A Finish and another WIP

Stitching

Last weekend I finished Pear Tree.

Pear Tree by LHN using recommended threads.

This was the last of my small wips.


My next wip is Fall Mandala by Ink Circles.
The center section was where I stopped ages ago.  Now I've done the black outline along the top and started filling in the colours.  I'm loving using the silk HDF threads.

On Holiday

We have a few more days here in Whistler, Canada. The weather has been lovely - no snow and sunny most days. Today was a rest day after skiing every day for the previous 6 days. Yesterday afternoon we skied from the Roundhouse near the top of the mountain down to the village - 1200m vertical drop. It took us an hour and a half on the easiest green runs. I'm snow plowing slowly down the steeper sections but I'm having a great time. Tomorrow is our last day skiing and I hope my left knee lasts the day. I hurt it here 3 years ago and it's getting a bit sore and stiff. DS is skiing behind me to pick up the pieces if I crash - he tells me I'll go better if I ski faster and not worry so much about staying in control!

The trip over was pretty good. Landed in LA and cleared security and customs and was waiting at the lounge for my Vancouver flight within 90 minutes. The kids and I met DH at Vancouver airport and got the bus to Whistler. How long did it take you ask? From leaving home to checking in at the hotel at Whistler was 26 hours. With the time difference we arrived at Whistler 8 hours after we left. Always feels strange arriving in LA before we leave home! However, on the way home we lose a day, leave Sunday midday and arrive home Tuesday morning. The kids start the new school year on Wednesday morning.

Stitching from Stash is going well. I haven't spent any money this year, but I've only stitched a little at the beginning of the month. It was very hot before we left for our holiday and I was getting ready to go away and preparing for the new school year. I didn't bring any stitching with me on holiday but the light in the hotel room isn't good enough for stitching anyway. I'm looking forward to having more time next month.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Happy New Year

Well, after the great renovations of 2013 I am back stitching.
Our new carpet was laid 2 weeks before Christmas.  I'm used to the colour now - the first week I thought I'd made a horrible mistake. It's a bit darker than the old carpet, but that is good because the cat has already vomited on it twice!  We are still unpacking boxes and will be for a while yet.  We still have no window coverings in any bedrooms, but I'm getting plantation shutters in my bedroom and the sewing room which will arrive early Feb.  The kids curtains will be organized around then as will their new beds. Photos below were taken with my phone.

dining area

lounge room

Great grandmother's travelling chest - initials on top

library nook

Stitching Plans for 2014

I've decided to join a few groups this year.  In no particular order they are:

Stitch from Stash 2014 

TUSAL

Turtle Trot 

Wipocalypse 2014

My stitching projects are listed below.

1. Summer Splendor - this is a travelling pattern I received in October and put in a safe place before the painters started.  Just found it again the other day!  Need to get cracking on this one.

2. Hypnotic

3. Romantic Rose Garden Mandala

4. Fall Mandala 

5. Snowy Pines LHN

6. Red House in Winter LHN

7. Winter Sheep LHN

8.Pear Tree LHN

9. Frosty Flakes LHN

10. Pirates Creed

Holidays

Kids are on school holidays until late January.  DD finished her last year of primary school last year and is going to a new school this year for grade 8.  She is 12 but is taller than me now (I'm 5'5")
DS is about to start his final year of high school and wants to do Mechanical Engineering at uni next year. He will be 17 in a few weeks.
We are going to Canada in 2 weeks for some skiing at Whistler again.  We were there 3 years ago.  DH has to go over to the US for work before so we are meeting him at Vancouver. We are due to get back home the day before the kids start school so the jet lag will be fun for them that first week!

I wouldn't mind some cooler weather right now.  Brisbane is forecast to reach 41C today. That's not much fun with no airconditioning, but we usually only get a few weeks of the really hot temps each year.  However, not much stitching happening with the heat.

