Little Stitcheries

I love it when I discover little projects in my stitchery bag that I'd completely forgotten about - that was the case with these Christmas bon bon ones. I'm not sure if I started them last year, or the year before!

Anyways, they are now finished and have been made into fabric Christmas crackers, ready to be filled with some treats xx

See you soon xx

Cottage Flair visit & old wips

As I mentioned yesterday, I visited Cottage Flair in Rotorua last week. This was the first time I'd been to shop where it is based now, in Fenton Street, the previous times the shop was in Ngongotaha. 

It's always been a favourite of mine, years ago this shop was pretty much the only one in NZ that sold any Shepherd's Bush stitching charts & kits :)

Now this lovely shop is filled with gorgeous fabrics and lots of knitting yarn and supplies. I can never resist Christmas fabrics and stitchery patterns!

I'm still working away on some secret Christmas stitching projects but nearing the end of these, I thought it was time to bring out some of my projects that need to be finished.

I last knitted on these socks back in May!

Yuletide Welcome has been an ongoing wip for several years now, every now and then it comes out for a few stitches to go into.

I last stitched on this back in January!  There's not actually that much more to stitch, just the bottom left hand corner and finish the banner part. I have several other little projects that need some attention too and of course, lots of new charts waiting in my stitching basket.

See you soon xx

Some weekend finishing

After the usual around the house jobs, some baking for lunches, making up some Slow Cooker Bolognaise and some computer work for Glenn, I spent a few hours at my sewing machine over the weekend. 

This little Lizzie Kate design was stitched sometime last year and it has been sitting in my finishing tray for ages.

I have been working on several of these little stitcheries by Anni Downs to make into bookmarks for birthday gifts. This one is for my cousin Donna, who is celebrating her birthday today. We're looking forward to catching up with Donna and her boyfriend later in the week as they coming to stay one night before heading up north.

This little all in one baby top has been finished for a week or two, all I needed to do was sew on some pretty pink buttons

The pattern can be found here.

See you soon xx

Gifts for a Friend

My friend Clare celebrated her birthday last weekend and these are the little gifts I made for her.

A hexagon needle case, the pattern by Leanne's House

The inside of the needle case.

The fabrics I've used are Independence Trail by Minick and Simpson for Moda, and the stitchery was done with DMC 347.

A bookmark using a free stitchery by Anni Downs of Hatched n Patched, I also stitched this design in 347.

I think I'll have to make myself one of these bookmarks too!

Christmas Wishes

Every year I like to make a small stitched wall hanging for my Mum and my MIL too.

This year I chose a Hatched n Patched stitchery pattern:

I used Mistletoe Cottage Garden thread for the stitching.

See you soon x

On the go

Happy Friday friends! Another week almost over and it has zoomed on by :) 

I'm looking forward to the weekend, we haven't got too much planned so I'm going to make a start on some spring cleaning, have a sort through my wardrobe and put away some winter clothes, now that could be wishful thinking ha ha. Hannah has a friend coming for a sleepover Saturday night so there will be two giggly girls in  the house. I'm also hoping to have a sewing session at some stage and work on some ornament finishing.

This week I have one or two new projects on the go:

Another little baby cardigan, which is an order from a friend, isn't the green wool so pretty :)

My Wednesday night stitchery project:

a free pattern by Anni Downs from Hatched and Patched, which can be found here. I'm using Mistletoe thread by Cottage Garden Threads.

Have a fun weekend xx

Finally Finished: New Day Stitchery

Earlier in the year I stitched this lovely design by Anni Downs of  Hatched and Patched.

I decided to put it into a frame with a fabric border for a friend's Christmas gift, and I'm really happy how it looks. I love this little design so will restitch it one day for myself.

See you soon x

A Sunday Catch Up

You wouldn't think that it was nearly winter here by the weather we've been having lately - today it's sunny and mild, although some other parts of the country have had some terrible weather this weekend. The mornings and evenings are pretty chilly but who minds when you get a nice sunny day to enjoy.

Things have been pretty quiet around here over the past week or so. Hannah came down with a nasty bug last weekend, DH has had a sore throat and bad cough and now it's my turn. There are lots of germies doing the rounds at the moment.  

Going through my photos earlier I noticed that I haven't shared a photo yet of this stitchery I finished a few weeks ago, New Day Stitchery by Anni Downs Hatched and Patched. I'm not sure how I'll finish this off, maybe into a nice white frame.

You'll be very pleased you're not at our house this morning - DH is making such a racket in our new caravan!  Well, new to us that is, lol.

This is something we've talked about for a long time, having our very own caravan to take away on holidays to the beach or various spots around NZ.   So a few weekends ago, we bought one and since then DH has spent all his spare time in there, hauling everything out to be eventually completely renovated.  I will report back on the progress soon!

Miss H turned six a few weeks ago, still can't believe she's 6!  We had a lovely dinner out at a local restaurant on her actual birthday then cake for dessert at Granny and Pop's.  Then on the Saturday afternoon following her birthday, she had a little party at the local pools with her cousins and some of her school friends.  My cousin Donna made the wonderful cake - this was layers of red, black and vanilla inside. The doll is a Monster High doll, Hannah is really into these at the moment.

A few weeks ago I purchased some new booklets by one of  my favourite embroidery designer, Gail Pan. The Simply Christmas book is just lovely, I'd love to stitch everything in there, a great follow up from Gail's 2013 book.

The Embroidery Loves Patchwork I purchased as a digital download from Martingale, and have since had my local bookshop bind the booklet. This also has some great projects to make.

I've just about finished my Shepherd's Bush Fold piece, only some of the grass to fill in and then attach the buttons. I'm looking forward the next kit in the series coming, it's a scissor fob and you can see a photo here.

Enjoy the weekend!

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!