TUSAL Update for June...

... This time I have taken the picture of my ORTs next to the chess set which TraderVic and I bought in Harrods in London in 1986.  It was our first overseas trip and when we were due to head home after backpacking around Europe for six weeks we had some pounds sterling over, so we lashed out and bought this gorgeous chess set.  The two sides represent the American War of Independence: the blue pawns are the minute men, the blue bishop is Benjamin Franklin, the blue Queen is Betsy Ross sewing the flag and the King is George Washington, of course and so on.  The Red side is the British, so the King George III, etc.

My TUSAL vase is filling up quite nicely.

On another note, yesterday I had to drive to beautiful Berwick to brief an author.  We organised to meet in the Primary Restaurant in the pretty Pioneer Park.

As we had only every spoken on the phone or by email, I said that I would wear a red hat so as to be easily recognised.  Here I am, all rugged up.

On the health front, I am still having digestive system issues and when we went to the theatre the other night (which I will tell you all about next post), I sort of stumbled/fell down some steps when they went from a shallow to a deep drop and I have hurt my ankle.  Badly enough that I have had to go to the Osteopath today who said that the joint is badly impacted and if there is no improvement in the next couple of days I may need to have an Xray to see if I have, in fact, broken it.  And, of course, because I am now limping, it is throwing my back out!

So, in all, I am physically feeling a bit of a wreck and definitely feeling every one of my 56+ years - lol!

Anyway, I hope that all is well with each and every one of you.

lots of hugs, 

GG: Sneak peeks only.....

... as my GG stitching is for some up coming swaps, only sneak peeks for you this month - lol!

The Gifted Gorgeousness SAL is run by the wonderful Jo from Serendipitous Stitching.  The idea is that every month we link to Jo's GG blog post to show off whatever we are stitching that is Gift-related.  It can be something we are making for someone special or a chart or threads with which we have been gifted or basically anything else we can shoehorn into the basic premise.

It is such a good idea, as we all have something we are doing in at least one of those categories, don't we?

So, here are my sneak peeks....

Hopefully, I haven't given too much away! 

Please check out what everyone else has done for GG here.

Have a great day, everyone, 

hugs, 

Winner, winner, Chicken Dinner....

.... I am happy to announce the winner of the Travelling Pattern, "Count your Blessings" by Shakespeare's Peddler.

Drumroll please....

The winner is 

Clare

from Craftlady in Kiwiland

Clare, I have sent you an email, so please send me your snail mail details as soon as you can and it will be winging its way to you.

... and here is a sneak peek of some secret stitching I am doing for a swap....

Well, time for work, have a great day everyone, 

hugs, 

Long Weekend Roundup

You have gotta love a long weekend - thanks Queen Liz for having an 89th birthday!  That extra day off just gives you that breathing space to keep up with your chores, catch up with family and friends and do lots of what you love to do.  Just lovely!

So, I will start with my latest Happy Dance - Day 10 of my PS Santa's 12 Days of Santa SAL, which I am doing with my dear friend, Linda.  So, a few days late for my original goal of May 30 but done, nonetheless; onto Day 11 next Sunday.

I am very pleased with my Leaping Lord!

I also had time to catch up with friends and family.  DS2 was down from Sydney and we went to see my dear Dad.  After that, I spent Sunday afternoon baking and cooking and generally being a Masterchef!

The gorgeous mother of my dear friend, Linda, is visiting from Hawaii, so I made her a special afternoon tea: scones with jam and cream and teacake.  We used my new teapot and cups which TraderVic gave me for our anniversary.

 I was given these lovely tulips by Linda and her Mum, Dee. Beautiful, aren't they?  Thank you, Linda and Dee.

While all of the baking was going on, I was also cooking this delicious Lamb Tagine in my Tagine for dinner for TraderVic and myself - I slow cooked it, so the lamb was delicious.

Last night, I was putting the rubbish bin out for collection and I saw a bright light behind a neighbour's house (sorry, the pic is very grainy).

Can you guess what it is?  Silly me, my first thought was "Have they opened a major sporting ground in that direction?", then my second was "Aliens!" but, of course, it was the full moon! lol!

