Stash building! What did I present at the History conference? ...and a Giveaway (just because!)

Hello lovely bloggers,

Thanks to those who sent me good wishes re meeting my deadline - thanks to you all - I made it!

A couple of people asked what it was I was presenting about at the History conference.  Well, in my first career I was a secondary teacher for 28 years.  In that time I taught History, English, laptop classes, accelerated learning classes, worked as a level coordinator (which means administration of a year level) and worked in and ran school libraries - not all at once, of course!  This was a most satisfactory career but about 3 years ago I was headhunted to work as a History writer and publisher for an educational publisher.  The push behind this was the new Australian curriculum, which is being developed for the whole of Australia.  As you can imagine - this is a brave new world for Australian education.  The exciting news for us historians was that History, which had been slowly marginalised in the curriculum pie is now back in the forefront.  Yay!

So, at the conference on Friday I was presenting to a group of teachers about teaching the new Australian History curriculum in ancient and medieval history using the history books which I have and will be publishing.  So far, I have published two student books and an activity book - the second student book only just arrived on my desk this week - very exciting!

Anyway, back to my cross stitching news, not that I have a lot to report.  After being sick for 10 or so days and despite having an initial burst whilst I was sick of working on Isabella's garden, see this post  for IHSW, I have not done a lot of stitching.  As my cold lingered on, I found it hard to concentrate and then when I was back on deck at work I had to put in a few 10 to 12 hour days to meet that pesky deadline.

This weekend is a four day one for me - another Yay! - but yesterday DH and I went to the Osteopath together to have our back kinks worked on and then out for lunch with a friend and then took our DSs out for dinner.  Today it has been a miserable day weather-wise here in Melbourne and both DH and I have been feeling really washed out after being worked on by the Osteo, so I have just been checking out blogs and done just a little bit of stitching on Christmas Eve Couriers and I finally finished the last book 'Shadowheart' in the Shadowmarch tetralogy by Tad Williams.  This has been a long read (as each book is massive) but a really satisfying series with a fabulous final confrontation.  If you like fantasy, and you have the time, it is well worth reading.

However,  amongst all that - last Saturday, on my way to visit my Dear Parents, I did manage a quick trip to my LNS and bought some 'little' bits and pieces for my Stash Empire (as if I need anything more!) plus I couldn't resist the HAED sale and just had to buy FOUR more designs (I now am the proud owner of eleven HAED designs - I will have to live until I am a hundred and four to get all of this done! lol!).  So, here are the pics of my latest purchases below:

THREE NEW MAGS TO READ AND LOTS OF NEW PATTERNS

THE ACCOLADE

GOD SPEED

LADY GODIVA

OPHELIA

LHN - CHRISTMAS ORNIE

I THOUGHT THAT I SHOULD TRY A BISCORNU!

ANOTHER LHN CHRISTMAS ORNIE

I THOUGHT THAT THIS WAS A SWEET DESIGN.

Now for the Giveaway.  I have had a bit of luck recently - winning a couple of Giveaways, so I thought that I would like to give something back.  On my recent trip to my LNS, I saw this Olga Gostin design, which just epitomises an Australian icon - a Queenslander house - isn't it gorgeous?

If you would like to win this pretty special prize - it is actually a kit, so the fabric and the threads are included - you can do one of the following:

1.  Be a follower and comment on this post.

2. Post about this giveaway on your blog and come back to this post and let me know and you will get a second chance in the draw.

3. Comment on any further posts that I publish between now and the closing date and you will be given another chance for as many posts that you comment on.

I am going to have this Giveaway open for a couple of weeks, just to give people lots of time to join in the fun.  So, this Giveaway will close on midnight (Eastern Summer time - Australia) on Tuesday, 15th November.  It is open to everyone - I am happy to post anywhere in the world.

Good luck to everyone,  off to do some serious stitching now!

Hugs, Kaye xoxox

Aaaaaghhhh! I am running out of time!

Hello lovely bloggers,

Sorry that I have not posted all this week and haven't been able to catch up on all your blogs.  But I am chasing a deadline this week (and losing the race at the moment) and I am presenting at another History conference this Friday.

The good news is that this weekend is a four day weekend for me  - so a chance to stitch, blog, bake and catch up with friends and family!

"See" you all on the lovely long weekend.

Stitchy hugs, Kaye xoxox

A wonderful Giveaway for you to check out and my laptop travels around Eaglemont

Hello lovely bloggers,

Linda from Stitchin with my Furbabies is having SAL giveaway of a haunted house design.  You can check it out here.  It looks like fun - so good luck.

Also, yesterday it was a beautiful day in Eaglemont and during my lunchtime I took my laptop for a little walk around Eaglemont.

