guild is out sister guild  they take in may be 4 or 5 towns with in their area and meet each month together in a different town  ..... We meet on alternate years this time was our  year to go to them ...there must have been 40 +  of us .... they put on a wonderful spread for morning tea, lunch and then  before we left afternoon tea .. we had a theme as it was St Patrick's Day.... of  course it was Green or anything Irish.
 It was great to see all the work they were working on and to come back with a few new ideas.. and to meet and talk with friends we have made over the years on our visits.

I managed to do a fair amount of my ladies ..... between eating and talking.

As normal had problems sticking to the pattern and did my own thing .. changed the skirt design, it should have been a straight "hobble skirt" but it did not appeal to me very much...
( may be because I never will or even  never could  have worn such apparel.)

5th Post of Tour

The scenic drive to Mount Cook National Park offers 55 km of lake, mountain, and bush scenery.

A tribute to Sir Edmund Hillary, humanitarian, ambassador and one of the world’s greatest explorers, the Sir Edmund Hillary Alpine Centre showcases the Aoraki Mount Cook region, its people and its place in the universe.

It depicts Sir Edmund’s longstanding connection with the region and touches upon his achievements, expeditions and life’s work. It was here he climbed his first major mountain, achieved a number of impressive first ascents including the difficult south face of Mount Cook, and trained for his Everest and Antarctic expeditions.

I had never really seen Mt Cook before properly the last visit someone had moved it and dropped a fog bank in its place... but this time I had the most wonderful views ever.

  Lake Tekapo was also looking beautiful it is the most amazing blue and on the side of the lake is the church of the Good Shepherd  many people travel from all over the country and the world to get married here in this church

From the lakes I headed to  Geraldine

Geraldine is real small town NZ  .. while here they were showing in a small refurbished Movie Theatre  "The Iron Lady " so I went to the matinee and while you were seated in armchairs or sofas they bought you a fleece blanket so you would not get cold as they had not refurbished the heating system, there was also a lovely market in the tree lined park.
From here I took all the back roads and scenic routes heading north, this is where I encountered Mail Boxes of sizes and shapes ...another story.

4th Post of Tour

One of the main parts of my tour was to go through the Central Otago  and Waitaki District.
I had seen various books and adverts for this area and was determined to go...

Duntroon on the end of the Dansey Pass was an interesting place with its old jail and forge and the Vanished World Centre of fossils.

From here I was into the lakes area ..... Lake Waitaki, Lake Aviemore,and Lake Benmore

Lake Waitaki is the smallest, oldest and farthest downstream of the three man-made lakes the Waitaki Hydroelectric Power project in NZ. It lies below lakes Aviemore and Benmore Waitaka River, close to the town of Kurow.
The lake is created by Waitaki Dam, a 36m high spill weir dam built between 1928 and 1934.  Waitaki was the last dam built in New Zealand with excavation done with pick and shovel, not heavy machinery The power station is to be upgraded by Meridian Energy between 2011 and 2016 at a projected cost of $NZ 60 - 80 million.  So there you go that is where your power bills $'s will go.

More pictures of the lakes such beautiful scenery....

Lake Benmore

Lake Aviemore

Twizel is  in the  Mackenzie District of the Canterbury  region of  NZ. Its residential population is just over 1000 but in summer the population more than triples. The present town was built in 1968 as a green-fields project to service the Upper  Waitaki Hydroelectricity Scheme, and at the height of the project in the 1970s, had a population of around 6,000.

The town was laid out in a 'Scandinavian' fashion, featuring looping roads and pedestrian ways, making it usually far more direct to walk than use a car. Shops, school, and recreational parkland formed a hub in the centre of the town, around which the residential area were built.  Accommodation was highly segregated: in addition to single-men's quarters in the middle of town, there was a series of different houses available, with the smallest for workers,  teachers and professionals, and the largest for engineers and other high-status residents.
As the intention was for the town to be reverted to farmland, there were many 'temporary' features. For example, instead of putting in kerbing, channels, and footpaths at the edge of the road,  Most houses were prefabricated, and intended to be portable. Some were brought from Otematata, and some were later moved to Clyde for the next hydroelectricity project. However in 1983, as the hydroelectric project was winding up, residents successfully fought to save the town itself.

Pictures of a couple of the original workers houses

Twizel was where I met and stayed with Shiree and Tim  ... here is Shiree in here Patchwork and Quilting shop attached to her house...

From here I carried on up to Aoraki / Mt. Cook but this is another posting.

A Catch up...

It is now over a week since I returned home from the holiday ... and I have had difficulty getting back into my life routine, Good job the cat can let me know when he is hungry or he may have starved to death by now. He obviously missed me for he insists on being by my side at all times when I am in the house or the garden....  he has taken to curling up on anything that belongs to me that goes from clothes to sewing and the bed as soon as I vacate it in the mornings ...  he has taken a liking to the laundry on top of the washing machine where I keep ironing to be done. So after a few days of cat hairs on everything I have covered it with an old piece of towel but he seems quite happy with this.

I also found this thing in the laundry it is upright and electric ... low and behold I realised it was a vacuum cleaner amazing how you can forget things so fast ... so the carpets are looking better now.

I have gone back to swimming most days and to Embroidery Guild and Patchwork this week... it  was lovely to see everyone and catch up with all the gossip etc.
Embroidery guild are doing a project within guild and everyone has started theirs so I have to get organised but here is a picture of the  piece done by Fiona a guild member who is seeing us through the project.  The pattern is by Sue Thomson who designed the Corn Pad cushions that we did not so long ago.

So after my cleaning morning and making some soup from the veg I found that was looking sad in the veg tray ... I decided it was time for the van to be put away ... I guess holidays are over ... I only keep the van on the road for 6 months and next month it comes to the end of this years registration .. so I have cleaned it out and packed things away for the winter. So here it is all tucked away by the side of the garage on it's own hard standing behind a picket fence that has a neat gate made in it ... the fence opens half way along and it has wheels on which is a great design and so easy to use... makes driving  the van in so simple....  before we had to demolish a section of the fence and replace after the van was in.

While outside it was getting quite blustery and a real autumnal feel to it and when I looked at the flowers I realised my Chrysanthemums were in flower ... now when these are in flower I know it is almost autumn

But in a small basket here is a Hyacinth bulb coming through ... who can say what season it is after all.