Midweek stitchy update....

Just thought that I would update you with what else has been going on in my stitchy world....

1.  Outlander (and more....!)

The day after I purchased my two new samplers - Song of Solomon and the Skyros ship - see this post here (scroll down).

These goodies arrived in the mail:

Outlander Sampler by The Sampler Girl

and the first two designs in the To the Beach series by Hands on Design.

Now, as I had the first episode of Outlander all recorded and ready to go and TraderVic was out last evening!  I decided that I would stitch on the sampler every time I watched the show.

So far I have stitched the "F".

So, this is Season 2, Episode 1

28 ct overdyed linen

Floss: GAST Purple Iris

Then, I had a brainwave - Season 6 of Game of Thrones is about to start - wouldn't it be cool to stitch something for that while I watched?  

So, a quick internet search later, I was the proud owner of:

(See, that phrase "instant download" gets me every time!)

I have until April 24 to get my ducks in a row on this one.

2. America, Land that we love ...

Monday night was 'Merica Monday, so I stitched on my American Sampler for the Americana SAL blog.

I finished my second state - Alaska

... North to the future  (State motto) ....

49th State to join the Union - January 3rd, 1959.

I am so enjoying stitching on this every Monday, however  I would like to pick up the pace a little as it would be wonderful to finish this sampler by the end of the year.

"Alaska, northwest of Canada, is the largest and most sparsely populated U.S. state. It's known for its dramatic, diverse terrain of wide-open spaces, mountains and forests, with abundant wildlife and many small towns. It’s a destination for outdoor activities including skiing, mountain biking and kayaking. Massive Denali National Park, home to Denali (fka Mt. McKinley), North America’s highest peak, is a site of animal-viewing tours."

Capital: Juneau

Area: 1.718 million km²

Population: 736,732 (2014)

Stunning, isn't it?  One day I would like to go there to view the calving of the icebergs - I am sure it would be a majestic sight.

3. Lizzie and Lizzie's Dad....

Dear Lizzie has returned from the Framers and I am so pleased with how she turned out.

I chose a triple mount and I am so glad that I did - it came up beautifully!

... and my prediction two week's ago that Lizzie's Dad would be finished in one more evening of stitching was so wrong!  He is still a WIP but I am hopeful that next Tuesday will see him finished!  Fingers crossed.

So, that is it for me for today, have a good one!

hugs, 

Lizzie is crowned and ...

Measure of a Year is back from the framers - Happy Dances all around.

First up, here is Measure of a Year all framed - it is actually lying on the bed in this pic as I have not yet decided where to hang it.

... and here is Lizzie in all her glory!

 Happy Dance all over the house!

     Isn't she gorgeous?  I am so thrilled with her.

The Queen's Sampler

Plum Street Samplers

28 ct Flax linen

Suggested DMC floss

She has been taken straight to the framers, so there will be one last update pic in a couple of weeks.

Hmm!  What Tudor design to concentrate on next for my Tudor Tuesday SAL is my big question now.

Off to bookclub shortly - where Emma Viskic , the author of this month's novel, Resurrection Bay, is coming along to talk to us - how cool is that?

Have a good evening, everyone, 

hugs, 

By the way, I really enjoyed the novel, so I am really looking forward to meeting the author.

FNSI, FF, IHSW and the Weekend Round Up ....

Well, again I had to start my Friday Frolics and FNSI stitching on Thursday evening as this week TraderVic and I were going to HTC to see the first play of the season, which if you scroll down you can read about shortly.

Thursday:
So, I randomly picked up this piece, which again I had started last year for DUCJFC.

This is where I left it last year:

                                

... and after a Friday night of stitching....

                                

... and then I spent the rest of the little time I had for stitching on the weekend on it for IHSW and got this far:

                                

.... and now on to all of the fun things I did this past weekend:

Friday:

Pre-theatre dinner beforehand was at our usual Greek restaurant, Byzantine.  I had the seafood platter and boy, it must have been good as you can see there was not one skerrick left!

                                                

Then it was down the road to view the first play of the HTC season:

It was rip roaringly funny!  

