Today is 15th ...Santa Sack Day

Santa Sack swap ... today is the day to open our gifts.
But I would like to keep some for Christmas morning so I am going to open just a few...
Tra la la ...... drum roll ....   boom boom boom.....  and here they are

From Cheryll in Australia I received....

A Santa Sack



Today I opened......

Five little bags of lace and ribbons etc.

A Sweet note book

Some Christmas Fabric

A lovely wolly scarf / collar ready for next winter

A Leather thimble ( how did you know about my Arthritis lumps)

and that I need one of these.

A magnifier needle threader ( yeap! need one of those)

A neat draw string bag with the little pockets inside to keep these things in.

There are lots more gifts to open but will save them like a good girl till Christmas morning so the Grandsons can enjoy seeing Grandma open her presents as well.

Thank you so much Cheryll

What can a proud Mum Say .........

How great to have such thoughtful and caring off spring.

What can a proud Mum say about her Children ...

I will not repeat it all to you

so I will leave it to my daughter to tell you it all .... go and see her HERE

.

Quilts of Michele Hill .. missing !!!!

These type of posts make your heart stop with shock that there are such people around who would steal things going through the post .....
Michele Hill of South Australia has had some boxes go missing  with in the postal service .. it is a lot easier for her to discribe what has happened so please go over to Michele's blog and look at her pictures and read her story.

Horray !!! I can report

Yes !! I can report that today's morning tea was fairly healthy ... with cheese and biscuits, cucumber sandwiches and sausage rolls  plus of course the inevitable cakes but I was able to dodge them.

BUT there was a great fudge slice ...  the  lady who made it was there and I obtained the recipe, so I give it to you, not a good one for the waist or hips ...  sorry.

1 Can Condensed Milk
8 ozs Butter
6 ozs Brown sugar
1 pkt Rich tea or wine biscuits or any plain biscuit really
4 ozs chopped Apricots ( dried)
1 oz chopped Crystallised Ginger ( optional)

Melt the butter, sugar and milk in medium pan
Stir in crushed biscuits and Apricots and ginger if using.
Pour into a greesed shallow dish to cool
Place in fridge until set

You can ice the top or sprinkle with coconut before it sets you can also add chocolate to the milk if that is your choice ... you can also change the fruit to suit your taste.
Can be made ages before it is required .... will keep for a few weeks ... If the family will allow it.

I expect most of the Kiwi's who read this will say ... had it many times ... so we will ignore them and it is for all my friends overseas ... hope you enjoy it.

Christmas ... tis' afternoon tea season

Now I belong to various groups and clubs and as Christmas approaches it seems one has to have morning  coffee or afternoon tea, .. this "Silly Season" as they call it here really does stand up to it's name. 

This is a fairly new thing for me as I have only been in  NZ for almost 11 years and still trying to come to terms with Christmas in the middle of summer.
I have lived in 12 countries around the world and this  "season " is not celebrated in anyone of them like it is here in NZ ... I guess this is because not only are all these groups etc stopping for Christmas but of course most are stopping for the summer break as well, so you have two things to celebrate.

Now my silly season started on November 24th  when one of my groups finished for the summer so afternoon tea was the order .... and since then I have been to at least 3 or 4 morning or afternoon teas a week and it has not stopped yet.

 .. now like most people the sight of lovely chocolate cakes and shortbread, strawberries laden on a cake  or dipped in chocolate, scones with jam and cream get  taste buds flowing and I try so so hard to resist them, but you are encouraged to indulge and someone has gone to a great deal of trouble to produce all this lovely home made goodies so you have to do it justice  .... 

Also the ladies of NZ are a nation of wonderful "home bakers" well that is my excuse and I am sticking to it ... but the trouble is it is sticking to my hips I can feel every mouth full of cream and yummy things just sitting there ... my intake of sugar, butter  and cream must have quadrupled

 or more  in the last 3 weeks.

Plus NZ has the richest and best dairy foods in the world as most people of the world know and scramble to import into their country

So I am going to forget breakfast this morning as I have another morning tea at 10am

 OH! how I dream of nice savory things or even just a slice of toast and pate'

My plan for next year

I spend sometime when I can't sleep and when I sit down for a break ....surfing blogs and one  that I have been following is Carol @  Stitching Dreams  with the 2011 Christmas Ornament Challenge... So if you need to get into the Christmas mood  pop over and look at her blog here is a taster of her pictures, I borrowed it from her blog hopes she does not mind. Her Ornaments for 2011 look great on her banister ... this makes me quite envious as I don't have stairs anymore ... but then I must admit the only reason I would want them is for Christmas decorations .. does not seem a good reason that would stand up..... to sell the house and buy a two storey one.

If this challenge continues next year I will be  joining.

More pictures from the Exhibition as promised

It has taken awhile to pass these pictures to the computer, seems they have been sat snuggly on the camera, and I had forgotten all about them..    Oh well !! that's life.

Beautiful Stumpwork this picture is about  6 x 8 inches

it is actually a lot smaller than it looks in the photo

This black work panel was stitched by Ruth who until just a few months ago had only ever attempted cross stitch

A flower on a wooden bowl is stitched in detatched needle lace this was about 4 inches across

This trophy was made by the Woodturners and Carvers  Club of Rotorua for us.

 the scissors almost work and the thimble is usable  also is the cotton reels.

This is the lid of the box that was made to hold the trophy.

Flora and Fauna

Toadstools and mice  all hand stitched using wools and all kinds of mediums

A smocked collar made for an exhibition of extensions ( sewing out of the square)

 it was not made to be worn

Unable to Comment on blogs

I have had a great deal of problems commenting on friends blogs for some reason ...completely unknown to me WHY !!    I could write it etc but it would not go .. I even mentioned it to owners of the blogs to see if they had changed anything ....  I was so frustrated and everyone must have thought I did not care anymore.
For it would not sign in with a profile ...so I spent a great deal of time on the HELP pages of alsorts of places and I finally came up with an answer that has worked for me.
Do Not tick the box that keeps you signed in  to Google or Yahoo or who ever you use ....
YES it worked ... who would have believed it was so simple.

BUT why after about 8 yrs has this changed I have always been " keep me signed in "

Never mind great to be back.