This Weekend

This weekend Glenn, Hannah and I had a spur of the moment trip to Wellington. We jumped in the car about 3pm in the afternoon, arriving in Wellington early Saturday evening.  We'd booked a motel room before we left home and after checking in, we had a walk around the City Centre before going to our favourite place for dinner. 

Sunday morning we were up bright and early, and had a delicious brunch along the waterfront and browsed the Harbourside Market.  

Then we jumped in the car and headed to the park at Island Bay, what a stunning view from the park.

Around a bit further around  is Owhiro Bay, another spot we like to visit when we're in Wellington.

We had a couple of hours to fill in while we waited for Glenn's Dad to be discharged from Wellington hospital, the reason for our quick trip, so we visited Te Papa Muesum, and had a walk along the waterfront to the Lambton Quay shops, just happening to find the Nespresso boutique shop.  Of course we had to stock up on a few of our favourite capsules.

Soon it was time to head home and back to our messy house, lol.

This was the state of our kitchen before the electrician came and Glenn started fitting the new joinery on Friday afternoon!

Tomorrow the bench top is being measured up and then the electrician is coming back to do the wiring for the oven later in the week.  I'll be back with some more progress pics soon!

Sheep Virtues

During the few weeks while our kitchen renovation is being carried out I decided that I had to do something to keep me sane and not think about the mess right throughout our house! So as well as lots of stitching I've been having a "finish it February" and trying to get a few recently stitched projects finished.  The sewing part of this plan I've been doing at work during my lunch break, how handy it is that there are sewing machines set up at my work place :)

Today's finished items to share are another two little pillows from the Sheep Virtues series, Courage and Peace.

So now I have four of the little pillows made up, that leaves eight to go, including the last two charts I've not yet stitched. I'm still on the look out for a suitable basket to display them, just haven't found any I like yet.

First Christmas Stitching for 2014

Last week I started this little Christmas kit by Shepherd's Bush, 'Tis the Season', to get my 2014 Christmas ornaments rolling. My other ornament choices for this month are both freebies, Christmas Owl by Holly's Hobbies, and Merry Merry by Homespun Elegance. Might have to get some turbo needles out though to have them all done by end of the month!

Bits & Pieces

Wow, thanks for all the wonderful comments about Christmas Garden - it brightens my day when you take time out of your busy lives to share your thoughts with me. Thank you :)

Another week has rolled around and March will soon be here. We're heading into my favourite time of the year, Autumn, and after some scorching hot days recently I'm looking forward to the cooler autumn weather. 

I was happy to find a copy of this magazine in the local bookshop last week with some gorgeous Christmas Crafts including a few stitchery patterns by Gail Pan and Natalie Bird. 

On Friday I went on a little road trip with my friends Clare, Elsie and Janet to Palmerston North so we could visit the Craft & Quilt Fair.

What a lovely morning we had browsing all the booths.  Isn't this Red Brolly quilt gorgeous? Clare has this planned as a future project.

                   

I was very happy with my little bag of shopping, especially my new favourite stitching accessory, the little folding lamp.

I could have spent way more but there's a local Quilt Show on here in late March so I will look forward to some more stash shopping then! 

Time for a kitchen reno update - this weekend we had a few things on, Hannah had a birthday party to go to and then a friend over to play, we had our good friends' 40th wedding anniversary party Saturday evening and then Glenn had a trip out of town yesterday. 

He did find some time to put the handles on the cupboards and drawers, I love them!

Christmas Garden

I started Christmas Garden by Blackbird Designs way back in October 2012, and finally finished it a few weeks ago.

I used the recommended threads and this was the first time I've stitched on 40 count linen - my fabric choice was Lakeside Linens 40ct Vintage Light Examplar. I stitched in the initials of my maternal line, going back to my great Grandmother and included Hannah's initials to the sampler.

This was a lovely sampler to stitch and hopefully I'll be able to get my friend to frame it for me soon.

Kitchen Reno Update

Our house was built by DH and his Dad nearly 18 years ago now, we moved in when we just 22 and 23 years old. Before Hannah was born we bought a new section of land, thinking that we'd like to build again but soon came to the decision that we really loved the area of town where we live and would be quite happy to remain in our house, if only it was slightly bigger.  Well, that was the start of the first of many changes to our house, including a whole new extension being built on which has given us a second lounge area (currently Hannah's playroom), a covered in deck, a swimming pool and surrounding deck put in and of course, plans for a new kitchen were on the agenda too.  