Here is the blurb about the play from the HTC website:

About the play

1939 and Hollywood is abuzz. Legendary film producer David O. Selznik has halted the shoot on his epic Gone With the Wind. The script is dreadful; the director clueless. Selznik has just five days to rewrite the script or the production will shut down. Determined to succeed, he locks himself in his office with a new director and new screenwriter – with only bananas and peanuts for sustenance – and the marathon creative session begins.

This hilarious farce perfectly captures the true life madness behind the scenes of one of the most successful films of all time.

If you get the chance to see it, I can highly recommend it!

Saturday:

Started off with breakfast with our very good friends, Linda and Terry at a local cafe, Mr Pebbles.

                                                      

I had poached eggs with haloumi, pumpkin bread and rocket pesto, it was delicious and quite filling but that was okay as I was planning to skip lunch.

                                                    

... and the reason I skipped lunch was because I went with my very, very dear friend, Kim to see a matinee of Ghost the Musical.

                                    

                                         

Now, Kim and I had lots of fun, as you can see above (and there were a couple of yummy cocktails each involved, too, I can tell you!) but I would have to say that the musical itself was fairly ordinary. The story is great but the songs were just blah! really, except for the iconic Unchained Melody, of course - which they managed to butcher and don't get me started on how they botched the also iconic pottery wheel scene!  I think that Kim and I did a better job - lol! 

After the show, we met the husbands for dinner at Trattoria Emilia, for some very authentic Italian food and then we hit White Night, this is when the city is alive with light shows and entertainment all night from 7pm to 7am - quite a sight, really!  We headed home about 10pm - no all nighters for us!

                                           

   

                              

We saw cute cat videos at ACMI

                            

A giant golden monkey climbing the Melbourne Town Hall.

... and other great sights.....

                                        

Sunday:

Started with my usual early morning walk with Marie and the Sunday Dog and then I popped over to see my Dad, do some shopping for him and catch up with DSister2 for her birthday:

.... and then, if all of this was not busy enough, TraderVic and I then went to see Deadpool in the late afternoon at our favourite cinema, The Rivoli.

My review of this film is that it is irreverent, quite violent, crude in parts but fun!

...finally, the weekend's shenanigans are over so let's skip to Tuesday:

So, I am home on the home stretch now, with Lizzie, my piece for my Tudor Tuesdays SAL blog

Last week:

                              

This week:

                              

Maybe one more Tuesday will do it?

... and that is me, signing off after yet another marathon post (sorry, I have now being writing this post since Saturday morning!!!!!  I hope that you got this far and haven't fallen asleep with boredom - lol!)

hugs, 

So close to a finish now ......

Well, I had to shift my Tudor Tuesday Stitching to Wednesday evening (due to social commitments, which you can read all about here) but that was okay as I managed to stitch heaps even while beating DD hands down in Scrabble! 

Before pic:

                            

After pic:

                            

I am thinking that maybe one more Tuesday may even do it! Yay!

hugs,  

P.S. I got up this morning in the dark and put my shoes on.  When I got downstairs to the kitchen, look what I found:

LOL!

Very quick GG post.....

... not much to report on the Gifted Gorgeousness front for this month.

I have been stitching on The Queen's Sampler by Plum Street Samplers for the Tudor Tuesday SAL. Luckily, I have remembered that this was gifted to me by another sweet stitcher several years back (although at this stage I cannot remember who that lovely person was - another senior moment - oh no!).

Here are my progress pics on this piece over the last couple of weeks:

This is from two weeks ago:

One night of stitching:

A second Tuesday of stitching:

If you want to check out what everyone else stitched for Gifted Gorgeousness this month, please visit here and if you want to find out what GG is all about, try this link.

hugs,

Crazy January Starts Days 7 and 8.... plus a surprise Christmas gift!

Day 7:  Day 7 happened to fall on a Tuesday so I had to start a Tudor design to fit in with my Tudor Tuesday SAL. I chose "The Queen's Sampler" by Plum Street Samplers.

Sorry, no ironing:

Day 8: "Winter Silhouette" by Diane Arthur

And look how lucky I am - a surprise Christmas gift from my dear bloggy friend, Shirlee, I had admired this piece on her blog and she sent me the pattern. Thank you so much, my dear, I love it!

hugs,