These Two Hands

Happy days

2012-02-02T13:28:00.002+11:00

I have managed to put a few more stitches into HAED's QS Bookend Kitties. I'm a bit addicted to this one at the moment as I really want to finish the background and put a few stitches into the kitten. I keep plugging away ever hopeful for that first stitch that is anything but blue/green. I'm really enjoying it. This is the most I've stitched on an HAED. I have three starts and several more purchased charts. I really wanted to somehow find my HAED mojo. I do believe I've finally found it. :)

On the home front, all is going very well indeed. Kids are back to school today and the pets are all starting to get on very well.

Pippa and Kahlua

This photo is a little dark but I had to share as they looked so cute all together. Sassy, our mother Whippet really is the sweetest dog. She's so easy going and quite happy for anyone to snuggle with her.

A little stitching

2012-01-23T16:54:00.000+11:00

First I have HEADs 2012 freebie, Bookend Kitties. Not a lot here as it's been resting for a couple of weeks but I'm itching to get back to it.

Next is my start on LHN's Elizabeth Hancock Sampler. I chose to do this one with an HDF silk conversion. I really love stitching with this silk. :) This is part of the reason I'm not stitching on Bookend Kitties.

The other reason is that I'm a closet Margaret Sherry fan and I really wanted to stitch this bookmark for my bookworm daughter. Partly to hold her place in her latest book and partly for a MS fix.

I've been very naughty (budget wise) and signed up for Chatelaine Designs Mystery #15, Deep Blue Sea. I looked and I looked and I thought about it for several weeks and finally I decided, why not? So now I just need to wait patiently for all my supplies to arrive which I ordered from European Cross Stitch Company. It could take a little while but that's OK as I clearly have plenty to do in the mean time. I did order the fabric offered at ECC but I am seriously considering a very dark hand dyed navy. Hmmm..... decisions.

This past week I also managed to pick up more work which means more money to spend on stash and less time to stitch. Blahh! LOL!

Oh, did I mention we have a new baby? Yes, another one! We now officially have more pets in our home than people.

Meet Kahlua. Our adorable little chocolate point Siamese kitten. My Daughter in law's (to be) mother is a breeder of Siamese cats. She had this adorable 3-month old girl who has a sore eye. She asked if I would like to nurse her eye back to health and keep her. I was reluctant as first but said I'd have a 1-week trial as I've never had a Siamese before and was somewhat weary of the dreadful noise they are renowned for but in all honesty, after a week of settling in, she's not too bad at all. She's very smoochy and wants a lot of attention if we've been away for a few hours but then settles down for quiet cuddles. She's most amusing when she talks all the way through her meal or whilst grooming herself. She talks more than me and that's saying something.

Needless to say, Kahlua is staying and even Pippa has got used to her very quickly. They're cute mates.

Puppies!

2012-01-11T13:06:00.000+11:00

Oh yes, I have been busy. Very busy indeed. Our beautiful Whippet had seven gorgeous puppies 7 weeks ago. They have all found new homes and we have just 3 left waiting to be picked up. It's been difficult to send them off to their new homes. Fortunately, two have gone to friends of ours so we'll be able to see how they grow. We are keeping the larger black female as a playmate for her Mum. :)

I did manage to keep stitching a little as well and I'll be sure to share photos of what I've done very soon.

In the mean time, I leave you with photos of our little darlings.

Mum playing with her babies.

Merry Christmas to me

2011-12-14T12:48:00.000+11:00

Time just slips away so quickly this time of year, doesn't it?

I bought myself a new stitching stand. A Lowery Workstand. Simple design and absolutely perfect for me. I have eyed this stand off for many years. They are not cheap. In fact, I haven't found a stitching stand worth it's salt that is cheap. I have tried a couple of the 'cheaper' versions and they're a useless waste of time in my opinion. I have a Grip-It Plus stand for some 10 years and it's been great but I really wanted something that I could use with my recliner. I've tried a few lap stands and they are ok but I find that it's a real job to get up and and down. If you're the type of person who can sit down and stitch for long periods of time without getting up from your chair, I do believe that lap stand is probably a good choice but I am not that type of person. I am up and down constantly. I still have young children at home. I also work during the day and so in the evening when I am able to put in a few stitches, I am often cooking our dinner or baking something for the kids school lunches or running the washing machine or........ well, you get the idea.

