New Zealand!

Hi!  Long time no see!  I’ve been back from my trip to Australia and New Zealand  for 2 weeks now, and am well and truly over the jet lag – but not the post-holiday-blues!

It really was a trip of a lifetime!  We loved every minute of it!  Here are some highlights:

Our first stop was Adelaide in Australia to visit my cousin Richard and his lovely wife Jacqui.  Here they are with Maurice on Brighton beach!  They spoilt us rotten for 3 days, showing us the sights of Adelaide.

Glorious empty beaches, huh?  It was a bit of a thrill to be paddling in the warm sea wearing shorts in February! And we had a lovely wine tasting in the McLaren Vale.

Next stop was Sydney, where we visited Maurice’s nephew Mark and his young family.  Mark showed us the sights of central Sydney and the harbour, but sadly, the weather wasn’t good, cloudy and rainy! Most disappointing!

We spent a day touring the Blue Mountains.  Awesome!

And we visited a little wildlife park to see koalas and kangeroos

 

All too soon, it was time to leave for the main bit of our holiday, touring New Zealand by motorbike.

 

Once we got to NZ, we joined our tour, organised by Paradise Motorcycles. There were 4 bikes already on the trip and we joined them on day 3 of their tour. Our old friends Stewart and Sue were already there. More people joined the tour along the way until we were 12 bikes in total. We spent a few days on the North Island – where we saw lots of beautiful scenery and rode twisty turny roads - but we were assured that the scenery would be even more stunning on the South Island.  We visited Hobbiton and went to a Maori evening, where we ate food they had cooked in the earth, using thermal heat, and watched Maori traditional dances including the Hakka.

We had the calmest possible ferry crossing. It must be one of the most beautiful ferry crossings in the world!

There were lots of highlights on the South Island, not least Queen Charlotte's Drive right from the ferry! It was stunning! Every day's riding bought different scenery, from native rainforest to snow capped mountains and crystal clear blue lakes.

Highlights include;

Helicopter ride over Mount Cook and the glaciers

Trip to the glow worm caves

Boat trip on Milford Sound

Seeing the albatrosses and their chicks(the only mainland landing site in the world of these majestic birds)

Staying at Larnach Castle in Dunedin, with the most marvellous view from our toilet!

The road down into Queenstown, and having a glass of wine at the top of the gondola overlooking this wonderful view of Queenstown

and lots lots more!

We hadn't done a tour like this before (we organised our California trip all by ourselves), and this bought pluses and minuses! We weren't able to stop when we wanted to take photos, but the interplay and group dynamics was really great and bought a whole new dimension to our holiday.

 

We stayed in excellent accommodation and ate some wonderful food!

We loved being with our friends Stewart and Sue, sharing our holiday-of-a-lifetime with them! We'll be talking about it for years to come!

Holiday Makes

Not long until we depart for our ‘holiday of a lifetime’!  Thought I’d show you my 2 holiday makes.

Number one is my ‘Hawthorn’ dress from Colette Patterns:

Isn’t the fabric fabulous!  I bought it from More Sewing, where I go for a sewing drop-in once a week.  It’s a lovely drapey fabric, perfect for a summer dress!  Must admit, I still can’t get over the fact that this time next week I’ll be wearing this dress with sandals in Australia, with temperatures in the high 20s!  It’s about 9 degrees here and dull and raining! (Hence my photos are a little dull)

Second is another baby quilt:

We are visiting Maurice’s nephew and family near Sydney, and this is for their baby girl, Isabelle.  Again the fabric is from More Sewing.  The pattern comes from an old quilting magazine.  It’s nice and easy to do and shows off the fabric really well.

Here’s a bit more detail of the fabric.  Cute eh?

And the back.  The fabric has little bees in bonnets with shopping baskets LOL!  I really like putting a stripe of the fabrics used on the front of the quilt.  It looks fab and saves on backing fabric.

Here’s the label.  I always handwrite the label and then stitch over it.

Some big Adventures and some January finishes!

Oh dear!  I seem to have got right out of the habit of blogging lately.  Not sure what to do about this – perhaps I should just blog intermittently for now.

But here’s some fabulous news!  My one little word for 2015 is ADVENTURE.  In fact, it is a really BIG word, as I have 2 BIG adventures to look forward to this year. 

In just over 3 weeks time, we take off on our holiday of a lifetime!  We are going to tour New Zealand on a motorbike.  It is something we’ve dreamed of for some 10 years or so.  Some old motorbiking friends are coming along too.  We had to wait until we didn’t have our dog anymore, and they had to wait until their youngest child had grown up.  Well, it has all come together now!  We join the tour in Auckland and tour the north and south islands for 18 days.  We are stopping off in Australia on the way out there to visit my cousin in Adelaide and Maurice’s nephew and family near Sydney. Very exciting!  I can’t wait to show you some of the wonderful scenery we are travelling through.

