SFS - May

Stitch From Stash May Report

Month: May
Carryover from previous months: $161.50
Allowed spending:  $25
Spent:  $0
Earned:  $0
Balance:  $186.50

Not much stitching done this month.  I have started Gingerbread Village by LHN

It has been an eventful month, starting with DD's birthday on May 1.
We had an extreme weather event and I have never seen so much flooding in this area.  I picked DD up from school at 3pm and we got home around 8pm.  It was pouring rain for most of that time.  Luckily I have a Landcruiser as I had to drive through water several times. Twice was over creeks flowing over bridges.  I ended up getting stuck in traffic about a km from home just after I crossed the second creek.  2 cars were trapped in floodwater across the road just after the rail crossing in front of me.  I couldn't turn around as the traffic going the other way was stopped because of the creek just behind me.  We all had to pull over to let a fire truck through once.  After about an hour the water rose enough that it started flowing onto the road where I was stuck.   That was pretty scary, trapped in the dark with the rain pelting down and hearing the rushing water from the creek and watching it rise around the car.  I was on a high bit of road and the land is fairly flat so the water can spread out a lot and it only got up about 6 inches where I was, but it was flowing very quickly.  Other smaller cars behind me weren't as lucky.   The trains stopped running as water was on the tracks.  I thought the last train was going to get stuck on the road crossing but it crawled through slowly, then the boom gates stayed down with the lights flashing.

When the rain eased DD and I walked/waded to the train station and saw this

Lots of car alarms were going off as the water got into the electrical systems.  

DH went a different way home and parked his car about 2km from home and walked.   He had to wade through about 800m of floodwater and over a creek.  He then walked down to where we were and took DD to walk back home while I waited in the car.  I was expecting to have to wait for hours but just after they left I was one of only a few 4wds that were allowed to go across the floodwaters.  The water was about 2 feet deep but it wasn't flowing much.  I picked up DH and DD on the way home.  The traffic was a mess because so many roads were flooded and cars had nowhere to go.  We had to go the back way and at the bottom of our street we got stuck in traffic again.   We ended up driving up the street on the wrong side to get to our driveway.  Once we were out of the car we realized a dozen cars had followed us up the wrong way and completely blocked the street!

The rain stopped, the water went down and DD played tennis early the next morning.  Lots of dead cars were abandoned on the roads in my area for the next few days.  5 people died just a bit north of here when cars were swept off roads.  Not an experience I'm in a hurry to repeat.  

SFS - April

Stitch From Stash April Report

Month:  April
Carryover from previous months:  $125
Allowed spending:  $25
Spent:  $0
Earned:  $11.50
Balance:  $161.50


Finishes for April, yes there are 2!

First, here is my finished Fall Mandala.

I did less than half this before January, so I'm going to claim half the stitching credit.
Stitch count: 101 x 101 100% coverage - $15  x 0.5 = $7.50

I also started and finished a small LHN - Silent Night this month.  I used the recommended fabric and threads.

Stitch count 49 x 49 = $4

Total for the month: $11.50


Not sure what I'm stitching on next.  I have another small LHN ornament kitted up and ready to stitch.  I've also pulled out my Romantic Rose Garden Mandala UFO.
I have some tax paperwork to do before I can stitch again.
We have a severe weather warning here for the next few days and are expecting flooding rain if an east coast low forms.  It won't be as bad as the system that hit New South Wales last week.  I hope it clears by Saturday for DD's tennis semi-finals.

We had a relaxing week away just after Easter.  DH and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary on April 16.  It is DD's 14th birthday this Friday - May 1st.  We are going to see Cirque du Soleil - Totem on Sunday to celebrate both events.

SFS - March

Stitch From Stash March Report

Month:  March
Carryover from previous months:  $100
Allowed spending  $25
Spent:  $0
Earned:  $0
Balance:  $125


Fall Mandala is nearly finished!

I was going to stitch on this today but I've ended up working most of the day while keeping one eye on the cricket final on TV.  We have a short week coming up before the Easter break as Friday is a public holiday.  DD has 2 weeks holidays after this week and we are going to Mooloolaba for 5 nights from Easter Monday.  If I take some stitching I also need to take a portable light and some magnifying glasses as I can't see to stitch with using a magnifier.  It might be easier to just take a few books.

SFS - February

Stitch From Stash February Report

Month:  February
Carryover from January:   $75
Allowed Spending:  $25
Spent:   $0
Earned:   $0
Balance:   $100


I've done a bit more stitching on Fall Mandala

I've got itchy fingers!  I'm torn between continuing this or starting something small so I can have a finish.  I think I'll do another 10 hours and see how I feel after that.

The aussie dollar is shocking at the moment and postage is very expensive from my favourite US online store so I'm making sure I really want something (or several somethings) before I make a purchase.
On the other hand, I brought lots of patterns, fabrics and threads a few years ago when the dollar was very high so I have lots of choice from my stash.

