Fireflies & Cats in the Garden

Giveaway Thank You's

2012-03-05T15:17:00.001+08:00

Hello again!

Just a quick drive by to say hi and also to say a very big Thank You to Nancy and Mary Joan for their great giveaways that I won. Both parcels arrived in the mail on Friday.

Now lets have a look-see at what sweet stash additions I won...

1. Nancy at The Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe has these amazing giveaways and I was lucky enough to win one of them. The giveaway prize was some gorgeous hand dyed flosses. Stunning colours! I love the oranges and purples, well love them all really! I now have to try and find just the right design to stitch so that I can use these lovely threads. Thank you Nancy!

Floss giveaway from Nancy - Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe

2. Mary Joan at Mary Joan Stitching recently had a giveaway of some of her charts. These lovely charts also arrived on Friday in the mail. Wonderful addition to my stash of charts! I'm sure that I will find just the occasion to stitch from these - especially the cute Christmas ones! Mary Joan also stitched a lovely hardanger card as well. It is just lovely! Thank you Mary Joan!

Chart giveway from Mary Joan and the lovely hardanger card she stitched and included in the parcel

Thank you ladies - both giveaway prizes are fantastic and I feel very lucky to have been the lucky recipient of them both.

Before I go a bit of blog maintenance...

There has been lots of chatter on blogs lately about the new word verifications and how hard they are to read. I have to agree with that especially when I am reading blogs on my iPhone. I often give up trying to leave comments as the words are just too hard to decipher! I have now taken word verification off my blog as well - at least I hope I have!! I did start to have a play with Bloggers new interface format but as I couldn't find the setting to turn off word verification I have now gone back to the original interface format. I think I will stay using the old interface format now.... it is much better and I can find my way around so much easier!!

Welcome to my new Followers! It is lovely to meet you and I look forward to catching up with your news as I wander around the Blogosphere!

I have also been reading that Google followers is possibly going to disappear at some point as well.... Most of the time it doesn't seem to work on my blog and at the moment the only place I can see my Followers is on the laptop - any other computer that I use just won't show them! I have now found another "Followers" widget called "Linky Followers" which I have decided to give a go. It is a free "Follower" system and hopefully it will work and stay around!! I have seen a couple of bloggers already using the system for their followers... now I just have to go back to their blogs and follow them through Linky! If you get a moment and would like to also follow my blog through "Linky" please do so. I will leave both systems in place until Google Followers disappears.... which may yet be a long way off!

Blog maintenance issues over and put away til next time! I will leave you with a lovely comment from my 6 year nephew!

6 year old to his Father: "Dad, when I grow up I want to be just like Poppy."
Father to 6 yo: "Why's that son?"
6 year old to his Father: "Because I want to be able to take my teeth out and hold them in my hand while I clean them!"

Out of the mouths of babes!

Til next time, happy stitching

Leap Year 2012

2012-02-29T19:13:00.001+08:00

Hello! Just a very quick post today just so I can say that I managed to do a post on the 29th February 2012!

It's a Leap Year! Having one extra day in the year doesn't really mean that I have one whole extra day to stitch, but I would like to think so! Unfortunately work does tend to get in the way of my stitching and blogging!

And does this mean that 2012 will not go as quick as last year? Nope, don't think that's going to be case at all do you!!

Apparently one of the traditions of a Leap Year is that us girlies can ask our men folk to marry us. Well seeing as Hubby and I are already married I can't do that - but if we weren't already married I would most certainly be waiting for him when he comes home from work with a bottle of the sparkling French stuff and popping the question!

I managed to do a little bit more stitching this week on my Autumn MS Lovers Blog kitty and now there is some lovely orange and browny coloured leaves to see. Unfortunately an hour a day is not getting me very far with him, but every stitch is another stitch towards the end!

But we do have a long weekend this weekend which for me means 4 days off... as I don't work on Friday's. Can't wait! So fingers crossed there will be a lot more to show you next week.

MS Lover's Blog SAL #3
Cool Cats (Autumn) - designed by Margaret Sherry

So my dear readers, that is it for today. Hubby will be walking through the door any minute now after a long day at work and he will be wanting a nice hot cup of tea! No sparkling French stuff tonight - maybe on the weekend as a nice treat!

See you all again soon! Til next time, happy stitching

Giveaways Wins!

2012-02-25T09:10:00.075+08:00

Hello again! What's this I hear you say, 2 posts in as many days! (Well, truth be known it is really 2 posts in 1 day... I have just cheated and used the post options to schedule this post to pop up in your readers at 9am Saturday morning! I do so love that feature :o)

Ok dear readers, so what's this title about - more Giveaway Wins for me! Yep, that's right this lucky little doer has won not one but two giveaways this week!!

Firstly, I had an email from Nancy at The Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe. Nancy has had a number of giveaways running which I have been entering in an attempt to win some of her gorgeous hand-dyed threads, kits, etc. Well, guess what - I won!! So what did I win - I won part of Nancy's Valentine's Day giveaway - 10 skeins of lovely hand-dyed floss. Ooh, I so can't wait to see this turn up in the post box. I will have to put my thinking cap on and try and find the perfect projects to stitch with these special threads. Thank you Nancy.

So after doing a happy dance about the lovely floss from Nancy, I then had an email from Mary Joan at Mary Joan Stitching. Mary Joan had a giveaway to celebrate her 4th Blogoversary. The giveaway was a selection of 7 lovely charts/booklets from her stash. And yes! I won this one too.... Oh my goodness, double happy dance! There are some lovely Christmas charts in the stash additions she is sending which I can't wait to get my hands on! Thank you so much Mary Joan.

How excited am I this week - two giveaway wins and two delightful packages on their way to my little post box. February has been a good month :o)

I have been thinking about a giveaway myself but so far I haven't come up with a cunning plan.... but in the stew and fog that is supposed to be my brain an egg of a plan is beginning to hatch! So as they say in all the good editorials - watch this space. I just can't guarantee how long you will have to watch for?!?!!?

Now speaking of giveaways, I have been updating my sidebar with giveaways as I see them, but I am a bit behind with my blog maintenance this month so I think I have missed one or two... sorry. But hopefully I can get back to regular maintenance plan soon! I know that there are some great giveaways out there at the moment - Nancy at The Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe has regular giveaways and currently has a couple of different ones going on as we speak.

Remember I mentioned that Kaye from Kitten Stitching did a post where she asked everyone what she was dressed up like and I had guessed correctly that she looked like a Gondolier. Well, the little gift arrived from Kay this week. She sent me a lovely Laura Ashley shopping bag, a Lizzie Kate chart, and 2 momento's from her trip to Hawaii. So sweet - thank you so much Kay. I will enjoy using them all and think of you often :o)

Lovely gift from Kay (Kitten Stitching)

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Hubby and I recently treated ourselves to an iPhone. It was a toss up between an iPhone or an iPad and as I wanted one too.... it ended up being 2 iPhones!! Which now means that I have the means to read blogs on my way to and from work. Which I have been doing through this wonderful app called "Byline'. I found out about this app from another blog and it is so good..... Now the reason I mention this is because on a couple of blogs there was mention of a competition to show photos of funny places that your pets have been found sleeping. For the life of me though I can't remember who's blog I read it on... so I will do some research over the weekend and find out and then update this post...

But... while at the moment I don't have a photo to hand of some strange places I have found the cats asleep - like Oscar curled up in the bathroom sink in the middle of the night! - I do have a couple of photos that I took of Felix on Friday. I had the feather duster out as I was doing some dusting - now please don't fall off your chairs - yes I did do some dusting! Housework and I don't agree with each other but occasionally we do have to live and work together!!

I had finished wrapping the duster around the venetian blinds a few times and came into the kitchen to make a much needed cup of tea and left the duster on the kitchen bench. Next time I saw it, the duster was on the floor with the tea towel and Felix was playing with it..... and subsequently sneezing!

I so need to brush my cat!

I have no idea what he thought the duster was but it was fun watching him for the 10 mins or so that he played with it. But after that the dust got too much for him and he ignored the duster while he sneezed and sneezed and kept on sneezing! Poor thing - last time he cuddles a feather duster!

Well that's it for another post! Hopefully March will be a month of more regular posts and blog maintenance and lots more stitching!

Til next time, happy stitching

Totally Useless SAL - New Moon 21 February 2012

2012-02-24T21:07:00.001+08:00

Oh my goodness I am so terribly late reporting on my TUSAL and my dismal effort on the ISHW. Better late than never I guess!

Ok where do I start? IHSW was last weekend. I did get some stitching done on Sunday afternoon for a couple of hours, but Saturday was a complete washout. We ended up being out all day and on Saturday night I was just too tired to hold the needle - but I did prepare everything for my new start! So all wasn't lost on Saturday!

Bonus effort on the weekend though as I did manage to finish a kitty card on Friday night and Sunday I started my first Cool Cat for the MS Blog Lovers SAL #3.

Kitty card is another one from the Cross Stitch Crazy magazine issue 137 May 2010. There are four kitties designed by Lesley Teare in the set. So far I have stitched 2 and I may stitch the other 2 yet. I do have some other kitty designs in the stitching basket for the Craftbubble "Crazy for Kitties" Birthday Exchange to choose from, so we shall just have to wait and see what comes up next for stitching!

Kitty Card for Craftbubble "Crazy for Kitties" Birthday Exchange
Designed by Lesley Teare, Cross Stitch Crazy Issue 137, May 2010

Once I make this up into a card I will show you the final result.... the card design is still brewing in the stew of my brain.

Now for my new start. The MS Lovers Blog is having another great SAL. This one is stitching 4 seasonal cats - "Cool Cats" designed by Margaret Sherry. The original designs appeared in the UK Cross Stitcher magazine Issue 194, and were also reprinted in the Margaret Sherry bookazine published by the Cross Stitcher magazine publishers.

I have decided to start with "Autumn" given that we are slowly leaving summer behind and waiting for the leaves to turn to the glorious oranges and browns of Autumn. I will finish my four designs as little pillows using a seasonal fabric to back them. Well that's the plan anyway!!!

MS Lover's Blog SAL #3
Cool Cats (Autumn) - designed by Margaret Sherry

I started this kitty on Sunday afternoon and have managed to stitch a little more during the week... but not much! At the moment it is all the cream and white colours of his tummy but very soon there will be some black and grey to come.

If you want to have a squizz at what everyone was up to last weekend, go over to Joyze's post listing all the February sign ups and have a look at the 159 stitcher's blogs! So far I haven't got very far down the list, but there is a whole weekend to go visiting (actually there's not as we are out all day again tomorrow - but there is still Sunday!)

Now the other reason for today's post is the very late ORT's report. Don't ask me why but for some reason I thought the New Moon was today - 24th Feb - but of course it was 3 days ago.... I should have realised given how dark the nights have been! ;o)

ORT's jar this month is guarded by the dragon again as it is the Chinese Year of the Dragon! Also this month the ORT's are posed with the wonderful Oscar Pants, the Stitching Cat! Now when I was thinking about this photo today (admittedly in a hurried panic) I thought "oh my goodness Valentine's Day what can I use"... but nothing came to mind.... but what did jump out at me eventually was today is the first official game of this year's Super 15 Rugby series for our very own Western Force! So what better prop for my February TUSAL than my Western Force scarf! Unfortunately our boys lost by 2 points...... never mind. There is always the next game!

TUSAL February 2012
Dragon, Oscar and the Western Force

As you can see the ORT's have multiplied since last month - thank goodness! Still only a small start to the year but at least some stitching has been done.

Hopefully this weekend will see a little bit more stitching on the "Autumn" kitty and some black and grey ORT's will go on top of the cream and white ones that are so prevelant at the moment.

Pop on over to Daffycat's blog if you are interested in signing up for the 2012 TUSAL.

Til the next new moon on 22 March 2012, happy stitching and may your collection of ORT's keep growing!

New Moons - 2012

22 March

21 April

20 May

19 June

19 July

17 August

16 September

15 October

13 November

13 December

The end of another weekend....

2012-02-05T21:54:00.000+08:00

I think I have asked this question before and I will most likely be asking it again... where has the weekend gone?

It is Sunday night and it is almost bedtime.... Hubby is watching Harry Potter and I have been trying to catch up on my blog reading - I was doing quite well until blogger decided to stop letting me comment on blogs. So I must apologise to those of you that I have visited and caught up on the news but haven't left a comment on.

We have had a reasonably quiet weekend, although yesterday was busy as we went to visit some friends and then had to do the food shopping and then Saturday was over.... Today has been a very quiet day - not much happening once the ironing was done; which is good as we were both quite knackered after a busy week at work.

Friday was my day off and boy did I need it! I had a doctor's appointment and then later on in the morning had a hairdresser's appointment, and I also checked the mail at the post box as I generally do on a Friday. Now why do I mention the mail do you ask... well this is why...

During December Nia from Caixinha de Pirlimpimpim had a "12 days of Christmas" post-a-thon where she posted about different things over 12 days and each day added a small gift to a stocking. At the end of the Christmas postings she then picked the winners. Nia had asked everyone to comment on a post about what they would like to win and I mentioned that I would like to win the little snow globe... I didn't win at the time but Valerie from Fee le point did win the stocking. She had mentiooned in your comment to Nia that if she won the stocking she would send me the snow globe... and that is what appeared in the mail. All unknown to me as I hadn't actually seen Valerie's comment!

And here is my lovely new snow globe in all it's wonderful glory... and a cute little penguin card :o)

What a lovely surprise - this really made my day. Thank you Valerie for your special gift and thank you Valerie and Nia for your generosity and friendship.

Last weekend I finally managed to finish the two cards that I was stitching for the February birthdays in the Craftbubble "Crazy for Kitties" birthday exchange. They both hit the mail cart on Monday and hopefully will arrive in the UK in the next day or so.

Kitty card for Evaline

Kitty card for Julie

Now before I wander off to bed, as it is now almost my bedtime, there is just one more little mention I must make...

Kaye from Kitten Stitching did a post the other day about a conference that she want to in Sanctuary Cove, and for the Gala Dinner, which was fancy dress (British Muscians/Musicals), Kaye was dressed up as someone from a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta.... well I thought she looked like a Gondolier and said as much in my comment. I guessed right! Yippee... little happy dance happening here in my little part of the world!

Well that's it from me for now! It is now well past my bedtime... Harry Potter is just finishing - "He who must not be named" has the Elder Wand from Dumbledore's grave..... have to wait for the next instalment to see if Harry saves the day!

Night night, sleep tight, see you all again real soon!

Until next time, happy stitching

Totally Useless SAL - New Moon 23 January 2012

2012-01-24T21:03:00.000+08:00

Hello again! As promised I am back today to show you my pathetic looking ORT's jar for January 2012... Oh well there is a whole 11 months of the year to go yet to fill the jar up again!

I did look around for something new to use for my ORT's this year but so far haven't found the one... so we are back to using the little Moccona coffee jar again. It served my ORT's so well last year that I feel it's only fitting to use it again for 2012.

Remember how every month I would squish down my ORT's so that they would fit in the jar, well when I pulled them out and un-squished them this is what I ended up with. I could have probably stretched them out a bit more but they fit just nicely on the lovely cushion/pillow cover for the photograph. Now I just have to keep them safe until I finish something that I can turn into a pin cushion as I am going to use these beauties as part of the stuffing!

2011 ORT's

Ok, so now is the time for the big reveal - look at the tiny pile. They do look so lonely in their jar, don't they? Just goes to show how little stitching I have done this January compared to this time last year. The ORT's are from the 2 cards that I have done/am doing for my Craft Bubble exchange.

TUSAL January 2012
Dragon, Aussie Flags and the ORT's

For my photo this month I decided to pose the ORT's with one of my beautiful dragons and the Australian flag. Why have I posed them with the dragon and the flag? Well... firstly

Happy Chinese New Year! 2012 is the year of the Dragon - and that is me! Unfortunately Hubby was born in the year of the Dog which makes us mortal enemies but in this the Chinese horoscope is so wrong. So welcome to the year of the Dragon! (I guess that this is why I have such a thing for dragons!)

