Tuesday 29 January 2013

Long, long weekend wrap up including FNSI..

I have been very lucky to have had a very long weekend this Australia Day weekend - four whole days of fun, friends, exercise and, of course, stitching!  Do you want to hear what I have been up to? I hope so, because I am about to tell you!!! lol!

Day 1, Friday, 25th Jan - FNSI:
  1. Water aerobics in the morning
  2. Lunch with TraderVic at the Tassal restaurant at their Salmon shop in Kew, where we had the best salmon fish and chips that you could imagine. (Tassal are a company from Tasmania who breed beautiful Atlanitc salmon for the Australian market).  If you live in Melbourne and get a chance to go there for lunch I can highly recommend it.
  3. Then off to do some Stitchy shopping (mainly at my LNS, Lazy Daisy although I did pick up a frame at a local gift shop). Here are some pics of my Stash Empire Building:
I am going to be part of a Joan Elliott Round Robin later this year.  So, I am trying to get organised for it so I picked up some JE designs - I have decided that my theme is going to be Fairies and Angels.





Then I really lashed out and bought these Sajou scissors which I have had my eye on for a while (they have been marked down in the shop for months now and every time I went I would drool over them and now they are all mine!  They are so beautiful and have a lovely, precision cutting blade.


Some fabbie for my stash - this is 28 count Meadow Mist (although the pic does not do it justice). I did buy some 28 ct Mocha Lugana, too, but I must have missed taking a pic of it.

Various threads for various projects:

A needle threader for those nights when my eyes are tired and that darn hole is invisible!


Birdhouse Alphabet by Little House Needleworks (which I finished last night but pics further on in the post) which I started stitching for FNSI.

Some more new lovely patterns from LHN and JBW - and aha! - there is that Mocha Lugana!



... and, of course some needles as I have a pathological fear of running out of them so I buy at least two packets every time I go to my LNS.

4.    FNSI - Well, I started on Birdhouse Alphabet - using some overdyed fabbie I already had in my stash, my new scissors and this lovely Belle Soie silk which came in the kit.  Now, I have never stitched with this silk before and it is absolutely wonderful to stitch with.  I think that I am going to have to buy some more in other colours for my stash.


 ... and this is what I accomplished in one afternoon - I was pretty pleased with this progress for FNSI.

I did this whilst watching one of my all-time favourite movies "Shenandoah".


I just love Jimmy Stewart and his six sons!


 ... and this final scene when "the boy" finally makes it home, always makes me cry...

5. Off to dinner with DS1 and TraderVic and then we went to see the new Tarantino movie "Django unchained".  It was good, very Tarantino but very violent - I had to cover my eyes quite a few times in the movie because there was just so much blood!

Day 2, Saturday, 26th January - Australia Day:

1. Up early and off to Carnegie to do Deep Water Aerobics with DS2.  Now, I have never done deep water before and I am here to tell you it is HARD!  Of course, it didn't help that I had forgotten to take my inhaler with me ( I don't know whether I have mentioned that lately I am having a lot of trouble breathing - my inhaler has been working overtime.  The air quality has not been great in Melbourne lately because of the bushfires, etc.).  The class was taken by a lovely young Russian lady who in her charming accent kept exhorting us to "Keep Going", "Turn around and go back again" (another 25 metres doing an impossible exercise) and "Keep Moving".  I can tell you, I have had spaghetti arms and legs and have been absolutely exhausted ever since - must have done me some good then!

2. DS2 and I then had a lovely lunch together - so good to catch up - and did a little bit of shopping (I needed to buy a birthday present for a friend). Once I arrived home again - it was straight to my stitching chair and I stitched away on Birdhouse Alphabet some more.

3. Saturday night, TraderVic and I caught up with some friends at a dinner party held at one of their houses.  Now, Robyn is a retired Home Economics teacher so I can tell you - the meal was magnificent.  For example, her dessert comprised a whole poached white peach (poached in champagne) with a rose jelly and a vanilla bean panna cotta.  Delicious!  The conversation was sparkling as well 

Day 3, Sunday, 27th January

  1. Sunday morning it was off to brunch for the aforementioned friend's birthday.  Now, you have met Heather and Franca before as they are the ladies I go to the St Kilda sea baths with every few months.  We had brunch at the Fairfield Boat house and Tea Gardens.  We had a lovely time down by the Yarra River.









2. That afternoon I went home and stitched and stitched and stitched until I finished Birdhouse Alphabet:





What a Happy Dance I had!  All around the house!