I've been reorganizing in the sewing room - photos next post.
I'm off to peel some prawns for lunch - I picked up a frozen kilo from the parents in law on Christmas day and forgot about them until yesterday. Yum!

Stay warm/cool wherever you are.

2013 First Finish and New Start

Ok, I'm back blogging after a very busy end of 2012. 
First, I'll do the stitching news, then all the rest below.

I have finished my Many Years Ago sampler on January 5. Designed by Gudi Kolden and done through the Sticklounge yahoo group.  I used a custom HDF silk on a pale violet Jobelan from Stitches and Spice.



Many Years Ago Sampler

I have a new start, also on January 5 - Herz Yin Yang designed by Jean Louis Grandsire, also through Sticklounge.  I am using mauve and gold DMC on 32ct Fog Lugana from PTP.  The inner hearts are a slightly lighter shade.



Herz Yin Yang - part 2

While I'm waiting for part 3, I've pulled out a UFO from last year - Good Things by LK.
I hate the fabric I'm doing this on - 32 ct Tumbleweed linen from Wichelt, but I'm going to finish.



Good Things  - LK

Well, on to other news.  We had the usual end of school year chaos in November.  DS got a chess award at his schools annual awards night.  DD and I weren't well but DH was overseas so we both had to go.  A few days later DD came down with gastro and ended up missing over a week of school - seemed like every second person knew someone who had that nasty virus which started as a sore throat.  DD missed a lot of her specialist lessons exams which she was happy about.

DH and I had a weekend up at Coolum with the car club for our Christmas party.  We went up on Friday night this year and had two nights away.  We stayed at the same place as last year - lovely and relaxing.

Twin Waters Resort

The next weekend DS finished school and had a venturer (scout) camp at Noosa. DD and I ended up taking a car load of teenagers up there on the Friday night - 10 minutes notice for a 3 1/2 hour round trip.  I did stop at home on the way to grab some water for DD and I.  DD was sick with a fever the next day and ended up missing 3 days of her last week of school.  I got her on antibiotics quickly because she had a nasty cough. 

DD had a scout camp which started the Friday night she finished school.  She wasn't 100% well but she needed to get more nights camping before the scout Jamboree in January.  We picked her up at 8am on the Sunday morning and she had time to shower at home before we had to leave for the airport and our flight to Tasmania.

Our 10 days in Tasmania was so good I'm going to make a separate blog entry.

Just before we left, DH's grandfather had a serious health scare.  He is in a nursing home and on a pureed diet, but he was accidently given the wrong meal and choked on some meat.  The doctors in the hospital prepared the family for the worst, but he pulled through. Now, however, he has a damaged lung and is on oxygen fulltime.  He is around 95.

We got back from Tasmania on the Wednesday night before Christmas and my dad arrived on the Thursday to stay for a week.  DH and I did all the Christmas present shopping on the weekend before Christmas, the tree went up on the Sunday afternoon, the only cooking done was a fruit cake and the pavlova I took to the Christmas family lunch.  On Christmas day we drove down to DH's brother's place on the Gold Coast.  Had the big family lunch with cold meat, prawns, salads and pavlova, cheesecake and fresh fruit for desert.  Here is the view out their apartment looking over the broadwater. They have glass windows all along the front.

After Christmas I was busy getting thing ready for DD to go to Jamboree.  It's just a few hours up the road at Maryborough this year.  We were waiting for the bus at 6.30am on New Years Day!  She comes back this Sunday (13th) after 12 night camping in a tent.  I've seen a few photos of her on facebook which has been great, and photos of the things she will be doing.  She is one of 11,500 scouts taking part.   I was worried the weather would be wet but it has been hot and dry, but at least not the heatwave conditions they are getting in the southern states.

When she gets back she has 2 more weeks of holidays before school starts again.  Time for the dentist, eye check, haircut, etc.
DS turns 16 on the 16th (!) and will be able to get his learner's licence and start driving.
DH has been home since late November but goes away again in 2 weeks and will be gone for nearly 3 weeks overseas. 

