A few finishes, beach weekend and more

Hello friends. 

Wow, what a wild few days it’s been. High winds and heavy continuous rain have caused so much damage around New Zealand. Our main street even flooded during one of last week’s downpours, and several shops were hit hard. My workplace didn’t escape it either — one of our rooms is still drying out a week later. Such unpredictable weather for this time of year!

After all that wild weather, it's meant more time for cross stitching. I’ve actually made some good progress on my current projects, and even spent some time at my sewing machine.  

This little cutie, Sweetly Sayn', was included in one of the weekly newsletters from Primrose Cottage Stitches, I used some pretty Tilda fabric for the backing and some Lady Dot Creates chenille for the trim. 

Another fully completed project, Stitching Quaker, also by Primrose Cottage Stitches. This was stitched during 2025, fabric was 32 count ice blue Lugana and I used the recommended DMC threads.

Cathy from Hands on Designs is offering an ornament club through Patreon this year, and I've joined in on the fun.  This month's ornament is called Sweets for Santa and I'm using the recommended fabric, 32 count raw Belfast, and threads. 

Now for a couple of finishes from my holiday stitching.

Candy Cane Santa by Mill Hill - I love stitching these designs and hope to get another on underway soon.

This next design has a lot of stitches!  Deer Santa by Stitching with the Housewives, stitched on 32 count black Lugana fabric and DMCs. Not sure yet how I will finish this design.

We did get away earlier in the month, heading to Porangahau Beach over Waitangi weekend. It was a wonderful few days, sunny and hot, and we really enjoyed the break.  The fishing went well too so we enjoyed fresh fish, and homemade fries for dinner one night.

We had some very special visitors come out to see us one day, my uncle Paul and cousin Chelsea, from Melbourne. They were in NZ for a family reunion and it was awesome to see them, it's been a good few years since our last catch up. 

Even though it was a cold windy day, we went to Hastings and Napier on Sunday to get out for a few hours and stopped by a cafe I haven't been to in a very long time, Westerman's, this one used to be a favourite of Glenn's Mum.  My coffee and brunch, Eggs Benedict with smoked salmon, was delicious.

Diesel enjoys the cold weather as he gets to snuggle up and snooze the day away zzzzzzzzzzz

Have a happy week, see you soon x

December Fun -

I have now officially started my summer holidays as my work has closed for it's annual four week summer break.  It seems like the past week or so has gone by in such a blur - we've had several end of the year functions to go to, Hannah's last ever dancing show, a wonderful stitching get together, work things and last night, Hannah and I went to see Wicked for Good at the movies - loved it!

Glenn and I were invited to a function by some of his clients at their farm property last weekend.  Unbeknown to all the guests there, it turned into a surprise wedding as their daughter got married! It was a great evening, with a local band playing, and it was a perfect summer evening weather wise.  This was the view that greeted me the next morning, from where we had parked up our campervan.

The stage they have set up on their amazing property, look at the huge mirror ball!

Hannah had her last dancing performance in her dance school's end of the year show - it was a very emotional day. We are so proud of all her dancing achievements,  and her dance teacher Miss Deb acknowledged all of the hard work, tears and many hours of practise Hannah put into not only her ballet, but tap, jazz, lyrical and musical theatre dance over the years. Hannah "might" be enticed back next year to help teach the younger ballet students, as she has thoroughly enjoyed it over the past two years.

The beautiful candy cane dahlias and Christmas lilies are now flowering in my aunty's garden - to me this means Christmas isn't far away now.

During the first week of December I got two new stitching projects under way - first up, Deer Santa from Stitching with the Housewives.  So cute x

Peace on Earth is a sampler that I've been wanting to stitch ever since it was released. I'm stitching this on Cafe au Lait linen by Fibre on a Whim using the recommended threads. All the the little stitching accessories I'm using were gifted to my by my friend Clare in last year's advent swap.