THESE FIRST TWO ARE NEXT TO THE MURAL ON THE WALL OF THE MINI SUPERMARKET NEXT DOOR TO ME - IT IS OF EAGLEMONT VILLAGE IN THE 1930S

AT THE LETTERBOX, WAITING FOR MAIL

 ALL OF THESE BELOW ARE IN THE NEW SAVONNERIE WHICH HAS OPENED IN EAGLEMONT VILLAGE - SHE MAKES THE MOST DIVINE HANDCREAMS, LOTIONS AND SOAPS.

Well, off to do some stitching now.

Hugs, Kaye xoxox

I am so lucky and a big thank you to Grace! ...and two Great Giveaways.

Hello lovely bloggers,

Oh, I am so lucky I received a lovely package in the mail today - all the way from Arizona.  You might remember, a few weeks back I won Grace's 1st Blogoversary Giveaway for her blog, Needles, pins and dragonflies.  Well the package arrived and look at all my lovely loot:

ALL OF THE LOVELY PACKAGES BEOFRE I UNWRAPPED THEM

A CARD FROM ALL THE WAY FROM ARIZONA - SAYING HELLO FROM GRACE

WHAT CAN BE INSIDE?

A LOVLEY CHRISTMAS BEAD ORNIE KIT - I LOVE MILL HILL

AN ARIZONA 2012 CALENDAR  AND PEN

A SPECIAL TREAT! DARK CHOCOLATE - YUM! AND GOOD FOR YOU, TOO!

AND THE MAIN EVENT: A PATTERN FROM MY WISHLIST - THIRTEEN COLONIES BY LITTLE HOUSE NEEDLEWORKS AND THE FABRIC TO STITCH IT ON, TOO, OH THANK YOU, GRACE!

AN EXTRA SURPRISE - IT WAS MY BIRTHDAY LAST WEEK SO GRACE SENT ME A PARTY IN A BAG!

ALL OF MY GOODIES - OH, LUCKY, LUCKY ME!

So,  a VERY BIG THANK YOU TO GRACE  - the Giveaway prize is just awesome - I am so excited.  I am going off to my LNS on Saturday to buy all of the threads so that I can start this weekend.

One last thing, everybody, I have just discovered another two Great Giveaways.

Sandie of SandraKaye designs is celebrating having 75 followers by giving away a lovely mini Christmas quilt.  You can check it out here.

Lisa of Hockey Mom Stitchin' Hobby is having a mega giveaway to celebrate her 3 year blogoversary, 100 followers and 500 posts.  You can check her giveaway out here.

Anyway, off now to play with my new stash!

Hugs, Kaye xoxox

IHSW update

Hello lovely bloggers,

I would like to welcome all my new followers.  I really love reading all of your comments and checking out your blogs, as well.  The online cross-stitching community is an awesome one.

Well, I can tell you - one upside of having a cold and not being able to do much all weekend is that I got lots of stitching done for IHSW. See my great progress on Isabella's Garden:

BEFORE IHSW

AS I WENT TO BED LAST NIGHT, TIRED BUT SATISFIED AFTER IHSW

Off to do some more stitching, whilst DH and I watch Underbelly:Razor - an Aussie TV programme all about the 1920/1930s razor gang wars in Darlinghurst, Sydney.  The rival gangs fought so viciously with cut throat razors that Darlinghurst became known as Razorhurst for a time.  The interesting thing is that the two gang leaders were women  - Kate Leigh who was a sly grog runner and Tilly Devine, who was referred to as a 'chaperone of magdalenes'.  Now, isn't that a lovely turn of phrase to describe a brothel madam?

That's all for me now,

Hugs, Kaye xoxox

A couple of blogging questions, a Great Giveaway and a new (to me) designer find

Hello lovely bloggers,

I have a couple of blogging questions for you and I wanted to tell you about a great giveaway.

First, the giveaway - Kathy from A Stitcher's heirloom is having a Giveaway - her first.  Check out her wonderful blog here to check it out.

Second, if you haven't already discovered this French cross stitch designer - Jardin Prive  - I have only just discovered this designer and website through surfing some blogs  but I am already in love and thinking of buying some of the designs for my stash!  Well worth checking out!

Now, to my questions, I have two:

1. Does anyone know how I can get blogger to post with the correct date and time for my location?  I seem to be blogging on U.S. time and I don't know how to change it. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.

      2.  How do you all keep up with your blog reading and commenting?  I now have over 100 blogs (and counting) which I wish to follow and I just can't keep up with them.  I am trying to keep a real balance between my blog reading and my stitching and my posting (and family and work and reading and..... the list goes on).  Any tips for keeping up with it all and keeping it all organised? Again, any help/comments/suggestions would be gratefully received.

Well, off to do some more blogging and stitching and reading and baking and.....

Hugs, Kaye xoxox

A perfect balance for IHSW?

Hello, Lovely Bloggers,

I think that I have found the perfect balance for IHSW, as I rest and stitch to get over my cold.

Sit in my stitching chair:  (Sorry, I know that this is a repeat pic from my last post - but I love my stitching chair - lol!)

