Obsession!

Okay, now you may (or may not - lol!) have noticed that I have not posted for other two weeks now! I have missed posting for IHSW, Gifted Gorgeousness and Friday Frolics - oh no!  I have not started either a Hallowe'en or Christmas Ornie (oops, just realised that my Christmas July ornie is stitched - phew!) for those two SALs and Tudor Tuesdays, Americana and Prairie Schooler have all been neglected!!!!!!!!!

What on earth is going on?  Well, the reason for my absence is two-fold.

The first reason is boring as anything - I have so much freelance publishing work happening that I am "chained" to my laptop working on it and once I am done for the day I do not feel like blogging - boring, I know.

The second reason is the Obsession of the title of this post.  Many of my days (not all, I have been out and about doing a few other things, too - but they get in the way of blogging, as well - lol!) since getting back from Roma have been a bit like this:

5 am - get up and start work, work through to about lunchtime

Lunchtime - catch up with a friend (stitchy or otherwise) for lunch

Afternoon - stitch on my Obsession

Late afternoon - a bit more publishing work/cook dinner

Evenings - Obsession time again


So, what is this Obsession?, I hear you ask.

Well, a number of weeks back, I happened to pick up this Mill Hill Kit from my LNS, Lazy Daisy.

For some reason, it really 'spoke' to me, so despite having lots of other WIPs on the go and a number of stitching commitments, I began it and I tell you, I have not been able to put it down since!  

I am using a gorgeous 25ct Wedgwood Lugana (sorry, for some reason it is looking a bit washed out in the pics)  that I happened to have in my stash - it is a dream to stitch on - and now I am up to the beading.  Oh, how I wish that my camera could catch the gleam and sparkle of the beads properly - it is looking so pretty already.

So, that is my confession about my Obsession.

I hope to have a finish by early next week - then Normal Transmission (ie blog posts) will resume, I hope.

Have a great weekend everyone,

I am off to take my Dear Sister 2 to the dentist to have two teeth extracted (one of them an impacted molar - ouch!) shortly but you all know what I would rather be doing! lol!

Love to you all, 

hugs, 

Travelling to Toowoomba....

Well, it was with great sadness that TraderVic and I said goodbye to DS1 and DDIL.  But all good things must come to an end and we have had to hit the road again to travel back to Brisbane to catch our flight home.  This time, we are breaking up the trip with an overnight stay in Toowoomba - Australia's 16th largest city.

Now, I must apologise on two counts.  One, there are no photos of DS1 but this is because he was teaching all week and so we spent most of our time with our DDIL.  Two, no kitty cat photos on this post - so sorry!

My DDIL has taken to knitting with a passion, so much so that after only two nights after I taught her to knit she was trying to teach the daughter of one of her friends - lol!

But don't worry, we did manage to sneak in another cross stitch lesson and I have introduced her to the wonders of Flosstube for when she needs to look up how to do something - phew!

So, this morning, it was a last coffee in a cute, Melbourne-style cafe in Roma, The Queen's Beans.

Then it was time to hit the road, Jack, back along the Mad Max Highway to Toowoomba.

(We stopped for lunch in Chinchilla and the roadhouse had this cute heater)

Below is what we call a mountain in Australia - lol!

... and here is my stitchy progress on today's road trip.

Okay, off to find a local pub for dinner.

See you later, hugs, 

More Roma living.....

Yesterday, we did some more roaming around Roma - there are some lovely old buildings.

Then, I couldn't resist, I just had to go visit the Ace Drapery again... oh my goodness, the treasures of quilting fabric inside plus nearly every other crafty thing that you could possibly need.

I really loved these two fabbies but I did resist temptation - not sure how, but I did!

Then it was off to dinner at the Irish pub in town, where I had the most succulent lamb shanks.

After dinner, I gave my DDIL her first cross stitch lesson.

She started to pick it up but not as quickly as the knitting!  However, after a while, we all decided to watch a movie on Netflix - Chef - a sweet, easy watch. 

