A little gem

With the ever changing scenery in Christchurch it always pays to stop and look at new cafe's. Today I was driving and spotted this cafe. It was so gorgeously done - so many flowers in tubs that I thought it did floristry too. 

It is called Lemon Tree Cafe and is at 324 St Asaph Street, Christchurch. It is a really feminine, take the girls out place. The muffin was delicious but the coffee only passable. They had a huge range of tea though so next time I think that is what I would do.

The lady's running it were very friendly and cheerful but not intrusive. So thought that others looking for a girly fix might want to know about it. They have only been open since February this year.
The Press did a wee write up too.

So thought that others looking for a girly fix might want to know about it. They have only been open since February this year.

The toilet was so pretty that I just had to put in a photo of that too. I loved the old Singer Sewing Machine being used as a wash stand. No paper towels or blow dryers here. There were individual toweling cloths for you to dry your hands on and then lovely rose hand cream to use after if you wanted.

This is all just my opinion and is definitely not a sponsored post!!

Nearly there

Yay another quilt for charity completed. The goal of one quilt per child at Hope Homes Orphanage is getting closer.

This quilt was started by Jeanette at church a long way back when we all started quilting for charity. Before the earthquakes and before the storms. So Jeanette finished three of the rows and had sewn a lot of other blocks together. She used all donated material and just mixed up what came into her hand. I finished putting all the blocks in rows, sewed the rows together and then quilted and bound it.

I started the quilting on Thursday night, finished it on Friday night and bound it tonight. I tried a completely different quilting pattern to anything I have done before. I follow a blog by an amazing machine quilter Amy and she has been doing monthly challenges. This quilt pattern was last months (I chickened out on the last quilt and just put flowers) and I am thrilled to have done this as an all over pattern. My quilting is not good enough to worry about stitch length or regularity, I struggled to keep it all the same and even, but with practice things will get better.

I link to these places but especially Finish it up Friday and  and 

A relaxing night away

From the deck in Akaroa, and table looking out at that amazing view, we ate gorgeous anti pasta platters made by Eli. He took great pride in cutting and arranging the tomatoes and cucumber and his laying out of the salami. Mmmmm it was yummy.

On a walk around the waterfront we had two dogs, Charlie (Aunty Colleens dog) and Morris as each boy wanted to have a dog on a lead. Both dogs were terrified of the jetty. Morris lay on his belly and shook so ended up being carried and I had to carry Charlie as she just would not even go on a plank. Awesome weather and great weekend away. Thanks Colleen you are amazing.

Although we only went out on Saturday after sport, it was amazingly relaxing. I will be more keen for just a night away from now on.

Barry's beetroot

I adore good beetroot but a lot that you buy are really high in sugars as well as salt. When Barry and Kerryn were getting ready for their wedding Barry did a BBQ for us, with the most amazing yummy beetroot as a side dish.

On my way home from Akaroa on Monday I bought some beetroot and hunted for Barry's recipe. So here (in my opinion) is the best beetroot ever. Click on this link to get the recipe.

In the recipe link there is a nice photo of the finished product. But I was so busy doing my blog and catching up on emails that today my beetroot cooking looked like this.......

Training with the Crusaders

Eli was a very lucky boy these school holidays. His rugby team got to do a training session with the Crusaders Rugby Team. Thanks to Eli's awesome coach the opportunity arose.

As soon as the Crusaders appeared the boys rushed over with balls, shirts, shorts, arms ...literally anything to get signed. They all wore their club gear and looked really professional. They were so keen and happy I was really proud to be a parent associated with Kaiapoi Rugby Club.

Mum I have no sweatshirts

Mum I have no jersey's. Eek, Jakob has grown and only two things fit. A Merino jersey I made for him last year and a hooded sweatshirt. Both were in the wash.

So I looked in the cupboard and found some blue fleece and whipped up a hooded fleece top. Big pockets were requested and as I was in a hurry there were no bells and whistles, just a standard top.
















I cut it out on Tuesday night and sewed it last night. A good quick project. I love that fleece does not fray so no overlocking or zigzag required.

I link to these places.

Sewing lessons - Bukuro Bag

Well it has been a super rainy holidays and yesterday I ended up with Seven children in our little 85 square meter house with the rain bucketing down outside. So what to do when it is a squash and a squeeze?

