Wandering.

 

 Wandering along this beautiful Whangamata  Beach  twice last weekend was a real treat for me ( and my 5 sewing buddies ) 3 of the 6 of us have June Birthdays so we had a special celebratory dinner on Friday Night.

 We stayed the Matariki weekend ( a new Public holiday in NZ ) there to go and see the Whangamata Patch and Quilt Groups Exhibition.

 My favourites from the show were Debbie Adding's  "Kai Pai Tau tatou Matariki," 

 with all the stars named ( their Maori names not Pleiades names )

 and these very colourful cushions by Sandi Briggs and Shirley Sparks.

 At the show I was very restrained ( trying to use up fabric in my stash not make it bigger ) 

 but bought a lovely book of cushion ideas. 17,  of which I like 6 very much.

12 Completed.

 

I am very pleased to have finished all 12 of my tablemats.

 They can now be used and I can move on to another project. What ties them together as a set is the backing fabric and the quilting design.

Dreary Winter Weather now With Us.

 

 These are on the kitchen bench brightening up a dull wet day. One of my sewing group friends  Jill gave them to me in bud. She bought us all a bunch when we had lunch out together last week. 3 of us have Birthdays in June. 

Outside the cherry trees are spreading leaves far and wide. Some yellow, some red, some brown. The 2 little persimmon trees on the drive , now all picked are making a bright show.

 From the 2 little trees  we picked 104 lovely fruit, the birds got 2 and some weeks ago in a storm I had to cut 20 off along with the top of the tree to save it from breaking. So very well pleased with the return.

 Possibly my favourite fruit.

 Late yesterday I walked around the back track and spotted the Royal Spoonbills all hunched against the cold along with lots of pest Canadian Geese.

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 I am working on sewing the hems down on my last 2 tablemats ( #s 11 and 12 ) 

 I will take a photo of all 12 together soon. What will be my next project? I have to finish machine quilting a top but need a handwork project. Thinking. Thinking.

 I have been reading more Lucinda Riley books. The ones she wrote b4 the & Sisters Series.