Summer is Here

Don't these strawberries look delicious! They were so sweet, and Hannah just loves them too, yum, my favourite treat at this time of the year.

I spent a few nights this past week sewing up more hexagons - once the fabrics are cut and the hexagons are pinned, the sewing is fairly mindless, just what I need at the moment after a busy day at work.


Last night I finished one more Christmas gift - this is for my aunty Stephanie, who looks after Hannah for us. She is a rooster fan and has quite a collection in her kitchen and dining room.

French Country Rooster by JBW Designs

stitched on 32ct cream belfast linen using 498 DMC

I'm not quite sure how I'll finish this one, maybe into a wall hanging of some sort.

I'm looking forward to the coming weekend - we're off to do some major Christmas shopping and have a day out on Sunday with my Mum, my MIL and several friends.

Thanks for stopping by :) Have a super weekend friends!

November Ornie

Its been another busy weekend here - Friday night Glenn and I had a function to go to so Hannah spent the night with her Nannie and Grandad (my parents) then last night Miss Zoe came to stay. I've also been playing catch up with lots of little jobs I needed to get done this weekend. Presently, our Christmas cake is baking in the oven, yummo, it smells delicious.

I finished this lovely freebie ornament yesterday - I used the suggested threads and its been backed with the same fabric that I used for Hannah's stocking.

Christmas Quaker Stocking

freebie design found here

Can you believe that Hannah is now 18 1/2 months old - this my current favourite photo of her, taken Friday morning while she is watching her music dvd.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and as always, thanks for stopping by.

Christmas Sewing

The sewing machine has certainly been getting a work out the past few weeks - I've got some other cool projects on the go but I'm not quite finished yet so all will be revealed soon :)

I did a whole bunch of these fabric ornies - they will be soon on their way to the intended recipients!

Last night I went along with Kath to one of our local shops that was open for a late night Christmas shopping evening. Not only did we get a really cool free bag for making a purchase but this morning I got a phonecall to say I'd won one of the gift baskets that were being given away! Yay, I was so excited, I never win anything. I've got no idea what's in it, so now I can't wait to pick it up later today :)

Whats Going On Here...

Thanks so much for the comments about the stockings - I am really chuffed to have them finally made up, and I really appreciate hearing from you.

Because I don't have any stitchey news to post today I thought I'd talk about whats been happening around our house lately:)

About this time last year Glenn and I began discussing the possibly of extending the front of our house somehow and that got the ball rolling. So we had some plans drawn up for adding a room out from our dining room, and extending the lounge, which would then also enlarge our kitchen. (For my readers that might not know, Glenn is a qualified joiner and he built our house, about 13 years ago now, with the assistance from his Dad, who is a carpenter, and my Dad, who is a painter/decorator by trade. Handy ay? lol).

Before Christmas last year Glenn dismantled part of the deck that leads out from our lounge and dining room, and slowly over recent months he got the area ready to pour the concrete foundations for the extension. Since early October he's been out there every weekend, working away, and last Saturday his Dad Cliff helped him to get some framing done.

In this photo you can see our sliding doors that lead out to deck and from the first one, this is how far the room is being extended. Where the second door is, that whole wall is being removed to make way for the new room.

I'll share some more progress pics as the extensions move along. And not only are we gaining more living space but sometime in the next future, Glenn will be putting in a new kitchen too. Wahoo, can't wait. Not that there's anything wrong with the one we have now but it will be wonderful to have some more cupboard space and a walk in pantry.

The other big happening around here is that we are putting in a swimming pool! Ever since I was a little girl, I've dreamed of having my own swimming pool. As kids over the summer months, my younger brother and I spent every weekend either at the local pool, at the river or beach, or at a relatives pool, we were real water babes thats for sure. On Thursday last week I arrived home from work to find this digger sitting in our back yard.



By mid Friday, the hole was completely finished and the dirt cleared away.

Glenn put up the fencing temporarily to stop a little girl from getting to close to the edge - its quite a deep hole. Hannah is absolutely fascinated by the whole thing, I can't wait until she sees what's actually going to be in there!

So as you can imagine, its going to be all go here over the coming summer months but also very exciting for us.

