Friday Frolics update .....

As TraderVic and I were going to be out on Friday night attending the "David Bowie is" at ACMI (the Australian Centre for the Moving Image) - which, while lots of people have been raving about, I was, in fact, rather disappointed by it - although I did love, love, love all of his costumes - I decided to shift my Friday Frolics to Thursday night.

I randomly picked up one of my "Bah Humbug" designs which I had abandoned after last Christmas.

Before I started, my WIP looked like this:

... and this morning it looks like this....

"Chimney Disaster" by Sue Hillis Designs

I am hoping to finish it today!  That will be so cool!

I wonder how everyone else's Friday Frolics went this week?

Have a great weekend everyone, 

lots of hugs, 

Weekend Roundup.....

.... and what a good stitchy weekend it turned out to be for FNSI, FF and IHSW!

FNSI = Friday Night Sew In, hosted by Wendy from Sugarlane Quilts
FF = Kitten Stitching and the Friday Frolics, hosted by moi!
IHSW - International Hermit and Stitch Weekend

Please click on any of the links on above to find out more.

Firstly, I stitched for my Prairie Schooler SAL blog. The piece I started is for an exchange (shhh!), it is the Summer piece from Book #138 "Measure of a year".

I am just stitching the block with the word "Summer" and the block next to it with the beehive.  Not sure how I am going to finish it yet but I am surely open to suggestion.

Then I stitched some more on my latest Americana start. It is called "Liberty Starburst" by Summer House stitche workes ... 

At the start of the weekend, I was here:

by last night, I was here:

While I am finding the fine count of linen a bit tricky to stitch on at times (I know, I know, I am being a wimp complaining about 32 ct linen when so many of you stitch on far higher counts but you must remember that I often stitch smalls like this on the train during my commute to and from work!) I am loving the way it is stitching up.  I am over three-quarters done and I hope to have it finished over next weekend.

Then, I thought I had better get my act together for the Christmas Ornie SAL, this is my post from this morning for the blog:
.. oh dear, as I have been a little busy (setting up another new SAL blog plus work has been horrendously busy), it has taken me a little bit of time to decide upon a design to stitch for this month.  I couldn't make up my mind between a tree or presents, so I was happy when I found a design which incorporated both!  (and a Santa and a snowman!)

"Wee Santa 2015" by Heart in Hand designs... and here is Furio's "hand" holding it out to you...

... not a lot of progress on it this weekend, I am afraid (I did only decide upon it late yesterday afternoon), as I ended up frogging that pink Christmas tree, twice!  Oh, how I hate it when the Frog Prince visits me!

So, hoping to work on it some more during the week,

This design is the prize for September.  To win, all you need to do is post a finish on the SAL blog by September 30th.

(And no, Furio does not come as part of the prize - lol!)

And last but not least, for my FNSI and FF piece, I randomly picked up this WIP:

ABC Christmas by Lizzie Kate.

This is what it looked like when I picked it up early Friday evening...

By the end of the evening I had finished the word "Poinsettia" and started on the "S" for "Snowman"....

I then worked on it intermittently over the weekend (interspersed with other SAL stitching) and I finished quite a bit more.

Psst!  Do you want to know a secret?  Of course you do!  See the three "snowflakes" under the snowman?  Well, that are not meant to be there at all!  Just above the "W" there was a tiny reddish-brown mark (possibly blood from a pricked finger) which I could not remove (as the floss is overdyed I didn't want to try washing the piece), so I came up with the bright idea (well, I hope it is a bright idea) of adding three snowflakes like the one at the end of the word.  What do you think?  Does it work okay?  I am pretty happy with my solution.

So, lots and lots of stitching and I also, managed to take my Dad out for lunch on Saturday, hit the gym twice, catch up on my loads and loads of washing, catch up on my blog reading a little bit, post on my four other SAL blogs and bake a cake!

Spice cake with Lime icing

Have a great week, everyone, I am off to work to have a rest - lol!

hugs,

How are all my new SAL blogs going?

Quite well, on the whole, thank you for asking - lol!

