These Two Hands

Happy days

2012-02-02T13:28:00.000+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!

more Sovereign Hill

2010-07-09T18:42:00.000+10:00

The homes of many, many folks during the gold rush.

People came to Australia to make their fortune from all over the world. There were a lot of Chinese immigrants at the time.

Bendigo has a stunning Chinese Museum with displays from early Chinese migration particularly during the gold rush era. They also have the worlds oldest surviving Chinese Dragon and the worlds longest Dragon. Click on the link to read about these dragons.

Following are photos of the blacksmiths at Sovereign Hill. I couldn't help thinking of my husbands family, a long line of blacksmiths until his father became the first full time farmer.

The bowling alley was extraordinarily long. The kids had a lot of fun in there.

The butcher........

It's the middle of winter here in Australia and Ballarat is about the coldest spot in Victoria to visit in winter time. It was nice to have outdoor fires blazing all over the mining site so that we could stop and warm ourselves occasionally. Pity this kettle wasn't on the boil. ;o)

Yay for fabric!

2010-07-08T11:31:00.000+10:00

I interupt your current viewing of Sovereign Hill and Australian history to bring you this exciting message..........

I have Dear Jane fabric!! Yay!!

Can you tell I'm excited? Well just have a look at it all. It's absolutely exquisite and if you want some, go on over and visit Thimblelady. I love it so much that I promptly went over and signed up for another Fabric Club. LOL! Now, I love all sorts of fabric but this stuff truly is of the most beautiful quality and now that I have a good portion in my hot little hands, I really must have more in future. ;o)

I would like to say that I am not affiliated with this store in any way. I haven't even met the Thimblelady but I do hope to soon. ;o) I just think this fabric is exquisite.

See these solid colours? They gradually change shade four times across the width of the fabric. A very clever idea I think. It will work especially well for me with this Dear Jane quilt. They are more saturated in colour in real life. Wish I could capture the colours better for you. You'll have to take my word for it. I have a few metres in purples and pinks.

Now onto my second package that arrived in yesterday's mail. Wrapped in this divine wrapping paper,

was this....

How exciting! I have never had any intention of making a Quilted Diamonds quilt. To be honest, it hasn't really grabbed me. I thought making up little blocks for Dear Jane would be more than enough tiny hand piecing for me but after seeing this book...... Oh dear, I think I'm in trouble. I bought this book as several people had suggested it was *the* book to buy if one was interested in hand piecing. Now that I've had a flick through the pages, I have become smitten by those beautiful diamonds. Each one of them unique and positively beautiful. (sigh) I think this will have to go on the "one day" list.

The kids are on their second week of school holidays. They struggled with boredom the first week but they seem to be finding plenty to do on this second week. Pity, they'll back to school next Monday. :o)

This is what you do when your Nintendo DS breaks and doesn't work any more. LOL! Make a snail habitat and collect new pets. Eeek! Yeah, they wanna keep them in the house. Hmm, don't know about that.

Sovereign Hill

2010-07-05T18:43:00.000+10:00

I have a lot of photos of Sovereign Hill and have tried to narrow them down but found it so difficult. I might just have to post them over the next couple of days so if you're not all that interested, I promise they won't go on forever. LOL!

Starting with the main street. Sovereign Hill is based on life in the area during the late 1850's. There are plenty of shops to spend your money at and it is difficult to resist some of those old fashioned stores. Especially the lolly shop.

One of the kids asked me to take this photo of him. It cracks me up. There are folks dressed in period costume all over Sovereign Hill. This fellow was wandering down the street and was more than happy to pose for a photo. I laughed out loud with his attempt to fit in with "modern" kids.

These are some of the cottages of what would have been the more wealthy residents of the time. Most of the miners and their familys lived in tents. (I'll share photo's of those tomorrow).

One of the enormous furnaces used to keep the steam engines in the town running. It was lovely and warm in there during this cold winter we're having but I'd hate to have worked in there during our hot summers. The man working in there said the temperature reaches 69C during the heat of summer. These days they don't run them during the summer months but back in the 1850's they would have to keep them fired up all year round.

Children having school lessons. There were several classes being held around the town. You are able to book your school group in to one of these classes so that they can experience life, dressed in period costume, as a child of the 1850's. They are taught the etiquette that was expected of them during that period and should they not comply, they will be sat in the 'dunce' corner. LOL! It was wonderful to see the manners of the children. Not sure that I would want to really go back to those days as far as education goes though. My children go to a wonderful school and I'm so very grateful for the wonderful teachers that spend such a lot of time teaching my kids not just the three R's.

THE REDCOATS ARE COMING!!

What a wonderful site this was. Our kids just couldn't resist marching along behind them around the streets of Sovereign Hill.

Of course, what's a visit to Sovereign Hill without trying your luck at finding your fortune. Between us, we found plenty of specks of gold. A most satisfying effort.

Central Deborah Mine

2010-07-05T18:41:00.000+10:00

I have quite lot of photo's from the school camp that I went on with my younger son. I thought I'd share a few.

The following photo's are of our first stop at the Central Deborah Mine in Bendigo (Australia). If you're ever in this area, it really is a very worthwhile place to visit. Bendigo itself is a beautiful town to visit. Lots to see and do. It's probably my favourite city in Victoria. I've given you two different links in case you'd like to read a bit more about it.

Here we are after descending into the mine using a lift. First stop, hard hats fitted with lights and a battery pack. There is no lighting at all down in the mines. The only light you have is the one you carry. The old timers only had a candle. I'd hate to be down there in an area of tunnel on my own if my candle blew out or finished. There's certainly no moonlight to guide a person.

This is lit up by my flash.

Here's a photo of my 11 yo son and myself. I had my big coat on but it was surprisingly warm and comfortable down there. Especially the deeper into the mine we went. It was only cold as we started to ascend to the surface.

I don't remember taking this photo but thought it was funny. The sign reads "No Entry Beyond This Point". We were all beyond "that point".

Oh and I've done a little more stitching. Not sure if I did the right thing using the variegated thread on my dog. He's brown and cream. LOL!

new things

2010-06-29T19:32:00.000+10:00

You know, I thought I'd come home from camp and just put my feet up and catch up on stitching and my blogging friends. Wrong! I came home last Thursday evening and it's been go, go, go ever since. Today is the first day I've been able to sit and do some stitching.

I've been absolutely fascinated with a couple of things very new to me this past 2 weeks or so. The first is Inklingo. I had looked at this a few weeks ago but knew I couldn't do any more than a quick browse until I got back from camp. Over the last weekend, I took some time to have a good look around the site. I downloaded several free items to give me a feel for this system which also included a free "shapes" collection that I was able to print them off onto some scrap fabric. I then rotary cut the "shapes" which I found to be a very quick and simple process. Today I started hand piecing a small star block together. I'm really enjoying this process and seeing as I'm most definitely a "process" type person, working this little project is quite pleasurable and I predict more of the same in my future. :o)

The only think I can't work out is how in the world do I iron this? I'm so used to machine piecing and pressing every seam as I go along. There's no way I'm getting up and down out of my comfy armchair to press each seam when I'm hand stitching these together. I'm sure there's an easy answer. If you read this and have an answer, I'd sure appreciate hearing it.

