April TUSAL report...

Well, only a day late with my TUSAL report which I think I have missed the last couple of months (obvious from the biggish pile of ORTs!)


The left pile is my train ORTs and the right my home ORTs.  The brassware was once my dear mother's.  I can remember many a time polishing those small trays and making up stories about the scene depicted on them.  The stitchery in the background is "My cat Coco lives here".  That is not its original name.  It is actually High Hopes by Just Nan. But the tortoiseshell cat looked just like our cat at the time - Coco - that I changed the wording and renamed it. I finished it 2004.  There is a companion piece - which is a winter garden languishing somewhere in my UFO pile.  I must dig it up someday soon.

All of my 2014 ORTs so far.

Last night was Tudor Tuesday SAL night. I stitched on Plum Street Samplers "The end crowneth the work".  I started out quite well

 but then I realised right at the end of the night that I had made a mistake and I am going to have to frog that black cross hatching on the top right of the dress.  Drat that frog prince!

Well, that will have to be next Tuesday's task!

hugs,

I think that I have gone hopping mad .... and 400th post giveaway winner

You know how I asked for advice on which trim to use for my two bunnies, in this post here?

Well, I got to thinking and playing around with my stash thread and these two bunnies were born!  I used Damask Rose from Cottage Garden Threads and found some perfect rose fabbie in my stash!

 I think that they are very sweet.  How about you?

Unfortunately I was not able to do the sewing I wanted to do yesterday afternoon as I have moved my sewing room into another room and I could not find my rotary cutter anywhere!  So, I will have to go buy a new one later in the week - how annoying  - and then get onto the sewing!

However, I did pick my 400th blogpost winner!


Now, drum roll please.....

The winner of a bunny  is

MARSHA

from Everybody loved Clark

Marsha, if you could please send me your snail mail details - a bunny with cream trim will be winging its way to you as soon as I can acquire a new rotary cutter! lol!

Over the weekend, I also finished this Spring Witch which is a freebie from Maja from The Snowflower Diaries.  So, I think that I have joined Noni and Jo's coven!

... and I think that I have found some perfect fabric from my stash, too.

I think I told you all last post that my Dear Dad came to stay with us on the weekend.  On the Saturday we all went to have Yum Cha at Wonton House Secret Kitchen, which DS1's girlfriend says it is the best Yum Cha outside of Taiwan (where she is from)!

Dad had a ball - he ate more than anyone else and tried everything - even chicken feet!

DS1, his girlfriend and my Dad

Chicken Feet!

Yummy egg custard tarts

DD and my Dad

Just to finish off, last night I made homemade pizza - 8 of them - so we have dinner for 3 nights!

Here is just two of them to show you - all 8 had different toppings.  I had so much fun making them.

Well, off to watch "Game of Thrones" with TraderVic and DD and to stitch, of course with my stitching buddy, Furio!

hugs, 

Lest we forget..... + some giveaways.

Today is ANZAC Day, the day that Australia and New Zealand pays tribute to our soldiers.

You can read all about it, if you are interested in this post which is from two years ago.

ANZAC Day is always significant to me because of my Dad, who was a prisoner of war in Changi prison in Singapore for three and a half years.

So, today I am spending the day with my Dad, just hanging out... watching the ANZAC day march, then we are going to watch the ANZAC Day footy match - Essendon vs Collingwood.  Dad is a Collingwood supporter (much to TraderVic's "disgust" - lol! - because we are all Richmond Tiger supporters here).  Then Dad is spending the night, DS1 is coming over to cook him a special roast dinner (lucky me - having dinner cooked for me tonight!) and then tomorrow we are going for a yum cha for brunch.  Lovely!

I am so proud of my Dad - he went to war to ensure that I, my husband, my sons and my daughter do not have to go to war ourselves and to give us a safe and better life.  He certainly achieved that as we all feel so blessed to live in Australia.


 Dad and DS2:

Dad and I:

This is my mother's gold locket with the The Rising Sun symbol, which you can read about here.  This is the locket which my mother was allowed to wear with her WWII army uniform.

The words on the locket say: "Australian Commonwealth Military Forces".

... and this is the photo of my Dad, setting off to war, which she kept inside it.

My dear friend, Marie, whom I mention often on this blog (because we walk every Sunday morning around Princes Park in Carlton), has just had to start chemotherapy for CLL.

So far, it is working well, with no adverse side effects.  I went to see her last night on my way home from work.  On the way I bought her some flowers from TraderVic and I and all of our bookclub friends (we all put in together).  Here she is in with the flowers.  She loved them.

A better pic of the floral arrangement.

I would appreciate it if you could send some prayers and good wishes her way, she is my very dear friend whom I hope can beat the cancer and we can grow very old together and be still "walking" around Princes Park in our wheelchairs in the distant future.

Thanking you in anticipation.

Now, Giveaways:

1. Do not forget to comment on my 400th post "Advice please" - let me know which trim you think I should use and you might win a bunny!

2. Silver Lotus is also having a giveaway - she is giving away this cute pattern from Lizzie Kate (gently used).

You can enter her Giveaway here.

Be quick both of these Giveaways close Sunday morning (noon and 10am respectively).

Well, that is all for me today.

Don't worry, I will get back to my holiday posts, soon, I promise!

hugs,

Advice please ... ...

I am hoping for some finishing advice please.

I have now stitched two of these little bunnies.

..... and I want to finish them in a similar way to the picture below.

So, I found some lovely fabbie in my stash and jaunted off to Darn Cheap Fabrics (go have a quick look at their website - it is rather funky and cool) to get some trims.  Well, I came home with three different options and now I cannot make up my mind!

So, I am looking for advice from you lovely people.  Which do you like best?  The cream, the cream/brown or the burgundy?

Maybe I will just need to stitch a third bunny so that I can use all three options.... now that is an idea!


By the way, this is my 400th published post!  Wow!  I do like to talk a lot!


So, to celebrate, I will stitch a third bunny and one of you lovelies can be the lucky recipient but you must comment on this post and tell me which of the trims is your favourite!

You will have until this Sunday lunchtime (Australian Eastern Standard time) to enter (as I think that Sunday afternoon will be my first chance to get to my sewing machine).

hugs,

"....iberty Lane" and a cute bunny

Well, even though I stitched as fast as I could, the thread won and I ran out of Cornflower a letter and a half before the end! Everything else is stitched, now I just need to wait for my LNS to get some more thread in (it is on order).

So, yesterday, I decided to stitch this little bunny from The Little Stitcher. It is a freebie which you can find on her blog here.

I like him so much, I am going to stitch a friend for him on the train on the way to work this morning!

I hope that you all had a very happy Easter,

hugs,

Cloud Forest and Super Tree Grove - Holiday Post #6 - Singapore #6

Well, we are still visiting Singapore via my blog!  There are two domes in the Gardens by the Bay - the  Flower Dome which I posted about here and the Cloud Forest.  There is also the Super Tree Grove but I only have photos of that from a distance as I just ran out of time (shopping on Orchard Road was calling!)

The Cloud Forest was quite different to the Flower Dome.  When you enter the first thing you see is a giant waterfall.

This dome, too, is filled with the most gorgeous flowers and other plants and some quirky things, too, like the moss-covered car.

Here is some pics  of the Super Tree Grove from a distance.  They are just enormous.  The tallest one, in the centre, apparently has a revolving restaurant - I am sure it would be a marvellous experience - maybe on our next trip to Singapore - lol!

I hope that you have enjoyed the Cloud Forest and the Super Trees.

hugs,