And secondly,

I added the Aussie flag to my TUSAL photo as Thursday is Australia Day. We are having my brother over for lunch and maybe will go to the beach first thing before it gets too hot. The temperature is predicted to get to 41 deg C. A lovely warm day for a day off and a fantastic long weekend... 4 days off work - bliss!

That's it for another TUSAL and ORT report. I look forward to seeing what is sitting in everyone else's ORT's jar.

Oh and by the way, did you see who the lucky lady was that won last year's amazing TUSAL stash addition. Pop on over to Daffycat's blog to see the latest news and if you are interested in signing up for the 2012 TUSAL drop in on Daffycat's blog. Congratulations Catherine of Bramblewood Stitches - enjoy your stunning prize!

Til the next new moon on 21 February 2012, happy stitching and may your collection of ORT's keep growing!

New Moons - 2012

21 February

22 March

21 April

20 May

19 June

19 July

17 August

16 September

15 October

13 November

13 December

New Moon on Monday...

2012-01-23T20:43:00.004+08:00

Oops, no sorry that is a post for tomorrow, and I also think that title is a Duran Duran song (and yes I am well and truly the age to remember Duran Duran!!) So if I am going to do my New Moon and TUSAL post tomorrow, then what am I yabbering on about today?

Well, today is a report back on the International Hermit and Stitch Weekend (IHSW).

I didn't get quite as much stitching done over the weekend as I had originally planned but I did get started on the new kitty card. It is about half way done so that is a result.

Since getting my iphone a couple of weeks ago I have become addicted to it... and Dragonvale!! So now I have to divide my weekend time around housework, washing, ironing (yuck), blogging (like), cross stitch (like) and Dragonvale (addicted).... oh and don't forget the furbabies and hubby!! (double like)

The kitty design that I am now stitching is from the Cross Stitch Crazy magazine issue 137. The designs are nice bright kitties with colourful flowers. Just the right design to send to someone in the UK with a February birthday!

"Cool for Cats" designed by Lesley Teare
Cross Stitch Crazy, Issue 137 May 2010

Hopefully next month I will be a lot more productive during the IHSW. If you want to know more about this wonderful weekend stitch event pop on over to Joyze's blog and have a read and maybe make a note to sign up for next month. The link to the info page is on my side bar or you could just go from here ... http://joysze.blogspot.com/p/international-hermit-and-stitch-weekend.html

Now before I leave you I have to share a photo of my little kitty. We were sorting out the spare bedroom for my step-son (Jack is going to come and stay with us for a wee while now that he has finished University and is about to start his job as a Graduate Mining Engineer) and the boys had to help - as they do! We put a plastic bag (recycled shopping bag) into the waste paper bin and no sooner had we done that and Felix decided that he wanted to sleep in the bin.

First he had to knock the bin over and remove the plastic bag. I swear to you that he pulled that bag out all by himself... no human help or kitty help involved!

And now he fits beautifully in the bin. No waste paper bin is safe when Felix is around. Whenever he sees one of these small bins he loves to turn them over on their side to see what's in there. And they do make such lovely kitty sleep spots.

So til tomorrow when I will be back to show you my pathetically small number of ORT's for January, safe stitching!

Where in the world....

2012-01-20T15:45:00.001+08:00

Where in the world has January gone? I can't believe that it is nearly 3 weeks since the new month and year started.... and nearly 3 weeks since I posted anything on my blog! How time flies! I must apologise for neglecting you all.

And what is my ~~excuse~~ reason? Well... I don't have one! I can't even tell you that I have been doing lots of stitching as I have been very slack on that side of things as well!

I did however spend the last week of our time off work scanning some of the charts from my magazines. Hubby and I have started to tidy up and organise our craft room and as part of the tidy up I thought that I'd start scanning the charts and de-clutter my side of the room. Of course by de-cluttering I mean make room for more stash!!

It's amazing how long de-cluttering takes! By the time I played around each day scanning charts I didn't feel like stitching...

But... I did manage to make a start and now it's a finish. I have been stitching a card for the Craftbubble "Crazy for Kitties" birthday exchange. I need to do another one by the end of the weekend so that they can both be mailed and hopefully arrive in the UK by the first week of February.

Free Gift - Cross Stitcher issue January 1998
Sttiched for CB "Crazy for Kitties" birthday exchange

It's amazing what you find when you start to de-clutter your stash. This little gem of a kitty was a free gift many moons ago (January 1998 to be precise) in the UK Cross Stitcher magazine. Overall it was a very quick and easy stitch, however due to my lack of mojo it did take a couple of weeks... a couple of weeks too long! I now need to get my skates on a bit and get the second one stitched for the February birthdays.

So it's just as well that I have decided to join the International Hermit and Stitch Weekend for 2012. Joyce (Random Ramblings) is hosting the IHSW again this year and this time round I have decided to join in too. If you would like to sign up for the January IHSW, which occurs this weekend, pop on over to Joyce's blog and sign up quick sticks!

I have spent the day catching up on all my blog reading and while I have not completely caught up I am nearly there! Everyone has been very busy doing all these wonderful SAL's, Crazy for January stitching, WIPocalypse, and general stitching - I am quite jealous of all the beautiful things that you have all stitched over the last few weeks. Well done :o)

It's time for me to say bye bye! I must now go and find some new design to stitch over the weekend and hopefully fill my ORT's jar up! There's not many ORT's sitting in the jar at the moment.... so my TUSAL post next week will be very lean I fear!

So til next time, happy stitching

Happy New Year 2012

2012-01-01T06:00:00.004+08:00

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.
~Alfred, Lord Tennyson, 1850

Happy New Year. May everything that you wish for come true over the coming year. I look forward to seeing you all in 2012 and keeping up with all your stitching exploits.

I have read over the last week or so that everyone is planning all their 2012 stitching goals. Last year I set some stitching goals but didn't manage to complete them all.... so this year I will probably modify last year's list and see how I go for 2012!

I have another week off work and am hoping to get some stitching done but we shall see! I have spent the last week scanning some of my magazine charts in an attempt to get my chart stash under control, but even though I have managed to scan over 140 charts I am nowhere near finished the first pile... let alone the 6 other files worth and all the other mags!! We have also bought some new furniture to put in the craft room which already makes the room look better. So I think our 2012 New Year Resolution is definitely to get the craft room sorted out and my chart stash under control! At least these resolutions are achievable!!

Enjoy your New Year's Day. All the best for the upcoming year.

Til next time,

Penguins on Parade on the last day of the year....

2011-12-31T17:39:00.000+08:00

Wow, New Year's Eve of 2011. Where has the year gone too? It really doesn't seem like 12 months since I was sitting here writing about the demise of 2010 and now we have 2011 breathing it's last gasp.

As a treat to end the year on Hubby and I decided to go over to Penguin Island.

Penguin Island is a little eco-bird santuary island off the coast of Rockingham - a 5 minute ferry ride to be precise. There is a sand bar that connects the island to the Rockingham coastline and some stupid people do try to walk across when the tide is out.... however we value our lives and took the ferry! Even though the sand bar is closed to public access people still walk across it!!!

We have been wanting to do this for years but never seem to have the time so today was the day!! It seems like today was the day for quite a lot of other people as well.... the ferry was so busy that instead of running it every hour they were running it continuously. The weather was just fantastic - sunny, warm but not too hot with the loveliest sea breeze! Almost too blowy on one side of the island!!

While over on the island we went into the Discovery Centre and watched the 10 Little Penguins get fed. When we were talking to the Ranger after the feeding she was telling us how old the penguins were - the oldest is 19 years old!! Can you believe it! They all look so young and so little....

Swimming pool where the penguins have their dinner....
The sea water gets changed every day....

Aren't they adorable?

At the moment it is moulting season for the penguins so they are actually highly stressed. Of course the heat at this time of the year doesn't help either for the poor things. The penguins in the Discovery Centre are either orphans or injured ones that can't be returned completely to the wild. They have already moulted so their feathers don't look quite so messy. A couple of the ones that we saw out around the island are all messy while their feathers drop out.

After watching the feeding we went for a walk around the island along the boardwalk that runs around the areas of the island that the public are allowed to go to. Part of the walk goes along a section of the beach. So nice to walk on the beach and feel the sand in your toes. The beach is littered with these limestone rocks and caves. They are fascinating, and then we noticed a penguin pop out of one near the water and go for a swim!

Amazing limestone rock formations around the island and the beach

Little penguin hiding under the rocks after he went for a cooling swim

Hubby sitting in amongst the limestone rock formation

As we were heading back to the Discovery Centre to catch the ferry back to the mainland we saw some penguins hiding under the boardwalk. These ones are still moulting so there feathers all look fluffy and brown rather than sleek and black.

Little penguin hiding under the boardwalk - he is currently moulting which is why he looks all fluffy

Small Little Penguin hiding in the bushes near the boardwalk

When we got back onto the mainland we wandered around the gift shop and bought a couple of penguins...

A new snowglobe to add to the collection!

To finish off our morning out we decided to have fish and chips for lunch and sit and watch the kiteboard and sailboard riders.

Such a lovely way to spend a morning on the last day of the year!

As the final hours of the year roll away I was thinking about the year that has gone by. I have managed to do far more stitching this year than I have done in a long time. So in that sense 2011 has been a very successful year even if I didn't quite get all my stitching goals completed. On a personal level this year has been good for us as well... Hubby started a new job in February and has settled in quite nicely now. My job is still going along well even with a change of boss mid-year. Both of Hubby's sons have also had a good year and they both ended the year reasonably settled in their lives... well as settled as a 21 and 25 year old can be!! The rest of the family have all been safe and healthy this year and made it through the year safe and sound.

Around the world 2011 hasn't been that great for a lot of people. There has been some horrible natural disasters here in Australia and abroad that have struck at the heart of people's lives and left so many people heartbroken and without loved ones, homes and personal possessions. Some people have recovered but many are still going along the road of recovery. I do hope that 2012 is a better year for all those hurt in 2011, and also for everyone else at home and around the world.

I would like to say thank you to all my followers over the last year for your lovely comments and for taking time out of your busy days to read my posts and ramblings! I would also like to say thank you to everyone out there in blogland - thank you for the inspiration and tutuorials. I have loved reading all about what people have been stitching and what happens in different places around the world. Blogging really does bring the world closer together.

I wish you all a very Happy New Year and a wonderful, properous 2012. May your needles stay sharp and your fingers stay nimble over the coming year.

Til next year!

Boxing Day...where's the TV remote?

2011-12-26T13:06:00.002+08:00

Hi there! How is everyone on this lovely Boxing Day? Did you survive Christmas Day? Or are you right now wishing you hadn't over-indulged in food and drink yesterday? Either way I hope that everyone enjoyed their Christmas Day.

Today is definitely the day for sitting in front of the telly and not moving very far!! We had a lovely Christmas Day. The day started off early as it always does in our house... the sky starts to lighten around 4.45am and once the sky is light the cats are awake, and when the cats are awake so is Daisy and that means it's time for Mum and Dad to get up too..... We did manage to get a sleep in yesterday to about 5.30am... bonus!

After feeding the grey wonders and having a cup of tea in bed, we took Daisy dog out for a early walk. Then it was ham and eggs for breakfast and hey presto before you know it's time to put the turkey in the oven! We then opened the couple of presents that were under the tree and gave the furry ones their stockings. Daisy enjoys the unwrapping but the cats aren't that fussed! However there were some little things in a stocking for them.

Daisy unwrapping her Xmas snuggy!

We bought Daisy a new snuggy which she adores. The first day snuggy always loses a leg or two, but the rest of it lasts for about a month. Once she gets the balls out of the body the tennis ball is destroyed in a matter of minutes but the plastic ball generally lasts for ages. You can actually see in the back of this photo what is left of the snuggy that she had been playing with up until yesterday.

Daisy and her new Snuggy

The boys had a couple of new "mouses" and a funny coloured thing in their stocking. Oscar had a little play.... but Felix liked the new mouses. I went and checked on him about 1/2 an hour after they "opened" their pressies and found him sitting in front of the Christmas tree.....

Where's the mouse Felix?

He obviously thought that mouse looked quite good as a Christmas decoration! Honestly, he did this.... neither hubby or I set this up... it was all Felix's work!

After lunch we had an hour of sitting outside on the patio listening to some good old Aussie pub rock (Micheal Buble was all worned out!) and enjoying the very mild summer's day! (Most unusual for this time of the year in Perth). My brother rocked up around 4pm, stayed for a leftovers dinner and the night. It wasn't a late night though as we were all knackered and in bed by 9pm!

So after a big day yesterday, today is a very quiet day doing nothing in front of the telly. Hubby is trying to keep busy though so that he doesn't worry too much about his eldest son who is currently sailing in the "Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race" in a 50ft yacht called "Knee Deep". We watched the start of the race and tried to catch a glimpse of Knee Deep - they were up with the big boys in the first starting line this year, but unfortunately "Wild Oats XI" is apparently the only boat in the race... or at least that's what it seems like as Channel 7 only really showed Wild Oats XI. Never mind.... For the next few days now Hubby will have to be content with following the race via the yacht tracker.....

We have now switched channels and are watching the Boxing Day test between Australia and India. Sailing and Cricket are the two main staples of an Aussie Boxing Day!! Oh and of course turkey sandwiches and left over trifle and/or Christmas pud. Oh my goodness... more food! Oh well the diet will start next week....

That's all from me for now. I hope that everyone is enjoying their Christmas holidays.

Til next time, take care...

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T08:45:00.009+08:00

Good morning everyone! Merry Christmas!

I hope that this Christmas Day finds you all safe, happy and well. Did Santa leave you lots of lovely surprises under the tree or in your stocking? Did anyone get more stash?

Our day will be a very quiet one with just Hubby and I and the furry ones for lunch. Hubby's two sons are not in Perth this year - one is in Sydney preparing to depart on Boxing Day and sail in the "Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race", and the other is in the UK where he is now studying Fine Art. My parents and my two sisters and their families are at my Mum and Dad's in Dongara, but we decided not to travel this year. So staying home we are!! However, my brother and his partner have also stayed in Perth and will be coming over later this afternoon and staying for dinner.... well, someone has to help us consume the leftovers!

As we celebrate this very special day in our own special way, I would like to thank you all for reading my blog over the last year and for your comments and friendship along the way.
I wish you and yours all the best for this Christmas and for the New Year to come. Stay safe and look after yourselves and each other.

Hugs to you all, see you again very soon!

Totally Useless SAL - New Moon 24 December 2011

2011-12-24T16:17:00.003+08:00

Oh my goodness it's time for another New Moon ORT Report. This is the last one for 2011.

In my little ORT jar this month are lots of Chistmas colours from the Christmas cards that I have been stitching the last month.

This month I stitched a little kitty ornament for the Craftbubble "Crazy for Kitties" Christmas Exchange along with a secret card for the MS Lovers Blog Christmas Exchange, and finally I have just stitched a freebie Joan Elliott design which is a cute teddy Christmas Card. Oh, and I also finished off a little Christmas stitch into a ornament which I sent to my Mum and Dad for their tree.

All the above will be revealed in a later post - this post is all about the final TUSAL ORT report for 2011!

Where do we find the ORT jar this New Moon... well, seeing as how it's Christmas they must be somewhere with Santa Claus or the elves!

TUSAL 24 December 2011
Oscar and the TUSAL jar and all things Christmassy!

Well, here they are... with Christmas puppy, some crackers, Joy Lindt choccies, snowglobes and of course a cat!!

While I was working out what to do for this month's photo Oscar and Felix decided to put on the Michael Buble christmas CD. "Michael Buble" - said in our best Graham Norton impression!! So Michael Buble's CD had to be in the photo too...

After I took this photo Felix decided to have a look at what was in the bag on the table that we bought back from City Farmers. In this bag is the presents for Daisy dog and the puddy tats! Of course Felix had to find it, and try to get into it..... and when he did get into it there was somethng in the bag that I didn't realise was in there.

Can you see the cute little red hat sneaking out of the bag?
The pink thing that you can see is Daisy's new snuggie!!

Have a look at what we found in the bag.... and doesn't this make a great December TUSAL?

TUSAL picture number 2 - December 2011
Christmas gift from City Farmers and the ORT's jar

So that's it for this ORT report and for the 2011 TUSAL! In January we will start all over again next year.