The other item of fascination to me lately is Japanese textiles. I've spend several evenings and a good part of this morning Googling all I can find on the art of Sashiko in particular. I came across this blog post and this tutorial at The Purl Bee blog. So I decided to sign up for this online class. I'm really looking forward to it. In the mean time, I'm trying to convince my oldest daughter (26yo) who lives in Melbourne that a trip to Ziguzagu and Kimono House are in order.

I have been following this Stitch-a-long blog for quite a while and absolutely could not resist joining in any longer. I think I did a good job holding out for several months but ......... ahh! I just caved in and decided to join. I'm really enjoying reading the blog entries and seeing how different all the blocks are turning out. Here's a picture of my very first stitchery for this project. Hopefully I can get the other two little ones stitched and my first block pieced before the end of this coming weekend. I'm finding this project extremely enjoyable.

I wonder if I can squeeze just one more thing in? Hmmm! Yeah, of course I can. I bet *you* all can too. Go on over and have a look at Jenny's free BOM. I posted about it in my last blog entry. You can just scroll down to have a look but clicking on this link will take you to Jenny's blog where you will find this freebie (along with others). It looks so pretty. I don't think it'll take to long to stitch up but frankly, it doesn't matter to me. As I said earlier, I just love the process of all this stitching. I'm having a ball and I suppose that's all that matters.

nice to be home

2010-06-25T21:59:00.000+10:00

We have returned safe and sound from school camp at Ballarat yesterday. It wasn't quite as cold as we thought it might be. Not much different to what we've had at home lately so that was a nice relief. I really thought I might struggle with the cold down in that area but as I often do, I worried unnecessarily.

We spent two days at Sovereign Hill which is probably my favourite spot to visit in Victoria. I never tire of the place. We also spent a couple of day in Bendigo looking at their history. It was just wonderful. I do have plenty of photo's but I'm still in recovery mode. When I can think straight I'll post a few.

It was lovely to come home and catch up on a few blogs. One of the first places I like to visit is Jenny of Elefantz and to my most pleasant surprise, Jenny has posted that she will be doing a free BOM which will start on the 1st of July. I'm really excited about this one and can't wait to start. You will see that I have added a button to my sidebar should you want to skip on over there and see what is required if you would also like to join.

I haven't had the energy to pick up needle and thread yet but plan to have a quiet weekend stitching and catching up on my huge pile of laundry.

Busy busy busy

2010-06-17T09:51:00.000+10:00

I seem to be running around like a headless chook lately. I have very little order in my life and I'm not real keen on it, let me tell you. I'm trying so hard to finish up a few things as next week I join my Year 6 son on school camp. I'm really looking forward to it but I had planned to be a lot more organised that I am right now.

On the quilty front........ my brain is still skipping from here to there and everywhere. I really wish I could settle on something and just stick with it for a while (sigh).

I've changed my mind with my Dear Jane quilt. I have ordered a heap of lovely purples and dusty rose fabrics from the Thimblelady. I just the love the quality of her fabrics. I couldn't help thinking that I would be hard pressed to stick with all those browns in the Civil War repro's. I do love them but for such a long term project, I don't know....... So I've gone with my favourite colour of purple. I'll add a bit of pink just for interests sake.

Here's a couple of photos that Thimblelady sent me to give an idea of what she had available.

I just love them. I'll use a slightly off-white background fabric. I think this is going to be so pretty and I'm trully excited by this project.

Whilst I think about it, I have to give a shout out to Chookyblue who apart from having a lovely blog, hosting a SAL blog and sharing bloggy wisdom is just a caring, sharing sort of person who I am grateful to have met in the world of blogging. Thanks Chookyblue! Especially on the info of "emailing your photo's to your blog". What a blessing this has been to learn. Yay!

I won!

2010-06-06T17:08:00.000+10:00

There are so many generous bloggers out there. So many giveaways. One blog that I absolutely love to follow is Janet's over at Quiltsalott. She hosted a wonderful giveaway about 2 weeks ago where she gave away a pincushion kit each day for an entire week. I was very fortunate to be the recipient of one of these beautiful little kits.

What's really wonderful is not only the fact that I was very lucky to 'win' one but that my two youngest kids are at this very time totally engrossed in reading Gnome books that I bought for my older two kids (now 24 & 26yo) some 20 years ago. A touch of serendipity maybe? Isn't it lovely?

I have everything I need to make this little cutie.

Oh and this mushroom pin is so adorable. I feel a trip to the Op Shop coming up to try and locate some little cuties just like those tiny deer. What a delightful picture.

I really am one lucky lady.

Let's start another new project

2010-06-06T16:13:00.000+10:00

As I mentioned last week.... Really, a week has already zoomed past?

Where was I? Oh yes, as I mentioned at the bottom of my last post, I have decided to take the Dear Jane journey again. I did start working on a Dear Jane quilt some 10 years ago but due to one thing and another, I had to put that project on hold indefinitely. I actually sold my Dear Jane book but did manage to make 5 little blocks. I'm now thinking those little blocks may become a cushion. A cushion I can practice my hand quilting on possibly? We'll see.

I've been thinking about this project for weeks. Actually months and I finally decided that I really would like to restart this one. I just love those little blocks. I think it will be a wonderful learning journey. I will sew this entirely by hand. I plan for this project to be something that will take several years. A project that will be ongoing but with other "focus" projects happening in the foreground. Dear jane will be my "background" project.

I'd like to try and share the process on some (maybe all) of the blocks as I work on them.

I took these photos on different days in different rooms of the house. I still haven't quite worked out the best way to take photos of my projects but with winter well and truly here, from the look of my photos, it looks like under my Daylight Lamp is the best place. It's just too dark everywhere else and the images appear in all sorts of colours that are no where near the originals. Sorry about that. I'm working on improving my images.

Onto block A-3 of Dear Jane. This block is pieced in the book but I thought I'd try and applique it. I actually thought it would be easier but soon found out that perfect placement was not as easy in reality as it was in my head.

I folded the background fabric from corner to corner to mark the centre and give me guide lines for placement of the pieces. Here you can see that I used freezer paper and ironed it onto the background.

Then I placed the "leaf" where it belonged and appliqued it into place.

Shifted my "marker" pieces and appliqued the second "leaf" into place and so on. I really liked using the freezer paper. A new technique to me that I believe I will continue to work with.

It seemed to be working nicely until I got to the last "leaf". I really struggled to get that one perfectly set into place but pushed on regardless. This is the result.....

That leaf on the left is not quite right. See here?

Not to worry. It didn't take too long to unpick and replace with another one. I'm much happier with my final result.

I'm now *very* curious to know if it would have been easier to piece this block. Hmmm....

Applique

2010-05-30T18:14:00.001+10:00

I've started working on a stitchery which will go into a quilt which I will share in the next few days but in the mean time, I wanted to share with you a little about my applique learning adventure. ;o)

I bought this cute little BOM called Gracie's Garden Sampler by Brandywine Designs many, many years ago and it has sat in my cupboard waiting patiently for me to pick it up again...... one day. Well, I haven't quite thrown myself into it yet as I have many other projects screaming a lot louder at me but I have been picking it up every so often. I am in the planning stages of Aunt Millie's Garden but before I take that journey, I would like to practice my applique skills just a little more and this is the perfect project for just that purpose.

