On the go

Today's post is a round up of other projects I've also had on the go during March.

My To Do List has been in my stitching basket for ages, and I just love this saying. When this is finished, I'm going to display it on a wall in my work office. The fabric I'm using is 32 count Smokey Pearl Belfast. 

A new start for #santasundayxs, Berries in Bloom, a free chart by Cathy from Hands on Design.

More dish cloth knitting, February's pattern from the Kitchen Shop. If you sign up to receive the newsletter, a dishcloth pattern will be emailed to you every month throughout 2021.

I'm still working on Merry Old Soul for #merrymondayxs.

The clips holding my extra fabric were given to me by a friend the other day, they are magnetic cable clips. Isn't this a great idea, I've ordered some more. 

Last night I started another new project, I've never had so many stitching projects on the go!  I'll share an update about this when I've done a decent amount of stitching on it lol.

See you soon x

 

Eat Sleep Stitch Repeat

Back in January I stitched this sweet little design by Lori Holt.  Following a tutorial by Kimberley from the Fat Quarter Shop, I turned it into a little bag. 

You can find this tutorial on Fat Quarter Shop's Floss tube number 35 video.

This is going to be the perfect size for storing threads, etc, and a good idea to use some of your unfinished small cross stitch pieces.  

See you soon x

Harietta Bunny & a pillow finish

I have really been enjoying stitching a few Easter designs this month. At the end of February I spent a bit of time choosing some designs, finding fabrics and the threads so I could get straight into Easter stitching once March was here. Some of the charts I had already last year, some are freebies and others are new charts I've purchased as PDFs.

This little cutie was a joy to stitch, Harietta & Co by Brenda Gervais, With Thy Needle and Thread.

I used a piece of 32 count white linen from my stash that has a washed out look about it and most of the recommend threads.

 

Some dotty fabric for the back and I sewed on some of the DMC chenille trim I bought recently from my local sewing and knitting shop. The perfect match!

My "Friday Finishing" sewing sessions continue and the latest stitched piece to get some attention is Jack Frost's Tree Farm. I stitched this throughout 2020, a block a month.  The fabric was 36 count Wren fabric by Picture this Plus.

 

Made into a pillow with a small edging out of the backing fabric.

Thanks for stopping by - see you soon xx

Catching Up

Before the end of another month rolls around, I thought I'd better pop up an update. It's been a busy few weeks, with one thing or another and I can't believe it's going to be April next week and Easter is almost here as well - very much looking forward to the Easter break and spending some time with our family.

Already there's an autumn change in the air here, last weekend we had a major drop in temperature and we went from using the air con to having the heater on lol.  The mornings are much crisper now too but the days are lovely and sunny, I love this time of the year.

My favourite rose is flowering again, isn't this colour so vibrant. Blackberry Nip, I wish you could smell it's lovely scent.

 

We celebrated a special birthday earlier in the month, my oldest niece Zoe turned 20. 

We celebrated with Zoe by going out for a family dinner to a local restaurant, I can't remember the last time we'd been out to dinner! 

This little fluff ball, who is well overdue for trim, brings so much joy to my Mum and Dad. Abby is now 4 years old. 

This month Hannah's school had their annual swimming sports and Hannah was then chosen to go to the inter school swimming sports as well.  Hannah's relay team won the cup for the Girls 12 yrs + 4 x 25 freestyle relay, which was awesome, but they also broke the standing time record as well. Very exciting stuff to watch!

There's been lots of baking happening lately, I often spend Saturday afternoon in the kitchen. This gets shared with my parents, Glenn's parents and our next door neigh bour.

:Banana and blueberry muffins

: Raspberry Jam crumble slice

:Anzac biscuits with caramel drops.