I have found with the Lowery that I can turn the stitching out of my way to stand up and then when I sit down, I can turn it back to my preferred stitching position. It takes up very little space in my small home (with lots of people in it). I can put my feet up or leave them down. It makes no difference. It is very easy to flip to the back. It takes both my Q-snaps and Scroll frames. Umm, I think it's perfect. I love it!!

Oh and the best bit.... I found it in Australia and it was actually as much as $100 less than anywhere else I could find it on the www. How good is that?! I bought it from Country Bumpkin in South Australia. Make sure you check out their whole website. There is some beautiful embroidery eye candy on that site. They create stunning publications.

Yes, Merry Christmas to me.

Time for a little finishing

2011-12-03T16:23:00.000+11:00

My HAED QS Butterfly Keeper so far.

A few Christmas finishes from a while ago.

LHN Pear Tree

LHN Fa La La

An LHN ornie that I’m currently stitching. “He’s a Flake”.

Oh happy days

2011-11-30T13:45:00.001+11:00

I'm all gung ho about my return to cross stitching right now. The last time I posted anything about cross stitching was back in March 2010. I then jumped ship and climbed aboard the quilting and stitchery boat. I do enjoy both forms of needlework equally as much but have found myself unable to do any quilting for a good 6 months. I've found this extremely frustrating and on thinking about it, I believe it's because I need to do quite a lot of machine work on my projects. My sewing machine lives in a very small corner of my house that is piled hight with 'stuff'. It's awfully difficult to get in there and even when I can, I feel so cramped in there that it's quite a chore and not the pleasure it should be. I have decided to return to my cross stitch projects as they are a lot more accesable and I enjoy being able to sit with my family and work on my projects.

I've been looking through my stash and UFO's from wayyy back and boy do I have some stitching to do! I really don't need to spend a cent and I still love everything I am finding. So it looks like I'm well and trully set for the coming year.

Being ready to continue on with my stitching hasn't stopped me started something new in 2012 though. Before I quit stitching back in 2010, I had started frequenting the Heaven and Earth Designs message board. I started one project and prepared threads and fabric to start a second. I've also decided to do my first Stitch-a-Long with this message board. It's a free design that is being offered. There is a choice of six different designs. You will need to be very quick as signs-ups are about to close. I've chosen QS Bookend Kitties.

Cute huh? I admit that I did find it hard to make a decision but I'm pretty happy with the mega cuteness factor of this one. He he! I can hardly wait to get going on this one.

Now speaking of Heaven and Earth Designs, I came across WeeStitchy's blog and noticed that she is having a Christmas Giveaway of a beautiful Christmas design by Hannah Lynn. One of my favourite artists represented in cross stitch at HAED's. If you pop on over there and leave a comment, you may well be fortunate enough to win this gorgeous card. I would love to frame it and bring it out each Christmas.

Next post I'll share a photo of the beautiful Hannah Lynn artwork that I have started stitching on. It's QS Butterfly Keeper. The colours are absolutely stunning in thread.

Till next time....

Are message boards dead?

2011-11-24T15:11:00.000+11:00

Are forums and message boards dead? There was a time when I did a lot of online communication via forums/bulletin boards/message boards. Whatever you like to call them. There once was a lot of activity on these boards. I recently (this week) picked up my cross stitching after a very long break and thought I'd scan the internet for like minded souls. I used to love to frequent stitching boards. It's where I discovered so many techniques and new designs that I just "had to have". I have discovered in my search however, that these forums appear to be all but dead with very little activity happening on them. I found that interesting. I wonder now if blogs are our new forums? What do you think?

of course I'm keeping busy

2011-07-12T09:55:00.000+10:00

Many things have happened since I last updated. I've been working on my priorities and obviously blogging is down the list somewhat. I often think about closing my blog but to be honest, I've done that a couple of times and regretted it each time so I guess I'll just update when I feel inspired to share and as time permits. I really admire those folks who take the time to share so much on their blogs and are disciplined enough to update regularly.
We had another new grandson born a couple of weeks ago. He's so sweet and so precious. That makes 3 grandsons now. Each and every one adorable and much loved.

