October Gifted Gorgeousness... and October Smalls SAL update....

Hello my dear bloggy, stitchy friends, this is going to be a rather full GG post as it was my birthday this month (58 - where does the time go?), so I have some lovely gifts I was given to show you,  plus I took part in a couple of fun exchanges. So hang onto your hearts for some Gifted Gorgeousness...

But first, in case you do not know what I am talking about ...

Gifted Gorgeousness (or GG) is a SAL run by the wonderful SAL Mama, Jo from Serendipitous Stitching.  Basically, on the 15th of each month, we post anything which is stitchy gift-related.

Let's start with this GG piece did not quite make it into last month's post. But here is my finished and framed Where Flowers Bloom, which I stitched for a dear friend's 60th birthday.

Where Flowers Bloom

Blackbird Designs

unknown linen (although gorgeous to stitch on)

Own choice of speciality floss

I stitched this year (2016) and her initials in the bottom right corner.  Happily, she was delighted with her gift.

Next up is this gorgeous fridge magnet, which my Dear Friend, brought back from Scotland for me - it is Mary, Queen of Scots.  This feeds right into my Tudor fetish! lol!

The same dear friend, also gave me this sweet little ornament Wedgwood Jasperware teapot - so it was added to my collection of china and crystal.

Let's see, what else?

DD's London blanket is coming along nicely - I am well underway with Colour five, only four to go.  Furio seems to approve.

Now, I am coming to my Tea Cup/Mug exchange, hosted by the wonderful Stephanie from the sweet blog, The Enchanting Rose and you can read all about the Tea Cup/Mug exchanges here.

My first "Receive" was the Mug exchange, with the wonderful Gina, who luckily lives not all that far from me, so we were able to meet up at a local cafe, coincidentally on my birthday - so it was very nice receiving all of these lovely gifts .....

Look at all of the wonderful goodies she gave me, you spoilt me terribly, dear Gina.

Thank you, dear Gina, I absolutely love everything, which you so thoughtfully chose for me.

Next up, I received the Tea Cup Exchange in the mail from Lyn.

More gorgeous gifts ....

                                         Take note of the Tea Cup....

Yes, the Tea Cup and the Mug are the exact same design - how cool is that?  Talk about serendipity.

 Thank you, sweet Lyn, more gorgeousness for me, aren't I lucky?

But, there was more to come, dear, sweet Jo, to whom I sent a tea cup, sent me a thank you gift!

So kind of you, Jo, I am so glad that you liked your Tea Cup gifts and I adore my new Cat door plaque. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Well, I am sorry to say that I forgot to take photos of what I sent to two other ladies (not Gina or Lyn, the exchange did not work like that) but if you visit Stephanie's blog, The Enchanting Rose, on November 2nd you will be able to see all of the exchanges.

Smalls SAL ....

Now, it has taken me so very long to write this post that it is now time for my October Smalls SAL post - oh boy!

Not much to show, only two Smalls finishes this month and one of them is a little largeish, but I am counting it anyway!

First up is Summertime Stitching by LHN.

Stitched on 28 count Mocha linen using the suggested CC floss.

In the spirt of transparency, I must tell you that I made a very big boo boo but I think that I overcame it okay.

If you look at the first picture and see where the little heart shape in red is on the ground, nearest to the house.  Well, the two blooms to either side are meant to be beside each other but I totally miscalculated, so I ended up with all of this blank space.  To rectify it, I added the extra heart-shaped bloom and two more bluebirds.  I must say, I am actually very happy with my slightly different finish.

What do you think?

The other is Share the Spirit by Eudora Designs, stitched on 28ct Willow linen using Victorian Motto Shoppe Christmas Red and Green floss.

Okay, I am finally going to post this NOW!

Remember, if you want to check out everyone else's GG posts, 

click HERE

and

if you want to check out everyone else's Smalls, 

click HERE

Hugs, 

P.S. Off to Kangaroo Island tomorrow for a week's holiday with TraderVic and some dear friends, so I may not be on blogger much, although I will post on Monday for the Halloween Blog Hop.

K

Christmas is coming, 2016 ... Part One

Just in case you didn't know... Christmas is coming ... about ten weeks away now.

So, trying to be organised, I have prepared all my dried fruit and have it soaking in rum overnight for my Christmas Puddings, which I will make tomorrow.

It is our turn to host both Christmas Dinner (lunch) for the extended family (my Dad, uncle and aunt, cousins plus my sisters and my niece and nephew) and a Christmas "Eve" dinner (we are having it early this year) with some family friends.  So, I thought that I had better take the opportunity of a quiet week this week to make my puddings.

This is a tried and true Australian Women's Weekly recipe, that I have been using since 1983 - that is 33 years now!  Wow! That does make me feel old.

Just for fun, after I peeled the one Granny Smith apple that I needed for the recipe, which I actually managed to get off in one long strip - woo hoo! - I threw it over my left shoulder to see what letter it would make, expecting just a squiggle.  I was thrilled to see this gorgeous curlicued V, when I turned around.

Isn't it pretty?

That's all from me for now, off to pick some more roses - lol!

hugs, 

P.S. Jamie from Cricket Bug Corner, just asked me if there is a tradition linked to throwing the peel over your left shoulder.  Yes, there is, it is supposed to show you the initial of the man you are going to marry  (too late for me, I have been married 34 years to the same man whose initial starts with J not V! lol!)

Apples and love

K xoxox

An early IHSW this month...

Our IHSW hostess with the mostest, Joysze from Random Ramblings, has decreed an early IHSW (and possibly extra) this month.

So, without more ado, here is the piece that worked on this weekend - I picked it up on Friday night as a WIP for Friday Frolics and kept working on it all weekend and finished it this morning.

