TUSAL Update & Pretty Gifts

Don't get your knickers in a knot.

Nothing is solved and it just makes you walk funny.

~ Kathryn Carpenter ~

My goodness, it's November!  What happened to October, September, August... for that matter what happened to 2013? I feel as if I have blinked and the year has disappeared in the flash of a eyelid!  Does anyone else feel that way?

Onwards with the news...  It's TUSAL time again!

TUSAL November 2013
One very English Bear and some pretty ORT's

This is the second last TUSAL for the year and unfortunately I really don't have a lot of ORT's to show for the month!  A few silvery threads on top of the jar and that is it!  I haven't stitched very much at all over the last month, which is not good!  But I have managed to stitch a little bit here and there....

Mini Chatelaine B - November 2013
Almost there now!

I have now finished all the silver stitches on my Chatelaine and started on the half stitches.  But I need to find the time to do a lot more stitches otherwise it will never be finished!

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 3 December, so let's see if I can get some serious stitching in over the next few weeks and get some more ORT's into the jar between now and then. A bit of last minute flourish for the end of year!

I might not have a lot of stitching to show you but I do have some pretty pressies to show off instead!

My postie has had to deliver 3 lovely packages to me over the last few weeks.

The first one was a giveaway win from Kym (A Stitch in Thyme) who is running a Year Long Giveaway - Kym does a monthly winners draw and I won her August draw.

Gift from Kym - Year Long Giveaway August Winner Prize

The second package to arrive was a lovely birthday gift from Valerie (Fee le point).

Valerie stitched this gorgeous design and turned it into a lovely needle case.  She also sent me these gorgeous linen threads and buttons and charms.  I first saw these linen threads on Valerie's blog and I had commented on how I hadn't seen them before... and now the lovely Valerie has sent some to me.  Can't wait to stitch with them.

Third pressie....
Over on the MS Lovers Blog we have just participated in our third exchange for 2013 - a Halloween Exchange!  I received my exchange package from **Ysa** (Detallitos de Ysabel).  Ysa lives in the Dominican Republic and she sent me a fantastic exchange package.

Halloween Exchange Package from **Ysa**
MS Lovers Blog Exchanges

Halloween Kitty

Ysa sent me the most delightful Halloween kitty and a package of goodies including threads and beads, charms, ribbons, pegs, a lovely orange tea towel that has a great border just right for stitching, a lovely post card as well as a souvenir key ring.  I think that the tea towel will look rather good all stitched up for Halloween next year!

My exchange package went to Judith in Germany and now that it has safely arrived at it's destination I can show you what I sent to Judith.
 

Halloween Exchange - MS Lovers Blog
Sent to Judith

Exchange package for Judith

Along with the pumpkin kitty, I also stitched the Halloween bookmark and made the scissor fob using orange, purple and black beads - perfect Halloween colours!  The fabric in the background is the fabric that I used to make up the pillow - of course I had to add a black border for that little bit extra Halloween oomph!

For those that are wondering where the designs came from that I stitched for the exchange....

The pumpkin kitty is a Margaret Sherry design, of course... after all that is the main point of the exchanges - to stitch Margaret's gorgeous designs!  "Pumpkin Pie" Kitty came the UK Cross Stitcher magazine, issue 232 (November 2010) and the bookmark images also came from a Cross Stitcher magazine - Issue 204 (October 2008) Joanne Sanderson's Halloween Alphabet.  I only stitched the images not the letters, but I stitch Judith's initials at the bottom of the bookmark.  One very spooky bookmark!

Thank you Kym, Valerie and Ysa for the lovely packages you sent... I am really happy and very lucky to receive such great gifts.

Well, I guess that's about it for this update.... Hopefully the next update will be full of lots of lovely stitching for you to look at and ooh and aah over!

Til next time, happy stitching everyone, see you again soon!

New Moons - 2013

3 December

Cats in the garden!

A cat is a lion in a jungle of small bushes

~Indian Proverb~

Following on my previous post, (oops, I am supposed to be telling you about our holiday and other things, not telling you about our furry babies again).... but I have more pictures of our delightful furry babies!

As some of you may have already noticed from previous posts, we have a cat enclosure built outside on our patio for the cats to use so that they both get some sun and fresh air as they are indoor cats.  Mitzi now also uses this area occasionally as she fits quite nicely through the cat door and often joins the boys on the terrace for afternoon cocktails and midnight snacks!

While the area is of generous size for said kitties and puppy, and has all manner of sleeping accommodation, the one thing it lacked was grass!  We had thought of extending their enclosure by a tunnel out onto the back lawn but have never actually got around to doing anything more than think about it - until this weekend anyway.

Now, while we haven't done exactly what we thought we would back in the beginning of time... we did have another thought which we think will prove even more successful for all parties involved!

Let me introduce you to Oscar and Felix's latest piece of real estate...

Oscar & Felix with their newly laid paddock!

We haven't quite finished the area yet as we have one more piece of landscaping to do for them.  Where the bricks are currently standing up, Hubby is going to take out the next brick behind that one as well, rather than cut the bricks into halves, and we will then plant some cat grass and cat mint in the brick and a half space for the boys to enjoy as well.

Oscar absolutely loves his new patch of grass, Felix is still a bit unsure what it is all about... and Mitzi - well Mitzi probably wonders what all the excitement is about - after all she has her own larger grass paddock out the back!