I haven't stopped stitching just updating. LOL! I've changed direction somewhat with my work and plan to concentrate on two new projects during the next 12 months or so. Both created by the Thimblelady. I'm excited to be a part of her new BOM programs. They both start very soon and I'll be sure to share some of what I'll be doing. I have greatly admired Thimblelady for the past decade and I know I will learn an enormous amount which will improve my work enormously during the next year or so.

A couple of weeks ago, I felt the need to work on something completely different and settled on this YouTube tutorial for making an "Oriental Pincushion". Yes, by Thimblelady. ;) It looked fiddly enough to hold my attention for a little while whilst also appearing to come together in a very simple but most complex looking manner.

I was right. It was a nice simple project however I love how complex looking the finished pincushion appears. I'd love to make a few more as gifts for my stitchin' girls. All the girls in my family seem to be taking up needle and thread. How wonderful is that? I love it!

I stuffed it with some wool roving I had left over from my spinning days and I think that was probably a mistake. The roving was too silky and fluffy and an absolutely nightmare to stuff into these little segments. I was covered in the stuff and Pippa thought it was the most fun she'd had since arriving here. My prefered stuffing for pincushions has always been wool and in all honesty, I have probably have at least 10 kgs of wool in my stash that needs to be used up or given away as I no longer spin. However the fibre I grabbed to use as stuffing was probably the most unsuitable fibre I own. It was all over me, all over the couch and all over the cat. LOL! Ah well, live and learn. You can see from this final picture that it could have done with a little more stuff but it's such a cute little design that I think most stitchers would be happy to own it anyway.

What do you think? Are you tempted to make one? They're not difficult at all and look so cute. I think they'll also make cute little baby gifts. Hmm......

Inklingo wonders

2011-05-28T12:16:00.001+10:00

I love hand sewing. It's my favourite thing to do. All day I think about when I can find time to sit and sew a little more. If I wake up in the night (which is often), I think about my hand sewing and my fabric stash and what I will do next. I think about what I will do next even when I've barely started a project. Yes, I also suffer from the dreaded "Startitis". I try to be strong and fight the urge but sometimes, I happily give in to it. I am after all a pure 'process' worker. I'm not about the finished project at all. Never have been. It's a curse but, meh, whatever floats your boat. Right?
Of course I also love to machine sew. I showed you my most recent finish in previous posts that was entirely machine sewn. However, if I had to choose one or the other, I would go with hand sewing without too much thought of ever missing my machine.

Some time last year, I came across Inklingo. Have you seen it? Oh my! It's the most wonderful system for both hand and machine quilt makers. I can't encourage you enough to investigate Inklingo. Right now is the perfect time to check it out. Linda's friend Tilde has posed a challenge and if you're prepared to give it a go, you could win $25 worth of Inklingo. It's also the most marvellous way of 'jump starting' your Inklingo adventures.

It took me less than 12 minutes from ironing freezer paper onto my fabric, to printing 2 sheets and getting the fabric to my cutting mat ready to cut up all of these shapes. They are so perfect and so accurate with stitching lines and register marks all printed on the reverse side. All ready for some perfect piecing.

Here's my first Inklingo, hand pieced block...

and the back. Isn't it lovely?

I just love the way you can swirl all those intersections and iron them flat. (grin)

Now for a confession. I absolutely could not resist the latest Inklingo shape for a minute longer. Go and have a look at Yin Yang on the Inklingo blog. Tell me if you can resist starting a project with this shape? I just love it and right now, for a limited time, you can buy it at a discounted introductory price. I just can't imagine attempting to sew this block in any other way. Can you imagine what headache it would be trying to get it perfect so it will sit flat without Inklingo?

Now I'm off to check out my fabric stash for possibilities. Have a great weekend folks.

Oh, and in case you're wondering. I don't work for Linda Franz, Inklingo or hand piecer's anonymous. I work on a brood mare farm. LOL!

The quilt Pippa and I made

2011-05-25T09:30:00.000+10:00

As soon as I saw the Sugar Baby quilt over at the Moda Bakeshop website, I knew I had to make it. I not only loved the design, I absolutely fell for the fabric. I found the fabric range over at Lily Bella Fabrics on Etsy. I have since bought a second lot of fabric from her and had great, fast shipping both times.

