All Sorts of Things #3

Time for a catch up post this morning:

my latest stitching project - The Light Upon the Lawn, which is No.2 in the latest Blackbird Designs Loose Feathers series.

Some new charts, fabric and threads arrived recently - can't wait to start the little mice!

More socks underway, these are for my SIL Jude. The pattern is the Sugar Frost Socks by Marianne Heikkinen (vanillawool on Instagram). This is the first time I've used the Head over Heels yarn by Stylecraft and it's lovely to knit with.

This winter so far has been so cold, cold, cold, wet and frosty - many a morning I arrive at work and its only 0-1 c degrees.This was the view just down street one day last week. 

I've found a new favourite biscuit recipe - Oatmeal, raisin and orange cookies by Jenny from Elefantz. Do try them, they are absolutely delicious! The recipe can be found on this post.

Last Sunday afternoon Hannah and I went out with Jude and my nieces Alice and Sally to see a local production of the Sound of Music. We all thoroughly enjoyed it and what a nice treat for the school holidays.

Over the past few weeks, Glenn and I have been carrying out some DIY around home. We have stripped the old hallway wallpaper and dining room too, and my Dad has been in to do some painting for us. Glenn is also giving all the hallway doors a fresh coat of paint and we're going to upgrade the handles. New wallpaper has *almost* been decided on ha ha, and we'll also get some new lighting fixtures.

I've been meaning to share some news from our sock knitting afternoons - both Kath and Janet finished their first socks recently - yay, I was so pleased for them.

This group has been so much fun over the past few months - lots of laughs and giggles that's for sure!

See you soon xx

Redwork Finishes

Over the last few weeks I've been stitching on a few Christmas red work stitchery projects, which will go into the pressie box once finished.

I just love the wall hanging series by Natalie Bird, Birdhouse Designs, and have stitched several of these now.

I stitched this design using one of my favourite DMC reds, 321.

And this one I think the thread I used was Red Carnation, a Cottage Garden thread.

See you soon xx

Socks for a Friend

One of my close friends is celebrating her birthday this weekend and all year she has admired the socks that I've been knitting. Now she has her very own pair!

Details: Hermoine's Everyday Socks
Yarn: Opal 20 Years - Party 9284
Needle Size: 2.25mm
Size: Medium

See you soon xx

Needlework ABCs

I finished this lovely sampler by Little House Needleworks last week. 

I used the threads that came with the pattern, Classic Colorworks, and the fabric is 32 count mocha belfast linen. Not sure how this one will be finished, perhaps into a white frame like on the pattern?

See you soon x

Moorland Blanket

A few weeks ago I finally finished the Moorland Blanket. The pattern for this is by Lucy from Attic 24, which she popped up on her blog over several weeks earlier in the year.

I purchased the yarn pack, 15 shades of Stylecraft yarn, from the Wool Warehouse in the UK and it was started in early April.

It was a lot of fun zipping along the rows of the Neat Wave pattern, and for the edging I asked Hannah to pick out four of the colours, finishing with three border rows of double crochet and the very last row was slip stitches.

Once again, I found the Stylecraft yarn a pleasure to crochet with, so soft and squishy. I have another of Lucy's yarn packs, the Cosy Stripe blanket, which I'm very tempted to get underway, but I have too many stitching projects calling my name at the moment!

See you soon x

A Few Finishes & This Week

I finished up another pair of socks last week, just in time for my lovely MIL's birthday.

Details: Winwick Mum's Basic Sock
Yarn: Opal Fresh & Juicy 9362
Needle Size: 2.5mm
Size: Medium

I have been using these great free printable labels for my gifted socks.

Last Sunday we celebrated Heather's birthday with a family afternoon tea and birthday cake. A really fun time for Hannah to hang out with her cousins. Heather just loved her socks and my sister in law Jude was very impressed with them too - little does she know that I have some yarn set aside to make a pair for her birthday coming up in July.





                        

This little finish was from a few weeks ago, the first in the latest Blackbird Designs series.

I'm not sure how I'll finish this but probably into a small frame?

My annual ornament stitching is off to a very slow start this year. I have several designs picked out to stitch though so will be working on one or two over the next few weeks.  This gorgeous design by Brenda Gervais has been such a lovely stitch.

Well it had to happen some time - Hannah decided she'd like to learn how to knit! We found some needles and some wool from my stash and spent a few hours last Saturday evening getting underway.
Watch this space as to how it goes!

 I picked up several books from the library I had on reserve earlier in the week including this one:

See you soon xx

All Sorts of Things #2

The last kit for the current round of the Silver Needle's Stitching Circle arrived recently and this time it's by The Drawn Thread. I just love this design and can't wait to get it started - its been quite some time since I've stitched anything by the Drawn Thread. 

Also included was the cutest little ort jar, and a Quilt Dots needle minder with a print of the stitched design, how lovely. 

The next chart in the latest Blackbird Designs Loose Feather club has arrived too, loving this series so far.

My stitching mojo disappeared there for a bit but I now have several new little projects on the go. This the lovely kit that Clare gave me for my birthday.

I haven't done any redwork stitchery this year yet so this cute design is in my hoop at the moment. It's a Natalie Bird design and is from a Simply Vintage magazines a few years ago.

I have also made a start on this one over the long weekend.

Three skeins of Circus Tonic Handmade hand dyed yarn goodness arrived in the mail earlier this week from Sydney and they are gorgeous.

If you'd like to check out what I've been reading over the past few months follow the link to my Goodreads page on the right hand side bar. This pile came home with me from the local annual charity book sale recently, should keep me going over the winter months.

Read any good books lately?

See you soon xx

Weekend in Auckland

Hello again - it's almost a month since my last post and what a month it's been! A fantastic trip to Auckland, helping my parents move house, Hannah being unwell for a week, a work seminar to go to, being struck down with the flu and laryngitis myself for a week and still not feeling 100 %, and now it looks like round two for Hannah as we're home from school and work again today. And it's only just the beginning of Winter!

The recent Queen's birthday weekend was a very low key one for us, we didn't venture out very far. I did spend a few hours out in the gardens, to get some fresh air and sunshine after being cooped up inside for the week, and everything now is ready for winter. We have a few vegetable seedlings in the garden - celery, spinach, silverbeet, leeks, cauliflowers, broccoli, but they are growing very slowly after the last few cool weeks. 

Back in late May Glenn and I flew up to Auckland for the weekend with our friends Rose and Brendon.  We stayed at the Metro Suites Appartments, which were only a short stroll away from everything we had planned for the weekend.

After a miserable rainy Friday, we woke up to a sunny day on Saturday and a great view from our room.

Rose and I found the T2 shop and happily spent an hour or so in there tasting a few samples and having a very interesting chat with the sales assistant.

Saturday lunch time, we had arranged to meet up with some Auckland friends for lunch so had a lovely walk along the water front in the sunshine.

The Sky Tower

Lunch was at Miss Clawdy's and was absolutely delicious.

After a leisurely afternoon of walking about it was time to find some dinner and get ready for the concert we were going to.

Wahoo, Greenday!  We've been big fans for a long time and it was absolutely awesome to finally see them live in concert.

What a great night we had - just loved it and would happily go again if they come back to New Zealand.

After breakfast Sunday morning it was time to catch our shuttle out to the airport for our flight back to Napier. What a perfect day for flying home, back to Hawkes Bay.


Lake Taupo

Napier, Hawkes Bay.

What a fun weekend get away.

See you soon x