Help please....

You may all remember that a few posts ago I announced that Debra Butler had won my Liberty Lane pattern?

Well, Debra is a no reply commenter and even though I tracked her to Google + (which I hate, by the way - just confuses me!) and became a follower she does not seem to have a blog and she has not emailed me since I announced that she won (obviously she missed the post).

I am hoping that someone knows Debra and could let her know to get in touch with me as soon as possible. Otherwise, I will have to redraw the giveaway for the pattern.

If you need some further context, the two relevant posts are here and here.

.... on a stitchy note, last night was Tudor Tuesday SAL night, so for some strange reason I decided to pick up a BAP and stitch HAED's Ophelia (one of several HAED Ophelia's I own).

Now, I have drawn a long bow here with stitching her for the Tudor Tuesday SAL - this is my reasoning:

Ophelia is a Shakespearean character (from Hamlet), Shakespeare was an Elizabethan playwright, Elizabeth I was a TUDOR monarch!

Works for me!  lol!

Now, the first pic is what I stitched when I started this piece on 13 JANUARY, 2011!!!!!!

This next pic is last night's progress: (sorry for some reason it is rotated 90 degrees to the left)

So, wish me luck with this - if I only stitch on it once every 3 and a half years, I wonder how long will it take to finish it?  lol!


I have a big presentation at work this afternoon to Senior Management - so wish me luck!

hugs,

IHSW update...... and a Happy Dance

For IHSW I worked on a few different stitchery projects:

1. Some Christmas projects 

     2. A new start - aaaaghhh! I must be mad! -  Another HAED start:"All the world's a stage"

     3. Day 1 of Santa's 12 Days of Christmas (my SAL with Linda and Debbie) - FINISHED! and

     4. Day 2 of Santa's 12 Days of Christmas  - progress made!

Here are some pics:

I hope that everyone has had a productive IHSW, too.

Don 't forget to check out my 11 Days of Kaisievic's Birthday, Giveaway on my previous posts.  closes on Friday.

I would also like to thank everyone who has joined in the fun so far.  I wish you luck and I apologise if I have not had a chance yet to answer your comments/emails.

hugs,


P.S. Don't forget to check out the other great Giveaways listed on the sidebar of my blog - you never know, you may be extra lucky!

A mini stitching update....

Hello lovely bloggers,

Just a quick post (to make sure that I keep up with NaBloPoMo) as I am still feeling unwell - my sore throat and cough are back with a vengeance!

Here is an update on my Margaret Sherry Christmas ornie freebie:

Not much progress, I know but I had done a lot of the light blue background but had to frog it because I had used two strands instead of one!  Silly, silly me!

... and here is my progress on Holbein's Henry:

6 for 6 posts for NaBloPoMo! 

... and don't forget my Giveaway - check it out here. 

Hugs, Kaye xoxox

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

Lots to report and a Happy Dance (Take 2)

Hello lovely bloggers,

Well, I have lots to report this post.

My Happy Dance (Take 2) is because I picked up Baboushka from the framers the other day.  Here she is, I am really pleased with her (please ignore the shadow on the right hand side.  I have decided to give her to my Dear Sister for Christmas.  The green matt is sueded - it looks really great in the flesh, so to speak.

I also have a couple of progress pics:

Some progress on Isabella's Garden

September TUSAL - the purple on the top is from Isabella's garden

 A new start:  Mirabilia's Christmas Courier by Nora Corbett,  now I did not buy the pattern all chewed up like this - that was my naughty cats - Milo and Furio.  I cam home from work one day and found the outer envelope and one page of the chart (luckily it was a photocopy) all shredded up!

And here are the two of them - looking like butter wouldn't melt in their mouths!

First progress on Christmas Couriers - the greens look really vibrant in real life.

 Lastly, I wanted to show off my new doona cover set - pretty isn't it?

Well, that's all for me now - off to do some stitching.

Bye for now,

Love, Kaye xoxox

P.S. I also meant to tell you about the storm that we had in Melbourne yesterday - a month's rain in one day!  The most rain in September since 1955.  All of the planes were grounded because of the thunder, lightning, rain and hail.  It is now really cold - only 9 degrees celsius - Brrrrr!!!!

K

Well, I couldn't resist!