I’ve already introduced you to my new little kitty, Pippa. I’ve also shared how much she likes to help. I was a bit concerned that this kitty might be sewn into the quilt.

She was fascinated with the moving needle. Eeek!

I lost count of the number of times I had to put her back down on the floor but I did eventually manage to get the job done.

Quilted and ready for binding.

My brain is tick tick ticking away whilst I scan the pages of this absolutely gorgeous new book. I highly recommend it. Stunning photography and stunning projects. Quilting: from little things. I bought my copy here. You can read a little more about Sarah Filke’s new book on her blog here.

Not helping...

2011-05-24T16:54:00.022+10:00

Awesome! I've just discovered I can blog my photo's directly from my Windows Live Photo Gallery. This is the first time I've used it since I bought my new laptop some six months ago. I know, I know, I'm not real quick but hey, you can't rush these things. I still have a lot to learn on this, my first lap top. Thank heavens for kids who use laptops at school.
I sent these photo's through as a 'test' and as it turns out, this isn't really what I planned to blog about but, eh..... Let's just run with it shall we? It's been far too long since I regularly blogged and hopefully this will get me blogging again. I tend to avoid blogging because it has always taken me so long to upload my photos. This method is quick, quick, quick. I love blogs with lots of photos and really feel I need to do the same.

What's happened around here recently? My gorgeous older kids decided to gang up and get me this for Mother's Day.

Don't let that cute little inocent face deceive you. She's evil.

I can't do anything without her joining in and trying to help. I don't have the heart to tell her she's not really helping.

Her name is Pippa Louise. My 10yo daughter said she must have a middle name. I tend to agree.

She's helping me sew the binding on a baby quilt. I'll share more in the next post..... very soon. I promise. ;o)

finally.....

2011-04-04T17:35:00.000+10:00

Christmas came and went, along with the New Year. My home is quite small so I needed to pack away all of my sewing and rearrange my furniture to fit my family for the holiday season. After a few weeks passed and everyone went home, I found myself with little desire to again rearrange my home so I could create once again. It wasn't until my youngest two children started school again in February that I really even gave my fabric stash a thought. However my workload also increased and I found myself working 4 and 5 days per week instead of the usual 2 I had the previous year.

Finally things have settled, I've got used to working the extra days and the weather is cooling with beautiful autumn breezes. I so dislike the heat of summer. I am now finally finding myself spending some time at my wonderful sewing machine.

Oh happy days!!

Quilt as you Go

2010-09-15T23:04:00.000+10:00

Our little town has a craft group that meets every Friday in the town hall. Some ladies knit or crochet, some embroider but most of them are quilters. Last Friday a couple of the ladies organised a teacher to come and share a Quilt-as-you-Go method with us all for a very small (I mean VERY small) fee. We are so fortunate to have such lovely sharing people in our community.

Most of us hadn't veiwed the finished quilt and were flying blind, so to speak. We just had to trust the cutting instructions we were given in preparation for the class.

Here's a photo of the teachers quilt.

I managed to sew up a few blocks. I think mine will look pretty scrappy. I really had no idea what to use when choosing fabrics. I settled on plums and dusty pinks for the triangle and greens and creams (& some mellow yellows) for the strippy side. Hopefully it'll look ok when all put together.

I'll work on a few more tomorrow at craft group. ;o)

A little hand piecing

2010-09-15T10:42:00.000+10:00

So far I've had a busy week. I was at work on Monday when I got a phone call from the school at about 2pm. My 10 yo daughter had fallen over in the playground and the Principal thought it looked as though she may have had a green stick fracture just above her wrist. I'm fortunate in that I am able to fit work around my family so I was able to pack up and head off to the school which is about 30 minutes drive. I went out to my car and noticed my lights where on. Arghh! I must have somehow knocked the light switch on when I was getting out of the car in the morning. Of course, I had a flat battery. Fortunately, after a couple of phone calls I was able to get some help to jump start the Black Jelly Bean (as my kids have nick named my little black Holden Barina). All I could think of was my poor shy little girl laying in pain patiently waiting for me to comfort her. :o( I'm not one to panic about these sorts of things at all but I do worry and agonise with and for my children.

