Fruit & Sewing & Knitting.

 When we had surplus apples from our tree we started dehydrating them . We liked them so much and found them a very portable convenient snack that I have done some more.
 I am closely watching the persimmon tree. The wasps have already found it and are hollowing out unripe fruit. I will start picking some to ripen inside or they might win.

 At 5pm on Wednesday last I came to the very last Kiwifruit vine I had to do a final thin of rejects from. Yahoo!

 The kiwis are looking great and it is only a couple of weeks till picking time.

 Notice in the top left corner the holes in the leaves from the hail storm we had last November.The vines grew enough new leaves to carry the crop and we have had so much rain that helped too.

Knitting. 

The rib stretched out to show the lovely wool.

 I have now finished knitting this vest for Grandson.

 I have also sewn him a potty warmer ( stop laughing! )

 His Mum got the idea from  this site.

 Finally I have joined the craze of the moment doing English Paper piecing.

 I needed a new hand sewing project to take to club and am making a table runner to start with. More about this as I progress. 75 % of the ladies in our P & Q group are EPPing at the moment.

Do You Ever Wonder......

 Do you ever wonder where time went? Where Life went?

 Well I have one way of revisiting some of it. 

 How?

 By re reading my own blog. I have been writing it for the past 10 years.

 Yes, I began way back in April 2006.

 It's certainly not everything that happened but some of the parts I decided to share here.

 I did a little back reading of my own posts and unsurprisingly found that quilting and orcharding come up quite often.

Some Commentors ( other blog writers ) have been with me for the whole journey and I thank you for that. Many are now my bloggy friends.

990 posts is also quite a lot! 

Many topics are Seasonal ( that is the same for most of us ) but particularly for us growing things.

 Topics I have covered often include quilts and wall hangings, bags and exhibitions. Exhibitons of quilts and embroidery and art. 

It also includes embroidered felt balls and now knitting.

 Books read , movies seen, holidays and walks taken.

 Photographs - lots of photographs I love them.

 Recipes and cooking, coffee but not alcohol

 perfume and taste .

 Flowers and vegetables and nuts.

For me as a blogger I enjoy other BLOGS with great photos, great words and great ideas.

 To celebrate I've added a new gadget in my side bar.  ( Featured Post  - it's an old one from 2008. I know Molly will remember us all writing them. She has the list on her blog.  )

Feijoas and Walnuts.

 Thanks for your comments. 

 I ended my previous post saying I was off to make a feijoa cake which I did. The recipe I used is available here. www.bite.co.nz
 It turned out well. Basically a batter cake with topping  ( lightly cooked feijoas and chopped glacé ginger ) poured over the batter before cooking. To improve it I cut out  the sugar in the feijoa mix ( they were sweet enough )and if I make it again I would add double the glacé  ginger and mix half of it through the batter. ( maybe the topping doesn't need to be pre cooked ? ) ( maybe pickled stem ginger might be an option ) 
 When feijoa trees are dropping at this rate,

 making one cake doesn't use many at all.

 Still my favourite way......pick up from the ground, cut in half, spoon into mouth. That easy! 

A young friend maybe you Pam, said, forget the knife just  break them apart if desperate. Yes, I eat them cooked but for me raw is BEST! For my Aussie friends I am talking about pineapple guavas.

 I have done my first small pick up ( or off ) of walnuts for the season.

 This is the best of 3 trees we have. R has mowed the grass quite short to make my picking up job easier.

 Some of branches are low to the ground so I am able to collect the ready ones straight from the tree.

 Walnuts are a very  healthy food.(  I am sure feijoas are too! )

 Please keep your fresh walnuts in the freezer so they don't go rancid. Most walnuts available in supermarkets are already rancid. After I collect the nuts they are sun dried for a week before being stored or shelled.

Grandson's Hats.

 Last time I showed this navy blues hat. It was then followed by the next size in aubergine colour.

 It was delivered to Grandson last weekend when we visited.

 Here he is in his front pack wearing his sun hat as it was a lovely hot day. But colder days are coming so the warm wool beanies will be needed.

 He is growing fast and is as adorable as ever . Here he is at bath time.

 At the moment I have stopped knitting for him and  have made some charity hats. A young friend is going to Nepal in a couple of weeks and needs beanies for children at an Orphanage she is going to volunteer at. Any size or colour is acceptable - so I am using up those scraps.

******

 Just before Easter we had quite a storm which started the feijoas falling - some before they were ready or big enough. They are okay but not as sweet yet as they can be. I have found a recipe for a feijoa and ginger cake which I am off to make now. I will tell you if it's any good.

Hat and Fruit.

 I finished this beanie for grandson today and have the next size up started.He is growing out of the smaller sizes I knitted.

 R has been doing things in the kitchen today and yesterday. He picked then cut this 

 We were both holding our breath as the first one we cut a few weeks ago wasn't ready. BUT 

 Phew it'a a beauty!

Our grapes are ready and the wasps know it so R juiced this lot.

Not for wine just to drink or freeze.

****

I have also secretly been working on Felt  embroidered ball # 26 which is to be for Grandson. I am not showing those photos yet but soon.

 We watched a good game of rugby this morning . In the morning cause it was evening in South America where it was being played. The Chiefs  ( Waikato / BOP team ) narrowly beat the Jaguares in Buenos Aries 30 - 26.

