Small SALs June Update...

...  Hallowe'en Ornie SAL June update and Weekend Round Up.

So, first up, here is Haunted Love by T.A. Smith (Free design on Pumpkin Seed Stitchers Facebook group).  This fits into both the Smalls SAL and the Hallowe'en Ornie SAL (this month was a free choice).

Stitched on 28ct Almond linen using 310, WDW Fiesta (for the pumpkin - my go-to thread for pumpkins and moons in Halloween stitching) and GAST Oatmeal (for the ghosts).

I also had a Happy Dance for my third ombre cowl scarf - this one is for my friend, Shirley (who is a work colleague - she chose the colourway)

On Saturday night I made this "Almost Shepherdless Pie" from Rachel Khoo's Kitchen notebook - it was absolutely delicious!

Lastly, DS2 was down from Sydney for the weekend again (he lucked on a cheap airline ticket), so on Sunday afternoon we all went for a late lunch at Crabapple Kitchen in Hawthorn.  TraderVic and I both had the oh so delicious buttermilk pancakes with ricotta, maple syrup and bacon. (Sorry, no photo this time).

So, back to some stitching for me and to watch a bit of The Voice.

Love to you all and hugs, 

P.S. Visit these links if you want to visit the Smalls SAL or the Hallowe'en Ornie SAL.

IHSW June update...

... this is going to be a very quick update.  For IHSW, I made lemon/lime butter, stitched on some Secret Christmas stitching for a  couple of swaps, did the final finishing on an ornie for a different swap and finally got started on this month's Hallowe'en Ornie SAL.  Phew!  Quite busy, really.  Do you wanna see?

Gotta dash, late for work.  You can see what everyone else got up to for IHSW, here. 

hugs, 

Hunting and Gathering...

... at the Fairfield Farmer's Market.   (Sorry, the pic is a bit murky but it was a bit of a murky day, despite the blue sky you can see there).

 

We came home with this full basket of freshly grown and/or made produce.

Here it all is laid out:  fresh grain bread, authentic mediterranean dips, a lemon ricotta tart, Otway Prime beef patties (organic) and pine mushrooms.

We just added some fresh silverbeet from the garden and voila!

After the market we wandered around to DD's flat, which was just around the corner.  She is in a sharehouse with a Bevy of Boys, as I like to say.  They prove pretty handy as they have turned this 1960s kitchen cupboard from TraderVic's childhood into a pretty trendy little bar - he was so impressed!

Also, I spied in DD's room this, yes, you guessed it - Cinderella's glass slipper - it was a gift through work but DD is going to generously donate it to the Royal Children's Hospital for a raffle prize.  I am rather proud of her for thinking of doing that.

 Lastly, I will leave you with a rose from my garden - yes, they are still blooming even in the middle of winter!

Well, off to do lots of Sunday errands, 

Take care everyone and have a great day, 

hugs, 

FNSI_June Update

I managed to squeeze in a little bit of stitching for FNSI last night - in between starting work at 6 am, attending a funeral (the mother-in-law of a friend), coming home and doing some more work, going to the movies with friends (Jurassic World - it was okay but not as thrilling as I thought it would be) and then some stitching while staying up to wait for TraderVic to come home from the footy (the Mighty Tigers lost - bad luck!).

However, as it is still secret stitching for my Christmas in July swap, it is only another sneak peek.

Click FNSI to see what everyone else got up to last night.

Have a good weekend, now I need to think about what to stitch/sew/finish for IHSW!

hugs,

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,