When I finally arrived, she was resting in the sick bay and not distressed in any way which was a nice relief. Her arm didn't look good but I noticed she also had a little blood around her nose and looked like she had fallen on her face. She just wanted to sleep. You can see where this is going, can't you? Yes, she had fallen on her face and the doctor said she had a little concussion as well as a fracture which x-rays soon revealed. A little plaster below the elbow and a good nights sleep was all she needed to make her feel a lot better. This is the second time she's fractured that left arm. Lucky she's right handed. :o)

I know I haven't updated my blog very much of late. I guess the beautiful Spring weather we're having after all that rain has drawn us all outdoors a lot more. My weed garden is thriving! Ha! I have however done a little sewing. Mostly hand stitching in the evenings. Here is my very first Dear Jane block all hand pieced. I finished it a couple of weeks ago. I have the second one almost ready to sew up as well.

This is A-1, Pinwheel Gone Awry.

I did a little side step with my hand piecing and decided to join in a BOM that one of the ladies on the Hand Piecing and Applique Yahoo group has started for us all. I'm not quite there but almost finished with my Nosegay block. I was reluctant to start this one as I have a bazillion projects on the go at the moment but........ ohhh........ all the other ladies were posting photo's of their lovely blocks and well, I caved. LOL! I'm really enjoying this one although it does seem to be taking me a lot longer than I anticipated. Here's a little peak of how my block is coming along.

Oh and looky what I have here...........

Fabric ironed and waiting for another new project. Anyone care to guess what this might be?

I've also done a little machine sewing as well. I'll share that with you in the next post.

Imagine my excitement......

2010-09-11T10:45:00.000+10:00

I've been "following" Rosalie's blog for a while now. Admiring her beautiful designs and recently drooling over her new fabric range. I just love her use of colour and had determined that I would buy a few fat quarters of this fabric when I see it in stores.

Well, can you imagine my excitement when I started checking blog updates this morning and came across my name as one of the winners of her fat quarter giveaway? I almost burst into tears of happiness. I truly was overcome with joy and excitement.

I'd just like to thank all those generous bloggers out there who offer such lovely giveaways. It really does make a lot of people very happy.

I know the giveaway may be over now but may I suggest you pop on over to Rosalie's blog and have a look at the beautiful work that she does. ;o)

The floods are comin'

2010-09-05T17:25:00.000+10:00

Since I last posted about all the lovely rain we've had in our drought stricken area, we've had more. LOTS more!

Saturday night the waters rose and rose and rose............

Our little creek that has been dry during the Summer for the past 5 years or so finally brokes it bank and flooded the surrounding park land. We're very fortunate here as there were no homes needing to be evacuated but many of the surrounding towns were not as fortunate. Just to the north of us, many homes were flooded.

There are plenty of articles in the news at the moment regarding the floods in Northern Victoria. Here's a few stories if you want to read more.

The following photo is of a low lying bridge. I don't think we'll be crossing this one for a while.

This is the 'old' stone bridge no longer used by traffic. I'm standing on the 'new' bridge to take this photo. This bridge is used daily by most folks coming in and out of town. We are usually able to walk under both of these bridges. The water rose to just above the arches before it started to subside again.

This is the park that I take the dog to walk in. If you read my last post, you will see photos of the park. The water has subsided now and we can see the ground but it's left a big muddy mess as you can imagine. I think it'll be a while before we can take the dog for a walk down there.

I know it seems all a bit devistating but we're really fortunate in this town. The water subsided as quick as it rose and life is back to normal here. For us it was a blessing that's been a long time coming. We've been in a drought since 1996 and the drought has finally broken. To say we're happy is an understatement.

For many others though, the water has been devistating and it will take them some time to recover.

Let it rain!

