Beautiful day in Eaglemont

Hi everyone,

Well, it is a gorgeous winter's day in Eaglemont - 18 degrees, sunny with blue skies.  Here are a couple of pics of my winter garden:

As well as another Kitten pic:

Furio (and Milo) checking out my winter garden

Here is my HAED update- Holbein's Henry.  This is  how far I have got - only on page one but I am quite pleased with my progress.

I have also done some more baking - Cherry Blondies:

They turned out really well, as you can see that I had barely got them out of the oven before DD was cutting into them and having a piece.  She pronounced them delicious!

Well, that is all for today, bye for now,

Kaye xoxox

Packing for Queensland

Hi everyone,

I am off to Queensland tomorrow for the week for work (as I mentioned in an earlier post) and whilst it will be really busy presenting at lots of sessions about the History book I have published it will be warmer than Melbourne!  23 degrees as opposed to 13!  Anyway, I just had to post these photos of Furio "helping" me pack!

Selecting clothes from the wardrobe

Packing the suitcase.

Can I come too?  I only take up as much room as a pair of your shoes!

As you can imagine, I will miss Furio whilst I am away!  Still I can always look at these pictures on my blog.

I plan to get lots of reading done on the plane and I am taking Holbein's Henry with me to work on before I sleep. Anyway, off to the footy now with DH to see the Mighty Tigers play Geelong.

Have a great week everyone, bye for now, Kaye xoxox

Another quick post

Hi everyone,

I just had to do a bit more blogging and I found this video for making a great beach bag or tote made from a towel and a facewasher.  Here is the link.  I hope you enjoy it.

Bye for now, Kaye xoxoxo

Some great giveaways on some stitching blogs, a quilted bag and some more kitten photos

Hi everyone,

I have found out about some great giveaways on some other lovely stitching blogs through Noni from http://firefliescatsinthegarden.blogspot.com/

Here are the links below:


Giveaway Number 1: 
 Bec's Cross Stitch Creations is celebrating achieving 100 followers by having a lovely giveaway.  Make sure to sign up before she announces the winner on Friday 29th July 2011 (Aussie EST).

http://xstitchcreations.blogspot.com/2011/07/my-first-giveaway-celebrating-100th.html

Giveaway number 2:
Measi at Measi's Musing: Ramblings of a Geeky Witch is having a summer fun giveaway.    If you also post a mention of her giveaway on your blog she will enter you for a second time in the draw.  This giveaway ends on 31st July with the winner being announced on 1st August.

http://measi.net/measiblog/2011/07/20/summer-fun-giveaway/

Giveaway number 3:
 Lady of the Floss.  Gabi is having a giveaway to celebrate her blogoversary. The giveaway is a gift voucher of $100 to spend at Anita's Little Stitches!!!  $50 of the giveaway has been sponsored by Anita.  What an amazing giveaway, you could have lots of fun spending the dollars at Anita's on-line store.  Again if you mention Gabi's giveaway on your blog she will enter you a second time in draw.  

http://ladyofthefloss.blogspot.com/2011/07/lets-have-give-away-to-celebrate-my.html

Giveway Number 4:
Check out Lily Pad Quilting.  They have this seriously amazing giveaway - there are fabrics, gift vouchers, needles, thread, tools, and the list goes on.

http://lilypadquilting.blogspot.com/2011/07/were-celebrating.html


Thought I would show a quilted bag which I mad a few years ago on this post. I hope that you like it.  I am very fond of it.

The Front

The Back

Next I have some more Kitten photos  If you look carefully at the rumpled quilt underneath the kittens you can see it is a flannel quilt which I made several years back.

Well, planning to do some more stitching on Holbein's Henry.

Bye for now, Kaye

Finally time for a new post!

Hi everyone,

I am so sorry, my last post (over a week ago) blithely stated that I would put some more kitten photos on my blog tomorrow!  Oh well, I did mean it at the time but work and life somehow got in the way.  Anyway,  a lot has happened this week.

Last post I told you about my discovery of Heaven and Earth Designs - well, I bought two designs on the Wednesday of last week:

Henry VIII by Hans Holbein

I chose Holbein's Henry VIII because I am a real Tudor buff and this is such an iconic painting of Henry Tudor.  It is a real contrast to my other Henry cross stitch project Henry VIII and his six wives.  If you wish to see a completed Henry VIII and his six wives cross stitch, check out my friend Ginnie's completed project at http://ginniescrossstitch.blogspot.com  She has done a wonderful job, beautiful stitchng.

12 Dancing Princesses

I chose this design because I have always loved the story of the 12 dancing princesses and it also reminded me of Juliet Marillier's wonderful novel "Wildwood dancing".  Check it out at www.julietmarillier.com/books/wildwooddancing

Then the next day HAED had a SALE!  Oh no, that meant that I had to buy two more designs - both Christmas ones.  Here they are below:

A Long Winter's Nap

Bearing Gifts

Aren't they both gorgeous?  But that is going to have to be enough HAED designs for me for a while!

