Latest Happenings

Hello friends, I'm so happy as we're having some perfect winter days right now, very frosty in the mornings to start the day. It was - 1 c when I left for work this morning, and then a day of sunshine follows.  Soon we will notice the turn towards spring, as we are now over half way through our winter months.

I have all the things on the go right now, and some days wish there were more hours in the day for all the crafty happenings!   My lunch break knitting project, socks for my sister in law, are progressing well, one sock down, and half of one to go. I've hopefully managed to match up the stripes up on both too.

The Summer Vintage blanket is finished now - I loved making this, my first crochet blanket in quite a few years.  I purchased the yarn from the Wool Warehouse in the UK and the pattern by Amanda Hurrell, Eight by Six on Instagram, can be found as a free download on the website. I missed one colours, Buttercup, when I placed my order, so adjusted some of the rows, and I completed the border as suggested, using the different colours in the rounds.  

This going to be perfect to have in our campervan, as its very light weight and not too big in size.

As I mentioned last time, we recently had a long weekend to enjoy, with the Friday being a public holiday for Matariki here in New Zealand.  Glenn and I spent the Saturday in Hastings doing some shopping, and then to Havelock North, where we visited our friends.  They are having some new laundry cabinets made by Glenn so he needed to check out the space and get measurements. We then enjoyed lunch out at a very popular restaurant, Off the Track, which was delicious, and so busy that particular day, over 240 people were there! 

I snapped this photo on the way home, after the horrendous weather earlier in the week, it turned out to be a lovely day.

Our friends cutie pie wee dog, Bee, she is so sweet. 

No wonder it was cold last week, fresh snow on the Ruahine Ranges, this photo taken at the end of our drive way. 

This week, Whittakers, released a new novelty chocolate, Gumdrop.  It's pretty good, and reminds me of a childhood favourite ice cream, Tip Top Goody Goody Gumdrops, and yes, it's actually green :)

The school holiday break has finished so Hannah is back to high school for her very last full term of school, Term 3.  Diesel enjoyed hanging out with Hannah over the past two weeks, lots of snuggles together.

We try and get out walking with Diesel as often as we can, and this past Sunday was fairly warm while I walked him by the river. We are fortunate to have several good limestone tracks to pick from, only a few minutes drive from home, and they are very popular with other walkers and cyclists.

Diesel turned four on Sunday, can you believe it - he's the best good boy, he brings us so much fun and laughter.

Have a fun week, see you soon xx

Current projects

Hi friends, well you could say my yarn mojo has returned - it's been several years since I had both a crochet project and knitted socks on the go at the same time, and I am thoroughly enjoying working on each.  My reading lunchtime break has been replaced by one or another, even if it's only twenty minutes or so, I can get a row of crochet done or a few rows on the sock. 

My new crochet project is the Summer Vintage blanket by Amanda Hurrell, Eight by Six on Instagram and Facebook.  I purchased the Yarnsmiths cotton/linen yarn from the Wool Warehouse in the UK, and it arrived here to New Zealand in just a week's time.  Took me a minute or two to try to remember how to do a treble stitch, ha ha.  

Gorgeous colours. I did forget to add the lighter yellow, Buttercup, to my order, but never mind.

Over the past week I've knitted the heel and now onto the foot part of these socks 

For many years, during May, I'd participate in Stitchmaynia, starting several new projects throughout the month of May. This was so much fun, deciding what to stitch, kitting up each project.  This year I decided to do a "WIP" May, and hunted out one of my oldest wips, Lizzie Kate's Christmas ABCs.  I couldn't even say when I started this design.  It's actually my second time stitching as the first time I stitched it and gifted it to my Mum.  

The fabric is 32 count Mint belfast linen and most of the recommended threads.  

The other WIP project that I'm currently focusing on is Martha's Stocking by Shepherd's Bush, another project I've not stitched on in ages. 

Last week I ordered some ultra firm stabliser from Rainbow Stash for some new project folders and added these cute fat quarters and a thread holder to my order. 

Last weekend I spent Saturday with some friends - I couldn't decide what to work on so took everything ha ha.

Two little projects finished completely: a freebie from Primrose Cottage Stitches

Hope anchors the Soul, also by Primrose Cottage Stitches, made into a scissor fob.

Many thanks for stopping by, see you soon x

November so far

I've really enjoyed putting a few stitches into this Shepherd's Bush project, the Lois stocking. I don't know what it is about Shepherd's Bush stockings, they are such a joy to work on.

My lunch break crafting lately has been crochet dishcloths.  Using my favourite pattern, Mama's dish cloth by Crochet 365, I've lost track of how many of these I've made now.

My LNS, Curtis Fabrics, has a wonderful selection of cotton, and all other types of yarn. Couldn't resist this variegated one, lovely pinks and lime.

Something I've been working on for ages and finally finished last week, is this Floss Flat, a pattern by Christine Sherman @windingrainbows. Using a finished stitched piece, Counting is Hard by Luminous Fibre Arts, and some of my favourite fabrics that match other sewing & crafting bags, I have had this on the go for several months. 

The inside has several projects and I added a couple of sewing charms to the zipper pull.

So relieved to have it finished and oh boy, was that binding tricky to get on!! I need way more practice at it ha ha.

Back in the last school holidays, Hannah and some of her dancing friends participated in a local talent show. It was a fabulous night, and we were so proud of Hannah for performing her solo dance and then a troupe dance with her friends. Thought I'd share a few pics of our lovely girl enjoying herself. 

The roses in our garden have all started flowering this month. I'm always interested to see which flowers first, this year it was the gorgeous smelling Friesia.

Mr Handsome is now four months old and such a dude.  He's a bundle of mischief at times and makes us laugh so much.

Diesel's favourite thing at the moment is Hannah's blanket that sits on her chair. As soon as she gets up from it, he's in there so fast, snuggling up to it. Lucky for him, she doesn't mind lol.

See you soon xx

A Couple of Things

Hello friends,  it's a lovely sunny and warm autumn day here today and I'm enjoying a day off from work to spend with Hannah, it's the school holidays here. We've been into town this morning for Hannah to have an hair cut, post some mail and visit the sewing shop, and then her choice for lunch, sushi of course!

A couple of things to share this afternoon, another new project bag has been finished. This is quite a lot larger than the other ones I've previously made and I quilted the pink fabric.

My sewing shop has a lovely range of knitting cotton in at the moment so I've been having fun making some dish cloths. The pattern I'm using can be found here:

Mama's Easy Crochet dishcloth

My friend Clare gave me this lovely project bag for my birthday

I'm not sure what I've let myself in for, but I couldn't resist signing up for a Block of the Month kit, the new quilt by Natalie Bird featured in the Homespun magazine, it's so lovely and the fabrics are gorgeous.

 Isn't it just so sweet? I'm sure it's going to be lots of fun once I've figured out what to do! Ha ha. I think I'll start with the easy bit first, the stitchery pieces.

See you soon x

Cosy Stripe Blanket

Started way back in June 2018, the Cosy Stripe blanket was finally finished before Christmas, just in time to give it to my Mum. Not that a blanket is needed here during summer, ha ha. My Mum was absolutely thrilled with it, she couldn't believe that I'd made it for her.  

This is the third crochet blanket I've made by Lucy from Attic 24, and once again, I totally enjoyed this. The colours are so pretty, made me very happy every time I worked on it.

 

I asked Hannah to pick out the border colours, and we also picked out the Meadow green for the edging as it's one of my Mum's favourite colours.  

 I purchased the Stylecraft yarn kit from the Wool Warehouse in the UK, the yarn is so soft and squishy.

See you soon xx