I don't have fireflies in my garden - which is a shame... only cats, bees, a dog and the odd dragonfly!! So please settle down with a cuppa, put your feet up and enjoy!

Sunday, April 14, 2013

TUSAL April 2013

Hello!  Here we are again... TUSAL time!  The new moon was actually 10th April, but I didn't get around to taking a photo until today.

Seeing as Easter was at the end of March/beginning of April, I thought I would take the photo with my little Easter Bunny... unfortunately we ate the lovely gold Lindt bunny that I was thinking of using for the photo, so I had to use a bunny stand in!  Gold Lindt bunnies don't last too long in this house!!

TUSAL April 2013
You probably can't see all the ORT's in the jar too well, but this month there is lots of gold ORT's in the jar from my Chatelaine "Mini Mandala II - A", and not a lot from poor old "Puppy Love".

WIP Photo "Mini Mandala II - A" Chatelaine
14 April 2013
I am now on the home stretch with this design... Last night I started on the Jessica stitches.  I have never attempted a Jessica stitch before and I'm still not sure if I got it right... but well, now there are 2 down and a whole lot more to go!  I guess by the time I have finished this design I should have a handle on them....

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 10 May so let's see how many more ORT's drop into the jar between now and then.

Til next time, happy stitching!



New Moons - 2013

10 May
8 June
8 July
6 August
5 September
5 October
3 November
3 December

Saturday, April 6, 2013

Postie's been knocking on the door!



Hello!  Yeah, it's Saturday!!  Last week seems to have been such a long week... and I only worked 3 days!!  It's the Public Holidays that do it... I get so used to having a few days off and just relaxing and stitching and when it comes to going back to work after a break, every bone and joint in my body rebels and says NO!!  I am so knackered today... I feel like I have to go and have a Nana nap!  But I won't, as doing that eats into my Saturday afternoon stitching! Nap, Stitch - stitching wins hands down!

Well as you have probably guessed from the title I must have been visited by the postie this week... and yes, I was - not once, but twice!

The first package to arrive came from Rita in Portugal.

Gift from Rita
Rita sent me a lovely handmade card, some postcards with pictures of Portugal and some lovely embellishments   Rita sent me the card and pretties as a thank you for the exchange package I sent her as part of the MS Lovers Blog Winter Exchange.  Such a lovely surprise - Thank you Rita, I adore everything that you sent :o)

The second package came all the way from Judith in Germany.

Easter Exchange from Judith
Close up of the gorgeous bunny pillow
This gorgeous package from Judith is for the MS Lovers Blog Easter Exchange.  The pillow is delightful.  I love the design - in fact I nearly stitched it myself for the Exchange but changed my mind at the last minute.  Also in the package is a book of cute Easter German cross stitch designs, a thread holder, a cute little bunny bag with some lovely embellishments and some choccies.  Aren't they all so lovely.  Thank you Judith, this is a lovely exchange gift.

As yet I can't show you what I sent to Lentochka as part of the exchange as I haven't heard yet if it has arrived safely in Russia.  Hopefully we will hear soon of it's arrival and all will be revealed.

So now that makes two packages that I have sent that I am still waiting to show off to you - a pixie parcel to Eleana and my Easter Exchange to Lentochka.  Fingers crossed we will hear any day now that they have arrived and all will be revealed :o)

Before I go I have to tell you about an Exhibition that I went to a couple of weeks ago with one of the girls from work.  It was at the WA Museum and was just the thing for a lunchtime walk.  The exhibition was 200 years of wedding dresses!  Now what girl doesn't want to go and see some wedding dresses?



The image that was used for the advertising is a drawing of the Vivienne Westwood designed wedding dress for Dita Von Teese's wedding to Marilyn Manson... and that dress was in the exhibition.

Web image
Another dress in the exhibition was this Norman Hartnell designed wedding dress with a 3.6 metre train, worn by socialite Margaret Whigham in 1933. Apparently on the wedding day traffic came to a standstill as people crowded to catch a glimpse of the bride and her nine attendants.  At the exhibition they even had an old newsreel of the wedding.  It is an amazing dress in real life.  Imagine walking with 3.6 metres of fabric trailing along behind you!

Web image

Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take photographs of these amazing wedding dresses, so I have had to search the internet for images and advertising to show you some of these beautiful dresses.  While I was looking for the images I discovered a link to the ABC News story which does show a number of the dresses from the exhibition.  It is amazing how the styles have changed over the last 200 years.  This is also shown in the pictures that were on show of local weddings of Perth people over the years.  Such a wonderful way to spend a lunch break.

Think that is just about all for this post.  It is almost time to do my April TUSAL update so I will be back again in the next few days with a stitching update on my Mystery Garden and Puppy Love.  Both are coming along quite nicely.

So until next time, happy stitching!
Hugs





Monday, April 1, 2013

April... surely not....

Wow, can you believe it - it is April already... and as it's the first day of April how many April Fool's jokes have you seen so far today?  I am sure that there will be some good ones out there somewhere!


I hope everyone had a nice Easter.  We have had a very quiet long weekend... lots of crafting and relaxing... and not a lot else!  Both of us have really needed to just have the time to veg out.  Hubby has been doing some very nice machine embroidery squares and I have been stitching, while Mitzi and the kitties sleep the day away.  The most activity we have had is taking Mitzi out for a walk each morning and trying out her new extended lead.  She loves it - 8m of freedom!!  As yet we haven't taught her to walk off the lead... suspect that she would become very easily distracted and take off... so the new long lead is just what she needs in the park.

