Wrapping Up September

Hello friends, we're in the last few days of September already! We've just had a great weekend weather wise, it was quite warm yesterday.  Glenn and I have been super productive outside and over the past two weekends, we were able to get some trees cut down and cleared away, eight huge loads of green waste taken to our local dumping station. Wow, I was so tired and worn out at the end of the day! Some other outside jobs have also been ticked off the list - vegetable gardens prepped for seedlings to be planted, the greenhouse tidied up, outside house windows washed, gardens weeded, lawns mown and edges clipped - lots of work but it felt good to be out in the sunshine.  

This coming weekend, we are going to start getting our campervan ready for the coming summer months (cleaned, cupboards filled with non perishable food, linen aired out, etc) as we are so keen to head out on our first trip to one of the local beaches.  Mid to late October is when we usually go on our first trip but if the weather is good, it will be earlier.   We're also in the process of organising a summer roadie trip in the Christmas holidays, to a part of New Zealand we've not been to before so that's exciting.  

More finishing has been happening, and I'm really pleased how the next piece turned out - my first time at trying a stand-up finish.  This is the French Country Santa, Pere Noel, by JBW Designs.

A little freebie by Hands on Designs, which was from the 2024 Jingle Ball. 

Love and Joy by Heartstring Samplery

Bids that Sing by Michelle, from MommalovesyouGB

Another freebie by Hands on Design, also from the 2024 Jingle ball.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned it but all the Christmas stitching I've been doing this year, it either for gifts for my family or to be donated to a craft sales event in late November.  

A lovely bundle of fabric came in the mail recently, this is some of the new Tilda fabric from the Merry Little Christmas range, so pretty.  Not sure what my plans are for it yet.

I decided to purchase a Kindle recently, previously I've used the Kindle app on my phone. This will be so handy over the summer months when we're out and about in the campervan.  

Over the past few months I've read more books than any other previous winter - you should have seen my library pile last month!  I'm on Goodreads here if you want to check out what I've been reading lately. 

See you soon x

Holiday Reading & Happy Mail

I always have plenty of books sorted to take away with me on holiday and I was really pleased that this one arrived in at my local library just in time.  

Scrublands by Chris Hammer is a crime mystery set in a fictional Australian country town during a severe drought. Don't let the length of it put you off, a must read for crime lovers. 

I actually started reading Crazy Rich Asians a few months ago, once I'd seen the trailer for the movie but I didn't quite finish it in time. The movie was great - a light, fun and romantic comedy. I'm pleased I continued with the book, very entertaining but with some different story lines to the movie, as always.

Several lovely things arrived just before we headed away on holiday, in fact, they turned up the day we were leaving :) 

I love getting the annual Just Cross Stitch ornaments magazine each year - I have back to the1997 issue in my collection.  Even though I'm saddened to see some of my favourite designers no longer submit ornaments, there's always several that catch my eye each year.

This year my favourite choices are by Rovaris, JBW Designs, Knotted Tree Needleart, MTV Designs and who can resist the cute little sheepie by Nikycreations.

Some woolly goodies also arrived, all the way from Suffolk Socks in the UK. Bit of a splurge but I couldn't resist. Julie from Suffolk Socks dyes her own yarn, The Yarn Tart, and also has project bags. I bought one of Julie's Christmas kits, never too early for Christmas knitting - not that we'll need socks for Christmas here in NZ!  I love the little knitted sock glass ornament included in the kit and I also purchased a Suffolk Socks pin.

Also, in my order, several balls of this gorgeous Mondim yarn, which I've seen popping up on IG a bit lately.

Mondim Yarn is all the way from Portugal.

I'm looking forward to trying out these fab colours, especially the minty pink and brown one.

See you soon xx

Winter Reading

Hello friends

I hope all the Mums out there had a wonderful day on Sunday. My day was just lovely, starting with some little handmade gifts from Hannah (that had been hidden safely away under her bed for a few days, lol), a box of my favourite chocolate treats from DH, and ending with a roast lamb dinner cooked by DH for us and my MIL Heather. Glenn's Dad is out of town working at the moment so it was lovely to have Heather spend the evening with us.

A few weeks ago I went along to the annual Bookarama, which is put on by a local community group as a fundraiser. For only a few dollars I came away with a great selection for DH and I.  This should keep us going over the winter!

The great thing about the bookarama is that we can donate back the books we've read during the previous year. All for a good cause!

Speaking of books, I recently purchased my first Kindle ebook, The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley, as  it wasn't available in my local library.  Does anyone have any suggestions for some good reads - I'm looking forward to adding to my Kindle :)

See you soon xx