This Week

The days seem to be flying by at the moment - my work days are busy as we navigate operating our community service in the RED Traffic light setting for the Omicron outbreak, Glenn has lots of different projects on the go as usual at our house and also, helping his Dad with some of his new house jobs, as he hasn't been in the best of health this year so far but is on the mend. Hannah has settled well into high school life and this past weekend was fitted for ballet pointe shoes, which was very exciting for her and lots of $$ for us!

One of my work goals this year is "to not eat lunch at my desk and have a break" so I've chosen a stitching project, the Little Deeds Sampler, to take to work.  I took this photo last week and it's surprising to see the progress I've made in a few days, even if I just stitch for 15 minutes.

I have a couple more finishes to share from the projects I started in December: 

This was a lovely stitch and I used most of the recommended threads, unsure of the fabric type.

FFO - this is Merry Christmas by Blackbird Designs, I really love the colour of threads in this design.

I stitched this design on 36 count vintage mocha linen and used some Lady Dot Creates rick rack for the edging.

This past weekend was the Art Deco celebration in Napier, although it was greatly down sized to accommodate the current Covid restrictions.  Our little town hosted a Farmer's Market and it was a lovely sunny morning to browse the stalls, and check out all the interesting items for sale.  

Our little vegetable garden is going well, one cherry tomato plant is producing containers and containers every week! The capsicum plants are doing well too.

This Cashew and Coconut slice is a new favourite of ours - so moreish!  You can find the recipe here if you'd like to give it a try.

See you soon xx

All the Things - August so far

Friday is here again and the weeks seem to be rolling by fast at the moment.  Dare I say it, there feels like a touch of spring in the air this week, although it was bitterly cold day on Monday. It almost snowed! As it's bit of a novelty for us, at work we were constantly looking out the window but it was mostly rain and hail. 

Today I'm going to catch up on some of the happenings around here, and good news, my stitching mojo has returned so I've been stitching like a mad woman on all my Jolly July projects. I've got so many things I want to start but I'm being restrained and really wanting to get some projects ticked off the list first.

I have a new recipe to share with you today, you can find it here:

These chocolate chip cookies are the best, and Glenn and Hannah demolish these so quick!

Hannah gave me this gorgeous orchid for Mother's Day in May 2020, and somehow I've manged to look after it and it's now flowering again! 

A very special occasion last week for my work - we were honoured to receive an award at the annual Civic and Community Awards, which was presented to us by our Mayor. It was a wonderful evening, celebrating the other award winners and all the wonderful contributions being made to our local community. You can read more about it here:

After quite a few weeks, my sewing machine is back out and I spent an enjoyable few hours sewing away while watching some of the Olympics last weekend.

My friend Wendy gave me this kit for my birthday this year and it was so much fun putting it together.

A fun delivery in the mail - 44 zips from Madam Sew! This was a great deal, less than $1 NZ each. 

Some recent shopping from my favourite shop in town, Curtis Fabrics. We are so lucky to have such a lovely local store that stocks knitting wool, fabrics, DMC threads and cross stitch fabric, and all other sorts of sewing bits and pieces.

The second kit from the Silver Needle shop club arrived recently too, it's always a good surprise to see which designer has been chosen.

This will be a fun project to stitch!

And lastly few books I've enjoyed recently:

Have you read any good books lately? 

See you soon x

March Round Up - Books, TV, Movies and more

Now that April is here, I thought I'd have a look back at some of the goings on around here during March.

We had our last weekend stay at the beach early in the month and what a contrast in the temperature compared to our last stay there back in February - quite chilly overnight and then first thing in the morning, and there was definitely no way I was going in the water this time! A very enjoyable time with our family and friends and I'm sad to think our next visit will be in early 2020.

We celebrated a very special family occasion on the 7th March - my lovely niece Zoe turned 18. Wow, how did that happen so quickly?? Because she had been quite unwell prior to her birthday, her celebrations were very low key with a family dinner at her favourite local restaurant.

Zoe with her longtime boyfriend Dylan.

Nannie and Grandad with their girls.

Our Boxing Day sales purchase finally arrived in early March too, a new lounge suite. We are so pleased with it and how well it matches our newly purchased blinds and curtains.