Keep them all occupied of course. So the fire was on and I rang the girls to say "Bring your sewing machine". Their Christmas present had been a machine. A while ago when I was at the craft and quilt fair in Christchurch I made a Bukuro bag at the Brother stall. This only involves sewing straight lines so I thought it a good project to do.

I almost had the material cut when they arrived and so we got stuck in. Then I found out that the twins had never sewn before. They had not used their new machine. Amy and Mikayla just got going with just instruction on where to sew their seams etc. The twins learnt how to use a machine, go back and forward and be steady and guide material. Mikayla was a great help.

While queuing for the machine they sat with the boys and looked at games etc on the I-Pads. The time zoomed by and 2.5hours were gone before we realised. The awesome thing was all the girls finished their bags and so next time we will be making pin cushions and lanyards for their snips.

Once they all left I lit the hot tub and had a good restful soak!!!

I link the these places.

The two extremes

This last weekend we spent three nights at Mt Cook where we had freezing driving hail and unbelievable thunder and lightening one day. Then the next day it was hot, hot, sunny and amazing.

So when it thundered and rained we hunkered down and used our ipods etc in the cosy room. After a bit of that I decided that we were there to walk!! We headed off on a easy walk to the Hermitage and then off to the campground. But halfway there we had to turn around as the hail STUNG like crazy. You do need to know when to give up sometimes.

The next day was such a different story. It was stunning and clear. We all walked as a family in the afternoon to the Hooker Glacier - 12km return. The track had been completely changed since we were on it last time. Two new suspension bridges and ending up on the opposite side of the glacier lake than where it used to be.

We were all a bit tired though on the afternoon walk as in the morning Aaron and the boys went up to Sealy Tarns. This is sometimes called "the stairway to heaven" as the views are amazing. Most of the way is on stairs - but tramping stairs so really high legs and hard work. Close to 1800 of them to get these amazing views. 

So in total the boys did close to 16km with a huge portion of that being UP!
I walked the Kea lookout so that I could see the boys and Aaron walking up the ridges to the Tarn.

Amazing day. We love Mount Cook!

5 minute cake recipe

Another blogger whom I met at the Christchurch Bloggers Christmas posted about a rhubarb slice / cake today. It looked so simple and easy that I decided to make it then and there. It took me 5 minutes to make and that includes going to the garden to pick the Rhubarb. All made in the food processor.

I am eating a piece and it is delicious!!! I made double the mixture and put it into a high sided slice tray. But did not double the sugar in the topping in half and it has worked out well. ( I just thought that it was too much sugar).

So pop over to Lauren's blog - SHAM and whip it up for yourself 

Training my boys

With school holidays upon us we still need to have time at home to complete those domestic chores. The boys had prior warning that today was a day of chores. So I started to extend their understanding of what needs to be done around the house. They have the basics sussed now. 

Lovely looking clean lounge

Today they:

• wiped down the window frames, latches etc. 
• Dusted their bedrooms including under their Lego (which they had told me was too precious to move)
• Cleaned and oiled the Rimu wood tables.
• Vacuumed into the corners and looked at the ceiling for cobwebs etc.
• As well as the normal vacuuming and dishwasher clearing.
• Then we went onto baking biscuits. We are going away tomorrow and if they want something sweet they had the time to do it.

This was all completed with minimal fuss (which is rather extraordinary!!!) as they were allowed to have breaks on a new XBox game they were into.

Baking choc chip cookies

So my house is clean as I did the windows, my own room and the toilet and bathroom. I do love a clean house and hopefully the boys are slowly learning to look at the little things too.

I link to these places.

The reward - XBOX time

My boots were made for walking

But that is not what they normally do!! They sit in the bottom of the wardrobe remembering the times they got out into the bush.

The selfie before starting

Well this last Easter weekend I dusted the boots off and went with Aaron and the boys on a walk in Arthur's Pass. The views were amazing. After an initial hour of up and down we came out on a wide valley, the sun shone and it was gorgeous. 

The up and down bit was almost too much but it was so lovely to be out in the real bush like we used to all the time. 

The boys and I went about half way to the hut and then turned around. Aaron left us and ran to the hut and back again. So we did 12km but Aaron did 22!! Autumn is the time when I seem to be able to tramp. Cold enough to keep my blood pressure up which means I can walk further with not so many issues.

With the way that the weather started at the weekend it was just amazing to have such lovely weather and get out and about on Sat, Sun and Monday. We went down memory lane and stayed at Flock Hill in the backpackers. We talked a lot about Kerryn's wedding there.