Making Up and Shopping!

Happy mid week to you all. Over the last few days we have had more heavy rain and wind, right over all of New Zealand, and there's also been bad flooding in some parts. I've been wearing winter boots to work this week, and my coat too, very strange for this time of the year. Our daylight savings hours end in a few weekends time so I guess the dreary weather will really set in then.

Anyways, onto something brighter  - I have some sewing finishes and shopping purchases to share, two of my favourite past times, hee hee.

These little Easter stitches were actually done last year, I just didn't get time to make them up. I've had the cute bunny fabric in my stash for awhile, just waiting to find the right project to match it to.

This little design is  freebie by Alexandrina and can be found here,as well as lots of other sweet bunny freebie designs.

And some more spotty fabric used on this cutie pie Lizzie Kate design, Sampling Easter Quick-It. I love the Weeks Dye Works periwinkle thread used to stitch the alphabet.

Now for the new goodies - our local knitting store has started to get in their new winter stock and pattern books. I picked up the supplies to knit the pink design for Hannah - I was told by the store owner that this knits up really quick, just what I need, lol.

Earlier in the month I went to a training course held out of town so it was a good opportunity to stop by one of our bigger craft stores.  I picked up a few balls of wool for some Easter crochet projects, that may or may not get done in time :)

These were too pretty to resist:

And so were these scrummy colours:

The latest Mollie Makes issue to arrive in NZ also turned up recently, once again filled with lots of pretty ideas and inspiration! I'm purchasing these from Sew Pretty, an online fabric store based in Christchurch.

Well, that's it for today. Many thanks for stopping by, and its great to see some new people are visiting and taking the time to leave me a message.

See you soon xx

Last Stitches for 2011

Finished just a few hours before the end of 2011 - Christmas Rules by Lizzie Kate, from a SAL with Kath and Clare.

Christmas Rules

design by Lizzie Kate

stitched on 32 ct Mocha belfast linen with recommended threads

This would be one of my favourite projects stitched on during 2011 - such wonderful colours - I love the CC Ribbon Red and Beansprout.

Thanks for stopping by x

A Finish

Happy 2012 everyone - I hope the year has started off well for you.  We had a very quiet evening on New Year's Eve, didn't even see the new year in, and as its been raining non stop since Friday, our days have been very laid back - just perfect for stitching or reading, or playing Littlest Petsshop with Hannah all day, lol.

This was my Christmas week finish, I put the final stitches into it on Boxing Day :

Holiest of Nights

design by Homespun Elegance

stitched with mostly the recommended threads on 32ct Putty Belfast linen

I would have had it finished earlier in December but I had to put in a quick order for some more threads. This was a lovely design to stitch and I think I might make it into a wall hanging.

See you soon x

To & From

We're enjoying a quiet afternoon at home after DH treated us out to lunch at one of our local restaurants.  The weather has turned here and the rain has come - sadly its not looking good for seeing in the New Year around NZ at any of the beaches or other holiday spots. We don't have any particular plans this year except for a family get together on New Years day, so I'm planning to fit in lots of stitching :)

Now that all the presents have been unwrapped I can finally share a few of the gifts I made secretly over the past few months and also show the wonderful gifts I received from Clare and Kath :)

For Clare this year I stitched Deer in the Meadow by Blackbird Designs -

I also made Clare a Stitcher's wallet to hold all her stitching bits and pieces - front

and for the back I stitched a Prairie Fairie by the Prairie Schooler



From Clare, I was given this very cute Brittercup designs ornament, looks just like Miss Poppy :)

A felted bag

This Santa, which Clare cleverly made

and this wonderful cute little bag - she's very talented my friend Clare and I feel very lucky to be the recipient of her gorgeous sewing and stitchery work.



Now for dear Kath - as soon as I spotted this particular design by Danybrod I knew it would just perfect for Kath. I made it into a small wall hanging. It took alot of searching at the local fabric shops to find some suitable fabric to match, I wanted it to be just right. I just loved stitching this pretty design.



I also made Kath and Clare both a stitchery Christmas Bon bon, the pattern is by Hatched and Patched. I had actually done the stitched parts before Christmas last year, lol.

