Quick Finish and Stitching Update

Just a thought I'd do a quick post for this afternoon.... however nothing is ever quick when I get on Blogger!  As you will see I have been playing around with my background / blog template.... not sure if I will keep this one yet as it feels a bit too pink for me!!!  But it makes a nice change - and they do say that "variety is the spice of life" and it's probably time to spice up my blog!

So what have I been doing stitching-wise lately.  Well, mainly I have been stitching the butterfly that I chose to stitch for Quilts 4 Kids - Sarah I's butterfly quilt.  This has been quite a nice design to stitch albeit a bit tricky as the design is a very old DMC freebie pattern and looks to be hand drawn / coloured so the squares don't necessarily match the code at the bottom.  So in some places I have had to stitch what I feel is right.  Hopefully it will look very bright and cheerful when it's finished.

WIP - DMC Butterfly for Sarah I
Quilt for Kids

I did manage to have a little finish the other day.  Mark had to go into the city for a couple of appointments and I went with him and took some stitching with me to while away the time.  I was stitching the freebie "Country Diary Card" from the World of Cross Stitching (issue 167) - started it ages ago and put it aside to do other things.  So I thought seeing as it only had a bit of backstitch and the dreaded french knots to go I should make the effort to finish it - which I did!  Not sure what I will do with it yet - the freebie kit did come with it's own mounting card so I might use that or do something completely diffferent with it.  In the meantime it will go into the folder where all these little things go until I need them again!!



"Country Diary Card"
taken from original design by
Edith Holden's "Diary of a Edwardian Country Lady"

I neglected to show you a picture of the Margaret Sherry cat that I stitched for the Valentine's Swap.  So I will remedy that oversight in this post as well.  I also made the sparkly thing that is hanging over the coaster.

Coffee & Cuddles (Margaret Sherry Cat)
Cross Stitcher, Issue 198
Stitched for Maija, Finland (Valentine's Swap)

This week I need to start on my "MSherry Lovers" blog SAL cat so that I can at least say that I have started the February cat....  WIP photo will follow at a later stage.  I already have an idea of how to finish the cat but that can't be revealed until May when we have all finished our cats.  Can't wait to see what everyone is going to do with their cats!

That's it for this lovely overcast and cool Sunday afternoon.  It's time to say goodbye so that I can go and sit in front of the telly and watch the Western Force's first game of the 2011 season, and stitch some more of the butterfly!

Til next time,

Valentine's Day Swap

Yesterday was Valentine's Day - the one day of the year that all the romantics are allowed to be romantic and no one can say anything!

For those of you that do celebrate Valentine's Day I hope that you had a lovely day.

Valentine's Day was extra special this year as I participated in Parsley's Valentines Swap along with a number of other bloggers/stitchers around the world.  Everyone has been very busy posting all their lovely pressies and linking via Parley's blog for everyone to see.


My swap partner was a lovely lady from Finland - Lumiruusu (Maija).  It seems that we both share a love of Margaret Sherry cats and were both thinking along the same lines with our stitching - as you will see!

Maija sent me this amazing box full of stitching and kits and threads, some MS charts, lollies, and the list goes on... I have to say that I was totally gob smacked!  The MS cat that she stitched and finished is just so gorgeous.  I was truly speechless going through what was in the box.... and believe me that is hard for me - I am very rarely speechless!!

What an amazing box of goodies!

Isn't this a delightful little MS Cat?
I love the way Maija has finished him off

Maija, thank you so very much for your beautiful gifts.  I really do appreciate all the time and thought that you put into the package.  I hope that we can stay in touch and I look forward to seeing more of your beautiful stitching.

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day.  This swap has been great fun and I look forward to seeing what everyone else got for their Valentine's Swap.   Thank you to Parsley for organising the swap.

Til next time,

A walk in the park

Firstly before I do anything else, I would like to say hello to the lovely new online friends that have popped over to my blog to say hello.  It is lovely to meet you and to read your blogs.

