Wintertime

Hello again... winter has well and truly arrived here, with a short sharp cold spell last week.... here are some pics from round the farm in the last week or so......

Number 1 helper....Miss Kelly

Bleak

Heifers waiting for meals on wheels........

......... and tucking in.....

 Not sure if this chap is used to snow, but he is snug and warm under his new cover and enjoying his hay....

 And after a day or so we were back to sunshine again......one of our swede paddocks in the foreground, the hoggets are now eating these......

And this years heifer calves being nosy.....

 Thanks for visiting the farm today......... I'll be back in a day or two with a couple of finishes.... till then, happy stitching....Nicky x

Sunday in Summer

We had a fantastic day boating yesterday in beautiful Central Otago.  It was cloudy at times, but very warm and we made the most of the time spent on the water.

Our Kelly loved being on the boat, she wanted to sit up front and help navigate!  Guess it felt like riding with us on the motorbike at home for her......... 

Below is the view we had of the Clyde Dam from Lake Dunstan, the storage reservoir lake behind the dam.  I remember as a child how controversial this whole 'Think Big' project was in New Zealand in the late seventies and early 80's, and it divided communities and indeed still does today as there are more dam projects mooted periodically for the Clutha River.  Many of New Zealand's lakes and rivers support hydroelectric power stations and the Clyde Dam is one of the more recently built ones(finally commissioned in 1992).

And the view of the dam from the lookout on the bottom side ..........

... and looking down the Clutha River from the lookout towards Alexandra at the foot of the hills in the distance.  Alexandra regularly records the highest daily temperature in NZ in the summer and also the coldest daily temps in the winter - Central Otago is the home of seasonal extremes in weather!

On the way home this is a shot looking down on the Clutha from the road high above..........

I hope you enjoyed a little trip on the Clutha, stitching will likely make a return on my next post  :-)

Till next time.................Nicky

PS: There is a little surprise coming soon, following on from my last post, watch this space.

Saturday in the sewing room

Hello there, how is your Saturday going?  I have had a great day in my sewing room, preparing a few blocks for some works in progress and finishing up a couple of things.  Firstly here is the bag I started early in January.  I'm really pleased with this, it's a nice little size, and I am really loving these Nicey Jane fabrics.  This was my first experience with ruffles and the result is not too bad!

In an Afternoon Bag designed by Rosalie Quinlan 
using Nicey Jane fabrics by Heather Bailey

This little flanged pillow is a Lizzie Kate freebie, the fabric I've finished it with looks red here, but is actually a very dark pink with cream spots.  

Friendship Grows, Freebie by Lizzie Kate
Stitched on Cream linen with Weeks Dye Works threads

This little lavender pillow is not todays work, but was my only January OPAM finish, and also my first Sew It's Finished finish for the year.  My list of works in progress at the start of the year was fairly large(a little understatement maybe) and I'm endeavouring to work on it with all the Sew It's Finished girls again in 2012. I think this was started about 6 years ago, and it only needed the opening closed, took about 4 minutes max!!  There really is something wrong with me!  But - it is done now..........

Lavender Pillow from Country Threads Magazine(can't find my copy to get designers name, sorry)

It's a long weekend here in NZ, where we are celebrating out national day, Waitangi Day on Monday.  Tomorrow we are heading to Central Otago for a little jetboating, and guess who's coming with us?  I'm sure  you can get proper pet lifejackets, but we were just trying this old one on Kelly for size this afternoon ......

I hope you are enjoying a wonderful weekend whatever it is you are doing ............... Nicky

My SSCS gift .....

......... one of the highlights of Christmas Day yesterday was opening my Secret Santa Christmas Swap gift, sent to me by the lovely Chookyblue......... if I had known just what was inside there is no way I could have waited until Christmas morning.  But because I was trying so hard to be nice not naughty, I waited and boy was I excited at about 5.45 yesterday morning......... that's what happens when the girls wake you at 5.35am begging to get into their loot!    I have been so spoilt ............ this is the most gorgeous wallhanging - I absolutely love it - it is so me ........ and if I am completely honest I may have even shed some tears when I saw it!

I can't put in to words how much I love this........ the verse is SO true........ 

and the gorgeous little stitcheries are so pretty ............. here are closeups of a few ..........

