Heart Felt

Getting lost in sunflowers

Texture...

 

Follow the leader....

 

Colour....

 

And one to take home.....

Needle felting

One of the great things about participating in a regular craft market is getting to know the other crafty stall holders.  One of my favourite stall holders is Hella.  She makes stunning felted birds, nests, rabbits, lambs and babies from wool.    

Normally at the market I take some hand sewing with me to keep me occupied during the quiet periods of the day.  Last Saturday I had forgotten to take it with me and hated sitting there with idle hands, so Hela offered to give a quick needle felting lesson.   I'm officially 'Hooked'.

I purchased one of her needle felting kits.  The kits contain a lovely bag of wool in various colours, an instruction booklet, piece of foam and a felting needle.   

This is what I made with my first attempt with help from Hela.

 It really is that simple.

With my second atempt I felted straight onto one of my wool pixie hats.

 I'm really happy with the result.

If anyone is interested in purchasing a needle felting kit from Hella for $10, email me and I can't get one sorted out for you or visit her stall at the next New Rags Market.  

 

Long lunch

We had a family gathering at Gladstone Vineyard in the weekend.  

Sadie wanted to to dress up as a fairy (of course)

Charlie amused himself with his cousin collecting cicada shells found on tree trunks.  Their collection was rather impressive.

Everyone cried out a big 'Awwwww' when Sadie and Oscar got up to dance to the live music.  

The ducks and chickens were happy to be fed bread from the cafe kitchen.

It was lovely to spend a long lunch with family.

Market on Saturday

New Rags Market

Masterton Town Hall

Chapel Street, Masterton

Saturday 18th February

9am - 3pm

See you there!

A few new items from Heart Felt....

Fantail upcycled wool vest

 

Jolly Roger upcycled wool jumper

 

Sitting rabbit wool tunic (my favourite!)

Bike ride

Cycling on the Greytown Woodside Trail ~ just Mama and Charlie.

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Outstanding beauty right outside our back door

Lots of trees to climb along the way

and hay sheds to explore.

Fensham Reserve

Today we took the children around the loop track at Fensham Reserve.

 Fensham Reserve is located about 3 kms west of Carterton and is looked after by the Forest and Bird Society.  

This was our first visit here because although it's a loop track it still takes over an hour to get around with gentle inclines.  Charlie and Sadie walked right around with no troubles but Ian and I had to take turns to carry Oscar.

 

~ Oscar carried this piece of fern around the whole track

and then cried when he dropped it into the creek ~

Fensham Reserve is home to big beautiful Kereru (wood pigeon) (which we saw lots of), fantails (who follow you around), tui, kingfisher, morepork (owl) and others.

~ Kereru flying over head ~

This 48 hectare reserve contains a remnant kahikatea swamp forest, as well as important wetlands that are home to our nationally vulnerable mudfish.

Take a drink and something light to eat, camera is a must and good walking shoes.  (No dogs are permitted)  Your reward is stunning views of the valley, a great work out, lots of bird life and beautiful native forest.

~ View from the summit ~

Martinborough Fair

I adore the Martinborough Fair.

 I have very fond memories of getting up early with dad when I was a child and hanging around all day while he sold his wooden toys.  The fear of getting lost in the crowds, the buskers, eating watermelon and Maori bread.  Finding a treasure to take home.

 

 

Heart Felt will be there tomorrow, hope you can find me in the crowds.  I will be with Margot from Fantail Grove who will be selling local olive oil and hazelnuts, so look out for us. We will be in the Kitchener Street side of the the square.

I will have a selection of felt play crowns and headbands

Pixie hats

Upcycled knits

and tunics.

See you tomorrow. x

 

Fossil hunter

Castlepoint was a great place to go fossil hunting.  The limestone rock has layers of fascinating fossilized shells.  

Some were quite beautiful.

Charlie bought along his tools to dig a few fossils out.

He worked hard

His precious treasures!

Castlepoint

We spent three glorious days at Castlepoint with Grandma and Granddad.  It was quite windy, but it didn't stop us from exploring this fascinating landscape.

The lighthouse is always interesting and the views are beautiful.

There's a native moth that only resides here at Castlepoint and also a rare yellow daisy that grows wild only in this area!   How special and amazing is that!

Charlie was in fossil heaven, I will share his findings tomorrow.

The kids made friends with the local seagulls by feeding them everyday.

Lots of sand castles, amazing sand art

and scavenger hunts.

(Sadie ticking off 'feather' on her scavenger list)

The sand dunes were fabulous

along with the big tractors that pull the fishing boats in and out.

Castlepoint is a special place, along with it's beauty, wild life and landscape it holds an amazing history.

(Castle Rock in the background)

The Maori name for Castlepoint is Rangiwhakaoma, which translates as 'where the sky runs'.

How beautiful is that?

Pukaha

Today we had a family day out at Pukaha Mount Bruce National Wildlife Centre.

We finally got to see Manukura the white kiwi.

 She was beautiful, almost glowing ghostly in the darkened kiwi house.

(Image: Mike Heydon/Jet Productions NZ Limited via Getty)

The tuatara are fascinating, Oscar called them baby dinosaurs.  

We missed the eel feeding but saw them with their fat bellies lying around in the shallow river.

We saw the kaka being fed.  They're so engaging.  If you stay still long enough they will fly over your heads almost brushing your hair with their wings.

If you look closely in the tree you see one sitting above Oscar's head.

Great afternoon out.

For opening hours and prices visit here.