Road Trip to Roma....

... Well, TraderVic and I are now up here in Outback Queensland in Roma, visiting DS1 and our DDIL.  It is quite a long trip from down south, Melbourne, Victoria.  Would you like to come on it with me?


Yesterday, we were up at 5 am to leave for the airport at 6 for a 7.30 flight from Tullamarine. Well, what a saga - first of all, we left ten minutes late and then seemed to get a lot of red lights along the way! Which slowed us down, of course, then we had a lot of trouble with the automated baggage check in, with little or no help from the so-called Help staff standing around - so annoying.

Then, of course, we were boarding at Gate 52!  52????? Final call!!!!!!! Heaven help me - DS1 and TraderVic took off at a great rate, leaving me huffing and puffing behind. DS1 got there first, with the flight attendant telling him, don't worry, we won't let you fly without your Mum and Dad - lol! Then TraderVic got there, with me bringing up the rear - feeling so embarrassed to be THAT person - the last one on the plane!!!!!!!

Anyway, finally all settled for the two hour flight to Brisbane and yay!  Stitching time!  I have packed heaps of stitching, as we are here for a week, DS1 will be at work (teaching all week) and there is very little to see or do in Roma, except teach my DDIL to cross stitch and work on lots of projects, myself.

So, I started with my Hallowe'en Ornie SAL piece for this month's theme, Witches' accessories.

It is Hallowe'en Cat by JBW designs

JCS Halloween Ornie Mag 2015

By the end of the flight I was here:

After we picked up our car from the hire place, we were starving (by this time it was 11.30 am and we had been up since 5 without food or drink!).  So, we checked out a nearby cafe for brunch.  We lucked upon a very cool place- Dandelion and Driftwood  (do check out the link, the website is very sweet).

Boy, did I need this delicious latte!

... and we all had the same delicious breakfast... "Twin Rivers of Gold" (essentially Eggs Benedict).

Even the bathroom was sweet!

Then it was on the road for us - six or seven hours of driving westward to Roma, at the start of the Australian outback.

Of course, we had to make a few stops - to stretch our legs, grab a coffee and a toilet break.  First stop  was at Maidenwell.  Where I made friends with this sweet kitty cat.

About two or three hours into the trip, I finished my little Halloween Cat.

... and so, of course, I started my Christmas Ornie SAL piece, this month is free choice.  This is a small Prairie Schooler Ornament from Book #150 December

Our second and last stop on the way was a Nut stop in Chinchilla.

Then, we hit the Warrego Highway or as TraderVic and DS1 called it, Mad Max highway.  Apparently, George Miller filmed part of one of his Mad Max movies along this stretch of road.

 The view from the car as the sun sets.

and then, finally after 13 hours of travelling - we arrived in Roma (sorry, very blurry photo but I was pretty tired by then).

... and once there we were welcomed by another furry friend, Nobu.

and this is how far I stitched on my PS piece whilst on the road.

Okay, that is all for me for now.

hugs, 

P.S. Updated:  I meant to put this Mad Max clip into the post, as well!

IHSW March report and Friday Frolics .....

Hi lovely bloggers,

Time for my March IHSW report and last Friday's frolicking ...

Now, if  you want to know more about what the above means?

IHSW is International Hermit & Stitch Weekend and is hosted by the lovely Joyce - you can read all about it here and link up here.  This is a weekend where stitchers from all around the world try to stitch like mad, all together so to speak.  Joyce had been on hiatus for a few months, but the intrepid Jo and I tracked her down and we are all systems go again!

Friday Frolicking refers to one of my other blogs called Kitten Stitching and the Friday Frolics, this is a free and easy Friday SAL blog (which often hooks up with a couple of other Friday night acronyms - FNSI and FNwF - lol!) where each Friday you pick up a UFO or WIP at random and stitch on that for the evening.

So this past Friday, I picked up a mini rotation of three smalls I am doing for various SALs, Blog hops, etc.

