A fun Weekend

It was a busy but fun weekend here, on Saturday DH and I went to Ray and Piri's Wedding which was beautiful, Ray who I see everyday wearing dirty overalls looked extremely handsome dressed in a suit and the bride looked beautiful , the reception was packed with people and there was food galore , it was a lovely day and it was made even better by a stop at my favorite bookshop on the way home.Sunday morning was very relaxed with us all enjoying the sun on the deck, in the afternoon DH an DD went to visit MIL , no sooner had they gone when Laura ,Marc and children arrived so that was a pleasant way to spend the afternoon Elle -Anna continues to grow at a steady rate but is proving to be a little difficult in the sleep department LOL ,and to round the day out DD and BF came to dinner last night which and latter while watching CSI she provided us with a yummy chocolate fondue and fruit YUM you don't get a much better way to finish the weekend than that !
I didn't actually manage to get any stitching done this weekend but hopefully tonight I will finish off the 'Welcome Spot" which I only have the House and hearts to stitch, I dont seem to very focused on my stitching at the moment , everything seems to be taking me much longer to finish ,oh well I best be off hope everyone has had a nice weekend .Take Care

Do you know how close Christmas is getting !!!!! The bad thing about having exams and Weddings before Christmas is that they draw my mind away from the things I need to be doing to prepare for having a huge family Christmas at my house and sooner or latter panic sets in as I realize once again I will run out of time to complete all the things I had planed to stitch as gifts ,OH why can't I be one of those people who cleverly start stitching at the beginning of the year ?LOL
Last night I stitched the first couple of rows of the roof on Welcome Home Spot ,but then decide that the little flower garland would make a nice little scissor fob so I stitched that instead and will take a photo if I stitch it together today.I forgot to add that the fabric I have stitched this sampler on was a gift from Karen it is 28 count Lakeside Linen ,by the way Carol I have loads of finished pieces waiting to be framed or finished in some way but I do hope to frame this piece LOL ,maybe that should be a challenge for me next year to a actually finish or frame each piece as I stitch it hmm thats definitely worth thinking about especially since I I theory should be saving money by stitching from my stash .
Lastly HI Namuelle glad you dropped by , we have finished all your cookies now they were sooo yummy .
Well thats it for now so Take Care and Happy Thanks Giving to everyone in America.

15/50 projects.

Welcome spot sampler.

Its been a busy few days here ,we are at the beginning of the exam season for High School students and my DS is sitting NCEA level 2 exams ,he sat his first one ,physics on Monday and is busily studying for Chemistry and Maths which are both next week.
I decided to start a new project on Saturday it is "Welcome Spot Sampler " by Drawn Thread it is a very quick stitch I just have to stitch the house and the row of hearts at the top.
I wanted to say thank you to all the people who have left comments lately ,there have been a few new visitors and I look forward to visiting your blogs in the next few days ,when time allows.I hope to get at least one of my PIF gifts stitched before Christmas but I can see that time is beginning to get away on me ,this weekend we have a wedding to go to (one of our employees) which I'm really looking forward too, but I haven't even begun looking for an outfit to wear !! mostly because I hate this kind of shopping, so I will need to set time aside for that, as well as that I'm looking at buying a new business so there are a lot of phone calls and meetings to fit in as we try to wind it up before Christmas ,oh well as long as I can fit in all the Christmas stitching I'll survive LOL I really need more hours in the day !!
Well take care everyone. 15/50

Here are my latest finishes the CHS M is for my DD Mical and the other one is to hang on my tree.I haven't really anything much else to add at the moment ,life is just busy busy , but I do want to say how much I appreciate your comments and love catching up with what everyone else is stitching. Take care 15/50 projects completed.

More gifts from Santa

Look at the wonderful bag Namuelle made for me isn't it gorgeous ! It has a lovely red lining and a very handy pocket that closes with a zip, it is beautifully made ,she also sent some soap which is made in Provence and smells divine and some cookies also from Provence (man is Kip getting the idea about cookies and postmen!!!) ,if only the post was always this good , Kip and I would both start hanging out at the post box LOL.Thank you once again Namuelle your gift is truly gorgeous .

More Christmas Ornaments.

