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