More ornament finishes & end of September

Hello friends, I have two more ornaments fully finished, both stitched earlier in the year.

You know Dasher, which is a freebie design by Helen D, the Eastcoast Crafter and can be found on this page, scroll down.

Peace on Earth is by Misty from Luminous Fibres Arts:

I have several more finished, I just need to sew on trims, etc.  

Two charts arrived in the mail at the end of the week from Art & Frame in Christchurch. I'd been looking forward to getting both of these charts and over the weekend I started the Wee Santa, I love the colours used in this year's Santa.

Mr Diesel has been living his best life while Hannah has been on school holidays, spending lots of time curled up with her, all snuggly and sleepy, watching movies together. So cute!

Over the past few months Glenn has been working on another project, the outside deck and giving it a make over, relining the walls and painting to freshen up. As part of this, we have started painting the outside of our house, so now the wall on the inside of the deck has painted. It's going to look so different once the whole house has been completed but this might take awhile over the summer months.

It's been awhile since I did any weekend baking so I enjoyed making a few treats recently - chocolate fudge slice:

Chocolate chip muffins 

Jars of sunshine, or lemon honey, using a bag of lemons and eggs given to me a friend.  

Yum, this is so delicious on toast in the mornings.

I can't believe it's now October and last weekend Daylight savings hours started. Our spring weather certainly has been a mixed bag lately, very cold over the weekend after some lovely days, and fresh snow again on the ranges near here.  

Later this week Glenn and I are off on little trip away for a few days, the destination is somewhere here in New Zealand that neither of us have been to before. Starting in Taumarunui, we are doing a two day rail cart journey, staying overnight at the famous Whangamomona Hotel, then finishing in Stratford, Taranaki. Should be lots of fun!  

See you soon xx

November so far

I've really enjoyed putting a few stitches into this Shepherd's Bush project, the Lois stocking. I don't know what it is about Shepherd's Bush stockings, they are such a joy to work on.

My lunch break crafting lately has been crochet dishcloths.  Using my favourite pattern, Mama's dish cloth by Crochet 365, I've lost track of how many of these I've made now.

My LNS, Curtis Fabrics, has a wonderful selection of cotton, and all other types of yarn. Couldn't resist this variegated one, lovely pinks and lime.

Something I've been working on for ages and finally finished last week, is this Floss Flat, a pattern by Christine Sherman @windingrainbows. Using a finished stitched piece, Counting is Hard by Luminous Fibre Arts, and some of my favourite fabrics that match other sewing & crafting bags, I have had this on the go for several months. 

The inside has several projects and I added a couple of sewing charms to the zipper pull.

So relieved to have it finished and oh boy, was that binding tricky to get on!! I need way more practice at it ha ha.

Back in the last school holidays, Hannah and some of her dancing friends participated in a local talent show. It was a fabulous night, and we were so proud of Hannah for performing her solo dance and then a troupe dance with her friends. Thought I'd share a few pics of our lovely girl enjoying herself. 

The roses in our garden have all started flowering this month. I'm always interested to see which flowers first, this year it was the gorgeous smelling Friesia.

Mr Handsome is now four months old and such a dude.  He's a bundle of mischief at times and makes us laugh so much.

Diesel's favourite thing at the moment is Hannah's blanket that sits on her chair. As soon as she gets up from it, he's in there so fast, snuggling up to it. Lucky for him, she doesn't mind lol.

See you soon xx

Last of the 2021 Christmas Ornaments

I've decided to do a series of posts over the next few days with all the stitching things I'd like to share. Today is all about the rest of the Christmas ornaments I stitched during 2021, many of these were stitched over our winter months.

These designs are by Lila's Studio and are from the Spirit of Christmas series:

Snow Globe by JBW Designs:

Doves by JBW Design:

Stocking and Star by JBW Designs

Plum Pudding by JBW Designs

Merry & Bright by Primrose Cottage Stitches

Joy, a freebie pattern by Misty of Luminious Fibre Arts:

Holly Jolly Christmas by Sub Rosa Designs

 If you would like any further details about these ornaments, feel free to get in touch!

See you soon xx

Counting is Hard, new stash and a new Christmas Club

Counting is Hard by Misty, Luminous Fibre Arts is my Wednesday evening stitching project at the moment. I loved this design when it first came out and purchased the chart straight away - down loaded, printed, kitted and straight into a project bag!

I love the colours in this design, especially the blue bird.

I'm stitching this on my favourite linen, 32 count vintage mocha linen with all of the recommended DMC threads.

Before the recent suspension on mail being sent to New Zealand from the United States, I had a small parcel of patterns arrive from 123 Stitch, all charts from my wish list.  I'm seriously thinking of starting the Floral Motif Sampler on the 1st January 2022, that's if I can get some other projects finished first!

This pattern, Christmas Letters by Primrose Cottage Stitches was another downloadable pattern I bought recently and it's kitted ready to go some time.

A favourite stitching purchase ever year is the Just Cross Stitch Ornaments magazine and I was able to purchase this through Art & Frame, a shop in Christchurch.

MillyMac Supplies, a shop in Nelson here in New Zealand, offered a Christmas Club for the months of October, November and December and I couldn't resist signing up. You receive a little parcel of mystery patterns, fabrics and threads and an ornament for your tree.  Here's what I received in October's parcel:

The little mouse is so cute!  Perhaps this will inspire me to get back to some red work stitchery next year?

Enjoy the coming weekend, whatever you might be doing.  See you soon xx