Can't Hardly Wait

Only one more day and I start a fortnight's holiday, yippee! Next week Glenn, Hannah and I are flying off to Fiji, in the Pacific islands.

(photo courtesy of Trip Advisor)

We are going to be joined by our best friends and their children too so roll on some sunshine, warmth, fun times, and a few cocktails of course.

See you in a few weeks!

A finch bucket for some more new projects

I like to keep any small leftover scraps of fabric from my sewing projects just in case I might be able use them for something else like the backing of an ornament, etc.  I recently started watching videos by Jade from Stitch Mischief and I really liked her pattern for the Finch Bucket.

It's a lot larger than my normal knitting project bags but absolutely the perfect size for projects using several skeins of yarn. I thought this would be a great size to load up with projects for taking away on holiday too.  There is also a smaller size too, Little Finch Bucket, which is included with the pattern.

I decided to make a patchwork panel for my bag out of some of the fabrics I've used recently.  There is an option to use one fabric for this panel. I also used some natural linen left over from the stocky sock bags that I made awhile ago.

The only cord I had in my stash was this thick one but I'm going to replace it with a more natural looking one next time I visit Spotlight. 

So what is in my new Finch Bucket?  A new shawl is underway - I've started the Washed Out Shawl by Joji Jocatelli using the gorgeous Bleating Art yarn I bought recently. This could be on the needles for quite some time!



Another blogger that I enjoy watching videos by is Sandra from Cherry Heart Designs.  Sandra recently released a new sock pattern, which I had to start straight away, lol.

This yarn is Fig bird by Circus Tonic Handmade.  So pretty.

I haven't picked up my Cosy Stripe crochet blanket project for ages but I had a day off work last week with Hannah, who was feeling a bit under the weather, and decided to get a few rows done.

The colours are so pretty and make me feel so happy every time I get this out.  Many, many rows to go!

See you soon x

Two finishes to share!

First up today, is my latest santasunday# finish, Merry Merry by Country Cottage Needleworks.

Another for the 2018 collection, this one is for my niece Zoe.  This is the second time I've stitched this lovely design now, I love recycling my patterns!  Finished into a small pillow using some of the Lady Dot Creates small pom pom trim in Sizzle, my favourite Christmas red colour.

I recently completely finished another stitchery too. I stitched this late last year but didn't get time to sew it into a pillow.

This is a Gail Pan design and is from her Simply Christmas Book 2017 (No.5).  The thread I used was Earl Grey by Cottage Garden Threads.

See you soon x

Last Week

Whoosh, another week has rolled on by. The weather here in Hawkes Bay last week was dreadful. We had two months of rain in just over four days and it was like it was never going to stop!  Today the sun is out and it's a perfect spring day.

Although I've got plenty of other projects I could be working on, I made a small start on Hear the Crickets Sing last week:

I also finished the last few rows on my Spindrift Shawl, just the ends to sew in and then a good blocking.

My reading pile at the moment, several new-to-me authors recommended by one of the local librarians, and the latest Karin Slaughter book.

It was Father's Day here last Sunday so Hannah and I took Glenn out to brunch at one of the local cafes followed by catch ups with our own Dads.

See you soon xx

This & That

Squeezing in one more post for August today. How did it get to be almost September so quickly!! And the great thing is, it's officially the start of spring this weekend. Lots of wonderful things to look forward to in the next month - visitors coming to stay, the annual local Spring Fling (festival) with lots of different activities and events happening around our little town, and at the end of September we're heading away on our annual family holiday :)

So looking through my August photos yesterday, here are a few things that haven't made it to my blog yet, I have shared some of these on Instagram recently:

A new red work stitchery project underway, I've done very little red work this year but I'm stitching this for my Mum this Christmas. Another lovely design by Gail Pan.

I stocked up on my favourite trims a few weeks ago, all the way from Lois of Lady Dot Creates in the US.  Lois is such a pleasure to deal with, and we can't get anything like these gorgeous hand dyed trims here in New Zealand. 

I will also have new project underway from the 1st September - Tis the Season by Blackbird Designs. I've had the pattern and fabric since the design first came out several years ago and recently a stitch along was organised on Facebook. I purchased a set of hand dyed threads from Nancy at the Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe.

All the beautiful spring bulbs are popping up in our gardens at work, these are on the table this week - so pretty and cheery.

During this school term I've signed on to become a coach at the local Trampolining club evenings. Hannah has been participating in this club for over a year now and absolutely loves it.

There's quite a large group of children involved and they have so much fun each week.

