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.

Here I am back again

This photo has nothing to do with my post it is just such a neat black and white picture of Ben 8, Grandson number 2

I have been working on the election for 8 days solid ...  Gee!! I am not used to this working for a living ...
I was Manager of an advanced Polling Station all week  full time and then on Saturday it was election day and work started at 7am ...  I finally arrived home at approx. 11pm .
I was most of the time  issuing special votes to people who were away from their own electorate area.

Now I could not believe the number of folks who could not remember where they lived 2 months ago.... or which area of the country they came from ...  as in  ... which district of a city or even the county name, not to mention the fact they had forgotten their street name .....  
We dealt with people who were rather worse for wear on the drink and drugs, folks who were just passing through Rotorua and needed to vote,   men who were on a fishing trip,     ladies who were away for the weekend on a shopping trip.  People who were at weddings or family celebrations.

I must admit it is amazing what people will tell you when they sit in front of you and you have an official badge on.. some of it is unrepeatable.....
Men who have been nagged by their wives to come and vote.  18 yr old voting for the first time  ... one girl who was 18 that day and wanted to vote.
6 guys on a Stag weekend dressed up as The Flintstones ...

People who wanted to tell you long drawn out stories about their choices .... and folks who did not have a clue what or who to vote for ... I was asked many times who I would vote for and  was it worth them voting for them as well !!
Now we also had a Referendum .... this confused the hell out of everyone ... should we keep the MMP process we have at present or change it to a choice of  four other systems ... believe me the final conclusion on the voting for  this subject is not a true picture of what people thought, wanted or what was best for anyone or everyone  ... most were complacent about it all ....  confused and did not understand the other systems ... so they said it was easier to say "keep the one we have"

Now if you want to see your fellow country men at their best and worst ... work on the General Election ... it is an education.

As Promised ...pictures

We have a section on Vintage items

some amazing tablecloths hand made by a generation before ours.

The china is mine

For those who remember  my Kina that I was making well here it is

along with a few others ... with the shells they look so life like.

Eliabethan Embroidery ( not mine)

Crazy patchwork ..bag ....... Carole Bates



Biscornu pincushion..mine

Cornpad embroidery cushions ..mine front right on seat

Hardanger purse  by Merlene 

Chickens machine and hand stitched ... by Carole Bates

Hardanger  mat by Merlene

A Christmas cake ...raffle

what amazing sugar craft flowers " Christmas Roses"

More tomorrow .. for some reason Blogger is taking ages to uplaod the pictures.

Busy busy Day...

This heart is just lovely ... may be on my to do list very soon ....

Today was set up day for my Embroidery Guild Exhibition, as I am on the committee this entails a lot of work.  It was a long hard tiring day but it looked lovely when we left it at 5pm today.  When I arrived home at 5.30pm  I could not decide whether to have some dinner or have a sleep, so after a toss up  I had some cold chicken salad and then set the alarm on my phone for 6.50pm as this evening was Guild night ... so I had a half hour sleep and then left the house again.

Exhibition is on for 3 days, this year we are having a section on work in progress and having ladies sitting and stitching .... I am looking forward to this as I will be at the show every day  and I will be able to sit and stitch with no guilty feelings from 10 am to 4pm each day

We were so busy I forgot to take photographs ... pictures tomorrow I promise.

Yesterday 22 degrees >>>>>

Yesterday  Sunday was beautiful around 22 degrees and I managed to wash the house down getting rid of the winters spiders and their eggs all comfortably together in their cocoons now all washed away ....how is it that I destroy so many but they seem to increase each year ... I cleared up the now defunct pots and planted some things ready for the summer.....

Now today Monday started off amazingly and was warm and sunshine ... then it all went to custard....

The world went black and it thundered with lighting and hail the size of large peas, what  Topsy turvy weather, I guess we should not count our chickens before they are hatched, like I dreamed it may have been the start of summer this last two days..

How about chapter 2 on the saga of the camper van....

The panel beater today started on the van by taking out all the windows ...whoooops!!! the windscreen shattered as he was doing it ...wheeeee!!!! can't wait for tomorrows episode, This is just becoming one big joke I have to laugh or I will cry..