'Til next time, take care xx

Christmas Stockings

Howdy folks, didn't the weekend just zoom by! We were pretty busy out and about most weekend as there were a few things happening around our little town. On Friday it was market day in our main street so once Hannah and I browsed a few stalls we met up with my Mum and two of my aunties at one of the local cafes for a cuppa and a catch up. My poor Mum has just had a two week vacation and I'd say for at least 10 of those days she has been sick with a nasty virus that seems to be doing the rounds again. But she's on the mend now :)

Then Saturday we headed to the local A& P Show (agricultural and pastoral show) where they have all sorts of things - horse show jumping, highland dancing, sheep shearing, even lawn mower races! There were a few stalls to browse and lots of food places to choose from but you can't go past the good old hotdog and hot chips at the show, smothered in tomato sauce, yummo. There were rides for the kids and a petting zoo - Hannah loved the ducks and little piglets!

A few weekends ago we had a Farmer's country market start here on Sunday mornings. Its only small but I think as the weather improves there'll be a lot more to local produce to buy. We decided to check it out on Sunday morning, and were also able to watch the ploughing up of a paddock by three huge clydesdale horses, which is going to be turned into a community vegetable garden. I wish I'd had my camera on me.

For the past few days I've been stitching on another small gift and working some more on Hannah's hexagon quilt. I think I've got about 150 hexagons made up now, still lots to go though, lol.

I was very pleased with myself to get Hannah's and my niece Alice's stockings finally sewed up.

I can't wait to fill these up with Christmas pressies!

Back Home

Hello folks, well, I'm back home from my little trip away last week. I went to Rotorua with a bunch of my staff and clients from work for our biannual trip away. Our clients, and the staff too, had fundraised really hard over recent months to be able to do lots of great things while we were there so we had a blast!

You might remember that just last month, Glenn, Hannah and I spent a day in Rotorua on our holiday. Well, compared to then the weather was just perfect this time around, lol.

This is the view from the top of the gondala looking over the town of Rotorua.

We enjoyed lots of different activities and sightseeing and one of the highlights for me was the "duck" tour - this vehicle can go onto the lake and cruise around, and also drive around town, it was awesome fun and our tour driver was hilarious!

We went to a farming show at the Agrodome - check out the size of some of these sheep, especially Prince the merino, in the top row

Wendy, my co-worker, and I checking out one of the locals at the farm.

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Of course, a trip out of the town is always a good excuse for some stash shopping. I found some pretty fat quarters for Hannah's hexagon quilt, and I'm not sure what I'll use the blue fabric for, hee hee.

I also picked up some pure New Zealand wool to add to my ever increasing wool stash. I'm planning to use some of this to knit some doll's clothes for my niece Zoe.

I found this interesting Chrismasy craft magazine, it has some really quick but cool things to make.

One of the projects are these yo yo ornaments, they look like fun to make, umm, I wonder if I can squeeze a few of these in over the next few weeks!

I have had a small stitching finish this week but as its for a gift, it will have to remain secret for a few more weeks. I hope to have some pics to share later in the week of the Shepherd's Bush stockings I've been sewing, I've only got the top bands to attach now.

Thanks for all your wonderful comments, I really enjoy hearing from you. Until next time, have a good few days.

xxx

Quaker Ornie & Ackworth Friendship RR

Here is the latest ornament to put away with my other 2009 gift ornies -

Christmas Quaker Ornament by Historic Stitches

stitched on 32ct belfast linen with Belle Soie Cranberry

(front & back)

Because I was nearly out of the cranberry thread I couldn't make the tassel for it and used some gold thread for a hanger instead. I've got two other patterns in this series of ornaments by Historic Stitches so they are already on my 2010 ornament list, lol.

And yay, my part on Barbara's RR is all completed. This was the last round for me, I can't believe that this project has come to an end. Its been a real pleasure to stitch this round robin.

I'm unsure as to the thread that I used for Barbara's piece but it looks wonderful and will look gorgeous when its all put together.

This coming week I'm going away for work, leaving Glenn and Hannah for a few days. I'm looking forward to the trip but I'm really going to miss my girl, and DH of course, as this is the longest I've been away from her. At least I can phone home whenever I want and we've got that much to do jam packed into our days, I'll be home before I know it. I hope to get a bit of stitching or knitting done in the evenings too, that will be good, uninterupted stitching time!