Share the Spirit

Eudora Designs (possible a freebie - not sure)

28 ct Willow Linen

Floss: Victoria Motto Shoppe Christmas Green and Red

You can check out everyone else's IHSW updates here.

hugs, 

Every thing is coming up Roses...

... in my garden, that is.  Today, I picked these gorgeous Golden Fairytale blooms.  (The first pic I altered with Impresso).

... and last week I picked forty-three blooms from my garden (the bulk of them were from two crimson rose bushes).  There were so many that I could not fit them all in one basket as I was picking them.

It looks like it is going to be a very good year for the roses!

hugs, 

Saturday = Fabday

So, despite a rocky start to the day with maybe breaking the little toe on my right foot  yesterday (scroll down once you have clicked to find out what happened), Saturday ended up being a fabulous day.

This is so, for two reasons.....

Reason One - The Humble Dumpling

A group of friends and I attended a Chinese dumpling making class yesterday. Oh, it was so much fun!  Very hands on and then we were able to sit around a big table together and eat the fruits of our labours. Wonderful!

It was run by the wonderful Angie Chong, who is the daughter of renowned Chinese chef and cookbook author, Elizabeth Chong.

If you live in Melbourne, I can highly recommend this as a fun activity to do with your friends.

Reason Two - David Bowie: Nothing had Changed

(Please note: this clip is the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, we, of course, saw the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra at Hamer Hall rather than the Opera House)

It was a fabulous show, with brilliant singing and wonderful musicians playing.  Something else that I can highly recommend.

Anyway, off to hobble around the house doing some stuff.  Watch out for my Gifted Gorgeousness post, coming up soon.

Have a great Sunday, everyone, 

hugs, 

At last ...

Woo hoo!  Much better news on the Friday Frolicking front this week. I actually posted on time!  As per our very loose rules, I picked up a WIP at random from my Girl's Nest (not hard to do as I am trying to organise everything at the moment, so I keep stumbling over WIPs and UFOs - I have given up counting them - lol!)

Anyway, this week I picked up a Eudora Design Christmas piece....

Share the Spirit 

28 ct green linen (it is actually a much prettier green than the camera shows)

Floss: Victoria Motto Shoppe Christmas Green and Christmas Red

For FF, I stitched the "C" on Christmas, the word "the" and half the holly border at the bottom.  So, I still need to stitch the words "Share" and "Spirit" and a holly border and a half.  I also reversed the colours, as the writing was meant to be green and the border to be a red ribbon with green berries(?????) - I think that my way is much better.

I had hoped to maybe finish it this weekend, however, today (Saturday) is going to be a busy day as I doing a dumpling making class with some girlfriends during the day and then going to a David Bowie tribute concert at Hamer Hall with some other friends tonight, plus I really want to get some more blog posting and reading done this morning.  But maybe tomorrow?

... and to finish on a less happy note, sorry! I think that I have just broken the little toe on my right foot.  All I was doing was stumbling out of my bedroom, half asleep, to go feed the cats and let them outside, when I misjudged the doorway and hit my little toe on the doorjamb - ouch!  It is hurting a lot and I am hobbling around - looks like I might be going out today/tonight with one ugg slipper on, oh such sartorial splendour - lol!

Anyway, enough rambling, 

hugs, 

Last Friday Night with Friends and Friday Frolicking....

.... was a bit of a bust!  That was the day I was travelling back to Melbourne from Roma in the afternoon and I had had big plans for getting lots of stitching done on the two flights.  However, the best laid plans of mice and men.... I was actually feeling so, so unwell (a combination of an allergy attack and exhaustion, I think) that I only managed twenty minutes stitching on Jenny Bean before giving into the urge to sleep on the plane.

In fact, I was so unwell, that as I was disembarking from the plane, the QANTAS pilot kindly asked me if I was all right, boy, I must have looked crook - lol!

Anyway, here is my little bit of progress on Jenny Bean for Friday Frolics.... and FNwF.

I hope to be a bit more productive today for Friday Frolics....

hugs, Kaye

P.S. I was so exhausted that I could barely get out of bed on Saturday, although I did manage to get more stitching done - lol!

hugs, Kaye

September Pie, anyone?

Hi everyone, 

Here are my stitching/crafting pies for September.....

Okay, what is a Stitching Pie, I hear you ask?  

Well, I am "stealing" yet another great idea from my dear Stitchy and Bloggy friend, Jo, from Serendipitous Stitching. Each month she includes a pie graph of which projects she has been stitching on - showing how much time, proportionally, has been spent on each one in that month.  

I really like this idea, so I am copying it, thank you Jo, I hope that you don't mind, so here we go for September .....

Here is the breakdown of minutes over the month for each project:

If you click here, you can see the list of projects I worked on last month, to compare.

 This chart shows you the breakdown in %.  Interestingly enough, because I only spent 20 mins stitching on Twas the night in September it shows up as 0%!

Only one of the projects listed above is a knitting project this month - the London Blanket for DD.  And in comparison to last month (five finished pieces) there are only four (I must be slipping - lol!): Xmas Tea, Bad Fairy Halloween, Where Flowers Bloom and Wee Santa. If you click on each one (except Where Flowers Bloom), you can see them in their finished glory, as it were.

For interest's sake, I added up all of my craft minutes for the month of September - and I am happy to say that I managed to increase my crafting time to 12% as opposed to 9% last month.  I think the difference has been that I worked less in September, although to counteract that I have been very busy with our Taiwanese visitors. The red is all the other things in life that I do - sleeping, working, cooking, reading, shopping, exercising, socialising, travelling etc.

September...

August....

Okay, that is all from me for now.  Have a good day, everyone, 

hugs,