Day 4,  Monday, 28th January (Australia Day Public Holiday):

More Happy Dances on Monday:

I framed Spring Heart, which is going to my secret exchange partner in the Initial Heart Swap, so I can't show you the finished piece but here are some tantalising glimpses:



I also chose some fabric to use with Birdhouse Alphabet to make it into a cushion:

Fabric for the front of the cushion:


Backing fabbie:


Then I got really productive and made four, count them four!, needle books.



I have never made them before and while they are not perfect I am really pleased with these, my first attempt.

So, in all a very satisfying and productive long, long weekend.

hugs, 

P.S. Don't forget to enter my Mystery Giveaways, closes Feb 1st, you need to comment on my Grow your Blog Party post to be in the draw.


25 comments:

Peggy Lee said...

My head is still spinning! You sure did get lots accomplished.
Love all your stash enhancement. Your finish is cute. I really like that pattern.

cucki said...

Wow busy lady :)
I really love all your new stash..sweet charts selection for the for..sweet finish
Bug hugs x

natalysneedle said...

Love your finish! Looks like you have added some great things to your stash! Happy Stitching!

Kat said...

What a productive weekend. Love all your new stash!

Kerryp77 said...

wow a very busy weekend indeed,fabulous stash and those scissors - beautiful! The bird house is lovely such a pretty shade of green

Ann said...

Wow, you've bought a nice amount of stash ... enought to carry through at least half of this year :-)!
I love your scissors (have also an eye on them) and the JBW charts, as well as the Joan Elliott ones.
Have fun!
Ann

Ariadne said...

My what a lot of things you accomplished in just a long weekend!AriadnefromGreece!

Dani - tkdchick said...

First of all it sounds like you had a fantastic long weekend!! Look at all of the wonderful new stash you got! That's quite a shopping spree!

Lovely finish, congratulations!

SoCal Debbie said...

What an incredible post! I felt like I was there with you all weekend! LOL. That's an amazing stash aquisition! What lovely scissors. Your Birdhouse Alphabet looks a lot like Singing the Blues, which Linda and I are stitching. They're both by Little House Needleworks.

Emma/Itzy said...

Sounds like you had a great weekend :) Lovely new stash too - it must be so nice to have a LNS (perhaps not on your purse?)

Stress Less said...

Sounds like a great weekend. I love your birdhouse alphabet. And the needle books are wonderful! I'm hoping to figure out how to make one this year for myself!

Christine M said...

You certainly had a very busy and productive weekend Kaye. Lots of lovely things purchased! I love the birdhouse cross stitch.

sharine said...

You had a busy four day off but it looks like the were very enjoyable:)

Catherine said...

What a weekend! Loved seeing all of your goodies and pics! Maybe one day I'll get a pair of those lovely scissors!

Valma said...

ho my what a post =)
a real window-shop, I love
J.E fairies are so beautiful...
your needle books are just wonderful =) congrats
and it seems you had a very good moment
so super
big hugs
xxx

Myra said...

Long stitchy weekends are the best, aren't they? Birdhouse alphabet looks great and I love your little needlebooks.

Karen said...

Wow! Fantastic weekend!

That was an amazing haul of stash you got there. So cool that you were able to start and finish the birdhouse. Lovely.

Linda said...

Oh Kaye I am so jealous. I can just see myself at the Boathouse/Tea Garden sitting at a table and stitching all day. What a great post. I think you might have bought more stash in one trip than me. lol Love all of it. Congrats on the awesome finish. Looks like you had a fantastic weekend.

Linda

Hooked on Quilting said...

So many projects, you are like me...love to have lots on my to-do list. Love your little scissors!

Maureen said...

Thanks for sharing your pics. You certainly packed a lot into your weekend!

Caitlin @ Naughts Cross Stitches said...

gorgeous stitching :D sounds like a wonderful weekend! Looks like you had a good Australia day. Our whole weekend was rained out. But that is what happens in Queensland.

Jo who can't think of a clever nickname said...

wow what a busy weekend! There's about 4 week's worth of activities there. And a Start'n'Finish too.

Looking forward to seeing your Joan Elliott plans.

Nicola said...

What a wonderful post Kaye. I adore those Sajou scissors.

Brigitte said...

Great post!
That needle thing, I have that, too, haha. But I have nearly come over it since I counted my stitching needles - I had more than a hundred of size 28. But nevertheless I added some more to my last order, lol.
Great new stash and great finish!

Stitching Noni said...

Wow, I think I have stash envy! Great new bits & pieces :)
Looking forward to seeing your Joan Elliott RR.
Sounds like you had a great long weekend... Loved having that extra stitching day :)

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