2010-08-20T09:18:00.000+10:00

I'm always amazed when I read or hear about Aussie's complaining about our wet, cold weather. Especially down here in Victoria where I live. I could understand it if we were able to turn the clock back 20 years but not today. Not when you consider (in this part if the country), we've been living in a drought since 1996. It's been so dry that when we started to get some rain back in May, my 10 yo daughter asked if she had to go to school tomorrow if it was raining. In her 10 years of life, she'd only ever remembered rain as a brief shower once in a while. Neither my 12 yo or 10 yo had ever experienced mud. We've had severe water restrictions their entire lives and neither of them knows the joy of running around under a sprinkler in heat of summer. Neither of them has ever been able to go for a swim in the local creek. Something that kids in this district have enjoyed doing for generations. Our creek is still clean enough to allow for swimming but it completely dries up in Summer. In fact it's barely been more than a trickle for the past 10 years even during winter. I've said many a time that I long for a wet miserable winter. A winter that as it comes to an end, has me wishing for warm sunny, dry weather. I can barely remember ever feeling that way. Now when I see dark, gloomy clouds and the rain starts to fall, I feel joy. These are my favourite days. My favourite time of the year has become winter. I've never been a fan of Summer anyway but I've missed the rain so much that I can't feel anything but joy when the rain falls. We've been blessed with lots of rain this winter. It feels like it did 15 years ago before the rains stopped. My kids are experiencing puddles and mud. Oh joy!

As I said, the local creek has barely been more than a trickle during the past 10 winters or so and it dries up completely in the summer. This is the creek were Ned Kelly was able to save a local boy, Richard Shelton, from almost drowning in it's rushing waters. If Ned and Richard were alive now, they might have been able to jump across the creek barely getting their shoes wet just as my own children have done many times. Well, not today people. The creek has started flowing this winter and it's a wonderful sight to behold.

Down on the creek flats we have a wonderful, huge park were we like to take our dog for a run. She just loves being able to run free down there especially if she meets another doggy friend who she can chase around.

Imagine her surprise when she was confronted with this. I'm sure she's wondering how in the world she is going to do her usually hop, skip and jump across to the other side.

My darling daughter actually asked at one stage if she could go for a swim. Arghhh! It was only about 10 degree celcius when we were down there. Can you guess what my reply was?

On our way home, I took a photo of my currently favourite site in nature.

The rain fell just before we got home and we got wet. Oh joy! LOL!

learning free motion quilting once and for all.....

2010-08-19T14:06:00.001+10:00

While reading Joy's Quilts blog today, I came across her comments on this freemotion quilt-a-long giveaway over at A Few Scraps blog. Even though bloggers invite comments for their give-aways, I never really feel that I should comment unless I've been following the blog for a while or I feel inspired to start following the blog. I don't want to just jump in for the sake of a freebie, never to be seen again. I know that the giver of these gifts may well expect that to happen and it's ok but I just don't feel good doing it. However, I have just gone on over to A Few Scraps and left several comments even though I've never seen her blog before. Why? Coz she's about to show us all how to free motion quilt. I SO badly need these lessons. LOL! Really I do. I've been wanting to learn free motion quilting for so many years that I've lost count. Now folks, I know it's not brain surgery but I have such a mental block and fear of this that is totally unreasonable and I NEED to get over it. Eeeek! I even bought a super duper new Bernina with super duper free motion stitch regulator two whole years ago with the idea that it would alleviate my fear of free motion quilting once and for all and I would just zoom ahead and free motion my world. Arrgh! Did not happen. :o(

So, if you're like me and need a little leg up on this technique, how about you head on over to A Few Scraps and join me in once and for all trying to tame this beast.

Pssst: I've popped a link up there on the side bar in case you need it in future. ;o)

Not much stitching but still busy

2010-08-13T18:34:00.000+10:00

I haven't done a lot of stitching this past two weeks. I'm having a lot of problems with pain and swelling in my hands and I just haven't felt up to it. I am missing it and doing a little (very little) here and there but haven't been able to keep up with my daily 'fix'.

Still, I have a lot to be grateful for and plenty to keep me busy. Since I last posted on my blog we've had a birthday. My baby turned 10.

She's been having guitar lessons this year and using her brother's guitar. Now she has one of her own.

There were phone calls from all the older siblings early in the morning and a family dinner and cake in the evening.

More recently we've had sickies in the house. The boy child, not the dog. ;o)

....... and just a little stitching.

This is my first block in The Christmas Story quilt. I rummaged through my thread stash and found some lovely red silk that matches the fabric I'm using perfectly. Then I also found some gold metallic thread that I thought would look nice in the stars. So far, I love it! Wish you could see the shiny and sparklies.

