Hey everyone! I hope you have had some sun wherever you are – it was late arriving for the “summer” holidays here in Aotearoa, so late that I was joking we missed it in the lead up to Christmas. Unfortunately January has also brought in some pain, as B farewelled a school friend (very hard to do at 22) and a family friend drowned and another has passed due to cancer. Please, please – take care of yourselves and your loved ones. The city has also lost four people in the horrific flooding that’s taken us over.

Right. Stitchy stuff.

I have completed one goal in my annual list!

• FO Seas the Day (Hands on Design)

Seas the Day was completed on January third, while we were travelling State Highway 35 around the East Coast of the North Island.  I have found a frame too and just need to re-colour it.

Other pieces that have been worked on this month include

• A Stitch in Time (825 or 41.86%)
• The Letter P Fairy (429 or 9.09%)
• Rogue Dragon (757, now 70.06%)
• Seasonal Trilogy Autumn (400, now 10.49%)
• Strawberry Fields Forever (2623, now 49.67%)
• Tournee du Chat Noir (4559, now 15.79%)
• Jim Shore’s 12 Days (474, now 29.43%)

Strawberry Fields has become my go-to stitch, as it’s mostly GAST and Weeks, which I love, and there’s a bit of repetition. Perfect for binge watching – we’ve done Wrexham and all the Broadchurch this month, and there’s been a lot of cricket. I’ve also put most things into Pattern Keeper to make it easier on myself, but that 12 Day’s number refers to only days 3 & 4. That’s all I’ve re-charted right now. Days 1 & 2 were completed prior to March 2021. In total I hit 11038 stitches, well over target.