Over the past twelve months DH has been slowing working on our new kitchen, a few hours here and then when there's been a bit of quite time at his kitchen joinery business. During the first few weeks of this year he completed all the cabinets and units so then it was time to pull out our existing kitchen!  This happened this past Saturday and by Saturday night, the first parts of our new kitchen were placed into their temporary positions.  We now have to wait for our electrician to move some of the existing power points before Glenn can do any further installing.

This was our kitchen up until Friday evening:

Progress made by Saturday morning tea time, pantry unit and corner unit out.

 After lunch on Saturday, my BIL having a cool drink and a breather after all that heavy lifting.

Saturday evening, some of the new units in - loving the large corner pantry and the wall oven.

So just to keep it real this our "kitchen" in the meantime, lol

And all the necessities set up on my Dad's wall papering tressel table!

Thank goodness it's still barbequing weather!

Valentine's Day

It's been a busy week around here as we have some major renovating going on this weekend - our old kitchen is coming out to make way for a brand new one!  DH will be assisted by his Dad, a builder, and his brother Paul, and my Dad so plenty of handy men on site. My job will be to make the cuppas and provide food, and to clean up behind them, lol. I'll try and take lots of progress pics!

As you can imagine there's been very little stitching happening this week as I've spent most evenings packing up everything into boxes - I'm so pleased I had a good tidy up through the kitchen cupboards and pantry during the holidays.  I like to stitch something each year for Valentine's Day and this year it was the February Word Play. I have finished it but not had time to make it into anything so thought I'd share some of my previous year's Valentine's projects instead.

With the dreary rainy weather earlier in the week I decided to get my knitting bag out and cast on these little Baby Uggs. One of my dear friends over in the UK had a baby girl recently so I'll pop these into a parcel I'm putting together of baby goodies.

I did start a new stitchery last night too, this one is by Anni Downs from Hatched and Patched.

One of my goals for this year is to try and get along to the movies a bit more often as I missed heaps of great movies last year.  I went along on Wednesday evening with friends to see Saving Mr Banks, what a wonderful movie and we all enjoyed it.

Have you seen any good movies lately?

Have a fun weekend!

Last Week

After stitching my last few projects, I felt like pulling out one of the little Shepherd's Bush kits that has been in my stitching basket for ages, the Sweet Stitches scissor fob.

It matches perfectly with several of my stitching scissors including this cute pair of blue and white polka dot ones.

But for now its attached to my pair of Julia Ginghers.

 It was very satisfying to have it stitched and made up over a couple of evenings last week.

This past Saturday afternoon my stitching buddies came around for a few hours.  It was a rainy afternoon so just perfect for a natter, a snack or two, and some great company. I forgot to take photos of what all the ladies were working on, my project for the afternoon was February Word Play by With thy Needle & Thread.

I must have been too busy yakking and snacking as I had to do a fair bit of reverse stitching on Saturday night, lol.

Sunday also turned out to be a very wet day so I finally read a few magazines from the pile on my bedside cabinet.

I also had a browse through a new felt book, ordered once I'd seen a friend's copy. It has some really cute designs and was quite cheap, $10 NZ.

I have yet to take some decent photos of my finished Christmas Garden - it's been raining here for the past few days but we're due for some sunshine for the rest of the week, hopefully!

Wedding Gift and Back to School

I have been stitching on a small design which I'm intending to give to Vanessa and Daniel, I don't know why I've only just started it, I could have during my holiday break - too many other things to do, lol.

Hannah started back at school on Monday and she was so happy, she loves school, no problems there.

I took her into her new classroom to meet her teacher for this year, she is really nice, I think Hannah will have a great year with her.

Have a fun weekend!

A Beautiful Wedding

This weekend we were excited to celebrate the wedding of my lovely cousin Vanessa to Daniel. Their wedding service took place in the garden at Oruawharo Homestead, just out of town, a beautifully restored grand house that even has its own historic church. This is where the reception was held and you can see more photos of this wonderful venue here.

The weather hadn't been the best the morning of the wedding but by the time the ceremony started the sky had cleared and there wasn't a cloud in sight.  Hannah and my niece Zoe were in the bridal party and had been so excited in the days leading up to Saturday. All the bridal party looked wonderful and Vanessa was a beautiful bride.

So now for some photos!

It was an amazing day, full of love and we all had a fabulous time.