The hunt now begins for a new TUSAL far to collect my 2012 ORT's. I do have a jar in mind but.... I think that it is probably way too big. I received a gift at work the other day which was a jar full of toffees and at first I thought "Yes, my 2012 TUSAL jar!", but - well, have a look and tell me what you think?

Could this be the 2012 TUSAL jar..... maybe not!

If you wish to sign up for the 2012 TUSAL drop in on Daffycat's blog.

Til the next new moon on 23rd January 2012, happy stitching and may your collection of ORT's keep growing!

Merry Christmas!

New Moons - 2012

23 January

21 February

22 March

21 April

20 May

19 June

19 July

17 August

16 September

15 October

13 November

13 December

Twisted Stitch-A-Longs

2011-12-13T18:50:00.001+08:00

Hello again! Well, we survived the storms last night. The media are calling it a one in 100 year storm! But that probably means nothing these days - they said that about the storm that went through last Tuesday which ended up closing the Perth airport for a number of hours! This one though was pretty spectacular with some amazing lightning, and that thunder just rolled on and on for hours. There was a reasonably bit of damage to some people's homes and one town further down south of Perth was even flooded.... Apparently it was Perth's third wettest day for 60 years! We had 43.6mm of rain yesterday and overnight which actually exceeds Perth's whole summer rainfall average of 35mm! Looking at the sky tonight I think there is more on the way although the radar doesn't show anything much at the moment.

Enough of the storm chasing.... the storm lasted almost as long as George Clooney's visit to Australia today!!

This is really just a very quick post tonight as I wanted to let you know about some SAL's that are happening at the moment. I saw these on a couple of blogs today while I was attempting to catch up on blog reading... yet again! Now while I would love to join in with these I know that I will never be able to keep up so I thought I would do my bit by doing a "shout out" about them so that those of you that may not have heard about them yet can join in. I will be following the blogs so that I can see what everyone is stitching and who knows maybe next time I might even sign up for one!

These SAL's are all moderated by Vonna from The Twisted Stitcher blog. There are no rules you just join in and stitch at your own pace. So if you're interested check them out:

http://ccn-cottages.blogspot.com/ for the new series of CCN Cottages
http://psabcbee.blogspot.com/ for the Prairie Schooler ABC range
http://littlehouseornies.blogspot.com/ for the Little House Needleworks monthly ornaments
http://littlehouseorniestoo.blogspot.com/ for some more Little House Needleworks ornaments

Vonna is also thinking of setting up a SAL for the new LHN Elizabeth Hancock sampler being released this month. http://elizabethhancock.blogspot.com/

Well that's it for now, so til next time happy stitching!

It's a very revealing Secret Squirrel time

2011-12-12T21:54:00.000+08:00

Ssh... it's Secret Squirrel time!

While I can't reveal what I have done for my Margaret Sherry Lovers Blog Christmas Card Exchange I can tell you that it is finished and I have now sent it on it's way to Portgual. All will be revealed around Christmas Eve/Day. So stay tuned!

But don't panic Mr Mannering... I can reveal something to you!

Today is the reveal day for the Craftbubble "Crazy for Kitties" Christmas Card Exchange. I have previously shown you what I sent to Sue in the UK, but I haven't shown you what I received until now.

"Crazy for Kitties" Christmas Card exchange from Sue

After unwrapping the packages from Sue (with a little bit of help from the boys) I had to read the book straight away. It was a lovely book... all about a sweet little kitten who helped an NZ family through a very touch time. If you get the chance to read this book make sure you have a box of tissues with you! I checked out Helen's website and it appears that there may very well be a movie coming out sometime next year.

Now while I can't show you my Margaret Sherry Christmas card I can show what else I have been working on over the last couple of weeks. The CB "Crazy for Kitties" group also did a Christmas Ornament exchange and I stitched a kitty ornament for Maribeth in the USA. That was mailed today. Two finishes in one weekend... must be a record!!

Kitty Ornament for Maribeth (Crazy for Kitties Exchange)
"Merry Kittens Ornaments" - Dimensions

My Christmas Tree
We haven't decorated the bottom in an attempt
to keep the boys away from the ornaments!

Daisy dog all dressed up for Christmas!
(Woof- get these things off me Mum - woof)

Well lovely bloggers I must finish this post in a bit of a hurry as we have a raging thunderstorm outside tonight. It has been around since about 4.30pm this afternoon and while it was eased off for about 10 mins or so, it is now back with a vengence and with each thunderclap and lightning strike the power is now flickering.... so I think it's time to say goodnight! Plus the battery is about to run out on the laptop as is my battery - it is way past my bedtime!!

So before I turn into a pumpkin.. night night, see you all again real soon

December is here....

2011-12-01T08:30:00.008+08:00

Happy December.... here we are on the first day of December and it's the first day of Summer here in Australia, not that you would really know it in Perth at the moment. We have been having the most delightful weather - not too hot, not too cold, just right! Although it is apparently going to start warming up towards the end of the week, but so far we have had a very mild lead up to December. Yes, there has been the odd day when the temp went up to the high 30's during November, but there was been rain and lot of very cool, almost cold nights. We still have the quilt and blanket on the bed, and I have only just taken the flannette sheets off. Very strange for this time of the year! I am enjoying every minute of it too as it won't last - Summer will be here with it's full blast of high 30's to mid 40's any day now!

I meant to show you my latest stash additions yesterday in my post... but I forgot.. Still never mind that just means that I get to pop up in your blog reading list again and say hi!

My latest stash additions are actually all related to making cards. As you have seen over 2011 I have been stitching for the Craftbubble "Crazy for Kitties" group birthday and Christmas exchanges. This has been such fun and most of us have signed up again for 2012. We also have some newbies in the list as well.

With the card exchanges I always like to send a small "kitty" inspired gift. For 2011 I managed to find some kitty notebooks and fridge magnets, but I always have my eye out for anything that has a kitty on it and is small enough to mail overseas with the card. On the weekend when we were out shopping I found a shop that had lots of kitty things to buy - so I did! As Hubby said, "if you don't get them now when you see them, you probably won't be able to find them the next time you come looking for them', and that is so true.

So here's what I got - kitty magnets, bookmarks, key rings and hangers. Lots of pink ones... which wasn't planned it was just how it happened! So that's all the gifts for next year's birthday exchange sorted, but it won't stop me looking for kitty inspired things as you just never know what you will find when you least expect to. It feels good to be so organised.... now all I have to do is to be organised and on time with my stitching!! That might be a challenge....

Kitty gifts for 2012 CB birthday exchange

While were at the shopping centre I finally managed to scout out where the scrapbooking shop is, and once in there that was just as dangerous - or could have been if I hadn't been looking specifically for Christmas paper for my card (which by the way you will notice I didn't end up using - see previous post to see the card). But hey, stash is stash and it never gets wasted!

Christmas paper, kitty brads and lovely pins

Close up look at kitty brads and pins

As you can see I even managed to find some kitty inspired stuff in the scrapbooking shop as well. These gorgeous brads will be perfect for the exchange birthday cards. I also found some lovely pins which I plan to use when I finally get around to making some pin cushions - whenever that may be!! Nobody said you have to use stash as soon as you buy it!

Well, I guess that's about it for today. I hope that the rest of your week goes well, see you all again real soon!

Til next time, happy stitching and happy stashing!

My last post....

2011-11-30T14:07:00.003+08:00

That made you look, didn't it!!! Well, it is the last day of November, so this is my last post for November 2011!! And seeing as I didn't post much during the month I thought that I would end the month on a high note, so to speak.

Where, oh where has the month and the year gone? Tomorrow is the 1st of December, which means that Christmas is around the corner with the New Year of 2012 chasing behind and catching up very quickly! Can you believe how quickly 2011 has flown by?

I was thinking the other day about what goals I had set for my stitching for 2011 and whether I had achieved any of them, and then thought about what my stitching goals for 2012 would be. But that is for another post! I may not have achieved all my goals but I have certainly done a lot more stitching this year than I have done for a very long time! So that is an achievement in itself :o)

This post, as it is the last one for November 2011, is a bit of a stitching update.

So what have I been working on over the last month? Besides my snowman for the MS Lovers Blog SAL #2, I recently stitched Margaret Sherry's photographer cat for the birthday of an online friend of mine in the USA - Maribeth. This card was part of the Craftbubble "Crazy for Kitties" birthday exchange. Maribeth often tells me about the trips that she does around her home state of New York and I thought that the photographer cat would be the perfect fellow to stitch for her. Plus he is a ginger cat as is Maribeth's kitty! So two ticks in two boxes... can't go wrong!

The design has been published in one of the cross stitching mags but in this instance I stitched the design from the bumper Margaret Sherry Collection design book. I so love that book - all those great designs in one spot!

Stitched photographer cat from Margaret Sherry Collection

Finished card for Maribeth

I also stitched a Christmas card for the same group's Christmas Exchange. My card is now on it's way to Sue in the UK but I thought it wouldn't hurt to let you see a sneak peek of her card... so here it is.

Finished card for Sue (Crazy for Kitties Christmas Exchange)
Design was stitched from the "Cross Stitch Favourites 2011" magazine

I know that it is a very plain and simple finish to the card, but after finding this delightful vintage paper I didn't want to put anything else on it except the stitching. For once I stayed my hand with the extra emblishments. The paper was a freebie in one of the paper crafting magazines. I only buy those magazines if they have good freebies like papers or stamps!

I am still stitching my ornament which is also for the CB "Crazy for Kitties" group. This should be finished by the weekend, and then I will start on my secret stitching for the MS Lovers Blog Christmas card exchange. I know exactly what I am going to stitch and how I am going to finish the card, but my lips are sealed as we have all been sworn to secrecy until the card arrives at its destination, or at least until Christmas eve when Nia will post pics of those that haven't quite made it to their destination on the MS Lovers Blog for all to see!

So, fellow bloggers, that is it for the last post of November 2011. See you in December when we start the countdown to Christmas and 2012.

Til next time, happy stitching!

Saturday Night at the Movies

2011-11-27T15:55:00.002+08:00

What better way is there to spend a Saturday night than at the movies? Well, maybe watching old movies at home on Saturday night!

That's what our Saturday was all about last night. Hubby cooked a delicious steak dinner which I washed down with a lovely glass or two of sparkling wine and then watched 2 of my favourite leading ladies in a sweet, happy movie called "How to Marry a Millionaire".

This movie came out 11 years before I was even born...

I just love watching old movies and to have a movie with Marilyn Monroe and Lauren Bacall in it was an added bonus, so how could I not have watched it; even if I have watched it a couple of times before! After that movie finished I then watched a wonderful old Frank Sinatra movie - "Pal Joey".

A great way to spend a Saturday night! Didn't get too much stitching done though... which was probably just as well as I would probably have had to "frog" all the stitches done after having a few glasses of bubbles....

Til next time, happy stitching!

"The Wedding Quilt" Giveaway

2011-11-26T18:25:00.000+08:00

Hello again... I don't normally do 2 posts in one day... but there is always a first time especially when there is a good reason for a 2nd post!

Over the last few months I have been reading some fabulous novels by Jennifer Chiaverini - the Elm Creek Quilts novels.

All devotees of these fabulous books have been hanging out and waiting for the new release - The Wedding Quilt.

This book has now been released in the US, and one of the bloggers that I follow - Loris from Lucky Pup Quilter - has been given the wonderful job of reading, reviewing and then having a giveaway for some lucky person to also get the chance to read the new book!

Now if you haven't read the books I recommend you do... the characters are rich and believable, and the history that is wrapped up in the stories with the backdrop of the US Civil War period are fascinating. The stories that are set in today's time make me so want to go on a Quilt Camp and be part of this wonderful life! Reading these books re-ignited my dream of creating a quilt... although I haven't had the courage to start one yet.... I leave the quilts to Hubby while I cross-stitch - but a girl can still dream can't she?!?

So how do you get in on the action? Simple, just drop in to Loris' blog, say hi and sign up for the Wedding Quilt giveaway.

Til next time, happy stitching and happy reading!

Totally Useless SAL Update - New Moon 25 November 2011

2011-11-26T16:49:00.004+08:00

Hello dear blogging friends! Here we are again, another New Moon and another ORT Report.

In my little ORT jar this month are lots of colours from all the stitching I have been doing - some of which you have seen and some you haven't as yet viewed.

So what have I stitched this month? Well, I stitched the Margaret Sherry "Snowman" as part of the MS Lovers Blog SAL; the "Photographer Cat" from the Margaret Sherry book; "Kitty in the Window" from the Christmas Cross Stitch Favourites magazine, and finally I am now stitching a kitty ornament from a Dimensions kit that has been hiding in my stash for many a year! I haven't posted pics of the photographer cat or kitty in the window yet as they are on their way to opposite ends of the world - once I know they have arrived safe and sound at their destinations I will post a pic for you all to see.

I had planned to take my photo this month with a cute little purple owl that I bought from the Cat Alliance charity group. We regularly have 2 lovely older ladies sit in our shopping centre for a week knitting and sewing while surrounded by all the gorgeous handcrafted things that they make. They sell them to public to raise money for the Cat Alliance group - a very worthwhile charity in my humble opinion.

Then yesterday I heard about the death of one of my all time favourite authors - Anne McCaffrey. My love of fantasy novels was ignited in the early 1980's by reading these wonderful and fantastic books all about the world of Pern and the dragons and their riders. Anne was born on 1 April 1926 and she died of a massive stroke at her home in Ireland on 21 November 2011, aged 85. I have read just about every one of her books bar the most recent ones that have come out in the last couple of years. It's time to start re-reading all about Pern again....

This morning when I took my TUSAL photo I decided to include my lovely orange (maybe he is really a bronze) dragon in the photo with the owl in memory of Anne McCaffrey.

Original TUSAL photo - November 2011

Well, that was this morning.... things changed this afternoon!

While Hubby and I were out shopping this afternoon, we went to Bunnings to get a few things including some new veggie seedlings. In the Garden section I noticed that they had a new display of air plants (Tallandsia), and in among this display was some dragons. Dragons... lots of different colours - purple, black, green, orange, blue, some with wizards, some with crystals.... oh, the choice!

We did eventually choose... a green one wrapped around a crystal ball, a purple one siting on a pile of books, and finally a tiny green one for my desk at work. Below is my new TUSAL photo, complete with seedlings and fresh cat grass plants in the background! Oh, and of course Oscar enjoying a fresh feed of cat grass!!

New TUSAL photo - November 2011
Dragons are in memory of Anne McCaffrey (1926-2011)

So that's it for this ORT report. There is one more ORT report to do for 2011... and then we will start all over again next year.

If you wish to sign up for the 2012 TUSAL drop in on Daffycat's blog.

Til the next new moon on 24th December 2011, happy stitching and may your collection of ORT's keep growing!

New Moons - 2011

24 December

Giveaways

2011-11-25T15:40:00.001+08:00

Hello again!

Sorry, November hasn't been the best of blogging/posting months for me.... I have no idea where the month has gone! Besides being extremely busy at work and quite busy at home, I have also been busy stitching, which all comes down to very little time for blogging! I do so wish there were more hours in the day and more days in the week sometimes... but only if those hours and days are for my leisure time - ie more stitching, more blogging, more spending time with hubby and the four-legged babies. If wishes were $$ we would all be very rich people!

So what is a good excuse for a post... giveaways! While catching up on my blogging today I have come across some more giveaways.

Fabulous Frogger - Lesli is holding a giveaway that closes on 3rd December 2011. She started off small and now the giveaway is growing... for every 10 new followers she is adding another item to prize loot! So far there are charts, threads, charms and thread organizers. Click on the link below to have a look and sign up for Lesli's giveaway.

http://fabulousfrogger.blogspot.com/2011/11/my-first-giveaway-wooo.html

Wagapapa Creations - Wagapapa is holding a giveaway that closes on 30th November 2011. This is a First Blogaversary giveaway. The giveaway is some lovely fabric, a Lizzie Kate chart, DMC needle case and some thread. Click on the link below to have a look and sign up for Wagapapa's giveaway.

http://wagapapacreations.blogspot.com/2011/11/1st-blogaversary-giveaway-sorteo-1er.html

Crafty Stitchers - Cyndy is holding a giveaway that closes on 10th December 2011. The giveaway is a gorgeous Raggedy Ann and some fabric. Click on the link below to have a look and sign up for Cyndy's giveaway.

http://craftystitchers.blogspot.com/2011/11/goodies-in-mail-and-new-give-away.html

That is all the gievaways that I have found so far... I apologise if I have missed your giveaway. Even though I have spent almost the whole day reading blogs, I still haven't caught up!