:pikelets

: banana muffins with lemon icing 

When Glenn hasn't been cutting up and storing firewood for winter, or helping his parents at their new house being built, he's been working on our bathroom. You might remember this was Glenn's lock down project last year, gutting the bathroom and then replacing the ceiling.  All the painting is done now and the floor tiling is underway, I can't wait for it to be functional again and we can move the old bathroom unit out of our bedroom!! Once this is finished, he will be able to continue on with our toilet & shower room. 

That's if this project doesn't side track him!

We are now owners of this camper van and it came home last weekend, having purchased it from friends. It's ready to go but Glenn and I have a few plans for the inside, new curtains and bedding and Glenn is going to replace some of the storage cupboards. I'm sure he'll have a few other plans too. Not sure where our first adventure in it will be to, maybe one of the local beaches but we are really looking forward to taking some fun family trips around the country.

I'll be back soon with a stitching update.  See you soon x

New Goodies & an early wake up

I had some lovely mail arrive at the end of last week, which was perfect timing after a very alarming start to the day. There were three earthquakes off the coast of New Zealand - the first one at 2.30 am, 7.1, was felt widely in the North Island and South Island. I thought I was dreaming at first, then realised the house was creaking and the rolling motion went on for ages. A few hours later between 7 am and 8 am there were two more earthquakes near the Kermadec Islands, 7.4 and 8.1! Land and Marine Tsunami warnings had been issued and many people in coastal NZ areas had to evacuate to higher ground.  We live about 30 minutes from the coast so were ok.  Thankfully, the alerts were lifted in the early afternoon and people could return home and to their work places. A timely reminder to have all the emergency supplies checked and ready, and a plan with family what to do in situations like this. 

In happier news, some fabric I'd ordered earlier in the week arrived, some of the Tilda Wonderland collection. I'm not sure what I'm going to make with it yet, it's so pretty.

 

Another parcel was a surprise all the way from Australia from a stitching friend. Vicki sent the loveliest project bag and accessories, all made from Tilda fabric too. 

I couldn't resist these from my local sewing shop last week. New in store, I think they will be just perfect for using on cross stitch pillows, etc, as trims. Such pretty colours too. They were $3.70 NZ each.  

See you soon x

Easter Stitching Plans

Stitching for Easter 2021 is now underway. I have a couple patterns already kitted with fabric and thread from last year that I didn't get done so they'll be included on the list to stitch too.

First up, Harietta and Co by Brenda Gervais. I'm unsure of the fabric I'm using, and it doesn't show up in this photo, but it has a slight vintage wash look about it. I'm using most of the recommended threads and the ones I didn't have I've substituted DMC threads.

Here are some of the charts from my Easter stitching project bag:

- recent purchases from the Tiny Modernist and Crocette a Gogo, buy, print and stitch - love a PDF chart! 

- A chart from Hands on Design;

- and have you seen this very cute free chart by Christine of Whilst Iris Naps? 

There are so many lovely Easter/Spring stitching charts available. Of course, here in New Zealand we are now going into our autumn season and yay, I can hear it raining - we are so much in need of some decent rain here, we've probably had two days of rain all year so far, it was a very dry summer for us.

See you soon x

 

Friday Finishing #2

 So far my plans for finishing stitched projects from last year are going well. Each week I take a look in the little basket sitting on the shelf in my craft room/office and pull out something to "finish" when I get to my sewing machine on a Friday afternoon. 

My latest finished objects are:

Christmas Typography by Pine Mountain Designs - stitched on 32 count white Belfast linen using most of the recommended DMC threads. I purchased this chart as a PDF download from the Fat Quarter shop website. 

Made into a small ditty bag, this will be the perfect size for a small Christmas stitching project.

Next up, minus buttons and the hanger, is Spirit of Christmas, a red work stitchery by Natalie Bird, the Birdhouse Designs.

The pre-printed design panel came with the pattern and I used DMC 321 thread. 

I haven't done very much red work stitching lately but have a few designs all traced out ready to go when I feel like working on some.

Many thanks for stopping by - see you soon xx