Lucky Me.

 Yesterday at Patchwork and Quilting group I won the raffle.

We all buy tickets and the money goes towards the rental on the building we use and running costs.

 The goodies include hair products ( in metal containers ) a tiny torch, a pink fat quarter, 3 embroidery cottons, some thread, a knitted face cloth and a large cake of chocolate.

Lucky me.

For Your Imformation.

 

 ( click to enlarge if you can't read it )

 Not long now till our Exhibition. With Covid we have missed having one, so some ladies have given those quilts away but hopefully there will still be heaps to see. I have been preparing hanging sleeves and filling in entry forms.

 This is a new venue for us.  Hope it works. Plenty of parking which is essential. Note for anyone who has visited from other places it is for 2 days only..

A Spot of Colour.

Vireya Rhododendron - Red Mountain is enjoying all the extra rain and is flowering brightly under the big magnolia tree at the front gate

 We seem to be getting an early wet Winter which is not so pleasant.

 I have a nasty chest cold ( for the last 3 days ) so being inside because of the rain has been okay.

 My collection of felt Christmas decorations  I've made for the Exhibition Sales table has grown.

 The little bear needs a bed made ( next ).

 Being stuck inside I  had time last  week to read Atlas - The Story of Pa Salt by Lucinda Riley ( RIP ) and her son. I will not put any spoilers here for those of you yet to read it. I really enjoyed it ( as I did the others )  and wasn't far off the mark with what I thought might happen!

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Inside Weather Today.

 Although it is indoor weather today I can see from my windows some flowering delights.

 Now 18 months old (in my garden )  the Vireya rhododendron at the front door is looking very happy and healthy. Its called Dawn Chorus. I had one at the orchard that did brilliantly so knew I liked it.

 On the other side of the house the Zygocactus is coming into flower. I was doing some research on it and it is now reclassified as Schlumbergera. I know in the Northern Hemisphere you call it Christmas cactus. ( I hope I can remember its new name! ) Its many years old and is happily repotted in a terracotta pot..

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 In July our Patchwork and Quilting group is having an Exhibition. As I have lots of felt still I have been making Christmas decorations for the Sales Table. It doesn't really show here but they need something shiny to look any good. ( thread or beads or baubles ) I have more cut out . They are my hand sewing project at the moment.

 I will show you this for a laugh. The all time largest feijoa I have seen

 Back to the kitchen now where I am making bread and have made a date loaf. Its chilly  ( & wet ) enough outside to day to appreciate the heat from the oven.

Plenty of feijoas and walnuts .

It's Autumn so collecting the fallen feijoas is a daily task. When it has been windy or raining or both there is over 100 at a time to get. They have been being distributed to friends and family and friends of friends. With feijoas there seems to be no middle ground. You like them or hate them. You have none or lots.

 Yesterday  the Grandsons helped me pick up the walnuts. Smaller is in the front and bigger grandson is in the photo. ( where's Wally situation )  The walnut is now quite a large tree.

 Previously I have been laying the collected nuts to dry on an old drop cloth outside  in the sun for a week. That doesn't work when it's raining so I have them lined up on trays  along the window sills inside ( much easier as long as there aren't too many )

 4 year old G/ son wanted some knitted slippers for kindy - ones that would be good for sliding on the wooden floors! 

 I had to adapt a baby bootee pattern using bigger needles and 4 ply to make some to fit. He was happy. 7 year old g/son is now knitting at school and comes to me for help with casting on and off.

Although my dahlias  required quite a lot of tying up and staking they have been a delight for weeks and weeks. These white pompom ones  have long  stems for picking.

 

More Harvesting.

 

 I decided if we wanted any I   better get to it before the wasps hollowed out all the pears and the ducks from the estuary ate all the apples. ( so the Granny Smith Apples may have been picked a little early)

 Its quite a steep slope where these fruit trees grow so I have to be very careful of my footing.

Two Finishes.

 Finally, I've finished Felt embroidered ball # 30, for Matilda.

 The motifs are:

 a pear; a ladybird; a sunhat; a peapod ; a balloon; a grey cat; a strawberry; a birthday cake; some flowers;  a hen;  a

star and a capital M for her name.

 I will post it off on Monday. 

I also made this little bear in a sleeping bag for the Sales table for our Exhibition in July.

Harvesting.