Before I go I thought I'd share something cute with you....

We had the pest control man here today spraying for all those nasty creepy crawlies that come out in an Australian summer and like to spend the hot days inside my house... you know the ones I mean - black ants, cockroaches and spiders! Now because my two boys are both inside cats and nervous of strangers I put them in our bedroom for safekeeping while the guy was here. When I went back in to let them out of the bedroom Felix was asleep in the corner of the walk-in robe, and Oscar had buried himself in amongst the bedclothes. He climbed in between the comforter and the blanket - nice and cosy, or at least he must have thought so as he stayed there for another couple of hours after the door was opened! Cheeky little fellow :o)

Today is TUSAL day... so I am about to go and find a nice spot for ORT's jar to have it's photo taken in.

See you soon!

Roll up, roll up, it's time to sign up for TUSAL 2012

2011-11-19T08:36:00.001+08:00

TUSAL stands for "Totally Useless Stitch A Long"

Oh lordy, it can't really be almost 2012... but yes it is! And how do I know - well, besides Christmas and New Year being only a few weeks away, the other way I know that 2012 is almost here is that Daffycat is now taking registrations for next year's TUSAL!

Daffycat has advised that there are some changes for next year's TUSAL - nothing too onerous though. The changes are:

1. New participants are welcome to join at any time, yes, even in December 20121

2. No stash donations will be accepted for a prize fior 2012, however Daffycat will still have something to giveaway at the end of the year.

Being a part of the TUSAL is very easy and lots of fun. All you have to do is:

1. Get a glass container and save your thread clippings or ORTs (Old Ratty Threads!). Some stitchers include fabric trimmings, thread bands or any other stitching cast-offs they gather. You may continue filling this jar throughout the year OR you may empty the jar and start over each month ~ no firm rules here!

2. On (or about) each New Moon take a picture of the ORTs in your jar and post it to your blog. Yes, you MUST have a blog to be included. Reasonably "late" posts will be accepted, but posting several updates at once is cheating!

3. Yes, you can use your current ORT jar or jars. This isn't a contest...the stitcher with the most ORTs doesn't win!

4. You must post a picture each New Moon, even if there has been no "progress" to show.

5. Label your Totally Useless posts with "TUSAL" to make it easier for Daffycat to find your posts at the end of the year.

So what are you waiting for... drop in on Daffycat's blog and sign up now for TUSAL 2012!

Til next time, happy stitching

What do IKEA and Margaret Sherry have in common?

2011-11-18T13:52:00.001+08:00

By joining the two together I managed to complete the first part of the Margaret Sherry Lover's SAL.

Yes, the snowman is done! Now all I have to do is stitch the Santa.....

It took me some time to work out what to do for this SAL. I thought about doing them as ornaments, then as christmas cards, or even little cushions... but nothing really grabbed me as the ideal "vehicle" to show the lovely designs off until the IKEA Christmas catalogue dropped into the post box.

Now I hear you asking what does the IKEA catalogue have to do with the MS designs.... not alot except for the lovely teatowels that were in one of the photos. This started me thinking that maybe I could stitch them onto a teatowel and as we were going up to IKEA anyway to have a look at some storage cabinets to put in the craft room, the timing was perfect!

The teatowels came in a pack of two.. even more proof that this was the right choice! The next thing to do was to raid the stash drawer and see what waste canvas I had hiding in there. I found some 14ct but that would have been too small to stitch the design in the middle of the teatowel, so after searching a bit more I located some 8.5ct DMC waste canvas that I must have bought about 20 years ago and never used! Perfect! Nice big Snowman for the middle of the teatowel.

IKEA Christmas Teatowel - just perfect for stitching on!

So after measuring and basting the waste canvas onto the teatowel off I went.... Snowman took just a week to stitch, and then out came the waste canvas and, look at what we have...

Stitched using 4 strands of DMC for x-stitch and 2 strands for backstitch

Finished Santa Teatowel
(I really should have ironed this before taking the photo!)

A lovely big snowman (albeit without pom pom). I did buy some little pom poms to stitch on the top of his hat but have decided he doesn't need a pom pom.

If you want to see what the other stitchers have done with their Santa and snowman designs pop on over to the MSherry Lover's Blog and take a look.

Now it's about time I started the Santa design on the other teatowel, but first I have to get a couple of small cards done and sent to the UK and the USA and then Santa is the next on the list. Hopefully he will stitch up nice and quick too!

Til next time happy stitching

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T08:07:00.010+08:00

Happy Halloween! I hope that everyone has a wonderful day of trick and treating! Hubby and I don't celebrate Halloween as such, but we always make sure that we have lots of yummy lollies for those litle ones that come knocking on the door, and today is no exception. This year I have even bought a couple of little "cauldrons" from Spotlight to put the lollies in!

Remember I told you a couple of weeks ago that I had won two giveaways - well, the lovely pressies have now arrived in the mail, and as they were both Halloween inspired I thought that I would wait until today to reveal what the postie delivered.

Kay's (Kay's Random World) giveaway was a Lizzie Kate design, threads and some Christmas stitching fabric. Kay also added some yummy red licorice, some Halloween stickers and these cute little jumping Halloween critters.

Giveaway from Kay

Carolyn's (Taking One Stitch at a Time) Halloween giveaway was a package of Lizzie Kate limited edition kits, Halloween fabric, coloured felt and aida, thread and two halloween tucks.

Giveaway from Carolyn

Such gorgeous things in each package. I can't wait to start stitching the Lizzie Kate designs that both Ladies have sent me - I have never stitched a Lizzie Kate design before so it is very exciting to be doing something different to my normal stitching.

I feel very lucky to have won both of these giveaways and thank Kay and Carolyn so very much for choosing me as the winner.

Til next time Happy Halloween and happy stitching

October Finishes

2011-10-30T17:16:00.003+08:00

I'm back, as promised with some pics of my latest finishes.

October has been a busy month all round for me not just with work but also with the amount of stitching that I have been doing. In November there are 3 Craftbubble "Crazy for Kitty's" birthdays to stitch for and I thought that I would be a good girl and get a head start on my stitching this time... and guess what I am on target! Quite a surprise actually....

I have now stitched two of the three cards and they are already winging their way over to the UK and the Netherlands! I hope the girls like them.

So what did I stitch? Have a looksee....

Birthday card #1
Stitched for Ambersilk (Heather) in the Netherlands. I found this cute design in the Cross Stitch Collection magazine issue 198. This kitty is one of four designed by Lucie Heaton. Heather has a black and white cat and this design was just so cute, how could I not stitch this one for her?

Finished stitching - Designed by Lucie Heaton
Cross Stitch Collection, issue 198

I decided not to over-do the card too much as the design is quite a large one. The "Happy Birthday" tag came from one of the papercrafting magazines in my stash and the jewels are from Spotlight. I decided to put a yellow jewel in the centre of the flower to give it a little bit of extra bling!

Finished card for Ambersilk

Birthday card #2
Stitched for Stitchmadmummy (Debbie) in the UK. For ages I have been wanting to stitch the Margaret Sherry X-stitching cat but just never got around to it. So when it was time to look for a design for Debbie's card I went straight to the Margaret Sherry bookazine and low and behold there was the X-stitching cat looking out at me and just begging to be stitched.

Finished Stitching - Designed by Margaret Sherry
The Best of Margaret Sherry Bookazine

When I was stitching this one I kept thinking that I needed to do the card in purple and orange. Not sure if it's the Halloween influence or if all of a sudden purple and orange are my favourite colour combinations! The paper is again a freebie from one the papercrafting magazines that I have sitting in my stash, and I used gold brads to attach the stitching to the card. Again after searching my stash I found some really cute purple buttons to add to the Happy Birthday tag. They were also one-time freebies from a magazine. That's why we keep these freebies as you never know when they will come in handy!!

Finished card for Stitchmadmummy

Card #3 is due in the US at the end of November so I will get that one done in a couple of weeks time.

Earlier this month it was my birthday and therefore my turn to receive the cards from all my Craftbubble friends. Below are the photos of what everyone sent me. One of the girls even sent a stitched kitty Christmas card! Also in the photos are the gifts that some of the girls sent - a couple of kits, some bangles, fridge magnet and a bookmark. Did you notice all the grey kitties that the girls stitched for me? Aren't they just gorgeous?

Just before I go I have one more little finish to share with you. My next project is to be the Margaret Sherry fan blog Christmas SAL, but until now I hadn't started it as I have been trying to work out what to do and how to finish the designs. So while the brain went through a number of different alternatives (all of which I threw out the window) I thought why not do another little design while I was thinking - and this is it!

Christmas Kisses Card Kit - designed by Margaret Sherry
The World of Cross Stitching, issue 181

This sweet little freebie came from the World of Cross Stitching magazine, issue 181. It was actually very quick to stitch up although I nearly threw it out the window a number of times. The thread in the kit was fraying constantly and the end result isn't as crisp as I would have liked - it's a bit fluffy in places. I suspect the threads weren't a good quality thread like Anchor or DMC but a cheaper brand which is a shame, but overall it is a lovely design.

I am going to make this into a little pillow using Christmas fabric. I have even had a thought that I could stuff it with the 2011 TUSAL ORT's!

So that's what I have been up to over the last couple of weeks... no wonder I haven't had much time to do any blogging I have been too busy stitching!

I will be back again very soon to show you my new start and also to share with you what arrived in the mail the other day!

Til next time, take care and happy stitching

Totally Usless SAL Update - New Moon 26 October 2011

2011-10-28T15:05:00.000+08:00

Hello dear blogging friends! Here we are again, another New Moon and another ORT Report.

In my little ORT jar this month are lots of pretty colours but the one that stands out the most is the purple thread from the card that I stitched for my Craftbubble 'Crazy for Kitties' birthday exchange. But more about that later!

This month's photo was taken with some very pretty little boxes that Hubby and I bought yesterday while visiting the "Princely Treasures" Exhibition that is currently on in Perth. The Princely Treasures Exhibition is a collection of European Masterpieces 1600-1800 from the Victoria and Albert Exhibition that is here til January next year. After wandering around the exhibition and admiring all the beautiful treasures from a bygone era we went into the gift shop and spent some money - as you do! There was lots of gorgeous things there that I could have bought and taken home but in the end we settled on three lovely boxes! Just lately I seem to have a thing about pretty boxes... I'd better be careful and not start up yet another collection!!

TUSAL Update - New Moon 26 October 2011
Pretty boxes and lovely ORT's

While we were at the Exhibition I did manage to take some photos of some of the beautiful items on display. Unfortunately they didn't all turn out very well, however I did want to share a couple of photos with you.

Below is a spinning wheel or silk winder from around 1740-1750. It is made of ebony and ivory, tortiseshell veneer, walnut and mother of pearl and comes from Turin. It is decorated with images of Diana, cupids and various hunting figures.

Spinning Wheel (circa 1740-1750)
Imagine having this delicate little thing in your home to wind your thread bobbins!

Below is a picture of a teeny weeny prayer book. Unfortunately there was nothing in the cabinet next to it to show just how small it is... but believe me it is tiny. It would fit in the palm of your hand without a problem. It is from France and was made about 1623. As you can probably guess it is made of gold, enamel and emeralds... The style of decoration is called cosse-de-pois or pea pod; a style which was frequently used by the goldsmiths and enamellists at Louis XIII's court.

Tiny prayer book (circa 1623)
Used as a private devotion and a fashion accessory

So that's it for this ORT report. I will be back later with another update to show you what I have been stitching over the last couple of weeks.

For more info on the TUSAL pop over to Daffycat's blog.

Til the next new moon on 25th November 2011, happy stitching and may your collection of ORT's keep growing!

New Moons - 2011

25 November
24 December

Winners are Grinners!

2011-10-10T15:53:00.001+08:00

Oh my goodness! This is rather exciting....

I signed onto my email account today and discovered not one but two emails from lovely people telling me that I had won their giveaways!! Oh wow, thank you Carolyn and Kay. It's wonderful to be the lucky winner of your gorgeous giveaways.

Double happy dance!! More stalking the postman.....

So what did I win....

Kay's (Kay's Random World) giveaway was a Lizzie Kate design, threads and some Christmas stitching fabric. Kay's Random World Lizzie Kate Giveaway

Carolyn's (Taking One Stitch at a Time) Halloween giveaway was a package of Lizzie Kate limited edition kits, Halloween fabric, aida, thread and two halloween tucks. Taking One Stitch at a Time Halloween Giveaway

So am I spoilt or what?!?!

Thank you ladies for picking me out of all the other entrants.

Speaking of giveaways.... I think it must be my turn to host a giveaway... Especially as I have been so lucky lately and been winning these lovely giveaways. I will put on my thinking cap and let you know very soon what I am going to do. It is a bit late for a Halloween one, but maybe a Christmas giveaway, or a New Year giveaway or something completely different! The noise you hear is my brain getting into gear.... the smoke you smell is the brain cells charging up for some serious thinking!!

Time to say bye bye.... thank you Kay and Carolyn for my lovely giveaway wins.

Til next time happy stitching

Welcome new followers & another giveaway

2011-10-04T13:27:00.001+08:00

Hi there lovely people!

I would just like to say thank you everyone for following my blog and for all your lovely comments. It is really nice to hear from you.

I would also like to take this opportunity to say a very big welcome to my new followers. Goodness me I now have 75! It is lovely to meet new followers. I look forward to keeping in touch with you and reading all about your stitching and crafting!

It is really is the season of giveaways as mentioned in my last post... I now have another one to let you know about!

Giveaway:

Parsley at Seasons of my Mind is having a "It's raining cats and dogs" giveaway. The giveaway gift is either a cat or a dog kit! So if you are a cat or a dog lover, or even if you're not, please do pop over to Parsley's blog and read her post about her giveaway. This giveaway started on 1st October and Parsley will announce the winner on 14th October 2011.

Seasons of my Mind - It's raining cats and dogs giveaway - (Update: Cats Giveaway won by Charity and Dogs Giveaway won by Kimberley)

Good luck everyone!

Til next time happy stitching

It must be the season of Giveaways!

2011-10-02T18:47:00.009+08:00

Hello! It's Sunday afternoon again... and I have done absolutely no stitching since Friday... instead I have spent the weekend catching up on my blog stalking.

I can't believe how many people have either just had a giveaway or are having a giveaway. What lovely generous people there are in the world. I have decided to put a link on my sidebar for all the giveaways that I find. I will also post about them as I find them and update the post when the winners are announced.  The sidebar link is a quick way for me, and everyone else, to check on them though.

I guess with everyone else having a giveaway maybe I will have to start to think about one too... But that will be for another post!

Now for the latest giveaways that I have found:

Giveaway Number 1:
Kay at Kay's Random World is having a giveaway. Kay's giveaway is a Lizzie Kate design, threads and some Christmas stitching fabric. This giveaway runs from Saturday 1st October to Saturday 8th October 2011.

Kay's Random World Lizzie Kate Giveaway - (Update: Giveaway won by ME! Woo hoo, thank you)

Giveaway Number 2:
Shannon at A Bit of This and That is celebrating Halloween with a giveaway. Shannon's giveaway includes Shepherds Bush and Lizzie Kate patterns, halloween fabric, memory thread and halloween ribbon. This giveaway runs from Friday 30th September to 11.55pm Tuesday 4th October 2011. The draw will be done at random at a random time on Wednesday 5th October.

A Bit of This and That Halloween Giveaway - (Update: Giveaway won by Teresa from Teresa's Heartfelt Stitches)

Giveaway Number 3:
Over at Diary of a Manbroider there is another lovely giveaway. The giveaway is a stiched piece - Nora Corbett's Pixie Couture "Holly". This giveaway runs from this weekend (1 Oct) to next weekend (8 October).

