Showing posts with label Reading Challenge 2021. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reading Challenge 2021. Show all posts

Monday, 8 March 2021

Hang on to your hats, it is gonna be a LONG post - lol!

 

I must apologise for my two week absence from my blog but TraderVic and I have been on a little jaunt to Sydney in ANOTHER STATE! Yep, we were finally able to leave Vicghanistan (as TraderVic likes to call Victoria due to the rather Draconian measures taken by our Premier to combat Covid-19).  It was rather nice to be somewhere else for a change and, of course DS2 and his lovely GF live in Sydney and our very dear friends are up there for six months, so we stayed with them. However, I think that I will leave that for another post as I suspect that this one is going to be long enough as it is!

So long, in fact, that I thought that I would give you a little "Table of Contents", so that you can scroll down to the bits that interest you, although I hope that you will kind enough to read all of my news - stitchy or otherwise.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Announcement of WINNERS  of my 1000th Post Giveaway
2. Small SAL_February Update (although I missed the Linky List on Mary's Thread - Boo Hoo!)
3. March_Let the People Choose...
4. FNwFfor March
5. 2021 February (and now into March) Reading Challenge update

Here we go....

1.  I am very pleased to announce that the winner of Counting Bats by Just Nan is 

JHM


JHM, I will email you shortly.

... and the winner of both of the Ink Circles designs ('cos she was the only one interested in them) is 

Serendipitous Jo

Troubled Water by Ink Circles


Water Hazard by Ink Circles


Jo, I will email you shortly re your win.

Congratulations to both my winners, these will be winging their way to you both soon.  

And for everyone else, keep in touch, as I am sure that I will have another giveaway very soon.

2. Smalls SAL_February Update

Please click on the Smalls SAL logo below if you would like to see what everyone else stitched this month (Unfortunately I missed the link up this month due to our Sydney trip but it is so lovely to see everyone else's Smalls.)


As to what Smalls I stitched in February, many of you may have seen them before on earlier Feb 2021 posts but here goes anyway....

#1 Baby Alphabet, which I stitched for Jo from Serendiptious Stitching's Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop

Baby Alphabet by Sheepish Design
28ct Mocha Linen
Floss: Threadworx 1087


#2. The Stitching Bee by LHN





The Stitching Bee, was a kit (except the backing fabric and the button, 'cos I couldn't find the button that came with the kit but once I had FFOed it, there was the button after all but "Too Late", she cried!) which came as part of my A Little help from my friends subscription from The Silver Needle

3. Let the People Choose... This is another SAL run by Serendipitious Jo, again click on the logo below to see what everyone else posted as Spring designs this month.

My Spring contribution is as follows....


A Spot of Spring by the Drawn Thread, which was a recent FFO piece.

Then I had a bit of a ferret through my pile of finished (but not fully finished) stitched pieces and found the following (yes, some of them did appear for last month's "Let the People Choose" theme of Birds) which 'spoke' to me as being Springlike - either in subject or colour palette.
 
Prairie Schooler












4. Friday Night with Friends_March 2021 edition


... this is a virtual sew-in hosted by the lovely Cheryll from Gone Stitchin'. Click on the logo above to see what everyone else worked on this past Friday night. For myself, I had a new start and stitched on "Cardinal Winter" by LHN. I am stitching on an unknown overdyed 28ct linen, using a mixture of suggested and my own choice (for the snow) DMC threads and my own choice of overdyed floss by GAST for the border, trees and rabbits.


5.
2021 Reading Challenge_February Update


I know, I know, I am now FOUR books behind (as opposed to two behind last month) but I am not worried - still heaps of the year to go.... So, this is what I read since last update (scroll down this linked post to find out what I read last month):



For this month's reading:
  • I powered my way through the Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz
  • Kept listening to the wonderful Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch
  • Reread a piece of nostalgia with "Village School" by Miss Read
  • Shivered my way through the thriller "Shiver" by Allie Reynolds
  • And committed myself to rereading the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan and (the later books) Brandon Sanderson, I must admit that last time I fell by the wayside long before the series finished as the books kept getting larger and more complex, the wait between books was long, too, I had three young children and went back to work and then Robert Jordan died and Brandon Sanderson wrote the last few books but this time I am determined to read all fourteen plus the four extras (.5 books, they call them) this year!  
This is my current reading list.... and yes, I do read several books at a time - I do like to dip in and out of books as takes my fancy.




