Face Cloth Presents

Hello Peeps,

Miss H has really started to LURVE crochet. Especially because it can be taken EVERYWHERE! However, it is also because as the weather grows hotter and hotter with the approach of Summer, Miss H's hands get sweaty which leaves stains on the fabric when she is stitching. So, away goes the hand stitching and out comes the crochet. And it is a lot safer for Summer holidays with friends as they have little kids and Miss H is notorious at losing her scissors or needles when hand stitching.

So I thought I would show you some crochet presents Miss H made for some of her classmates.

They are square(ish) crochet face cloths done all in double crochet. Miss H looked at a few patterns but just worked out how many chain she wanted as she went - hence the different sizes. Hee..hee...hee...

HELP HELP HELP! 

I am somewhere under all those cloths!!!

Ah... that is much better! Here they are wrapped up ready to be given as gifts. 

Oh, and what do you do with left over wool. Turn it into the coolio-est little handbag/basket.
(Please note I am just the model - this handbag/basket is WAAAAAAAY too small for my chocolate stash! And it is PINK!!!)

Lots of love,
From Baa. xxx

Oh, and guess what! Miss H just found out where she is going on placement and it is the place that she was really hoping for so she is SOOOOOOOOOOO happy and excited. She starts the first week of December.

More stitcheries

Hello Peeps,

Tomorrow (Friday) Miss H submits her final two assignments for this year. So why is she writing a blog post instead of doing study? Well, she has already finished them. YAY!!! Now, I need to convince her that she needs to get chocolate to celebrate so I can eat it all have some.

Miss H has completed lots more stitcheries for her "Made for this" quilt.

The duck and her duckling train has been completed. Isn't it coolio? I do hope that the last little ducky gets into the train though...

Miss H found this cute stitchery pattern that looks just like the Mother. 

Ewwww! Bugs! Hee..hee...

Looks like Snowy has learnt how to sit on a stool and drink tea like the Mother. 

And a vintage chicken timer. Did you ever have one of these? The Mother had one for a while until it broke - Miss H loved using it to time her baking. 

Summer is almost here! So that means bikini time is fast approaching... 

Norman the Gnome and the Christmas mouse. 

Guess what - there are only 6 weeks until Christmas!!! No wonder Christmas Mouse is soooo happy!

And speaking of Christmas... Here is a sneak peek of the theme the Mother has chosen for Christmas. Any ideas? 

Love From

Baa. xxx

Mummy-Daughter Fun

Hello Peeps,

The Mother came down to Tauranga for the weekend. It was the last time to do what they wanted in Tauranga together before Miss H leaves at the end of November to go home. This has been the 3rd and final year of Miss H's degree so she will be moving back up to Auckland where she will do her 2 final placements in ECE centres.

Friday: The Mother arrived on Friday afternoon and once things were unpacked they headed to a tea cafe that had a whole menu filled with tea options.

First in the row from left to right is a green tea (it had a special name, but it was commonly called snail tea - though they assured me there were NO snails in it). Then, Golden Kenyan Milima tea - SOOOOO yummy! Even Miss liked it and she isn't that keen on black teas. The Mother loves both green and black tea which is why she got those two - and then shared them with Miss H. 

Miss H got the one on the right - Lovers Rose - a DELICIOUS herbal tea. 

In fact, Miss H and the Mother loved the last two teas so much that they bought some. The Mother is going to put the Kenyan one in the Christmas game that they play every year with friends, and the Lovers Rose will be used cold for the family Christmas lunch. 

After the tea cafe, they went op shopping and found lots of treasures. 

Friday was finished with a drink and slice from a lovely bakery. 

Saturday: started with a trip to Spotlight (of course, hee...hee...) to get fabric for Miss H's signed memory quilt of her three years of study. 

Then, the Mother and Miss H stopped at the Historical Village. Each building had a shop, cafe, or art gallery inside. One of the shops was a vintage shop and the Mother got a lovely top and Miss H got several white blouses to go with her vintage skirts that she recently got. 

 Doesn't it look like the perfect place to photograph a quilt? Miss h is planning on convincing a friend to some back and help her with a photo shoot. 

(Remember it is Spring in NZ)

Lunch was at their favourite cafe - which is vegan. 

The Mother's BBQ jackfruit burger...

...and carrot cake muffin!

Miss H also got BBQ jackfruit, but she got hers in a salad. 

Jackfruit is delicious and has the texture of pulled pork which makes it perfect as a plant based substitute in burgers. 

Miss H got a dark chocolate muffin for dessert. 

After the cafe, Miss H and the Mother went to the library where they got a stack of quilting books and magazines which they looked at snuggled up on the couch back at the house. 

After such a big lunch, toastie sandwiches were perfect for a light but delicious dinner. 

The day was finished by watching the All Blacks (rugby) beat the Aussies! 

Sunday:

Mmmmmmm... do I want the Mother's yummy fruit salad for breakfast

OR...

Miss H's...???

CHOCOLATE walnut fudge! I think I will have Miss H's!

Oh... Sorry, Miss H. Did you want some fudge too? 

After breakfast they headed to one of Miss H's university friends who had started a baby quilt when she came to do a placement in Auckland and stayed at our home. 

She didn't have time to finish it then, so we had a day of quilting on Sunday. 

Isn't it coolio? Miss A just needs to hand stitch the binding. 

Miss A made it for a friend's baby but she doesn't know if it will be a boy or girl so she decided on doing modern colours which she knows the baby's parents will love. 