Diary of a Manbroider Blogaversary Giveaway - (Update: Giveaway won by Theoria from My Little Corner of Cyberspace)

Giveaway Number 4:
Carolyn over at Taking One Stitch at a Time is having a lovely Halloween giveaway. The giveaway gift is a Halloween inspired package of Lizzie Kate limited edition kits, Halloween fabric, aida, thread and two halloween tucks.  To enter this giveaway you need to go and vote on a Challenge that Carolyn has entered before 4th October 2011, and the giveaway closes on 9th October 2011.

Taking One Stitch at a Time Halloween Giveaway - (Update: Giveaway won by ME! Woo hoo, thank you)

Giveaway Number 5:
Eglantine Stitchery is having a first ever Christmas giveaway. The giveaway gift is a Christmas inspired package containing two Santa kits, lots of different threads in Christmas colours, needlework accessories and a copy of the Cross Stitcher Magazine (US).  This giveaway starts on 21st September and closes on 12th October 2011.

Eglantine Stitchery Christmas Giveaway - (Update: Giveaway won by Monica C)

Giveaway Number 6:
Cucki at Cucki Stitching Cove is having a Halloween giveaway. The giveaway gift is full of lovely Halloween gifts - so cute!  This giveaway starts on 1st October and Cucki will announce the winner on 22nd October 2011.

Cucki Stitching Cove Halloween Giveaway - (Update: Giveaway won by Carolyn from Taking One Stitch at a Time)

So hurry on over and see all these gorgeous giveaways! Good luck everyone!

Til next time happy stitching

Totally Useless SAL Update - New Moon 27 September 2011

2011-09-28T14:43:00.004+08:00

Ok, now this is not funny.... where has the last month gone? It doesn't seem that long ago since I did my last ORT report. If time keeps slipping away this quickly it is going to be Christmas before I know it and I haven't even thought about Christmas stitching.....

So here we are again.... another ORT report. As you have read in previous posts I haven't done a lot of stitching so far this month..... but I did have a finish -yippee!

This month's photo is taken in the craft room where this darling dragon lives overseeing all the crafty things that go on in there - mostly Hubby's quilting journeys! I do my stitching in the family room at the kitchen table.... I know I should be using the craft room - there is a telly in there with Foxtel but for some reason I always park myself at the kitchen table when I stitch.

(Speaking of Foxtel, for those of us that watch "EastEnders" on UKTV David Essex has arrived! I read ages ago that he was joining the cast of EastEnders and last night's episode ended with the man himself. Can't wait for tonight's episode - I will be glued to the telly for the duration!)

Sorry, I digress (again)..... now to the ORT report:

September's stitching was mainly the "Cheerful Notes" quilt square and the pink of the kitty card that I started a couple of days ago. The thin black ORT's on the top of the jar are from hubby's trousers where I had to re-stitch his hem the other night. All ORT's are welcome in my jar!!!

TUSAL Update - New Moon 27 September 2011
Dragon and the ORT's

So that's it for this ORT report. For more info on the TUSAL pop over to Daffycat's blog.

Til the next new moon on 26th October 2011, happy stitching and may your collection of ORT's keep growing!

New Moons - 2011

26 October
25 November
24 December

You can't stop the music!

2011-09-27T15:50:00.001+08:00

No, this post is not about the Village People's movie... oh that was bad..... This post is all about my latest finish for Quilts 4 Kids.

The design that I picked to stitch this time is actually called "Cheerful Notes" and in the end it has turned out to be a cheerful little quilt square.

Kaitlyn M's theme is "Music and Dance" and when I saw this design I thought it was the perfect one for her. I hope that Kaitlyn will like it when it is finally added to her quilt.

"Cheerful Notes"
Gloria and Pat Design
Stitched for Quilts 4 Kids - Kaitlyn M

The stitching took me slightly longer to do than I had planned due to little old me succumbing to the dreaded lurgy and not feeling like stitching for a couple of weeks. But that is hopefully all long gone now and stitching mode is back in full swing!

Now that I have finished my last Quilts 4 Kids quilt square for the time being what I am going to do next....

Well, I have 3 November birthday cards to stitch for the Craftbubble "Crazy for Kitties" birthday exchange and also I have signed up to do the Margaret Sherry Bloggers SAL #2 also due in November; I also have to finish SAL #1 (hanging my head in shame...) and finally the "Crazy for Kitties" group are possibly going to be doing another Christmas exchange which I will be joining again if it goes ahead. So I have lots of nice little bits and pieces to keep me amused for the next couple of months.

My current stitching is the first of the birthday cards. I found these cute little black and white kittens in "Cross Stitch Collection" Issue 198. There are four designs to stitch and it was a hard choice, but in the end I have chosen the one sitting with the watering can. I may do another one as well.... who knows!

Cross Stitch Collection, Issue 198

Well lovely folks, that is it for now.... I must run off and take a photo of my ORT's jar as I have just realised today is the new moon!

See you all again real soon! Til then, happy stitching!

Giveaways Galore!

2011-09-26T16:13:00.003+08:00

Hi there! How is everyone on this lovely Monday? Hope you are all refreshed after a lovely weekend of stitching or relaxing. Isn't it amazing how the weekends just seem to fly by - one minute it is Friday and I am enjoying my day off and then in the blink of an eye it is Sunday night and I am preparing this little old brain for work on Monday morning.

I do have a stitching finish and new start for you - but haven't got the pictures sorted out yet - so that will be for another post tomorrow....

So today's post is all about some lovely giveaways that I have discovered while blog stalking this lunchtime. Details are below:

Giveaway Number 1:
Barbara at To Stitch or Not to Stitch is celebrating Halloween with a giveaway. Barbara has some lovely Halloween inspired stitching gifts and candy - waxed and real! The waxed is a candle smelling of sugar cookies - yummo.... This giveaway runs from Sunday 25th September to Friday 30th September and Barbara will draw the winner on Saturday morning.

To Stitch or Not to Stitch Halloween Giveaway (Update: Giveaway won by Blueladie - Cathryn's Place)

Giveaway Number 2:
Debbie at Debbie's Cross Stitch is celebrating a year of Blogging with a giveaway. Debbie's giveaway is a $10 voucher to spend at 1-2-3 Stitch. This giveaway runs from Sunday 25th September to noon PST Wednesday 28th September.

Debbie's Cross Stitch Blogoversary Giveaway (Update: Giveaway won by Sharine - Charbella Stitching)

Giveaway Number 3:
Cyndy at Crafty Stitchers is having another giveaway. The prize is a gorgeous Halloween Raggedy Bagholder. This giveaway runs from Saturday 24th September to Saturday 1st October, with the winner being announced on Sunday 2nd October.

Crafty Stitchers Halloween Raggedy Giveaway (Update: Giveaway won by Tam - "Scentfully" Country Gal Creations)

So hurry on over and see all these gorgeous giveaways! Good luck everyone!

Til next time happy stitching

Life is like a box of chocolates....

2011-09-21T14:57:00.002+08:00

I'm back... in the land of the living that is! Thank you all for your lovely comments on my last post when I told you that I was a wee bit sick....

Well, I was sick alright! I had tonsillitis, headaches and joint pain, and generally felt very under the weather. After a week of antibiotics, today is the first day that I have woken up without a sore throat and hopefully tonight I won't end up with sore shoulders and wrist joint pain again. I have hardly done any stitching on "Cheerful Notes" - last week I just felt too ill to sit too long and stitch and then with the pain in my shoulders and wrists still hanging around in the evenings I haven't been able to do much at all this week.

Still positive thoughts - it's Wednesday today, which means after tomorrow I have 3 days off again and I will hopefully be back into a major stitching catch-up zone!!! Stay tuned.....

I did have something happen on Friday that brighten me up - there was a package in the mail from the lovely Nia in Portugal.

A few weeks ago I entered and won Nia's blog giveaway and the prize was a lovely box filled with crafty goodies. They are packed so sweetly in a lovely chocolate box.... just look at these cute cupcakes full of craft candy!

Candy and Postcards from Nia

Layer 1 - pink candy

Layer 2 - blue candy

Getting the "Royal Felix" seal of approval.
Oscar was on the cupboard as well
but wouldn't stand still long enough to get in the photo!

Nia also sent me a couple of postcards from Portugal... and one of the postcards was about the legend of the "Cock of Barcelos". This postcard really made me smile as we have one! I have admired the little roosters from afar for a long time, and then a few months ago the local newsagency/gift shop got some in - so I bought one!

Just look at him in all his glory next to the postcard from Nia

Well fellow bloggers, that's it from me on a wet Wednesday in Perth.

Til next time happy stitching

Monday's Stitching Update

2011-09-12T14:51:00.001+08:00

Hello fellow bloggers.... I hope that this post finds you all safe and sound around the world. Over the last few weeks there has been so much going on with hurricanes and earthquakes it makes you wonder what is happening to our lovely planet.

Today I am at home with a revolting sore throat and headache... but I am not getting a cold or the flu... ok, bugs you heard that so go away! So far this winter I have managed to avoid all the dreaded flu bugs that have been going around and I do not intend to succumb now!!

The bonus of being home today though is that I am managing to finally catch up on my blog reading.... I can't believe how busy all these very clever crafty people have been since I last went wandering in blogland. I really must go for a wander more often! I apologise to everyone for my lack of wandering, but unfortunately the hours in the day just don't seem long enough to do everything I want to do.... Reading some of the posts on the blogs that I follow it seems to me that most of us are in the same situation.

I do have a small stitching update for you. Over the last couple of weeks I have been slowly (and I mean slowly!) stitching on the latest quilt square for "Quilts 4 Kids". This square is a "Gloria and Pat" design called "Cheerful Notes". It is a really nice design to stitch now that I have got the hang of all the quarter stitches in it! At first I was doing half stitches, but when I looked at the coloured print of the design I realised that they would be better off being quarter stitches as they are supposed to represent lines or strings on the instruments.

Below is where I was up to as of last night. I am planning on getting a few hours in stitchng this afternoon so will give you all another update soon.

"Cheerful Notes" - design by Gloria and Pat
Quilts 4 Kids

Speaking of updates...

This is an update of a different kind. When I did my TUSAL post a couple of weeks ago I took the photo outside in the back garden with the Nasturiums.

Nasturtiums 2 weeks ago

Over the last week heaps of flowers have appeared and now the flowing patch looks like this....

Nasturims today!

Before I go, I must say thank you to all the wonderful people who comment on my posts. I really appreciate you all taking the time to visit and read my blog and to post a comment. I do try to respond to everyone's comments but unfortunately some of you have a "noreply-comment" which simply means that you don't have an email address in your profile. If you would like a reply to your comment you can add your email address to your profile quite simply - you don't need to use your everyday email address as you can set up a gmail account just for blogging... In the meantime, if I can't reply to you in person, I do thank you for stopping by and leaving your lovely comments on my blog.

Well that's it for this very quick update. I will catch you all again soon...

Til next time, happy stitching!

Fresh veg from the garden.....

2011-09-07T14:35:00.000+08:00

I love fresh veg from the garden! It is such a treat to be able to go outside and pick some lettuce or spinach and eat it within minutes of picking it - the taste is so much better than shop bought! In fact the difference is that there is a taste as most of the time shop bought produce has lost it's taste while it's been in cold storage for weeks and months on end....

The other night I picked some silverbeet, spinach and lettuce for dinner and lunch the following day. I put it in the sink in some water to rinse off any dirt, etc... and low and behold when I came back what did I find looking up at me???

Just goes to show....
all creatures great and small love fresh produce from the garden!!

A lovely green caterpillar!!! I'm sure he wasn't going to eat that much but I didn't really fancy finding him in my dinner so outside he went. No doubt I will find him again in the vegie patch another day.

And while I was dealing with the caterpillar, what happened to my asparagus????

Oscar jumped up on the cupboard and promptly lay down on the asparagus and went to sleep. Luckily the asparagus was still wrapped up in it's plastic bag.

Oscar the asparagus loving cat!
Normally he has his nose in Daisy's schmacko packet behind him.....

The trials and tribulations of trying to cook dinner in our house!!

Til next time, happy stitching

A little stitch here and a little stitch there!

2011-09-03T08:30:00.002+08:00

Last weekend I did not do a stitch in any of my cross stitch pieces, but I did stitch!

Many, many moons ago I got bitten by a different type of stitching bug - the patchwork and quilting bug. Unfortunately I argued with the sewing machine (and my ex-husband) and didn't do many blocks. You see my ex-husband was not as supportive of my stitching as my dearest darling husband of today is. My motto is 'Stitching Forever, Housework Whenever', but that did not go down well with the ex! Think that was probably one of the reasons I finally saw the light... but that is another story!

As I was saying, once upon a time I did try to teach myself to quilt. I bought some templates and made some very simple blocks, which I found again only recently hidden away in a box with what was the beginning of my stash. All the blocks were machine pieced and made using one set of templates.

Can't remember the name of this one

Card Trick

Ohio Star

Friendship Star

Can't remember the name of this one either

When I found my old blocks I also discovered a long misplaced piece of stitching. This Pierrot was one of the first things I ever stitched. Now that I have found it again I will have to finally do something with it. I might turn it into a cushion... or not! I actually have another kit that is the partner to this so maybe I should stitch that as well and then do something with the two of them... oh boy, my stitching list is long enough as it is!!

Pierrot - stitched way back in the 1980's sometime....

So that was then and this is now....

Since I started reading the "Elm Creek Quilts" series of books by Jennifer Chiaverini I have started to get this feeling that I want to start making these beautiful 9 patch blocks again. The descriptions of the quilts in the books have fired up my imagination and for the last couple of months I have even dreamt about quilt blocks.... very strange!

So last weekend, I gave into the feelings and started to look around the internet to see what quilting blogs and info I could find to give me the hints and tips to start off again. Dear Hubby has lots of quilting stuff that he has started accumulating over that last couple of months, but we don't have a lot of info relating to the traditional hand piecing and quilting that I want to have a go at.

On Sunday I pulled out my old templates and the material in my original stash and decided to have a go! And this is the result. The block is all hand pieced. As you can see the seams aren't exactly the straightest, but overall the block turned out ok. Nothing went particulary wrong, and lots of practice will make the block look better.

Hand pieced... in 2011

While I have been bitten by the "Quilting Bug" I am still going to be doing my cross stitch. Cross Stitch is my first love and quilting will be just something else that I want to do when (if) I have the time. For the next couple of weeks I will be cross stitching as I have a few pieces to finish off, and then I would like to have a go at playing with some 9 patch blocks for awhile.

Wish me luck!

Til next time, happy stitching no matter what type of stitching you might do...

Totally Useless SAL Update - New Moon 29 August 2011

2011-09-02T11:44:00.002+08:00

Oh dear, late again!! But as they say better late than never....

So hear we go, the latest TUSAL update from me.

As I didn't get to take my photo until today, and the sun was shining for a very brief time through the black clouds after a wet, thundery night, I thought that maybe I would take the photo outside today, and of course "Spring has also sprung" so what a better way to celebrate Spring than a photo with the Nasturtiums!

TUSAL Update - New Moon 29 August 2011
Daisy and the ORt's Jar

The ORT's this month have lots of lovely colours with a spattering of greys from Culinary Cat #2. The reds on top are from the latest quilt square that I am stitching for "Quilts 4 Kids".

The Never-Fail Nastartium patch -
dies off every summer and comes back every winter.
This is the best they have ever been... all that lovely rain!!

Last night we had a significant amount of very heavy rain. We were woken up around 11.30pm by the sound of heavy rain and the rain went on til about midnight when the thunderstorm hit and there was even more heavy rain. Around 1am I dozed off and it was still raining... not sure how much rain we got but the forecasters predicted around 20mm (or almost an 1" in the old money)... I reckon we probably got at least that much... Good start to our Spring rainfall!

The heavy rain did unfortunately batter my beautiful pansy pots around, but they will perk back up again soon (I hope).

One of the pansy pots after last night's rain looking very bedraggled!
Oh, and there is a geranium in that pot somewhere.....