 So, she switched back to her knitting and is now a third of the way through the scarf!  I think that, for the moment, she is liking knitting more than cross stitch but that may change with some more cross stitch practice.

Today, I accompanied my DDIL to one of her  piano student's homes (on a farm, with chickens, ducks and peacocks).

Where, of course, I found the most adorable cats yet, on my trip - three rag doll cats.  Oh, so beautiful!

... and one of them was a Mama Cat, she had four absolutely gorgeous kittens a few week's back.

 On the stitching front, I have Finish #2 for my Road Trip stitching.  Not overly thrilled with how it has turned out - not the design's fault but mine!  I made an error somewhere near the start, didn't pick it up until it was way too late, so had to ditch the idea of a border and create this snow "hill" instead - now it is a bit of an odd shape - may have to make it a bell-shaped ornie, I think, when I Finish Finish it.

Then, it was on to Start #3.  This is another PS design, The train from PS Book #69, Prairie Village I.  This will be a baby gift for the upcoming family friend's son's baby for whom I made the baby blanket and softies - you can read about them in this post.

 I am hopeful of having this piece near completion by the time we get home late Friday afternoon, as it involves fairly large blocks of single colours.

Anyway, that's me signing off from Roma in Outback Queensland.

hugs, 

Mineral Spa in Mitchell....

Today, TraderVic, DDIL and I headed further up the Warrego Highway to the mineral spa at Mitchell, about 50 mins drive away.

But first we had to check out the town a bit, see where DDIL works at a cafe (one of her three jobs) and try some of her delicious Raspberry and Coconut Bread with Vanilla Butter.

Then it was off to Target Country to buy some bathers to wear at the hot springs and I snapped a few pics as we ran our errands.

This is a brand new pub being opened in Roma next week, the Royal (I think that the original hotel burnt down early last year).  It is a very modern building but with a nod to 19th century architecture.

Then, I found the WWI memorial avenue - not Oak or Elm trees as down in Victoria but Bottle trees.  After WWI, the losses of young men at Gallipoli and the Western Front were so great, that no community across Australia was untouched.  Most, if not all towns have some sort of war memorial and/or Avenue of Honour.

This old church was dated 1872 ...

So, errands run, bathers bought and photos taken, it was off to take the waters at Mitchell.

Of course, I sat in the back and stitched and watched the scenery.  This is where I was up to at the start of the trip.

When we reached Mitchell....

... and my progress on the trip back to Roma.

The scenery along the road - not a lot to see, really.

Of course, as soon as we reached the Spa, I found a furry friend....

The lovely, relaxing spa pool....

Look, another furry friend of a different variety.  His master was having a swim inside - he wanted to join in so badly!

Some details about where the spring water originates from.

After our hot spring spa, we went to the Mitchell Bakery for a delicious lunch and I took some more pics of some quintessential Aussie sights....

On the road back to Roma....

In the late afternoon, I accompanied DDIL to her second "job", playing piano for the local ballet school.  In lieu of pay, she takes ballet classes, I did take some videos of her dancing but, unfortunately, Blogger does not seem to want to upload them!  However, I can tell you that she did very well, considering she has only been learning for five weeks!

Altogether, we were at the ballet school for about three hours, what with the dancing lesson and then she was accompanying the Major ballet exam practice class.  Oh boy, was it interesting - there was drama galore to be had - beautiful dancing, prima donnas, tears, a showdown between an angry mother and the ballet teacher - it was like being in a ballet movie!  

Then it was home for a delicious dinner of Moroccan lamb with couscous, cooked by DS1 and then I taught DDIL to knit.  (There is a most marvellous drapery shop here, where we bought the wool - I am going back tomorrow to have a browse, I think).  She is such a clever girl, she picked it up in no time and is well on her way to completing her first ever scarf!

So, that was Day 2 in Roma.  I hope that you enjoyed it.  Stay tuned for more outback life tomorrow.

hugs,