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

Catching Up

It’s hard to believe how quickly the weeks are flying by—it’s already December! It’s been a few weeks since my last post, and now there are only two weeks left until my summer holidays begin, with Glenn starting his break at the same time.

The last few weeks have been filled with a trip away, work activities, school prizegiving, hot days, family visiting and as always, lots of stitching.

Glenn and I had a weekend in Auckland recently, this time for the Lenny Kravitz concert, which was awesome!  We spent the weekend with my brother in law Paul and sister in law Jude, and had a fantastic time.  

I always enjoy trying out the seasonal drinks at Starbucks - this was a peppermint mocha frappe,  much needed after an afternoon of walking up and down Queen Street, shopping and finding things Hannah had on her Christmas list lol.

We had a great flight coming home and the views coming into land at Napier were stunning.

You know summer is here when strawberries start appearing - yummo!

Beautiful iceberg roses at my aunty's house

A treat bought back from Auckland, a new Glasshouse Fragrance candle, Naughty & Nice, 

Hannah has now finished high school for the year, and she has had a very successful year. She received awards in Trades, Life skills and also, from her Hair & Beauty course.  Another milestone achieved recently when Hannah passed her practical driving test (restricted here in New Zealand). Hannah has her final ever dancing show to perform in coming up, which will be very emotional for her, as she is finishing all her classes, after all these years.

Last weekend we headed along to the annual Christmas Farmers market, and had a lovely time browsing all the stalls of handmade goodies and trying out some new food trucks.

These soda drinks were absolutely delicious, especially as it was super hot day!

A little parcel arrived recently from Helen at That Crafty Kiwi.  I ordered some Cedar River linen for the Daily Reminder chart by Brenda Gervais.  This is going to be one of my summer holidays projects.

Couldn't resist the 2025 Wee Santa from Heart in Hand :)

Another recent purchase came from a shop called the Yarn Bowl in Australia, and this cool little container is called a Notion Nook, for any little stitching or knitting notions.

Now for some stitching, Candy Cane Santa - I just love working on these designs

A small bit of progress on Garden of Quilts by Lori Holt 

I'm looking forward to the 2025 Jingle Ball getting underway this coming weekend. This year I purchased two of the classes and I haven't managed to start either class yet, maybe they'll be holiday projects?  You get thirty days to view the class videos so I'll be sure to watch so I can make sense of the finishing instructions.

Looks like we're for some hot days coming up over the next week, forecast to hit 30 C over several consecutive days, which will mean our swimming pool will be getting a lot of use!

Have a fun weekend, see you soon x

Several finishes, knitting, beach trips and more

Hi friends, lots of stitching and putting the final touches on previous stitching finishes has been happening lately. The craft sales event I'm donating some items to is now only a few weeks away. I gave myself a deadline to have everything finished by the first Friday in November.  Whew, I made it! Now I can get back into some of my own stitching projects and finish a few gifts.

These ornaments were fun to stitch and make up.

Lori Holt - Vintage Christmas sampler, a selection of the little squares. 

Little House Needleworks - Gingerbread Cookie, one of my all time favourite ornament designs, which I think I've stitched about four times now.

Lori Holt - Vintage Christmas sampler, a section of the design.

Stitching with the Housewives - Santa's Pals

Finished earlier this year, the 2024 Christmas Stitch along by the Tiny Modernist

Stitching with the Housewives - Claus Christmas, stitched in late 2024

Cottage Garden Samplings - Christmas Parade, stitched in 2024

I also knitted up some booties over a couple of nights. Pattern can be found here

We did make it out to Porangahau Beach late last month for four days.  The weather had been terrible all week, and there had been wind warnings too.  It was pretty much windy the entire time we were there but we still had a good couple of days with our friends and enjoyed the break.

Last week we decided to go out to the beach after work on Friday afternoon, this time we went to Pourerere Beach.  The weather was the complete opposite to our previous trip - sunny and hot, just perfect. 

It was a very relaxing weekend, I read one book, read half of another, and watched a couple of movies. 

Glenn was happy with his fishing efforts, and Hannah and her friend enjoyed several swims in the sea and going boogie boarding.

This past week has seen the first of the roses in my garden bloom - I always like to see which one is first. This year it was "Courage", the rose given to us by friends when Glenn's dad passed away earlier in the year.

The gorgeous smelling Freesia was next, 

When we got home on Sunday,  the stunning Blackberry Nip was out too, just divine.

This coming weekend, Glenn and I are heading to Auckland with my brother in law and sister in law for a concert.  There might just be some time to start some Christmas shopping!

See you soon x