I've made a start on the "manger" block and have "joy" ready to stitch as well. I have SOOOO much on my stitching plate. I really need to stop looking at all the gorgeous quilts and stitcheries I keep finding online. Actually, I'm trying to limit my time on the computer at the moment as I'm sure it's aggravating the pain in my hands. Hopefully I can find a doctor soon that feels this is a big enough problem to warrant investigation. I've had a lot of problems with fibromyalgia for the past 10 years and because I've been told numerous times that there is nothing can be done for it, I do my best to just keep going regardless of how much pain it's causing me. It's starting to really get the better of me right now and I think I'll have to do some big time complaining to get a doctor to listen and want to help. I've not been very lucky with assistance from doctors in my life. Lets hope a little persistence will turn this bad fortune around.

Bad dog!

2010-07-30T16:54:00.000+10:00

My favourite thing in the whole wide world is when you come home and find that your dog has thrown up on the couch. Yeah, gotta love it! (not)

Yes, you should be ashamed of yourself.

Awww, ok we still love you.

A finish and new beginnings

2010-07-30T10:16:00.000+10:00

My lovely friend Jenny had set a challenge for the month of July. I hadn't mentioned it earlier because I had no intention of taking it up. Not because I didn't want to but because as I said in my last post, I have a short attention span and this in turn leads to way to many projects on the go. However, I jumped on the computer on Tuesday and was reading her blog when I thought, goodness that little bird is cute. I think I'll stitch it. Ha! Well it turns out that I finished that cute little stitchery very quickly and I thought while I was on a roll I better turn it into something before another cute shiny object catches my eye (sigh).

So here we have my "Little Bird in Tree" cushion. I hope you like it. I am in desperate need of new cushion covers and this one just brightens my day no end.

This week I had some new fabric arrive from the Fat Quarter Shop. I'm alway browsing this store looking at all the goodness they have on offer. It's such a lovely site to browse. I finally took the plunge and placed an order and I'm happy to say their service is absolutely wonderful. I will most definitely be purchase more fabric from this store in future. It only took seven days to arrive in my mail box. Yay!

I bought a range of Fancy Hill Farm fabrics for my next new start. Isn't it pretty? That pretty green on the very bottom will be my backing fabric. I couldn't resist. ;o)

I decided to go with this cream on cream floral fabric for the stitcheries. I think I may have to cut around the darker flowers. It might just be too busy and interfering to have those on there. I'm pretty sure I can avoid those and use them elsewhere. I'm really excited to start this new Christmas project. I might actually have it finished in time for Christmas. Hmmm.....

Lots of stitching

2010-07-28T19:55:00.000+10:00

It's still incredibly cold here in the mornings. I've lived in this town for 12 years and I've never experienced a winter so cold. I came from a very, very cold part of Victoria and I used to joke with old work mates that living here was like living in Queensland and although I'm only 40 minutes away in the car, the temperature here is usually around 5 degrees warmer than where I lived previously. With all the frosty mornings we're having, I sure am glad we're living north of the ranges. It's just a little warmer up on this side.

I finished my Baseco bag. Yay! I love it! This is the first time I have used stippling on a quilted project. I learnt that I need a lot more practice. LOL!

I'm slowly plugging away at my "A Gardener's Journal" quilt.

Because I have a short attention span, I thought I'd stitch Jenny's very cute "Little Bird in Tree". I need to come up with a finishing idea but I pulled out a few fabrics tonight that I think I'll play with tomorrow. I wonder what I'll come up with.

I usually trace off my stitchery designs with a washaway blue pen. When I finished this cute little stitchery, I rinsed it in cold water as I always do and to my dismay both the red and green threads ran. I managed to get most of it out by washing with soap and warm water but you can see here there's just a little that wouldn't wash out. I don't think anyone will notice........ besides me. :o(

This is how far I got with my sashiko stitching before putting it aside for a little while. I have chronic tendonitis in both my arms and the heavier thread was aggrevating it somewhat. I'll be able to finish this little project but I did discover that sashiko is not something that I will be able to do regularly.