My second ADVENTURE is to get a puppy when we get home!  We are researching breeds and fancy either another flat-coated retriever or a springer spaniel.  I warn you, this blog may become very doggy!

I think as my word is ADVENTURE that I should do my mini-adventures again, and I may well do this in September.  Anyone fancy joining in? 

I intend to continue ADVENTURE into my crafting, and hope to challenge myself and try new things.  I want to continue dressmaking, crochet and scrapbooking.  I’d really like to make some money from my crafting interests, that could become quite an ADVENTURE.

Finally here’s a couple of items I’ve finished this month:

Ripple Baby blanket for niece’s baby boy.  The pattern is by Lucy at Attic24, and I bought the kit.  I made this one small, so I have loads of wool leftover to make another one for myself.  Aren’t the colours lovely? There are 15 different colours of Stylecraft wool, which is very soft and feels lovely.

And here’s a jacket I have finished.  It is Butterick B5958.  I made it in a soft brushed cotton fabric, that has a tweed sort of pattern to it.  It’s lovely and soft, in fact, it might be a bit too soft for the jacket.  But I do love it!  It will be fab to wear in the spring and autumn.  Thanks to Laura at More Sewing for help with the fitting and construction.

 

Review of 2014

I’ve been wanting to do a review of 2014, especially my dressmaking for a week or two.  But I’ve been struck down with a nasty virus, and my head has been so full of ‘fog’ that I couldn’t think straight!  So now I’m beginning to feel better, here’s my review of dressmaking and other crafts.

My favourite dress was this purple one, worn for Christmas events.  It’s Style Arc Trixie dress, made with purple ponte from Fabricland.  I had plenty of help at my dressmaking drop-in with Laura at More Sewing.

Other favourites and most worn:

1. Lottie blouse.  Free pattern with Love Sewing magazine
2. Kimono.  Free pattern from Sew Caroline
3. Dress made last year and altered to fit since I lost loads of weight
4. Staple Dress by April Rhodes.  I really didn’t think I’d like this, but it turns out to be really comfortable on hot days!
5. Tartan skirt from a Kwik Sew patter.  The tartan fabric was very slippery and tricky to sew, and I challenged myself to line it.  I made it quite short which I like.  It’s too big now and I’m not sure whether I will alter it.
6. Deer and Doe Plantain top.  I wore this loads last winter, but it is too big now.  It’s in my pile of things to alter as it should be quite simple to do.

My least worn items are these:

1. Wiksten Tova top.  I just don’t like the neck line or how it looks on me.  Think I am better with more fitted tops.  The second one in green is on my pile to refashion. 
2. The broderie anglais blouse is lovely and fits really well, but I haven’t worn it as much as I thought I would.  It’s because it’s a bit see through!

I made a few other tops that I didn’t blog, and some trousers that I have only worn once and not photographed!

My biggest challenge this year was getting the fit right.  And then I lost loads of weight! I am lucky to have 2 fabric/sewing shops close by, and am attending dressmaking drop-in every Tuesday morning at More Sewing.  I am loving it!  I have loads more confidence to tackle more difficult items now I can get help from Laura.

Other craft successes include:

2 quilts.  First one is my scrappy quilt from Sunday Morning Quilts. It still needs backing and quilting. Second one is my own design and was made for a great nephew.  The fabric is fabulous!  I am not sure you can see it properly in this photo, but it’s retro little boys with rockets and space themed toys.

 

Cushions

1. I challenged myself to do piping round the edge and put a zip in it.
2. Letters cut out using my cricut machine and appliqued on to cushion.

Christmas ornament.  A reindeer garland.  I really wanted to make more of these but ran out of time!

Bags

These were all made for Christmas presents:

1. Sew together bag by Sew Demented.  It has 3 zippered compartments inside!
2. Scrap Happy Purse by Crazy Mom Quilts
3. I did follow a pattern for this one but can’t find it now!

Crochet

1. Happy Blanket for MIL
2. Owls form Crochet Gifts magazine
3. Flower Garden Blanket crocheted throughout the year along side my craft cabin pals

 

Scrapbooking has taken a bit of a back seat this year.  I have completed a Project Life style album for 2014 and

1. Completed an album of our holiday to Canada in 2004.
2. My mini adventures ‘art journal’
3. one swap: Home made project life style cards.  These are the cards I made.

 

All in all it’s been a great year for crafting!  I’ll do another post soon about my intentions for 2015.