Saturday Stitching

I finished Sweet Flowers part 8 on Friday night

Part 9 has to be finished by October 10.
Here is what I did on it yesterday.

The kids have just started 2 weeks of school holidays and DH is going away for a week from Tuesday so I'm going to do lots of stitching.

The first week is going to be even quieter than I had planned.
This is DD's hand -

She had an accident with a craft knife at school on Thursday and the Dr had to glue her back together - the cut was too awkward for stitches.  It's not too bad, but the cut is on the back of her hand over the knuckle at the base of her index finger so we have to keep the finger still until next Saturday so it can heal.  I've strapped it up so she doesn't forget and try to use it. 
She's sad because she likes to climb up the mango tree in our backyard and sit there reading.

DH had last week off work and spent the time painting our house gutters and eaves with his Dad.
We got our roof repainted earlier in the year before the solar panels went on and the old gutters were a lovely 80's pink.
Old roof and gutters -

House showing repainted roof and gutters and solar panels.

The White house in more ways than one!! 

Looks like the garden needs some serious work.  The new roof colour is lighter than we planned but if it makes the house cooler in summer I don't care (we have no airconditioning)
The solar panels are fantastic.  We got a 5Kw system and we have a credit on our last electricity bill which was for the winter months when it was unusually wet and cold. 

We wish it was wet again, there's been no rain to speak of for the last 2 months.

I'm hoping to get caught up with my emails and blog reading over the holidays.  Since my last post we've had some nasty cold viruses through the house.  Everyone has been sick at some time except me and DD is still on antibiotics for a nasty cough.  I think they were playing tag - first DH, then DS, last DD.  I'll be glad when I have no sick/injured patients.
Looks like I will have to fight DD for computer time, she's waiting impatiently for her turn.

April Wipocalypse

Yes, I know I've missed March's Wipocalypse and Tusal.

Warning - picture heavy.

I joined the Sticklounge Yahoo group in January and I had to pick a project and finish a page by the end of March.  Of course I forgot about this until March. I had fabric and threads ready for my chosen project so after 2 weeks of stitching I finished this in time.



OES page 1 of 20

Old European Sampler, HDF silk threads, 32ct lugana, 2x2. 
A free download of the Sampler can be found here.


I have also been working on my Sweet Flowers SAL.  The next part comes out on Tuesday.  I still have to do the backstitching on part 5, but this section is mostly finished.

Sweet Flowers part 2 and 5

Here is the whole piece.

Sweet Flowers part 1, 2, 5

I was going to try to finish some smaller stitching pieces this year, but I've committed to 2 BAPs which both have deadlines. What was I thinking?


We had brunch at the parents in law today.
I made a raspberry and white chocolate blondie yesterday (kitchen smelled good) and some scones this morning.  Here are some photos of the leftovers.

Raspberry and white chocolate blondie

Scones

This is the only way to eat them - with strawberry jam and whipped cream!

We've had some work done on our roof. Cleaning, broken tiles replaced, ridge capping rebedded and repointed, then finally repainted.  We wanted a lighter colour to reflect more heat, so it still looks odd to us.  We will paint the gutters a dark grey.  It took 2 weeks from start to finish as our roof area is huge and the weather was iffy most days.  Of course we have had glorious weather since it was finished - note the sky in both pictures!  Final cost - around $10K

roof ready for painting

roof repainted

Next is a 5kW solar power system, the deposit is paid and the installers are coming next week for a site inspection.  Hopefully the solar panels will be on the roof and connected to the electricity grid within a few months.


Thanks for looking at my blog.  Happy Easter to those who are celebrating it.