See you all next year in 2012!
Enjoying the family
Now that Christmas is finished and our tree is down. Since its not even the end of the month (we normally put it up the 1st December and take it down the 31st December) the tree was taken down because we were using the umbrella stand for our tree as the stand that came with the tree broke as we put the tree up. Its been really really hot here and we needed the umbrella up outside- bye bye tree see you next December. It was a great idea to use it for the tree- the tree stayed standing through the aftershocks!
Now we have spent the last few days outside enjoying the shade of the umbrella and admiring the garden and I have really loved having Mr B home and the boys playing so well together but also have had the boys with temperatures which isn't so fun!
We took the boys into the center of town the other day- it was nice and quiet since it was before 10am!
I started working on some more Farmers Wife Quilt blocks- to add the 8 I had already made.
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Now we have spent the last few days outside enjoying the shade of the umbrella and admiring the garden and I have really loved having Mr B home and the boys playing so well together but also have had the boys with temperatures which isn't so fun!
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| Hydrangea's from our garden |
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| Hydrangea's from our garden |
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| Boys in the paddling pool cooling off |
We took the boys into the center of town the other day- it was nice and quiet since it was before 10am!
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I started working on some more Farmers Wife Quilt blocks- to add the 8 I had already made.
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| Blocks cut and in zip lock bags waiting to be sewn |
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| Container of scraps |
It was a very Merry Christmas!
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| Master B & Master W Christmas morning |
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| Our new hammock |
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| Master B with his remote |
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| Master W with his new bike and helmet |
These are some pics of some gifts I made for friends and family now they have been gifted!
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| Quilt for Master B (back) |
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| travel pouches for earnings/clips etc. |
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| Inside pouches |
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| Needle books |
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| Inside needle books |
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| Travel toy bags |
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| Apple Coasters |
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| Citrus Coasters |
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| Patchwork coasters |
We had a wonderful day with family and we have been enjoying the sunshine and trying to ignore aftershocks.
More aftershocks
Today we went to Westfield Riccarton in Kmart and at 1.58pm there was an 5.8 magnitude aftershock. This was of course followed by an afternoon with them- and even a 6.0 at 3.18pm.
You can view recent quakes from Geonet.
We are very thankful to be fine, house safe and stnading, still have running water, power etc and no liquefaction- and strangely everything feels still pretty "normal". We enjoyed the sunshine and ate dinner outside this evening.
Lets hope for a quiet next few days as we are getting close to Christmas!!! 2 more sleeps!!!
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You can view recent quakes from Geonet.
We are very thankful to be fine, house safe and stnading, still have running water, power etc and no liquefaction- and strangely everything feels still pretty "normal". We enjoyed the sunshine and ate dinner outside this evening.
Lets hope for a quiet next few days as we are getting close to Christmas!!! 2 more sleeps!!!
Countdown to Christmas!
Its been busy here as we get ready for Christmas! Feels like a this month is going so fast!!
Here is our Christmas Tree
Here is some photos of my Tree skirt I made
The boys are really enjoying the advent pots- here is the list of whats in each pot (they are very much things our boys is age appropriate for them)
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Here is our Christmas Tree
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| Tree with Tree skirt |
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| Master W decorating the tree |
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| Finished with matching buttons |
I made a table runner (more square than a runner) to fit our coffee table but looks cute on our dining table
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| Table runner |
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| Master B making his card for a friend |
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| Some decorations I made for the Advent pots |
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| Our Advents pots |
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| Day 7 with Decoration |
The boys are really enjoying the advent pots- here is the list of whats in each pot (they are very much things our boys is age appropriate for them)
- Decorate the Christmas Tree
- Make snowflakes
- Have a pancake breakfast
- Make biscuits to take to Christmas Party
- Make a Christmas card for a friend
- Make and decorate a ginger bread house
- Plant a new plant in the garden
- Play games as a family before bed
- Make muffins using Rudolph's nose (jaffas)
- Buy a gift for our cat and dog
- Have a family photo with Santa
- Go on a family night walk
- Have hot chocolate a read a Christmas book before bed
- Wraps presents for each other
- Read Luke 1- Christmas Story
- Read Luke 2:1-2
- Listen to Christmas music while eating breakfast
- Donate Food
- Donate toys
- Make Christmas biscuits and gift to others
- Visit Grotto
- Watch a Christmas movie with Popcorn\
- Drive around and look at Christmas lights
- Go to the 5pm Christmas eve service
- Celebrate Christmas Day!!