When I started this applique project all those years ago, I just used whatever thread I had in my stash. I have recently learned that it's probably a good idea to consider thread a little more carefully than the haphazard way I had considered it in the past. I've also discovered that thread choice does make a difference to your stitching and hence the finished project.

A few weeks ago, I ordered these gorgeous little bobbins of Superior Masterpiece cotton thread from the Piece o cake ladies. Don't they look fabulous in their Donut holder? There's more than enough colours for my liking to keep me in applique thread for a long time. Just looking at that Donut makes me happy. :o)

Being a learner, I'm trying all sorts of new (to me) techniques. Here I am having a go at "back stitching". Not sure that it's for me but it's fun trying all these different techniques out.

I've also tried using some YLI silk threads which I personally buy from Thimblelady. I really like the silk. My applique stitches completely disappear using the silk whereas you can still see them just a little with the cotton thread.

I've not made any firm decisions on any technique or tool just yet as it is still early days for me and I have a lot to learn but I do want to share that I am thoroughly enjoying my applique journey.

Oh...... did I mention I was going to start working on my very own Dear Jane soon? Uh huh.

Sweet as Cinnamon

2010-05-29T13:24:00.000+10:00

Have you seen? Dawn Hay Designs has changed her blog name to "As Sweet as Cinnamon". She is keeping the same address and continuing to share the same wonderful designs and inspiration as always. Just the name has changed... and isn't it so sweet?! For those of you that love her work, go over and pay her a visit. She is having a give-away to celebrate her name change. If you've never visited Dawn before. Well, what are you waiting for? I'm sure you'll love her blog.

Giveaway

2010-05-26T09:07:00.000+10:00

Who doesn't love a giveaway? I'm trying to quickly surf my favourite blogs before skipping off to work this morning and look what I found.....

Jenny of Elefantz is having the most gorgeous giveaway to celebrate her beautiful daughter's 16th birthday. Make sure you pop on over there and whilst visiting be sure to check out the rest of her blog. She does the most amazing work.

If you don't mind it would be nice if you would mention my blog when you post your message on Jenny's blog. :o)

Have a great day!

Needlebook

2010-05-24T16:52:00.000+10:00

For the longest time I have planned to make myself a needlebook but never seemed to get around to it. When we went to the Australasian Quilt Convension 4 weeks ago, I managed to pick up a cute little kit for this lovely needlebook. The pattern is by The Birdhouse.

I finally have my needlebook and I'm a happy camper.

Tail Feathers

2010-05-24T14:55:00.000+10:00

About a week ago I received my first instalment of the Tail Feathers BOM. I've "oohed" and "aahed" about this one for months but couldn't bring myself to buy yet another project. That and the fact that I couldn't find one anywhere that hadn't already sold out. Then a few weeks ago, I saw that Natalie (Cinderberries) Twittered about Two Little Aussie Birds having a new run for the Tail Feathers BOM. I got so excited I ran over to my computer and quickly signed up before I missed out. Before I even had time to catch my breath, I was committed. Ha ha!

Just look at what Crystal sent me......

.......and look at the cute 'extras' she sent......

Adorable!!

Here's the very first little birdie all stitched up

I'm off to trace the other two little stitcheries that go into this first block. This project really makes me happy. :o)

How lucky are we?

2010-05-15T10:30:00.000+10:00

We're living in wonderful times. A lot of the time, I long for some of those old fashioned days where I believe life moved at a slower more deliberate pace. I love reading about pioneers both here in Australia and overseas but the reality is that those days were filled with hard work from sun-up to sun-down. It would be lovely to pick and choose portions of those days way back then to incorporate into our lives today. You know what, we can and I choose to do just that. Yes, we need to work to "keep up" but only to the degree in which we choose. I have friends and family that love the riches that life today offers and are prepared to work to enjoy them. On the other hand, like myself, there are also those that *choose* to live a more modest lifetyle and whilst I cannot afford to buy all the latest and greatest whizz-bang 'toys', I live a comfortable, much slower paced life than some of my family and friends...... and that's just the way I like it. There have been great struggles here in the past financially. Unemployment and many mouths to feed but here in Australia at least, we are very blessed and with careful management, we can still keep a roof over our heads and (simple) food on our tables. Life is full of ups and downs for everyone. It's how we choose to ride those valleys and troughs that really is the measure of a person. Right now, I am very blessed. :o)

I love living today. A time where we have access to the internet. Wow! What a time we live in!

Today whilst surfing some of my favourite designers blogs, I noticed that Cheryl over at Willowberry Designs is again offering a design that I have been drooling over the past few weeks. LOL! You may have noticed that I'm in the process of crossing over from cross stitch to the wonderful world of quilting and stitchery. I am just loving this transition but on my journey I have discovered some gorgeous *free* designs that I am just a little late in gathering. Some of them I can purchase.... and have and will (grin).... Some of them, I'm just plain ol' too late for. Well, imagine my excitement when I discovered that Cheryl is again offering her gorgeous Verandah Views pattern (for a short time only). If like me, you have only recently found this pattern but were too late, hop on over and collect the stitcheries before it's too late. Recently I have gathered quite a lot of designs that I love and managed to join several BOM's (sigh). I know I am overdoing it but it's just so hard to resist when there are so many talented designers out there on the www. Thank you so much Cheryl!

Oh don't forget to check out Cheryl's wonderful freebie BOM for this year as well. The very cute "Under the Sea".

We do indeed live in fortunate times. :o)

2010-05-13T21:43:00.000+10:00

I know I'm a little slow but thought I'd share the gifts I made for my Mother and Mother-in-law for Mothers Day. I really wanted to share where the designs came from and I feel very blessed to have been able to find something on the internet that was truly beautiful to create and a delight for our Mothers to receive.

The first gift I made was a little something for my Mother. This pattern was created by Jenny of Elefantz. The lovely little "Oopsie Daisies Heat Pack" My mother is a knitter so I also gifted her with several skeins of sock yarn that I know she has no way of buying as she doesn't do any online shopping. She was thrilled, especially with the cute little heat pack.

For my Mother-in-law who is extremely difficult to buy for, I created 2 very pretty "Coathanger Frocks" designed by Joy. Both of these lovely, generous ladies shared their patterns with the world on the Among the Gum Trees blog. If you haven't visited this blog before, I highly recommend that you go on over and have a look. You will find several more very clever designers only too willing to share their creativity with you all.

I'm very sorry about my washed out photo's. I changed to a different editing program and it's not anywhere as good as what I was using previously. You know I'll be going back to my old ways where photo editing is concerned. :o)

Hopefully you can see how pretty these gifts turned out. Thanks to all the lovely ladies at Among the Gum Trees.

"Beauty is Timeless"

2010-05-10T20:48:00.000+10:00

One blog I have recently discovered and has become one of my favourites it Jenny of ELEFANTZ. I just love her style and her generosity seems endless. Back on the 1st of May, I was reading her entry for the day and she was generously offering, for a very small fee, an absolutely stunning cushion pattern called "Beauty is Timeless". The money raised from the sale of this cushion will be donated to purchase "Clean Delivery Kits" for women in Somalia giving birth to their children. You can read all about it here.

Now that you've read about it, I'm so pleased to share with you that Jenny has decided to extend the purchase time for this lovely pattern which will allow her to raise even more money. If you pop on over and read this post here, you will see that you can still buy this lovely pattern and not only that, you have the opportunity to also buy the actual cushion. Go on over and have a look. It really is beautiful and created for a very special cause. I have a few projects to finish up first but I really can't wait to make up my version of this lovely pattern.