I'll back later in the week! "Til then, take care :)

A Fun Time

Gosh, the four day weekend went by quickly, but then holiday weekends always do, don't they? My cousin Donna arrived on Saturday night to stay with us until Monday afternoon. We always have so much fun hanging out together, Glenn just shakes his head and laughs at us, at our non stop chattering. Hannah had a great time with Donna and on Monday we took a trip to the local park.

We had discovered while we were away in Taupo that Hannah loves the slides, couldn't get her off it without a few tears, so this was the first time she tried out the big kids slide at our park.

Wahoo what fun she had.

We even had some nice weather over the weekend, surprise, surprise, three sunny and warm days in a row! Unbelievable. But of course, it didn't last and as it was back to work yesterday, it was back to some rain and cold weather again.

This week I'm concentrating on getting the last few stitches done on Barbara's Ackworth Friendship RR so I can get it in the post before the deadline. If you'd like to check out some of the other ladies finished pieces you will find them here.

Some Crafty Finishes

We've been enjoying a day of sunshine today. Earlier today, Hannah, Zoe and I went into town to do a few things and had lunch out at one of the local cafes. I also picked up some vege seedlings for our garden - lettuce, cucumber, courgette and capsiscum to go along with the tomato plants and beans Glenn has ready to plant. This long weekend break here is usually when we get our garden planted for summer but we've been a bit hesitant to get it fully planted as we're still having the occasional frost some mornings.

Last night we put on a family barbeque and had a few friends come too, it was great to catch up with everyone and Hannah enjoyed herself playing with Zoe and our friends' young daughter.

I had a small finish the night before, a small design that I'd started while we were away on holiday. I just love the colours in this one.

Loving and Faithful by Little House Needleworks

stitched with Crescent Colour Belle Soie on 32ct cream belfast

Ever since I'd spotted the pattern for a giant pincushion on the Moda Bakeshop blog I've been wanting to make one for myself.

I was really pleased with how it turned out so I might try and get a few more made for Christmas gifts.

Next up are my recent knitting finishes, my first ever dishcloth, using this really easy pattern I found via Christines blog

Double Bump Dishcloth by Missy Angus

And some fingerless gloves for one of my Mum's friends at her work.

Wafflestitch Fingerless Gloves by Jill Toporkiewicz

These knit up so quickly, and its such a pretty pattern. I'm planning to knit several more and hopefully some for myself.

Lastly for today, here's two pretty girls having fun this morning, watching Glenn working outside.

I can't remember if I've mentionned we are doing some extensions to our lounge and dining room? Glenn has been working really hard the past few weekends to get the foundations ready - he only started pulling up our front deck this time last year and then things came to a halt over our hot summer, then winter, lol. Oh well, good things take time :)

Our Taupo Holiday

Last Wednesday morning we packed up the car and headed to Lake Taupo, which is 2 1/2 hours north of where we live. As you'll be able to tell from these photos, the weather wasn't the best, drizzly rain, wind and cold for the few days we were there.

We arrived at our motel eary afternoon and after dumping off our bags, etc, headed out for some lunch and bit of a look around. Glenn was born in Taupo and spent his early childhood living at Kinloch, a short drive around to the other side of the lake. So for him, this was bit of trip down memory lane as we spent a few hours in Kinloch by the lake and at the local playground.

On Thursday we headed over to Rotorua, about an hours drive from Taupo. Rotorua is the thermal wonderland of New Zealand and a great place for sightseeing.

We visited Rainbow Springs Kiwi Wildlife Park, where Hannah feed the rainbow trout, and we tried to spot a kiwi :)


We took a ride up Mt Ngongotaha, 487m above sea level, in the gondala. Unfortunately our view at the top of Rotorua was minimal due to cloud and fog.

We stopped by Huka Falls, the largest waterfall along the Waikato river - very impressive!

The sun came out briefly so Glenn took Hannah for a walk down by the lake to feed the ducks.

So in all, a lovely family holiday. I came home feeling refreshed and relaxed after our break away, pleased with myself that I managed to read two books, watch three dvds I've had sitting there all year, knit and stitch heaps too.

This coming weekend is a long weekend for us, public holidays both Friday and Monday. We don't have alot planned except for hosting a family barbeque Friday night, and we'll probably spend a bit of time planting up our vegetable garden if the weather is ok. Today is our fourth wedding anniversary, can't believe its four years already!

Thanks for stopping by.