The IHSW that was...

Hello!

Here we are again at the end of another IHSW and what do I have to show for it... Nothing!!

Now, that's not to say that I didn't stitch over the weekend because I did.. I just can't show you! I am madly stitching my piece for the latest MS Lovers Blog exchange and I am almost done. I should be done but my stitching time has been eroded over the last week or so by couch potato syndrome!!!

Actually, that's not entirely true... Most of Friday & Saturday was spent trying to get the item that I will be using to mount my stitching in "finished"... Do you ever have those days when what's in your head just won't come to fruition in real life. Well, that was me over the weekend... Sunday saw me try something else with the finish and I think it might work this time. I still need to finish it off on Friday... And then I can mount the stitching and hopefully it will be in the mail on Monday!!

So stay tuned... This one is off to Canada - I am hoping that it will be a lot quicker in it's travel time than the last one that went to Russia!!

Ok.. So that was my weekend... No stitching pics to share with you this time, but how about I tell you about another giveaway that I have found instead..

Kaye (Kitten Stitching) is having a giveaway. Kaye has put together some lovely items to celebrate 300+ followers, 300 posts and 2 years of blogging.

Kaye's Giveaway closes 2 July 2013

So why not pop on over to Kaye's blog, say hello and become a follower if you're not already one... And then enter the giveaway :) Kaye's giveaway closes on 2 July 2013. While you're over that way, Kaye also has a travelling pattern that is looking for it's new destination! You had better be quick with this one though... Time might be running out!!

Now while I don't have a photo of my latest stitching to show you... How about a photo of Mitzi fresh from the bath!

Isn't she so pretty?

If you want to sign up next month for the IHSW, or if you want to go a visit some other great blogs and see what others have been stitching over the IHSW, pop over to Joyce's blog and say hello.

Good luck with all the giveaways out there! See you next time, til then happy stitching!

Hugs

 

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Mitzi's Baking Day

Mitzi's baking! Can you believe it? No, you're quite right.. It wasn't Mitzi baking at all, it was me baking for Mitzi... Which is probably even more surprising than my dog baking!

So why was I baking for Mitzi? Well, when Mitzi was 6 months old we found out that she has either a wheat or a beef intolerance, or both! So her diet had to change and since then we have been on the look out for wheat-free and/or beef-free snacks. We found a great source of snacks for her when we went to the Million Paws Walk - Waggy Dog Bakehouse. We have done one order of snack biscuits from them so far and will be ordering from them again, but in the meantime we thought we would also see if we can make some for her.

So after lots of snooping around the interweb, we found a couple of different recipes that looked easy and tasty. So today I decide to test one of them out - pumpkin cookies.

They were so easy to make. The recipe actually calls for canned pumpkin but as we don't have that here in Australia I used good ole' fresh butternut squash and mashed it with a small amount of butter into a nice purée. And guess what, I think it worked!! What do you think? The recipe also asked for dried milk powder.. which I didn't have in the cupboard... so I added a teaspoon of honey to sweeten the recipe slightly.

Thumbs up from Mitzi!

And look how many the recipe made - about 50 biscuits. We have stars, hearts and a couple of bells. I don't have a bone shaped cookie cutter but I know there must be one out there somewhere.

Such an easy bake... And obviously a hit with Mitzi!

See you all again real soon!

Hugs

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Giveaways Galore!

Hello again... Who's for a giveaway?

Sadly I'm not having one just yet... At some point I really need to get organised and have a giveaway, but today I am here to tell you about some great giveaways that I have come across over the last week or so.

Giveaway #1

Kim (Wisdom with Needle and Thread) is having a lovely giveaway for reaching 25 + followers. The first part of her giveaway was this lovely box above, and since then she has added a stitched pillow and scissor fob. Giveaway will be drawn on 1 July 2013.

Giveaway #2

Nia (Caixinha de Pirlimpimpin) is having a great giveaway of 2 x Lizzie Kate "Fat Men" charts. They are just the cutest snowmen! The giveaway ends at the end of June 2013.

Giveaway #3

Meggie (Cross Stitch Cottage) is having a giveaway after reaching 100 followers. Meggie's giveaway includes threads, charts and a cute bunny. You have until 30th June to visit Meggie and enter her giveaway.

Good luck with all the giveaways above. I know that there are sure to be more giveaways out there somewhere... As I find them I will add them to my sidebar.

See you all again real soon!