I've got lots to learn but it's a real pleasure to be supervising the children as they go through their practices every week. Several of the children recently qualified for the NZ Trampolining Nationals to be held in October and they are amazing to watch.  All good fun!

See you soon xx

Farmhouse Christmas Series

Last night I finished Part 7 of the Farmhouse Christmas series, Cock-a-doodle-do.

Only two parts to go now and the next part should be here any day.

See you soon xx

Knit August Nights 2018

One of my favourite things to do now every August is take a trip up to Napier to the Knit August Nights (KAN) event. This is a whole weekend of classes, yarn shopping, mill tours and lots more but my friends and I just go along to check out the market which is open to the public on Sunday morning. 

For the third year in a row, Napier turned on the sunshine and it was a beautiful day. The venue for KAN couldn't be in a more perfect spot, right beside the sea at Ahuriri. 

Look who I found - Kath! We arranged to meet up for the morning and had a fab time checking out all the gorgeous yarn, accessories, patterns and chatting with several NZ designers and hand dyers.

If you are a NZ knitter you probably would have heard of Libby from Truly Myrtle Designs.
Kath and I had a great chat with Libby and checked out her wonderful designs.

Here are the samples for the Floozy cardigan, which Libby has released recently.  Using Catrien from Yarnfloozy lovely colourways, the pattern and kits have been a huge hit here in NZ and around the world.

I had so much fun spending my yarn money, photos of my purchases at the end of this post.

Once we'd finished at KAN, we decided to head into town for lunch and a browse of the shops, it was such a warm sunny afternoon.

And my goodies - some new pins for my knitting bag

This yarn by Revive Designs is so lovely to squish, so soft, its a silk and merino mix.

One of my favourite hand dyers to visit is Alice from Bleating Art yarn and I've purchased from Alice several times before. Alice and her Mum dye the most fantastic colours.  These three skeins are intended for a shawl, which is going to be an ambitious project for me considering I've only ever knit one small shawl before.

My first ever skein of Hedgehog Fibres, in the Cheeky colour way. Hedgehog Fibres is from Ireland.

It wasn't intentional but I must have a thing for pinks and greys at the moment, lol.

If you get the chance to visit KAN one year, please do so as its well worth it. Maybe next year I'll get along to some classes.

See you soon xx

Catching up on #santasundayxs - 3 finishes

Here are three more recent finishes from #santasundayxs, a stitchalong on Instagram. 

Very Merry by Lizzie Kate

2017 Just Cross Stitch Ornaments magazine, trimmed with Ladydot Creates Barndoor Chenille

Noel Nostalique by Fleurs de Lin

Winter Sheep by Little House Needleworks

I love this sheepie design - I've stitched this one several times since it first came out.

Thank you so much for visiting and kind words!  See you soon xx

From the Weekend

I have finished another design in the Blackbird Designs Loose Feather series - chart 4, All The Hills Echoed.  Stitched with all the recommended threads on 36ct Oaken linen by Picture This Plus.

Good timing as the latest in the series arrived in the post on Friday. I think I might skip ahead to this one, it really appealled to me, and go back to chart 5 & 6 sometime.

Miss H started weekly ballet lessons last term, and she is absolutely loving ballet so far. Her teacher is just lovely and so wonderful with all the children in Hannah's class, from 5 year olds to the older children Hannah's age.  Hannah has her first exam coming up later in the month so on Saturday was the mock exam which Hannah participated in. All good fun and she has been learning so much.

In other news from around here, our house renovations are moving along and the laundry is currently underway.  We had to wait quite some time for a local plasterer to come, he's the same guy we used last year so we were happy to wait but now that part of the job has been done, we can get the painting underway.

This coming weekend the final coats on the walls will be done, then we can move onto the floor tiling. You can see the difference in the paint colours in the above pic as the door to the garage is still the previous colour and now with the black white paint, it's looking so much brighter and fresher. We've yet to decide on bench tops and laundry tub and a new washing machine will be purchased too. All in good time!

See you soon x

Merry Little Stitches

I couldn't resist buying this chart when it came out, late last year I think - Merry Little Stitches by Pineberry Lane. 

I purchase all my charts by Pineberry Lane as e-patterns directly from Pineberry Lane. Instant gratification! 

These little stitches were my #santasundayxs project during July.

Finished as simple flat ornaments with cording made out of the same coloured DMC used in the pattern, 355 & 822. In the above photo you can see the fabric I chose for the backing, one of the lovely pieces I picked up on my recent shopping trip.

See you soon xx