Hi everyone,

I have to admit it, I am weak, weak, weak!  I could not resist the HAED sale and I have bought THREE more designs (that is now a total of SEVEN that I have acquired in the space of ONE month.  What did I tell you - weak-willed - that is me!

Well, enough of self-flagellation - they are so gorgeous and I am really happy with them.  Here they are below, I hope that you like them, too.

Jane and the Prisoner of the Woolhouse

This is the cover of a novel in a series of books with Jane Austen as an amateur detective.

La Belle Dame sans merci

This is one of my favourite poems by my favourite poet, Keats.

Wildwood Dancing

This is the cover of another novel, Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier, which is the story of the 12 dancing princesses, so I suppose it is a companion piece to my 12 Dancing Princesses HAED.

Off to drool over my new designs and do some more stitching on my Baboushka.

Bye for now, Kaye xoxox

P.S. Don't forget about my Giveaway. Click here to get to my Giveaway post

Beautiful day in Eaglemont

Hi everyone,

Well, it is a gorgeous winter's day in Eaglemont - 18 degrees, sunny with blue skies.  Here are a couple of pics of my winter garden:

As well as another Kitten pic:

Furio (and Milo) checking out my winter garden

Here is my HAED update- Holbein's Henry.  This is  how far I have got - only on page one but I am quite pleased with my progress.

I have also done some more baking - Cherry Blondies:

They turned out really well, as you can see that I had barely got them out of the oven before DD was cutting into them and having a piece.  She pronounced them delicious!

Well, that is all for today, bye for now,

Kaye xoxox

Finally time for a new post!

Hi everyone,

I am so sorry, my last post (over a week ago) blithely stated that I would put some more kitten photos on my blog tomorrow!  Oh well, I did mean it at the time but work and life somehow got in the way.  Anyway,  a lot has happened this week.

Last post I told you about my discovery of Heaven and Earth Designs - well, I bought two designs on the Wednesday of last week:

Henry VIII by Hans Holbein

I chose Holbein's Henry VIII because I am a real Tudor buff and this is such an iconic painting of Henry Tudor.  It is a real contrast to my other Henry cross stitch project Henry VIII and his six wives.  If you wish to see a completed Henry VIII and his six wives cross stitch, check out my friend Ginnie's completed project at http://ginniescrossstitch.blogspot.com  She has done a wonderful job, beautiful stitchng.

12 Dancing Princesses

I chose this design because I have always loved the story of the 12 dancing princesses and it also reminded me of Juliet Marillier's wonderful novel "Wildwood dancing".  Check it out at www.julietmarillier.com/books/wildwooddancing

Then the next day HAED had a SALE!  Oh no, that meant that I had to buy two more designs - both Christmas ones.  Here they are below:

A Long Winter's Nap

Bearing Gifts

Aren't they both gorgeous?  But that is going to have to be enough HAED designs for me for a while!

My baking mojo has still been going strong - last weekend I finally made a perfect lasagne!  Now, to explain, I have been married to an Italian for over 29 years.  In that time I have tried to make lasagne without success, most of my efforts have been met with derision along the lines of "Why on earth would an Anglo be making lasagne?  Stick to Aussie foods!"  But last Sunday I finally got it right! I am so happy!

Now, for a couple of Furio photos:

Furio "helping" me write my blog!

Furio helping me work!

And lastly, a reading update:  This week I have finished "Destiny Kills" by Keri Arthur - it was okay, nowhere near as good as her Riley Jenson series.  I also finished "The Pericles Commission" by Gary Corby, another Aussie author.  This novel was set in Ancient Greece, during the time of the birth of democracy.  Quite a good read.

Well, Furio has come for a cuddle, so bye for now, Kaye xoxox

P.S. I am travelling interstate for work again next week - a road trip to the Sunshine Coast, Brisbane and then the Gold Coast to promote my History book - so I probably won't have time cross stitch or blog from Monday to Friday next week.

More Baking and HAED

Hi everyone,

First of all I wanted to share with you my latest baking effort.  On the weekend, we had some dear friends over for dinner and I baked this Apple-Raspberry Pie, I was particularly pleased with the lattice on the top.

The other item I wanted to share was Heaven and Earth Designs (HAED) which I have just discovered by reading some other cross-stitcher blogs - their designs are just amazing!  If you haven't heard of them, check them out at http://heavenandearthdesigns.com

I will post some more WIP and Kitten pics tomorrow.

Bye for now, Kaye xoxox