20 Follower Celebration Giveaway Prize posted

Hello lovely bloggers and especially Xehuia,

I have successfully posted Xehuia's prize to her.  As you all might remember she won my 20 Follower Celebration Giveaway.
Here is a picture of the goodies which I sent her:

Fingers crossed that they arrive safely.  They should take about a week to get Ireland from Melbourne, Australia.

Can't wait to do my next Giveaway.  Not sure when I will do it - I might just do one at random some time in the near future.

Bye for now,
love Kaye xoxox

AUGUST TUSAL

Hello lovely bloggers,

Here is my August TUSAL jar.  I am not actually a part of a TUSAL blog but I just love the idea so I thought that I would do it anyway.  I hope that nobody minds.

It is a mixture of threads from Baboushka (pinks, greens and creams) and Holbein's Henry (dark blues) and the big lump of red is from frogging the start of my Mary Wigham sampler (more of her on another post)

Bye for now,

love Kaye xoxox

Some more older finished projects

Hi lovely bloggers, 

I thought that I would show you a few more of the projects I have stitched over the years.  As I look around my home, I see lots of items I have made.  As I am trying to chronicle them on my blog I am amazed at what I have made over the years.

Scissor fob

Sewing  Pouch - outside

Sewing Pouch - inside

Sewing Pouch - inside - close up

Sewing Pouch - inside - close up

The next five photos are of the birth sampler which I stitched for the births of my three children.  It is The Wind in the Willows and took me 12 years to complete (I was busy with babies, work and other craft projects in that time).  Sorry about the reflection in the photos, I know that they are not as clear as they could be.  It is one of the projects which I am most proud of completing.

Wind in the Willows birth sampler

Wind in the Willows birth sampler 

Wind in the Willows birth sampler - centre close up

Wind in the Willows birth sampler - bottom close up

Wind in the Willows birth sampler - top close up

 This last one for this post is the wedding sampler which I did for our 10th wedding anniversary.  Hard to believe that next year it will be our 30th Wedding anniversary!

10th Wedding Anniversary Sampler

Well, that's all for me tonight. I have a kitten to cuddle (Furio), some stitching to do (Baboushka - nearly finished) and "The Wire"to watch with DH and DS#1.

Bye for now, 

love Kaye xoxox

A tale of Lollies

Hello lovely bloggers,

I wanted to tell you my Lolly story.  I hope that you enjoy it.

It starts with the Lolly Jar at work.  It sits on a bench near all of our desks and when we get that mid-afternoon slump we all, individually, sidle over to grab the odd jube or snake or caramel.  Yummy!  Usually once one person has been, the others of us all find some excuse or other to have at least one.

Anyway, we all take it in turns, rather randomly, to fill up the lolly jar.  I usually do it once a fortnight when I buy petrol on my way to work (if you buy a few things you get an extra 2c off petrol if you are using a supermarket voucher - long story!).  So, last Friday, when I went to buy my lollies, the cashier pointed out that if I bought two packets of Allen's lollies for $6 I would also get their 120 years collectors tin.  I was so thrilled with this and proudly took the lollies and the tin to work.  As you can imagine, they were a great hit and so now with have a lolly tin.

As the day wore on, I thought - I want one for myself.  So, on the way home I stopped at the petrol station again and bought myself some lollies (which I gave to the kids) and gained myself a gorgeous tin!

120 years of Smiles 

The Smile tin filled with Lollies

Off to do some stitching now,

Bye for now,
love Kaye xoxox

And the winner is .......

Hello lovely bloggers,

I am so excited! I drew the winner of my blog today.  Follow the pics to find out who the lucky winner is....

First of all I chose one of my favourite bowls - it is a vintage bowl showing Bonnie Prince Charlie.  DH bought it for my birthday one year.

Then I added all of the names.

Here I am choosing the winner.

And the winner is...

Yes, that is right.  The winner  of my 20 Follower Giveaway is Xehiua!  Click here to see what she won.

Congratulations, Xehuia, I will send you an email to let you know that you have won.  If you could let me know your address I will send your prize to you via snailmail.

Well, I have had so much fun organising this giveaway - I am now thinking of when and what my next one will be.


Bye for now, Kaye xoxox

20 Follower Celebration Giveaway Reminder

Hi everyone,

I am up early this morning - I haven't slept well at all this week. I have been up early every morning as I am under a lot of pressure to meet a deadline at work this week.  I am nearly there - should be just about done by this afternoon.  Anyway, being up early has given me the time to write a reminder email.

My 20 Follower Giveaway closes at midnight tonight  - so if you haven't entered yet, please do so.  I have almost doubled my number of followers - I am at 39 now.  I am so thrilled that fellow bloggers are enjoying my blog.