My baking mojo has still been going strong - last weekend I finally made a perfect lasagne!  Now, to explain, I have been married to an Italian for over 29 years.  In that time I have tried to make lasagne without success, most of my efforts have been met with derision along the lines of "Why on earth would an Anglo be making lasagne?  Stick to Aussie foods!"  But last Sunday I finally got it right! I am so happy!

Now, for a couple of Furio photos:

Furio "helping" me write my blog!

Furio helping me work!

And lastly, a reading update:  This week I have finished "Destiny Kills" by Keri Arthur - it was okay, nowhere near as good as her Riley Jenson series.  I also finished "The Pericles Commission" by Gary Corby, another Aussie author.  This novel was set in Ancient Greece, during the time of the birth of democracy.  Quite a good read.

Well, Furio has come for a cuddle, so bye for now, Kaye xoxox

P.S. I am travelling interstate for work again next week - a road trip to the Sunshine Coast, Brisbane and then the Gold Coast to promote my History book - so I probably won't have time cross stitch or blog from Monday to Friday next week.

More Baking and HAED

Hi everyone,

First of all I wanted to share with you my latest baking effort.  On the weekend, we had some dear friends over for dinner and I baked this Apple-Raspberry Pie, I was particularly pleased with the lattice on the top.

The other item I wanted to share was Heaven and Earth Designs (HAED) which I have just discovered by reading some other cross-stitcher blogs - their designs are just amazing!  If you haven't heard of them, check them out at http://heavenandearthdesigns.com

I will post some more WIP and Kitten pics tomorrow.

Bye for now, Kaye xoxox

Problems with Lizzie

Hi everyone,

I have made a mistake on Lizzie and I am so tired tonight that I cannot work out where I went wrong or how to fix it.  Will have to wait until I feel fresher and then tackle it again.  So, I am swapping to Kitty Litter  for a while - I feel like doing some kitten stitching.

Hope everyone is well out there in cross stitch land.

bye for now, Kaye xoxox

"A Saturday night in Eaglemont"

Hi everyone,

I am home alone tonight (except for DFIL, who lives with us but always goes to bed early) with the two kittens for company - Yay! Eldest son is in Lorne with his lovely girlfriend.  My darling daughter is at work and youngest son has gone to the footy with DH - go the mighty Tigers!

So, I am planning to get lots more stitching done on Lizzie, watch some TV, at the moment I am watching "Great Film Romances" on Foxtel and eat some cake:

Pink Rose Marble Cake

So,  a good night is in store for me, as I snuggle under a quilt and start my stitching.

Bye for now, Kaye xoxox

Cross Stitch Giveaway

Hi everyone,

You might be interested in trying out for this competition, it is from a new online craft store.

"OUR FIRST GIVEAWAY!!!!!!!

Happy Independence Day to all our USA readers!

We would like to celebrate this wonderful holiday by having OUR FIRST GIVEAWAY….. Yipee!!!

We racked our brains thinking what would be our perfect first giveaway… it had to be HOT, it had to be NEW, it had to be a QUICK STITCH and if it were a LIMITED EDITION that would be great…. We thought and thought and here it is:

~~LIZZIE * KATE “LIFE’S A BEACH” LIMITED KIT ~~

Giveaway includes chart, 2 buttons, fabric & shipping

Open to all readers of this blog except for family members or employees of The Stitcher’s Market (we have no employees). No information given on this site or any of our other sites will be sold to anyone.  We value  and respect your privacy. 

Here is the link:  http://thestitchersmarket.blogspot.com

Bye for now, Kaye xoxoxo

Elizabeth I "Lizzie", some more WIP illustrations and reading update

Hi everyone,

I thought that I should update you on my progress with Elizabeth I or as I affectionately call her "Lizzie".  The red part of her dress is starting to take shape:

Here are some more of the illustrations of my WIPs:

European Bistro

Jewels of the Orient

Kitty Litter

Napping Kitten

Each of these projects are quite different (except for maybe the two kitten ones) but I love them all.  It will be exciting to see them take shape.  As you can see, I do adore large projects.

I also have some new kitten photos to show you, these are all of Furio napping.

Cute, isn't he?

Now, for a reading update.  I am up to Book 7 of the Riley Jenson Guardian series by Keri Arthur.  I really like this series not only because it is about vampires and werewolves (one of my other reading passions after historical and crime fiction) but because it is set in Melbourne.  It is really nice to be reading about your own city in a novel.

Well, this is a long post, so time to finish.  I am off on my conference travels again tomorrow - Perth this time, so I might not get much blogging done this week because I will be gone most of the week.

Bye for now, Kaye xoxox

A couple of finished projects

Hi Everyone,

Here are a couple of my finished cross stitch projects from several years ago:

English Cottage

English Cottage

Bear in Bed Reading Bookmark

I am going to try to photograph all of my past projects eventually.

I must admit I am very fond of the little teddy reading in bed - reading is one of my other passions.

Bye for now,

Kaye xoxox