Along the wedding theme...

Pretty self explanatory really. Its hard to see the silver ribbon trim and wee crystal beads, but it did look quite pretty...

Look at all this....

I am so behind the eight ball here that it's not even funny. Ages ago, and I mean a fair way back now, I was lucky enough to win the *Jellybelly*jellybrain giveaway. It was the most adorable button necklace, which I am getting some very favourable comments on. It looks so darn cute, that I am lovin myself sick in it!!

But check this out, not only did Emma send me the giveaway, but a container load of other goodies.

The word overwhelmed springs to mind here:

I don't know how to thank Emma for her generosity, but I will try it by saying this

THANK YOU!!!

My baby is growed up....

Yep Senior Busy Daughter has turned 21. How do I feel. I don't know, but how can it be possible that I remember turning 21 like it was last week? Anyway Happy Birthday bub. And even though she has 3 younger siblings, she will always be my baby girl.

Normal transmission should resume shortly...

Mrs Busy would like to apologise to her loyal followers, in reference to total lack of blogging since ... well probably since Adam was a cowboy or sometime around then. I can't be sure what it is that causes me to cease completely. Probably laziness, but there must a more technical term than that.
Okay now here come the excuses - er - reasons.
Ahem....
The Busy Household... because its not like its busy enough already, took on a couple of 10 year old Japanese Home stay students for a few weeks. I was in my "expanding the family's perspective on things" mode! I didn't realise expanding the family's perspective on worldwide cultures could be quite as exhausting as it was. For one the boys spoke NO ENGLISH! And I didn't realise sign language took so much time and effort. I could go on and on, but if you are anything like my kids you will have switched off from me and switched on the tele!
Speaking of my kids. Senior Busy daughter turned 21 yesterday. Now do not ask me how that happened because seriously I was only 21 about 10 years ago. I'm sure of that! I still have my beautiful dress that I had made, with the big bow on the back. I took it out of the wardrobe for old times sake, and pulled it on. The little cinched in waist fits very nicely ... around my thigh!
Senior Busy daughter is flatting now. She found our house far too confining so moved to somewhere smaller, but we had our usual "its your birthday and you get to pick what to have for dinner" last night. It must have been okay, because she has just popped in for cold left overs tonight! I'm gonna have to give her some cooking lessons I think, but I quite like the fact that she still needs her mother, even if only a little bit! Which leads me very nicely to the fact that I said I would do the food for her big party on Saturday. I was a bit naive, and didn't realise there were 130 people coming! Ah well, in for a penny, in for a nervous breakdown!
I haven't done a whole heap of sewing, but ages ago I promised to show you the little pouch and makeup bag I made for my nieces recent wedding. It was a stunning affair (is that the correct word when describing a wedding?). I sound like a really geriatric old Aunty, but my niece is in fact only about 6 years younger than me. We are a big family and really spread out! So because blogs can be a bit boring without pictures I will leave you with a couple of pics. I am currently charging the batteries in the camera - again - so will have to show you what I have been doing when they are charged. I should perhaps change the title of my blog to: Charging the Batteries. Cue music ...

Dupion Silk pouch, trimmed with vintage lace. The outside of the pouch is in white and lined with blush dupion silk, which is the fabric my own wedding dress was made from.

Inside the little pouch an old penny from 1877, which was my late Dad's, and my late Mum's little badge. Its a proud Kiwi, and my Mum wore it whenever she travelled. The little pouch is something that has become a tradition in our family, and either myself or my other niece, the only sewers in the family make one, for whoever is getting married. It's small enough to just tie behind a bouquet.

And a wee blue flower sewn into it, for something blue...


And a little make-up bag because - well just because!

And the winner is...