And then rotate the following:

1. Do some stitching - Isabella's Garden and Numbers Afghan and Christmas Eve Couriers are on the rotation today
2. Some reading on my kindle - nearly finished reading "Shadowrise"
3. Check out some blogs
4. Catch up with some girlfriends on the phone
5. Plan and cook a yummy dinner for DH tonight:  Morrocan-spiced lamb cutlets with Creamy Polenta and Mushroom ragout
6. ... and a nice cup of tea!

Enjoy IHSW everyone, 

Hugs, Kaye xoxox

My birthday week.....

Hello lovely bloggers,

Well, this has been a busy week for me as it was my birthday on Tuesday (11th October).  But my birthday started early on Saturday with a birthday lunch with a GF whose birthday is the day after mine.

Then it continued on Tuesday with lots of phone calls, texts, email, Facebook and blogging Happy Birthday messages.  So, I would like to say a big thank you to everyone for your kind wishes.  We had a lovely family dinner at my favourite Spanish restaurant in Fitzroy. Then on Thursday there was a work birthday lunch at a great Japanese restaurant in Port Melbourne.

I was lucky enough to be given some lovely gifts, too.  So, thank you to everyone for the thoughtful presents.

Unfortunately now, I have come down with the cold/flu bug which has been going through the office.  It started off with a sore throat and runny nose but now I am all stuffed up and it has moved down to my chest and I can hardly breathe!  Yuk! Off to the doctor this afternoon to get some antibiotics!

Anyway I have managed to get some stitching done on Isabella's Garden and Christmas Eve Couriers this week and you can see my progress photos below. I have also included photos of my stitching chair  and, of course, a photo of my darling Furio.

Start of the week

Friday morning

Start of the week

Friday morning

My stitching chair, with my lap quilt, my new craft lamp and some stitching and my kindle both ready to go!

Furio saying hello!

 Well, that is all for me today as I want to do some stitching - get an early start on IHSW - and check out some blogs.

love, Kaye xoxox

Well, this week

Quick Giveaway Notice post

Hello lovely bloggers,

Sorry, I haven't posted for 10 whole days!  I have just been really busy since my Adelaide trip last week.  I plan to do a longer post later today - I have been doing lots of stitching and reading up of blogs.

Anyway, I just wanted to post about Crafty Rahenna's giveaway.  She is having an awesome Christmas items giveaway and there are two chances to win!  It closes today so get in quick and check out her great blog.

Bye for now,

love Kaye xoxox

Quick Progress update

Hello lovely bloggers,

Just a quick update from me in my lunch break as I am flying to Adelaide this afternoon as I am presenting the national History conference tomorrow (twice, actually).

I had a great stitching weekend and below are my before and after photos of Isabella's Garden and Christmas Couriers.  I feel really happy with how they are both progressing.

Isabella's Garden Before this weekend

Isabella's Garden After this weekend

Christmas Courier Before this weekend

Christmas Courier After this weekend

Will "talk" to you all when I get back, later in the week.

Bye for now,

love Kaye xoxox

I won! and some great Giveaways

Hello Lovely Bloggers,

I hope that you all had a great weekend - I know that I did.

My big news is that I have won Grace's wonderful Giveaway! Grace has a lovely blog called Needles, Pins and Dragonflies.  Now, I am not quite sure what I have won yet, as Grace is kindly going to customise it for me - as soon as I receive it I will post about it.

Now, for news about two lovely new Giveaways:

Kay from Kay's Random World is having a great Lizzie Kate giveaway and Cucki from Cucki Stitching Cove is having a very cute Halloween Giveaway.  Please check out their lovely blogs and join in the fun.

Well, that's all from me for now, I will post some stitching progress pics tomorrow.  Right now DH and I are going to watch the new show Terra Nova which is starting tonight.

Bye for now,

Hugs, Kaye xoxox

Grand Final Day today!

Hello lovely bloggers,

Well, today is AFL Grand Final Day.  This is a huge day in Melbourne as many of the Aussie rules football teams are Melbourne-based.  Now, here in Melbourne Australia we are Sports mad - we have many large stadiums and the best is of course, the Melbourne Cricket Ground or MCG or just the 'G as we locals call it.  We are proud of our homegrown football game which is the oldest code of football in the world (and we say the best of course).  You can read about its history here.


Yesterday, there was a big Grand Final Parade which 100,000 people flocked to the city to see.  There has even been some talk that the Friday before the GF should be a public holiday (so that people can go to the parade) or the Monday after (so that people can nurse their hangovers!).

This year the teams are Collingwood Magpies and Geelong Cats  and DH and I are going to my sister's to watch the game with a whole lot of friends.  This is very common in Melbourne - as nearly everyone will watch the game, even many people who are not interested in football.  For those who are truly not - they go shopping as the shopping centres are quite empty so they find it a good time to shop!

Anyway, off to get ready for a fun day.

Bye for now,

Love Kaye xoxox