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, 

Jam and Cream....

I had a lovely day today, as I went out for lunch with some lovely fellow bloggy, stitchy, quilty friends, Melody, Christine and Anna (no blog) at my new favourite cafe - Jam and Cream.

It is a lovely retro cafe which make the most delicious soups, pinwheel sandwiches and oh, the scones - so delicious!  You can check out their menu here.

We chatted up a storm about all things stitchy and made lots of plans for catching up again soon to work on some of our favourite projects together.

What fun we had!

hugs,

Weekend Round up ...

Well, not much activity on the social front for my Weekend roundup for the past weekend.  I have been fighting off a bit of a cold and TraderVic has come down with a doozy of a sore throat.  So, our focus was on resting and eating some good food and drinking lots of green tea (we came home with lots and lots of delicious green tea from our Taiwan trip, which we are slowly drinking our way through).  Also, I have picked up a bit of freelance publishing work, so I worked a bit each morning of Saturday and Sunday, as well.  So, the weekend was mainly some work, some cooking and lots of stitching and some TV viewing as well.

(You may wish to scroll down to the end if you just want to see stitching)

Cooking: 

Greek chicken meatball and lemon soup with homemade focaccia rolls.

I found this soup to be perfect for what ails TraderVic and I, at the moment (I am feeling back to normal today) and I have made the focaccia rolls several times now and these were my best batch yet.

Homemade pizzas (I cheated and bought super nice bases but the toppings are all my creativity!)

Working:

This is me, all perky doing some freelance publishing work at home over the weekend (sans the yellow hair, of course).

TV viewing:

Sunday afternoon (while TraderVic was napping, nursing his sore throat), I indulged in a marathon of "War and Peace" (sans Episode 2, which for some reason didn't tape).

Oh, my goodness, such a sumptuous production and I loved the BBC's ending far better than Tolstoy's actual ending - read this article here.

... and in all my internet searching, I found this gorgeous clip.

                                            

... and the other show which TraderVic and I have been watching together is Series Two of Arrow (please note: this is actually a trailer for Series Four - couldn't find one for Series Two)

Stitching:

Lots happening on the stitching front:

1. More progress on "Frosty Hopes" - you can see earlier pics here.

2. Battling with the Smyrna crosses in the pumpkins on this Northern Expressions design for my (now late) March Hallowe'en Ornie.

3. Now, I have saved the best for last!  Another new start - I know, I know, I need another new start like I need a hole in the head!  But, Sunday morning I was poking around on FB and I saw this gorgeous design which someone had just finished - Song of Solomon - on this FB group, Embroidery motifs from Old Dutch Samplers

So, very shortly, with the wonders of the internet, I was the proud owner of not only this gorgeous design, Song of Solomon but also the wonderful Skyros ship.

I had the perfect fabric in my stash for Song of Solomon, a greyish-white overdyed with swirls of blue and I am using some gorgeous Threadworx floss which I indulgently bought a few weeks ago, not knowing what I would stitch with it but feeling in my bones that the right project would turn up - and it did.

This is what I accomplished whilst marathon-watching "War and Peace"

So, that was my weekend, a quiet but pretty good one (which we needed after the hectic activities and excitement of the extended weekend before at Byron Bay).

See you all again soon, 

hugs, 

The Alphabet Club - Saturday detention for I .....

is for 

INDIGENOUS ART...

Australia is lucky to be home to some of the most amazing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists.  One of the most famous was Albert Namatjira.

Here is a commemorative stamp, which shows the artist and a few of his famous paintings.

Of course, a lot of indigenous Australian works of art use dots to create the picture, as these ones below:

Below is an iconograpy, to help you "translate" the paintings above.

Now, if you are not sure what The Alphabet Club is all about ....

  Well, it is the brainchild of Chiara from The Grey Tail and Jo from Serendipitous Stitching and is loosely based on the premise of the movie "The Breakfast Club" - you can see the button for The Alphabet Club on my right sidebar.

On the first Saturday of each month (I know, I know, I am late - again!), members of the club have "detention" and have to post about something that will enlighten others about their culture (as blogland is so diverse).  Of course, there should be something stitchy in there, if possible. Each month will be a different letter of the alphabet - hence the club's name - and, of course, we started with "A" and now we are up to "I"

So, that is "I" for me, this month, if you want to see what the other detainees have been up to, please check them out here.

hugs, 

April TUSAL and a stitchy update....

So, a slightly late ORT report for April, I am afraid to say... (seems to be the story of my life, I am always apologising for late blog posts - lol!)

Anyway, here it is - travel ORTs on the left and home ORTs on the right.

... and here is the year so far....

If you want to check out everyone else's TUSAL reports for this month, just click on this link here.

Now for some updates on my stitching - this is all SAL blog related.

1. Kitten Stitching and the Friday Frolics ...

This Friday for my Frolicking, I went to my Girl's Nest and randomly put my hand on this WIP - Just Nan's "Frosty Hopes".

Here is the before pic:

The After FF pic - look Furio has snuck in somehow!

"Frosty Hopes" is a companion piece to "High Hopes", which I stitched in 2004 - oh, my goodness, that means I have had this piece in my UFO pile for 12 years now - Bad Kaye!

I personalised this piece by stitching my Cameo tortoiseshell cat, Coco, and changing the phrase from "High Hopes grow here" to "My cat Coco lives here".  So, I will personalise this new piece as well, adding the phrase "My cat Furio lives here".

I am going to have to look for a third similar design, so that I can stitch one for Milo.  I just looked at the Just Nan website and couldn't see anything suitable so if anyone has any good suggestions, I would be most grateful.

I am continuing to stitch on it over the weekend, so watch out for an update on Monday morning.

2. Americana SAL ...
One state down ... only 49 more to go! lol!

America, Land that we love

Jean Farish Designs

28 ct linen

Mainly the suggested DMC threads

Hopefully, I will finish Alaska tomorrow night (my next 'Merica Monday stitching night) and get started on the next "A" state - I think maybe it is Arizona but I could be wrong - I will let you know - are there any other "A" states?  Not sure, but I think that I am going to know them all very well by the time I am done!

(Note:  Just googled it and yes, Arizona is next but I forgot about the fourth "A" state - Arkansas!)

3. Tudor Tuesdays SAL ...

... so, while I hopefully stated in my last post that Henry would be done in one more evening of stitching - well, I was wrong - off with my head! lol!

However, I am hopeful of a finish very soon...

Anyway, that's all for me now - heaps to do today.

Happy stitching everyone, 

hugs,