When Daisy Dog and I went for a very quick walk this morning (the sky looked very threatening so we didn't stay out too long), we wandered past the park down the street. This park is like a big soakwell / catchment area for all the stormwater drains in the area. Last week this park was dry.... today it is like a lake! Even the ducks were there this morning....

If you look closely enough you can actually see the rings of where the water came up to. It is now receeding and will probably be gone by tomorrow. It takes quite a signifcant amount of rainfall for there to be this much water in the park - all very good news for our dams and catchment areas.

"Lake" in the park at the end of the street

Looking across the "lake"

So that's it for this ORT report. I will be back in the next few days with a stitching update and a look at what I did last weekend.....

For more info on the TUSAL pop over to Daffycat's blog.

Til the next new moon on 27th September 2011, happy stitching and may your collection of ORT's keep growing!

New Moons - 2011

27 September
26 October
25 November
24 December

MS Culinary Cat #2 update

2011-08-22T17:26:00.000+08:00

Hello there!

Guess what?

I have finally finished my Margaret Sherry Culinary Cat #2..... I know I have been promising for weeks to get it finished - but now he is done!

When we last left him he looked like this....

Last update 24th June 2011

Now he looks like this!

Finished!
21 August 2011

Margaret Sherry Culinary Cats 1 & 2

Some time in the next couple of weeks I will start the third and final one in the series.... so keep coming back to the same "culinary cat" channel to see when the next one starts to take shape!

Til next time, happy stitching!

All Our Yesterdays!

2011-08-18T08:49:00.001+08:00

Hello again! I have another small finish to show you. This one came as a free gift in the latest issue of World of Cross Stitching (Issue 178).

The design is one of Faye Whittaker's "All Our Yesterdays" designs. As soon as I saw it I knew that I had to stitch it. It is such a sweet design. The free kit also came with a card to mount it in. However, I actually have another idea to finish this one off.

I have stitched a couple of small "All Our Yesterdays" designs now and I am thinking of putting them all together as a cushion or even a small quilt. But at the moment, the imagination hasn't quite come through with the final result.

All Our Yesterdays - Day at the Beach
World of Cross Stitching, Issue 178

My next stitching update will, surprise, surprise, be an update on my Culinary Cat! Over the last couple of days I have been managing to get some stitches done on Cat #2. He is now nearly finished so an update is imminent!

Til next time, happy stitching

Shoes... and what happens to them when you're not home!

2011-08-17T08:04:00.021+08:00

Morning Everyone! How's your week going so far? It's great how quick Wednesday comes around! Of course having Monday off does make the week goes faster!

Last weekend Hubby and I had an extra long weekend as junior step-son came to stay for the weekend. It was really nice to see him. DSS has been living in Melbourne for the last 2 & 1/2 years so Hubby hasn't seen much of him, and now DSS is about to head back to the UK to study at St Martins Art College for 3 years... so we won't be seeing much of him over the next few years either.... Oh well, kids grow up and move away from home. At least in this day and age of technology it is easier and quicker to keep in touch over great distances than it was many years ago!

So the title of this blog is about shoes... and what can happen to them you're not at home! When I came home from work the other day this is what I found in the wardrobe....

Who's been in mummy's shoe box then??

I can only assume that one of the cats knocked this box off the pile of shoe boxes and the lid came off... and wow, in the box was lovely tissue paper! One of Felix's favourite things to play with!!

Now I ask you would these 2 innocent looking kitty cats do anything like that??

What do you reckon they are doing out there in the dark??

The other night when Daisy dog went out for her bed-time constitutional the boys both sat by the door and waited for her to come back in. They are so sweet.... and they do so love watching their favourite doggy!

Til next time, happy stitching!

"Bee Happy" Hedgehog

2011-08-16T09:16:00.000+08:00

Finally another small finish, and I really do mean a finish! After I finished stitching the Margaret Sherry "Bee Happy" hedgehog design I decided to "finish" him off as a little hanging pillow.

For some strange reason the image of this cute hedgehog as a pillow had been "brewing" in my imagination since I started stitching him. I knew exactly where to find the perfect piece of fabric to back the pillow with too. In hubby's stash!!

So I had everything ready to go: one finished piece of stitching, beautiful backing fabric, needles and thread, and a couple of spare hours on a Sunday afternoon. As sewing machines and I don't generally get on as a rule, I hand stitched the first three sides and then stuffed the pillow and blind stitched side number 4!

Voilà! We now have a lovely finished hedgehog pillow.

"Bee Happy" designed by Margaret Sherry
Cross Stitcher, June 2010

Love this fabric!
Hubby used it as the border on his "Cat's Meow" quilt.

This is such a happy design, don't you think? I really loved stitching this design and enjoyed finishing it off as a pillow. It's not very often that a design gives my imagination such a thump as this one did! I am really pleased that I allowed my brain to "go with the flow" so to speak. I do hope that my imagination keeps on bringing ideas to the surface as it might mean I will "finish" off a few more stitched items rather than filing them away in my completed project file.

Til next time when I will have some more stitching updates for you, take care and happy stitching!

All can be revealed!

2011-08-15T13:02:00.003+08:00

Hello again!

Remember when we last left our intrepid crafty circle it looked like this:

Well, now I can reveal the final product! Amber has emailed me to say the parcel arrived safe and sound in the UK so I can now show you all what I made.

Finished thank you gift for Amber

All packaged and ready to go!

To create the wall hanging I painted the background with a cream colour and then overpainted with a crackle medium. Once that was dry I sponged on the blue around the outside to leave the centre cream, but unfortunately the crackle didn't work! So after the blue dried, I then sponged on some silver paint to give it a bit of oomph!

Then I raided my box of stamps and found the Adam Prescott stamp with the zebra. I specifically wanted to have a zebra theme as zebra's are part of the EDS motto. (For those of you that read Amber's blog "Relentless Stitching" you will know that she suffers from EDS.)

After stamping the image on the wood I then painted it - this turned out to be trickier than I first thought as my brushes weren't thin enough. But I decided to try a bamboo skewer for some of the smaller and thinner parts of the image, and the writing - and my improvisation worked!

I spent a couple days trying to think of the right wording when finally I got one of those light bulb moments.... I went to my cross stitch mags to see what might be in there! And low and behold I found the perfect words.... good old Newton's Law came to the rescue!!!

Hey presto! A few hours later and we had a very happy Noni because the little wall hanging was finished and turned out pretty darn good! Amber has put up a post on her blog showing it off as well... so pop on over and say hi to Amber at Relentless Stitching.

Before I sign off I have one more thing to do.... I haven't told you what I bought with the HAED gift certificate that Amber sent me. Most of you will know that HAED has just had a sale... yippee! More bang for your buck so to speak! I bought 3 gorgeous new charts (2 by Randal Spangler and a Melissa Dawn cat). Oh, and I just noticed that they have another sale on right now until midnight 17/8!

"High Tea"
Randal Spangler

"Medieval Shelf"
Randal Spangler

"Phantom of the Masquerade"
Melissa Dawn

Aren't they all so gorgeous! Thank you so much Amber for your very generous giveaway prize.

Well my dear friends, it is time for me to go and get a nice cuppa and something to eat for lunch... Hopefully I won't leave it too long between posts next time. I do have a stitching update to for you so watch this space!

Til next time, happy stitching!

It's Hump Day.... Happy Wednesday!

2011-08-03T14:19:00.001+08:00

Hello dear friends! Happy Wednesday.... finally hump day has arrived.... I hope that everyone has survived the week so far. It's all downhill to the weekend now!

Giveaway Shout Out Updates

Goodness gracious me, I have won the wonderful Nia's blogoversary giveaway. Happy Dance.... thank you Nia, I look forward to seeing the parcel from Portgual dropping into the post box. Will post a pic once it arrives.

So while I am smiling and patting myself on the back for winning Nia's box of lovelies, I thought I'd let you know who won the other giveaways that I have recently mentioned:

Measi's Musings (Ramblings of a Geeky Witch) - being drawn today so will check back in the next day or so to see who is the lucky winner of that one.

Bec's Cross Stitch Creations - winner is Rachael from Stitchabilities. Well done Rachel!

Lady of the Floss - winner is Carissa from My Musings. Well done Carissa!

Now speaking of giveaways..... I have heard that there are some more happening around blogland so why not drop in on these lovely people and say hello and join in the fun.

Giveaway Number 1:

Nicola at Stitchworks is having a lovely Christmas inspired giveaway. Lots of lovely stash enhancing bits including some DMC bead and cross stitch designs, emblishments, threads and more.... So why not pop into Nicola's blog and say hi before 15th August 2011. Winner will be drawn on 18th August 2011.

Giveaway Number 2:

Julie at Julie's and Yes Dear's Ravings is having a giveaway to celebrate reaching 100 followers. Fabulous reason to have a giveaway. Her gift to the lucky winner is "winners choice" of a HAED chart (or 2 if they're cheap!) or a $20 giftcard at 123stitch.com. Very nice..... Julie is closing her giveaway on Saturday 6th August so you'd better get your skates on and drop in to Julie's blog and sign up!

Ok, so that's it for the giveaways for the time being.... how about a crafty update!

Over the weekend I did do some stitching, but I also got itchy painting fingers... haven't opened up the paint pots for many years.... (and I do mean years!). And yes, while some of them were a bit thick... they do all still work - except for my crackle stuff!

I won't tell you what I have made, or show you the final result yet, as it is a secret and needs to go for a ride in a bubbly post bag before I can show you what I did. Below is a taster just to whet your appetites...

Front side... crackle didn't work too well... but the final result looks good!
The points at the top aren't horns - they are to stop the holes filling up with paint!

Rear side - painted in Antique Gold

Finally, the last of my Elm Creek Quilt books have arrived! Woo hoo!! Can't wait to start the "Master Quilter". I have nearly finished the "Fall of Giants" by Ken Follett so it won't be long before I get my nose back into an Elm Creek Quilts book.

Last of the Elm Creek Quilts order finally arrived!

Well, my little lovelies, it is time for me to go.... must get back to work as lunch break is over and work is beckoning!

Will see you all again soon, so til next time happy stitching!

Totally Useless SAL Update - New Moon 30 July 2011

2011-07-31T12:38:00.000+08:00

Wow, 2 new moons this month! And hasn't this month flown by. I can't believe that today is the last day of July and tomorrow it will be the first day of August! Very scary how time flies by these days!

This ORT report sees my little ORT's jar full of some more lovely colours from the smalls that I have been stitching over the last couple of weeks. Yet again I have had to squish the ORT's down to give me room for some more ORT's over the coming months.

What has contributed to the ORT's jar this month: well, not a lot actually - I have stitched on the Cherry Blossom flower fairy, Kiri the Kitten and the Margaret Sherry Hedgehog. And that is all... so unfortunately not a lot of ORT's to show off this month.

This new moon's photo has been taken sitting next to the latest addition to my snow globe collection - I now have 3!!

My stepson (Jack) went over to Russia during his Uni break in July. He was there for 2 weeks on a research field trip in Siberia with a number of other Uni students from around the world looking at the glaciers and changes in the ice. He also had a couple of days in Moscow either side of the field trip in which he did quite a bit of sightseeing. He had a great time and found the whole trip quite intriguing and fascinating. Before he went I asked him to try and find me a Russian snow globe and he did! It is only a little one, but it is perfectly formed!!

TUSAL Update - New Moon 30 July 2011
ORT jar pictured with Russian snow globe from Moscow

For more info on the TUSAL pop over to Daffycat's blog.

Til the next new moon on 29th August 2011, happy stitching and may your collection of ORT's keep growing!

New Moons - 2011

29 August
27 September
26 October
25 November
24 December

Long awaited stitching update!

2011-07-28T10:46:00.004+08:00

Guess what! I have some finishes at long last.... only little ones but every little bit helps!

So where did we get up to in the last stitching update....

The Flower Fairy is now finished. She was a free gift with Issue 176 of World of Cross Stitching. I finally finished her on the weekend - unfortunately I ran out of DMC 779 which was the backstitch colour and it would happen to be one of the colours that I don't have in my stash... so I had to wait til I went to Spotlight to pick up some more!

Now that she is finished I have to think of what to do with her.... Well, I think a plan is forming in this pot of treacle I have as a brain.... While we were out on Saturday we popped into the quilting shop as hubby had to pick up a foot for the Janome and I had a squizz at the Flower Fairy fabric that they had. While they didn't have the Cherry Blossom fairy (which this little lady is), they did have some cute little Apple Flower Fairy fabric. So I bought some of that and some other fabric, and fingers crossed the plan that I have to turn her into a panelled/patchwork cushion will eventually crystallise in the brain and come to fruition!!

Kiri Kitten wasn't originally in my stitching plan! However, when I bought the latest issue of Cross Stitch Card Shop (issue 78) the other day Kiri Kitten was the freebie! Yep, you guessed it, I went home and started it straight away that night! Kiri is now stitched and I am thinking that I will finish it off as a birthday card for my Craft Bubble "Crazy for Kitties" birthday exchange as the next one is due at the end of August.

Bee Happy Hedgehog is what I am currently stitching. One of the benefits of going through my old magazines was that I have found all of these lovely freebies that I had forgotten about! This is a Margaret Sherry design which came with the June 2010 issue of Cross Stitcher. He is such a cute little hedgehog! I have stitched all the white of his front but as it is in one thread it doesn't really show up on the photo.

No stitching update would be complete without a word or two about my Culinary Cat! Oops, sorry haven't done anything on him lately.... hopefully next time I will have something to say about Culinary Cat. He will get finished soon!

Oh, and guess what - I have signed up to do another Quilts 4 Kids square. This one will be for Kaitlyn M. Kaitlyn's theme is Music and Dance. I have found a lovely Gloria and Pat design called "Cheerful Notes" that I am going to stitch for her. So watch this space!

That's it for this stitching update. Don't forget that the next new moon is due on 30th July which means it will be time for the ORT report!

Til then, happy stitching!

Another gorgeous giveaway!

2011-07-27T10:12:00.000+08:00

Morning everyone!

Just popping in very quickly to say hi and wish everyone a happy Wednesday, and to let you know that the lovely Nia from Caixinha de Pirlimpimpim is having a giveaway for her 3rd Blog anniversary! Click on the link below the picture and you will go directly to Nia's giveaway page.

This giveaway ends on 31st July 2011, so you'd better hurry! While you are there make sure you wish Nia a very Happy Birthday, as it is also her birthday today!

http://caixinhadepirlimpimpim.blogspot.com/2011/07/blogversario-e-giveaway.html

Well folks, that's it for now, see you all again soon!

Happy stitching, happy blogging and no frogging...

Til next time,

A different kind of stash!

2011-07-26T11:57:00.025+08:00

Ooh aah! Stash.... well sort of!

This is stash for the bookcase...... and chicken soup for the soul!

I recently started reading Jennifer Chiaverini's "Elm Creek" novels, and yes, you guessed it, I'm addicted. I had read somewhere that once you start reading these novels you can't stop, and it is so true! So far I have read 5 of the books but was struggling to find any more in the bookshops in Perth.

So what did I do - had a look on Amazon and ordered the whole lot! I did get the first 3 novels (A Quilt Sampler) from Amazon and managed to find the next two in bookshops around Perth, but rather than keep searching bookshops here, I took the easy path... As with all stash addiction - I wanted it and I wanted it now!

The first 2 boxes arrived today and the third one should arrive in the next couple of days.

Can't wait to start reading these!
Unfortunately the next one in the series is in the box that I am still waiting on!!

While we were on Amazon we also bought the other couple of quilt pattern books that go with the Elm Creek novels. So now hubby will have them in his book stash and I will have the novels in my book stash. All very fair I thought! We had already bought the first quilt pattern book when I bought the first 3 novels to see what it is like. Definitely worth getting if you are a quilter; I have also found it good to look at it after reading the novels as I can then imagine the finished quilts better.

These might be hubby's but I will probably spend as much time "pawing" through them as he will!!

The Elm Creek novels are fantastic. I have so enjoyed reading them, and even though I am not a quilter it doesn't matter as quilting is only part of the story, but it is the glue that binds all these characters together. The characters almost become your friends, and when you finish one book you can't wait to pick up the next one to see what they are doing next. If you haven't read these books, you really should try to find them - they are so worth it! I so want to go on a quilting retreat!!