Here are two more little Christmas ornaments that I finished over the week end ,they are both from The Prairie Schooler as you can tell I love these little Strawberries this is the fourth one I have stitched.I had a lovely weekend on Saturday morning DH and I went to Devonport as I needed to pick up some wool and a few things from the quilting shop ,while in the quilting shop I picked up a pattern for Amy Butlers cafe apron which I am planing to make for my Niece for Christmas .We also visited the Devonport Chocolate shop which is just heaven ,they make all the chocolates themselves and they are so yummy ,as a treat I bought DH a pistachio and cherry cup yummy. On Sunday DH and I went to the garden centre to get some ideas for the garden outside our back door at the moment it is planted in Gardenias which have just never done well there ,so this year I have decided to take them out , I did come away with some ideas and a new Rose LOL I never leave the garden center without at least one rose ,yesterdays purchase was a David Austin English rose named Mary Rose it is a small ,pink rose with a gorgeous fragrance.Then Mical and Will came over and we went to the mall to check out a new candle shop that has opened there and to pick up some groceries ,by the time we arrived home my Niece and her children were waiting for us ,so we all got the chance to have a cuddle with Elle -Anna and of course the boys .
I hope everyone else has a great weekend as well Take Care.
13/50 projects completed

Wonderful treats from Emily

Look at the treats I received in the post today (not Kip he doesn't travel well that way),this was my Christmas Tea Towel exchange from Emily she included a lovely little coffee ornament which is so cute as well as a copy of The Cross Stitcher magazine which is a lovely treat especially since I am not buying any at the moment because of the 50 project challenge, also included was a lovely candle that has a vanilla cookies scent .Emily had taken a great deal of care packing this parcel and had sent it in a box with polystyrene beads added to it and when I opened it they spilled out and because of the wonderful fragrance from the candle Kip seemed to think they must have been cookies and he had great fun trying to get them before I did however vets visits are costly things and so unfortunately for him the game came to a quick end .This was a great exchange which I enjoyed stitching for and receiving THANK YOU so much Emily I love that you took so much care about making this a really personal exchange for me .
The photo of Kip was added just for Emily who asked to see him, he is a dog who truly loves comfort and can normally be found curled up on a cushion some were.
Well thats all for now Take Care.

My Fingers Are Smoking.

Sorry no photos today ,I have been stitching like crazy but they are gifts so I can't some them yet ,the weather has been so awful here in the past week that it has been perfect for stitching (instead of worrying that I should be outside gardening).I was pleased to hear that my Christmas exchange had safely reached my partner ,its always a bit of a worry sending things so far.I have signed up for my first RR which will start early next year, I'm really looking forward to it ,as well as the Pay It Forward stitching this should keep me pretty busy ! speaking of which I still have places left for anyone who would like me to make them something ,at this stage I am brimming with ideas so please sign up.
Yesterday Laura dropped by with Ethan and Elle-Anna, who is now 6 weeks old ,she is soooo cute ,she had just had her immunization shots and was a little fuzzy but she did go off to sleep eventually and Ethan was his usual happy self ,he loves making pop corn in the microwave (well pushing the buttons) and then been placed in his favorite chair in front of the TV to watch one of the many Wiggles DVDs I have for him ,so all in all a very nice way to spend a visit.Well thats about it for now so Take Care.

How Lucky am I?

Look at the goodies I received in the post from Karen there are two wonderful pieces of Lakeside Linen fabric , a really cute tape measure that Karen covered her self ,a lovely pice of cotton fabric which I think I'll use to back some of my Christmas decorations and the cutest cat buttons you ever did see.THANK YOU so much Karen I love everything you sent .Take care .

Pay it Forward

Thanks Karen and Von for your comments , and thoughts it is nice to know people are thinking of us.
Now as you can tell the reason for this post is to say I joined Karen pay it forward challenge and so now the first five people who would like me to make them a hand made gift can leave me a comment ,of course then they too have to pay it forward, this sounds like it could be a lot of fun and who doesn't like receiving great mail!!!

Guy Fawkes

Hey everyone I haven't disappeared ,its just been a kind of rough week here ,my DH had some not very good health news this week and so we have spent the week just coming to terms with it (not life threatening or anything just difficult) so I have felt too exhausted to blog.I have been stitching away but I haven't got around to taking any photos yet.
It is Guy Fawkes day here so we will spend the evening at my SIL letting off our fireworks and generally having a nice time catching up with everyone I have to say now the kids are older its not quite as exciting as when they were little and so excited that they couldn't wait for it to be dark outside (this is a real pain when you live in the Southern hemisphere and day light saving has started).
Well thats about it for now I hope to feel more like blogging next week so for now Take Care