A Christmas Ornament Swap

 This year I again participated in a Christmas ornament swap and again thoroughly enjoyed it.  My swap partner sent me this adorable ornament and it looks like a cute granpup I have.

I sent this one and the pattern is one I found on Pinterest.  I am not use to stitching on dark fabric but done ok.  no frogging needed so was pleased.

This year i have a plan on doing more stitching, so watch this space.

Merry Christmas

 

A Taupo Trip

 Last weekend hubby and I headed over to Taupo for a couple of nights to go to the Kinloch Market.  Was a nice market to attend and some beautiful weather.

We done some of the free touristy stuff we have done many times before and just relaxed.

I love Taupo and miss working there but it is only a few hours drive away so easy enough to visit.  We drove via the Napier-Taupo Road so had to drive through the Esk Valley which was devastated during Cyclone Gabrielle earlier this year.  The roading crews have done a great job with the road and it was a great drive.  Just didn't like seeing the devastation that is still being cleaned up. So hope we don't have to go through something like that for many many years.

Winnings

 Again I entered the local Gisborne A&P Show that was held this month.  Again I entered way to much, but then I cam home with a lot of placings and a couple of silver cups.  The two cups I received were for most points in knitting and crochet and most points in knitting, crochet and sewing.  I was quite chuffed as the knitting and crochet cup has been won by the same person since it was first presented in 2014.

I also entered in some photos in the photography section and was happy with my placings there too.

And then the preserves again I done well in along with the baking section.

Another successful year had. Roll on 2024.

I will sort my items out and get photos up of some in the next few weeks.

The Roses are Finally Flowering

 With a month left of spring my roses are starting to flower.  After the very wet year we have had here on the East Coast I am happy my garden has survived and no roots rotted due to the garden being continuously wet.  With the El Nino weather system, now I will be looking at keeping the gardens moist in the summer so  nothing dries out on me.

Gold Medal

Gold Medal

Sentimental

Sentimental

Chameleon

Ring of Fire

I am still waiting on a few more to flower so hopefully soon they will be out in full bloom.

AWOL &FNSI Time

Yes I am around.  Its that annoying time that again I am studying.  What this time you may ask?

I am now doing my RN Nurse prescribing paper and in 2 years time have finally decided to do my training to become a Nurse Practitioner....... eeekkk.

How ever I am slowly plodding along getting items reading for the local A&P Show so tonight's FNSI I will be joining.

You can click HERE to join in on the fun too.

Dirty Lace Update

Yesterday's post I showed a lot of pictures of my trip away and in amongst the scenery pictures I snuck in a picture of my goodies I got from Wools of Wanaka.

I bought some 4ply yarn from Roxy Fibres, and 8-10ply Happy Go Lucky Marapawa yarn and Truly Myrtle’s Gingerbread pattern. No projects were even in my head when I brought this yarn, so now to find some.

And what is a trip if you don't take some knitting with you.  My Dirty Lace has been in the WIP pile as I work on some baby blanket squares recently, but as I knew this would be easier to cart around I thought to bring it.  Not much was done and only one row frogged (yay!!) but I feel accomplished in what I did do.  On to the one colour lace part now.

 

Holiday Time

 For the past week I have been away in the South Island and have seen the most beautiful part of New Zealand you can see - Fiordland National Park.  I have never been there before and never expected to see what I did.  Pictures online don't do this area any justice.

As you can see the weather was not that great, but at least it did not snow so we could get there.  The mountains are so high and a sight to see.

In the carpark at Milford Sound we also got to meet one of the many Weka's that were roaming the carpark.  They were very friendly.  Unfortunately no Kakapo's were to be seen during this trip.

The next day we travelled back to Queenstown and visited the wet but lovely Arrowtown (no photos sorry) but as not enough time in the day we headed out to Glenorchy the next day and boy was it bitterly cold this day.

We spent the morning out there and headed back to Queenstown for lunch stopping to take some more pictures of the beautiful views

What we found is that the weather was very changeable and by the time we got back to Queenstown we were back into to some decent weather again, so had a wee walk around the lake front and in the park.

The next day and our last day down south we done the round trip from Queenstown through to Cromwell, then onto Wanaka and over the Crown Range back to Queenstown.  

Cromwell is a lovely little town and we had a look at the Old Cromwell area.

We then headed off to Wanaka and had a coffee and I found a wool shop called Wools of Wanaka, and some wool and a pattern just fell into my lovely hands and I had to get it.

We then drove through the Crown Range stopping of at the Iconic Cardrona Hotel for a photo and then at the top of the summit before heading back to Queenstown where we flew out the next morning back to Gisborne.

Homeward bound to Gisborne