Here is a breakdown of their popularity - the Christmas Ornie SAL (despite the angle of the pie graph) is the most popular.

Christmas Ornie SAL	39*
Prairie Schooler SAL	31
Americana SAL	14
Tudor Tuesdays SAL	5
Friday Frolics SAL	13**

*Number of members
** Not bad numbers considering I only started the blog 9 days ago!

And here is a snippet of my latest posts on each blog, just to whet your appetite (just click on any of the links to see what each blog is all about):

Christmas Ornie SAL blog - I stitched a second Santa for the month of August, with my American Santa.

Prairie Schooler SAL blog - I blogged about my progress on Day 11 of Santa's 12 Days of Christmas

Americana SAL blog - I showed off my Americana Santa finish

Tudor Tuesdays SAL blog - I blogged about The Case of the Disappearing Wives mug

Friday Frolics SAL blog - I welcomed everyone to the new blog

Of course, there are lots of lovely posts from my fellow members but I did not feel that I could share their posts, you need to click on the links to find out all about the exciting stitching going on by everyone.

I am so thrilled by how much everyone seems to be enjoying these new SAL blogs, it has been lots of fun, so far.

Remember, if you want to join any or all of the blogs, just comment on this post but please do give me your email and blog address or else you can email me at kayedep@gmail.com

Have a great weekend everyone, I intend to do so!

hugs,

GG and TUSAL post ... both late......

Well, I am running a bit late on my posting this month for both my TUSAL and my Gifted Gorgeousness but I am here now, so here goes.  First up is this month's ORTS, I must have been very thrifty this month as I did stitch a lot but do not seem to have many ORTs in my tins.

Home on the left, train on the right.

... and here is the year's worth, so far...

Now, before I go onto GG, I must show off my latest pics of my furbabies, firstly Furio amongst my books, photos and stitching .....

.... and then here is Milo, sleeping on a cushion he found under the table....

Now, I am stitching on some GG pieces but they will have to wait for another time, I did want to show you what my dear friend, June, sent me as a thank you for the Swapaway gifts I sent her earlier this year.

A gorgeous Christmas stitchery which looks fabulous here with all of my other stitched pieces.

 Plus some other sweet goodies including lots of cards with kitty cats.

Thank you so much, June, I love it all so very much.

... and my final pic, here is my Sunday Dog.... "Pooch" Isn't she gorgeous?

Well, another big day at work for me.

Enjoy your day or your evening, wherever you are, 

hugs, 

Welcome to Kitten Stitching and the Friday Frolics....

Well, I have been a busy bee and I have started my fifth new SAL blog, oh my goodness, I just have to stop now, I think - lol!

Anyway, without more ado, here is the inaugural post from my new SAL blog.....

Kitten Stitching and the Friday Frolics.....

Hello Fellow Friday Frolickers,

I hope that you have fun with this new SAL blog.  This is a laid back, easy peasy SAL - basically any Friday you like, you go to your stash and pick out a WIP or UFO at random to stitch on that evening (or over the weekend, if you please) and then post about it whenever you like.  If you are busy one Friday night, no harm, no foul - you just do not need to worry about it - we will always be here on another Friday night for you.

You can pair this up with anything else you are doing, such as  Friday Night Stitch In or Friday Night with Friends, if you like or not at all!  It is up to you!


Please feel free to add our blog badge to your blog, if you wish and please have lots of FUN!

So far, there are seven members (counting yours truly) but we would be very happy if more stitcher (or knitters or crocheters or quilters, you get the idea) would like to play.

Just follow this link here if you want to check out the blog and send me an email with your email address and blog address if you do decide to come frolic with us on a Friday.

hugs,  Kaye

Weekend roundup....

Okay, time for my weekend round up...

Let's start with Friday night which was Friday Night with Friends (FNwF)  virtual stitching night which is run by the wonderful Cheryll, you can check out her blog to see what everyone else got up to this month.

It is also my own personal Friday Frolics night (see this post here for an explanation or if you want to join in the fun), well, it was a bit of a bust - it started out well, when I picked up as my FF, "Strawberry House" by LHN.

