IHSW round up

I had a pretty successful IHSW even though I did not get anywhere near as much stitching time as I would have liked!

This is the "finish" of my Joan Elliott RR which will be sent off to the stitcher this week.  When it returns in about a year's time it will have seven fairies/angels in the boxes with just one left for me to do!

Edit:  Oops, I forgot to say a big thank you to Karen for taking my rather incoherent plans for the layout and poem and creating a clear pattern for me to work from.  Karen, you are truly the Queen of our RR. Thank you, lovely lady.

The fabric is actually a dusty pink and it took me ages and ages to backstitch the poem.

The poem says:

There are fairies at the bottom of our garden

They often have a dance on summer nights

I also worked on Santa's 12 Days of Christmas SAL which I do with Linda and Debbie, every Sunday (well, that is the plan, anyway).  One more Sunday and I think that I will be finished with Day 3 - yay!

Off to work in a little while.

Have a good day, everyone,

hugs,

A sophisticated evening....

Last night TraderVic and I, along with our DFs Kim and Gino, had a sophisticated evening at the Melbourne Recital Centre

Cool building, isn't it?  Apparently it has been part of our Arts precinct since 2009 but I never even knew it existed before we booked these tickets!

We saw Ali McGregor perform her show "Alchemy" - songs from the 80s and 90s performed as Jazz - amazing!  She is an Australian Opera singer and cabaret singer.  It was a really good evening out.

She performed in the Salon, which is this space:


Here is Ali performing Britney Spears' song "Ooops, I did it again" as a jazz song.  Enjoy!

hugs,

A trip down Memory Lane....

Today, I had a trip down Memory Lane with my dear cousin, Robyn,  when we went to visit my Mum and Dad. Robyn brought along a memento from her childhood, "Little Women" which had been a present from my Mum to her 48 years ago! We all had a lovely time reminiscing.  

Here are my Mum and Dad....

... and with my cousin, Robyn...

 ... and with me.

At 93 my Dad can still grow the most amazing roses - the scent was so beautiful and look at that deep red colour!

A lovely morning indeed!

hugs, 

Yiota's Cross Stitch Kit Review

Hello lovely bloggers,

I have read and heard a lot about Yiota's X-Stitch designs on various blogs around the traps, so I thought that I would buy one of her gorgeous kits for myself and then I decided to write about it for you all.

I chose Starry Night: 

Well, I was impressed right from the moment my purchase arrived (and I can tell you that it was a hard choice to make when I looked at all the wonderful designs to choose from on her website here, which is really well set out with clear categories of designs for your browsing pleasure).  

Now, what impressed me is that it arrived in an envelope with a cardboard backing so that your kit is unlikely to get bent or damaged.  (Also, I plan to use the cardboard as backing for flat ornies - so useful and green!)

The kit arrived all nicely packaged, with everything you need inside:

Now, this is one of the best bits - the floss comes prewound on labelled bobbins!  Fantastic!

They are also neatly attached to this backing paper, so they stay together until you need a colour.  What a great idea!

 You can choose between aida or evenweave, I chose evenweave and it is a gorgeous fabric.  And, of course, a needle is included.

The instructions are nice and clear:

Lovely, large A3 patterns - so easy to read!

Next up, I had to start stitching - I just couldn't wait - and I wasn't disappointed, it was really lovely fabirc and floss to stitch with.  The floss is actually Madeira, which I haven't used before but I am finding really easy to work with.  An added bonus is that the DMC conversions are provided as well, so if that is your preference you can switch.

Just one last thing, as I was checking the flosses, I discovered that one colour I needed was missing!  But it was no worries,  as a quick email to Yiota meant that it was all solved - she is sending me the missing floss straight away, no questions asked.  How cool is that?

So, I would have to rate the whole experience as A+ and I am already checking out the website for my next kit - a William Morris design, "Quest for the Unicorn".

If you haven't checked out Yiota's X Stitch yet, I suggest you do so, you won't be disappointed.

Off to stitch some more,

hugs,

Cool Giveaway

The redoubtable Nancy of Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe Fame is having another cool giveaway of some of her new threads.  You can check it out here.

Good luck everyone.  hugs Kaye

P.S. Don't forget to say that I sent you.

Happy Mother's Day and lots of other stuff!

Happy Mother's Day to all those lovely mothers out there.  I hope that you are having a great day.

For my Mum, I made this Coconut Chiffon Cake:

Needless to say, it hasn't lasted long!

I have been doing lots of stitching, too, although I have been so busy that I have barely had time to get onto my laptop let alone do much blogging!  (Often, when I am so busy I choose stitching time over blogging time - there is only so much a girl can do!)


Cut Through Castle  Update #1 (SAL with Linda and Debbie and lots of others)

Not much progress, so far I know.

I am stitching it on this beautiful blueish/purple 32 ct fabric from  Quilt Kitty.

April's Halloween Ornament SAL:

May's Halloween Ornament SAL progress:

Update: I have been asked what the variegated thread is on the moon.  Now, the moon is meant to be all yellow but I thought that it would look pretty speccy with something about different, so I am using WDW's Fiesta - what do you all think?

Thread Pickerz Silkz Heart SAL - Heartz 1 and 2:

Santa's 12 Days of Christmas SAL: (with Linda and Debbie)

.... and here is my TUSAL update - train ORTs on the left and home ORTs on the right:

Well, that is all for me for now - look out for my upcoming posts:  A review of Yiota's cross stitch kits and another book review plus maybe a few more things as the week's progress.

hugs,