Yesterday while I was stitching, Mitzi was as usual lying beside me snoring... then she moved to the other end of the couch and disappeared.  I thought that she had got off the couch but no... she had buried herself in amongst her cushions.

Somewhere in amongst the cushions there is a puppy!!
As I mentioned in my last post I have been stitching the Margaret Sherry "Puppy Love" ... which I am still stitching - no further update though - will leave that for the next post.  While I have been stitching this and the other MS designs for my secret stitching I have been thinking about starting my next Chatelaine.  Have had very itchy fingers for starting one of these!  On Sunday I decided to give in to the urge and started one.  Not a big one - just a little wee one to whet the appetite - CHAT 038 Mini Mandalas II.

photo of A, B & C
I have started the first one in the group of 3 mandalas and I am really enjoying it so far.  I purchased all the correct threads and beads from the European Crosstitch Company as I thought I would I give these different silks ago for the Chatelaines.  So far so good... I have been a good girl and been using Thread Heaven and it does seem to make the threads glide through the fabric.  Might have to use it with my DMC threads as well.  No twisting and knots... love it!!  Once I have stitched these three I will take the plunge and do a larger one.

So do you want to see a photo of where I am at so far?  Of course you do...

WIP Photo - Mini Mandala A
1 April 2013
After a week of stitching I am really pleased with my progress so far.  I will stitch on this some more today and then switch back to "Puppy Love" during the week.

That's it for now... hopefully I will be back again on Friday with an update on both projects.

Have a wonderful Monday and week, til next time, happy stitching
Hugs










Friday, March 22, 2013

March 2013 TUSAL


Hello, anyone there??
I wouldn't be at all surprised if you haven't all deserted me - its been 3 weeks since I blogged... sounds a bit like a confession, doesn't it?

Gosh where do I start... well I missed the new moon, IHSW and St Patrick's Day... but I am here at long last!

I know I say this all the time - but seriously I do not know where the days are going.  Time has a funny way of going at the same speed but seeming like it is going faster and faster every day and I just seem to be losing the race to catch it.

"Web image"
 ORT Report
I have added some pretty ORT's to the jar over the last month.  Mostly the ORT's are from the Easter Exchange stitching for the MS Lovers Blog... and as it's still on its way to its destination I can't show you what I stitched and sent... hopefully it won't take much longer to get there.

March 2013 TUSAL
No Leprechauns in the house for a St Patrick's Day inspired photo... this little reading elf was the closest I could find!!

The rest of the ORT's for this month have come from the first puppy in "Puppy Love".  This is such a cute design to stitch.  The puppy looks so much like our Mitzi except of course for the colour of the ears!

MS Lovers Blog SAL #4 - Puppy Love
March 2013 update
As you can see I haven't finished him yet.. poor puppy only has one ear!  But it won't be long before the second ear appears....

So that's it for this very meagre ORT report.... hopefully the next one will be on time and will have a bit more excitement about it!

As you may be already read and heard over the last week or so Google Reader is disappearing in the next couple of months.  For those of us that use Google Reader to manage the blogs we follow this is not good news.  While I use Byline on my iPad to actually read my blogs the feed comes from Google Reader at the moment... so it's time to try and find a new reader.  I have seen a number of blogs about different types of readers and I am now confused... but I have decided to try "Bloglovin" and see how we go with that one.

So after signing up and transferring my existing blog reading roll over to Bloglovin I am ready for action!  I have even put a little widget on my sidebar so that you can follow me on Bloglovin.

Next thing I need to work out is whether the feeds will still work on Byline. But that is a bridge to cross at another time!

Want to see some pretty things.... have a look at the beads and charms that I recently ordered from Beads Online.  I was hoping to use the Easter Bunny on my exchange piece but unfortunately the order didn't quite get here in time... never mind I'm sure I will find another excuse to use him!



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




New Moons - 2013
10 April
10 May
8 June
8 July
6 August
5 September
5 October
3 November
3 December




Friday, March 1, 2013

Summer is done....


Yes, Summer is finally finished!  Both in stitching and weather....  although Summer in Australia is still hanging on and will do for another few weeks yet.  But at least the weather will hopefully start to cool down now.  Often though Summer wags it's little tail throughout March and only lets go after Easter!

You are so not going to believe this but, I have been very good lately and stitching away most nights on my MS Lovers Blog Easter Exchange and alternating with the MS Lovers SAL#3 Cool Cats "Summer".

While I can't show my Easter Exchange stitching until after it arrives at its final destination - Russia... I can at long last show you, my finished "Summer" Cool Cat.  And by showing you "Summer", I can now put a big green tick against the MS Lovers Blog SAL #3.  Happy dance!!

I finished the last of the back stitch on Cool Cat "Summer" the other night!  Wow, that was a tough one (all that white and cream) but he is now all done.

I have finally finished all three of the original MS Lovers Blog SAL's which means I can start SAL #4 with a clear conscience!  Well, almost a clear conscience as I haven't made them all up yet... but that part will happen soon.

MS Cool Cat Summer - SAL #3
And here they all are.... all stitched and waiting for some place to go!

Finished MS Lovers Blog SAL #3 Cool Cats
Finished MS Lovers Blog SAL #2 Christmas
Finished MS Lovers Blog SAL # 1 Culinary Cats
I can't wait to finally start the next MS Lovers Blog SAL - "Puppy Love"... this weekend is the beginning of a new stitching adventure.

Well that's it for this update from me. Til next time, happy stitching