An old finish

I have just got it back from the framers....it was away for ages. The framer had to wait for the frame and then there was another hold up, then I told my framer to hold on to the picture till I had enough money to pay for the framing. Also I held onto it for ages before getting around to having it framed.

But here it is....the picture I designed to commemorate my DH 14 years in the New Zealand Police. You will see that the year stops at 2006 and also at Reefton, but since then weve moved and hes got a promotion.

There is always a length of service award at 14 years, so I decided to stitch this. Wasnt too daunting a challenge...quite nice to do all backstitch for a change. And I added a real hat badge to make it look a bit more official.

I have blotted out DHs name and ID number :)




And I was thrilled to find I was the winner in a lucky draw from Rowyn on a beautiful chart she has just completed. My Sunshine by La-D-Da. This would make a lovely picture for my daughter.

Op shops and fabric art dolls

You can get some really good bargains in the op shops....sometimes you just happen to get there and nab a real good buy....casts off's from people who like to keep up with each seasons new fashions and just discard the old.

Anyhow I went in this morning to one of the 4 chirch op shops in town and it was $3 bag wednesday. Stuff as much in a bag for $3. Even if I don't get wearable clothes, sometimes I find the most magnificent fabrics to make stuff with.

While going up to the counter I spied this gorgeous thing....and got her for $3. I love the colours and I have often thought about creating a doll like this. But I am going to keep her in hiding till November and give her to my daughter for her birthday...she will love her :)

If anyone knows where she could have originated from - i.e. have you seen a pattern or somewhere that sells these could you let me know. She is very professionally done.

I also adjusted the photos I put up last night of Keira...she looks more normal now...she was looking a little elongated - sometimes it is hard to adjust the photos correctly.

Back Again!

Not that I ever went LOL...but it seems so long since I posted - well it is.


It is the school holidays and I have time now to breathe - I bet not many mothers can say that during the holidays, but I honestly can. My first term of business Admin studies at Polytech went wonderfully, but man was it full on. It seemed like we had assessments every week, and I think we did. But it is great to get the old grey matter working again.



I am loving the computer side of things and am contemplating becoming a professional student and doing ICT next year.



I have just changed my daughters school to a private one that is just next door to where I am at Polytech so that makes things easier as far as times for starting and finishing...now I dont have to rush home when I finish at 3pm, because we can go home together. The main reason I pulled her out of the school just down the road from our house is that I felt she went down hill since leaving Reefton. That school was not far from our house but closer is not always better.



I have acquired a new member of the family. Yes I have got a puppy...well she was 7 months when I got her a month ago. I have named her Keira and her father is a German Shepherd and her mother is a malamute. She wont grow to be very big and she is quite fine in features...almost as though she has a terrier like a jack russell in there as well.


I went to the local dog show and saw the kennel owners that used to look after Zoe. I told them about her, and they said they were looking after a puppy that needed a new home. Well this puppy was at the dog show and she ended up winning best puppy and best overall dog. When I saw her, I thought she was nice but not a labrador like Zoe.



A week later I had her at home and she has been with us ever since. Its hard because I didnt want to get another dog so soon. I still miss Zoe terribly, and I am slowly taking a shine to Keira...she has a great little personality and is quite easy to train, despite the backyard looking like a battleground with all her toys strewn around, digging holes in the garden and chasing the cats - this is where I think the terrier comes in. Overall she is getting better and has stopped chasing the cats. She does however go berserk when a seagull flies over the property or if she sees one on the beach. And the seagulls know this I am sure, because they sit up on the street lights and cackle (or whatever seagulls do) at her.


So here are some pictures of Keira........

First finish for the year

I loved stitching this...it was so simple. The colours were great. The linen was stiff...almost like hessian.

Blue Bird Zipper - Bent Creek

Once finished I wondered what I could do with it. Then I had a brainwave. You know how I said I was going to tech this year....well I decided I needed a bag/satchel to carry my books in. So I took myself off down to the library and looked through some books, found a pattern, then I went to the op shop and found some heavyish blue curtain fabric... 2 metres - more than what I needed...for $2.50. Noticed that the blue of the fabric was the same as the blue on my blue bird. So my blue bird stitching had found a home. On the front flap of the satchel.

Here it is all finished for school tomorrow :)

It didn't take me long to make the bag and it was therapy in that it took my mind off Zoe for a little while.

Thankyou so much for all the lovely comments about Zoes passing.

I'm all set for my lunchtimes at tech. We get an hour, I can go home for lunch...10 minutes away...or else if it is raining or I don't feel like going anywhere, I have some stitching and I also have all my unread issues of the Gift of Stitching on a flashdrive so I can read them on the tech computers Hows that for planning to use my time efficiently.

Heartbroken :(

Last Thursday I had to say goodbye to Zoe...my old black labrador. It is one of the hardest things to do because I will miss her so much. She was only a little over a month away from turning 15. I have had her since was 5 weeks old. She slipped a disk in her back...must of happened in the night...the vet felt that even if her back was fixed, she wouldn't have a very high quality of life. Even the vet shed a few tears...she had got to know Zoe last year when she spent a few nights in the vets due to getting geriatric vesticular syndrome.


Zoe has gone away to be cremated and when we next go down to Otago, I am going to scatter her ashes where she used to enjoy chasing the rabbits when we were down there. There were many places we used to go walking or camping and Zoe would take off only to be seen miles away in the distance in dried up river beds or running up the sides of mountains.

I loved that dog...I can't stop crying...this morning I got up and went to feed her, only to realise shes not here anymore :(


Here are some pictures I took of her and the cats on Christmas Day.

RIP Zoe 13.03.1994 - 29.01.2009

Plans for 2009

Yay...look at what Rowyn has given me...thanks so much for that...its my first ever award. I feel so priviledged to be thought of as your blogging buddy :)

I will pass this on to

1. Andie
2. Anne
3. Mel
4. Veronica
5. Kath


After some major consideration I am going back to school this year. I had planned to do an enviromental degree by distance learning...but have decided to start on a smaller scale and do a business admin course for a year at the local polytech. Its serves several purposes to go in this direction...its cheaper, the polytech is handy and doing this course gets me used to studying again.


So this means a couple of things...I am giving up the meter reading....yes I know after just getting back into it....but the 7 or 8 days every 2 months really dont work. Also money will be tight. My DH is going to do a degree as well for promotion purposes and his papers arent cheap. So we are going to live like students :)


So at present I am going through my stash and selling things that are nice to have but not really necessary anymore. My stitching on the whole wont suffer because I have all the fabrics and threads necessary for all the charts I have been collecting over the past couple of years.


There will be no more unnecessary spending on anything for the year...stash, clothes, things we dont really need. But a year of sacrifice has to pay off in the long run.

Christmas ornaments

I have finished this years Christmas ornaments in plenty of time, so here are the photos finally....

I finished my stone path some time ago and never took any photos to show you....but I will wait for a while because now we are getting a new fence around the property and the backyard is a bit of a mess. Where the tornado blew down the fence between us and the neighbours we have had a wood and coloursteel fence put up which gives us more privacy....and then a new paling fence around the rest of the property. After the fence is put up we will have to stain it...but that shouldnt take long...just needs to stay fine.

I wish everyone a safe and happy Christmas and New Year. And to all my stitching friends...heres looking forward to another great year of stitching and blogging :)