Catching up

Hello friends, well, it's been some time since my last post - the winter bugs caught me and I have had a few weeks of feeling not very well, the usual goings on at work, extra after school things on for Hannah, and also, my father in law's house has now been sold, which meant lots of time sorting out household items, the tools and machinery from his workshop, property maintenance and cleaning too. 

This week is the last week of the school term for Hannah, then the holidays start. We are getting excited as our family holiday is almost here - we are heading to the Gold Coast, Australia. It's been five and half years since our last trip to Australia (we had a fab holiday to Melbourne just before the pandemic), so we are all looking forward to some sunshine and some chill out time together.  Of course there might be shopping involved, ha ha.  It's almost ten years since we took Hannah on her first overseas holiday, which was to the Gold Coast, and I was looking back on the photos and things we did on that trip recently, just seems like yesterday! 

But first, we have an exciting event coming up this weekend, Hannah has her very first ball to go to. The dress and shoes are ready, appointments for nails and hair have been booked, on Saturday it will be all go!  I can't wait to see our beautiful girl all dressed up on Saturday evening. 

I was taking some photos the other day of my stitching finishes to get ready for this post and there's a little pile waiting for me to get to my sewing machine for some finishing time. I haven't done any sewing all year, haven't really felt like it, but over the coming winter months I hope to get back into the swing of things.  I'm going really well with my destash in my craft supplies and it would have been completely done if I hadn't been sick for a few weeks.  I'll be back into it after my holiday.  

So here we go, all my stitching finishes from the past few months. 

Cottontail and Company by Scattered Seeds Samplers, stitched on 36 count light mocha linen.

Spring Fling by Brenda Gervais, stitched on 32 count opalescent pink fabric by Silkweavers

Peace & Goodwill by Brenda Gervais, With thy Needle and Thread, stitched on Picture this Plus, 36 count Legacy linen. 

I've also spent time stitching some of my sampler wips too but don't have any progress pics to share of them.

Next up are all the ornaments I've stitched so far this year:

JBW Designs French Country Santa

Christmas Fawn by Satsuma Street

Love & Joy by Heartstring Samplery

Birds that Sing by MommalovesyouGB

Hands on Designs free chart 2024

Hands on Designs free chart 2024

Several months ago I was browsing the Spotlight store website when I spotted this fab little storage tool box. At the time it was out of stock but recently, they were back on the site and better still, on sale, so I purchased one for my craft room.  

It now sits on my sewing desk and contains all my extra scissors, thread drops, thread rings, DMC bobbins and number labels, needle packets and a whole lot more.  

I have been working on a sewing job for a friend, she recently completed 15 little red work embroideries and I offered to finish them for her as they are going to be donated for a fundraising craft event later in the year.  So cute.

Last week I was able to spend a bit of time with some family visiting from Australia, three of my younger cousins. It was so good catching up with them as it had been a few years.  

Out walking with Diesel on a sunny winter afternoon is great way to forget about things for awhile, he just loves his walks on the river tracks. 

Talking of Diesel, we are so going to miss him while we're on our trip but he will be having the time of his life as our friends Bruce and Alison are going to be looking after him, and he will get to hang out with their black lab Meg.  

I'll be back in a few weeks time, middle of July, wow, how the months have been whizzing by this year.  

See you soon x

Two New Project Bags

Earlier in the year I made a list of several sewing projects I wanted to complete during 2020, mostly finishing off some stitched projects and also some small hand made items for gifts.

When our NZ lock down started, one of the first projects I worked on was a new project bag. I'd had this in mind for this stitched piece for quite some time, I bought the matching fabrics well over a year ago.

For this bag, I used a You Tube tutorial by Lisa, Kindred Stitcher. It is very easy to follow. You can find it here :

I Belong to the Cross Stitch Nation is a design by Heartstring Samplery and I stitched it on 32 count vintage mocha belfast using the recommended threads.

I had to sew the fabrics to the stitched piece to match the measurements used in the tutorial.

The next project bag, I used a stitched design that I actually finished last year. This is the Love My Stitching design by Cathy of Hands on Designs. Once again I used the tutorial mentioned above. I was down to my last zip and it was a bit short so I added some tabs to the end of it. Zips will be one of the first things I'll be stocking up on when my local sewing shop reopens!

As you can see I used my own colour combination for the thread choices, red, grey and white DMCS and the fabric, although it doesn't show clearly in these photos, is a light blueish grey colour.

This is for Kringles, the new chart by Little House Needleworks, all set to go, and yay, my fabric arrived in this morning's post so I can finally get it underway. 

See you soon xx

All things stitching

Over the weekend I finished the very last part of the Farmhouse Christmas series, Ba Ba Black Sheep.

I hope to make a start on turning my stitching into individual ornaments later this week.

I "think" I've finally finished stitching the last of my 2018 ornaments for family and friends - I need to do a count up to check, and of course, there are several that I won't be able to show until after they have been given to the recipients :) This one is from Hands on Designs Chalkboard ornament series.

Started back in May, while Hannah and I were watching the Royal Wedding of Megan and Harry, I have been slowly stitching away on Cross Stitch Nation by Heartstring Samplery.

I couldn't resist ordering the new Lizzie Kate Christmas Santa pattern (available from 123 Stitch) and it arrived in the post yesterday. Last night I sorted the threads and some fabric so I'll making a start on it tonight.  It looks a cute stitch.

See you soon x

A Week of WIPs

Winter has well and truly arrived here with the temperatures dropping considerably in the past week. Just waiting now for the first frost of the year, brrr. And with it, has come the first round of winter bugs at our house, Hannah having a few days off school late last week and then myself this week with the coughs, sniffs, and a blinding headache. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed we don't get another repeat of last winter when poor Hannah was sick on and off again for about 6 weeks!

Anyways, with the cooler weather there is nothing better than crafting by the fire in the evenings and I've been making lots of progress on all the things I have on the go at the moment.  I'm not usually into rotations, etc with my stitching and other crafts but lately I've found that if I write out a little plan for the week, working on a different project each day, it's a great way to make headway on some of these things.

So starting with Mondays (evenings) - Sock Knitting and this also includes the little knitting group at work on Mondays.

Tuesdays is for With Thy Needle or Blackbird Designs projects:

Wednesdays - dishcloth knitting, I've been knitting quite a few of these for gifts.



Thursdays I've been stitching on Yuletide Welcome by Plum Street Samplers, one of my oldest wips.
As of last week I've only got this bottom section to go.



Fridays I've been catching up on the Farmhouse Christmas series. For some reason or another, there was a considerable delay for Part 2 & 3 being sent out from the US but my auto order has been sorted now and Part 5 should be here any day now. Loving this series!

 Saturdays are for a new start, the Cross Stitch Nation, but I've only managed a few stitches on this so far.

Finally, Sundays are #santasundayxs, and I'm working on this year's Christmas ornaments. I've got several designs kitted and ready to go, and I keep adding to the pile, lol. Hopefully this will mean I'll have them all stitched and finished well before December.

We're looking forward to the long weekend coming up here, its a public holiday next Monday, so Glenn, Hannah and I will be away for a few days, enjoying the hot pools again in Taupo.

See you soon x

Forget Me Not

Hello friends, 

here's little pillow finish to share today. This was a birthday gift for my dear friend Petra, who lives all the way over in Sweden.

Forget Me Not

by Beth Twist - Heartstring Samplery

Issue 71 March/April Gift of Stitching 

stitched on 32ct linen with recommended threads

Have a wonderful day x