let it snow let it snow let it snow!

What a wonderful time we had in the snow, it was really amazing, and made such a difference to our usual Christmas/New Year holiday weather.....

It did seem so odd to have a skiing holiday in the middle of our summer, but we did have so much fun, and so very much enjoyed our summer winter holiday.

Can you believe the icicles on the windows of this house -

We were both so totally impressed with the Whistler village, and ski trails, and spent some time on both Whistler and Blackcomb. We travelled the Peak 2 Peak on the new gondola system, taking us from the top of Whistler to the top of Blackcomb, it took about 11 minutes to make the crossing, with breathtaking views...



The ski trails were so very long compared to our tame New Zealand South Island ski areas, and so much powder snow, totally unbelievable. I do hope that we can have another holiday here in the future.We stayed at a lovely bed and breakfast - Chalet Beau Sejour - that was a 10 minute walk from the Whistler village and the Gondola lifts. Our host, Sue was a really amazing person, and cooked these wonderful breakfasts. We talked about how we want to do the B&B thing in Twizel in 3-5 years, as a semi-retirement thing - so Sue gave us some really good hints & tips, and a great breakfast cookbook to swot up on and try out a few dishes over the next few years. I am sure that Tim is not going to object to this at all!!

and after a hard days skiing....

What better way to end a day huh (and ensure a great night's sleep!)

Happy shopping!!!

Hello again,

I found a quilt shop!! ... here we are in BC Canada, and I found a quilt shp quite by mistake. Yahoo... (I am sure there are many more here,I just don't know the right places tolook, and when travelling on the highway we do not pass thru the towns so miss out), whilst we were waiting on the highway to open between Sicamous and Revelstoke today we decided to have a look around Salmon Arm, there are so many little resort towns in this district... and stumbled across this lovely shop which had so so many interesting things on display. I will take home some good ideas, and projects for the forthcoming year...
So just had to make a few purchases now didn't I. A few jelly rolls, and fat quarters, and a couple of kits and a pattern or two... And just so I would make myself feel better I got Tim to help with the choices, quite appropriate really as I am sure that he will end up with a new wallhanging quilt for his surgery.

The skiing up here is fabulous, and the snow is so amazing. We have nothing like this back home, and the ski runs are so long compared to the very short home runs, comparatively speaking. After a days skiing we sat in a wonderful hot tub for about an hour whilst all around us it continued to snow. And surprisingly it is not so cold as what one may expect.

We are heading off to Vancouver via the Whistler ski field today, weather and road closures permitting.It has taken us 3 days to get to Revelstoke, so hopefully our return trip to Vancouver will be less eventful.

Still finding some stitching time 'tho!!!

well well well

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL! I do hope that 2009 will be a great year for you.

well, it has been such a long time since I was last on this blog... and so much has happened. Where do I start?

The week before Christmas, my son surprised us by getting engaged to his girlffriend of 5 years. How wonderful, we now have a wedding to look forward to in the future.They say it may be some time away as Christelle has family in France that she would like to have the opportunity of coming out to NZ, and son Cam has to finish his university studies.

Christmas was a real family event, and so much fun. I was lucky to have 2 of my adult children at home, but missed my youngest daughter, Janet, who lives in Perth, WA. We did talk by phone however, and when we last we talked she was off toBali for a holiday on Boxing day. I did manage to get my Christmas decorations and tree up in the few days before Christmas, once the workman had finally finished - and it does look so good.

We left NZ ourselves on Dec 28th, bound for Paris with a night stopover in Singapore. What a wonderful week in Paris - and it does snow there at this time of year! It was delightful, and of course we did all the usual touristy things. We were on the Champs Elysess on New Years eve, with about a million other people, it was so crowded, and so much fun. The road was closed off and was just so packed with people all there to celebrate the New Year. We went back on New Years day for morning coffee, and just sat and people watched.

On Mon 5th, we left Paris, 2 hrs later then scheduled, both Paris and Frankfurt airports were delayed due to snow, so we ended up missing our connection to Vancouver, Canada, and stayed overnight in Frankfurt (after standing in the line for over 5 hrs at Frankfurt to get rescheduled!!!), when we finally picked upour rental vehicle at Vancouver airport, we only managed to travel a short distance before checking into a hotel- we were really a little tired to manage the 6 hr drive to Revelstoke, and indeed the road was actually losed further up the line anyway due to a mudslip, there was such a lot of rain, that the avalanche and mud slip risk is still quite high.

On Wednesday (yesterday) we managed to get as far as Sicamous before we discovered the road was still closed thru to Revelstoke. we booked inot a motel - Best Western - thinking we woudl be there the night, however the word come throught that the road was open so off we went!! Tim was so keen to see his daughter who has been here for the last 2 years. About 20kms up the road we hit the road block, a further mudslip had closed the road, several trucks had got thru from the Revelstoke end, but we were in a very long queue of many trucks, and cars. So back to the motel, and here we are now, waiting for the road to open which will hopefully be mid-morning sometime. Quite an expensive night really as the motel charged us for 2 bookings!! How bad is that, we watched as several travellers tried to check in after we did, and the price of the rooms got higher with each traveller - so I am not sure where some people stayed - maybe in their vehicles - although that would have been so so cold!

Waiting gives me lots of time for stitching however.... and the Christmas quilt that didn't quite get stitched for Christmas just gone (I always try to do just more then I can actually realistically manage) has a high chance of being completed really early for Christmas 2009!

have fun,

Shiree

p.s. I visited a quilt shop in Paris behind Notre Dome called Le Rouvray - wonderful little place, and as all quilters are, so so friendly... and a lovely little stitching place in one of the covered walkways off Grande Boulevard where I managed to pick up some lovely stitching packs - so I will not be without anything to do over the next wee while huh...

