Birthday Surprises

Last Wednesday I celebrated my 40th birthday and what a wonderful day I had, receiving lots of gorgeous gifts from my family and friends and a few surprises too, including this gorgeous cake hand delivered by my cousin Donna.

I'd been saying for ages I wasn't going to plan a party, especially after the kitchen renovation, and I have two trips to Australia coming up later this year (more about that another time) so I was happy just to have a few glasses of bubbles and Indian takeaways for tea:) I had no idea that Glenn, Mum and Donna had been plotting for ages, organising an afternoon tea with some my friends and family. Donna had bought everything with her - the cake, decorations and all the food, she is a great party planner that girl :)

Beautiful flowers from Miss H

This lovely bunch was from my parents and in-laws

This glass was just perfect for my bubbles!

Donna had made this neat canvas for everyone to sign.

The birthday celebrations were continued on Saturday as Hannah, DH and I went out for the day, for some shopping and then DH treated us out to lunch at Off the Track. I can see this becoming our new favourite resturant. Our meals were delicious and it's in such a lovely setting, complete with a playground and trampoline for kids.

Many thanks for the comments about our new kitchen!

New Kitchen Update

Would you like to see some pics of our new kitchen? 

It's been functional for about a fortnight now and I'm so happy that at long last the renovation has finally happened and the piles and piles of kitchen stuff around the house have been sorted and either put back into the kitchen or into a box for the op shop. I never want to do dishes in the laundry sink again!!

As you will see, it's not completely finished yet, namely the flooring and then the decorating to do, which will probably be awhile away since we need to wallpaper and repaint the whole kitchen/lounge/dining room/other lounge area. 

Loving our new sink!  so shiny!

We reused our oven and that's the new pantry, its huge!

Replaced the old cook top for a smaller and more efficient one

Lots of work space

Fancy pull outs for all the appliances

Lots and lots of drawers, no more plastic containers falling out of cupboards!

The colours we chose were Diesel,and Urban and Cashmere Granite for the bench top.

This weekend we picked out some flooring, vinyl flooring planks, which Glenn will put down over Easter weekend. It's a light charcoal colour so just the perfect match.

I love having a workable kitchen again and the rest of the house is back to normal too.

Pincushion for a Friend

It was recently my friend Clare's birthday and last week I finally finished this little pincushion for Clare.  

 Couture d Automne by Les Creations des Chrystalle

stitched on 32 count belfast linen using recommended threads

I used some pretty Lynette Anderson fabric for the backing.

Awhile ago I was given a Kreinik Cord Maker Winder and this has your cord made in no time!

I found some pretty lace and ric rac in my trims basket.

 And a little heart button to add

I loved stitching this little design, I think I'll have to restitch it again sometime for my smalls basket:)

As always, many thanks for the lovely comments left on my previous post!

March Makes

Where did March go? It was a very busy few weeks for us, including the ongoing kitchen renovation, photos to come soon!  

The end of the month yesterday finished with a very shaky afternoon for us - there was a 5.2 earthquake at 2pm, centered quite close to our little town, followed by lots of small after shocks. I've never felt an earthquake as severe as that one, my heart was racing I can tell you! Very scary indeed.

I was a busy wee stitcher and crafter during March, finishing off one or two little projects on the go and making a few gifts for friends birthdays too.

This little Christmas pillow was a leftover wip from last year, I had intended it to be Hannah's 2013 ornament. I love this cute design and also some of the others by Madame Chantilly.

Santa and his Helper by Madame Chantilly

stitched on 32 count mocha belfast with recommended threads

My Valentine stitch:

February Word Play by With Thy Needle

stitched on R&R Abecedarian 30ct linen with recommended threads

Knitted hand warmers for a friend, pattern can be found on Ravelry as a free download.

Baby Uggs, to be sent to the UK soon, pattern found here 

My first ever face cloths, crochet pattern from Simply Crochet Issue 3

Now our new kitchen is functional I spent a few hours on Saturday afternoon baking some lunch box treats and also a birthday chocolate cake for my younger brother's birthday lunch on Sunday. Hannah decided on the icing colour and how to decorate it :)

Back soon with some kitchen pics!

Finishing Time

I was very pleased to get a few recent stitching projects out on Saturday afternoon and spend a bit of time finishing them off.  

One of the projects I made up into a small pillow was this lovely pattern offered late last year by Paulette from Plum Street Samplers, finished into a small pillow.

I used one of my favourite backing fabrics and sewed on a rouched ribbon edging.

Another recently completed piece is Cottage Garden Needleworks Garden Girl, stitched last year and made into a simple wall hanging.

This is going to be sent off shortly to my friend's little girl for her 2nd birthday :)

February Ornaments - Tis the Season & two freebies

In recent years I've stitched several Christmas ornaments in the early months of the year and then I tend to putter out, leaving the last few until just before Christmas.  This year I'm aiming to have them all done by mid year, we'll see! 

So for February's ornaments I chose "Tis the Season by Shepherds Bush, this is to put away for our Christmas tree.

Christmas Owl from Holly's Hobbies, chart can be found here

And Merry, Merry by Homepsun Elegance, another freebie that can be found here

March's choices are a couple of small Tralala designs and another freebie, found here. Anyone else out there already stitching Christmas ornaments?

Enjoying Lately

Just a few things I've been enjoying lately:

So pleased to have a new quilt shop open up nearby - and there's lots of beautiful Moda fabrics in stock.

These gorgeous flowers at my beauty therapist's studio - in readiness for St Patrick's day

I gave into temptation and decided to join the 2014 Cottage Garden Threads monthly club via the Stitching Post in Australia, so far two little parcels have arrived and the threads are wonderful!

 

Hannah has now finished Friday after school cricket and now it's Tuesday after school hockey. She loves it, although I don't have a clue about the rules, etc, since I played netball throughout primary school and college.

There's a bit of knitting happening in the evenings lately, making up a pair of hand warmers for a friend using my favourite pattern.

For the past month I have been going out walking with a friend three or four mornings a week, not such a good photo but it was taken at 5.30 am! What a great way to start the day.

I've not had many stitching photos to show lately but I do have some little finishes to share over the next few days. It was a rainy Saturday afternoon so amongst the chaos that is our house at the moment I got my sewing machine out and spent a couple of happy hours sewing away.  I'll have a kitchen update soon too!

Family Beach Weekend

Forty minutes drive away from home is this gorgeous beach and last weekend we stayed there with my family.  It was my niece Zoe's 13th birthday on Friday, gee, that makes me feel old!

A red velvet birthday cake to celebrate complete with 13 sparkly candles! 

We stayed on my Dad's friends' farm, only a few minutes walk down to the beach.

Hannah had so much fun, making sandcastles and seaweed creations all afternoon.

Enjoying the sea air and sunshine - we were all so tired out Saturday night it was early nights for everyone!

We've already planned the next beach weekend, and booked some time out there during next summer!

Enjoy your weekend!

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!