I've been relaxing this year - sleeping in, reading and stitching.  A few more easy weeks, then back into the usual grind.
Ok, the next post will be up soon with lots of Tassie photos to make you all jealous!

Sweet Flowers part 9

I've finished Sweet Flowers part 9 and I've got the final 2 parts from Angie.



Sweet Flowers

I'm working on the Many Years Ago sampler for the next few weeks.  Part 6 has been released and I'm still on part 3.

What bird is this?
We had a wet day on Thursday - the first decent rain since June.  I was sitting in my reading chair in the office when I saw this in our yard.

Pheasant Coucal

I saw this bird months ago and had no idea what it was.  Since then I've managed to identify it - a Pheasant Coucal -  but I hadn't seen it again.  It is the only cuckoo in Australia that makes it's own nest and raises it's chicks.  (What did we do without Google?)  I did see a strange bird last week that I half think/hope could be a young chick.  My neighbour thinks the nest is in her yard next door.

The fun begins.
The next 2 weeks will be very busy.  DD has her musical theatre opening night on Friday and 2 performances Saturday, then 5 performances in 4 days the following week. So, it's rehersals most of this weekend and Wednesday night.  In fact, we are out every night this coming week Sunday till Saturday except Monday.  Most nights we will be getting home 10.30-11pm.  Getting the kids to school on time in the mornings will be a challenge!
Of course, DH is away - he is fishing at Fraser Island with his Dad, uncle and several mates this week.  They go every year at this time, I don't mind as long as he brings home some fish.  He left before 4am today so I ended up having an afternoon nap because I didn't go back to sleep after he left.  He is home next Saturday afternoon, then off to Singapore the following Tuesday for a few days.

Holiday planning
We wanted to go skiing again in January next year but DD is going to the Scout Jamboree during the first 2 weeks of January, so we've put that off for another year and decided to do something in December when the kids summer holidays start.  We thought about New Zealand or Perth, but we've decided to go to Tasmania. 
DS finishes school a week before DD, so we're going to pull her out of school 2 days early and fly to Hobart, hire a car, and spend 10 days driving around Tasmania.  That way we will have a great holiday and be back home a week before Christmas.  Just need to work out our itinerary and book accommodation and flights in the next few weeks.

DD's finger is mostly better.  I'm not sure I liked the glue, maybe she would have been better off getting it stitched.  She bumped it the other day and part of it reopened under the skin - she ended up with a large blood blister and bruising, but it didn't stop her playing tennis followed by a  game of netball.  It doesn't hurt and the bruising is fading so I'm leaving it alone to heal.  She is not able to play netball or cricket for the next 2 weeks due to her theatre commitments so hopefully she won't hit it again for a while.

I'm catching up on my blog reading and will be able to start commenting again in a few days.

I hope everyone has a good stitching week.

August TUSAL - I'm Back!

I'm still here, haven't fallen off the face of the earth if you were wondering. 
I have been busy stitching amongst other things, so I'll start with some photos.

First, TUSAL up to now

This is on my table next to my stitchy chair with my favourite Aussie flag scissors in front.

I have been busy and here are some finishes.

1. Pine Tree Inn by LHN, recommended fabric and threads

2. I did a box finishing class with Meari from ILCS yahoo group.
I chose to do Seaside Retreat from A Stitcher's Journey by Blackbird Designs.
I used Golden Wattle 32ct lugana from Stitches and Spice with Old Maid of the Sea HDF silk.

3. I joined the Sticklounge group in January and I have my first finish with them.
Thimble Collection designed by Karen of Sunshine-Stitches
I used a 32ct lugana with DMC





What am I working on now?

WIP 1.  Another Sticklounge piece - Many Years Ago Sampler designed by Gudi.
I'm using a pale violet 28ct Jobelan from Stitches and Spice with a custom colour by HDF.