Over the last 10 years I've had to adjust my life many times and in many ways due to chronic health issues. I've found the best thing I can do for myself is to stay positive (not always easy) and make sure I find joy in every day. I can't spin wool, knit or garden any more. All things I'd dearly love to spend my days doing but I can still sew and love my family abundantly. Life could be a lot worse don't you think? :o)

Pssst: Due to my short attention span, I'm about to start another project. Stay tuned.

Daisy-Do

2010-07-17T12:41:00.000+10:00

I have started stitching away on my new Sashiko project but so far, only have the border stitched. I'll probably work on it more tonight and then I'll have a photo to share. This afternoon I hope to finally get to my sewing machine and put some time into my Baseco bag, as planned. I'm looking forward to it.

This past week I managed to do the first part of Daisy-Do. I had a real trial with finding buttons. I swear I've seen mother of pearl buttons everywhere in the past but of course, when I needed some, I couldn't find any. As I live in a very small rural town, I had to make some time to head to one of the larger regional shopping centres before I finally managed to find something suitable at Spotlight (of all places. LOL). I know, I know, it seems like the logical place to look but honestly, I hardly ever find what I'm after when I go to Spotlight. I guess a girl can be lucky some times.

Here are some images of the startings of my Daisy-Do. Of course, I just had to use some purple 'stuff' from my stash. ;o)

Coming from cross stitching, I have a large stash of threads. These are from Carrie's Creations. The purple/plum colour is Aubergine and the green is Valley Green.

I'm really looking forward to the next installation of Daisy-Do.

Lets get some order happening

2010-07-15T10:40:00.000+10:00

I must be a follower and a joiner. LOL! I love it! However, because I'm this way inclined, I tend to start a lot of new projects. Well, you know starting new projects is not such a bad thing unless you need to put an old project aside to make room for the new one. Yep, that's exactly what I do..... and I do it a lot. Oops! That makes for lots of UFO's.

Last week I came across Joy's lovely blog, Joy's Quilts and read that she was setting a challenge for anyone who was interested. Oooh! A challenge?! How could I resist *joining* this one? LOL! So of course, I did join only I don't feel too bad about this one. You see this challenge is to finish a project. Yes folks, you read right. To FINISH a project that you consider has become a UFO. Well, you know, I have plenty of those. If you look up on the right of my blog in the sidebar, you will see the "Finishing Stitches" button which will take you to Joy's challenge if you are also interested in joining.

Earlier this year I started a Baseco Bag and it's been sitting at my sewing machine for months waiting for me to get back to it. I keep getting distracted and side tracked (sigh). So I have decided this will be the project I will focus on finishing by the end of this month.

Here's a few photos of where I'm at with this project so far.

Now, if you've been following me for a little while, you'll see that I have quite eclectic taste and I like to do a bit of everything. I've been interested in Sashiko for many years but never got around to actually giving it a go. When I came across this post on the Sashiko Started It blog, how could I resist joining? It was after all before I had decided I really need to stop starting new projects until I get a few finished. Yeah well, you guessed it, I went along and signed up for the newsletter so that I could finally learn and create a little Sashiko for myself. If you want to know more about it, you can click on the "Sashiko Tutorial" button on my sidebar over there on the right just above the "Finishing Stitches" button. Ha! I have my Sashiko supplies and I'm ready to stitch!

Now I promise I really do have a plan to finish a few things. I have quite a lot of smaller projects and just a few long term larger projects which include starting on my Dear Jane. I have the first block prepared and waiting to be hand stitched. My plan is for every two projects I finish, if I feel the *need*, I will allow myself to start one new project. ONLY if I finish two first. Really! That's the plan. What d'ya reckon? Works in my mind. ;o)

Textiles at Sovereign Hill

2010-07-10T18:44:00.000+10:00

Just one more post regarding Sovereign Hill. I thought I'd leave the best until last.

The haberdashery......

I found this quilt in one of the cottages. I just love hexagons. Not sure if it's an antique or not but it did look very old.

Then......... my favourite part of my whole trip. I walked into a cottage and to my surprise I found all these school girls being taught the fine art of huckaback embroidery. I was so excited to see them. None of them had done any needlework like this in the past and when I asked if they liked it they all gave a resounding "yes"! Oh joy! A new generation of stitchers. :o)

Don't they look adorable in their period costume? Ahhhh.......

Those were the days!