September starts & news

 Hello friends, 

This week is the last week of the term for Hannah, then the school holidays start.  We're now counting down the days until our family holiday. This year we are heading to the Sunshine Coast in Australia, a part of Australia we've not been to before.  We are really looking forward to checking out the gorgeous beaches, some sight seeing, perhaps a visit to Australia Zoo, chill out time, and there might be some shopping :) 

Also, some other news to share, we are closing down my husband's joinery business at the end of October.  We've been in partnership with our friends for over 24 years, and the guys first started working together in the joinery factory as apprentices, straight out of school.  But the time has come for the business to close, our friends are moving to another area of New Zealand  and Glenn will move onto something new, nothing has been confirmed yet, but he is very excited for whatever opportunity might come his way.  With Hannah heading to Napier next year for her beauty therapist's course, there's going to be lots of positive changes for our family in 2027. 

So today I’ve got a handful of new projects to show, and some recently finished items.  This month's stitching has been all over the place, as I knew I wanted to start a couple of new samplers for #samplerseptember, I've also had a bit of stitching I've been working on that I can't share just yet, and I've also got a few ornaments on the go. 

Let's start with the finished things first:

This set of ornaments is from Cathy of Hands on Designs Merry Moments Collection:

Sweets for Santa

Light the Way

Plaid Tidings

Hark how the Bells

A Vintage Rocker

I stitched these all on 32 count natural Belfast linen with the recommended DMC threads, and used a selection of trims and Lynette Anderson Christmas fabrics for the finishing. 

This is Santa and Rudolph by Stitching with the Housewives, stitched on 32 count black lugana fabric.

Now for the newly started projects.

I recently had a lovely catch up with my stitching friends, we laughed and laughed, and I think it was what we all needed, along with some yummy snacks and lunch together :)  I did manage to get a few stitches done, and the project I took along to work on was House Rules by Primrose Cottage Stitches.  I'm stitching this on 36 count Tuscan Path by Fox & Rabbit, with the DMCs.

I got my holiday stitching project underway, House of Quaker Lane by Brenda Gervais.  This linen is so pretty, Red Cedar by Cedar River Linens.  I'm using DMC ecru thread.

I've been wanting to stitch this Erin Elizabeth design for ages, Merry Stitchmas. Fabric is 36 count vintage mocha Belfast linen.

This photo just wouldn't turn!  Another design that I've been wanting to start for ages, by Shakespeare Peddler, and I'm using the recommended 36 count Aztec Red linen by Weeks Dye Works and DMC ecru.

On Friday the threads I needed for my next sampler start arrived in the mail. so this was my Friday night project. Amazing Grace by Brenda Gervais, linen choice 40 count Sandcastle by Fox & Rabbit, recommended threads.

I also started another of Cathy's Patreon ornament club designs from the second collection, the Quilted Gingers, Cape Cod Cross Hatch

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that a small stash parcel arrives from 123 Stitch before I go on holiday as it's got a couple of threads needed for another potential start, and also this year's Wee Santa by Heart in Hand chart.

We had a family dinner catch up at the start of the month, and my lovely Mum had organised little birthday cakes for the special birthdays we had in our family earlier in the year.  What a great surprise Hannah, Marcus and Zoe each got, and the cakes were divine!

Lastly for today, it was this very good boy's "gotcha" day anniversary on the 12th, four years :)

Four years of joy, mischief, lots of river and beach walks, silly nonsense, snuggles, dog biscuits and treats, and fun! We are going to miss him so much while away but he'll be having the time of his life as our friends Bruce and Alison are going to be looking after him.

I'll be back in a few weeks, mid October, wow, how the months have been flying by this year.

See you soon xx

Latest Happenings

Hello friends, I'm so happy as we're having some perfect winter days right now, very frosty in the mornings to start the day. It was - 1 c when I left for work this morning, and then a day of sunshine follows.  Soon we will notice the turn towards spring, as we are now over half way through our winter months.

