Send us Christmas 2015 swap

I have had  week of fund things arrive in the mail. Within the exciting items, I received my swap from my partner Louanna as part of the Send us Your Christmas swap.

Firstly this is what I packaged together to send to Louanna -

This is what arrived from Louanna -

I feel so spoilt!(it is my birthday next week, and I already feel like I have enough from this fabulous package!). I love everything that Louanna sent . The yarn bags are an absolute genius idea!Love the fabric choices too. Louanna is super clever and made the coin brooch with resin too - isn't it fab?! I just adore all the Christmas tree decorations she made too - I love handmade decorations on my tree! (Oh i so need to learn to crochet cute things like these!)
The deer paperclip container is very cool and has pride of place on my desk (i use lots of paperclips with snail mail). The little Christmas cake is sweet too  - I am going to hunt these out from the supermarket too and give as little gifts with a dishcloth possibly. I m looking forward to trying the recipe Louanna also sent.

Thank you so much Louanna for all the gorgeous items you sent - it has certainly helped with getting me more into the spirit of Christmas! Has anyone else received their package yet? I'd love to see the blog posts about them.

days

Oh it is getting crazy. I am supposed to be out doing social events four nights this week. I'm going to one or tow of them I think. I am craving time at home, especially with this being my crazy time of the year at school.
I had a bunch of food arrive from Russia - interesting for all!

 In my happy place sorting out wool, fabric, sewing notions on Sunday. (and two HUGE boxes for the op shop in the car - yay!)

 I think I must have decided at the beginning of the year to keep all my wool bands of every ball I had knitted over a year - I counted up to 51, but I know there are more that have been used! ha! yikes! It has most certainly been a FAB year of knitting!

I HAD to go book buying again this afternoon - still a bit of dollars to spend too. That is crazy 3 weeks before the end of the year!!!

And really i am running fast everywhere, particularly at school. 3 weeks. Not enough. Today I did not know whether to cry or scream.....

Friday Afternoon

This was last Friday afternoon. Sun streaming. Knitting. Writing letters. Ironing basket.
One week later it is wet. Ironing basket has not moved nor has one item of clothing been ironed! I keep sewing more things to wear :), Few plans this weekend, which is just the way I like it. Possibly might be knitting, stitching and more writing in there.

I'm going on a robotics course for school, which I am really excited about. I think, possibly, one for home might be a fab idea (family present?), as I'll be one of two lead staff at school teaching students this! The library is changing next year, more than likely, with a class of students on the side. It will still have many, many books, but more tech stuff, robotics, a makerspace if you like. I excited about it all! (still not sure I'd like my own children to be going into a MLE environment in some ways.. one of my kids would do zero if no-one chased him! It it does not interest him, little is done. Oh yes - we will have fun in high school with that one! I do think the education system needs to change, as we fail too many, but not every child suits an MLE environment. Parental choice in what school students go to I guess).

Have a super weekend everyone.

Still Pottering Around

I'm still having a glorious time pottering around after school and in the evenings. I have sewn another skirt plus a pair of long summer pj pants. Four new wardrobe items sewn in under a week! I've been wearing both skirts to school and love them!

Am adoring my roses at the moment. Has been lovely sitting at my desk catching up on lots of letter writing with roses on my desk.

The flowering cheery tree is spectacular, but these blossoms will be gone in a day or two.

I've un-earthed the London cross stitch and am determined to finish it this summer! 

New magazines - had a $4 off voucher for NZ House and Garden and the Australian Country Style had two copies for the price of one - so 3 mags for $15 is pretty amazing to me. I have not bought any mags for months!

And the snow peas and courgettes, plus beans and tomatoes are coming along nicely.

School is manic. Craziest time of the year. Not a fan. 

And Christmas is terrifying me - my lack of any interest this year is not good! I can not be bothered doing one bit of shopping and told my poor boys they need little.. it does not really bother them either. Non-consumers like their dad! One said all he wants is headphones, one had no ideas at all and the other said a pair of running shoes would suffice. Santa is long gone in this house. The husband told me I needed to find some Christmas spirit! Oh. I put a Christmas cushion out and the 17 year old promptly put it away and said it was far too early... I did lots of Christmas things with them when younger, but I guess teens show little interest??

doing stuff

Usually my afternoons revolve around coming home and throwing myself onto the bed. I then listen to the teenagers arrive home from school one by one and then wait for them to announce that there is never anything to eat in the house. (the eldest has finished exams and does not go back to school till January 21, 2016! He needs a job!).

