Friday Night with Friends and lots and lots of other stuff too....including more giveaways

Wow!  I think that this might be a long post, so hang onto your hats as off we go......

(Some cool giveaways at the end of the post so please feel free to scroll down, if you wish)

I am finally starting to feel a sense of normalcy again after the passing of my mother and the funeral.  I still cannot quite believe that she has gone and every now and then I have a little cry but I will get there.  I am just so grateful that she is no longer in pain and as I keep saying, so thankful for all the support of all of family and friends - both offline and online!  (Who would ever have thought that sort of statement would make sense when we were young?)

I received so many lovely cards, good wishes via messenger, FB, comments and lovely flowers and gifts!  Thank you all so much.

Here is a pic of my latest floral bouquet to arrive at my home from one of my ex-colleagues and friends who is now one of my authors, too. (These will feature again a bit later as they are the backdrop for my rather late TUSAL update)

So, I am getting back into my stitching routine, thank goodness.  This past Friday I was able to actually take part in Friday Night with Friends!  Yay!  I actually had a Finish! Double Yay!

I had a Happy Dance for my next fairy, The Ladybird Fairy for my Joan Elliott RR:

She actually pops a lot more in real life.

I still had some stitching time left in the evening so I moved onto a stitchery I have been doing off and on for a while but I am not sure that I have shown it to you before (actually I have - 22nd July is when I started it - you can read that post here, if you like).  It is called Troubled Waters and is part of the Bad Neighbourhood series  by Ink Circles.  I am using some wonderful Australian silk threads to stitch this piece.

Here are my latest progress pics:

Gorgeous colours, aren't they?

I finally got around to taking a photo of my TUSAL - this is two month's worth:

Train/Hospital TUSAL:

Home TUSAL:

This year's TUSAL in its entirety:

Not sure what I am going to do with my ORTs (I still have the last two or three years as I never quite know what to do with them).  What do you all do?


I finally got around to starting my Saturday SAL "Fall Welcome" by Diane Arthur.  It is a SAL I am doing with my very good SAL buddies Linda and Debbie.  They started a few week's ago but as I have been so distracted with everything else I have only just this weekend had a Saturday free to start!  Not much progress but at least it is something!

Then on Sunday night I actually got back to stitching some more on Santa's 12 Days of Christmas (PS) SAL, which I haven't touched in weeks.  This SAL is also with Debbie and Linda.

Before pic:

My latest progress (unfortunately there was a bit of frogging happening!):

Lastly another THREE Christmassy Giveaways:

 Caitlin from Naughts and Crosses is having a giveaway of one of her designs, it closes on Friday 13th December, please tell her I sent you.

This is the design I would choose if I am lucky enough to win!

and

Kim from Wisdom with Needle and Thread is giving away some gorgeous Sweetheart Tree Nutcracker patterns - I adore nutcrackers, see my last post for my nutcracker snow globe - so please tell Kim that I sent you.

Missy from Missyllaneous is having a fabulous giveaway of two lovely pairs of scissors for the winner plus a gift certificate for the winner's friend - how cool is that?

Please tell Missy that I sent you.

Well, that is all for now.

hugs,

Late October TUSAL and a Happy Dance

Oh dear, I am late again with my TUSAL update but anyway, here it is!

Home ORTs on the left, Train ORTs on the right.

I have had to swap to a a crystal bowl I was given as a wedding guest, over 31 years ago now.

Here is my progress on Medusa Lavender Fairy - nearly there, just a few stitches missing, the glittery backstitch and a few more beads and I am done. (Unfortunately she is too precious and it is too hard to bead on the train or whilst hospital visiting otherwise she would be well and truly finished by now!)

.... and a Happy Dance - now this is going to a stitchy friend so I have tried not to give away the other initial.

I really, really love stitching this design - I can feel a giveaway coming along!

Blessed Be,

Three month TUSAL update

.... Oh dear, my first TUSAL update for three months. At least all these ORTs prove that I have been doing lots of stitching even though I am late on my stitching updates too! lol!

Top pile is my home stitching ORTs and bottom is my train ORTs pile.

All of my ORTs so far for 2013

Lastly, here is a pic of some gorgeous purple tulips on my desk at work.

 Bye for now, hugs, 

Kaye

So much to tell you all....

Well, I have had such a busy week being MIA in Perth and then catching up with my stitching on the long weekend here in Melbourne (Queen's Birthday long weekend).  So, I will probably spread some of my news over a couple of posts, if that is okay.

But first, the most exciting news about my Perth trip!  I met up with a fellow stitching blogger, Noni of Fireflies and Cats in the Garden.  I emailed her a couple of weeks ago when I knew that I was going to be going to Perth to see if she would be able to catch up with me.  Luckily, she was having some time off and was free to meet me for lunch in the window of opportunity I had before my colleagues arrived from Adelaide and we had to go conduct our Workshops.  Here we are at the cafe.

We chatted and laughed and learnt that we have lots and lots in common - we are stitching sisters from the two coasts of Australia - lovely!

Of course, being Cross Stitch bloggers we exchanged gifts:

Coincidentally, we both used orange in our wrapping!

Look what Noni gave me:

Beautiful stitched cards and notebook, a scissor fob and a dreamcatcher fob.

.... and this is what I gave Noni:

A framed bunny, some Collection Tra La La patterns and a pair of scissors and a homemade pompom fob.

Thank you, Noni, I will always treasure the time we spent together and the lovely gifts you made for me - I can't wait until we catch up again.

Here is my TUSAL report for this month (a bit late, I am sorry).

Home ORTS on the left and car/plane ORTS on the right

The tea set at the back is my DM's Royal Winton tea set, isn't it gorgeous?

I also got some stitching done this weekend:

Progress on The Faerie Queene (this is all one over one stitching on 35 ct so I need VERY good light to be able to do it)

... and a Happy Dance - Day 3 of Santa's 12 Days of Christmas - yay!

Have a great week everyone,  I am MIA in Sydney this week (read this post here if you want to know more) so forgive me if I don't post anything new all week or don't visit you much.

hugs,

P.S. I was fiddling with my blog layout and now it is a bit mucked up.  Forgive me as it will be a while before I can get it right again - so sorry.

Happy Mother's Day and lots of other stuff!

Happy Mother's Day to all those lovely mothers out there.  I hope that you are having a great day.

For my Mum, I made this Coconut Chiffon Cake:

Needless to say, it hasn't lasted long!

I have been doing lots of stitching, too, although I have been so busy that I have barely had time to get onto my laptop let alone do much blogging!  (Often, when I am so busy I choose stitching time over blogging time - there is only so much a girl can do!)


Cut Through Castle  Update #1 (SAL with Linda and Debbie and lots of others)

Not much progress, so far I know.

I am stitching it on this beautiful blueish/purple 32 ct fabric from  Quilt Kitty.

April's Halloween Ornament SAL:

May's Halloween Ornament SAL progress:

Update: I have been asked what the variegated thread is on the moon.  Now, the moon is meant to be all yellow but I thought that it would look pretty speccy with something about different, so I am using WDW's Fiesta - what do you all think?

Thread Pickerz Silkz Heart SAL - Heartz 1 and 2:

Santa's 12 Days of Christmas SAL: (with Linda and Debbie)

.... and here is my TUSAL update - train ORTs on the left and home ORTs on the right:

Well, that is all for me for now - look out for my upcoming posts:  A review of Yiota's cross stitch kits and another book review plus maybe a few more things as the week's progress.

hugs,