On the day after Boxing Day, we went to visit with Kath and the girls, and these are the lovely pressies Kath gave to me - this years ornie:



A thread catcher : 

And ta da, a sewing machine cover - I couldn't tell you how excited I was to see this, Kath has known that I've been wanting to make one for simply ages. Its just perfect! Here's the front :

And the back :



My friend Wendy also gave me a set of all handmade cards for different occasions, what a neat idea, and a very sweet angel ornament.

So I was a very spoilt girl this Christmas.  I also treated myself to a few other crafty pre Christmas pressies so I'll share them in my next post. 

As this will be my last post for 2011, I just want to wish you a very Happy New Year and thank you for your visits here, and comments and most of all, your friendship. I'm looking forward to the new year and have lots of stitching, sewing, can't forget knitting and crocheting projects planned!

See you in 2012 xx

Birthday Treats for a dear Friend

I can finally reveal a little bit of stitching that I've been working on secretly over the past month - firstly, a gift for Kath's birthday last week.

This is Winter Lady by Primitive Hare, from the latest Gift of Stitching magazine, which I thought was a perfect choice for Kath.

 stitched on 32ct platinum linen using recommended threads

For many years now, Kath and I have exchanged an ornament at Christmas time so I decided to give my one to Kath along with her other birthday pressies. This year I chose Rejoice by Mosey 'n Me from the 2009 Just Cross Stitch ornaments magazine.

stitched on 32ct dirty linen using recommended threads



For Kath's birthday dinner she had requested fish 'n chips, as she didn't want me to go to any trouble since we'd all had a busy few days and it was midweek, but I went ahead and jazzed up our meal with some fresh salads, and then individual sticky date puddings with butterscotch sauce for our dessert. Mum made the loveliest fresh fruit salad - talk about yum!! A few glasses of bubbly wine also went down a treat!

What a lovely time we had celebrating Kath's birthday and as its been awhile, so good to have a catch up during these busy pre Christmas days.

I've got several new ornament finishes to share over the next few days - I'm very pleased to say that the last of my 2011 ornaments and gift stitching are all finished. I also started on a new project on the 1st December, Holiest of Nights by Homespun Elegance, aiming to have it stitched by Christmas Eve! Kath and I have chosen our holiday project too, the Holly & Ivy Sampler by Shepherds Bush, which we'll both be starting sometime during Christmas week.

See you soon xx

Victoria Quaker's Update

As well as some secret "hush hush" stitching, I was able to get quite a bit of progress made on my AMAP's Victoria Quaker over my holiday break . The bottom half of the chart is now completed.

Its Saturday lunch time here and not a very pleasant day, after all the lovely sunshine and warmth of the past few days, today its much cooler and with grey skies. There's been a few scattered rain showers too. Hannah is with her Nannie & Grandad today, she had an overnight stay with them last night as Glenn and I had a function to go to out to. It was a lovely evening spent with friends but a rather late night, or early morning should I say, lol. 

Enjoy your weekend x

Recent Stitching

Good morning friends, and what a nice sunny morning it is here too. I'm feeling a little better today, especially since there's a long weekend and my holiday break coming up in only two days!

Even though I've been stitching away on Christmas ornies and gifts lately (only a few to go now) I've been trying to get a bit of progress in on my own projects as I'd really like to have them done by the end of the year. Now that might be wishful thinking as I'm intending to start on one or two new things during my holiday week :)

So my focus piece over the past few days has been Sampler au Bouquet:

 

I'm thoroughly enjoying stitching this design, asides from having a few troubles getting the border stitches in the right place! 

See you soon x

Our Church Fair & Latest Ornie

Hello dear stitching friends,

recently the girls and I went along to the annual Spring Fair held at our local church. This is something I look forward to every spring as I have fond memories of going when I was little with my Mum and Nannie, and now Hannah and Zoe love to go along too.  We always come home with some delicious home baking, a few goodies found amongst the sales tables, and this time, Hannah got to have a ride on a donkey! She was in her element :)

Just a little finish to share today - this cute ornie

Freebie found here
DMC threads
32ct mocha belfast linen

I've been feeling a bit under the weather over the last couple of days - as usual for this time of the year, I've got bad hayfever. Only a few more days of work to get through then I'm on holiday until the 1st November, yippee!  After enjoying a few days at home Glenn, Hannah and I head away on our annual family holiday. Can't wait!