JELLYBELLY*JELLYBRAIN

I had a very official picking process. You know the one where you tear bits of paper up from one of the kids refills, and write all the names down, and then put them in a little pile and close your eyes and dive your hand in? One of those. Now I wanted to take a picture of the process or at the very least the winners name, but in famous Busy style the batteries have run out again in the camera, and the the two spare ones are in fact only one due the fact that when we were in Rotorua, I dropped one and it fell through the planks of the bridge we were standing on and straight into the river, and I wasn't about to dive in and try and find it!
So what I would normally do would be to take a really dodgy picture on the webcam. Another bit of a drama, unfortunately, is that my computer is currently away, as it caught something very nasty and at this very moment is being poked and prodded to try and retrieve all my photos and documents, which is giving me a bit of heartburn as I think I could possibly lose them all.
Sooooo I am on the family laptop which as I may have said before is a bit like waiting at the deli where you have to take a number and wait your turn. You know the one where you are number 58 and they have only just called out 24? But thats not the point. The point is this flash RED laptop does not have a photo capture facility on it. Oh its got a motion detector and a time lapse thingy, in case you want to set it up in the garden to watch a flower emerge from the depths of winter or something. And a heap of special effects on the video, but nope I cannot just TAKE A PHOTO!
Lucky for me I already put up a flash pic of the little zipped pouch, otherwise I would not have got a record NINE comments. Yep this blog is getting real popular!!!

More Snaps and a Giveaway too!!!!

Woohoo, its only taken me about 18 months to reach 100 posts, but I'm here, and I feel as though I belong to a special club or something. I think the "protocol" is to do a giveaway, so I think I might just do that!

But first I will show you some more snaps of our weekend away!! Yeah you don't get off that lightly you know!!! I will try and keep it brief before I reveal the giveaway.
But first a word from our sponsors...

Paradise Valley Springs.

And a couple of interesting things

so if its good enough for Warriors its good enough for accountants...

I won't go on about it anymore, but Paradise Valley Springs was a wonderful place, and I didn't even mention the Lion feeding. Do you know how big a Lion looks when you only have a bit of wire between the two of you? Real big and very intense looking! Seriously if you are in Rotorua, check it out, the kids will love it!!

Part Two of the 100th Post
My last giveaway yielded 2 comments. Yep you heard correctly. Two. So just humour me eh, and leave a comment. I will post internationally and everything, because I'm good like that!

Up for grabs is this little zipped bag, and who knows, I might chuck something in it as well,

so leave a comment, and I will put you in the official draw. And if you link to my blog let me know and I will double your chances.

: 0 )

This Holiday Stinks!

I have been a bit absent lately, due to my broken computer, which is still awaiting urgent medical assistance, but having a "family computer" has helped a bit. Although its a bit like taking a ticket and having to wait for your number to be called out. I would like to say that the lack of computer has had me sewing away like a cyber deprived maniac, but alas I don't have much to show, except a very small silk pouch. (More about that in another post).

Jellybelly Jellybrain, has posted her holiday snaps, and I have to say there wasn't a moment where I was thinking "oh hurry up" because she took some very nice shots of things at the very hot and summery beach. However as we are in the middle of a very cold winter here in New Zealand, the only place for a holiday, in my opinion is Rotorua, or one of our stunning mountains for skiing, but I have an aversion to snow (probably from living in the UK for 12 years.)

So on Friday we gave the kids the last day of term off and we hit the road early for our 3 hour trip to Rottonrua. Nicknamed aptly because it smells of eggs. Its all the sulphur and thermal activity I assume, and not that the town lives on Baked Beans and Cabbage.

Between you and me, I don't think a weekend counts as a "holiday", but Mr Busy has done a spreadsheet and budget forecast and it looks like that could be it...
... so I will show you a few of our "holiday" snaps.



There was quite a bit of this

And a lot of this...



A trip up the Gondola



and a hair raising ride down the luge .

Please note: Picture is not indicative of actual terror shown.

Then off for some thermal activity...

Where things got steamy at Wai-O-Tapu (Sacred Waters)

This sign means....


Don't stick your fingers in the hot water Mr Busy!!

I conveniently wore a top to match The Devils Bath.

and not forgetting the bubbling mud pools, which I could have stood and watched all day!

And now for a small pictorial interlude ...

before I bid you Ka kite ano ...