Secondly, thank you for everyone who has popped in recently to say hello, and thank you for all your lovely comments.  It is really great to read them and as a stitcher it is lovely to have other stitchers like what I do - I actually find it quite inspirational reading your comments and your blogs. So thank you, I really appreciate your visits and encouraging words.

And,  I also must apologise as I haven't been doing much blog stalking over the last couple of days so I am a bit behind in everyone's goings on!  But I will rectify that over the next couple of days, after all there are all those lovely TUSAL jars to have a look at along with some great finishes!

Now onto today's post....

A little while ago I decided to get myself fit and healthy - but I have been very slack and done nothing - until now that is!  (Don't worry - it probably won't last long!!)  My biggest problem is I like my food too much, and too much of it....

My "One Little Word" was Faith, and part of that was that I would have faith in me and faith in me becoming a healthy little vegemite! 

And the best way to get healthy is to get off my lazy b-hind and get moving - but as I'm not one of these people that is very co-ordinated I don't do the gym or zumba or any of those other great looking exercise classes that you see on the telly... the only way I can move is to walk, and so walking I am trying to do!

Yesterday, and again today, I left my nice cool office at lunch time and went out in the midday sun (just like Noel Coward's mad dogs and Englishmen).  I walked along the cycle/walk paths until I came to the park near the freeway (a little oasis in the city) and then I walked around the little lake, back past the hospital and up the hill and back to work.... and 40 mins later I was back in my nice cool office!  A bit red in the face, and rather hot and sticky - but feeling pretty pleased with myself!  Two days in a row - wow!!

The park and lake is a really nice place to walk around - it is so peaceful.  I did stop on my walk for a couple of minutes to take some photos of the waterfall and the wildlife that live on and around the lake.

So will I be walking in the park tomorrow.... at the moment my shins say no... but my head says yes!  So we shall have to see how the day pans out!

Ducks on the lake
(I promise that is what they are!)

Black Swans
The very reason our beautiful river is called
the "Swan River"



A hidden waterfall
You can't see this unless you follow the paths
that go into the centre of the park & around the lake

 Til next time,

"Purrfect Day"

 As promised in a previous post, I can now show you the photos of the birthday card and magnet that I stitched for the Craftbubble "Crazy for Kitties" birthday exchange.  The package arrived safely in the UK in time for Julie's birthday - which means I can breathe a sigh of relief!


The design that I stitched came from a chart booklet which was a free gift with the "World of Cross Stitching Magazine" issue 153.  The chart booklet is full of some really great card sized designs and this one was just "purrfect" for stitching as a birthday card for a cat lover!



"Purrfect Day" designed by Lisa Reakes



Close up of stitched piece

Finished birthday card

Kitty Magnet
Designed by Debbie Cripps

I also stitched up a kitty fridge magnet that I had hiding in my stash of freebies.  This freebie came with the "Needlecraft" magazine way back in February 1997! 

I have been planning on stitching it for a long time but never got around to it!  So now it has been stitched - only took an afternoon to do!  It is stitched on plastic canvas and I then covered the back of it with some of Mark's left over scraps from his kitty quilt.  I was rather pleased with how it turned out - might just have to get some more plastic canvas and do another one for my fridge!

So now all we have to do is wait for Valentine's Day and I can then post the photos of what I have sent to my swap partner.  Not long to wait now.....

Til next time 

Totally Useless SAL Update - New Moon 3 Feb 2011

Wow, it's another new moon.....  Hasn't the last month absolutely flown by?

My ORT's have multiplied in their jar which means I have been stitching!  I was going to start a new jar on the last New Moon but ended up being lazy and just putting all the ORT's into the little Moccona coffee jar.

The layers of colours have changed a bit - there are now purples and pinks in amongst all the red, blue and black.  In the next month we should hopefully see some really pretty colours as I have just started the multicoloured butterfly for my next Quilts 4 Kids square.

This new moon finds my ORT's playing with the gardening chicken.  I wonder where my ORT's will want to have their picture taken next month??



TUSAL Jar Update
3 February 2011

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

Til next new moon on 4th March 2011, happy stitching