I was going to email Chooky to tell her how thrilled I was, but decided to track her down in the online whitepages ............. first time lucky with the right number ........... her Book Worm answered the phone and yelled out to Mum that it was 'someone called Nicky and she's a Kiwi' ......... well spotted Book Worm, it's hard to hide my NZ accent LOL.  It was fun to catch up with you Chookyblue,  I hope all your plans for Christmas Day went well and that I didn't hold you up too long! And of course a HUGE thankyou for my fantastic gifts including these other lovely cards and notepads .........  isn't her photography cool??

Chookyblue does a wonderful job of organising the SSCS exchange, and there are lots of happy and grateful people posting about their gifts today, so Thankyou for organising the whole 'event'!

So Christmas Day was a very hot day here, we enjoyed a lovely Christmas dinner at home, before heading to the beach with Kelly for some cooling down in the water.  What  a lovely spot where the river meets the sea........... and then followed by an evening meal at my Dad's place.

I hope your Christmas was a happy one, enjoyed with family or friends and that Santa was as good to you as he was to us.   We have some busy days of farm work coming up, so we are making the most of a couple of days off to relax, hope you're finding some quiet time too ................I'll be back later with what I sent in the SSCS exchange.

Till then, thanks for visiting ..................... Nicky

Chilly days

Greetings!  It's been a slow week here, the girls have had a couple of days off school while we were snowed in.  We've also had no landline phones in the whole distirct for the last couple of days so it's been very quiet, not sure if that is snow related or not but I hope they fix it soon, as we don't get mobile reception here either.  We've just been crossing our fingers there would be no emergencies!  Last day of school today, so we're all ready for a couple of weeks break.

Not much relaxing in this chair this week.......

And we've all been having fun in the snow ..............

I have finished the long-lost bag for my friend, I hope she'll feel the wait was worth it. lol    One more thing to cross off my WIP list!  I've also pieced the little charm pack quilt I showed last time, and started piecing the back for my niece's Abracadabra quilt in Bliss fabrics. 

Angel Pin Carry Bag - Rosalie Quinlan Designs, from Homespun # 21

 Finally thanks for the comments on my last post about the Silver Ferns sadly losing the netball World Champs final.  I can tell some of you (Kiwis) are feeling my pain. lol  When our eldest bought home this gift on Monday from her cousin/best friend who has just been on holiday to Australia, I couldn't stop laughing!  So appropriate, a kangaroo with boxing gloves on ready to give someone a hiding. LOL   I love it!   

                                  

 I have a little something in mind for Chookyblue but she might regret saying there's no hurry......... that's a dangerous thing to say to me.

Hope you're having a great week, take care ........................ Nicky

Maybe a new obsession ..........

........ because I need another hobby.  Yeah right!  Hot off my needles is this little vest for my cousin's wee man.  I was determined to learn to knit 'in the round' as sewing up knitting is to me a little like having teeth pulled.  With the help of a friend who knows what she's doing, this has only taken a couple of evenings to do(only a size 6 months though.)  I think it still needs blocked - whatever that is - I don't remember that term from the last time I knitted years ago - but hopefully that will help it sit a little flatter.  I'd better go and visit youtube, a great place for demonstrating knitting techniques. 

Milo Vest designed by Georgie Hallam, found here on Ravelry

Lastly some pics from Sunday afternoon,  I took Kelly and the girls down to the river nearby, and we had some fun at the waters edge.  Kelly loves the creeks and duck ponds at home, and loves to splash about and get us all wet, but she was a bit unsure of this swift water and stayed close to the edge.  A lovely way to spend an hour on a fine autumn day.

Till next time ....................... take care and have fun .......................Nicky

Holidays over .....

It's hard to believe today is the last day of the school holidays.  Term 1 was a long one, and the girls were well ready for the break.  We haven't done too much, other than a few days away in Wanaka at Easter, and several sleepovers happening with friends to keep the girls busy.  Here are some pics of beautiful Lake Wanaka and the surrounding mountains. 

This is the view from my in-laws home.......

Below is Treble Cone ski-field(obviously without the snow. lol)

The mountain vistas are simply stunning ........

