In Mourning

We mourn the loss of  29 men at Pike River Mine.

Please say a prayer for them, and the loved ones they leave behind.

RIP

Home again

Well, it's lovely to be home again, we have had a fabulous few days in the big smoke of Wellington.  Lots of things to do - including a tour of Parliament and the Beehive, we weren't allowed to take photos inside but it is amazing, well worth a visit for Kiwis and overseas visitors alike.

The view from our hotel room, down into the Bolton Street Memorial Park and Chapel.  This was the site of the city cemetery until about the 1890's.  It's a beautiful little spot, but a lot of sad headstones to read, I shed a tear over a family of five children who died over a period of three weeks, presumably from a disease we are now so fortunate to be able to vaccinate our babies for.  This park is at the very bottom of the Wellington Botanical Gardens which we spent a wonderful afternoon walking through.

We started up here, after a trip on the Cable Car from Lambton Quay to Kelburn.

then ventured down through the gardens, stopping of course to try out the Flying Fox in the playground.

For me the highlight was the stunning rose garden..............

while my hubby was quite taken with these sculptures of NZ natives made from fencing wire!

and the girls had fun watching the ducks and ducklings under the water fountain.

Wellington Zoo - where feeding the giraffes was popular.....

It was a lovely few days away, the main reason for going was to select our rams for next breeding season from the stud they are bred on.  That involved a day trip up to Wairarapa and a chance to see some new countryside.  There was some lovely shopping to be done in Masterton, so I did my best! A couple of things can now be crossed off the Christmas pressie list, thank goodness.

And as the deadline girl that I am, I am posting today - the last possible day - my SSCS gift to some unsuspecting recipient out there.  Actually they will be suspecting something will arrive in the mail - but they won't know what it is until CHRISTMAS DAY!!  Here it was all wrapped and ready to go.............

I do so hope that the recipient gets as much pleasure from this Secret Santa gift, as I got from making it.
If you're participating in Chookyblues SSCS exchange - don't forget - it's time to mail!   Tehe, I can sound all righteous about it now that I've finally got mine away. lol

Thanks for visiting today, I hope you are having a fabulous day!  I'm off to check out the couple of hundred posts waiting for me in Google Reader - catch you soon........ Nicky

Where it all began .........

...my very first 'big' cross stitch.

I went to a stitching party-plan night in 1992, where a  lady was selling charts, fabrics and threads.  I was armed with Dad's chequebook(I was still at high school), blank cheque signed, and I bought all the bits I needed for this picture.  The only cross-stitch I had stitched prior to this was a tiny little kit of an Amish child that my aunt had given me, and I was hooked!  I only wish Dad was so keen to let me loose with his cheque book now. lol

I will apologise now for the quality of pics, I've found it pretty hard to get decent pics of the framed ones with glass in front, so please excuse my poor efforts.  This deer was given to my hubby(before we were married) for a Christmas gift.

Still stitching on Aida here........... I still have a fascination with the Amish way of life and fell in love with this one, loved stitching the quilt blocks in the corner.

I *heart* Hugs and Teddy Bears was stitched while expecting our first baby - I wanted something that would suit boy or girl!  By now I had discovered the joy of linen!

This is a Teresa Wentzler design - I think it's called Floral Bellpull.

These pansies and violets are still one of my favourite finishes, I love the colours and of course pansies are my favourite flower.

This little scissor keep was finished up quite a few years ago.

These littlies have all been finished up this year and I have shared on my blog already.  Blogging motivates you to *finish* things!

Shepherds Bush are one of my all time favourite designers. I also have quite a few of their pieces stitched waiting for framing, but that would be another whole post!

And one of my more recent favourite designers are Little House Needleworks and Country Cottage Needleworks, who have such simple, pretty designs that are lovely to stitch - I think no back stitch has a lot to do with that.  Years ago most designs had heaps of back stitch which when you've spent so many hours on the fun stuff is the most depressing job around!  A little like stitching the binding on a quilt down, but it takes a lot longer. lol.  Thank goodness not so many do now.

This one is still to be framed(and ironed by the look of it)

Lizzie Kate Christmas Spirit series also needs framed, perhaps that should be a goal before December!

 And then finally one of my many, many, Works in Progress(very slow or non-existent progress), there are far too many of these to picture here, so this is just one, Numbers by Cross-Eyed Cricket, stitched with one thread over one.  This is an old photo, it is actually quite a bit closer than this to finished now. Watch this space...........

It has been interesting to go back and see how my tastes have changed over the years, so thanks for the motivation to get this display together.  You can head over to Chookyblue's to check out her cross stitch and for a blog list of the other ladies who are displaying their cross stitch this weekend.

Have a wonderful weekend and thanks for stopping by, I'm off now to check out the other cross stitch displays...........Nicky 

Feeling the cross stitch love .........

..... here is a progess pic of my LHN Virtues Sampler.....loving this one.

This weekend Chookyblue is hosting a Cross Stitch Display where there will be some possibly long lost cross stitch being revealed.  I've taken a few pics this afternoon of some earlier cross stitch pieces, it's made me realise how little I have stitched for my own home - most of mine have been stitched for family and friends big '0' birthdays, weddings and anniversaries etc.  I will put a post together for Saturday, so check out Chookyblue's blog to find out all the others who are joining in too. 

I've made up Leannes hexies this weekfor Stitching Round the Block, I'm expecting her stitchery in the mail tomorrow, so will get the next stage of her piece finished and on it's way to Janis.  Aren't Leanne's fabrics pretty, I really love the violets and dragonflies.  Thanks for all the kind comments about my SRTB piece from my last post.  I've heard from Janis that it finally made it to her, it took nearly a week in the mail though :-(

And here are some gingerbread men we made a while back.  The girls had lots of fun rolling and cutting out the shapes and some got decorated with the little silver 'buttons'.  Looked good enough to eat - I'm told by some pretty reliable sources that they tasted great too!

Hope to see you on Saturday...............till next time, happy stitching....Nicky

Stitching Round the Block

  

Here is my Stitching Round the Block centre stitchery ready to pack up and get on it's way to Janis. The orangey coral colour is a bit outside my comfort zone, but I have tried to tone in with the Martinique fabrics I have chosen for this little quilt.  I haven't done stem stitch for the flower stems, decided instead to stick with what I know and used back stitch instead.   OOPS - I've just noticed in my pics that I haven't stitched the butterfly antenna - so I'd better go and fix that now! 

Happy stitching to all the girls out there working on this fun project - I've seen quite a few centre stitcheries complete around blogs in the last couple of days, and I guess there will be lots of wee hexies being stitched over the next couple of weeks too!  Have fun, and thanks for stopping by today.......Nicky