 From 3 plants ( one butternut; one crown and one Queensland Blue ) we got well rewarded.

 One got a rot and we already ate a butternut and shared another.

 R built some more shelf space in the Hustler Mower shed to store them.

 The rest are on a trolley in the same small shed.

 We have already had one big batch of roasted pumpkin soup and we will share them with our young ones and one lot of neighbours.

 We know to inspect them frequently for rots while we are storing them.

 That was worth doing!

Recommendation.

 If like me you are a reader and sometimes ( like now ) run low on books to read I suggest if you live anywhere near Tauranga in BOP, you go the the Rotary Club ( Used )  Book Sale . Its on all this weekend at Seeka Coolstores,  Harvard Way Mt. Maunganui.( 9 - 4.30 pm ) 

 For the first time they started it at noon yesterday. We went yesterday afternoon and it wasn't too busy and we got parking easily.  As well as books they have jigsaws; records DVDs;  CDs and  second hand art.

 Kids books and Jigsaws.

 My lot.( 23 )  R also got a bag full. Surely between us that will keep us reading for the next year.

  

****

 Thanks for you comments on my last post post. We got off very lightly with Gabrielle . Not so other parts of the North Island. The clean up needed in some areas is beyond belief. The number of new bridges and roads huge.

Getting prepared.

         As cyclone Gabrielle approaches NZ there is not much we can do to prepare. I went out this morning and picked all of these Dahlias ( Holly Houston ) that have really big heavy blooms. 2 weeks ago the storm trashed this plant so I know it will happen again. After dinner last night I went down and picked a large container of Luisa plums.( 1/3 have rots 1/3 have split with the wet so I was picking from the other 1/3.)

 Our bottom level grass / garden beside the estuary has still not dried out since the last huge amount of rain, so I guess it will jus get wetter. Part can't now be mowed. Our house is well away and above this area.

 The top of the North and Auckland and Coromandel are more in the storm path than we are so here's hoping it's not too bad for them.

Big Clean Up.

Fine but windy is okay for our planned big clean up outside today. With time and so much rain the concrete and the exposed wood on garden walls and outside seating area and furniture were black and stained.

 First move all the seats, pot plants,( inside the door out of harms way ) 

 extra chairs etc out onto the lawn so R can manoeuvre the Hustler with sprayer on the back around the area he is to clean. Using a diluted Hypo solution he cleaned the wood and concrete areas.

 Later when it is dry I replace every thing and it looks so much better. This is where ( on the grey couch ) I take a book or sewing if its a really nice fine day. ( not many lately ).

 The retaining walls up the driveway and an area at the entrance are getting done too.

******

This is the 3rd flower a new Vireya (called Scented sun) has had following some sunburn when first planted then a touch of frost during the early Spring. I think its happy now. It was planted in September last year. Vireya Rhododenrons  do really well in BOP. I see in my garden record book I have planted 16 since we moved here.

Rain Flowers.

 

These Zephyranthes  candida  ( commonly known as rain flowers ) tell the story of our weather so far in 2023.

 R keeps a weather book where he records  max and min temps and rainfall.  We had a wonderful sunny week between Christmas and New year. New Years day was fine. Yesterday was fine . Today looks like it might be fine also. In the intervening days we recorded 170.3 mm ( or 6.812 inches ) of rain.

 Some area of NZ had far far more than that with resulting flooding and extreme damage. 

 Not that we can change it ( the amount of rain falling ) but it certainly shows us keen gardeners what plants and crops like lots of water and which do not.

 When we hose the garden we don't soak all the surrounding areas as well and that I think makes the difference. Everywhere is saturated when it constantly rains so the water goes deep and  dries out slower.

 Every type of weed known to man likes rain!  So do blueberries but not so much strawberries which like rain but also sun. Ripe plums don't like all that extra rush of water so they split.   But still we garden and enjoy the crops that do well.

 *****

Belatedly I wish you All a Happy New Year be it wet or fine 

In Time For Christmas.

 

Pohutukawa ( or New Zealand Christmas trees ) are flowering just at the right time. This very young one is at the bottom of the hill at our young ones new house.

 In our neighbourhood there are many beauties. I see when out walking.

   Flowers differ from tree to tree.   Some almost pink others dark red and these  are a bright red  with a hint of orange . ( there is also a yellow variety but it is never as spectacular )

      *****   

 This got finished a couple of weeks ago but I forgot to show you it. Just right for a wee girl who will be 8 months old on the 25th.

