Family Visit - and Christmas Quilts

 How nice to receive an unexpected family visit over the weekend.  Grand daughter Megan sent a message asking if I was free for the day as her and partner Michael wanted to come down.  She was even bringing lunch.  I did make me reflect that there wasn't much tucked away in the freezer for unexpected visits,  except a little baking, a feijoa slice, which I got out to defrost.   My excuse is that I was due for a grocery shop.  They arrived with a big bag of home grown grapefruit for me, plus a few lemons.  Delicious, I love grapefruit and it is hardly ever available in the shops these days.  Seems a lot of older people can't eat grapefruit because of medication, luckily I'm not in that group.

I always appreciate home grown produce

While they were here I asked if they would mind doing a couple of small jobs for me.  Two items had fallen off the walls and needed new sticky Command Hooks, luckily I found a box of various sizes in the garage.  Them Michael swept out the patio for me, it had all sorts of debris and leaves under the furniture.  I noticed it took him hardly any time at all, and I was dreading having to do it.  Guess it's an easy job when you are young and fit.

 I decided to change the quilts that morning, and arranged Christmas quilts on the back of the sofa, on the quilt rack, and a Christmas themed one on the coffee table.  But I was reluctant to climb up on the other sofa, and reach up over my head to lift  the hanging pole off the hooks to change that quilt.  Last time I did it I felt my legs go a bit wobbly and was frightened I would fall, and had a real fear of hitting my head on the coffee table.    I asked Megan to do it for me, and she  managed the job easily.

"All the Love of Christmas"

Robin's 60th Birthday quilt is pride of place on top of the ladder in his memory

I like to get the Christmas quilts out early to enjoy them in the lead up till Christmas.  Megan is of the same view, she puts such a lot of effort into hanging lights outside and inside and feels that just to have things up for a couple of weeks is a shame.  So she is ready to start decorating too.  Mind you, she does a lot more than me.  We did have outside Christmas lights previously, but when Robin passed away, Megan climbed up in the loft, retrieved several boxes of them,  and gave them a new home.

After lunch we went out into the shed.  I had promised her the water blaster and she also expressed interest in a Skillsaw we had.  I wouldn't be using either of them so I was happy for her to have them.  Megan is quite a "do anything" type of girls and is very capable with jobs around the house.  We also found a couple of other things she wanted.   Michael took home a set of things, clamps I think, and also an old out of date gas  bottle.  He said he would dispose of that for me, so I'm very grateful for that.

Megan and Michael

So we had a lovely time, I appreciate the visit as Megan often works in the weekend over summer.  She has an outdoor job riding big machines and looking after sports grounds. They took off, with the boot laden, full of things they can use around their own home.  Gemma wasn't at all friendly and decided she wasn't having much to do with these visitors.  Guess she likes her quiet life.  

Heading back home

RSC - On to the next one

There is  a pile of quilt tops folded up on a chair in my sewing room.  And this one is on top of the pile, waiting for it's turn to be layered up and pinned.

Next one on the line

This RSC quilt top is made up of Little Bricks, a design I borrowed from Sylvia of Treadlestitches blog.  The great thing about Rainbow Scrap Quilters is that they are only too happy to share their ideas and designs with everyone.  Looking back through my blog, I discovered that I started making these blocks way back in mid 2022.  I liked them so much that I made two versions, the original Little Bricks design, still a bag of blocks in a crate in the wardrobe, as well as this one, which I dubbed zig zag bricks.  This top was stitched together in December 2023, and has been waiting patiently folded up on the chair since then.

There is not a lot spare floor space in my small home, but I managed to spread the three layers out ready to pin.  Luckily Gemma was snoozing the afternoon away so didn't come to see what I was doing.  I like to pin the layers together lightly, then take it off the floor and onto the patio table outside to finish the job, and save my back and knees from all that bending and kneeling.

Pinning on the floor

Taking the quilt outside to the patio table was not an option today as it was pouring with rain.  Plan B was to complete the pinning on top of the chest freezer, where I do my cutting out, which is a good height for me to work on.  That worked well, I rolled it up as I went.

Completing the pinning

It's always good to get that job completed.  The quilt is now folded up ready and waiting on the sewing machine cabinet.  Wonder how long it will take Gemma to find it, she loves curling up on folded quilts.

