"Makes Me Happy Monday."

Hello,

Happy Monday, hope you are having a great day.

Always happy to see the first Sunflower flowering. I planted some seeds in some newspaper pots I made and planted them straight into the ground when they were a few inches high. It was a bit of an experiment to see how these pots worked. Happy with the results.

Yesterday Ian and I took a drive across to York for a wander around and lunch. The town was so busy and the restaurant we wanted to go to was closed so chose the pub across the road. Very happy with the meal and service provided.

On our walk around we had a look at a antique shop which had the most marvelous furniture if you had a Grand old house. The bookshelf/cupboard we both loved would have taken several hundred books to fill.
The shop was originally the Convent and across the road the Catholic Church Saint Patrick's is still in use.

This is the side view of the church. The present church's foundation stone was laid on St Patrick's Day in 1875, and completed in 1886. It features imported Italian windows. The original Catholic Church commenced in 1859 and dedicated to St Patrick in 1860, still stands today and is now used as the church hall, situated in South Street on the front lawns of the presbytery,

This is the front view. I couldn't imagine how the workers built this. There certainly weren't the cranes and scaffolding around back then. Just long ladders I presume.

If you want to see lovely photo's of Church buildings in New Zealand, Pauline has plenty on her blog.

On the sewing front I have challenged myself to hand quilt a quilt. I actually embroidered 2012 on one of the blocks so I had better get it finished. Nothing like imposing a deadline to get me motivated.

Happy Monday.
Bev C


 

"A crochet string bag and another visitor."

Hello,

I finished a second crochet string bag this week. I found another pattern and actually preferred this one to the previous one I made.

The pattern was easier to follow and went in rounds not spiraling up like the previous bag I made. The only changes I made was putting three chains or two chains at the start of the round instead of the treble or double crochet. Old habits die hard and I guess everyone has been taught differently. Plus the last round called for Crab Stitch, it didn't look nice so I did another round of double crochet. The pattern is available from Penny.
This will add one more finished item for "One Project A Month."

The other day I walked out the back door and who should I see coming for a visit.

Mr Bob. I hope he found a warm spot last night. It was minus 2 overnight and Freddy Frost had visited as well. The Gazebo roof and gardens had a covering of frost. After yesterday's cold windy day it was to be expected. Though it is hard to believe we are having temps in the high 30's on Monday. Lucky we have a Public Holiday for the Queen's Birthday.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Eco-Dying and a Bloggers Lunch at Kainga."

Hello,

Happy Monday.

The other weekend I decided to try my hand at Eco-dying some white Broadcloth with Eucalyptus  leaves.

I filled the pot with leaves and added rainwater to the top.I brought this to the boil then let it simmer for a hour.

I then took out the leaves. Added the cloth,heated it again then let the cloth sit in the pot for just under a day. I know you can leave it longer but I couldn't wait. I did tuck a few of the leaves in the fabric while it was in this stage.

It was a bit hard to get a good photo of the piece but it has come out as I wanted. I didn't want it too dark as I was seeing how the leaves dyed up. I plan to dye some fabric for cross stitching so this was just a test. I will probably use the cloth for a garden stitchery. You can see the original white Broadcloth beside the piece.

Now on Friday there was a special guest for lunch at Kainga.

Bev and Sue.

My Blogging friend Sue came and we enjoyed several hours of chatting and eating. I have never laughed so much when Sue told me about her exploits on a recent fabric buying holiday in Bali. They say it is a small world, well we even discovered that our Ancestors settled in the same part of West Australia at the same time. So you see we were destined to meet. You will have to excuse the windswept look of my hair  in the photo. The wind was blowing a gale. The storm we had on Friday came just as we were taking the photo's and about a minute later it was raining. Thanks so much for visiting Sue and I hope you enjoyed the rest of your weekend and got lots of stitching done on that beautiful wall hanging you showed me.

Happy Monday
Bev C

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"Blue Cross Stitch Sampler in DMC 931."

Hello,

Earlier on this week I finished the cross stitch sampler I have been working on.

I used just over two and a half skeins of DMC 931, stitching on 14 count Aida. The pattern is available from
Gazette 94 blog. One thing I did find though that on the house on the right side there are a few stitches missing on the pattern sheet .You will soon notice that they are missing, and add them in if you are stitching this pattern.  I will use this piece to test out a framers seeing my one I usually use has retired.

Now to decide what to do next.

Happy days.
Bev C

"The lesson I have thoroughly learnt..."

Hello,

"The lesson I have thoroughly learnt,
and wish to pass on to others,
is to know the enduring
happiness that the love
of a garden gives."

Gertrude Jekyll 1843-1932.


Wise words indeed Gertrude, here are some snapshots of the garden at Kainga.

Now a wise word from me...

"When you have lots of pruning to do, buy some new loppers and secateurs. The bigger the better."


Happy Sunday, enjoy the rest of the weekend.


Happy days.
Bev C