I have finished parts 1 and 2.

WIP 2.  Sweet Flowers.
I had lots of problems with this piece last month.  Every time I did some stitching I had to pull out most of it and restitch because I was out with my counting.  After doing that for 2 weeks I was ready to throw it across the room, so I put it away for several weeks.  I picked it up again at the end of last week and finished part 7.  I am working on part 8 now and part 9 comes out at the end of the week so I'm hoping I don't end up too far behind again.

Well, that's the end of the stitching news, so the rest is about family and holidays.

We went up to Yeppoon to visit my Dad in June for a week of the winter school holidays.
This is the view from his deck looking out to Great Keppel Island.

Dawn, looking towards North Keppel Island. My favourite time of the day.

This is the Singing Ship at Emu Park which commemorates the landing of Captain James Cook in 1770.  Yes, it sings!

On the drive home we were waved to the side of the road and stopped by the police so this could go past. A dump truck body heading for one of the coal mines in Central Queensland.  Luckily it was on a 'good' section of the road - that's our national highway once you're more than a few hours north of Brisbane. 

Family life is still busy.  DS has made the top chess team at his school  - not bad for grade 10. He plays against other schools this term, but he trains all year.  He is also playing rugby this term.  This month he has to pick his subjects for grades 11 and 12.  It looks like his electives will be physics, IT  maths B (maths required for uni ) and maths C (maths useful for engineering at uni). He has to do English and Study of Religion (catholic school). He wanted to continue Japanese but has decided he probably should do both maths instead. He has no idea what he wants to do but his passion is IT. Out of school he is involved in the older scouts.

DD is even busier.  She is doing live musical theatre with the scouts. Rehersals started in July and they do 8 performances over 10 days in late October.  She has just finished winter netball and will start summer netball on Wednesday nights in October. She had a scare during her last netball game - came off at half time and asked me to take her to the first aid room to get a hurt finger taped up. The first aid lady said we should go to the hospital emergency department as she thought it was broken.  The doctor and nurse at the hospital thought the same, but luckily the x-ray was clear. They splinted it anyway as it was pretty sore, but the pain stopped after 4-5 days.
She has also signed up to play cricket again this summer, that will be on Saturday mornings. DD will be going to the scout Jamboree in January for 2 weeks.  It is held every 3 years and next year DD will be just old enough but it is in Queensland, only a few hours from Brisbane, so we said go for it.  She still needs to get some more experience camping in tents with the scouts before January, but she only moved up to the scouts in May.  DD also plays tennis, is in the school choir and does speech and drama lessons.  Her last eisteddfod was a few weeks ago so next up is the voice and drama exam in November.

DH is home at the moment.  He has been fighting a bad cold the last few weeks but he is going car racing this weekend so it is good he is starting to feel better.  DD is also away camping this weekend so it looks like it will be a quiet one for DS and I. 

I was trying to catch up on my blog reading before posting this, but it just wasn't happening.
If you have read all this, thank you.  If you leave a comment, you are awesome.

Goodbye 2011

Well, it's the last day of 2011. 2012 CJC starts tomorrow and I'm all ready. I've changed my list because I've signed up for the Sweet Flowers SAL so I've removed the larger charts and replaced them with small ornaments. Hopefully this will give me enough time to finish Sweet Flowers and the HAED next year and do some more on my WIPS.

December was busy. Our holiday was lovely and relaxing.
The weather was not good, but it didn't matter. We parked our car in the hotel carpark the day we arrived and didn't drive it again until we left for home a week later. We had a few wet and windy days, but managed to make it to the beach several times. The worst day was a record cold day for December and of course we didn't have any warm clothes with us. Here are some pictures.



view from our balcony



A friend on the beach

The Traveller (DH) had to make a quick 4 day trip to Singapore and Malaysia 2 days after we got home from our holiday. I've decided not to plan too far ahead in the future in relation to his being at home!  He is home until the end of next week, then away again.