It's Better in the Garden.

This morning it was better in the garden than in the house because 2 blokes came to install  an HRV System and they had ladders and tools and bits and pieces everywhere. They also turned the power off so that was limiting.

 It's a bit like plumbing but for air.

 Making holes through the wall.

 It took them less than 3 hours to put vents to 4 rooms and vents to and from the lounge which will be the heat source. They also changed the bathroom fan which vented into the ceiling cavity to a new quieter one that vents to outside.

 I will report back on how it works. Mostly it is for Winter heating, not Summer cooling.

 So while I was outside I took photos.

 This dahlia has  velvet petals and Black foliage.

 The first Autumn Crocus are out ( or are they colchicums ? )

 I am still trying for the perfect shot of Monarch Butterflies on the zinnias. Why do they like them so much?

Apple Anyone?

Today we picked any apples left on the tree as a possum was getting altogether too greedy and eating about 4 per night. Some were just nibbled and so the wasps had found them. 

 They are Royal Gala  and the tree was planted in 2010.  It is the first really good crop we have got. Some I have cooked - no sugar needed . The last lot I cooked  I bought a punnet of blackberries to go with them.

 The little black marks on some of them was caused by hail damage at the end of last year.

 The heaviest one weighed 403 grams.

 The White Niagara Grapes are also ready. We cam smell them when we walk out the lounge door. They are sweet and we have a good crop.

 We also did our final for this season Avocado pick for the local NZ market. Avos are quite scare  apparently so the price is up.

 Just a little sewing has happened. I decided to try and make a Taggie for Grandson.

 Here it is partly done.

 6 squares 3.5", some short lengths of tape or binding firmly sewn into the seam first then the seam sewn below the first stitching. The trickiest part is getting the final square sewn in.

 I then stuffed it with wool batting scraps I had and hand sewed the final seam.

 Stuffing something cubed is more difficult than something round or ball shaped.The stuffing has to be encouraged into the corners.

 If you haven't seen one before the tags are to make the object easy to grasp for baby hands.  ( and to chew I imagine ) I have seen tags on little blankets and balls and other random shapes.

Quilt Finished.

I ventured out between the rain showers and  shook the clothes line vigorously so I could hang up this little Jewel Box Quilt.  It is Complete! The colours are quite yummy . It is made entirely from left overs.

Great Day Out.

On Tuesday We ( R and P and R from Somerset UK, and Myself ) 4 Seniors, went for a day out. R drove. We picked up the other 2 and headed to 157  Domain Road at Papamoa for a coffee or tea at The Farm Shop.

 Lots of places sell free range eggs but not displayed like this.

 This hen really caught my imagination.

 ( there was a duck with similar marking on the window sill. )

 Outside there were brightly painted containers made into little shops with various crafts displayed and garden plants and garden furniture for sale. The furniture being used for outdoor seating while on display. The shop sell fresh farm produce and other organic products. there is art displayed everywhere and a hire-able meeting/ function room.

 From there we drove down the newish Eastern Link - toll road ( $2 ) ( 1st time for me ) then all the way to Rotorua.

 We went up the Skyline gondolas and had lunch .

 It was a cloudy day so the view of Rotorua wasn't as bright as some days but still impressive.

 I admired the hanging baskets of begonias.

 I was outside taking photos and took this fun shot of the other 3 still inside . My shadow is on the right and P is waving but behind us is the view of Rotorua. R is just visible in the middle.

 It wasn't too busy being midweek but would be at the weekends. As well as going back down in the gondolas we could have gone down the luge. In the gondolas it takes 4.48 minutes to travel the 908 metres. 

Our next stop was at Wingspan National Bird of Prey Centre 1164 Paradise Valley Road.

 At the centre one can have a close view of NZ falcons, hawks and owls. At 2 pm we watched the Flying Display.

Here "Oz," the male NZ falcon sits on the hand of a Tauranga Boy's College student.  A bus load of very polite students were there watching too, along with a few overseas visitors.

 This Female falcon has caught the lure that is used in her training. It has feathers and meat attached.

 Many of the visitors got turns at giving the falcon some chicken leg bits.

 The flying display was very difficult to photograph well, so if you click on the link there are some U tube clips there to watch. Injured birds are helped and rehabilitated to the wild where they came from where possible. Some have stayed and breed. NZ Falcons are an endangered species. ( we have recently seen a young female at our place. ) The pine forests in NZ are becoming home to some falcons as well.( which may well save them from extinction ) 

 We returned home via the Tauranga direct road which branches off after Ngongotaha and comes out at the top of Pyes Pa Road. There are pockets of lovely NZ native trees along this route.

 4 seniors  had a great day out!

 Back to work for us yesterday and today.

Lovely Visit.

A very special little person, has just been for his second visit for 4 nights . His Mum and Dad came too. One day was very wet so we were glad when the sunshine came back and the washing line could look like this.

 Today's nappies are much more colourful on the line than in my day when I had 2 little boys...... Big white squares which were fastened with safety pins.

 Of course I took lots and lots of photos. One can never have too many photos  or little videos of ones Grandson!( I can play the videos on my phone when he has gone home! )

 At 4.5 Months he now likes to see the world so we put on his sun hat and his Dad took him for a walk in the garden.

 I happen to think he is rather cute and he already has the good grace to laugh his head off when I am playing games with him. So clever too probably.