QuiltAid 2010

2010-05-07T09:04:00.000+10:00

Have you heard about QuiltAid? I haven't done any quilting until this year for around 10 years and so this is new to me. If you pop on over to Hugs from Helen, you will see all the blocks going into this years quilt. Aren't they absolutely gorgeous? After thinking about it for all of 5 minutes, I've decided that I absolutely must join in this years QuiltAid 2010. Will you be participating too?

Enough to make your head spin

2010-05-01T11:02:00.000+10:00

I've come down with a terrible cold. Very nasty. I can't remember the last time I felt this unwell. I took myself off to the doctor yesterday and have some antibiotics so I'm hoping I will be better by tomorrow morning. You see, a few weeks ago, my oldest daughter and I thought it would be a great idea to go to the Australasian Quilt Convention in Melbourne together for the very first time. I can't wait to expose her to the wonderful world of quilting. I'm always blown away by the quilts I see at these shows and I know she will be seriously impressed as well. I'm also taking my 9 yo daughter who has done a little stitching as well. I'm a little worried that the younger dd will be 'over it' after the first hour. Older dd (26 yo) assures me we'll be able to keep her interested or at least distracted enough to have a very nice 'girls day out'. I wouldn't want to miss this for the world. I love spending time with my girls and this is indeed a rare ocassion.

Speaking of distraction....... Oh my, I just can't seem to settle on a project at the moment.

I have started so many projects in the past few weeks, I've almost lost count of my projects on the go.

Oh and I have plenty more planned.

I plan on starting a couple today actually. I've been enjoying Mother's Day Mania over at the Among The Gum Trees blog. What amazing designers and so incredibly giving and thoughtful. I plan on making Joy's lovely coathanger "dresses" for my MIL and Jenny's gorgeous Oopsie Daisies Heat Pack for my lovely Mum. I'm so grateful that these patterns are being shared with us. I find it near impossible to find a thoughtful gift for our Mother's these days. At their age, thankfully they both have everything they need and more so gift giving is challenging. These gifts will be perfect.

Lastly, I recently re-discovered the amazing Thimblelady. I found her demonstrating hand quilting at a craft show in Melbourne some 10-12 years ago (I can't remember exactly). At the time I was totally mesmerised by her method and purchased a plastic thimble and lap quilt stand to try my hand but was way too busy with a bunch of kids including 2 very small additions to our family. I was pleased to find her online a few weeks ago and in that time have managed to purchase each of her "kits". One for Applique, one for Quilting and another for hand piecing. I have been reading and practicing and I'm SO glad I found her again. I just love her methods. I am predominantly a hand stitcher and her "painless" techniques just suit me to a T. Just what the doctor ordered.

I had planned on practicing my applique and then quilting stitches but just had to try her tricky little method for hand piecing first. I'm hooked on these cute little quilt as you go Magic Squares. I do hope you'll pop on over and view her products and videos. She's one very clever lady.

Dresden Plates

2010-04-13T14:43:00.000+10:00

I have been bitten by the quilting bug. I've been attending a local craft group each Friday and as most of the ladies are quilters, I've been inspired to delve into my old quilt fabric stash and start working on a new project. Problem is, I haven't only started on one project. In typical 'Dot' fashion, I have managed to get several projects started in a very short space of time. Needless to say, between my countless quilting and stitching projects, very little else is getting done around here. Everyone seems happy enough though and I can't help but wonder if we mothers worry unnecessarily about silly mundane things......... such as spotless homes.

Quite a few years ago, I bought this entire range of fabric in the form of fat 1/8ths. When a few ladies at my craft group started making Dresden Plates, I just new I had the perfect fabric to make a few with.

After making them, I agonised over what to put them onto. For weeks and weeks I looked around and tried various fabrics. I just didn't want to place them onto cream homespun but you know what, in the end, that's just what I did. It just seemed to work best. I really wanted to buy some of the cream on cream that is part of this range but I couldn't find it anywhere.

Then I decided that I simple couldn't use anything to sash this together except more of the same. I looked and looked online for many weeks and eventually managed to find a store in the US that had some blue and some yellow fabric that I promptly bought up to use as sashing and border fabric. Now I feel content that I will some day very soon complete this new quilt.

In the coming weeks you will see that these 2 hands not only love to stitch but also love to sew and to quilt. I have a couple of quilt tops finished just waiting to be sandwiched together and quilted. I also had a recent shopping spree and bought several jelly rolls but that's a story for another day.

Pear Tree finish

2010-03-04T16:35:00.000+11:00

Here it is. The lovely Pear Tree by Little House Needleworks.

Here's a close-up of the beads.

Cute huh?

If you look carefully you will notice that I stitched the very top, left bead, with green thread. I had hoped I could stitch the fronds and beads all in one pass but I didn't like the look of it and so I ended up stitching the beads in a matching gold thread. I know that single bead is stitched on in green thread and so do you but if we keep 'mum' about it, I really don't think anyone else will ever notice. ;o) Shhhh!

2010-03-04T15:27:00.000+11:00

Wow! What happened to the last few weeks? Since my son broke his hand I seem to be running to and fro. Good news is, the plaster is now off and he using his hand again. I couldn't believe my eyes when I was shown the xray of the new growth in the bone. Amazing! I think because it was fractured in the growth plate which is soft bone, he was able to heal a lot quicker than if it where a few millimetres below that spot. Poor kid now has a cold but he's mostly recovered from that as well. Next week we have to head back to the hospital for a bone scan on his foot. He has a suspected stress fracture. It seems like he might have brittle bones but really, if you knew him, you'd completely understand. He's sports mad and has played hours and hours of cricket this Summer. I know overdoing the bowling can cause these things. Hopefully he's come to learn that too much practice is worse that too little. I'm hoping he learns to slow down a little. (I'm not holding my breath though). Kids!

All this running around has interfered with my stitching time so there's not a lot to show but I'll share what I was able to do since my last update.

You may recall I was attempting "parking" my threads when working on my HAED designs. Well, I kinda like the idea but found it was taking me quite a bit longer to stitch this way rather than my preferred method of one colour at a time and jumping around on the page according to the chart.

I'm also not so keen about having all those threads exposed like that. I did wind them up and hold them with a clip but ........ ehhh, I just didn't like it.

I've spent a few hours working all those dangling threads into the design and this is where I'm at right now with QS Butterfly Keeper.

I did manage to finish "Pear Tree" and I'll post photos of that very soon. It's quite pretty.

I also received the rest of my threads to continue to work on QS Shining On.

I really love this one and can't wait to get back to it but I've decided I will do one page at a time on each project so it'll just have to wait for a little while longer.

now to some good news

2010-02-17T10:07:00.000+11:00

I have received in the mail all the threads I needed to start on HAED's QS Butterfly Keeper. I was so excited to get them that I immediately sorted them in prepartion to start stitching.

Do any of you use Stitch Bows? I love them. I've been using them since I first found them about 5 or 6 years ago.

I sort my threads by number, place them into stitch bow plastic pockets and then put the whole project into a 2-ring binder.