Today I ran to to the post office after school (and spent *** $171.33 *** on parcels and stamps - still stunned!); then I have come home and got stuck into stuff.

Stuff like :
* picking piles of stuff up off my bedroom floor and putting in the right places
*sorting knitting patterns
* throwing stuff into recycling/huge box by front door for op-shop
* ringing garage for car service
*ringing butcher for 500 sausages for school
*bringing in laundry
*hanging out another 2 loads of laundry
*finding out where my Nosh hamper I won is (then it turned up!)

*sorting through 2 teens summer wardrobes (fast running out of stuff that fits!)
*reading fun mail
*relegating dinner to husband (oh wait - that is normal ;) )
*sorting through fabric pile
*sorting through books to give away or keep
*sighing at the ironing pile (no further action on that!)

Now I think I do need to sit down and knit! It is good to get around doing this stuff - stuff that while studying makes me feel guilty! Pretty cool hamper huh? We have won 4 things in the past week :)

I made a skirt

It has taken quite a few days to settle down after exam study and stress. Yesterday, on impulse, I took myself off to Spotlight and did rather a splurge on fabric and wool and just other stuff. I spent a.bit. Oops. Oh well. It will keep me busy over summer :)

This is the skirt that I have spent quite a few hours of today making. I am rather pleased with it. Since I have no interest in going to all other shops lately (including the supermarket!) and can not even entertain the thought of even remotely stepping inside any clothing shop, sewing something I like, with fabric I like, seems a whole lot more appealing. And hugely cheaper! These fabrics range from $13 to $26, which is pretty cheap for a skirt! There will be left over fabric too. I might make a pair of summer pj pants for me out of the cute tiny dog fabric next. The youngest is pleased with the shark fabric for winter pj pants.
So happy to have time to potter.

I'm thinking about everyone, everywhere , that is affected by everything happening in the world today.

Send us Your Christmas Swap Partners

Whew. Exam over and I rally have no idea what to do now! I am having the summer semester break off which is HUGE - no study, nothing to feel guilty about for the next 3-4 months! (The guilt over-rides me when studying!!) The house might stay tidy; i can write letters (owe around 15 - eeek!); knit; scrapbook; print off hundreds of photos... what a dream coming home from work and just pottering!

Send us your Christmas Partners -

Alison and Diane

Kerrie and Tracy

Melanie and Dotty's Daughter

Sandra and Glenda (I'll e-mail you each other's details)

Kimberley and NZ Green Buttons

(odd number again, so i have two partners - yell out if there is someone else that may want to join).

Please e-mail your partner and get to know what they like or do not like. Last post off is December 5, although it does get busy, so if you are running behind, just flick your partner a quick e-mail.

Have fun! I'm off to do whatever I wish without any guilt ! :)

What I sent in my Seasons Swap

I forgot to tell everyone what i sent to Melanie in England for my Seasons swap. Melanie sent me these fab items back here.

I knitted her a pumpkin dishcloth, which I rather love! Melanie is a very clever stitcher/sewer, so I sent her some embroidery threads and pins and needles. Being that autumn was near, I thought she might like a new mug and some hokey pokey drinking chocolate to warm up her days. And of course you can not send any parcel at any time from New Zealand to anyone (hee hee) without some of our famous Whitakers chocolate in it. I love doing and hosting this swap and seeing all the neat items other folks send and receive. It is most certainly one of my annual swaps I host now.
Thanks Melanie for being a lovely partner and I adore your sewing!

bedroom sun

My favourite room in the house late afternoon with the sun streaming across the bed/desk. This is where I sit to do a lot of my uni exam study. Love my bedroom and really love the ever changing blossoms outside the bedroom window. So cheery. Jumped straight into my pj pants after school today too!