The last of the autumn colours are still beautiful ........

...........as is the 'rooster tail' left by the jetboat..........

Sheep grazing down to the lake edge .............

And finally back home again, here is our Kelly baby, who is nearly one now, always keen for photos ........ 

(Don't you love my gorgeous carpet - Not! It will be a happy day at my house when I get new carpet/curtains/wallpaper. lol I just wish it was going to be soon!)    

So as you can see, there's been almost a total lack of stitching here lately, but as ever, I'll try and rectify that soon.  I did get back into an old hobby while I watched the Royal Wedding on Friday night - knitting - I haven't knitted since the girls were little, but have started a little vest for my cousins baby boy.  I'm a bit rusty, but am enjoying it so far.  And wasn't the wedding wonderful - brought a little tear to the eye.  It was so amazingly public, but still seemed intimate and personal for the Prince and his bride.  Beautiful!!

Hope to be back with some stitching or maybe even some knitting soon.......till then, take care and thanks for visiting me today ........ Nicky

The week that was ......

Hi all, there isn't a lot of news around here.......just the normal comings and goings of family and work life. Thanks for all the kind comments about our new baby Kelly, this is a photo of her I got yesterday....why is it they always look so sad? I'm sure she does have a happy life for the most part, but as soon as you try to get a still photo, those big eyes always come out so sad looking! 

We've had a very cold wet week, this was the view from the upstairs deck last Monday, snow falling, thankfully it didn't get any worse than that, but it was a slow trip to work as before the snow started, we had a very hard frost, so roads were icy too. Bring on Spring, we are all over Winter!! A few rhodos are just starting to flower so something better must be on its way. 

It's been a case of going backwards not forwards on my stitching. The miniblocks I had done for BG were laid out on my sewing room floor, when our very old(nearly 17 years) cat decided to relieve himself on them. I only noticed the next day that they all looked a little messed up than how I had left them. On closer inspection I could see - and smell - that they had cat pee on them. While I was seething mad, I realise he is very old and in failing health, so we just need to watch him carefully, he doesn't usually spend a lot of time inside, and I will keep the sewing room door shut in future. I've washed the blocks(several times), and apart from one fabric shrinking a bit, which I have now replaced, they look and smell OK now. The joys of pets!

Some Gardeners Journal stitching was achieved last night though, the garden tools are nearly done. Definitely trying to get this block done before the end of the month. We start lambing in about ten days and things will get a little crazier round here! We are vaccinating our older ewes this afternoon, and then spreading them out around their lambing paddocks. Can't wait to get some lambs on the ground - then winter will have to go away! If only it was that easy. lol

Thanks for stopping by, I really appreciate you visiting!

Till next time ............................... Nicky


EDITED TO ADD: The photos on this post didn't seem to be showing first time around, so I have republished this post.  Apologies if you end up with it twice on Google Reader etc.  I thought I was being smart trying to blog straight from Picasa, but somehow I don't think I got it right!

Introducing the newest member of the family........

I've been very slack in not sharing this news sooner.....meet Kelly, the newest member of our family.  Kelly is a black Labrador Retreiver, and she is a real delight. We thought it was about time the girls had a pet dog, as even though the 5 farm dogs we have are all very friendly, they can't live at the house, and the girls don't get to care for them regularly as they do for Kelly.  We picked her up at the end of June, when she was six weeks old.  She is now thirteen weeks old and has tripled in size from these early photos.

She is heaps of fun, a very busy girl, although is tending to be a bit nippy at the moment when she is excited, but I think she will grow out of that.  She is loving to chew on anything she finds, doesn't matter if it is your sock with your foot still inside it!  I'll get some more photos of her soon, as she looks a lot bigger and more 'grown-up' already.

It's a horrible day here today, freezing cold rain, with some snow predicted - I just hope that doesn't happen.  After we've shifted sheep, and helped put up some more fences for the next few days, we're going to watch a couple of rugby games and I am planning some stitching tonight. I'm picking Southland to beat Otago(I hope) to retain the Ranfurly Shield, followed by the All Blacks to beat the Wallabies(I hope). 

Go the Stags and the AB's!!! 

Have a wonderful weekend.............Nicky