Anyway, here is a link to the 20 Follower Celebration Giveaway  I will draw the winner on either Saturday or Sunday (going shopping with my girlfriend on Sat so it will most likely be Sunday) and post who the luck winner is on Sunday.  Good luck to everyone.

Have a good day everyone,

Bye for now,  Kaye xoxox

Well, I couldn't resist!

Hi everyone,

I have to admit it, I am weak, weak, weak!  I could not resist the HAED sale and I have bought THREE more designs (that is now a total of SEVEN that I have acquired in the space of ONE month.  What did I tell you - weak-willed - that is me!

Well, enough of self-flagellation - they are so gorgeous and I am really happy with them.  Here they are below, I hope that you like them, too.

Jane and the Prisoner of the Woolhouse

This is the cover of a novel in a series of books with Jane Austen as an amateur detective.

La Belle Dame sans merci

This is one of my favourite poems by my favourite poet, Keats.

Wildwood Dancing

This is the cover of another novel, Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier, which is the story of the 12 dancing princesses, so I suppose it is a companion piece to my 12 Dancing Princesses HAED.

Off to drool over my new designs and do some more stitching on my Baboushka.

Bye for now, Kaye xoxox

P.S. Don't forget about my Giveaway. Click here to get to my Giveaway post

Lots of things to report.....

Hi everyone,

I have lots of things to report on in this post.

Firstly, I would like to thank all my new followers and say thank you for all the lovely comments and interest in my blog.  I would just like to invite people to join the giveaway if they haven't already.  It closes on Friday, 19th August.  You can check out how to join on the previous post to this one.

Next, I have some progress on my HAED project Holbein's Henry VIII:

HAED Henry VIII (Holbein) Page 1- Progress Photo 2

It doesn't look like much but I am pleased with how I am going.

I have also been working on this little Baboushka doll design from Lanarte, which I picked up at Lazy Daisy:

I am really enjoying working on this - the colours are really pretty and it is really easy to stitch. Sweet, isn't it?

Next, I have been doing some more baking - last weekend I made a Lemon Syrup Cake and today I made a Black Magic Cake and a Lasagne:

Lemon Syrup Cake

Black Magic Cake on my favourite Cake Stand

Favourite Cake Stand - "Things taste better in small houses"  Queen Victoria.

Lasagne!

I have been doing lots of swimming lately, as I am trying to keep my fitness up.  My blood pressure is up far too high at the moment (I have been working very hard), so swimming, cross stitching, blogging, baking, playing with my kittens and reading are helping me to de-stress.  If you scroll down the sidebar of my blog, you will see my goal laps. It is the distance between Melbourne and New York, which is where DH and I are planning to take our next holiday, next year.  The number of laps is 666560 and I have done 1062 so far!  A long way still to go.

So, lastly, here are a couple of kitten photos:

Furio and Milo having a nap together, and I mean together!

Furio loves baskets - he will climb into any basket that is left lying around.

Anyway, that's it for me tonight - I need to do some stitching!

Bye for now, Kaye xoxox

20 Followers Celebration Giveaway

Hi everyone,

Finally have found some time to post about my 20 Followers Celebration Giveaway. Sorry to take so long after a teaser about it in my last post a week ago.

Anyway, I did a bit of rootling through my stash and then a quick trip down to my local craft shop, Lazy Daisy and did a bit of shopping.  So, the goodies for the giveaway are shown below:

A Barb Smith Stitching design booklet

A kit for making a chicken wall hanging

A Juniper Design Cross stitch of an Australian icon - a beach box

A couple of skeins of gorgeous Australian hand-dyed threads

So, here is how to enter:

1. If you are already a Follower, just comment on this post and let me know that you would like to enter
2. Become a Follower and then comment on this post to let me know that you have joined and would like to enter the giveaway (let me know your url and then I can follow your blogs, too)

     3. Post about my giveaway on your blog and you will gain a second entry in the giveaway but make sure  that you comment on this post to let me know

I will post worldwide, so join in the giveaway, wherever you live.

My 20 Follower Celebration Giveaway will close on Friday, 19th August.

Good luck everyone,

Bye for now, Kaye

Cherry Blondies recipe

Hi everyone,

A request has been made for the Cherry Blondies recipe which I blogged about last weekend.  Here is a reminder of what they looked like:

Cherry Blondies - fresh out of the oven and already a piece has been eaten!


Here is the link to the recipe.http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/21747/cherry+blondies

Enjoy everyone.

Bye for now, Kaye xoxoxo

P.S. I am up to 20 followers - yay!  So watch this space for a giveaway - going to start organising it today!

Great new giveaway

Hi everyone,

Just letting you know that Lilypad quilting is having another great giveaway of a Fat Quarter pack from the Fat Quarter Shop.

You can check it out here:  http://lilypadquilting.blogspot.com/

Good luck, everyone.

Bye for now, Kaye xoxoxo