A Happy Dance and Stash Empire Building

  

I would firstly like to say a big Aussie hello to my new followers - Welcome to my blog, I hope that your enjoy visiting me here in Eaglemont, Victoria.  It is so lovely to make new stitchy friends from around the world.  

I am getting excited - only 8 days to my first Blogoversary - who would have thought that I would still be going strong nearly a year later! Please don't forget to enter my Giveaway - I would love for you all to have a chance to win!

I have had a pretty good stitchy week this past week and long weekend (it was the Queen's Birthday Public holiday today).  I have a HAPPY DANCE.  I finished my second version of "here lie my needles".  I am really pleased with it - the variegated thread has turned out well, I think.  Sorry, the fabric is actually a dusty pink but it hasn't quite turned out like that -  not sure why.

"here lie my needles"
The Sampler Girl free pattern
28 count Dusty Pink Linen
Threads:
Cottage Garden Threads: Raisin
Olde Willow Stitcher Quaker Colours: Medallion Black

On Saturday, I went to visit my LNS, Lazy Daisy and, of course, I had to engage in some Stash Empire Building:

1. A kit for an Australian cushion  - I am going to do the Home Sweet Home version.  I do not normally like AIDA but on the stitched sample in the shop it looked fantastic.
                                      

                                         

2. Then I saw this sweet little French birth sampler - I couldn't resist as one of my friends at work is having a baby in about a month.  I am stitching it on 28 count Natural Quaker Cloth, which is gorgeous to stitch on, using Weeks Dye Works Garnet. It is stitching up really quickly, as you can see from the last photo in this set.  This is only three days stitching:

                                      

3. I had ordered this great design from Diane Arthurs, which I am going to stitch using Waterlilies variegated threads.

 4. I also picked up a Little House Needleworks Christmas Ornament and a Cottage Garden Needleworks May Cottage of the Month.

5. Then I couldn't resist this Needle book and Scissor Keep from the Stitching Girl - I am going to use the soft pastel colours.

6. This is the reason I went in the first place:  to kit up this cute design from a magazine - I have been planning to kit this up for ages.

 I have chosen a soft lilac fabric (sorry, I just do not seem to be able to get the fabric colours to show up right) and here is the floss toss.

7. Another impulse buy:  a kitty cat key ring to stitch.

8. Couldn't resist these cute scissors - a steal at $5.00!

9. Lastly, I bought some more Cottage Garden Threads - some for me and some to send to my stitchy friend Shirlee.

Noah's Ark is beckoning, so have a good evening everyone,

hugs,

A Naughty kitty cat!

Now, much as I love Furio he can be a naughty kitty cat.  Here he is sleeping peacefully on my knee whilst  I do some blogging and stitching. 

A few minutes later I got up to make a cup of tea and I dropped my skein of Cottage Garden Thread on the floor.  One minute later I found it looking like this:

Furio thought it was for him to play with!  It should look nice and neat like this one:  

Who could have thought that this sweet little kitty cat could be such a devil??

 The thread which Furio messed up I am using to make a special gift for someone (can't say who, it is a secret!).  I am stitching "here lie my needles" using hand-dyed Cottage Garden Threads  in Raisin.  The colour shading moves from a salmony-pink to a grey-purple. It is being stitched on the same dusky pink fabric which I stitched my Giveaway piece on.  I have also changed the year from 1692 to 2012.  I would love some input on how you all think this looks.  Do you think the shading works?

Have a nice day everyone.

hugs,

Royal School of Needlework and Pinterest

.... I was bloghopping this morning (getting my mind in gear for work - lol!) and I discovered this video on Mary Corbett's blog Needle 'N Thread.  It is a fascinating short video about the Royal School of Needlework situated at one of my favourite places in the world: Hampton Court Palace.

The other part of my post today was about Pinterest.  I have been reading/hearing more and more about it as I read all of your blogs and I am hoping that someone could explain it to me.  Is it worth getting involved in?  A lot of people seem to be using it, to "store" those items of interest they find on the web and photos and such.  Is that right?  If you use Pinterest I would love to hear more about your experiences of it.

Well, all geared up to do some work now.  Don't forget to join in my 1st Blogoversary giveaway, just click on the picture on the left of this post.

Have a great day everyone, 

hugs, 

I am a winner!

Thanks to the lovely Jo of Serendipitous Stitching, I am a winner of a fabulous Yiota's Cross Stitch design:

ANNE HATHAWAY'S COTTAGE

I am so lucky, thank you, Jo.

hugs, 

P.S. Please don't forget to enter my 1st Blogoversary Giveaway on this post here.

The Silver Lining 2....

The second silver lining of being sick for over a week was that I got lots of stitching done!

12 Days of Santa Before photo:

 12 Days of Santa After photo:

Cinderella Before photo:

 Cinderella After photo (I actually have done more than this but I cannot get Blogger to load the photo!)

And of course, I finished this for my GIVEAWAY:

Now, please don't forget to enter my 1st BLOGOVERSARY GIVEAWAY on this POST HERE.

Off to do some stitching now,

hugs,


Edit:  I managed to get Blogger to allow me to post my most recent photo of Cindy's progress, as you can see I have started the castle in the background.

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,