TIME TO CATCH UP

Its time to catch up on all that has been happening since my last post.   Towards the end of May I had a week away, I had been invited to Tokoroa to judge the  embroideries entered in both the Waikato / Bay of Plenty Regional Challenge and the South Waikato Guild challenge.   Paul and I had lived in Tokoroa for ten years from 1979-1989 and I was a foundation member of the Embroiderers guild that started there in 1982. There is no direct bus route from here in Stratford across to Tokoroa so the first full day of my trip was taken up with bus travel, I stayed with   Raewyn and John Alderton who I have known since we first went to live in Tokoroa and enjoy time both with them and meeting up again with old friends 

The Second day was judging all the entries had been set out at a studio giving me .......
The Regional Challenge title was  "In  the Forest' The entries were very varied and I have permission from the winner Tina Ward to share here on my blog her piece. Beautifully stitched it conveys that feeling  of being in the forest looking up through the tree ferns and trees.

The other challenge for me to judge was the Guild's President's challenge "Leaf" These pieces were small to be no bigger than A5 and here too I have permission to share the winning piece.  Noeline Becker was the embroiderer who created this beautifully present leaf.

I was asked for a the small display of my work at the exhibition. These are the few pieces I chose to represent my interest in embroidery. I had a chance to see the work set out for display before the exhibition opened,  and then over the next days spent quite a bit of time there.

and my stitching for the month -
  on the Etui for Eve I have stitched the first little mouse and have started his friend who is also flying a kite.

 and stitching for Finn, 

Barryn had suggested that a set of the characters from the Octonaut books( there is also a TV series based on the books) would be an ideal birthday gift for Finn. Once again this was a new series for me lots of research and I became quite familiar with the 8 characters that feature in the books,  I also found and ordered the one book in the set he did not have and more felt colours were needed from the Felt Factory, followed by lots of fun hours stitching and creating the characters ...all about three and a half inches tall

Quote- From their "Octopod" home base, a team of undersea explorers is always ready to dive into action to explore new underwater worlds, rescue amazing sea creatures and protect the ocean. The group is led by Captain Barnacles the bear, and also includes Kwazii the kitten, Peso the penguin,

I seem to be stitching lots of penguins this year and there are more planned for later.

Here is the full set....... The birthday parcel has gone and I am waiting to hear that it has arrived.

I have continued to stitch more Christmas decorations but need to take some more photos so will share them when I next blog.