This is what it looked like on Friday night:

Then I stitched quite a bit BUT then I realised that I had made a mistake halfway through, so then I frogged, stitched some more, made a different mistake, some more frogging and ended up here:

Luckily, I found some more time to work on SH on Sunday and so it is now sitting at this point:

So, some progress has been made, although somehow I have lost my Ladybug floss - oh no, does that mean another trip to my LNS?

Saturday, DD and I took TraderVic out for Father's Day (yes, I know, a day early) to Farm Vigano in South Morang.  We were so surprised by all of the traffic on a Saturday afternoon along Plenty Road - where was everyone going, we wondered.

We had a great lunch with a wonderful view.

(Neither DD nor TraderVic are keen to have their photo taken, so that is why there are no pics of them).

Saturday night, DD bought us tickets for the movies, so TraderVic and I went to see 

The Man from U.N.C.L.E

Oh, it was so much fun!  Loved the ladies' 60s dresses. 

Sunday was water aerobics, household chores, lots of baking and some more stitching.

Here are the kittens supervising me completing my household chores.

And here is all of the cooking I managed to squeeze into the day:  Salmon with soba noodle salad and wasabi "mayo", Lemon slice (took most of it into work and it is nearly all gone!) and rhubarb and apple crumble (one of TraderVic's favourite desserts).

I started a new Halloween piece, called "Moon and Spider, Apple Cider" by Needlework Press - it is stitching up quite fast so far!

... and I leave you with a photo of my 96 year old Dad on Father's Day - looking good, isn't he?

Well, that is all from me for now, don't forget if you want to join Friday Frolics, just comment on this post here or send me an email.

hugs, 

Friday Frolics ...

.... are you interested?

You may remember that the weekend before last I had a little SAL with myself which I called Friday Frolics.

Basically, The idea of Friday Frolics, is that on any given Friday, I will try to visit my vast empire of WIPs and choose one that has not had any love or attention for a while and stitch on it that evening and over the following weekend for a bit.  You can read more about it on this blog post.

The first weekend I picked up "K" by Nora Corbett and this past weekend I picked up "Strawberry House" by LHN (more about that on my next post - IHSW/FNwF).

Anyway, I had originally intended this to be a motivational SAL for myself BUT quite a few stitchers have shown interest in joining me SO I am going to start YET ANOTHER SAL blog for you to join if you wish.

So, without further ado, I introduce to you........

Please either leave a comment on this post or email me at kayedep@gmail.com with both your email and blog addresses to let me know if you wish to Friday Frolic with Kitten Stitching.

If a few people would like to join up, I will set up the blog during the week.

Have a great week, everyone, 

I am uber busy at work with preparing not one but two major proposals to senior management for new publishing projects - big job but someone has to do it! lol!

hugs, 

"B" is for Blue....

Today is my "B" post for The Alphabet Club. 

What is the Alphabet Club, I hear you ask?  Well, it is the brainchild of Chiara from The Grey Tail and Jo from Serendipitous Stitching and is loosely based on the premise of the movie "The Breakfast Club" - you can see the button for The Alphabet Club on my right sidebar.

On the first Saturday of each month, members of the club have "detention" and have to post about something that will enlighten others about their culture (as blogland is so diverse).  Of course, there should be something stitchy in there, if possible. Each month will be a different letter of the alphabet - hence the club's name - and, of course, we started with "A" and now we are up to "B"

So, "B" for me stands for Blue, like the Blue in my "B" from "A Stitcher's Alphabet" by Brookes Books.

Of course, we all know about feeling "blue" or having the "blues" when you are feeling down or sad or a bit depressed but here in Oz, the word Blue has some other connotations, as well.

Aussies will often talk about having a "Blue" with someone, this means a fight of some kind.  It could be a physical fight or a verbal one or just a bit of a falling out with another person.  It usually doesn't mean a drag down fistfight or a "I will never talk to them again fight".  Usually things are patched up.