I started gridding my fabric last night as well. I bought some 25 count Jobelan which I have never used before and I do believe I will enjoy stitching on this fabric. At this stage I plan on stitching 1 over 1. I'll do a little test before I get going. I'm just itching to start on this one.

I haven't quite finished Pear Tree but it's almost there.

I'm also waiting for the rest of my DMC threads to arrive for QS Shining On. Soon, very soon. ;o)

oh the drama of it all

2010-02-17T09:15:00.000+11:00

I've always felt guilty throwing away my thread ends. Don't know why but I feel like I should keep them for some odd reason. Obviously I'm not the only one and so I decided to jump on the Totally Useless SAL bandwagon. :o)

I'm a little late as I've had a hectic few days but as they say, "better late than never."

I seem to have a lot of threads for just a few weeks but I think you use a lot of thread on small projects which I've mostly been working on. I noticed that I'm using a LOT less thread on the HAED chart I started on.

Last Friday, my 11 yo son came home from school and said that his hand was hurting a bit. I had a look and it was quite swollen and bruised along the edge where his little finger goes down the side of his hand. I showed his father and asked what he thought. We put ice on it for about 10 mins and I kept looking at it thinking it looked fractured to me. What do I know? I'm not a nurse, just a mother. ;o) He told me he hurt it when he fell. He's a million miles an hour type of kid and plays a lot of sport. He's always got bumps, bruises, aches and pains (sigh) but he loves his life and I wouldn't stop him playing the sports he loves. Anyway, back to the hand. I decided to take him to the doctor. By the time we got in to see someone it was 5pm. Of course the Xray folks over at our little rural hospital has already packed up and gone so we couldn't get an xray unless I wanted to drive over an hour and then wait for many, many hours in the emergency room at a larger hospital. The doctor also thought it was probably fractured but said he wouldn't do anything except maybe tape his ring finger and little finger together. Really? He's 11 yo and in a fair amount of pain although he wasn't complaining too loudly but I know my son. He was in a lot of pain.

So we went home. Woke up on Saturday and his hand was quite swollen so I decided to head to one of the larger hospitals and get it looked at again. I had planned on requesting more than just "nothing". (sigh)

Got it xrayed. Yes, it's fractured. Get sent over to Accident and Emergency at the hospital. Wait for doctor. Fortunately it was quiet and we only waited about half an hour. The doctor in emergency says we need to see an orthopaedic surgeon even though it's just a neat little fracture. No big deal. So we see the Ortho and he starts telling me about "growth plates". Growth plates? Why haven't I ever heard of them before. I've raised 7 kids with multiple broken bones, including my own and I've never ever heard of growth plates. LOL! See, ya learn something every day. Ortho then says he needs to speak with his head surgeon. I'm starting to worry about this now. My son is in a good mood and keeps me entertained whilst we wait. He's such a funny kid. He had me laughing so much I had to find a hanky to wipe my tears. He amazed me with how tolerant of pain he actually is.

Before too long, the lovely orthopaedic surgeon came back and told us that they don't think the fracture will interfere with the growth plates but we need to come back in a week so he can check it's progress as the fracture is very close to a growth plate. Sheeeshh!! Such a simple little fracture sure has caused a big drawn out affair. They put a back-slab on and it's been a right royal pain. It's large and cumbersome. It keeps working it's way loose and it has cracked at the wrist. I had to take him back to the local GP to see if he wanted to re-do the plaster but he said the cracked part wasn't interfering with the hand so he left it. I have had to rebandage it daily as after a day at school, it flops around and is not so clean. I changed to a firmer type of bandage today as the crepe bandage they used doesn't seem to want to hold the weight of the heavy plaster.

He's not in pain any more but the size of the plaster is driving him batty. LOL! Poor kid. It extends right to the tip of his fingers so his right hand (dominant hand) is totally out of action. I'm hoping we can change to a regular full cast when it gets rechecked later this week. I will request it.

Doesn't he look pitiful? LOL!

Great news is that he was selected to swim in the school district sports for the first time in his life but the bad news is that now he's fractured his hand, he can't go. He also plays tennis and cricket which is now out with only 3 weeks left to play. However on Monday they had the school elections for captains. He was elected school sports captain so now we can called him Captain Jack. He he!

2010-02-12T10:54:00.000+11:00

I just know that once my threads and fabric arrive for HAED's QS Butterfly Keeper, I'll be hard pressed to not get started on it so I thought I better get cracking with LHN's Pear Tree. I have already received the next chart in this series and I don't want to fall behind because I know I can very easily put these away in the cupboard to be forgotten for a while if I don't stick with them.

Here's the new one, He's a Flake. Isn't he lovely?

Here's where I'm at with Pear Tree.

I do love these little LHN designs. :o)

I think I'm hooked

2010-02-12T09:56:00.000+11:00

Oh dear, I've become completely and totally obsessed.

Quite a few years ago, I came across Heaven and Earth Designs. They have some of the most beautiful artworks charted into cross stitch patterns. I spent quite a lot of time looking and creating a wishlist. I decided at the time that I was just too busy to commit to stitching something of that size and promptly put it to the back of my mind. Of course, when you're an avid blog surfer, as I am, you come across blogs that share their HAED stitching ocassionally. For a little while now I've been watching Annette's beautiful blog. She does some amazing work (go look). After emailing for a little while, she gently encouraged me to have a go at one of the smaller "Quick Stitch" designs over at HAED. I hadn't even noticed they had (so called) Quick Stitch designs. LOL! They also have what they call, "Tiny Treasures", "Peek-a-Boos" and "Storykeeps" which are all smaller designs than the majority of their charts. If you have admired some of these charts and not had a look at these smaller ones, I encourage to go look at them. They're all quite beautiful.

They have a Valentines sale on at the moment so last Friday I chose two designs to purchase. A Quick Stitch (QS) called Butterfly Keeper by Hannah Lynn and just because I couldn't resist I also purchased QS Shining On. A beautiful design created by Ching-Chou Kuik "For Haitian Relief". "All proceeds will be donated to Doctors Without Borders for Haitian Relief".

I am a huge fan of Josephine Wall's artwork but I felt very overwhelmed by the prospect of stitching her work so I was specifically looking for something with .....errr, well, less confetti stitching. I may buy myself a Wall chart for my next birthday. We'll see. ;o)

I had every intention of starting on Butterfly Keeper first. I looked through my stash and pulled out all the DMC threads that I had for this chart. Then I jumped online and ordered the rest of the threads as well as some fabric from the 123 Stitch site. I haven't used them before but have heard only good things about them and because they had the cheapest DMC threads I could find anywhere (and I needed heaps) I thought it was a good time to give them a go.

Then on Saturday after spending a ridiculous amount of time browsing the HAED site and add a crazy number of charts to my wishlist, I had another look at what DMC threads I owned....... just in case I had enough to make a start on Shining On and guess what, I did. LOL! I found a piece of 28 count fabric. I think it's Jobelan but I'm too sure to be honest. I didn't think it would be suitable as I really need new glasses and I wanted to stitch 1 thread over 1 for these projects. Well, I was just itching to start so I tested a little stitching and was able to manage once I stretched the fabric onto a frame. I was away. I became even more obsessed with the tiny itty bitty stitches. I have only ever stitched a small Christmas ornament over one in the past and had forgotten how lovely those tiny stitches are. The more I stitched, the easier I found it.