The author, Jennifer Chiaverini, also has a website and a blog "Elm Creek Quilts" which has all sorts of interesting info on it about her books and events. She also designs fabric for a company called "Red Rooster Fabrics". One very talented lady!

Well, that's enough from me for the time being - I had better get onto finishing my current read - Ken Follett's "Fall of Giants" - so that I can start on my next Elm Creek novel!

Til next time, happy stitching and happy reading!

Congratulations Cadel Evans!

2011-07-25T11:34:00.000+08:00

Congratulations Cadel Evans on winning the 2011 Tour de France!

Champagne, should be a nice cold beer in his hand!
But then again he is in France!

What a superstar you are! First Australian to win the Tour in the 108 year history of the race... what an amazing achievement. Cadel is no longer the bridesmaid, so to speak! He absolutely deserves the win and all the accolades that will come his way.

I don't think there were too many people in Australia that didn't sit up last night to watch him cross the finish line - we certainly did! Tears of happiness for Cadel and his team were rolling down my face as the last lap started and he was within sight of his dream. It was a great finish to the race as well, but the best bit by far was to see a fantastic Australian cyclist win the Tour de France! Well done!

This is how Perth celebrated Cadel Evan's win!!

All photos in this post are from the Perth Now website.

Til next time, happy stitching!

Welcome New Friends!

2011-07-24T18:36:00.003+08:00

Welcome new Friends! Hello old Friends, it's good to see you all again.

I noticed on the weekend that I have some new followers, and I must apologise for not saying hi earlier. Unfortunately I haven't been able to see my followers for quite some time and therefore I hadn't realised that I had new followers. It was only when I was using the laptop on the weekend that all your lovely faces popped up on my blog again.... I do hope that the followers gadget is working again....

Thank you so very much for popping over to my blog and saying hello. I hope to be able keep in touch with you all and see what you are up to on your blogs!

And now for a huge Thank You:

I have a very big thank you to say to a very generous lady! A few weeks ago Krystaline at Relentless Stitching had a giveaway competition, which I entered and won!!!

Below is a picture of the giveaway that I received in the mail on Friday - a flower kit, magnifying pen, needle threader, stork scissors and a pink pen with the initial "L".

And that is not all! Krystaline also sent me a $30 gift voucher for the HAED website! What a very generous lady - thank you so very much.

Giveaway from Krystaline

I have often drooled over the HAED website, and also spent a couple of hours over the weekend drooling over the gorgeous designs again.

So what do I want to buy.... I love the Randal Spangler designs so I think the cute little dragons will win, but then again the Selena French designs are also on my wish list!! Will let you know in another post what I buy.

Thank you again Krystaline.

Til next time, happy stitching and have a great week!

Wonderful people and some fantastic giveaways

2011-07-22T18:06:00.002+08:00

Well, hello again....

It feels like a very long time since I was last here, and it's even a longer time since I did some blog "stalking". There are over a 1,000 blogs in my Google Reader... oh my goodness, how did I ever get so far behind!

The answer is easy - I have been so busy at work over the last few weeks that I haven't had time to spend me customary 1/2 hr or so at lunchtime catching up on everyone news, and the weekends I have been too tired to even turn the computer on. So, today I have been making a very concerted effort to catch up and visit as many blogs as possible. And I will do some more catching up tomorrow...

While visiting blogs today I have seen that there are some very lovely people out there having the most wonderful giveaways. I have posted links to some of the ones that I found below:

Giveaway Number 1:
Bec at Bec's Cross Stitch Creations is celebrating achieving 100 followers by having a lovely giveaway. Lots of lovely things including a really pretty stitched biscornu and bookmark. Wander on over and sign up before she announces the winner on Friday 29th July 2011 (Aussie EST).

http://xstitchcreations.blogspot.com/2011/07/my-first-giveaway-celebrating-100th.html

Giveaway number 2:
I found this blog today via Joyce's blog (Random Ramblings). Measi at Measi's Musing: Ramblings of a Geeky Witch is having a summer fun giveaway. Why not pop in and visit Measi and sign up for her giveaway. If you also post a mention of her giveaway on your blog she will enter you for a second time in the draw. This giveaway ends on 31st July with the winner being announced on 1st August.

http://measi.net/measiblog/2011/07/20/summer-fun-giveaway/

Giveaway number 3:
It's party time over at Lady of the Floss. Gabi is having a giveaway to celebrate her blogoversary. The giveaway is a gift voucher of $100 to spend at Anita's Little Stitches!!! $50 of the giveaway has been sponsored by Anita. What an amazing giveaway, you could have lots of fun spending the dollars at Anita's on-line store. Again if you mention Gabi's giveaway on your blog she will enter you a second time in draw.

http://ladyofthefloss.blogspot.com/2011/07/lets-have-give-away-to-celebrate-my.html

Giveway Number 4:
Ok, for all you quilters out there why not have a look at Lily Pad Quilting. They have this seriously amazing giveaway - there are fabrics, gift vouchers, needles, thread, tools, and the list goes on. (Hubby, take note you must enter this one!)

http://lilypadquilting.blogspot.com/2011/07/were-celebrating.html

Hope everyone enjoys the weekend, will see you all again soon. Must go and pick up hubby from the train station!

Til next time happy stitching,

I'm late, I'm late for a very important date!!! - TUSAL Update 1 July 2011

2011-07-05T18:02:00.000+08:00

Totally Useless SAL update - New Moon 1 July 2011

Oh my goodness gracious me.... I'm so late! I can't believe that the 1st of July has come and gone and I haven't posted my TUSAL picture.

Although I guess that you have to have done some stitching to have an update, and the last week and a half I haven't been doing too much in the way of stitching - lazy bones that I am! So my last stitching update still stands!

Actually I haven't really been too lazy as I have been very busy ripping up all my old magazines! Over the weekend I spent numerous hours playing with Microsoft Access trying to set up a database so that I can record all my charts. I also want to go through and re-cull some of my files of paper charts from magazines that I have been saving over the years, and scan the charts that I'm pretty sure I won't ever be stitching, but don't want to throw away just in case. I am very big on "just in case" when it comes to chart stash!! All the ones that I really like will stay in the files because sometimes you just need to be able to hold the piece of paper!

It goes without saying that this will take some time - probably years knowing me! I will get bored very quickly scanning and entering into Access - especially when my guilty conscience and itchy stitching fingers are pricking me.....

Unfortunately all this other activity means that I don't have a stitching update for this TUSAL report.... but here is my TUSAL picture - better late than never!!

TUSAL - New Moon July 2011

For more info on the TUSAL pop over to Daffycat's blog.

Til the next new moon on 30th July 2011, happy stitching and collecting of ORT's.

New Moons - 2011

30 July

29 August
27 September
26 October
25 November
24 December

Cats and Quilts...

2011-06-24T14:20:00.001+08:00

Q: What does a cat do when presented with a nice warm lap covered with a lovely snuggly quilt?

A: He snuggles up and goes to sleep!

One happy cat!!
Daisy dog is snuggled up in the background on her bed!

Notice the dog does move!!!

Last night Hubby settled down to unpick the quilting on the quilt that he is making for his youngest son's 21st birthday. After quilting about half he decided he didn't like the free-motion quilting that he did - so out it is coming.... Now, back to the story! After Hubby made himself comfortable on the couch with unpicker and ORT's jar a certain young puddy tat decided it was time to have a sleep on the couch next to Dad, but when he discovered that Dad had a quilt on his lap... well, that was different - couch or Dad's lap with a quilt on it!! Dad's lap won hands down! So the evening passed with Oscar asleep on Hubby's lap while Hubby unpicked his quilting....

This week has been yet another busy week at work even with the boss away for the week! We are now in winter's cold grasp and amazingly we are actually getting some decent rain. The weekend, and most of next week, has more rain forecast too, so fingers crossed, and with a little bit of help from the Gods above we will actually see some of that precious rain start to flow into the dams....

I haven't done a lot of stitching this week - have been way too tired to do too much at night after work, but I do have a bit of stitching update for you.

Margaret Sherry Culinary Cat 2 - kitty is now almost half done, and he is now looking pretty cool! Looking forward to finishing him off and starting number 3.

Flower Fairy - this cute little fairy is coming along quite nicely. I have been alternating between the kitty and the flower fairy over the last week and they are now both on the home run.

Finally, one last little pic... on Saturday Hubby and I went to Spotlight to participant in the sale! I was good... but Hubby found some nice new fabrics to add to his stash. I did find this cute little box though. It is a Gutermann thread box and was filled with 4 or 5 coloured sewing threads which Hubby has added to his stash and the box is in my stitching box. Have no idea what I will use it for.. but I'm sure it will come in handy to store needles or scissors or even ORT's!!

With our weather forecast like this for today and the weekend

You will probably find me doing this....... albiet with stitching in one hand and a cuppa of tea in the other!!

Til next time, hope you have a wonderful weekend and get lots of stitching done!

Hot Chocolate

2011-06-20T12:28:00.004+08:00

Happy Monday everyone! I hope that everyone had a lovely weekend with lots of stitching! My weekend was busy and unfortunately not a lot of stitching got done... I think I managed to put in about 20 stitches into my MS cat all weekend - and that was last night after tea!

But on the flip side of a "no stitching" weekend, we had a lovely weekend with family - Hubby and I went shopping on Saturday and then we went to a birthday party at my brother's house for my nephew's 4th birthday, and yesterday my step-son and his girlfriend came over for lunch. It was nice to catch up with DS-S before he heads off to Russia for 2 weeks! He is doing a field trip to Siberia with the University he attends and is very excited about heading off overseas yet again - lucky doer!!!

Now Mondays are not normally my favourite day.... however when a friend sent me the following this morning it made me smile and feel good about today being a Monday, so I thought I would share it with everyone. As it was in a powerpoint presentation I have copied and pasted the words here for you all to read! I'm not sure where it came from originally therefore I can't give the credit where credit is due.

Hot Chocolate

A group of graduates, well established in their careers, were discussing their lives at a class reunion. They decided to go visit their old university professor, now retired, who was always an inspiration to them. During their visit, the conversation turned to complaints about stress in their work, lives and relationships.

Offering his guests hot chocolate, the professor went into the kitchen and returned with a large pot of hot chocolate and an assortment of cups. Some cups were porcelain, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite. He invited each to help themselves to the hot chocolate. When they all had a cup of hot chocolate in hand, the professor shared his thoughts.

“Notice that all the nice looking, expensive cups were taken, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves that is the source of your problems and stress.”

“The cup that you are drinking from adds nothing to the quality of the hot chocolate. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink.”

“What each of you really wanted was hot chocolate. You did not want the cup . . . but you consciously went for the best cups. And soon, you began to eye one another’s cups.”

“Now friends, please consider this . . ."

“Life is the hot chocolate . . . your job, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life.”

“The cup you have does not define, nor does it change, the quality of life you are living. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the hot chocolate God has provided us.”

Always remember this . . . . . . . . . . God brews the hot chocolate, He does not choose the cup.

The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything that they have!!

Live simply . . .
Love generously . . .
Care deeply . . .
Speak kindly . . .

Leave the rest to God ~ and remember ~ The richest person is not the one who has the most, but the one who needs the least.
Enjoy your hot chocolate!!

And to finish, I must say "Happy Birthday" to my niece Emily and my two nephews, Luke and Lincoln, who are celebrating their birthdays on Saturday just gone and today. They are all growing up so quickly!

Til next time, happy stitching....

Quirky Cats

2011-06-12T14:57:00.002+08:00

Hello again... it's Sunday afternoon and the weekend is nearly over, unfortunately!

Today I have spent a couple of hours turning a "quirky cat" into a birthday card for the Craftbubble "Crazy for Kitties" birthday exchange. Tomorrow the quirky cat will be winging it's way over to the UK.

I stitched the design from a mini chart booklet that came with one of the "Cross Stitch Crazy" magazines - can't remember what issue though, sorry. The booklet is called "Best Ever Pet Charts" and has animal designs by Lesley Teare, Sharon Welch and Lucie Heaton. The one that I chose to stitch comes from the "Cheeky Chums" section of the booklet and was designed by Lucie Heaton. It is a rather quirky patchwork cat in yellow and blues and I thought it would be lovely quick design to stitch and turn into a card. It was quite quick to stitch and only took me about 4 evenings to stitch it. It took almost as long again to turn it into a card this afternoon! I'm not very creative when it comes to making cards so it takes awhile to think of what to do.... but I am quite pleased with the outcome.

Quirky cat - designed by Lucie Heaton
Best ever pet charts booklet - Cross Stitch Crazy magazine
Stitched for Craftbubble "Crazy for Kitties" Birthday Exchange

As promised, I have also taken a couple of photos of Oscar and Felix's new outdoor area. The photos aren't the best as the light was failing yesterday when I remembered to take the photo. Once we have some more plants in there and re-arrange things I will take some more photos. The boys absolutely love their new area and have spent most of the day outside today sleeping in the sun! They now have about 5 1/2 times the outdoor space that they had before. The best thing about the new space is that we can sit in there with them and Daisy can come too.... Although she is still getting the hang of the idea that the ball can't be thrown through the netting!

Our boys are definately the most spoilt cats in this neighbourhood!

Til next time, happy stitching

Friday on my mind!

2011-06-10T10:53:00.000+08:00

It's Friday! It's Friday! I do so love Fridays.....

This week has only been a short working week for me (3 days as Monday was a public holiday) but gee I am shattered! Normally I manage to fit 5 days work into 4, but trying to fit 5 days work into 3 days doesn't necessarily go! But I did it! Managed to get most of my work completed by the time I left yesterday - what I didn't get done can afford to wait til Monday.

So here we are again - it's Friday and I am at home with my dog and my 2 puddy tats after sending my poor long suffering husband off to work..... That is the only bad thing about Fridays - hubby has to go to work while I stay home!! I'm sure that he would much rather be at home quilting on a Friday than being at work.

I didn't get a chance over the weekend to post a stitching update as we had a very busy non-crafting weekend. After all the rain during the week, the sun was out and shining on the weekend, so Saturday and Monday were spent out in the garden planting up the new garden beds and re-arranging the pots that had been moved while the patio was being re-done. Hubby also re-planted all the strawberry plants - we have about 40 in total now! Some are in the raised planter and the rest are back in the ground with lots of nice yummy manure. Hubby also planted our new dwarf orange tree and olive, and got the lemon out of it's pot and finally into the ground! The vegie patch is now ready for the raspberries and gooseberries which arrived in the post today. So guess what tomorrow will be all about!!

On Sunday we went down to Fremantle and spent the afternoon out with my sister and her family. After a lovely lunch we went wandering around Freo and into the markets and generally had a lovely day out. The weather was just beautiful. We both just love going down to Freo for the day. It is so relaxing and the markets are a wonderful place to while away a couple of hours. Although they do get very busy.... Hubby and I almost got lost in one of my favourite shops - The Blue Buddha. I love going into the Perth shop and now I have found the Freo one! Such beautiful things in there, but this time I did keep my credit card in my handbag... however we are going to have to go back in a couple of weeks as I want to look at getting another crystal pendant.

I did manage to get some stitching done while I had the couple of days off last week. Culinary Cat number 1 is finished and number 2 has been started! I also have been stitching a "crazy patchwork" cat for a birthday card which I need to finish this weekend to get in the mail to the UK. I will post a pic of that once it's finished.

Margaret Sherry Culinary Cat No. 1 finished!

Oscar and Felix are still waiting to get their outdoor area finished. Unfortunately the job is taking longer than expected and the fellow is back today to finish putting up the netting. So fingers crossed and prayers to kitty angels it will be finished today and the boys can finally get back outside. They have now been inside for 7 weeks! That's an awful long time in a kitty cat's life! Once it's all finished I will post a pic so you can see what we have done for our very spoilt cats!

Are they real or are they statues?
I have no idea what they were looking at......
but as you can see they are on my stitching again!

Til next time, happy stitching and have a great weekend!