Next step is the machine quilting

A Special Day

It's a special day today, it would have been our 43rd wedding anniversary.  We reached 41 years together, and then, unbelievably, Robin passed away just 2 weeks later.  But we had so many wonderful years together, and I'm especially grateful we spent a two week holiday in Rotorua the previous year, celebrating our 40th anniversary there.  Rotorua was where we had our honeymoon, so it was wonderful to return and visit old haunts and discover new places.  Going to a hotel for High Tea was on my list of things to do.

40th Anniversary High Tea at Rotorua

Each November I like to put my quilt "Hearts of Love" on the bed.  I made this quilt to celebrate our 25th anniversary.  It is full of hearts and stars.

Hearts of Love

I guess this would be a good time to tell you about the wedding ring disaster.  I had been wearing Robin's wedding ring together with mine.  Some months ago I was washing dishes, pulled the plug, and turned the insinkerator (waste disposal) on to help get rid of the hot soapy water.  What a racket, crunch. crunch, I looked down at my hand and the rings weren't there, they obviously had slipped off my finger.  They were what was making a racket, not a missing teaspoon.  So then I had to carefully reach right down and pull the rings out.  They were mangled.  I was devastated, was this an omen, I wondered?

I was in tears after this happened

Dealing with the insurance company was surprisingly easy, and I took my rings to one of the local manufacturing jewelers in town, hoping to get my rings remade.  Couldn't be done, he said, and showed me trays of new ones.  I was quite emotional, but chose two rings to wear.  Although I am now widowed, I still felt I wanted to continue wearing a wedding ring to remember all those happy years we shared together.

So I took the two mangled rings to the other manufacturing jeweler, and asked if he could help me.  No problem at all.  I told him what I wanted, he did a sketch, and several weeks later I went to collect my pendant.  I wanted two gold hearts together, adding the small diamonds from the rings.  Our original wedding rings have been made into a symbol of love for me to wear close to my heart.  

Two hearts as one

Sew Wot Tuesday

 There was a last minute change the day before our Sew Wot Tuesday, and hostess Sandra was unwell.  No problem, Jude put her hand up to host, and several of us offered to "bring a plate" to help with morning tea.  I got up early to make some Cheese Puffs to take along, these are not the sort of item which can be made a day ahead.  It turned out to be quite a drizzly morning, but not at all cold, very mild in fact.

I had a bit of trouble opening the heavy wooden gate when I arrived, just couldn't get in.  Luckily Jude must have spotted me struggling through the window, and came to rescue me.  There were five of us gathered for the morning, and before I knew it, several birthday parcels were handed to me.  A pretty little gift bag from Helen contained a bottle of Nivea body lotion, and two jars of Barkers (world famous in New Zealand) chutneys.  Barkers products are manufactured in Geraldine, in the South Island, and they have a wonderful cafe and shop there.  Our tour group stopped for lunch at Barkers when I was on my South Island coach trip earlier in the year.

Thank you Helen

Then two big parcels needed opening.  I joked with Heather that her rather large wrapped parcel probably contained a rugby ball.  But no, it was a rolled length of batting, that's handy.  And I received a pretty lavender box from Carol, to put whatever I want in, would be handy for projects, I thought.  Plus some nice little "smellies" as well.  

From Heather and Carol, thanks so much

As usual, there was plenty of chatter going on, and some knitting too.  And before we knew it, it was morning tea time, orders were taken for tea and coffee, and the tea trolly was wheeled in.  There's no shortage of goodies  on the tea trolly, no chance of us going hungry, is there!

Morning Tea time

I was the only one who had show and tell.  I'm sure I had bought my little hats along to show before, but I wanted to show off my new pom poms, and the pom pom maker.  It was interesting to find out that none of the ladies had seen one of these pom pom makers before.

 Little hats with pom poms

I also had my lasted quilt to show, and the woolen needle/craft book which my daughter Nicky stitched me for my birthday.

My show and tell

Even more chatting, and we were reminded that the next Sew Wot morning in two weeks time will be our last for the year.  We will be meeting in one of the local cafe's for lunch, so that will be nice for a change.

Helen had brought along a pumpkin from her garden, all chopped into pieces for us to take home.  Thanks Helen, how kind.  I think I'll make some pumpkin soup with mine.

Who doesn't love pumpkin!

So we said our goodbyes and headed off home.  The drizzly rain had stopped, it was going to be a lovely fine afternoon.  Another lovely Sew Wot morning, thanks Jude.

The Pom Pom Maker and Me

Remember the days of making pom poms from two  circles of cardboard with a hole cut in the middle?   I never had much luck doing it this way, so some time ago I had purchased a set of small pom pom makers.  Mmm, not sure about this,  looked at the instructions and decided it seemed a bit too difficult for me.  I just couldn't make sense of the instructions.