We built a fence
It looked like this
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now it looks like this after two days of hard work with some help from great friends we have a finished fence!
I haven't been doing much sewing as fence building has taken up most of our time the past few days. I have started making some of the wee felt things to go in our advent calender
and cute stocking for the cat and dog.
I don't plan on doing much else to prepare for Christmas today- feeling sleep deprived and grumpy! Hoping for a better day!
I haven't been doing much sewing as fence building has taken up most of our time the past few days. I have started making some of the wee felt things to go in our advent calender
and cute stocking for the cat and dog.
It was a long weekend
We had Canterbury Anniversary day on Friday. We didn't take the day off Friday \ and go to the Canterbury A&P Show, we had a quiet day at home.
Sago is settling in well. She is doing really well with learning commands like "sit", "come", "stay"- and it sure does help if there is a treat for her! She is very content at sitting under my chair while I sew. The downside to having her around while I am quilting (laying out the batting and basting) is she quite likes to chew on the cotton batting!
Here are both quilts finished!
I made this square block lap quilt finished size 101cm wide and 147cm long (39.5'' x 57.5'')
I harvested Rhubarb
Rhubarb and Hokey Pokey Ice cream for dessert :D Yummy!!!
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Sago is settling in well. She is doing really well with learning commands like "sit", "come", "stay"- and it sure does help if there is a treat for her! She is very content at sitting under my chair while I sew. The downside to having her around while I am quilting (laying out the batting and basting) is she quite likes to chew on the cotton batting!
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| Quilt waiting for binding |
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| Binding |
Here are both quilts finished!
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| Front |
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| Back |
I made the lap quilt finished size 106cm wide and 127.5cm long (41.5'' x 50 '')
I made this square block lap quilt finished size 101cm wide and 147cm long (39.5'' x 57.5'')
My knitting is coming along.
I have also been working on these needle books as gifts for crafty friends. They just need some hand stitching for finishing
I harvested Rhubarb
Rhubarb and Hokey Pokey Ice cream for dessert :D Yummy!!!
Quilting, stitching, painting!
This quilt is a gift for a friend. Looking forward to getting it quilted and the binding on. I hand stitched some words on basic cotton and added them at the end. Words like- smile, family, friends, hope, love.
Quilt for Kathy is now quilted and waiting for binding. Love how it looks and love the pattern on the back!
I started our Christmas tree skirt. Its very green and red (Christmas tree theme this year) I used the blocks I had made for the table runner but decided they looked better here!
I printed out a sheet of numbers 1-25 then used charcoal on the back and a fine pen and drew over the numbers and it transferred the number. Used black acrylic paint to paint on the numbers. Easy and it looks consistant and pretty!
Our christmas cards are coming along! Still lots to do but should have all 60 made up this week.
Hooray for productivity!!!
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| Front quilt |
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| Close up |
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| Close up |
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| Close up |
Quilt for Kathy is now quilted and waiting for binding. Love how it looks and love the pattern on the back!
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| Quilt front |
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| Quilt back |
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| Close up back |
I started our Christmas tree skirt. Its very green and red (Christmas tree theme this year) I used the blocks I had made for the table runner but decided they looked better here!
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| Tree skirt |
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| Advent pots with numbers |
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| Font used |
Our christmas cards are coming along! Still lots to do but should have all 60 made up this week.
Hooray for productivity!!!
