The silver lining: number 1....

Well, the silver lining of being sick for over a week was:

1. I watched the whole first series of "Hart of Dixie" (DD gave it to me to watch). It was great viewing for a sickie, a lot of fun with some sympathetic characters (and some great eye candy, too).

I have rather a soft spot for Alabama as I have actually been there (not something that I thought that I would ever do living so far away in Australia).  Our friends from Nashville took us on a day trip there to visit the Air and Space museum at Huntsville when we were in the U.S. in March.  I remember that I was so impressed by the quality of the roadside stops.  In Australia, they are usually pretty rough and ready but this one was beautiful and had even won an award!

Isn't this public bathroom block impressive?  I certainly think so - I just loved everything about America!

Now, don't forget to comment/post/join in my 1st Blogoversary Giveaway, you need to comment on this post, if you want to win this:

Have a good Saturday everyone, 

hugs, 

Nearly my first Blogoversary - must be time for another giveaway

Hi everyone,

Firstly, I must apologise for not having posted or even kept up with my blog reading or emails for a while but I have been really ill with Bronchitis.  I have been off work for over a week and I am just coming good now.  It did mean that I got to watch a lot of TV, did quite a bit of reading and managed some stitching but I found it very hard to concentrate on a computer screen - hence very little blogging.  I have been reading the Hamish Macbeth series of books by M.C. Beaton.

 If you haven't read them, give them a try, they are lots of fun.  Here is a link to the website.


In seventeen days it will be my first blogoversary.  I cannot quite believe how fast this first year of blogging has gone.  I have had a wonderful time and I have made some lovely online friends.  I hope that all of you have enjoyed yourselves as much as I have.  Thank you for all your lovely comments and your support and friendship over the past year.

To celebrate my first year of blogging, how better to celebrate than to have a GIVEAWAY.  I have stitched this lovely design (a freebie from The Sampler Girl) for the GIVEAWAY:

 As you can see, I have taken two photos - the second one shows the lovely dusty pink of the fabric better.

At the moment, the plan is to make this design into a bag but I may decide to frame it or make it into a cushion.  It will be a mystery for now.

To enter, you need to:

1. Be a follower
2. Comment on this post only - make sure that you give me your email address if you do not have a blog
3. You will gain an extra chance if you post about it on your blog
4. The GIVEAWAY is open until midnight June 18th (my Blogoversary)

I would love to have 200 followers by my first Blogoversary - so please spread the word.

If I reach 200 followers by June 18, there will be a second winner (not sure what the prize is yet)  and for every 10 new followers over 200 (a long shot, I know), there will be another winner/s.

Lastly, please check out the great giveaways I have posted about in my sidebar - there are some lovely blogs listed there to explore. McKenna is having her first anniversary mystery giveaway whilst Melissa is having her first ever giveaway.

To finish off, as I often do, here is a Kitten photo - Furio and Milo love to cuddle up together on a cold winter's night.

hugs, 

IHSW and TUSAL update

I had a great weekend this past weekend.  I was really productive with my stitching goals and did some other fun things, too.  How did you all go?

These were my three stitching goals:

1. Stitch some more on Cinderella - DONE - See progress pics below (not sure why the photos look so green)
2. Finish three stitching gifts for my winners of the Packing Advice Giveaway so I can post them this week - DONE - but can't show photos because they have yet to be posted and received by my last Giveaway winners, so you will all have to just wait!
3. Work on my 12 Days of Christmas SAL - DONE - See progress pic below

Her dress is really taking shape now.

The frogging problem was solved!

This is really taking shape - I really like the little pear.

My Tusal jar is staring to fill up, mainly with all that green thread which I had to frog three times!

I just wanted to finish by showing you the cockatoos which visit us once a year.  In the front garden we have an enormous cedar tree and once a year, when the pinecones are ripe the cockatoos descend in great flocks, make a raucous noise and strip the pinecones from the tree.  I hope that you can see, I had to zoom right in to get any pictures of the birds.

Bye for now, 

hugs, 

FNSI, IHSW and a Great Giveaway

Last night for Friday Night Sew in I worked on solving my Cinderella frogging problem.  I am happy to say I have nearly solved the problem - Yay!

Today and tomorrow for IHSW I intend to:

1. Stitch some more on Cinderella
2. Finish three stitching gifts for my winners of the Packing Advice Giveaway so I can post them this week.
3. Work on my 12 Days of Christmas SAL

Now, I must tell you that Jo from Serendipitous Stitching is having a 250 followers giveaway.  The prize is generously sponsored by Yiota's Cross Stitch Kits.  Please check out both Jo's blog and Yiota's Cross Stitch Kits website - she has some lovely designs.

Off to have a massage at the Day Spa around the corner (Mother's Day present from the kids).

hugs,

No stitching tonight as I have been....

... out spontaneously for a drink or two at a cool bar, Bar Nancy with my GF from work.  We hardly ever do this but we both looked at each other at the end of the day and said "Hey, let's go for a drink".  As I knew that TraderVic only had to heat leftovers for dinner tonight (I made a great cottage pie last night) I didn't have to feel guilty at getting home at ...wait for it... 8pm!

Bar Nancy

So, as I have had a couple of glasses of a very nice New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and I have all of that frogging to do on Cinderella, I am staying away from the stitching tonight.  Just doing some blog stalking and watching some TV - Madmen is on tonight - yay!

But I do want to show you some pics of my beautiful DD and her brand new car - a Mazda 2.  I am so proud of her - she has worked really hard at her part-time job to save up the money to buy it herself.  Not bad for a nearly 21 year old to be able to afford to buy her own brand new car!

Doesn't she look so happy?

hugs,

I hate frogging!

Now I am not talking about taking out a few stitches here and there - that I can deal with easily.  But when you are merrily stitching away, smugly thinking to yourself "Oh, Cinderella is such a joy to stitch - I am doing so well" and then bang!  You find that you have totally messed up somewhere, miscounted and whole sections do not match!  Aaaaaghhhhh!

Here is Cinderella before The Frogging Incident:

[Thanks to Julie for telling me via her last post about being able to jazz up your photos with a free online programme "picmonkey" - Check it out at www.picmonkey.com - it is free (for the moment anyway) and really easy to use.]

And here is Cinderella today:  (sorry, I didn't have a chance to iron her)

And I have zoomed into show you my problem - the green is just not meeting up with the pinks!  Double Aaaaaghhhh!

Oh well, back to the frogging!

Here is a picture of Furio to finish off:

hugs,

Another belated or catch up post from before my trip

As I am sure you all know by now, I am really behind on my blog "housekeeping", so this post is another attempt to catch up on my housework!

Just before I left I was lucky enough to win second prize in Margaret from A Sampler of Stitches 200 followers giveaway.  Here is the link to her giveaway post.

The lovely prize arrived just before I left for the States but I didn't have any time to post about it or to even thank Margaret properly.

So, I would like to thank Margaret very much for sending me this lovely present - a gorgeous hand stitched coin purse, and a needlebook and little calendar.   

And as you can see Furio helped me open my wonderful gift.

I am so lucky!  Thank you again, Margaret.

hugs,