Stitching on Sundays & Mondays

Here's the first of the ornaments I've stitched from Spirit of Christmas Set 2 by Lila's Studio, so sweet.

I'm stitching on 36 count Summer khaki linen with most of the recommended threads. The plan is to stitch one of these lovely designs every month, there's 8 in total.

Next up for #santasundayxs and #merrymondayxs is Merry Old Soul by Brenda Gervais.

I've been wanting to stitch this for absolutely ages. I'm using most of the recommended threads and the fabric is 32 count Smokey Pearl Belfast linen. 

For tomorrow's post I'll have an update about all the Blackbird Designs I've been working on over the past few weeks.

See you soon x

Santa Sunday Finishes

Here's two finished ornaments from my recent #santasundayxs stitching.  #santasundayxs is a hashtag you can follow on Instagram.

Prairie Schooler 1993 Santa  - stitched on 32 count vintage mocha belfast linen using DMC 221 for the trim.

Dear Santa by Country Cottage Needleworks - stitched on 32 ct cream linen

See you soon x

Chicken Joy

Another left over from last year in my unfinished ornaments project bag was this little cutie pie chart, Chicken Joy, a free chart that Priscilla and Chelsea generously had available on Priscilla's blog last year.  You can find it here:

I stitched this on 32 count belfast linen using most of the recommended threads and I finished this on Sunday - this year I'm still carrying on with my #santasundayxs stitching, a hashtag you can follow along with on Instagram. 

I'm finding stitching on the black linen so much easier since I picked up a cheap pair of +3.00 hobby glasses, which I'll only used for dark or high count fabrics. I do have a set of magnifiers that I can clip onto my prescription glasses but it's taken me awhile to get used to these. 

See you soon x

Fa La La La

This is the Christmas design I picked to stitch for my lovely Mum, Fa La La by Lizzie Kate, a kit from several years ago.

My Mum is a massive Christmas time fan and her favourite Christmas colours are bright red and limey green, like in this design, so it's the perfect choice for her.

I used most of the recommended threads and trimmed the pillow with some Lady Dot Creates Sizzle chenille trim.  The fabric was a great match, found in a small pile of fabrics gifted to me last Christmas by a friend.

I'm so happy that I've nearly reached the end of all the Christmas gift stitching on my list - I'm aiming for the end of November to have it all done and then I can move onto something other then Christmas stitching, lol, or perhaps even finish some of my Jolly July starts.  We'll see!

See you soon xx

Wee Santa 2019

This is Heart in Hand Needleart's 2019 Wee Santa. I used the recommended threads and my favourite vintage mocha Belfast linen.

I found this lovely black and gold dotty fabric recently at my local sewing shop so decided to finish this as a small pillow.

A bit cute don't you think?

See you soon x

A New Start & Special Family Occasion

Once I finished a few of my Jolly July starts, I kitted up a new design that I've decided to stitch for santasundayxs and merrymondayxs, hashtags you can follow on Instagram.

This Christmas design caught my eye awhile ago and I was so pleased to see you could purchase the chart as a PDF and then download it, to start straight away.

Little Dove Designs can be found here: 

I'm using all the recommended DMC threads and my linen is 28 count China Pearl Jobelan, which is a very pale grey colour.


Week 1:

Week 2:

Last Sunday we headed up to Havelock North for the day to celebrate a special family occasion, Glenn's parents' recent 50th Wedding Anniversary. 

We had a delicious lunch at Piku, which we all enjoyed :

Then it was onto Birdwoods Gallery & Cafe for a visit to the old fashioned Lolly shop and gardens.

We ended our day out with a trip up to Te Mata Peak, for the best views of around Hawkes Bay. As it was a lovely day, there were lots of other people up there taking in the views.

It's the first week of the school holidays here, and earlier in the week I took a few days leave off work to spend with Hannah as she had her dancing exams. I am so proud of her, with all the extra practices and everything else she had on at school last term, she coped well and everything went fine with the exams.

This coming weekend we're off on a trip south to Palmerston North, for a few days away, visiting my cousin Donna and family.  Looking forward to some shopping too of course!

See you soon xx

#Santasundayxs

The last few Sundays I have been stitching on Merry & Bright by Country Cottage Needleworks:

I'm using a mixture of the recommended threads and DMCs, and my fabric is 32 count vintage mocha Belfast linen. 

#santasundayxs is a stitch along on Instagram if you would like to join in on the fun!

See you soon x

Two finishes to share!

First up today, is my latest santasunday# finish, Merry Merry by Country Cottage Needleworks.

Another for the 2018 collection, this one is for my niece Zoe.  This is the second time I've stitched this lovely design now, I love recycling my patterns!  Finished into a small pillow using some of the Lady Dot Creates small pom pom trim in Sizzle, my favourite Christmas red colour.

I recently completely finished another stitchery too. I stitched this late last year but didn't get time to sew it into a pillow.

This is a Gail Pan design and is from her Simply Christmas Book 2017 (No.5).  The thread I used was Earl Grey by Cottage Garden Threads.

See you soon x

Merry Little Stitches

I couldn't resist buying this chart when it came out, late last year I think - Merry Little Stitches by Pineberry Lane. 

I purchase all my charts by Pineberry Lane as e-patterns directly from Pineberry Lane. Instant gratification! 

These little stitches were my #santasundayxs project during July.

Finished as simple flat ornaments with cording made out of the same coloured DMC used in the pattern, 355 & 822. In the above photo you can see the fabric I chose for the backing, one of the lovely pieces I picked up on my recent shopping trip.

See you soon xx

Santa Sunday, New Start & More Project Bags

My latest #santasundayxs project is finished - Hallelujah by Little House Needleworks.

I stitched this on 30 count straw linen by Weeks Dye Works. This is a restitch of this design, having stitched this chart when it first came out.

Next up is a new start which I got underway while Hannah and I were watching the Royal Wedding on Saturday evening. It was late night for us, watching right through until 1 am but Hannah and I had fun with a sleepover in our lounge.

Cross Stitch Nation by Heartstring Samplery:

Over the past few weeks I've been playing around with some new fabrics to sew up some more project bags.  I couldn't resist this cute emu fabric!

Lots of fun that's for sure!

If you want to make some for yourself, I used the Primitive Stitcher's You Tube tutorial for the emu bag, which you can find here.

For the vinyl zippered bag, this time I followed a tutorial by Calico, which you can find here. These bags are quite addictive, I've already got the fabrics, etc cut out for three more bags!

See you soon xx