Pah Homestead

While at the retreat in Auckland at the weekend we walked through the park over to Pah Homestead in Hillsborough. What an amazing place, the building is gorgeous and would have been absolutely amazing when it was a residence. It now houses an art gallery and cafe and while they were enjoyable I couldn't get over the sheer size and grandeur of the place.

 The fireplaces were amazing, including the hearths.

This staircase blew me away.

The side view and very impressive.

This is the floor in the entrance - some quilt ideas here for sure.

The entrance.

The whole front.

The side.

The floor in the main hallway - this is timber!

This side view shows the sheer scale of this building.

There were heaps of people enjoying the Sunday sunshine at the cafe.

This is definitely a place that I will revisit in the future - if you ever get the chance I recommend you take a look for yourself.

Retreat ...

Wow ... what a fantastic weekend with some special friends. I took off on Friday afternoon to Auckland to meet up with a bunch of girls for a quilting weekend and boy did we have some fun.

In March of this year some of us attended a retreat at the St Francis Retreat Centre and we loved it so much that we booked this last weekend so we could repeat the experience. It is so quiet and there is a feeling of peace and tranquility at the centre, the food is exceptional and everyone has their own room, you can check it out HERE. 

I worked on a quilt as you go quilt project that I am making through The Apple Basket at Kaiwaka. (You can check Apple Basket out here).

Here is one of the four blocks that I made with this block design.

Here is one of four blocks I made with this block design.

I was able to attend a Monday class today at The Apple Basket with Ngaire and Teagan where I learnt to join the above two blocks together, very impressive. I spent a lovely day there working on my project and I also have to say that Teagans Chocolate Biscuits are to die for! Thank you so much Teagan for making them for us.

I am really looking forward to getting this quilt together. There is probably a little more planning earlier on than I am used to, however once you have the individual blocks sorted it comes together quite quickly.

That is it for now so until next time - happy stitching everyone.

Donna-Maree

Where is November going...

November is racing along ... 
Our eldest daughter has returned to Perth following visiting New Zealand for her week here so she could attend a friends wedding. It was just lovely seeing her and being able to have conversations as a part of daily life, even if it was short lived. Don't get me wrong Skype is fantastic and it is awesome having that option but it isn't quite the same. The best part was having her totally to myself as we drove to Auckland for her to catch her plane. Although the saying goodbye bit wasn't easy.  Her and her partner are coming home for Christmas this year and the countdown has started until they arrive.

Auckland on our way to the Airport.

Driving through town yesterday, the scent from the summer flowering plants was just awesome. The port wine magnolias have flowered here at home scenting the air with bubblegum like smells. I noticed returning from town last weekend that some of the pohutukawa trees have started to flower - a sure sign that summer is nearly here. The temperatures haven't been that high yet, we have had a bit if a slow start to the season. The vegetable seedlings in the kitchen garden are growing well though so clearly there is enough heat for them.

Some of the roses at our place.

I am currently supervising NCEA exams at a local high school and it blows me away seeing how much potential is sitting in one room. This is the fourth year that I have done this and so I have seen these girls sit through all levels of their exams. Knowing that they are about to embark on the rest of their lives and their journeys are about to change direction is exciting. I wonder how many will reach their full potential and how many will be involved with making decisions not only for themselves but the future of our country.

That is all for now, until next time. Happy stitching everyone.
Donna-Maree

Stitching update

I thought that I would give you a stitching update as I have been chipping away at things.

I gave up on the idea of doing a little sewing and tidying the sewing room at the same time and spent a big chunk of time at the weekend moving and reorganising the sewing room. It is not completed but you can definitely see where I have been and it already feels like a more positive and motivating space. I don't have much of a stash at the moment, but I did take time to fold my yardage to fit the shelf in my cupboard based on the idea by Bonnie Hunter, check it out HERE.

Here is my first complete stitchery. I just need to make it into something now. I keep changing my mind about what to use it for - a cushion or put it in a bag. That might need some more thought.

The first house block completed for Home Coming Lane.

I have my stitching group this week, a trip planned to an exhibition on Friday and club day on Saturday. So come back soon to hear all about them. Until then happy stitching everyone.

Donna-Maree

Fireworks!

The end of October or beginning of November always brings Guy Fawkes and the fireworks display. We don't always go to the public display, but we decided to this year. It was held last Saturday at the rugby stadium and it was great. There was a great crowd with people picnicking with their friends and family, bouncy castles and some good entertainment. We got to see some local talent with the dance troupes and the band playing was great too.

The stage where the band was.

The fireworks went for 21 minutes, yes 21! They were spectacular and well worth the money that we spent to attend. There is no way we would have had as much enjoyment if we had purchased and let off our own fireworks. The extra plus is that profits go to local charity, a win win all round I think.

Town Basin, Whangarei ...

Hi everyone 

We all live where we do and drive by everything on a daily basis without a thought sometimes as to what makes our town or city special. So I thought that I would share some photos that I have of Whangarei so that you get to know some of the special things here.

The Town Basin is down where the Hatea River joins the harbour and it is a favourite tourist spot as well as being a great place to meet your friends for a spot of lunch.

Here is the Town Basin looking from Riverside.

Just looking further along.

I have turned around and this is Mt Parihaka

Children's playground at Town Basin

This is the side of the clock museum and the kiosk.

This major sundial is in front of the clock museum.

The front of the clock museum.

Sundial again - different view.

Children's playground in the wintertime as there is no shade cloth and everyone is in long trousers.

There is a neat walk from the Town Basin and this is as the end of it. The Waka and the Wave.

View from afar.

Close up of the wave.

Close up of the waka (boat).

There are a variety of shops and restaurants down here as well, however I didn't photograph those.

