Sewing, new starts and books

Hi friends, 

More Lori Holt bags were finished this past weekend after a few hours at my sewing machine, I still have a few more to go from the two fabric panels. 

I love the colours in these ones. 

I started two new projects around my birthday earlier in the month - first up, A Daily Reminder by Brenda Gervais. I'd purchased this chart last year and then bought the fabric from Helen at That Crafty Kiwi, so it's been kitted for awhile.  The 36 count Arboreal fabric by Cedar River linen is a lot greener than this photo is showing.   

Another new start this month is Peace on Earth by Shakespeare's Peddler, I'm stitching this on 36 count Dust Bunny by Fox & Rabbit with the recommended threads. 

Two night's stitching:

This week I've finished the third ornament in the current series from the Hands on Designs, Plaid Tidings.  There'll be another design coming out sometime after the 1st May.

It’s been a little while since I talked about what I’m planning to read, but I’ve added a few new titles to my stack, all of which I’m really looking forward to.

That's it for today’s update — now to decide which book to open first, and which of the above stitching projects to work on later.

See you soon x

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

All sorts of things

Hi friends,
Another week’s flown by and we’re right in the middle of winter here in NZ. At this rate, spring will be sneaking up on us before we know it!

I finished this fun project, Spring Quaker by Primrose Cottage Stitches during my holiday break. I used DMC threads and the fabric is an ice blue Lugana that I've had in my stash for a very long time. I think this will be made into a little thread bag, when I eventually get to my sewing machine!

I visited my local sewing shop the other day and found some new Lynette Anderson Christmas fabrics had come in.

I also got some supplies to make a new stitching folder or bag, and a handful of needed DMCs.

Andrea, the owner, gave me this very cute Tula Pink bag, 

Can you believe Diesel is now three years old!  He's just such a joy, loves his food, walks along the river tracks, a good snuggle, and lately, enjoying laying in front of a roaring fire. 

I've been enjoying some baking and meal prep lately.  These scones are so easy to make, and go well with a bowl of soup on a winter's day.  

One of our favourite's for lunches, VJ Cook's Banana and choc chip slice, a good way to use up bananas. Minus the choc chips the other day as we'd run out!

I've been reading a lot lately, and this is my latest read.  Steffanie Holmes is a NZ author and was a local girl during her high school years, a few years behind me at college. This is the first of her books I've read. 

Lastly for today, a few photos of our beautiful girl from the evening of her school ball.  Hannah looked stunning and she had a fabulous evening with her friends. 

Her shoes for the night were actually my wedding shoes - I knew I'd kept them for a reason, ha ha.  

Have a happy week, see you soon with some of the Jolly July stitching I've finished xx

A finish, new stash, books and scissors

It's a beautiful autumn day here in NZ, and we've been enjoying some really nice weather lately. I love the weather at this time of the year, cooler mornings and evenings but gorgeous sunny days. Our daylight savings ended last weekend. Its also the start of the school holidays here, Hannah now has two weeks off school after finishing term 1. We have the Easter break coming up from Friday so we're all looking forward to some down time around home. We might head up to Napier over the break, for a day out, go somewhere nice for lunch perhaps. Other plans include more sorting in my craft room/office and Glenn has been building a new rose planter box as we were gifted a rose from some friends, Compassion, so he'll try and get it finished.

Another work in progress ticked off the list, Green Coat Santa, which I finished over the weekend. Stitched with recommended threads and 32 count natural Belfast linen.

Lovely mail received recently from Helen, That Crafty Kiwi :

I've ordered some linen from Helen for this chart

New Cohana scissors, all the way from Japan. I couldn't resist when I saw these being advertised 

Oh Joyous Day came out of my stitching basket for my sampler choice last week and I spent a few evenings working on this lovely design. 

Some new books bought with some birthday money. A new cook book by Vanya Insull, VJ Cooks, a NZ food blogger, and this is her third book. I just love her recipes, so easy and most of the recipes use pantry staples. 

a new Hunger Games novel, and the latest in a series by local Hawke Bay writers Gareth and Louise Ward. They own a bookshop in Havelock North, which is not far from where I live.