No photos this time, as Tim is hurrying me to get in the shower so we can be ready when the road opens, and there are just so many to look thru! The power of digital photgraphy means that a lot more photos are taken - snap happy!

Christmas Sparkle

well, I have not been able to decorate with Christmas decorations at home, but just look at all this Christmas spirit at my workplace. It is simply amazing!!! We all took part in a competition for one part of our regional office over this last week, and it has been wonderful watching the work areas being transformed. The imagination of my colleagues has been overwhelming, and everyone has embraced this challenge and had such fun. Each "pod" is made up of 4-6 work colleagues whose desk and work spaces are close together. Being a Government Department - we have an open office policy and plan. So each pod has got together, dreamed up a theme and then got to work. For those of you in the Northern Hemisphere, you will need some imagination, and remember that we have Christmas in the sun, hence the BBQ and beach themes. There is even an environmentally eco-friendly theme. Anyway, here are the pikkies;

these are the co-workers from my "pod" - we are known as the Health team as we are all related to Health & Disability issues in some shape or form - we do a lot of serious work, but we also know how to have a bit of fun now and then..

and this is the centre of the Regional office area -

a little fireside corner for the pressies..
this is the BBQ at the river and reflects our summer Christmas camping holidays...
and this is Santa's eco friendly mode of transport - likely to take him a very long time to deliver presents on Christmas Eve on this - hope he is a fit bunny!!!!


and these are just some extra shots...



OOPS, tablecloth a little bit crooked huh!!

and the renovations just go on....

well, slowly, and very slowly things are taking shape - or colour - or lack thereof. Once we get all the furniture and furnishings back in I am sure it is going to look great! What an absolute mess to be living in however, there is just a fine dust that goes everywhere, finds its way into every drawer and wardrobe and cupboard, and coats just everything. If you have ever renovated I am sure that you can associate with this. However, it will all be well worth it and hopefully in the next week or so it will be all back to normal again, well as normal as possible 'cos once this is all completed we will all put out the Christmas decorations up...


who would want to have a baby in the weeks before Christmas - what kind of madness is that... Of course any child is a wonderful blessing at any time of the year. My youngest daughter, Janet was born on the 17th Dec, so her birthday is coming up in the next few weeks, my baby girl will be 26 - where did all those years go!

Anyway, our friend Richard had a 50th birthday party on Saturday night just past, it was a themed party - so we all dressed as wannabees (I wanna be...) - dearly beloved went as a Christmas Cowboy, and I went as Peter Pan's nemesis - Tinkerbell. he he he...
With all the house renovations going on inside I have not really been able to get too much stitching or sewing done, so outside to the garden... it is now looking quite good, lots of roses out, the peonies have all now finished, but all is looking green and gorgeous. Dearly beloved and I barrowed 4 trailers of bark mulch on Saturday, so all is looking good, and hopefull weed free for quite a while. It is raining now, so great for watering!
This is the next area (above) to get a bit of a clean and tidy up - with luck this is where we will have Christmas day - and lunch, if the weather is good. And who knows we may even barbecue yet. I know that must sound really foreign for those of you who spend your Christmas in the Northern hemisphere, and not used to being in summer weather, and hopefully it will be a truly wonderfully sunny day!!

December tomorrow!

well, like most of you, I am asking - where has the year gone huh??

but we are getting closer to Christmas... and that is very exciting. I haven't even stated my Christmas shopping yet, but at least I have ideas in my head about what to but and for whom, so that is the hardest part done. I would like to get some of the shopping done before the shops get to to busy, but also, I like to leave some to the last minute to get that real Christmas feel.

I have been really lucky to have participated in two swap recently - well 3 actually. No 1 was Helen Stibbings Anel Swap - and a very big thank you to my stictching angel - Bonnie Landry of http://calamityjanescottage.blogspot.com/

No 2 was the Vinatge Pink Christmas swap arranged by Jennifer Smith - http://www.roseylittlethings.com/ - and I have posted ny gifts to my swap partner - so I hope that she gets them very soon and enjoys them, it was hard to find vintage in New Zealand, we have so few shops, and those that we do - you need to poke around to find what you maybe looking for, what fun!!!

The 3rd swap is the snowflakes and sparkles swap - organised by Momma Holly - http://mommyholly.blogspot.com/

and again I have just posted off my goodies to America, can't wait til my partner gets these goodies...

on another Christmas note I am sorting thru this basket of fabric to look at what I can do in the next few weeks...


and I have this to work with also....

and this is what my sewing room looks like at them moment with all our house renovations.. the painters come in this week so then maybe can put up the Christmas decorations - YIPPEE!!


and then my dining room can look more like this!
and my pocket book slightly emptier!!!

have fun over the week everyone.

'til later,

Shiree

so much to do and so little time!!!

well, it has been such a long time since I have been on here, and just so much has been going on.

We are in the middle of renovations in our lounge area, and there is stuff everywhere, and you know it - one job leads to another to another, it just goes o and on and on, and what seemed to initially be a relatively simple process becomes quite involved. This is the work in progress... so far anyway..

before...

and now...


Still heaps to do, and we are currently waiting on the next phase which is the gib stopper and then the painter.. with stuff everywhere it has been difficult to find the time for stitching etc, this is the sewing room/study - kinda hard to move around in huh


but this




has become this!


Every year we travel an hour up the road to Oamaru and attend the Victorian Heritage Ball, where everyone dresses up in Victorian garb, and we all look lovely and do all the old waltzy dances. Such fun. There is a whole week of celebrations in Oamaru..,

and this is my man - handsome dude huh!!


well, with not too much happening today being a Saturday n all, and handsome dude has left already for a full days rowing at a local regatta, I am off to spend the day (well part of it - as much as I can) in the garden - another area looking slightly neglected,

catch ya!

Shiree