I'll be back tomorrow with some more stitching progress pics. See you then x

Merry Merry Be

Hello dear stitching friends, well Monday has rolled around again after a very productive weekend at our house.  Glenn and I have been giving some of our gardens bit of an overhaul over the past few weeks, and after Saturday we're now we're up to the stage where we can plant some new trees - they've been ordered from one of the local garden centres for pick up next Saturday. We've also topped up our raised vegetable beds and got some vege seedlings all ready to plant when the warmer weather comes in October.  Hannah and I are also going to pot up some petunias and lobelia in several pots, all reds and whites, hoping for a nice display by Christmas.

Yesterday was a quieter day, I had a few sore muscles after Saturday's marathon effort outside all day, hee hee,  and Glenn was feeling underweather with a bit of hayfever/sinus so Hannah and I spent most of the day in kitchen baking up a few treats for lunchboxes this week.  We tried out a couple of Annabel Langbein's recipes in the latest Australian Women's Weekly, an apricot and ginger slice and a fruit loaf, both of these are excerpts from her new book, Free Range in the City, not out yet but bound to be a hit as her last book the Free Range Cook is a best seller. Oh my, both were divine!  We also made Glenn's favourite chocolate cake and chocolate chippie biscuits too.  I made up a huge stock pot of our favourite vegetable and bacon soup, which I like to have in the freezer to pull out for Hannah's dinner when we're having something that she's not too keen on, or for a quick and easy meal during the week.

So there's not been much time for stitching lately but I did manage to finish the little Shepherds Bush kit, Merry Merry Be, in the above photo.  A lovely stitch, which took me a lot longer than I thought it would with all the little colour changes. I found some pretty red Moda fabric for the backing and sewed it into a small pillow. 

Another project finished off over the weekend is the cardigan I was knitting for Hannah, all it needs is a button sewn on, which is on tonight's agenda. I thought I might knit a matching hat from one of my latest Ravelry finds, this ebook, which has some very cute hats for children in it.

As always, thanks for visiting here and many thanks so much for the wonderful comments about the hexagon quilt - its always such a pleasure to read these comments :)

Well, thats my round up from this weekend's happenings, see you soon.

Tiny Garden Fob

Hello friends,
here's a little finished project to share today - Tiny Garden Fob by Shepherds Bush. This was a pleasure to stitch, using lots of my favourite colours.

The silk ribbon, included in the kit, is so pretty. I've already attached the fob to one of my favourite pairs of Gingher scissors. 

We had a lot of fun over the weekend enjoying the local Spring festival - I'll be back with some pics soon! Also, I went along with my MIL yesterday afternoon to see The Help - what an excellent movie. I'd read the book quite some time ago so had forgotten a bit of the storyline. We laughed lots, and cried in a few places, and I enjoyed the best tasting chai latte I've had in ages. A lovely afternoon out, the perfect way to end a wonderful weekend.

See you soon xx

Sampler Au Bouquet Part I

I've been stitching mostly on my Sampler au Bouquet over the last week so Part I is now finished:

This has been a great design to stitch so far - I do keep having a few counting issues though!
Hope you're having a happy week :)
See you soon x

Christmas ABCs progress

Good morning folks, and what a lovely day it is so far.

Here's a little update on Christmas ABCs - its about 3/4 done now. I'm going to have to put this aside for a little while as I need to order some more of the CC English Ivy thread.

Have you seen the latest Lizzie Kate Christmas patterns - they are far too cute!

A small finish and a tiny start

Hello friends, well, the end of another week is here already - this week has just zoomed on by! I'm happy to report that its looks like spring is finally making an appearance too, its been fine all week and today it even reached 20c - a nice and sunny day. Lets hope this good weather stays around for the weekend as I've got loads of outside jobs that I'd like to get a start on.