Here are some other meanings of the word, Blue, from the Australian National University:

bluey

The word bluey in Australian English has a variety of meanings. The most common is the swag (i.e. the collection of possessions and daily necessaries carried by a person travelling, usually on foot, in the bush) so called because the outer covering of the swag was traditionally a blue blanket (which is also called a bluey). The earliest citation in The Australian National Dictionary for bluey as a swag is 1878 where the bluey ishumped as it was by the itinerant bush worker tramping the wallaby track in the works of writers such as Henry Lawson and Banjo Paterson.

This image (an Australian stereotype) is epitomised in The Australian National Dictionary's 1899 citation for bluey:

There's the everlasting swaggie with his bluey on his back who is striking out for sunset on the Never-never track. W.T. Goodge, Hits! Skits! and Jingles

The association of the swaggie and his bluey continues in the dictionary's most recent citation:

A swaggie suddenly appeared out of the bush, unshaven, with wild, haunted eyes, his bluey and billycan on his back. G. Cross, George and Widda-Woman (1981)

That bluey is later transferred to luggage in general, is perhaps not surprising in an urban society which romanticises its `bush' tradition:

Where's yer bluey? No luggage? J. Duffy, Outside Pub (1963)

In Tasmania, a bluey or Tasmanian bluey is:

a rough overcoat of blue-grey woollen, to be worn by those doing outdoor work during inclement weather. Canberra Times (19 Nov. 1982).

The word has been used to denote another item of clothing - denim working trousers or overalls - but the citation evidence indicates (the last citation being 1910) that this usage is no longer current.

More familiar is the use of bluey to describe a summons, especially for a traffic offence (originally printed on blue paper):

Imagine my shock upon returning to a bluey at the end of the day. Choice (2 April 1986)

Perhaps the most Australian use of bluey is the curious use of it to describe a red-headed person:

1936 A.B. Paterson, Shearer's Colt: `Bluey', as the crowd called him, had found another winner. (All red-haired men are called `Bluey' in Australia for some reason or other.)

1978 R.H. Conquest, Dusty Distances: I found out later that he was a native of New South Wales, called ' Bluey because of his red hair - typical Australian logic.

A more literal use of bluey in Australian English is its application to fauna whose names begin with blue and which is predominantly blue in colour:

1961 Bulletin 31 May:  We call them blue martins...Ornithologists refer to them as some species of wood swallow... They're all 'blueys' to us.

Source:   Australian National Dictionary Centre (part of the Australian National University) http://andc.anu.edu.au/


... and of course, who can forget that oh so Aussie cop show, "Bluey", starring Lucky Grills.

That is him on the right, back in the day (1976), Lucky or Leo Grills was actually originally a vaudeville actor and was the last touring vaudeville comedian in Australia.  He sadly passed away in 2007 (now I am feeling a bit blue myself, thinking about old Aussie TV shows - lol!)

Anyway, enough from me on the word "Blue", it is Sunday morning here in Oz and I have the following plans for the day:

1. Water aerobics at 9 am (Lucky Marie is in Christchurch on a mini holiday viewing the wonderful daffodils - so no walk with her this morning) Update: Done!
2. Post this "B" post for The Alphabet Club (Update: Done!) PLUS post my FNwF/Friday Frolics post AND a sign up post for my latest idea for a SAL blog "Friday Frolics" PLUS choose a winner of the Christmas Ornie SAL August prize AND post about it on the SAL blog
3. Household chores  - hmm! not much fun but stuff needs to be done
4. Bake some biscuits
5. Visit lots of blogs
6. Finish reading my book "V is for Vengeance" by Sue Grafton
7. Lots and lots of stitching 
8. Frog Strawbery House (see FNwF/Friday Frolics post when it is up for an explanation)
9. Cuddles with Furio and Milo and TraderVic, too, of course (we did our Father's Day stuff yesterday with DD - so I need to blog about that, too - aagghhh!)
10. Try out a new salmon with an Asian soba noodle salad recipe for our dinner
11. Try to get some rest, as well for a very busy week ahead!

What are you all up to?

Oops, nearly forgot, if you want to see what the other detainees have been up to, please visit The Grey Tail and click on the Blue Button.

Bye for now, have a wonderful weekend, 

hugs,