Oscar taking in the new soft sleeping / sunbathing arrangements!

Mitzi just wonders what all the excitement is about!

Fingers crossed that the grass settles in quickly and grows well, and then all three of them will have this lovely comfy spot on their terrace just the right size for them to enjoy a morning or an afternoon of sunbathing!

As for the mowing of said paddock..... that particular event is for thinking about at another later stage!

Well, that's all for now - will be back again soon!

Happy stitching til we meet again!

Are you going to Scarborough Fair?

Are you going to Scarborough Fair?

Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme

Remember me to one who lives there

She was once a true love of mine

Lyrics from "Scarborough Fair" by Simon and Garfunkle

In Oscar and Felix's world, it is parsley, sage, coriander, cat grass and catnip!

The boys normally have cat grass and cat nip in their outside space, but recently we decided to re-do our herb pots and place them into the boys space never dreaming that they would fall in love with the coriander!

Oscar curled up in the coriander

Oscar & Felix

Luckily the coriander keeps springing back up after it has been slept on!  I saw Felix sniffing the parsley and mint the other day so I guess it won't be long before they get the royal kitty treatment as well.

I guess that I'm not the only one that loves the smell of this delightful herb.  Looks like I am going to have to buy some more coriander for us to use so that the boys can have their own pots of special herbs!

See you again real soon, happy stitching til then!

Catching up on the news....

“Did you ever stop to think, and forget to start again?“

― Winnie the Pooh

Winnie the Pooh certainly had it right!  I have been meaning to write a post for the last couple of weeks, but that is as far as I have gotten... thoughts have not gone any further than my little pea sized brain and they certainly haven't appeared on paper - virtual or otherwise!

This month I have missed both the TUSAL and IHWS again... that is becoming a bit of habit, isn't it?  But I did remember to take a photo of my poor old ratty threads though.  

TUSAL Oct 2013 - ORT's and Birthday Cards

This month's New Moon happened to fall on my birthday so I decided to take the photo with some of my lovely cards.  Also in the photo is our Dubai camel - more on him later!

Not too many ORT's have gone into the pot recently as the only stitching I have done over the last month or so is my Halloween piece for the MS Lovers Exchange.  Stitching mojo and blogging mojo appear to have both gone on holiday together!!!  The Halloween piece has now arrived at its destination in Germany so I will do a post shortly to show you what I stitched.  That will make a nice change to see a stitching finish from me!!

Speaking of holidays, Hubby and I have been away and are now back after a lovely 2 weeks in London and Paris.  We have been back three (3) weeks now, and I am only just now starting to get my head around what I need to do both at home and work.  For some reason it has been a real struggle to get back on track after our holiday this time around!  We had a wonderful time while we were away and like all holidays it wasn't long enough!

The only sad part of our holiday was that while we were in London my Nana (Mum's mum) passed away.

RIP Nana
26 May 1916 - 25 September 2013

I have fond memories of all the holidays when we used to go and stay at Nana and Pops' house in Adelaide when we were kids.  I remember watching Dr Who for the first time at Nana's house and being so scared by something on the TV that I hid behind the couch!  Nana was always making us laugh... the "fun" we used to have collecting eggs in the chook house... fun - oh yeah, being chased by the chooks, who said that was fun!!  I last saw Nana in 2010 when Hubby and I went over to Sorrento in Victoria for a visit.  Unfortunately she had Alzhiemer's so she didn't really know who I was... but every now and then during the few hours I was with her that day she would remember something that made us both laugh!  That is how I remember my Nana, happy and laughing!

Nana and I - Queenscliff, Victoria, 2010

I will hopefully get around to organising our holiday photo's over the next few days and then I will do a post or two to tell you about our lovely trip away. But for now I will leave you with a photo of someone very famous that I just had to go and see while I was in London....

Paddington Bear at Paddington Station
September 2013

Not the best photo of me... but then again cameras and I don't tend to get on too well!! Isn't Paddington Bear just the cutest thing.  We arrived in London from Heathrow Airport by train into Paddington Station but unfortunately I didn't get the chance to take a photo then, so we went back on our first day of sightseeing just so that I could get to see him!!  I know I am silly, but I just love Paddington Bear!

Well, that's it for now.  I will be back shortly with a bit of stitching update and also to show you some of the pics from our holiday.

Til next time, happy stitching everyone, see you again soon!

New Moons - 2013

3 November
3 December

It's a sad day....

My last post was part of a wonderful world wide blogging event for a very special lady, however today while my post is for the same lady, it is a whole lot sadder than my last post.

I received an email this morning from a lady called Katie.

Katie is a friend of Cathey's (Pumpkin) and she wrote to let me know that she had posted an update on her blog about Cathey.

Cathey passed away yesterday, and while I didn't "know" Cathey in person, I "knew" her from following her blog over the last couple of years and it does make me very sad to know that Cathey is no longer with us, but she is now without pain. Although, her loved ones that are left behind will feel the pain of not having her around in their lives for a very long time to come.

My heart goes out to Cathey's husband and baby boy, and to her family and friends. A new Angel is now in Heaven and she will be looking down on her loved ones from up above and keeping them safe.

Thank you Cathey for the wonderful posts and laughs, and even the tears, over the last couple of years. You were, and continue to be, an inspiration to us and your fighting spirit was amazing.

Hug and cherish those that are close to you, and remember those that are no longer with us.

(Web image)

 

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