I've never tried "parking" my threads in the past as I suppose I've never needed to given that I've never stitched this style of chart before. So I started doing my usual method of stitching which is to travel across the chart with one colour until the thread is finished. It's ok but I didn't like coming back and filling in the gaps with this very close and fine stitching. I found it very difficult to make a perfect cross in those little gaps. So, I decided it was time to learn to park my threads. Here's the tutorial that got me thinking about parking. There's a few more on the HAED Bulletin Board. This one at Scarlett Quince site was the one that really jelled in my brain.

Here's what I managed to do last weekend before I ran out of colours.

I love it and can't wait to receive the rest of my supplies so I can contine. Oh, and yes, I got back online to the 123 website and orderd the rest of the DMC threads for Shining On as well.

It's just too hot!!

2010-02-09T16:25:00.000+11:00

My goodness! Are you Aussie kids sick of the heat as much as I am? I keep reading about the heavy snow falls in parts of the US and to be honest, I'd absolutely love to go and lie in some snow right now. It's SO awfully hot here. It's only 36C (97F) today but the humidity is so high and has been for the past couple of weeks. It's so unusual for Victoria to have more than a couple of days of humidity and it usually only comes with rain. I believe some parts have had a little rain but we certainly haven't had any. I miss the rain so much. I long for a Winter that is so wet and miserable I can't wait for Spring but it's been many many years since that has happened. My younger children are so unfamiliar with rain. Since 1996 we've been living in drought conditions. Last year it rained for 2 days straight and my 9 yo daughter asked if she had to go to school? It wasn't even heavy rain! I laughed and said "yes of course". Then she looked at me and said, "Even if it rains tomorrow?" My kids have never seen mud. When they were little, I bought them gum boots every Winter for the first few years of their lives and they never got to wear them. They walk to school as it is only about 100 metres down the road from our home. I have only had to pick them up from school due to rain once in the 7 years my son has been attending. It's been so long and I know this is how our climate will be from now on but I still hope and wish for rain. Long, wet, soaking, miserable Winters.

crafters ADD

2010-02-04T09:26:00.000+11:00

I am convinced I have crafters ADD. I have the attention span of a gnat.

I have countless projects in the works. If I dug out all my UFO's I'm sure you would be shocked and truly believe I have a problem. I should be heading off to work right now but thought I better just squeeze in one more thing before I head out the door so here I am making a blog entry. I don't have any doubt that there will be at least 6 more "one more things" before I get in the car. I'm very lucky to have a great job that I can turn up to 'when I get there'. LOL! I only work one or two days a week. Err, three this week coz well, I get there a bit later than I could.

I have made very little progress on Fire and Ice but I'll share anyway......

I am about to start on another colour. I'm having trouble getting comfortable with this project as I wanted to stitch it on a scroll frame but I'm not really set up well to be able to do that. I have a lovely scroll frame that I put it on only to discover that I can't comfortably stitch on it in my armchair due to the fact of the rods being too large. I've propped it this way and that but it just didn't seem to work for me. So I took it off the scroll frame and put it in a set of Q-snaps. Well, that almost works but I don't like all the spare fabric hanging about. It was driving me nuts. This fabric is quite stiff (blahh!) and rolling it up and clipping it into place with some hair clips (which is what I would normall do) just wasn't working. I was also trying to hold onto the Q-snaps which I haven't done before and my arms didn't like that at all. I have a floor stand that used to hold on for me but it's broken at the moment. (sigh)

This all led me to a week long journey of researching a possible new stand. Ahhhh! I have bits of this and that for my stitching and I really don't want to fork out any more money on something that may or may not work. If I'm gonna spend more $$ it has to work and it has to work for a long time.

I do think at some stage I will either buy the Needlework System 4 (not sure if it'll be floor or lap stand) or if I win Lotto between now and buying time, I am considering the very lovely looking StitchMate. Isn't it beautiful? Seriously though, the StitchMate is quite a few dollars to purchase when you consider the exchange rate for us Aussies (regardless of how good it gets) plus the horendously expensive cost of shipping. Around US$115. Yes I enquired. That's over $130 Aussie dollars on shipping alone. Makes ya wanna cry doesn't it? Anyway, it's on my first thing to buy if I win Lotto list.

So..... where was I? Oh yeah, stitching.........
I notice on my CC statement that I am about to receive the next LHN Ornament of the Month and he looks so cute. I thought I better pull out Pear Tree and get going on it. Here's a photo of the measley amount of stitching I've done so far on it.

Three little pears. I do love stitching these ornaments and I think I'll be able to stick with it now until it's finished. I think.

I also managed to stitch a little freebie from The Sampler Girl This one came from her Facebook page. I love reading her blog.

Sorry aboutr the fuzzy picture. I don't know why some photo's are crisp and others blurry. I probably just rush them too much.

Not sure how I'll finish this yet. I had half and idea as you can see but I'm not sure what I'll do with it next. It'll come to me. ;o)

Quick, I've gotta go to work already!!

I think I need to buy this.......

2010-02-02T22:23:00.000+11:00

I have been so restrained with my stash buying for a little over 12 months now and to be honest, I have seen a couple of things I'd like to have but figured that I would get around to buying them one day. Until now. Have you seen this? You can go over to the Hand Dyed Fibers site from here or from the designers blog post and buy the chart...... and dare I say?? The silk threads to stitch it up. Ohhhhhhh! I am SO tempted to buy this. I wonder how long I will be able to resist? Hmmm, I think all the research I've been doing into buying a new stitching stand may have to go on hold for a while. I wonder which purchase will win this race for my dollars?

2010-01-29T14:18:00.000+11:00

Not a lot of stitching happening here this past week. I've been sewing a little and have two new Ottobre T-shirts and a pair of pull-on Lutterloh short pants. I bought the Lutterloh System last week and it arrived here on Wednesday. I just had to give it a go. I didn't want anything that would take up too much time or fabric for my first trial run. It's been so hot (although nicer today) so I figure a pair of loose elastic waist short pants would be good for my test run. They worked out perfectly and now I'm keen to get going on some more of the patterns. I really like this system so far. I love having hundreds of patterns at my finger tips for when the sewing urge hits. I tend to sew in bursts and like to have a few supplies on hand for when I feel the need. I'm sadly lacking in my wardrobe and really hope to get quite a lot of sewing done in 2010. We'll see.

I stitched just a little bit on Fire and Ice but not enough to bother showing a photo. I think I'll go pop a movie in the dvd player and stitch just a little this afternoon before we head off for the cricket game my 11 yo son is playing this evening. Joy oh joy! (add sarcasm)

Happy Australia Day!!

2010-01-26T08:56:00.000+11:00

A day on the lake

2010-01-24T15:28:00.000+11:00

We live in a fairly warm region. We have mild winters and hot, hot summers. This means when summer is here, I like to hide somewhere cool. I'm not a summer person at all. I dislike the heat immensely. I avoid going anywhere as much as I can however, the rest of the world seems to love summer and so there are a lot of activities at this time of year that are all but impossible to avoid.

