Rescued from the ragbag

As promised, some pictures of me in my newly made skirt. I've never taken a picture of myself in the mirror before. It is a wee bit wrinkled because I wore it all day at school. The front is made of the fabric rescued from a ragbag, and the back is fine denim. It is sooooooo comfortable! That is because Ruby, my dressmakers model, helped me to fit it to my body shape. Usually when I make skirts they don't sit right over the hips and waist, but with Ruby's help I was able to put darts in the right place and bring the seams in perfectly at the waist. I like the length too. I prefer wearing knee-high tights (preferably in fancy patterns) rather than full length pantyhose, and there's no way I'm flashing my knees and thighs to anyone. I'm an old-fashioned girl. I hate the narrow band on pantyhose that digs in and leaves unflattering flab bulges. I'm not a supermodel, but I like to feel good in my clothes (and stylish in my own way).

Miss Dog is forgiven after her unfortunate bread-stealing incident. I guess it was really Mummy's fault for leaving the tray within reach. You'd better get me a good Mother's Day present, Miss Dog! I think she is missing her doggy friends. She tried to get Monty to play with her, but he has taken shelter on my knee. She was very funny with Merlin yesterday as I had him inside. Rabbits make grunting noises when they are mad, but I guess you don't really notice unless your rabbit is a big one. Miss Dog wanted Merlin to play, but he just got mad and growled at her. Her response was to lie down on her back and grovel around in front of him very submissively, wagging her tail in her most appealing manner. He was not impressed.

Here is a great photo of the three girls with their cousin Flynn. He is a Kelpie-Labrador cross. He's the one standing on the bank. No, he didn't stay there. He got his fuzzy, chocolate britches wet. You can't really see them in this photo, but he looks like he has the cutest furry pants on.

Anyway, in order to alleviate any lonely dog suffering I took Miss Dog for a lovely walk in the freezing drizzle today so she could sniff everything (and give Mummy a quiet night because she has a tension headache -already- it's only the first day of term). XXX

At home on the farm

It's a bit of a dreary day today. I've been inside working on my quilt, plus outside exploring with my loyal companion, Miss Dog. My sewing machine threw a hissy fit before lunch and I had to problem solve. I am pleased to say it is humming along again. All of the lower threads kept getting tangled on something, and the fabric wouldn't move along. I took out the bobbin case and gave it a good brush out. There was a surprising amount of lint in there! Once I reassembled everything it went happily again. Thank goodness.

Here are the fabrics I got yesterday. I love them. It is hard to find fabrics that I really love among the vast collections of fabrics for sale in quilting stores.







I couldn't resist taking this photo of Oscar. He is so sweet with his chocolate chip tummy and long, long legs.
That is not actually his tail making him look like Basil Brush, it is Lily's back and hip.



Miss Dog took several fungi hunting missions with me today. I am fanatical about fungi. Yes, I'm a little odd. Miss Dog gets into the creek at every opportunity. Daisy was tearing around with excitement in this spot earlier in the day when she accidentally fell into the creek. It was so funny seeing her suddenly disappear in mid wheelie. I had done so well keeping her dry up until that point. I have to admit, I wasn't too worried about Miss Dog having a swim because I caught her plunging her head down into something smelly and thought a swim might get rid of the stink. Cats are so lovely and fastidious compared to horrible hounds.



This is a bit of a spooky spot in the creek. The water passes through a tunnel. When we were small (and thin) we used to bravely crawl through the tunnel in our swimming togs. It is about 6 metres long. I was scared there would be spiders living on the inside of the tunnel. Yes, I know I'm ridiculously fond of spiders, but not ON me uninvited!



Here is Nanny with the Terrible Two. We were going to get the mail. Miss Dog loves Nanny, but we have to be careful because Miss Dog is awfully strong and boisterous. She'd send Nanny flying if she got silly around her.



Here is the view back up to the house. I love the house. It is over 100 years old. I grew up here on the farm. Mum and Dad have built on and improved the house as the family grew. There are 5 bedrooms plus the sun room, which used to be my room.




Here is the view from the same spot across to the cottage. It is a wee two bedroom house. Meg and Ryan lived there for a while before moving to Nelson. Mum and Dad had tenants at various stages, and Grandma and Grandad lived there for a while (not Nanny). We've had happy times staying there at Christmas. The little verandah is a fairly recent addition. Dad was a carpenter before he retired, so he is awesome at building stuff, of course.



Nanny is busy making an apple pie. She loves being busy. Mr B is busy playing X-Box games. Those are such time-wasters! I've almost finished quilting my first square quilt. I was interrupted by fungi hunting urges. I've got to make the most of the time here as we are going back to the city on Friday! Yes, Mrs CT. We'll be home soon. On Sunday we are planning a land-warming picnic. The land officially passed into our hands on Monday. I am sooooooo excited about building the house. Yay! It seems real at last! XXX

Off to town

Not too pleased with my little camera as it ran out of batteries just when I should have had it to take photos on our trip into Motueka. Never mind. Mr B and I are planning another expedition to Nelson tomorrow, and we got some really good batteries. Usually I use rechargeables, but since we are on holiday I haven't got a charger. I've got my big camera, but it is too cumbersome to lug around. I did have a fungi hunting foray when we got home from town, but I wont bore you with the hundreds of shots of my discoveries. I realise that fungi don't exactly inspire most people!

Look who I found on Mum's computer.


Oh Miss Dog, you were so tiny once! I had long hair because I didn't want to go to the hairdresser. It almost came to my waist. I still have a tendency to take the scissors to it myself. Note how she is looking away. She was such a difficult baby. I thought a wee Labrador would be a delight to train, but there were times when I was ready to put an add in the paper. She is a delight now, but is still a gallumphing twit at times because she doesn't know her own strength.


Take a look at this sweet wee thing. Daisy Dog, as small as the cats. Daisy was the (dare I say it) runt of her litter. She was much littler than her bonny brothers and sisters. She is still quite small compared to Miss Dog. Daisy was a much easier baby than Miss Dog. She does tend to pretend that her ears are strictly for decoration, and loves to roll in found smelling things. Miss Dog's coat is quite coarse along her back, but Daisy's feels so soft.

Gosh I'm glad those baby days are over! XXX