Grateful......

 I woke up on Sunday at 6am to go for an early morning bike ride with my cycling buddy neighbour and was greeted with this stunning sunrise as I stumbled into the lounge. It certainly made getting up early on Sunday worth it. It was a bit of a chilly start but once we warmed up it was a beautiful calm morning for a bike ride too with the bonus of very little traffic at that early hour. 

Yesterday I was reminded of how very grateful I am of the people that have been put into my life in the last couple of years. When you go through something challenging in life you learn quickly who in your life are true friends that 'get' what you are going through and know exactly what to say at the right time. They are the ones that stick around and are not just there for the big dramas. One such person is Lily who lives far far away from me in Dubai. We have actually never met but have connected through our blogs originally and now keep in contact as regularly as life lets us. Lily is a very talented creative person and I wish she lived closer. Every now and then, usually when I am least expecting it a 'surprise' parcel will arrive from her containing beautiful things, often made by her for me and my daughters.  She made all of the above earrings and .....

 picked out this selection of Washi tape on her recent trip to Tokyo. She also made me an ' infinity scarf ' of which I forgot to photograph before the light faded tonight. It is of course beautifully sewn and made with some bright colourful fabrics thoughtfully chosen for me. Thank you Lily for your thoughtful, generous spirit and your faithful friendship.

 Yesterday I spent most of my day in my little sewing attic sewing these new journal cover sets for my Etsy shop whilst listening to podcasts and music. My girls are now back at school and it was nice to be able to completely focus on what I love to do and that is to create beautiful things.

These covers fit A5 and A6 journals and with the elastic band that keeps everything together plus with a penholder on the front of each one they are all ready and waiting for inspiration to strike. The small one is the perfect size to fit in a handbag and the larger A5 one also happens to be the perfect size to double up as a mini Ipad cover/keeper as one of my other good friends found out recently.

I sell them as a set of two over here in my shop. 

A perfect Friday.....

So I've had another busy week plus it's been a bit of an emotional roller-coaster with some personal stuff I've been processing but today was the perfect ending. Spending time with good friends makes everything feel much better and of course getting out and exercising in the forestry surrounding our town is the perfect tonic when you're feeling a bit down about things. After a couple of hours of somewhat leisurely biking and chatting we headed back into town and home to shower then we gathered again for some more girls talk over tea and cake at my place.

For some reason I felt like baking late yesterday afternoon and was also in the mood to try out a couple of new recipes that I had come across recently. The above loaf is a coconut loaf with pink raspberry icing. Perfect for a girls afternoon tea not that I had that planned at the time of making it :-) Here's a quick run-down of the recipe because it is too delicious not to share.....

• 125g butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon coconut essence
• 3/4 cup coconut cream
• 1 1/2 cups self-raising flour 
• 3/4 cup desiccated coconut

Preheat oven to 175C. Line loaf tin with baking paper.

Beat butter and sugar until pale and creamy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add coconut essence and coconut cream and beat to incorporate. Stir in flour and coconut. Spoon into prepared loaf tin and bake for 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Remove to a wire rack to cool. Once cold, drizzle with pink, raspberry flavoured icing made with 2 cups of icing sugar, a drop or 2 of red food colouring and 1/2 teaspoon of raspberry essence, 20g melted butter and 2 tablespoons of boiling water. Slice to serve. Enjoy!!

The second item I made was these maple walnut bars which are divine ! You can find the recipe here on Susan's blog Hanging on by Needle and thread. Susan often shares her delicious recipes :-)  and this one certainly is a keeper.

Today has reminded me how thankful I am to have such caring and supportive friends and to live in a town with so much to do right on our doorstep.

A sneak peek......

A little peek of what I've been working on this week. This is a border made up of 1 inch squares made with 1 1/2" strips so a great way to use up a honey bun although I used scraps. Quite easy, a little time consuming but I love the result. Not sure what this is going to turn into yet.

It will have to wait till Monday as we are going to stay with friends for the weekend and I'm participating in a cycling event on Saturday. The weather is predicted to be fine and sunny so I'm predicting lots of swims in our friends pool and perhaps a soak in their spa after my ride.

Enjoy your weekend!!

My definition of satisfaction.

This week for Sew 'n' tell Friday I made another pencil case , this one is for Caitlin similar to the boxy pouch but it is round and probably large enough to be a small overnight toilet bag. It should fit all the pens and pencils etc she needs for school plus more. I also had a go at a crayon roll except for pens or pencils and thought it would be kinda cool for Amelia to put her gel pens in to take to school. I don't think Caitlin has seen it yet but I'm sure she will want one when she does. Hey even I want one! I'm thinking it would be an easy project for Amelia to tackle. I had both these items all cut out and ready to sew last Friday but ran out of time. Once they are cut out they take less than an hour to whip up. I like that quick satisfaction in a sewing project. You can find this quick and easy tutorial for the pencil/pen roll here. Don't forget to check out all the other Sew 'n' tell participants by clicking the button on the right hand side bar.

I got no sewing done over the weekend as I spent most of Saturday on my bike completing a 200km cycling event. This annual event is called the K2 and they say it is the toughest cycling race in the Southern hemisphere and yes it was pretty tough. It was a beautiful day here and perfect riding weather so that all helps. I have been training for this event for 6 months which was a big commitment but the satisfaction of completing a long ride like this was huge. You can check out the beautiful scenery that we rode past here. I spent Sunday not doing much but being kind to my body and letting it recover. I do find it hard to laze around and not do anything...I wonder if that puts me in the exercise addiction category. Maybe, because I've just signed up for another long cycle event in 3 weeks... the Lake Taupo Cycle challenge which is slightly shorter at 160kms. I know I'm a sucker for punishment !