We held our annual pre Christmas get together for our stitchey friends on Sunday, and what an amazing day it was. I just love these get togethers, we have so much fun, sometimes there's absolutely no stitching achieved as we are too busy catching up on each other's news, having lots of laughs, enjoying some treats, and ohhing and ahhing over each other's crafty projects on the go.  We always have a secret Santa and usually play one of those "left' "right" games, hilarious.  My lovely parcel included the following goodies:

included was this gorgeous yarn bowl, and I've been wishing for one of these for a very long time.

Here's what I included in my parcel:

I had a lot of fun making these project bags a few months ago, following a tutorial by Elizabeth Ann Can Stitch, which I can now share as they have been gifted to friends.

I also made up some cross stitch clutches as well to with the bags. 

For over five years now, my friend Clare and I have participated in an advent swap, and we exchanged gifts yesterday. These are the gifts I received, including the stunning blue bag, I just the little sheepie!

Two stitched ornaments Clare also included.

Clare is so very talented with her craft work, and I feel very lucky to be the recipient of one of her bags.

These are the gifts I put together for Clare:

Ornament by October House Fibre Arts

I took a different approach to my stitched gift this time, and gave Clare the two stitched pieces from the Bee Still my Heart pattern by Heartstring Samplery, for Clare to finish how she pleases. 

Our Christmas plans this year include spending the day with family at my niece Zoe's in Napier, and then catching up with Glenn's family on Boxing Day.  Then we are off to the beach for a few days over New Year's, with another beach trip planned a bit later in January. 

This will be my final post for 2025, as I’ll be taking a short break until late January. Before signing off, I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to each and every one of you. Your visits to my blog, kind messages, and the thoughtful comments you leave here, and on Instagram truly brighten my days.

I wish you and your loved ones a joyful Christmas, filled with laughter, special moments, and plenty of delicious food. May this festive season bring you happiness and peace.

Merry Christmas, and I look forward to reconnecting with you in 2026!

Katrina xx

Several finishes, knitting, beach trips and more

Hi friends, lots of stitching and putting the final touches on previous stitching finishes has been happening lately. The craft sales event I'm donating some items to is now only a few weeks away. I gave myself a deadline to have everything finished by the first Friday in November.  Whew, I made it! Now I can get back into some of my own stitching projects and finish a few gifts.

These ornaments were fun to stitch and make up.

Lori Holt - Vintage Christmas sampler, a selection of the little squares. 

Little House Needleworks - Gingerbread Cookie, one of my all time favourite ornament designs, which I think I've stitched about four times now.

Lori Holt - Vintage Christmas sampler, a section of the design.

Stitching with the Housewives - Santa's Pals

Finished earlier this year, the 2024 Christmas Stitch along by the Tiny Modernist

Stitching with the Housewives - Claus Christmas, stitched in late 2024

Cottage Garden Samplings - Christmas Parade, stitched in 2024

I also knitted up some booties over a couple of nights. Pattern can be found here

We did make it out to Porangahau Beach late last month for four days.  The weather had been terrible all week, and there had been wind warnings too.  It was pretty much windy the entire time we were there but we still had a good couple of days with our friends and enjoyed the break.

Last week we decided to go out to the beach after work on Friday afternoon, this time we went to Pourerere Beach.  The weather was the complete opposite to our previous trip - sunny and hot, just perfect. 

It was a very relaxing weekend, I read one book, read half of another, and watched a couple of movies. 

Glenn was happy with his fishing efforts, and Hannah and her friend enjoyed several swims in the sea and going boogie boarding.

This past week has seen the first of the roses in my garden bloom - I always like to see which one is first. This year it was "Courage", the rose given to us by friends when Glenn's dad passed away earlier in the year.

The gorgeous smelling Freesia was next, 

When we got home on Sunday,  the stunning Blackberry Nip was out too, just divine.

This coming weekend, Glenn and I are heading to Auckland with my brother in law and sister in law for a concert.  There might just be some time to start some Christmas shopping!

See you soon x