Thursday 31 March 2016

Up, up and away....


This was the view from my kitchen window this morning....


... I love the idea of hot air balloons and one day I would love to go for a ride in one over the gorgeous Yarra Valley but for today, I am glad that I am flying to Byron Bay in a plane instead.

However, seeing the balloons made me think of a few songs, do you remember these?


 Up, up and away by the 5th Dimension



... and 99 luftballoons by Nena



but, of course, I am leaving on a jet plane, so here is the incomparable John Denver ....


Have a great day everyone, 

hugs, 

Wednesday 30 March 2016

Long Easter Weekend FNSI.... and Smalls SAL post...

Our dear hostess for FNSI, Wendy B from Sugarlane Designs, decreed in her wisdom that Friday Night Sew In be postponed by a week and would last all of the Easter long weekend.  And as she decreed, it was so.

So, Friday night I finished my Stitching for Syria piece and posted it off. This is run by Concern, an aid organisation, who have asked stitchers around the world to stitch this little design to be made into a wall hanging to show the women of Syria that stitchers around the world are thinking of them and are aware of their plight.  It is also to give them inspiration for their own craft.  I found out about this via the lovely Jo, who also stitched a block.



Stitched on 28 ct Mocah Linen
Floss: Cottage Garden Threads 1004 Blue Ixia

I was very pleased with how the colourway turned out on this piece and it has been sent to the women of Syria with all of my love.

Then on Saturday and Sunday, I picked up 'Twas the night by Sue Hillis Designs, this is my Start #9 for DUCJFC2016

Before pic:

 After Pic:

I also made this delicious English trifle to take to my friend's place for dinner on Saturday night.


Sunday, I had my first go at baking Hot Cross Buns - I was pretty pleased with the result.


Easter Monday, I picked up my "America, the land that we love" sampler by Jean Farish, I have decided that Monday is 'Merica Monday, to keep on track with my stitching for my Americana SAL blog.  This is piece #10 for DUCJFC2016.

Before pic:


After pic - nearly finished the first two states: Alabama and Alaska - yay!


So, quite a bit of stitching for my extended FNSI weekend - most successful!

.... and now it is Wednesday evening, so I should tell you about my Tudor Tuesday stitching, this is my post from the Tudor Tuesday SAL blog:

Well, I thought that after spending so much time on Lizzie recently, I should pay some attention to her Dad.  So, I picked up this mini Henry Viii pattern which the wonderful Jo, from Serendipitous Stitching, sent to me last year sometime.  Thank you, dear Jo.

This was originally a kit but, of course, Jo had already stitched it so there is just the pattern with the Legend saying only colours not specific floss, so I was able to choose my own fabric and floss. I am stitching on 28ct French Country Spring green fabbie with assorted DMC threads but I have substituted a gold metallic thread for Henry's hat and chain.  I am so pleased with how quickly this has stitched up - this is only one evening of stitching:

So, if all goes according to plan - next Tudor Tuesday should see Henry all crowned, too!

This is #11 for DUCJFC2016;

.... and now, as it is Wednesday evening, here is my Smalls SAL post.
The first piece, of course, is the Stitching for Syria piece above and my other Smalls SAL piece is 'Twas the night before Christmas by Prairie Schooler, which I stitched for the Christmas Ornie SAL.  Here is the post here:

At the end of last month I was scrabbling for what to do for March - Santa and/or one or some of his helpers, when I turned to my old faithful, Prairie Schooler, and found Book #63  Christmas Samplers.


And then my eye was caught by the middle sampler, "The Night before Christmas" and then I saw Santa on his sleigh with three of his reindeers and Bingo!  There was my March choice.

I went to my stash and found some great Crafty Kitten overdyed 32 ct blue linen and two days later I was finished!  Woo Hoo!


This piece, of course, also counts for my Prairie Schooler SAL and forDUCJFC2016.

Okay I am finally done!

Off to Byron Bay tomorrow for a few days for a family friend's son's wedding - the whole family is going. DS1 and DDIL are driving down from Queensland and DS2 is flying in from Sydney, whilst TraderVic, DD and I are flying up from Melbouren - it will be the first time we will all be together for over a year - so I am pretty excited!

So, you may not hear from me for a few days as we are away for a bit of a holiday as well - how lovely!

hugs, 



Sunday 27 March 2016

Beating off the post-work blues: Velvet....

.... as I have probably told you all before, I have been so busy since finishing work as my dear friends have been arranging lots of outings to keep me occupied - so much so that I do not know how I fitted full-time work in! lol!

So, I thought that I should fill you in on some of the wonderful things I have been doing over the past few weeks.  These posts will be under the "Beating off the post-work blues" title.

This post, I want to tell you about this wonderful 1970s burlesque show that we went to see last Friday evening at The Malthouse Theatre.  It was called Velvet.

Here are some gorgeous pics (from their website, as you were not allowed to take photos) to give you a better idea of what it was like than I can with words.













The incomparable Marcia Hines was the star of the show.




The singing was amazing and the acrobatics - wow! wow! wow!

Here is a recent review of the show and I managed to find a trailer so you can see a bit of its magic.



We had a great time, so if you get a chance to see it, I can highly recommend it.

hugs, 




Friday 25 March 2016

Easter Treasure Blog Hop 2016




... and WELCOME TO THE 

EASTER TREASURE BLOG HOP 2016!