Before pic on Friday night:

After pic on Saturday morning:

The Hallowe'en piece is for the Hallowe'en Ornie SAL theme of pumpkins - it is a freebie from one of the designers on the Pumpkin Seed Stitchers FB group - Northern Expressions.

The sheep is another freebie, "Easter is coming", from the Le Comtesse & Le Point de Croix, which you can find here.

The snowman is Snow Mates by Blue Ribbon Designs from the JCS Christmas Ornie Magazine 2015.  This is being stitched for the JCS Stitch along FB group.

So, over the rest of the weekend I continued on with "Easter is coming" and I finished it yesterday afternoon (Monday arvo).

It is a very sweet design, which I hope to finish into a small pillow this afternoon or tomorrow - ready for my Easter display.

This is #8/31 pieces to be stitched in honour of Debbie for DUCJFC2016.

Anyway, the gym is calling and then some gardening after that, I think.

hugs, 

Small SAL 2016 - January Check in...

Time for the first Smalls SAL check in for the year.  What is the Smalls SAL?  It is quite simple, really - it is run by Heather of Silver Lotus (the SAL mama). Here are the main details:

1. Stitch a small every month. You get to decide what a small is for you. 50×50 stitches? 100×100 stitches? It’s up to you. You just need to be able to get it done by the check-in day. (WIP smalls that you complete in time for the check-in are great too!) You pick your design, I do not provide designs.
2. Post a picture of your completed small (stitching done, but the actual finishing is optional) on the last Thursday of every month, with the exception of November, which will be the last Wednesday.

First up  for my first Smalls SAL check in for 2016 is my spooky hello to you all, my January Winged Creature for the Hallowe'en Ornie SAL (which also doubled up for my Prairie Schooler SAL), and it is a Finished Finish - double yay!- so it fits into the new SAL I have joined OPAM (one project a month - triple yay! This is a SAL run by the lovely Kris and Peg) Also, it is not only my first finish for the year but also my first start and finish for Debbie's Ultimate Crazy Challenge - only 30 Starts and finishes to go! (So, am I up to quadruple yay, now?)

Thank you to my dear friend, Brigitte (gorgeous stitcher and fab blog, check it out) for the great idea of having 31 starts and finishes for the Challenge (to represent 31 starts in January).  Every year, I have tried to have 31 new starts (and one year 60) in a row over January with my dear friend, Linda, (another gorgeous blog for you to visit)  and each year I have failed (I would start really well and then go back to work - lol!). But last year, I saw on Brigitte's blog that she had committed to having 31 starts and finishes over the year, to honour Debbie and the challenge, so I have "borrowed" the idea from her, I hope that you don't mind, my dear Brigitte.

If you would like to know more about this challenge, check out the FB group.

Anyway, here is my first Smalls SAL/Hallowe'en Ornie SAL/Prairie Schooler SAL/DUCJFC2016 finish for the year, I made it up into a simple soft ornie.

I was lucky enough to find the perfect backing fabbie in my stash.

A close up of the stitching.

Design: Part of "All Hallow's Eve" by Prairie Schooler (Book *180)

28 ct linen "Rain"

Floss: DMC 310

A very quick, enjoyable stitch.

Next up is a piece I picked up for Friday Frolics and it is also a Gifted Gorgeousness SAL piece (if you want to check out all these different SALs either click on the links or there are buttons for each on the right hand side bar)

Proverbi 3 by Paola Gattiblu

28ct Flax Linen

My selection of speciality floss

(The two blues are WDW Blue Jean and GAST Cornflower)

Well, I worked on this piece for the rest of the weekend and into the week and now I have a finish!  Yay, yay and yay!

I am so thrilled with this piece.  The kitty cat is meant to be black but, of course, I had to stitch Furio!  There is a companion piece, onto which I will stitch Milo, naturally.

Anyway, if you want to see everyone else's Small's projects, please click on this link.

Thanks for visiting, 

hugs,