I have all the things on the go right now, and some days wish there were more hours in the day for all the crafty happenings!   My lunch break knitting project, socks for my sister in law, are progressing well, one sock down, and half of one to go. I've hopefully managed to match up the stripes up on both too.

The Summer Vintage blanket is finished now - I loved making this, my first crochet blanket in quite a few years.  I purchased the yarn from the Wool Warehouse in the UK and the pattern by Amanda Hurrell, Eight by Six on Instagram, can be found as a free download on the website. I missed one colours, Buttercup, when I placed my order, so adjusted some of the rows, and I completed the border as suggested, using the different colours in the rounds.  

This going to be perfect to have in our campervan, as its very light weight and not too big in size.

As I mentioned last time, we recently had a long weekend to enjoy, with the Friday being a public holiday for Matariki here in New Zealand.  Glenn and I spent the Saturday in Hastings doing some shopping, and then to Havelock North, where we visited our friends.  They are having some new laundry cabinets made by Glenn so he needed to check out the space and get measurements. We then enjoyed lunch out at a very popular restaurant, Off the Track, which was delicious, and so busy that particular day, over 240 people were there! 

I snapped this photo on the way home, after the horrendous weather earlier in the week, it turned out to be a lovely day.

Our friends cutie pie wee dog, Bee, she is so sweet. 

No wonder it was cold last week, fresh snow on the Ruahine Ranges, this photo taken at the end of our drive way. 

This week, Whittakers, released a new novelty chocolate, Gumdrop.  It's pretty good, and reminds me of a childhood favourite ice cream, Tip Top Goody Goody Gumdrops, and yes, it's actually green :)

The school holiday break has finished so Hannah is back to high school for her very last full term of school, Term 3.  Diesel enjoyed hanging out with Hannah over the past two weeks, lots of snuggles together.

We try and get out walking with Diesel as often as we can, and this past Sunday was fairly warm while I walked him by the river. We are fortunate to have several good limestone tracks to pick from, only a few minutes drive from home, and they are very popular with other walkers and cyclists.

Diesel turned four on Sunday, can you believe it - he's the best good boy, he brings us so much fun and laughter.

Have a fun week, see you soon xx

New Starts, Knitting, 18 Birthday Candles and more

 Hello friends,

well, I can't get this photo the right way up but this is a recent start on Mother's Day last Sunday. Birds and Bees Sewing Roll by Stacy Nash. I actually had another piece of linen chosen for this project but when the Fox & Rabbit linens I'd bought for my May Fabric club arrived, I thought this would be perfect. 36 count Prehistoric linen with the recommended Weeks Dye Works threads.

The other linen fat quarter I'd bought is a newly released colour by Fox & Rabbit, Tuscan Path.

Recently I went into a shop in town that has a small selection of yarns and knitting accessories and found this pretty sock yarn.  My other rainbow socks have been relegated to "file 13" for now, ha ha. 

These have been my lunch break project lately.

Another new project underway has been one of Teresa Kogut's Santas, lots of stitches in this design. I love the DMC red colour, DMC 22.

Our darling Hannah May is now 18, wow, where have the years gone?  

We celebrated with takeaways, an ice cream cake and treats as Hannah had been late at school, involved in the dress rehearsals for their latest production, in the hair and make up team. 

It was Mother's day here last Sunday and for a treat on Saturday night, we went out with friends to a restaurant we'd not been to before. It was delicious and I enjoyed a crispy salmon and pork belly salad for my main followed by sticky date pudding for dessert, so divine!

On Sunday afternoon Hannah and I watched the school production, Alice in Wonderland.  Wow, there are some incredibly talented young adults at our local high school and I really enjoyed watching several of Hannah's good friends taking to the stage.  

I'll finish today with some recent photos of the goodest boy ever, Mr Diesel.  We've had to put our river walks on hold for a week or so as he's had a sore paw but we'll be back walking our limestone tracks hopefully this coming weekend. 

See you soon x

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