Pom pom makers

So I took it down to the Monday craft group I occasionally attend.  One of the ladies there is a pom pom maker extraordinaire and makes many toys from them.  How do you wind the wool around, I wondered.  It was a mystery until Linda showed me how the little appliance opens up.  It is actually done in two halves, I didn't realise that.

I'm getting started

Then when both halves are done, the arms go back to the middle and you take your small scissors, carefully cut, and tie up tightly.  Then I had to be shown how to pull it all apart and release the pom pom.  I'm so pleased I asked for help, I'm sure I wouldn't have been able to work it out on my own.  Obviously I'm a visual learner!

So now I have two little pom poms atop two little baby beanies.  Don't they look cute.  I don't plan to start making pom pom toys, but just the occasional pom pom to go on top of little hats.  

A Finish

It seems to have taken a while, but I've got a finish at last.  I've been working away on quilting my RSC bordered/framed four patch, and this took me a while.  This is a single bed quilt, so a reasonable size.  After quilting along the sashings, I then quilted across each block.  There were lots of ends to tie off and bury!  

Getting there

Stitching on the binding and hand stitching it down came next.  I do enjoy this quiet task, sitting in my recliner chair with the quilt on my lap, stitching away.  I wouldn't be without my binding clips, after all those earlier years of using pins.

Binding time

Photo time was next, it was a bit breezy and I had to wait between gusts for the quilt to stop flapping around.

There, all done, another donation quilt completed

This quilt came about because I found a bag of 2.5in squares some time ago, and have made two lots of Framed Nine Patch blocks.  So there is another lot waiting my attention sometime.  And prior to that, I had made a block set of Hollow Nine Patches in RSC colours too, still to be assembled.  Those little squares go a long way, but I've finally used them all up!

Wet and Wild Day

"A Dark and Stormy Night".   That is often the opening line to some novels, and it certainly was true here last night.  The wind was blowing and seemed to be finding it's way into the garage, rattling the interior door.  Rattle, rattle, rattle as I lay in my bed, hoping it wasn't a burglar trying to creep inside.  The rain was falling, and the wind chimes, hung from the eaves just outside my bedroom window,  were ding donging in the wind.  I couldn't settle so got up at 4.00am, made myself a cup of tea, and took it back to bed.  Things didn't seem quite as bad with the bedside light on to keep me company.  And the morning was wet and gloomy.  Our Spring weather is often very temperamental.

A wet morning

I left home mid morning with a list of things to do.  First was a visit to the local Mitre 10 (hardware store).  There had been a lighting emergency in the sewing room.  I have a standing lamp beside my sewing machine with two bright spotlights, it is really good and give me the extra light I need when working on my projects.  One of the bulbs stopped working, so I carefully unscrewed it and went into the store.  Faced with shelves of bulbs I needed help, this was usually something that Robin took care of.  The kind assistant looked what I had brought in, went to the right place, and handed me a box.  That worked well, item number one ticked off the list.

It was still raining when I drove down to the Op Shop and handed over a bag of donations.  In the garage I usually keep a bag and place various items in as I'm tidying up.  Clothing, culling craft magazines, things from drawers and cupboards that I no longer want, that sort of thing.  The bag was full, so down to the Op Shop it went.  What next?  Put some more fuel in the car.  Once the gauge reaches 3/4 full, I top it up.  Don't worry about the price of fuel, I tell myself, I can't do anything about it.  

Here in New Zealand our General Election takes place on 7th November, but we can vote early if we prefer.  So that's what I did, parked outside the Council Office, walked inside, got my papers, made my choice, all done.  The political parties have been on TV for weeks, having debates, promising all sorts of things, and out and about door knocking.  We will just have to wait now till election day and see how it all pan out.  

Walk this way

I met up with a group of ladies for lunch, and the sunshine was coming out.  Then on the way home I stopped off at the Star 4 Hospital in the Medical Centre to see a friend.  Patients are transferred here from the General Hospital when they need a little extra non medical treatment, such as working on mobility, before being discharged.  After a fall, Ruth is coming along well.

Gemma was happy to see me when I finally returned home and was keen to get outside in the warm weather. She really is quite particular, doesn't like going outside if there is wind in her face, or wet puddles under her paws!  But the weather improved dramatically by the afternoon and she was happy outside enjoying the sunshine, and sniffing at whatever took her fancy

Gemma in the sunshine