Have a fab week friends, see you soon x

Red work, Stitching & Books

Inspired by our friend Clare's wonderful Merry Christmas banner, some of the ladies from my stitching group and I have started a stitch along on the Rosalie Dekker pattern.  I'm using the pre printed linen that came with the pattern and my thread choice is DMC 321, one of my favourites.  It's been quite some time since I did any red work stitching but so far I'm really enjoying getting back into it. 

I did finish the Tiny Modernist Christmas Cuckoo House last week, photos to come once I've ironed it, ha ha.  Now I'm focusing on Peace and Goodwill by Brenda Gervais, a lovely design, and I enjoyed a bit of stitching time on it at the beach last weekend. 

I ordered some of the new Lori Holt happy charms recently, and a panel of her bags to make up too. I'd been wanting to get one of these panels for absolutely ages so was so thrilled to see them in stock at Rainbow Stash.  I need to buy some of the zippers next.  

As usual, I've been reading a lot lately, this was my pile I picked up from the library just before Christmas.  I'm still carrying on my 2024 goal of reading during my lunchbreak, otherwise I'd have my lunch and go straight back to work.  Funny story, twice now in the past twelve months I've reserved Kate Morton's Homecoming and each time I've ran out of time to read it before it needs to go back for the next reader. Third time lucky in a few months perhaps.

Newly purchased Onyx Storm to add to the pile of books to be read.

I finished Inheritance by Nora Roberts over the weekend, a good romance and ghost story. I picked up the next in the series, the Mirror, yesterday so will start that after my current read, We Solve Murders by Richard Osman, the first in a new series. 

We have a long weekend coming up, a public holiday on Thursday for Waitangi Day, and having taken Friday off work, we're off to Poranghau Beach with our friends for a few days. The weather is looking good, Glenn has bought a new fishing rod, so will he be lucky with his fishing? Lots of walks along the beach, catching up with our friends, it will be a fun weekend.

See you soon x

The Rest of August Catch Up

Hi friends, it's now officially spring here in New Zealand, I can't believe we are through winter, and in a few short weeks not only will it be the school holidays again but our Daylight savings hours will start. 

Just sharing a few things from the rest of August - a nice surprise left on my desk at work by one of my staff members who visited the local daffodil farm.

This past Sunday was a lovely warm spring day, so Glenn and I ticked off a few jobs on our outside to do list, including getting our greenhouse ready all tidied and swept out. I can't wait to get some vegetable seeds going in the greenhouse - lettuce, beans, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, spinach, beans, etc hopefully ready to be planted out in late October. 

 

Our winter garden has been going well, there's been lots of celery, silver beet and plenty of broccoli to share with my parents too.

So pretty seeing the neighbour's fruit trees in blossom.

Books I've enjoyed lately: this one by NZ author Michael Bennett, is the second in a series, which I didn't realise but can be read as a stand alone. 

David Baldacci's latest story - it's not light reading, I think this might be my favourite book so far this year.

Glenn and I had a few nights away in Auckland last week, going to see a band that Glenn likes from the US, Greta Van Fleet. The concert was really good but oh so loud!!

The weather was perfect for walking around the CBD and waterfront, and we visited Sylvia Park for some shopping. It was good to get away for a couple of days. 

As always, Glenn has several home projects on the go and the latest is this little area having a spruce up. A new deck to come and concreting to go in what used to be a small patch of grass. We're also thinking of having a boxed garden with some sort of hedging along the edging, if that makes sense.

Miss H and her lovely friend recently competed in a high school dance competition, and received a runner up placing in their category. Their dance was beautiful to watch, the girls had spent many hours choreographing the dance, then practising, picking out their costumes, doing their own hair and make up.

Hannah's hockey season has recently finished too, and she thoroughly enjoyed it. Held on Monday evenings, some weeks the weather was freezing, or pouring with rain, but the kids got out there, played their game, win or lose, they had a ball.

Stitching lately has included finishing some Stitching with the Housewives ornaments leftover from Jolly July, and also working on some older sampler projects. I'll be back soon with some stitching pics.

See you soon x