Lastly, I must admit to abandoning reading "Where the Crawdads Sing", I know, I know, everyone is raving about it but I am sorry to say that I just found it boring, and life is too short to read something that you are not really enjoying (even for bookclub - lol!).



6. 

Friday, 5 February 2021

1000th POST - Yep, i got there!

 I can't quite believe that I have actually written and published ONE THOUSAND POSTS!!!!!!!  Woo Hoo!  So, I have quite an agenda for you today:

1. January Smalls SAL post (one week late - so sorry!)

2. Announce the winner of my Kitten Stitching and the Friday Frolics Giveaway

3. 2021 January Reading Challenge Update

4. 100th Post Giveaway!

So, here we go.....

1. Smalls SAL_January 2021 Update:

Mary at Mary's Thread hosts the wonderful Smalls SAL. On the last Friday of each month (I know, I know, I am a week late and have only just squeaked into the deadline for linking on her blog) we share our small stitching items that we have completed but not necessarily fully finished. Mary has a link up post on her blog so we can pop over to see everyone's work. If you click on the image below you can see the check in post on Mary's blog.



Thank you Mary for hosting this again. 

. 
First, I have this sweet little Christmas Ornie, which I stitched for the January JCS Christmas Ornie 2021 FB SAL which is run by dear Jo.  


It is called Poinsettia by Pinochka from the JCS Christmas Ornie Mag 2020. It is stitched on unknown white linen, I did change the design up a bit by using silver floss instead of white for the snowflakes. I hope to get myself organised and fully finish it very soon.

My second Smalls finish is this gorgeous Winter Saltbox, a freebie from Pinker n Punkin Quilting and Stitching.  If you haven't checked out Melisa's blog yet, you should - she is very talented and generous with her freebies.




Just a reminder, please click on the Smalls SAL logo below if you would like to see what everyone else stitched this month.

2. WINNER, WINNER, CHICKEN DINNER!


The Winner of my first giveaway of 2021 (and my first giveaway for a long time now) is ......

LCP

Congratulations LCP, however, you are a no-reply-commenter, so I hope that you see this post as I cannot email you and when I checked out your blog, you had not posted since 2012!

Please email me on kayedep@gmail.com with your snailmail address.

[Note:  If I don't hear from LCP within a week, I will redraw a winner]


3. 2021 Reading Challenge...

Well, after the excitement of beating my 2019 Reading Challenge by two books ...


I went for broke in 2020 and aimed for 175 books, which surprisingly, despite Covid and a loooong Lockdown in Melbourne, I did not achieve - I blame it on Netflix - lol!


So, this year, I am being a bit more modest in my ambitions and I am going for 165 books.  I am currently two books behind but it is early days yet and I am blaming it on my reread of The Stand by Stephen King - such a huge novel - lol!



So, this is what I have read so far this year .....



A number of the novels in the Bridgerton series by Julia Quinn - very lighthearted but lots of fun!


More novels in the Joe Pickett series, these are about a Game Warden in Wyoming - a bit violent but I really like the character and reading about Wyoming.


"Crumbling world" is the first novel in a dystopian series but so badly written that I am not sure how I managed to read the whole thing so I certainly will NOT be reading anymore in the series.


A couple of books in the Peter Grant series by Ben Aaronovitch - these I love - Magic is alive and well in London and Detective Constable Peter Grant is going to make sure that it behaves itself!


The Stand by Stephen King, a beast of a novel sizewise but so good!


I really enjoyed the Arsene Lupin novel - dated in style but fun!


Lastly, for a bit of light entertainment, I am rereading the Alex Rider series of YA novels - about a teenage "James Bond". Such fun!

What are you all reading?  I would love to know.


4. 1000TH POST GIVEAWAY

To celebrate my 1000th post on this blog, I have three designs to giveaway - you can enter for one, two or three of the - just be clear which one/s you would like.

#1. Counting Bats by Just Nan


#2 Troubled Water by Ink Circles


#3 Water Hazard by Ink Circles




Giveaway "Rules"

1. Comment on this post on Kitten Stitching to enter - please be clear that you wish to enter the giveaway and which design/s you are interested in.

2.  I will post ANYWHERE IN THE WOLRD, although I cannot guarantee how long it will take for you to get it in this Time of Covid - lol!

3. Giveaway closes at midnight, February 28 AEDT (Australian Eastern Daylight Time)

4. Good Luck!🍀

Thanks for visiting and please don't forget to leave a comment as I do love a good chat,

hugs, 

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