MY LETTER IS 


... AND THE NEXT BLOG TO HOP ALONG TO FOR YOUR NEXT LETTER

IS

SEWING AFTER SEVEN

HAVE FUN! 

THANK YOU TO THE LOVELY JO FOR HOSTING THIS BLOG HOP


.. AND HERE IS MY EASTER DISPLAY FOR 2016.....






MAY EASTER BLESSING BE UPON YOU AND YOURS, 


HUGS, 





Wednesday 23 March 2016

Lizzie is crowned and ...

Measure of a Year is back from the framers - Happy Dances all around.

First up, here is Measure of a Year all framed - it is actually lying on the bed in this pic as I have not yet decided where to hang it.


... and here is Lizzie in all her glory!

 Happy Dance all over the house!

     Isn't she gorgeous?  I am so thrilled with her.






The Queen's Sampler
Plum Street Samplers
28 ct Flax linen
Suggested DMC floss

She has been taken straight to the framers, so there will be one last update pic in a couple of weeks.

Hmm!  What Tudor design to concentrate on next for my Tudor Tuesday SAL is my big question now.

Off to bookclub shortly - where Emma Viskic , the author of this month's novel, Resurrection Bay, is coming along to talk to us - how cool is that?


Have a good evening, everyone, 

hugs, 

By the way, I really enjoyed the novel, so I am really looking forward to meeting the author.




Tuesday 22 March 2016

IHSW March report and Friday Frolics .....

Hi lovely bloggers,

Time for my March IHSW report and last Friday's frolicking ...

Now, if  you want to know more about what the above means?

IHSW is International Hermit & Stitch Weekend and is hosted by the lovely Joyce - you can read all about it here and link up here.  This is a weekend where stitchers from all around the world try to stitch like mad, all together so to speak.  Joyce had been on hiatus for a few months, but the intrepid Jo and I tracked her down and we are all systems go again!

Friday Frolicking refers to one of my other blogs called Kitten Stitching and the Friday Frolics, this is a free and easy Friday SAL blog (which often hooks up with a couple of other Friday night acronyms - FNSI and FNwF - lol!) where each Friday you pick up a UFO or WIP at random and stitch on that for the evening.

So this past Friday, I picked up a mini rotation of three smalls I am doing for various SALs, Blog hops, etc.

Before pic on Friday night:



After pic on Saturday morning:



The Hallowe'en piece is for the Hallowe'en Ornie SAL theme of pumpkins - it is a freebie from one of the designers on the Pumpkin Seed Stitchers FB group - Northern Expressions.

The sheep is another freebie, "Easter is coming", from the Le Comtesse & Le Point de Croix, which you can find here.

The snowman is Snow Mates by Blue Ribbon Designs from the JCS Christmas Ornie Magazine 2015.  This is being stitched for the JCS Stitch along FB group.

So, over the rest of the weekend I continued on with "Easter is coming" and I finished it yesterday afternoon (Monday arvo).


It is a very sweet design, which I hope to finish into a small pillow this afternoon or tomorrow - ready for my Easter display.

This is #8/31 pieces to be stitched in honour of Debbie for DUCJFC2016.

Anyway, the gym is calling and then some gardening after that, I think.

hugs, 



Monday 21 March 2016

My farewell week.....

Hello lovely bloggers,

You might remember from this post that I was recently made redundant from my beloved publishing job.  You can read more about how I felt about that on this post.

.... well, the dreaded day has come and gone and I am now, maybe only temporarily, a lady of leisure - lol!  I am laughing because I have been so busy with outings that my lovely friends have organised that I have not had time to post or keep up with my blog reading at all!!!!!

However, I have been stitching and taking lots of photos of my shenanigans, so keep an eye out for catch up posts over the next few days, I hope - although this week is looking busy, as well (as I am starting the week with visiting a sick friend in hospital and then we have overseas visitors coming to stay on Saturday, then Easter and then mid-next week, it is off to Byron Bay for a few days for a wedding!) - but I will do my very best to keep up-to-date!

Anyway, I wanted to tell you all about my farewell week at Pearson - it was, naturally, all about saying good bye and partying! lol!

So, first of all, we had a team lunch on the Tuesday at our favourite work restaurant, Chiara - there were about 20 people at this lunch.


My work bestie is second from the right in this photo, Marita, we have worked together (first as teachers, then as publishers) for seventeen years!  Hard to leave her behind.





Then on the Thursday night, we had farewell drinks for whoever could come - lots of people came and went for this event.









... and to finish the week of partying off, there was a farewell morning tea - lots and lots of people came to this and very nice compliments were paid to me, which was so lovely but bittersweet.


This was my farewell gift - a smart kettle - just what I needed to make my Green Tea correctly.









Then to round my final day off, my best friend, Kim, picked me up and we went with her DH and TraderVic to see Bjorn Again at the Twilight Zoo Music evening - what fun!


So, I am having a bit of a rest (although I have been super busy  - lol!), taking stock and coming to terms with my new situation and pondering what my next steps may be.

But don't worry, lots of stitching has been happening (always stitching happening!) - you can check out some of my latest stitching on my most recent Friday Frolics post, here and there will be some updates coming soon on this blog, too.

hugs, 




Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop.....

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