*****

 Tomorrow will be our 55th Wedding Anniversary. I wonder if we will have time to go to lunch. We usually do lunch as we were married at noon.

 There is quite a lot of a certain Virus around at the moment so maybe eating out is not a great idea.

*** 

In case I don't get back here before the 25th, I wish you  All 

 Season's Greetings.

Stay safe and be Happy.

🍒🍓🍨🍷🎅🌞

Here are the Rest.

The Continuous Landscape in 17 parts. No body knew what anyone else was making. They could be rearranged to maybe blend the sky colours a bit better,  ( Click on them to enlarge. )

The second to last one ( with the Mt and tall buildings )  is quilted then painted on with fabric paint. All the other are fabric sewn on.

 

My Landscape now Finished.

 

This is now ready to hand in. It will be displayed alongside others similar to make a Continuous landscape. Each piece made should be able to be placed beside any other person's work with  horizontal sky, land,  water all meeting at a given point. ( I bet they don't ! ). Mine has an element of humour to it.

Mystery Car Trip and Sewing.

 Last Friday some of the members of our Patchwork and Quilting Club went on a mystery Car trip. It meant an early start but I was lucky that a neighbour also belongs and she took 3 of us from out this side of town in her car. The weather forecast that day was appalling but we mostly dodged the downpours till 2 pm. We went over the hill ( Kaimai Range ) to  the Waikato area. We visited 3 fabric and Quilting supply shops. My favourite one was  Bower Bird. in Tamahere .I had not been there before and didn't know about it. I purchased 3 little pieces of wool felt in unusual colours and 2 threads.

 We went to the Hamilton Gardens for lunch. I spotted these big saucers of marigolds on the way in.

 We left to come home  at 3pm in very heavy rain. There had been a serious accident on the main road and we had to detour around Whitehall.( later there was a 2nd mishap on that road). Progress was snail pace and it took us so long. I walked in the door at home at 6.15 pm ( so 3hrs 15 mins sitting in the car! ) Luckily with 4 ladies in the car we talked a lot.

                                                   *******

 Today the weather is bad again. Rain and wind so I have been working on my continuous Landscape background. We were given a piece of A2  paper as the only pattern, with marks where the horizons have to meet with other peoples. Sky/ water/ land. so they have a chance of matching up side by side. 

 I have quite a lot of work to do on the middle and foreground, but its coming together okay.

Sowing and Sewing

 Sowing and Sewing have both made progress.

 Both Grandsons have small  vege gardens here with us. This is the 4 year olds . In the previous post it shows the little plants just up. Here they are now out in his garden He did so well transplanting them. Netting covers to stop rabbits or neighbours' ( multiple )  cats digging.

One of  R's vege patches with potatoes,  peas watermelon and  courgette plants.

 At the moment we are picking broccoli, asparagus, cauliflowers and these small red cabbages which are great cooked or in Cole slaw.

 

Plenty of colour in the flower gardens. This bright orange gazania was not my choice , ( R's ), but I thought you would love it Pam D ( hehe ).

 I much prefer the pink.

 Out the side door from the laundry is a wooden retaining wall that has the clothes line and some shrubs. on top. It is quite a dry area especially in Summer so Gazanias ( not listed with my favourites ) do well there and have self seeded everywhere.  They cross pollinate and come up in lots of colours.

 Some have dropped to the garden border below and fill gaps or get weeded out. They only open in the sun, but provide lots of free plants.

*****

I am working on 3 different small sewing projects at the moment. This felt panel is part of an elongated cushion cover. I am attaching the leaves which is easy hand stitching. Also handstitched is this current felt ball. Having said I wasn't making any more I changed my mind and am currently working on the 29th one, for a wee baby called Eloise.

 The third project is a group one. At P and Q we were asked to make a panel for a continuous landscape which will all be hung side by side. I have till early December to finish that. It is machine sewn and only partly completed. A panel about A4 size. Photos when I finish it.

 Finally I am picking lots of Graham Thomas roses which are doing well I think because of extra heavy rainfall in July.

 Unique rhododendrons flower around the garden about 10 in all.

 The yellow violas down both sides of the new steps are still bright and have bushed up. ( good value ).