Before I went on holiday I saw my Dr about a suspicious spot on my neck.  It looked like skin cancer so after I got back he removed it. The week before Christmas I went back to get the stitch out and the lab results came back negative so that was a relief.

DH had had some health issues since he was in hospital in August but we thought they were side effects from the medication he was on but the GP thinks not and has referred him to a specialist for tests to rule out the big C. He is still waiting for an appointment but I hope it is soon.

I sold my old car in mid December. We started advertising it online in November and dropped the price every week because there was no-one interested in it.  Then, I went to morning tea at a friends house and mentioned in passing to another friend that we were finally trying to sell the old car and she said she was interested, her and her DH came around that night and brought it! Not sure I wanted to sell to a good friend but we dropped a bit more off the price so they got a good car for a good price.

Christmas was good.  My dad came for a week and left 2 days ago.  I did lots of cooking before the big day. Christmas Eve I made a roast leg of lamb then we had Christmas lunch at DH's parents house - I made a pavlova and we had cold ham and prawns with salad followed by cheesecake, pavlova and fruit.

I have done a bit of stitching but mostly have been busy getting fabric and threads kitted up for CJC. I'm still preparing fabric for Sweet Flowers.

I started Fall Mandala ages ago then had problems with needing thread and having to frog, then busy with family, etc so here is my progress. 



Fall Mandala designed by Tracy Horner (Ink Circles)
fabric - 28ct Wintered Marble linen from Stitches and Spice
thread - HDF silk

Welcome to my new followers, thank you for all your comments. Wishing everyone a Happy New Year.

A Small Finish

Here is a picture of what I finished a few days ago.

A Life Lived for Others by Glendon Place

Stitched on 32ct Autumn Blush Lugana

with Caron Waterlilies, dmc, Kreinik and Mill Hill beads

This took forever to finish because I kept getting sick, it was the end of the school year chaos, and DH was overseas.  But, I am better now and the kids are on holidays until the end of January.  DH spent last week at home after 2 weeks in North America but left for Japan and Singapore yesterday.  He gets back on Thursday then is home until we all leave for our holiday in January.

Holiday Plans

We have asked DMIL to come to Canada with us so I hope she has a good time.  We are spending the first night at Vancouver then we have booked 5 days at Whistler, then back to Vancouver for another 5 days (DH has to work there).  Finally we have a few days in LA before coming home. 

Weather

It has been a cool and wet summer so far.  We have had only 2 days where the temperature reached 30C.  Yesterday I drove DH to the airport.  I checked the rain radar before we left and it looked like I might have to go through a shower or two on the way back.  It started to rain 5 minutes after we left home and on the freeway I had the windscreen wipers on the fastest setting and was still having trouble seeing.  It was worse coming home.  Of course it eased up soon after I got home!  We had about 75mm (3 inches) in less than an hour.  The only problem we have had here was water flowing over the top of our retaining wall and flooding a neighbours front yard.  I'm not sure we can do much about such an extreme weather event but DH will look at it when he gets back.  DH's plane was held up an hour because of the lightning but luckily he had managed to get a seat on an earlier flight to Sydney so he still had time to make his international connection even with the delay.

It's School Holidays!

and my life gets much easier.  This was a busy year because DS is at a different school than DD.   DS has grown taller then me now and will be 14 next month.  He has done well at school this year and got 7 A's and 3 B's on his final report card.  He entered some competions this year and is in the top 1% of the state for maths and science.   The last term was a bit of a struggle as he seemed to be constantly tired and hungry.  DD has also been busy.  She started playing cricket in October and loves it.  She had to miss a few games because of ballet concert practice but is keen to start again in February.   She does dancing, swimming, cricket and cub scouts after school.   I have more time to stitch during the holidays so I hope it's not too hot and humid this year.