Totally Useless SAL update - New Moon 1 June 2011

2011-06-01T09:49:00.004+08:00

Another new month begins and another new moon appears! Where did May go? Welcome to June 2011. Here in the Southern Hemisphere it is the first day of winter, and here in Perth it is cold, windy and rainy with a chance of a thunderstorm. Which is music to our ears - we so badly need the rain to fill up our dams so that the city will have water for summer. Although I should be careful what I wish for!!

This month sees my little ORT's jar full of some more lovely colours from the quilt squares that I have been stitching. They have been squished down again this month to give me room for some more ORT's over the coming months.

What has contributed to the ORT's this month: well, we had the cute puppy with his garbage can, then all the whites and oranges of the Precious Moments angel, then the MS Purrfect Partners, and finally a bit of the MS Culinary Cats and the MS Totally Tropical.

Next month should see me finish the Culinary Cats so the jar will be overflowing with pretty cat colours!

Last month when I took my TUSAL photo Felix wanted to join in - so this month I took the ORT's jar straight to the boy and took the photo while he was lazing around in his cat basket!

TUSAL update 1 June 2011

Oh, it is a hard life being a cat!!

I wonder where Felix and my ORT's will want to have their picture taken next month?? For more info on the TUSAL pop over to Daffycat's blog.

Quick Stitching Update

Now that my Quilts 4 Kids squares are all completed and sent off, I am back onto my Margaret Sherry Culinary Cats. I managed to stitch a bit more on cat number 1 the other night... so now he has feet!

Culinary Cats (1) - Margaret Sherry
Cross Stitcher, Issue 222

I am also finishing off another Margaret Sherry freebie that came with yet another Cross Stitcher magazine. My left shoulder was quite painful on Monday night and I didn't really feel like sitting at the table and holding the frame while stitching, so instead I sat on the couch surrounded by cushions supporting my left shoulder and stitched on "Totally Tropical" for a while.

This is another small UFO that I started some time ago and put away. I put this one away because of the top of tree - it is all half cross stitch (which are quick and easy) but two of the symbols are the same colour, one in 2 threads and one in 1 thread so I kept losing my place! But over the last couple of nights I have managed to get quite a bit of the tree top stitched. I noticed on the stitched model, that was on the cover of the kit, that the stitcher did all of the half cross stitches as full cross stitches..... not sure if she made a mistake or if they changed the design for the magazine, but I think by the time I have finished the half cross stitches it will actually be nicer as the cat will stand out more.

As I now have 6 days off.... I will alternate between the 2 Margaret Sherry designs and hopefully have a finish to show on Monday.

Totally Tropical - Margaret Sherry
Cross Stitcher Issue 201

Til the next new moon on 1st July 2011, happy stitching and collecting of ORT's.

New Moons - 2011

1 July

30 July

29 August
27 September
26 October
25 November
24 December

Last day of May....

2011-05-31T14:29:00.003+08:00

Hello everyone! Hope you are all doing ok....

I was doing a wee bit of blog stalking ealier while having a cuppa of tea and a bit of lunch - I know I should be working.... but for some reason I have no motivation for work this week! May have something to do with the fact that today is my last day at work for the week as I am taking a couple of days leave while the Catmax man comes around to re-install Oscar and Felix's outdoor playground. (They can't wait to get back outside in the fresh air again!)

With my 2 days leave and my normal day off on Friday, and the Public Holiday on Monday for Foundation Day, I will have 6 days off! Woo Hoo..... I feel a happy dance coming on... Just think of all those stitching hours that I will have!!!

Here's a little bit of WA history for you. The Public Holiday on Monday is a Western Australian holiday to commerate the founding of the first British Colony in the state of WA.

The first Europeans to visit the Western coast of Australia were Dutch explorers in the 1600s. Later a French party also visited the area. However, many early visitors were not positive about the land's potential so they travelled further. In 1826, the first British settlement, an outpost of the army, was established in Western Australia. During 1827, Admiral Sir James Stirling led a number of explorations along Australia's west coast and recommended that a permanent settlement should be established in the Swan River area. In 1829, he returned to the area with a navy vessel, HMS Challenger, and the merchant ship Barque Parmelia.

On June 1, 1829, Australia's west coast was sighted from the Parmelia, although the ship did not reach anchor until the following day. Later that year, more ships arrived in the area and Perth was officially founded. The area was known as the Swan River Colony until 1832, when it became known as Western Australia. In 1834, Stirling, who was the administrator of Western Australia, decided to hold an annual celebration to unite the settlers, masters, servants and Indigenous Australians within and around the colony. June 1 was the chosen date because it was the anniversary of the first sighting of Western Australia from the Parmelia and marks an important victory for the British navy over the French in 1794.

The public holiday on the first Monday of June is to celebrate
WA's Foundation Day

I am a very proud West Australian, although I was actually born in South Australia! My parents moved over to WA in 1966 when I was a wee little 'un, and we have lived here since then, except for about 18 months in 1969/70 when we went back to SA for awhile. But the call of the West saw us back here to stay.....

But, I digress - again.....

As I said when I started this post, I was having a quick blog stalk while having lunch and I noticed a giveaway that Krystaline at Relentless Stitching has going at the moment.... the giveaway ends on 3rd June 2011. So pop on over to Krystaline's blog and say hello....

Don't forget that tomorrow is the "New Moon" so it will be time to dust off the ORT's and upload a pic so that we can see how much they have grown over the month.

Til next time, happy stitching and may the only frogs you see be the ones in your garden!

Purffect Partners

2011-05-29T16:33:00.003+08:00

Hello again.... It's Sunday afternoon and I have been fiddling around doing some blog stalking, updating my photo album on FB, and now I thought I'd do a quick post to show you my latest little finish, and also what I have added to my stash!

Last Saturday hubby and I went off the Craft and Quilt Fair. We try to go every year when it's on as it really is our only chance to see all the wonderful crafting ideas that are out there in one spot, especially the quilting stuff for hubby. This once a year treat always comes to town around hubby's birthday so he gets to spend up big, and he also gets to choose his own pressie.... This year was no exception - the credit card got a workout as hubby spent lots of $$ on quilting stash... Meeza was very good in comparison! Hubby could have spent more... I saw him drooling over the Husqvarna Viking sewing machines!! Last time he drooled over a Husqvarna it was a ride on lawn mower and we bought it!!! This time we were good and kept the credit card in our pockets... By the way - I never did get to use the Husqvanrna lawn mower - I used to do my mowing on the old green Victor ride one! It was much safer coz when I ran into things it didn't matter with the old one!!! But that's another story...

Anyway, I digress... as is my want to do!!!

At the show I did buy three new kits to add to the ever increasing stash in the drawer! I bought two Dimension kits - "Maggie the Messmaker" and "Kitty Litter". That was going to be all until I saw the "Colours Down Under" stall and drooled over a finished and framed Chatelaine Designs "Taj Mahal Mandala Garden".

I have followed Joyce's stitching of the Taj Mahal on her blog Random Ramblings and thought that the design was stunning. And then to see it in real life and up close.... wow! So I decided to buy a small Mandala... or rather a chart pack of 3 small ones and at some stage over the next 12 months I will give one of them a go..... So watch this space!

Latest addition to the stash drawer!

As you know I have recently been stitching a number of quilt squares for Quilts 4 Kids so I haven't stitched much of anything else of late! After finishing my last quilt square, I decided to stitch something small, or even finish off a small UFO (of which there are many to choose from) before carrying on with my Margaret Sherry Culinary Cats. So I went through the basket of UFO's and had a quick look at all the freebies in the box.. and what did I decide to finish... well another Margaret Sherry design! Just to warm me up for my culinary cats!

I can't remember when I started stitching the "Purrfect Partners" cats. They came as a freebie with Cross Stitcher issue 196, February 2008 but I do know that I didn't start them that long ago! I think I started them around this time last year and for some reason put them away... as you do! So I decided that they would be my next finish! I finished off the last of the backstitch this morning while waiting for my brother and his family to come and visit.

Purrfect Partners - Margaret Sherry

Cross Stitcher, Issue 196

Purrfect Partners finished 29 May 2011
No longer a 2010 UFO!

Another 2011 finish to add to the list.... now I will go back to my MS Culinary Cats and work on them for the next couple of weeks and get them finished off.

Just before I go.... what else does a dog and cat do on a very windy and cold winter's afternoon while mum is playing on the computer???

They cuddle up together!

Daisy to Oscar - you do know this is my bed, don't you???

I had to take a photo of Oscar and Daisy asleep together as this is quite a rare occurrence. Whenever the boys try to sleep with Daisy she gets jittery and moves away... but this time she obviously decided that sleep was what she wanted and if she had to share with the cat... well so be it!!!

Daisy - Oh blow it... I will just ignore you - you are not there!
I don't see you.....

Purrfect Partners indeed!

Til next time, happy stitching!

Wyatt A's completed quilt

2011-05-24T09:00:00.006+08:00

Just a quick post to show you the picture of Wyatt A's completed quilt.

Wyatt A's finished quilt

My four monkeys are at the end of the last row. The monkey squares are fabulous - I love how everyone has a different type of monkey. Makes for a very special quilt for a very special little boy.

If you go to the Quilts 4 Kids website you will see Wyatt with his completed quilt. Seeing Wyatt with his finished quilt makes me feel really proud of what I stitched.

Til next time,

Angels and Cats!

2011-05-23T14:46:00.000+08:00

Well, firstly sincere apologies for not being around much the past month or so.... don't know where time is going to. I can't believe that it is over 2 weeks since my last post! I have been very busy at work lately, and have been doing my stitching every night. Also things have been quite busy at home over the past few weeks as well.... so it's no wonder that I haven't had much time to get on the computer! The poor old computer sits in the corner of the study wondering what has happened to me - I think it will soon leave home if I don't start it up more regularly!!!

So if I haven't been online, then what have I been doing??

I finished the last bit of backstitch on my playful puppy and started the Precious Moments angel for the final Quilts 4 Kids square that I had signed up for. The angel is now finished and was sent off the other day. The quilt square was for Tatum R, and her theme was Angels and Butterflies. This design was so easy to stitch and I really enjoyed it. It was lovely watching the angelic face appear. It was a free design from the Gloria and Pat website and is called "Light the Way". I just love the Precious Moments designs. Hopefully I will have the opportunity to stitch some more of these cute angelic designs one day. The backstitch on this design was so easy - the designers actually tell you in what order to stitch the backstitch and where certain areas start and finish (ie around the sleeves and hands) so there is no trying to interpret for yourself.... makes backstitch a joy to do!!!

Precious Moments "Light the Way" by Gloria & Pat
Stitched for Tatum R - Quilts for Kids

So for now I will be taking a break from the quilt squares as I have to finish off a couple of other things - mainly my Margaret Sherry Culinary Cats! I am currently finishing off a little MS cat that I started ages ago - just to prepare myself for the Culinary Cats onslaught that will start on the weekend!

I also quickly made up a birthday card to send to the UK as part of the Craftbubble "Crazy for Kitties" birthday exchange. I had previously stitched the "Kiri kitten" so I just had to pull it all together as a card. I spent a lovely Friday morning doing the card while the weather was trying to blow the backyard away. I recently bought the "Ultimate Crafter's Companion Pro" so I used that to fold and score my cardstock. I also watched the instructional DVD to see what else you can do with it. I don't make a lot of cards but it does help to have the Ultimate Pro to do some of the different folds. Not sure how creative I will be with it but you never know!

Birthday Card for Craftbubble "Crazy for Kitties" Birthday Exchange

On the home front, we have recently had our patio (pergola) pulled down and replaced with a lovely new gabled one and had the paving relaid to suit the new patio area. The next step is to get the cats area reinstalled so that they can go outside again. They have been very good boys over the last month while they have been house-bound. But I think that on the 4th June they will be very happy kitties! The area that they will have is going to be larger and will allow us the space to sit in the screened off area with them and Daisy Dog. The boys have been quite excited since the new structure has been up as now we have 2 little Willie Wag-tail birds coming in under the patio for a visit. They have always visited the back yard but usually hang around by the vegie patch. Although, once the cat's screen goes back up they might not want to come so close to the house.... I'm sure that Felix and Oscar would be very happy to welcome them in though.... It is so funny watching Oscar and Felix when the birds come close to the house - they make these funny meow noises and their whole bodies quiver... don't think they would know what to do though if they were confronted with a bird! And fingers crossed it stays that way - that is one of the reasons they have a safe outdoor area to play in - birds and cats are both safe then!!!

Willie Wagtail sitting on new patio gable

and then there were 2!

Willie Wagtail might be able to wander around on the patio now but
after the 4th June the cats will be back in this area.....

Oscar sound asleep on the elephants! Notice how the cushions are all now laying
down so that a very special little man can curl up and go to sleep...
What else can a boy do but sleep when he can't go outside!!!

Well, I guess that's about it for this post. Hopefully the next post will be much sooner than 2 weeks!!!

Til next time, happy stitching!

Happy Mother's Day

2011-05-08T14:20:00.002+08:00

A Mother's Love

There are times when only a mother's love
Can understand our tears,
Can soothe our disappoints
And calm all of our fears.

There are times when only a mother's love
Can share the joy we feel
When something we've dreamed about
Quite suddenly is real.

There are times when only a mother's faith
Can help us on life's way
And inspire in us the confidence
We need from day to day.

For a mother's heart and a mother's faith
And a mother's steadfast love
Were fashioned by the angels
And sent from God above.

--Author Unknown--

Til next time,

Take me home country roads....

2011-05-06T12:34:00.001+08:00

On Wednesday night Mark and I went to see "The John Denver Story - Take Me Home Country Roads" as told/sung by Rick Price. What an amazing show.

An amazing show and a great night out!

To be honest I wasn't sure about going - while I do love John Denver's music, and I remember Rick Price as a singer from the early 90's, I was a bit hesitant. I don't usually like tribute shows, and also I hadn't heard a thing about this show, hadn't even seen it advertised - so I had no idea what to expect. But as Mark was given the tickets by someone at work... I thought well let's go - if it's no good we can always leave during the interval!

What a surprise we got...
After the first song I was smiling and very happy that we had decided to go. The show was fantastic!!

Rick Price put so much feeling and energy into all the songs that he sang. At times I would swear that I could almost hear John Denver's voice. We spoke to Rick after the show and he said that they performed 20 songs in the 2 hour show! 20 lovingly presented songs...

When it came to the end of the show the last song was a really beautifully performed solo - only Rick on the piano and the only one on stage... and then the lights went down as the song drew to a close and all was in darkness.... very moving end to the show. I wasn't the only one with a hint of a tears in my eyes at the end!

Now the thing to remember is that this show is not a John Denver impersonation or tribute show as such - it is Rick Price singing the beautiful songs of John Denver interwoven with some narrative of his life story. There is no denying that John Denver's life was complicated, and in real life he wasn't necessarily the simple country boy that his songs portrayed, some people might not agree with the choices that he made between family and career, but that was his life for better or worse.

An absolutely brilliant show - well worth the effort of going to see it if you get the chance. Rick Price was brilliant and the Colorado Quartet were fantastic. What a talented bunch of guys - and all Australian musicians too!!!

John Denver's songs really are timeless classics and there is always a story in the lyrics - and you can actually understand the lyrics! When I was growing up in the 70's it wasn't cool to be a John Denver fan but it's funny how I knew every single one of those songs performed! And I could sing along with almost all of the lyrics..... While we don't have John Denver here anymore we do still have his music and I for one am very grateful that he left behind such a beautiful legacy for us all to enjoy.

At the end of the show we decided to stay back as one of the Theatre attendants told me that Rick Price was going to come out and say hi.... so why not do the groupie thing! I am so glad that we did stay back an extra 20 minutes. Rick is a really lovely person and it was a real treat to be able to talk to him about the show and to thank him for a great night's entertainment. Rick was kind enough to sign our programme and our tickets. We now have a nice memento of the show - one day I will get around to getting them framed. (Didn't think about asking him if we could have a photo taken with him though, oh well....)

While I am writing this post I am playing YouTube videos of John Denver..... I have also discovered that there are 3 rehearsal videos on YouTube from the show. It was great to watch them - bought back memories of a great night out!

I hope that you have more "days that are diamonds, than days that are stones"

Til next time,