We're still on school holidays at the moment but one of the fund raisers for the school happened this weekend and so off we went. The local lake was closed for a Rowing Victoria Regatta. Some of our Year 6 students go along to help hold the boats at the start line. Gosh, I don't know if they're canoes or kayaks. (???) Totally showing my ignorance but I couldn't help admire the beauty surounding the entire day. The beauty of the lake and the sport. Really made me want to buy one of the lake-front properties. It's not going to happen....... this week. ;o)

Here's a picture of the pontoon in the distance. The kids needed to board a little tinny to get across to it. See the little green building floating on the water? That's where they are. This is taken from the Rowing Centre club house. It looks like they're over on the opposite bank but they're actually floating quite a distance away from it as you'll see in the second photo.

I jumped in the car and drove around to a closer location as I wanted to get over there and visit the floating pontoon myself. This is from the 'other' side. That green bank and brick building you see way in the distant background is where I took the first photo from.

I took these photos with my mobile phone. They were ok until I tried a close-up as you can see here but youget the picture. I wanted to show you the kids walking along the pontoon. They lay down on what they call a "finger" which is basically a very narrow part of the pontoon that juts out were each of the rowers backs their boat into. The kids hold onto the boat until the start gun fires. These "fingers" were only about 45 cm (18 in) wide and about 15 metres (16.4 yds) long. We had very strong wind yesterday and the water was very choppy. The pontoon was bobbing about so much I can't believe no one fell in. I went out for a short visit when they were finishing up and I'm sure I could have got sea sick out there had we stayed longer. LOL!

My windswept son packing up for the day.

Lastly a photo of my two youngest kids. Had to get little sis in the photo. LOL!

Even though I tend to hide indoors during the heat, we had a pleasant, albeit windy, day. Today, it's hot again and I'm hiding indoors. ;o)

Frustrations and new starts

2010-01-21T12:17:00.000+11:00

I have worked and worked on sewing myself a pair of pants these last 2 weeks and I'm not sure if I'm just been too fussy or if I'm impossible to fit but I'm just not happy with the results so far. The first pair I made are just plain too small so I made a few modifications to the pattern and cut the same size with my alterations and almost got it right but there's still more changes that need to be made. I've decided to have a break from these for now. I bet when I get back to them, I'll like them a whole lot better. ;o)

In the mean time, I've decided to sew up a couple of t-shirts. I know that is going to be a whole lot easier to do. Almost (not quite) instant gratification.

I have these two fabrics in my stash that I'll work with.

As to cross stitching...... I started on Pear Tree by LHN and that's all I did. Start.

I also started something that I've been wanting to stitch for so many years, I've lost count. Must be close to 10 years. Not sure. I bought the chart and supplies to start Fire and Ice by Kustom Krafts just over 12 months ago and it has been sitting in my stash ever since. I had planned to stitch it on black 27 cnt evenweave fabric but when I attempted to make a start a few weeks ago, I spent 4 hours getting about a dozen stitches into the fabric. Arghhh!! What to do? The only thing I could think of was to try stitch this design on Aida but I haven't stitched on aida in many, many years. I just don't like the look of it.

Well, after a lot of frustration with the evensweave, I decided to go ahead and order 16 cnt aida. I really don't like 14 cnt at all but I think I could live with 16 cnt. I'd be happier with 18 cnt but I was afraid I would be back in the same boat of not being able to see what I was doing so 16cnt it was......... and guess what?? It worked and I love it!! I think because is black, you don't notice the type of fabric it is so much. I couldn't be happier with finally making a start on this. It's an interesting chart that uses only reds and bit of blue.

2010-01-10T10:49:00.000+11:00

I managed to finish Fa La La by LHN last week. Isn't it lovely?

I just adore the little beads.

Next up I will start on Pear Tree also by LHN

I'm really glad that I decided to do this SAL. The designs are just lovely.

I'm also currently working on these

I have a terrible feeling that they may be just a little on the small side. I'll try and finish them today and will be sure to let you know how they turned out. I'm finding the written instructions without diagrams quite a challenge. I have sewn for over 35 years but mostly stuck with basic clothing. Whilst I am very confident with my machine work, I do tend to lack confidence in garment construction. I shouldn't, but I do. :o(

Happy New Year to you all!

2010-01-02T20:17:00.000+11:00

I'm a shocker at updating my blog but I really don't want to quit it either. LOL! Ho hum!

First I have to wish you all the very best for 2010.

Two days before Christmas, I thought it would be a good idea to make a wall quilt. Just for the heck of it. I had been struggling to get into the Christmas spirit and finally, it hit me all at once. Once I had all the shopping done, including the food, I felt a huge relief and knew that finally Christmas would again be a good thing. :o)

A few close-ups of the embroidery and stippling. I am so very thankful for the BSR on my beautiful Bernina 440QE. I doubt I would ever have tried stippling without it. It's given me a great deal of confidence.

I had already stitched out the free Santa's that I got from Bunnycup Embroidery and I didn't want them to go to waste. I felt that if I didn't use them this year, they might get lost in my sewing space shuffle. I had a dig through my stash and just started cutting and sewing. My add hock style left the quilt just a little bit wonky on the borders but not so bad that I feel it needs to hide away. I really doubt that any but me will ever notice.

I've a hankering to sew clothing at the moment though I do love to sit down and cross stitch in the evenings. I should have a new cross stitch finish in the next couple of days. I'll be sure to share.

LHN love!

2009-12-01T20:52:00.000+11:00

Early last week I noticed that a new SAL had recently started by the name of Little House Needleworks Ornament SAL. Oooh, I love LHN designs and really wanted to jump right in but decided I'd be good and continue to plug away at my "far too large" stash.

Well, that was last week. Yesterday I read a post by Melissa of The Daily Me l where she mentioned that she had gone on over to Needlecraft Corner and "signed up for the automatic kit shipments" and "Her kits include the chart, recommended fabric, and the beads". Ooh, really I thought? You know what happened next don't you? LOL! Yes that's right, I headed straight on over to Needlecraft Corner and signed up for the auto-ship last night. I have already had an email confirmation and been told that my kit has shipped. I am SO excited. You should know that I haven't bought a thing cross stitch related all of this past year and in all honesty could go on stitching for several more years without buying anything but the simple truth is ........... well, I don't know what to tell you. Clearly resistance really is futile. I have bought from Needlecraft Corner quite regularly in the past and their service is second to none. I'm happy to be reminded of them and be buying from them again. :)

In the mean time, I started stitching another LHN chart. This time "Goodwill".

Here's what I have stitched so far.

I'm hoping to have this finished by the time my new "kit" arrives. All I need is DMC thread and hopefully I'll have all of those required here in my stash. I have quite a lot of DMC threads but not all of them. It's quite a task for me to get them and I often find ordering online the way to go. I don't want to have to order them, I will be just itching to stitch the minute this chart arrives.

2009-11-25T16:51:00.000+11:00

I've been cross stitching a little more lately. I'd really like to be sewing some clothes for myself and my youngest daughter but the large blocks of time that I like for that type of work seem to elude me lately. I found myself not doing any craft work for quite a while and my very wise 11 yo son said to me one day as I sat under the air cooler, "Why don't you do some stitching Mum?" Well, I don't know why I don't. LOL! So after I told him how clever he is, I went and did just that.

Right now I'm working on a few lovely Little House Needleworks kits that I had in my stash. I'm not quite sure how I'll finish them but I am thinking they'll make a nice set of cushions. I have 5 of these in total and of course, there are a few more to the set that I could always purchase in future should I feel the need to stitch more.