Another room in our house renovation project was finished during March, with the plumber coming in to finish the work needed to connect up our new laundry sink and the new washing machine. Oh how happy I am to have a working sink in the laundry again.  Photos to come!

No, it wasn't wacky hair day at school - Miss H just modelling a new hair style for us, lol.

She has us in fits of laughter the things she comes up with!

A yummy recipe that I've now made several times is this banana and chocolate chip loaf.  The recipe is by Vanya of VJ Cooks and she is one of my favourite Kiwi foodie bloggers to follow.  Vanya is also on Instagram, vj_cooks,  and she shares lots of easy and delicious family meal recipes.

Last week I was in Palmerston North for the day for work so I got to catch up with two of my favourite people, my cousin Donna and Aunty Dorrie.

Although it was just a quick catch up, it was just wonderful to see them both. My Aunty recently shaved her hair off for Shave for a Cure, collecting sponsorship to donate for the cause, what a wonderful thing to do.

Reading

Did you read anything interesting last month? I managed to get four awesome books finished during March:

Next weekend the annual charity Bookarama sale is on so I'm looking forward to popping along to see if I can find anything to add to my reading pile for the winter months - there's quite a stack there already including to a couple of books bought late last year that I've still got to get to.

Watching:

Married at First Sight Australia- this is the first season Glenn and I have watched and we have been sucked right in watching it every time it's on. Only a week to go now and then we are looking forward to a new series of Dancing with the Stars New Zealand.

On Netflix - Homeland Series 7 (halfway through), Designated Survivor Series 2 (just finished), the Order (2 episodes in) and I'm looking forward to the 2nd series of the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina coming soon. I've also been catching up on a couple of seasons of Scandal. A couple of other Netflix series I've enjoyed watching are Line of Duty and Shetland.

Movies - I've been to see several movies lately. Hannah and I enjoyed Dumbo last weekend and last night I finally made it along to see Captain Marvel. Although I haven't seen all the Avengers and other Marvel movies, I'm looking forward to the Avengers- End Game coming soon.  Hannah and I also watching a rerun of the Harry Potter movies on Friday evenings, this week is the Deathly Hollows Part 1. I couldn't tell you how many times I've watched these over the years!

I'll finish this post with a couple of photos I took from our front deck early one morning last week. Wow, the sky was amazing, it only lasted for a few minutes and then it was gone but just incredible the colours and how quickly it changed.

There's definitely an autumn feel in the air here now and Daylight Savings finishes for us this coming weekend, clocks go back an hour.

As always, thank you for all the kind and encouraging messages you leave for me here.

See you soon xxx

From the Weekend

At long last I've finished the two pairs of socks I've had on the go since the star of the year - photos to come. I found some yarn in my stash to start another pair, Drippity Drop Socks by Kay F Jones on the weekend.

This skein of yarn is by Knitcola, and is a NZ merino 4 ply.

I've had this little bag pattern printed off for ages and decided to have a go at making it using some of the fabric I bought back in March.

It turned out smaller than I had thought it would but the construction was pretty straight forward so I think I'll have a go another time and enlarge the measurements for the fabrics. I'd also probably use some flusible fleece to make the sides a bit more stiffer.

A wet day on Sunday saw me in the kitchen, getting some back to school baking done for the week's lunches and to go into the freezer. We also enjoyed our first lot of homemade vegetable and bacon soup for autumn, delicious.

I made Fiona's banana and chocolate muffins, recipe is here:

I also made an apple and chocolate chip cake for dessert, and a simple feijoa cake.

I had a book voucher left from Christmas so I recently purchased the latest Nicky Pellegrino book:

Nicky Pellegrino is a New Zealand author and has been a favourite of mine for many years. This book was a great read, there are lovely recipes in it too.

See you soon xx

Annual Easter Exchange

Every Easter Kath and I have our annual exchange and I always look forward to it. This is the sweet little pillow Kath gave me this year, I just love it!

Here's what I stitched for Kath - this is Curious Bunny by Teresa Kogut and this chart can be purchased as a download here:

I loved stitching this design.

I also gave Kath some knitted dishcloths and few chocolate treats.  Kath came for afternoon tea on Monday and I made an Anne Chocolate Cake, first time trying this cake and it was delicious!

See you soon x