Hugs

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Finally a stitching update!

Back again... this time with some photos of my latest stitching exploits.

As I have mentioned in an earlier post, I have actually managed to finish the little Mandala that I was working over the last couple of months... but I had neglected to show you the finished photo once all the beading was finished.

And here it is - all beaded up and waiting for the other two to be stitched so that they can sit side by side in a frame.

"Mini Mandala II - A" Chatelaine
Started April 2013 - Finished May 2013

The other piece of stitching that I have been concentrating on is the "Puppy Love" SAL with the girls over on the MS Lovers Blog.

The last time I showed you a pic was way back in March... and I had nearly finished the centre puppy.  Now that one is finished, as is puppy number 2 and puppy number 3 is well on it's way to being finished!

MS Lovers Blog SAL #4 - Puppy Love
June 2013 update

I must admit that this little puppy has been hard going... but I think I am starting to fall in love with him again. Just needed to get on and start stitching him again!

Well that's it for this little stitching update.  I do have a couple of pixie gifts to show you but I will leave them for another post.

Til next time, happy stitching
Hugs

Testing, testing.... TUSAL June 2013

Now this is a first... I am using Blogsy to type and upload a post instead of using the laptop and Blogger. Can't guarantee that doing posts this way will mean that I post more often... But I am hoping that will be the case :)

Anyway, the main reason of today's post is of course it's TUSAL time which means I have to show you my ORT's... As meagre as they are this month.

TUSAL June 2013

So here we are, my little ORT's with their cute teddy friend sitting in my new stitching chair in the craft room.

Most of the ORT's this month came from "Puppy Love" and the gift that I gave to Kaye. But not a lot else... Stitching mojo appears to have gone on a little holiday!

Well dear readers, that's it for another ORT report. If you are interested in keeping in touch with what is going on with the 2013 TUSAL pop on over to Daffycat's blog and join in the fun. The next new moon is on 8 July so let's see how many more ORT's drop into the jar between now and then.

Well, that's about it for this little update.... Have a wonderful week everyone, see you again soon!

New Moons - 2013

8 July
6 August
5 September
5 October
3 November
3 December

 

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Ladies who lunch!

Hello again!

Oh my goodness.. I just noticed how long ago it is since my last post... I have been a very bad blogger so far this year, haven't I??

I have lots of little things to tell you this time around... where to start?

How about I start with what I did on Wednesday - that's as good a place as any to start especially as it was such an exciting day!

So what was so exciting about Wednesday do I hear you ask?  Well, I met up with a fellow Aussie Stitching Blogger!!  Kaye from Kitten Stitching!

Kaye sent me an email a couple of weeks ago to say that she was coming over to Perth for work and was wondering if there was a chance that we could meet up.  As it happened I was taking some time off work this week for some much needed rest and relaxation... and stitching... so the timing was perfect.  We agreed to meet up on Wednesday for lunch after Kaye arrived in Perth, and before her colleagues arrived and they had to start work.

We had a lovely couple of hours together chatting about also sorts of things... and amazingly we found out that we had quite a bit in common - not just stitching and blogging!

Once I knew that Kaye was coming for a visit I wanted to make a couple of little gifts to give her when we met.  I wasn't sure what to stitch so I went through some of my stash and came up with a little Stitcher's Journal which was a nice quick stitch.  I also decided to give Kaye a card that I had stitched previously and was just waiting for the right person to give it too.

Stitcher's Notebook - World of Cross Stitching
Country Diary Card - World of Cross Stitching

On Tuesday I wanted to try my hand at something completely different and I thought I'd have a go at making a sun-catcher and a scissor fob out of beads and crystals.

Sun catcher & beaded scissor fob

Kaye with the gifts I made for her

How's this for thinking alike... Kaye wrapped her gift to me in orange tissue and I had put a bit orange ribbon bow on the box I gave to Kaye!!

And look at what gorgeous pretties were in the orange wrapping....

Gifts from Kaye

Aren't they all so gorgeous?  The charts are delightful and I think I might just have to look at stitching one of them very soon....  I love the scissors and the cute little bunny with his butterfly....

Thank you Kaye, your gifts are lovely.  I had a lovely time meeting you for lunch and catching up in person.  I hope that we can get the opportunity to meet up again.

I am going to leave my other updates for tomorrow... that way you will have to come back and visit again!!

Until then, happy stitching
Hugs