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!

Small SAL - February Check in ....

Time for the second 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  this month is Deck the Halls by Prairie Schooler which is  my January Music piece for the Christmas Ornie SAL, which also doubled up for my Prairie Schooler SAL and is also a DUCJFC 2016 piece - #3/31 finishes for 2016 for the challenge to honour Debbie's memory.

                                   

                                         

                                         

Deck the Halls by Prairie Schooler, Book #81

32 ct Willow Linen, DMC threads.

My second Smalls for the month was this little piece which I picked up as a UFO from last year's DUCJFC challenge and finished on the day I found out I had been made redundant - it was so soothing to stitch out my shock and upset - you can read about all of that here, if you wish.

"Ho, ho, ho" by Pineberry Lane

Next, is my heart which I stitched for the Secret Sweetheart Bloghop hosted by Jo from Serendipitous Stitching.

This is also finish #4/31 for DUCJFC2016.

Sweet Heart 

Joyeux Noel booklet

Blackbird Designs

28 ct Cocoa linen

Various specialty threads from my stash

... and next up here is my February Snow Finish also for the Christmas Ornie SAL and is my finish #5/31 for DUCJFC2016.\

Fa La La

Freebie from Plum Pudding Needleart 

(unfortunately the link no longer seems to work)

Unknown linen

Own choice of DMC and Valdani floss.

... and lastly, I was really struggling this month to choose a design for the Hallowe'en Ornie SAL, but then I saw the very "sweet" Pumpkin Man stitched by my dear friend, Noni, for this SAL and I was hooked.

So, may I introduce you to a second Pumpkin Man?

Pumpkin Man

Prairie Schooler

JCS Halloween Ornie Mag 2015

28 ct linen

Assorted DMC and specialty threads

I am quite taken with him, thanks again, Noni, for the inspiration.

This, is finish #6/31 for DUCJFC2016 (so, I am hoping that I am on track to finish 31 pieces this year in honour of Debbie).

hugs, Kaye

P.S. Of course, as this is a PS design - it counts as a finish for the Prairie Schooler SAL as well - yay!

So, that is it for me for another month of Smalls.

Please check out what everyone else is doing by visiting here.

hugs, 

Friday Night with Friends....

.... only a small amount of stitching to show for this FnwF.  I was very tired, as I have not been sleeping well and DD was over for the evening to watch the footy with her Dad, so I found it a bit hard to get into it all, really.

However, I did manage to get a few stitches into my new start for September's Hallowe'en Ornament SAL.

Bump in the Night

Tempting Tangle Designs

from JCS Halloween Ornie Mag 2015 (p. 51)

32 ct overdyed evenweave

Mixture of CC and DMC floss

I have also been busy setting up my new SAL blogs

If you want to know anything more about any of these SAL blogs, the links are below:

Christmas Ornie SAL

Prairie Schooler SAL

Americana SAL

Tudor Tuesdays SAL 

Can I please ask, that if you do wish to join that you send me an email with the email address you wish to use to join the SAL and with your blog address, too, please.

Also, it is taking me a bit of time to get everything organised and to set everyone up on the various SALs, so please be patient if you have already requested to join one or two or all of them! I will get there eventually (however, if in a week's time you have not been joined up, please do not hesitate to email me again!)

Have a good week, everyone, 

lots of love,  

Just settling down to watch Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, while I set up the Tudor Tuesdays SAL blog.  Such fun!

                                       

Smalls SAL/Hallowe'en Ornie SAL update...

Well, here is my Smalls SAL update - a couple of days late, I am afraid!  As is often the case, my Smalls this month are related to my Hallowe'en stitching.  I am just scraping in for my July Hallowe'en ornie for the Haunted House theme but I am a day early for my August Hallowe'en ornie for the theme Black Cats, although my cats are not quite black but there is a ghost cat! lol!

July: Haunted House from the Side Panel of  "Halloween Days sewing basket" by Simona Bussiglieri of Mani Di Donna on page 89 from JCS Halloween Ornament Magazine 2015.

August: Halloween Cats - freebie from Kreinik, which you can find here.

I am very pleased with my finishing on both of these cushions.  I think that maybe I am finally getting the hang of creating a nice finish.

TraderVic keeps asking me why there is so much stuff in my sewing room but, of course it is full of my stash so that I can always put my hand on the perfect fabbie or ribbons or buttons or beads for finishing.  For my haunted house I found some gorgeous reproduction fabric in different shades of lilac and the perfect ribbon - do you like the pretty little purple bow underneath the haunted house?

Furio approves....

I love the ghost kitty and do you see how Furio has snuck onto the top of the right column and Milo has crept underneath the ghost cat?

I finished it with little black cats on a ribbon.

And the bottom and backing fabric is black kitties on black!

For both of these designs I used overdyed 28 count fabric from my stash, plus various DMC and specialty threads which I chose myself.

Click on the wee ghostie below to check out what other people stitched for this month's Hallowe'en SAL.

... and you can check out everyone else's Smalls SAL update, here.

New SALs update:

I am so thrilled, I have had a wonderful response to my Christmas Ornie SAL blog, which you can check out here.
Also, I have had some good interest in my other two new SAL blog ideas: Americana and Prairie Schooler, which you can read about here if you are interested in joining.

Plus, watch this space for a new idea coming from me and my SSF, Kim from Wisdom with Needle and Thread.

hugs,