And looky at the blue spot on the back. 

The Mother left just before dinner time on Sunday. It was such a wonderful weekend. 

I hope you all had a lovely weekend too!

Love from

Baa. xxx

Stitching, Crocheting, EPPing

Hello Peeps,

It's Spring down in New Zealand - and how lovely it is! Although today has had a LOT of rain rather than sunshine.

Miss H has been on a break and starts again at university on Monday.

During her break, she has done some of her favourite thing - stitching! 

She found this beautiful fabric in the scrap box and decided it would be perfect surrounding a stitchery. It is all that's left of that fabric in their stash. 

 It is one of the few times Miss H has found the fabric before doing a stitchery. 

Miss H decided to stitch up this beautiful pattern by Jenny of Elefantz to go with the fabric.

Isn't it coolio? The red roses are my favourite, although the pink daisy is a close second. 

She also finished this cutie...

...and is part way through these noisy ducklings and their mummy. 

Both the squirrel and the duckling train will be added to her Made for This quilt. 

Miss H has also been busy with some crocheting.

After two failed attempts to make something with this ball of wool (one of the failed attempts turned into my coolio waistcoat), Miss H decided to make a set of dish cloths for the Mother for Christmas. (She did note that you are supposed to make them out of 100% cotton wool, but she has no idea what this is as she has lost the label - ah well, hopefully they will work.)

I can only show you one as the Mother has already see this one. In fact, this one perfectly matches my waistcoat. The other two are coming along nicely and look totally different. None are perfectly square or straight and this one curls up at the corners - but that is part of the joy of hand made things. 

You may or may not remember Miss H's massive Grandmother's Garden quilt project. Well, she has been continuing on that as well. 

Slow, slow, slowly... 

She's not sure at the moment whether she loves hexagons or hates them. 

Oh and in food news...

Miss H went to a friend's 21st and they had high tea! Because Miss H is gluten free now she had her own plate. Apparently it was delicious and did not at all taste like the usual nasty gluten free stuff that you get. I was definitely jealous of the brownie and banoffee pie cheesecake! 

Love from

Baa. xxx

Cabin at the Beach

Hello Paw-Pals,

It's me again - your favourite sheepie's dog friend.

On Saturday, Miss H, the Boss and I went out to our uncle's farm where the Boss has built a cabin on one of the hills overlooking the beach.

This is the cabin - painted green for camouflage. The entire front is sliding doors the Boss got on TradeMe (which is NZ's version of Ebay - but waaaaaaay smaller).  

The bed complete with cushions that the Boss pinched from home.

Plates, mugs, cutlery, gas cooker, and nail storage shelf. The Boss got the shelf at the Op Shop. 

Last time Miss H and the Mother visited the cabin they had to rescue a couple of the Mother's good drinking glasses that she had been gifted and several special mugs that the Boss had snaffled for his cabin. 

The old lazyboy armchair has found a new home after living in the garage for awhile. 

Soooo comfy plus gives a GREAT view of the beach. Also, not allowed dogs on it... haha. 

(Note: The bucket toilet is out the back so that the Boss's building was small enough not to need a building permit.)

The view froom the cabin - straight ahead, left and right. Except for the motorbikes and vehicles that drive along the beach occasionally it is pretty much a private beach as it is an hour walk each way for public beach access. 

Speaking of the beach.... Can I go for a walk now? PLEASE!

ARGH! I am Blackbeard the Pirate! 

Yohoho! I am the incredibly attractive one-eyed pirate - still with a black beard....

I'm coming... Wait for me!

Ah hah! I caught you! I'm ready to go home now. 

I had a great time at the beach and two LOOOOOOONG walks. I can't wait to go again. 

Slobbery Kisses,

Snowy! Woof!

Rainbow in the Meadow!

Hello Peeps,

Over the weekend Miss H cut off the threads of the children's quilt that she had sewn and quilted a few years ago. She hates cutting threads off and the quilt was in no rush to be used at the time she finished it so it lay folded in the sewing room or with the finished quilts for a bit. But over the weekend she found a special child to gift it to.

Let me go back to the beginning... The Mother works at a community centre in a very poor part of New Zealand and loves to help people who need it. One day, a lady came in as she knew a 6 or 7 year old boy who needed some clothes. The Mother didn't have any but said she would ask around if anyone had any spare - and thankfully someone did. Then last week the lady asked the Mother about clothes for a 5 year old girl. This little girl had to be taken from her mother and put in the care of her grandmother who had absolutely no clothes for her. Of course, the Mother was eager to help. She asked her friends who have girls who are 6 and 7 now so have grown out of their 5 year old clothes and they sorted out some of the cutest second-hand outfits for this girl. When Miss H heard about her, she thought the Rainbow in the Meadow quilt would be perfect for the girl as she goes through lots of different changes in her life. Something that was specially hers that she could cuddle up in.

Perfect timing that Miss H saw the quilt lying around in the sewing room and decided to cut the threads off so it was completely finished - before the Mother even told her about the little girl. This quilt was definitely meant for her!!!

So now, without further ado...

Rainbow in the Meadow!

The inside blocks are like eye-spy blocks with creatures you would find in a meadow. 

Can you spot the ladybug, dragonflies, and creepy crawlies? 

This is the quilt all laid out. It's so bright and colourful and makes you happy - just like a rainbow. 

I didn't find a pot of gold though...

Of course the back had to be just as bright! 

10/10 for snuggle quality! 

Lots of love from

Baa. xxx