Well, time to sign off as I have blogs and books to read and more stitching to do - natch!

But, I will leave you with pics of two of my favourite things - Furio and flowers from my garden (violets and hellebore).

... and one last reminder - time has nearly run out to be in the draw for the Travelling Pattern: if you are interested please comment on this post, I will be drawing the winner first thing tomorrow morning EST.

Happy stitching, everyone, and thanks for visiting.

hugs,  

FNwF June update ...

.... how did you all go last night if you took part in FNwF?

I am very pleased with myself - I was most productive!

First of all I experimented with a new-to-me finishing style, on three sweet little Christmas stitcheries which I posted about here. I made them into little cylinder ornaments.  I am extremely pleased with how they have turned out.

After I finished these, I managed to find some time to knit some more on the scarf I am making for my dear friend and colleague, Shirley.

I am about two-thirds of the way through it, so it should be finished soon.

During the week, it was DD's birthday so TraderVic and I took her to see The Lion King - oh it was fabulous, such a spectacle!  Well worth seeing.

Unfortunately, you are not allowed to take photos during the show, so I can only show you the curtain.  But the costumes, the puppetry and the scenery were just amazing!

... and just to finish off, today I had lunch with my dear friend, Lisa at this cute cafe, just perfect with an open fire.

Lisa had these corn fritters.

Whilst I had roti with pumpkin, falafel and spinach.

Anyway, time to stitch and do some more blog reading....

If you want to see what everyone else did for FNwF, click on this link here.

Happy stitching, everyone, 

hugs,  

P.S. Just a reminder to comment on this post, if you would like to enter the draw for the Travelling Pattern:

Thrillers.....

.... well, one good thing about being home sick for nearly two weeks is that you get to do a bit of reading!

I have recently finished two thrillers, both of which I can highly recommend as gripping reads.

Firstly, "The Farm" by Tom Robb Smith

"Daniel believed that his parents were enjoying a peaceful retirement on a remote farm in Sweden, the country of his mother's birth. But with a single phone call, everything changes. 
Your mother... she's not well, his father tells him. She's been imagining things - terrible, terrible things. In fact, she has been committed to a mental hospital. 
Before Daniel can board a plane to Sweden, his mother calls: Everything that man has told you is a lie. I'm not mad... I need the police... Meet me at Heathrow. 
Presented with a horrific crime, a conspiracy that implicates his own father, Daniel must examine the evidence and decide: who is telling the truth, his mother or his father? And he has secrets of his own that for too long he has kept hidden..." -from the publisher's website.

Here is a review of the novel in The Guardian.

Then I read, "Before I go to Sleep" by S.J. Watson.

"The novel is a psychological thriller about a woman suffering from anterograde amnesia.^[6] She wakes up every day with no knowledge of who she is and the novel follows her as she tries to reconstruct her memories from a journal she has been keeping. She learns that she has been seeing a doctor who is helping her to recover her memory, that her name is Christine Lucas, that she is 47 years old and married and has a son. As her journal grows it casts doubts on the truth behind this knowledge as she determines to discover who she really is." - sadly, from Wikipedia (lol!)

.... and here is The Guardian's review.

I can recommend both of them, if you want a good read.

Now, just before I go, a reminder to comment on this post, if you would like to enter the draw for the Travelling Pattern:

Have a great day, everyone, 

hugs, 

Travelling Pattern....

... I was lucky enough to be the next keeper/stitcher of a Travelling Pattern - "Count your Blessings" by Shakespeare's Peddler.  It was sent to me by the lovely Jamie from Cricketbug Corner and I am the 44th stitcher.

Now, I have not yet started this design (too busy with my Christmas in July stitching) but I have made a working copy and as I do not want to hold up its travels, I am opening up the draw for the next stitcher now.

The only stipulations are:

1. You must have an active blog

2. You must be willing to stitch/move the pattern along fairly quickly

3. You must comment on this post, letting me know that you wish to join in the fun.

I will post anywhere in the world and the draw closes in one week's time - June 8th.

Good luck, 

hugs,