New Designs and a New Direction...

Hello! It has been so long since I last posted here! Family life keeps me very busy, but I still manage to find a bit of time for stitching and if you follow me on Instagram (where I tend to post more updates - you can find me @homestitchness) you will have seen a few sneak peeks of what I've been working on lately... 

I began preparing for Christmas back in June - early, I know - but I'd had a couple of design ideas simmering away and to have them ready for release and to give people time to stitch them before the holiday season, I needed to get a head start!

Today I am very excited to present the following Christmas Ornament designs to you - the patterns are available now in the home♥stitch♥ness Etsy shop as PDF downloads. 

Flowering Pohutukawa Christmas Ornament
home♥stitch♥ness

Vibrant Pohutukawa flowers bursting into bloom with leaves that form a Pacifica style pattern.

Flowering Gum Christmas Ornament
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Vivid Gum Flowers in bloom, forming a unique pattern. Another, large white flower appears in the centre when you look at this design and focus on edges of the gum leaves.

Yes - a New Zealand themed ornament AND an Australian themed ornament! It occurred to me a while ago, as I was working on a Pohutukawa flower pattern, that among the many things New Zealand and Australia share in common is a red flower that blooms during the summer months and symbolises Christmas. Even to look at, the similarities between the Pohutukawa and Gum blossom are striking. I realised that by tweaking my Pohutukawa flower pattern a little, I could create a Flowering Gum pattern using the same colours I was already working with and I am very pleased with the way both have turned out - these designs look like they belong together, don't they? Just like the unique camaraderie between New Zealanders and Australians and the way our countries tend to stick together in this great big wide world. 

Where I grew up in Northland, New Zealand, you see Pohutukawa trees everywhere and native Australian flora also thrives in the sub-tropical climate there. I have a love and appreciation of these treasured flowers and wanted to capture the brightness of summer and happiness of Christmas in both New Zealand and Australia through these designs.

These ornaments also represent the beginning of a new direction for home♥stitch♥ness - along with continuing to focus on my New Zealand designs, I also have several Australian designs currently in the works, too, which will start to become available as soon as I can stitch them up! I am excited to explore this new area of design and creativity.

Thank you for your continued interest in and support of my work! Both patterns are available as PDF downloads at the special introductory price of NZ $5.00 each (through the rest of October) in the home♥stitch♥ness Etsy shop. 

As always, happy stitching!

Jenny x