the most wonderful time of the year!

we celebrated Christmas Day at my mum and dad's... like we do every year, but this year we stayed with them, it was so wonderful! Family is so very important, and I am consider myself to be so lucky to have such a wonderful family, and such lovely friends

this is my marvelous SSCS present from Lynda - isn't it just magnificent! THANK YOU so much Lynda, I am just absolutely wrapped (he he - no pun actually intended), but I had to endure the whole day before opening it, as we have a big family tea (25 of us now), at my folk's place so everyone can be shared around and visit other families for lunch or breakfast, and we do the big pressie opening in the evening -

We were up at half 6 in the morning - having been awake since 5am ish, had to wait for the others to wake, and when they didn't I decided to shake them up a bit - literally (he he he), then off to my sister's to watch her children unwrap their pressies and brekky, and the traditional family photo of us all in our jammies...

Christmas down under is not complete without lots of these...

and because my Mum lives right by the beach, A Christmas Day beach walk is also on the menu, and Christmas just would not be the same kiwi Christmas without this...




I hope you all had a marvelous day too!

Sending everyone best wishes for a wonderful

and very Merry Christmas Holidays

Advent Christmas Swap

These are the wonderful gifts that Betsy sent to me for the Christmas Advent Swap organised by Jo and Fiona.

look at all these goodies will you!

My parcel to Betsy was unfortunately late, and never got to Betsy on time for the opening of the swap on Dec 1st. I was absolutely mortified as I misplaced my swap parcels when we moved - how tardy of me! I am so so sorry Betsy. Fiona suggested that I wait until Betsy let me know when her parcel arrived, and then we could open them together. What a marvel that Fiona, great idea! I have had a short e-mail from Betsy saying that her parcel did arrive, but I have not heard anything more from her. It is a very busy time of year!

This is the amazing table runner that Betsy made - super gorgeous huh! She is such a clever lady

and this is the table runner that I sent to Betsy

Anyway, I so wanted to thank Betsy for her amazing gifts, they are so wonderful, and she has been most generous. I can only hope that she is half as happy with the gifts that I sent her.

Enjoy your Christmas Betsy, and everyone else - have a fabulous time with your families, friends and loved ones,

Merry Christmas all,

come visit Mt Cook ...

look at this will you - is this not a most spectacular view - how could you not be impressed with this;

yesterday we drove along this road from Twizel to Mt Cook - takes about 20 minutes by car

now just walk this way with me, we are heading into the Hooker Valley, and up to the glacial lakes

this way!

this is just absolutely amazing, I never fail to be impressed with Mother Nature, this is a zoom in of one of the lower glacial slopes, the snow there actually is pretty thick, but it amazes me how it just sits there. Occasionally (not quite this late in the year) you can hear small avalanches, but of course the way sound travels, by the time you hear it you may be lucky enough to catch the end of the slide - not at this time of year 'tho...

there are plenty of these however, and the sounds of the water rushing down the mountain side is just so wonderful,

The walk is about 11/2 hrs one way - maybe a bit less if you walk faster then the tourist pace advertised, but you definitely do not want to rush it as it is so breathtaking, and there is just so much to take in. We do this walk several times a year - you may remember that I took you up here a few weeks back to see the Mt Cook lilies -

which sadly are pretty much all spent now, and the daisy is just starting to pop it's head up

they really are quite lovely when in full display of flowers, but I just love the colour and texture of the foliage

the vegetation here is amazing, and all just blends in so beautifully, it is so hot and dry during the day, and the nights are so cold. There has been a bit of rain 'thru here of late however, so everything is looking rather green and lush, hmmm wait for the dry summer days to really hit!

at the end of the walk is Lake Hooker, not big by all accounts, and certainly at this time of the year there are not too many icebergs, in fact this was the only one that we could see easily

let me just leave you with this one last beauty...

I hope your Sunday was fun, it sure is good having these girls home! (...and yes, I did manage some stitching in the car on the way up!)

anyone for a bike ride?

what a lovely lazy Sunday thing to do.... Janet thought that we might all like to bike to here today,

so we headed off after breakfast

and reached here in no time, a meander along the canals was just what we all needed

and came back along this track,

with these magnificent views, discovered this delightful little lake...

Fi decided she was going to have a dip, we decided to watch her, do you know how cold these glacial lakes are...

but she is smiling!

Hope you all having a fun Sunday

I spent the day with Deb last Thursday, my 2 girls arrived home from Perth and Wellington for Christmas, and needed picking up from Christchurch airport. Guess who lives there and I had just had to visit. Deb and I traipsed around some of the Christchurch quilt shops that I hadn't been too,

the 3 shops that we went to were all very different, (the one above is Primroses), we visited Cottonfields and Memories also - stopping for coffee and a scone at Memories which is a fabulous shop with a small cafe as well lovely fabrics & everything you might need to make a bag.. Deb was very friendly and on personal terms with them all, so she obviously visits them often! We went out to dinner at a fabulous restaurant, joined by Darlene and husband as well. The meal was just to die for!!

Deb asked me to put this photo up 'cos she forgot to pull her camera out! Aren't we just the morning glams in our jimjams!

So Fi was the first to arrive on Friday morning, and we spent the day in Christchurch finishing off the Christmas shopping, all done now! Janet arrived later in the afternoon, and then it was the drive back to Twizel

We got back about half 6/7pmish, and no one felt like cooking so we headed off to our favourite local (any excuse to go there), where we all decided to try to a cocktail while we were waiting on our pizza,

Yesterday the girls relaxed in the hot tub, yep Janet is on the phone!!

this parcel arrived while I was away - this is my SSCS from my swap partner Lynda, the lovely koala bear stitchery is already on my tree, and the parcels sitting underneath, teasing me.. how hard is it to wait for Christmas Day! Thank you so much indeed Lynda! and a very BIG thank you to Chookyblue for organising this wonderful swap!

... and this is the latest stitchery that I am working on, this is a Bronwyn Hayes (Red Brolly) design, "My Little Teahouse". It is the cutest most adorable little carryall for needlework necessities. I simply cannot wait to finish it, but there is lots of other stuff to do too!

Have a an absolutely fun week every one.... only 5 sleeps to go!!!

dear Santa

hop on over to the fat quarter shop and write your Dear Santa letter, who knows what he may bring you if you ask ever so nicely...

Dear Santa,

I am hoping that you will still find me even 'tho we do not now have a chimney, and the weather here is much warmer then are used to when you visit me. I will have lots of refreshments waiting for you and your reindeer, you can easily park on my deck, and I will leave some Christmas lights to guide your landing.

Please stop by the Fat Quarter shop on your way here, they know me well. .. and I am sure that you stop by there anyway by the many requests that I have seen in blogland over the last day or 2.


Rural Jardin Fat Quarter Bundle
French General for Moda Fabrics

this would indeed have to be my very very favourite bundle, and if you could just see your way to pick up a bundle, I would be most grateful indeed, and I would put it to very very good use.



Lots of Dots Book
Cotton Way

and I am sure that I could find something in here that will use that gorgeous fabric so well!

so if you Christmas Elves could have a gentle word in Santa's ear in my support, that would indeed make a beautiful quilt gift. Have fun looking at all these wonderful blogs that are sending you all such wonderful letters,