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

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