Wellington Trip and Christmas Stitching

hello stitching friends, as you can see, I have been playing around with my blog template - thought it was time for a change for the summer months. The frangipani flower is very special to me as it reminds me of the wonderful time Glenn and I spent in the Cook Islands for our honeymoon, and of course, I had to use some "blue" colour.

The days seem to be just flying by at the moment, hard to believe that December is here. Wahoo, only 15 more days and then my annual holidays start. Can't wait. This year I have off from the 21st December through until the 14th January. Glenn is also off work from the 21st until the 7th. Lots of time for relaxing around the house, catching up with friends and family and generally having a good break.

Last week I was away for a few days in Wellington with my staff and clients on our annual trip. Each year we spend several months fundraising to be able to take everyone away for a holiday, something that doesn't happen very often for many of our clients. This year there were 17 in our group and we stayed right in central Wellington so we could get out and see as many of the local attractions as possible during our time there. It was a pretty full on schedule so I was completely shattered by the time I got home on Thursday evening. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves though, which is the main thing.

Before I share a few pics from my pic, I arrived home to find a little envelope waiting for me: I've been visited by the secret stitching Santa too that appears to have sent out a little present to several other stitching friends too. How lovely it was to receive this in the mail. Thank you secret stitching Santa, it was wonderful surprise. What a neat idea.


now for some photos from my trip. This is the view back over Wellington city from where we had a ride in the Cable Car.

This is the Beehive, the home of New Zealand's Government. We spent a morning here having a guided tour. This is where the Prime Minister and Cabinet Ministers have offices, and where the Cabinet meets.

This is the Parliamentary Library, a working library that provides research services for members of Parliament and parliamentary staff.

Boy, have I got some finishing to do over the next week or so, I can see some late nights on the agenda, lol. Over the past few weeks when I've felt like stitching, getting some Christmas ornaments finished has been my main aim.

A Very Merry Christmas by JBW Designs
this design is by Nordic Needle from this year's JCS magazine

Just Nan's Christmas Biscornu

Peace by Country Cottage Needleworks, 2007 JCS magazine

Tonight I hope to finish the last of my 2007 ornies, and then like I mentionned above, I will have to get busy with some finishing so I get some of them in the post to arrive in time before Christmas. At least my stitching mojo seems to have returned in the last week or so, its just finding the time to actually stitch I'm running a bit short of at the moment, lol.

Babynews: my morning sickness seems to have disappeared in the last week, hurray, but in staying that I'm still having the odd bout of queasiness in the morning. Once I have something to eat for breakfast though, I'm ok. The other week I meet with my midwife, a lovely lady called Judy, who is going to be our Lead Maternity Carer, and my next appointment with her is the 18th December. Tomorrow I'm 16 weeks, where have the past few weeks gone? Our 20 week scan has been booked, to be on the 4th January. Over the weekend Glenn and I found that two lots of our close friends are due to have babies very close to us, which we are very excited about, as they are also having their first babies.

Righto time for me to get organised to head off to work. I'm trying to catch up at the moment on all my blog reading but as I'm so far behind I may not have time to leave a comment for everyone. Hopefully I''ll remedy that over the next few weeks. Take care xxx