I hope that you have enjoyed looking at these photos. Next time I am out and about I will collect a few more!
Until next time - happy stitching everyone.

Donna-Maree

Stitching Update ...

Hi everyone,

Well it is Labour Weekend here in New Zealand, which is the traditional time to have your vegetable garden planted if you are wanting to be eating fresh produce at Christmas. I planted some seeds several weeks ago before going away on the trip to Opononi with the girls. The only seeds that haven't shown their lovely heads are the capsicums - everything else is above ground or should I say seed raising mix. It is my plan to get as much as possible planted this weekend. I also purchased a capsicum plant from the growers market this morning so that I have one plant ahead of my raised seeds (if they show their pretty heads, that is). The market was really busy - we must have a lot of visitors in Northland this weekend.

Okay in terms of stitching - I have been feeling like I have too many things that I am trying to work on at the moment and had decided to focus on just two things which would enable me to make better progress and get the quilt tops completed faster. Funnily enough I saw on Bonnie Hunter's post yesterday that she is feeling that she too has too many projects on the go and just needs to concentrate on a couple and get them to completion. See I am not the only one and it was good for me to hear that others have to re-evaluate and re-prioritize too. It was through thinking about this blog and that it was about time I gave an update as to progress on quilts that I am working on, that I came to realise that I haven't made as much progress as I would like.

I went upstairs to tidy the sewing room the other day and couldn't face it. The juki is permanently set up so I just sat down and did some mindless sewing on what was sitting right there. Hence I have got the red strings completed for Orca Bay and what a fantastic feeling that is. They are all trimmed and counted up- surprise, surprise I even have a few spares! I need to sit down and work out what the next step is with these, but because I still wanted to do some mindless sewing I just looked for the next thing on hand to sew and continued until my bobbin ran out.

Since the other day when I couldn't face sorting the sewing room, every time I have been up there since, I spend some time sewing and some time sorting and both are looking better for it! The thought of tackling the sewing room until it is done is overwhelming and depressing, so my answer is to do some of both - that way I can see progress as I go and I don't get bored!

When I was looking for a project to take on our girls weekend away to Opononi I discovered a few UFO's that I had forgotten about and one of them is Orange Crush. The interesting thing is that I have all of one set of squares completed but not the other and couldn't work out why until I realised that I had started this quilt before I had purchased the companion and angle rulers. So I have cut the triangles that I need and have started stitching these blocks and they are coming together well.

I have made a point to visit my sewing room for a session for the last three days and I can see where I have been. Both in terms of tidying up the mess that has just been dumped there for what feels like forever and in terms of the progress that I am making in my sewing. I have taken a leaf out of Bonnie Hunter's book and had a movie playing yesterday while I was sewing. It must have sounded like I was having fun as I sure had a few visitors checking out what was going on! My son even sat down and watched the movie for a while before carrying on with what he was doing. 

While I am doing an update here are some photos of mums cat Wilson, remember he was a kitten not that long ago and look at him now ...

Labour Day Monday we went out to our favourite beach, Ruakaka for a really good walk along the beach. I always love finding other peoples creations on the beach, they always make me smile. Take a look at these...

I thought this was awesome!

This one hasn't shown up very well.

A lot of work has gone into these.

It looked like there had been quite a bit of traffic at the beach on Monday, there were heaps of life guards and there were many more sandcastles along the way down the beach as well as some amazing big holes - I hope the tide fills them in otherwise they could be dangerous walking along the beach in the half light.

I was going to get photos of the projects that I have working on but I am going to have to leave those for another day or I will never get this post published for you all to read. You will just have to check back here to see what I have been doing.

Until next time, happy stitching everyone.

Girls Break Away!

The black dots you can see on the sand bank are people who are sand surfing!

Looking out towards the head waters and the bar, such a beautiful day!

Not the usual bird of paradise plant, these flowers are awesome.

Here is Leeann taking a photo of me taking a photo of her. 

This is where we stayed, awesome setup and very quiet.

Here is block one of Home Coming Lane. This is when I laid them out on the table to decide where everything was to go.

This is what I had achieved by the end of our sewing session. Everything that can be sewn together has been. I just have the appliques to do on the empty blocks now.

Here is the layout for Block Two. Everything that can be has been sewn already, so just waiting for the applique blocks to be done - no pressure.

This is what it is going to look like when it is completed. This one belongs to another friend and I liked it so much that I thought that I would participate as well, I can't wait to get mine completed.

Fiona put the borders onto this quilt for her son, as you can see he loves surfing.

Here is a close up showing the awesome fabrics and Fiona's cool flying geese made with triangles - don't they look good.

This was Fiona's other completion for our sewing session. Fiona was working on this quilt at our retreat in March and it was fantastic seeing this quilt come together. This quilt is going to be a gift and I am sure the lucky person will be rapt with it, I know I would be.

This was Leeann's first completion, isn't this amazing. I am so impressed with this quilt. I know that this quilt is made from special fabrics that were a gift to Leeann and is therefore more precious to her.

This is Leeann's second completion and she made this in one day - impressive. This was a kit that Leeann purchased from Itch to Stitch Bernina here in Whangarei. Check out the vehicles - they are all New Zealand versions which makes it even more special. I am sure that any boy would love to snuggle up with this special quilt.

I had a fantastic time away with my friends and we laughed and sewed our hearts out. We walked at least once every day along the waterfront and on the beach with our special friend Lily (Fiona's canine friend). If you look closely at the photo of the bach you can see Leeann patting her. You can check out Leeann's blog for a photo of Lily and Leeann's photos of our time away Here. Opononi has always been a special place to me and getting the opportunity to spend some time there with special friends makes it even more special. Thanks Fiona for giving us the opporunity and thanks to Leeann and Lily for helping make it so special.

Until next time - happy stitching everyone.

Donna-Maree