Now for some stitching, the latest of my LHN ornies is now finished:

Bringing Home the Tree -Little House Needleworks

stitched on 32ct mocha belfast

using recommended threads

This is one of my favourites in the series so far I think.

I had a little stash parcel arrive the other day from the US (more on that in another post) so I couldn't resist starting one of the kits, Shepherds Bush Tiny Garden Scissor fob

Only a few stitches so far but I hope to stitch on this over the weekend. This week I've also been putting together a few more rows on Hannah's hexagon quilt - will I ever get this finished? lol.

See you soon xx

Little Bits

These two projects I've got on the go are ones that I tend to do "a little bit here and a little bit there" on every few days.

I absolutely love the colours used in Lizzie Kate's Christmas ABCs, my stitchalong with Kath and Clare.

and AMAP's Victoria's Quaker is coming along very slowly.

At long last the Just Cross Stitch ornament preview magazine finally made an appearance in our local book shop - several of the designs featured will be on my ornie to do list very soon.

Speaking of Just Cross Stitch , I was excited to spot the cover for this year's ornaments magazine at Anita Little Stitches, it looks like a goodie!

A Stitchey Saturday & New Starts

This past Saturday afternoon I spent a few hours with my stitching buds,Clare, Janet and Kath (left to right in the photo). It had been awhile since our last get together and we had a wonderful time, as we usually do!


I've been working on a few new stitching projects this week :

Bringing Home the Tree - Little House Needleworks, which Kath and I chose for our next LHN Ornie of the month

I was able to find out from Clare on Saturday the size of the fabric needed for my latest start, Jardin Prive's Sampler au Bouquets. Clare had been stitching on hers during our winter retreat and I couldn't resist purchasing this one myself!

I'd actually got alot further along on this Saturday than what shows in the pic but I realised about 9pm Sat night that some of my first stitches were completely out of place!! ggggrrrrrr, so out came a few good hours of stitching!

I'm home from work this afternoon with Hannah as her caregiver was attending a funeral today. We've been making the most of a sunny day - Hannah's been playing around outside on her bike, and blowing bubbles, and our lawns are now freshly mowed. I think its time for a coffee and maybe some stitching :)

See you soon xx

My Needle's Work

One of my most favourite flowers is out at the moment, daphne. I wish I had some of my own to pick but I've never had any luck growing daphne, either in our garden or even in a pot, I tried many times.


Lucky for me, a friend does so she's been giving me little bundles - what a gorgeous scent in our office right now.

A few days ago I put the final stitches into My Needle's Work, a stitchalong piece I've been doing with my friend Clare.

My Needle's Work

Little House Needlework

stitched with recommended threads on coffee dyed 32ct

I really enjoyed this design and I've been thinking about making this into a wall hanging. Clare and I have already decided on our next stitchalong, Little House Needlework's The Sampler Lady, which we're planning to start in the next few weeks.

See you soon xx

A Gift

A good friend of mine celebrated her birthday this week so I decided to make a stitcher's wallet for all her stitching and crafting accessories. I chose a freebie pattern that I've wanted to stitch up for ages.

Black Needles

by Ravenelle, found here

stitched with Belle Soie Poison Apple

Thanks for the comments on my previous post - hugs to you all xx

I'm off to make a cuppa and stitch for a bit - I've got the house all to myself this morning as DH has taken Hannah out for a few hours. Have a happy weekend!
See you soon xx

Before the Weekend

Before the weekend starts I thought I'd share an update on what I've been working on lately. These pics are actually from last week as the past few days have been all about knitting and reading!

My Needle and Thread - I'm so enjoying stitching on this and would like to have it finished in the next week or two. I must check up with my friend Clare and see how she's progressing.




Next is my first progress pic of My Lady's Quaker by AMAP, I've chosen my own colour combination for this.

I've also tried to fit in a bit of crocheting, this is going to be a small dolly blanket which I'm donating for a sales table at an up and coming local arts and crafts exhibition.

Remember the other day I mentionned one of my good friends gave me some knitting for Hannah? I finally got some decent pics of Hannah wearing her new hat and coat, without her monkeying around, lol. Isn't this set just gorgeous, I'd love this for myself, being in one of my favourite colours of course!

See you soon x