Here's the first one finished

I've been blog surfing quite a bit of late and I must say that's I'm very tempted by several of the SAL's that have been organised recently. This LHN Ornament SAL is very tempting. Then the LHN Yahoo Group is also planning a SAL for The Library. Oh what's a girl to do? I love these charts.

THEN to make matters even more dificult for me. I came across this post on a beautiful French stitching blog. Oh my goodness! How I love Carriage House Samplings. You know I already have The House of Hawk Run Hollow all kitted up but still have not got around to starting on it as I have SO many other gorgeous charts kitted up as well. Now however, I am so darn tempted to purchase Christmas at Hawk Run Hollow. Isn't it stunning!

I did manage to sew a little bit in the weeks past. Here's my version of the Antonia pattern by Farbenmix. I love their patterns. ;o)

New beginings

2009-10-05T13:52:00.000+11:00

I love reading blogs and I love blogging. So why aren't I doing it?

I've spent a lot of my time working these past 18 mths and I really couldn't find time for any of my hobbies. I'd would ocassionally pick up something but the moments of creativity were few and far between. A couple of months ago I was able to drop my workload back to just a few days a week and I now find myself sewing again. I've always loved to sew, especially for my children. They grow so quickly so I figure I better get going again or they'll be too big to enjoy mama made creations. My 10 yo son is already thinking it's not so cool to wear mama made clothes. He did however ask if I could make him some undies the other day. Makes me smile.

I re-enter the blogging world with a few photo's of my new.......... errr, old machine. Picked this one up on eBay on a whim. Thinking I was just buying a decorative piece but finding out that it's a very functional machine with the most amazing straight stitch.

The kids love it too.

2009-03-15T08:43:00.000+11:00

This post should have been made almost a week ago. Where does the time go?

I decided to join a UFO group. I've been away from my stitching for 2 years and on returning, I started to go through my stash only to discover countless UFO's. Rather than pick one of those up and start stitching, what did I do? Start a new project of course. Actually, I started 3 new projects. What can I say, I'm a hopeless startaholic.
I found it difficult to work out which UFO I should work on first so I decided to go with my oldest. I started it at least 20 years ago. This is what it will look like when finished.

Here's where it's at so far.

This project is probably about 60% finished and seeing as it's not a large design, I'm thinking it shouldn't take too long to finish and shouldn't cut into my other (self inflicted) stitching commitments either.

I'm also working on "The Hunt". A SAL with one of the groups I've joined recently. Here's the progress in this one so far. This is actually quite large but it's relaxing to stitching being only one colour and I'm really enjoying it so far.

The Hunt is a free chart over at the Cyber Stitchers site.

I've had my eye on many Kustom Krafts charts for years but never attempted to stitch one. They're actually very different to what I normally stitch. This year however, I decided to give Fire and Ice a go and in an attempt to be inspired decided I better join the KK group. Well, just as I joined, they were all starting a Mystery. Who am I to resist? So I joined. The first 4 pages of 9 are being worked on presently and sadly, I've fallen way behind and am still on page 1. The colours are just gorgeous but I've gotta say...... I'm finding this colour changing business rather challenging. I had a go at "parking" but gave up after 2 10x10 squares as I found it was making a mess of the back of my work. Obviously I wasn't doing it correctly - whatever that may be. I'm still keen to stick with this one so I'll push on with it.

2009-02-16T08:00:00.000+11:00

Since getting back to my stitching, I seem to be a little 'up in the air' with what to settle in with and so, I have started 4 projects with many, many more in the cupboard. Because I've been doing a little of this and a little of that, I don't have any great update photo's but will share my favourite so far. Here's my little bit of progress with The Hunt. Isn't the thread just lovely? DMC L902.

Although the fires in Victoria are still burning, the danger has settled down in a lot of areas including ours. They never really got too close to use but enough that we had to keep an eye on what was happening. Now I feel a lot more relaxed I hope to get back to my stitching most evenings. After this past week, I'm really looking forward to it.

I LOVE AUSTRALIA!

2009-02-14T10:48:00.000+11:00

Like everyone else in Victoria, well Australia really, I've been somewhat distracted from my everyday life by the horrible fires we've had here in Victoria. I live in an area that has been safe so far but as anyone living rural, we're all too aware that things change quickly and although safe, we need to keep and eye on things and be aware of any changes. Yesterday was the first day we didn't feel the need to check the CFA website every hour to know which way the fires were heading. Today I see that there's a few going again about 40 kms away. It's not windy and so we're still feeling safe but we need to keep checking still. Not too hard to remember as we've had a very smokey week and I fear it will continue for many weeks to come.

Out of this terrible tradedy that has moved us all to tears many, many times, I'm also moved to tears but the beautiful human spirit that has rallied together here in Australia to help in absolutely any way we can, rebuild the lives of those that have lost so much. One week ago I watched the news of the devistating floods in Queensland and the horrific fires here in Victoria and I said to my husband, "why would you wanna live in Australia?" I was not serious of course as I've always believed this is the best place in the world to live but it made me think of those that don't know how lovely it is and how they would wonder why we Aussies love it so much. After seeing the outpouring of love and giving this past week, I stand firm with my thoughts and beliefs that Australia is by far the best place to live on earth. Aussies are THE most amazing people and really, why would you lwant to live anywhere else. I'm SO proud to be Australian!!

Please go on over here to have a look at the amazing ABC news images of our fires. You're sure to be moved.

Here's where I'm at

2009-02-01T11:58:00.000+11:00

After looking through my stash, I decided to continue with this piece that I started long ago. It's not the only one I started long ago but it looked like a good place to start again. I started this when I first found out about DMC's (new) linen thread (DMC L902). I wanted a small piece to test it out on. After stitching with it for this small amount, I've decided that I'm VERY glad I didn't start a larger design with it. I much prefer their cotton. The linen looks nice but has a tendancy to shred or fall apart as you would expect with linen. You must use shorter lengths of thread than you would normally with cotton. It's ok, but I'll stick with cotton and silk.

This design was a freebie and unfortunately, I can't give you the link just now as I've misplaced my chart .......hmmm....... it can't be too far away. I'll try and get back with a link for it. Obviously it's by one of the wonderful French designers. The right hand side will be stitched in English and I plan make this up into a needlebook when finished.

Now that I'm back into the full swing of stitching, I joined several Yahoo Groups and one of them is doing a stitch-a-long on The Hunt. I promptly printed out the chart and phoned my (now) favourite online store and ordered fabric and thread. Here's what I managed on the first day of stitching (yesterday). I'm hoping to get an angel stitched by the end of today. Wish me luck. My plans for stitching don't always work out so well.

I'm using DMC 4210 on 28 cnt ivory Lugana. Love it! Thanks so much for the suggestion Janine.

A new start

2009-01-26T11:27:00.000+11:00

I set this blog up quite a while ago with the intention of finally having a home to post about all the crafts I tend to participate in. In the past I have maintained several blogs with a single theme and as I dabble in several crafts, I find it hard to continue to blog on a regular basis on just the one topic. My plan here is to share with you all the creative pursuits I follow which might, at various stages, include sewing (mainly clothing), quilting, stitching of all sorts but most likely cross stitching, handspinning, dyeing, knitting, crochet, weaving. Possibly even gardening and a little cooking.

I love to create with my own hands. I hope you enjoy me sharing a little of what I do here on this blog.