Grow Your Blog Giveaway and stitching update

First, thank you to everyone who visited and commented during the Grow Your Blog party.
I have drawn the name of the winner out of the giveaway bowl.

Debbie, you have won a gift voucher to 123stitch.


Thank you to everyone for the lovely comments about Fall Mandala.
I sat down a few weeks ago and very carefully frogged out the thread that didn't match.

Then, I very carefully restitched it and frogged out the thread that I had run out of!

I must remember to double check my colours before I do any frogging in future!


Once I got past that hurdle I managed to fill in the top quarter.

Now, I am working my way down the right side doing the black outlines.


DH has been home for the last week and has been very busy getting his new race car ready for racing next weekend.  He and DS are leaving on Friday morning and getting back on Sunday afternoon.  DH flies to the US the following morning for another week away.  He has been struggling a bit with jet lag.  This is his timetable since late January - 2 weeks away, 2 weeks home, 1 week away - it's no fun flying to the other side of the world so often.  He is back in Australia a bit in March, but looks like he has a trip to Germany before Easter.  He was talking about ducking over to Singapore in March but I don't think he can fit that in.

DD is busy at school.  She has joined a tennis team at school and is playing against other schools on Saturday mornings. Her lesson and team training is early Monday and Tuesday mornings at school.  She is in 2 choirs at school, rehearsals are Wednesday morning and afternoons.  One is the auditioned choir which she was asked to join at the end of last year - there are only about 15 members taken from the whole school.  She also has singing lessons Wednesday lunchtime at school.  She didn't get her singing ability from me!

She is still playing club netball, her team finished 2nd on the ladder after the summer season and is into the semi-finals starting this Wednesday night.   Grading for the winter netball season is this Saturday.    She has early starts on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at school, and netball on Wednesday and Thursday nights.  She also has Scouts on Friday night.  We have to leave at 6.30am on Saturday morning for tennis.
I'm exhausted and she wants to add a second tennis lesson every week!  Maybe next term.

My tailbone is still not great, the worst is when I'm driving or sitting on a hard seat for a while. Getting up from a chair can by quite painful.  The doctor said 6-8 weeks, but we've been told by a few friends that it can take up to 2 years.  Luckily, stitching doesn't seem to be too painful.

The heat and humidity have gone and the weather here is back to perfect again.

Thank you for visiting.

Stitch From Stash - January

I think I've missed the cut-off for this month but here is my monthly report.

Month:  January
Spent:  $0
Earned: $0
Allowed Spending: $25
Gifts: $50
Balance: $75

Not much stitching done this month.  I've been only working on Fall Mandala.
I was given some money for Christmas by my Dad so I've put $50 of that into my stitching fund.

Grow Your Blog

Welcome to my blog.

Please visit Vicki for the full list of Grow Your Blog participants.

My name is Kate and I have been blogging on and off since 2009.  I live in Brisbane, Australia. Later this year DH and I will be celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary.  We have 2 children, DS just turned 18 and DD is 13.  DS is starting an engineering degree at uni next month and DD is starting grade 9 next week.

Last year was a bit of an injury prone year for our family and right now I am still recovering from a badly bruised tailbone suffered when I was thrown from a horse during an accident on our New Zealand holiday last month.  (The girth strap broke when my horse shied during an argument with another horse)  I had to ride back as there were a few river crossings on the way, but I swapped horses with the guide.  I took DD on a trail ride as a surprise for her.  My first time on a horse in 20 years!  Here I am just after the accident during the photo stop with DD.

I blog mostly about cross stitch.
Last year was very stressful and my stitching was limited.
DS got quite sick in term 2, and broke his right collarbone and missed most of his assessment in term 3 during his final year at school.   He still got great results and was offered his first preference for uni this year.
I hope to do better with blogging and stitching this year.

I am currently working on Fall Mandala by Ink Circles.

I have some frogging to do on this.  Can you see the difference between the golden brown leaves on the sides and bottom from the top pair?  I ran out of a colour and the new shade is different so I have to pull out the old thread and replace it.  It is bothering me so I need to fix it.  I am using HDF silks.


I usually don't get much stitching done during summer.  We have no air conditioning and I keep saying that because it only gets really bad for a few weeks, it's not worth putting in air conditioning.  This year however seems to be worse than usual.  The humidity has been horrible and I'm not sleeping well.  Last night at 11pm the humidity was 95% and the apparent temperature was 33C.  This morning at 5am the humidity was 95%, apparent temp 31C.  I feel like I'm constantly sweating.  We've had a bit of rain on and off so the mossies are quite vicious outside.  I work from home doing a bit of share trading online so I can't go to air conditioned work to escape like DH.  Still, in another month or so all my friends will be getting $700+ electricity bills and I will be getting $400-$500 credit from our solar panels.  Multiply that by 4 and you can see why I am resisting getting air conditioning.  But, I think it is much easier to deal with the hot weather than the freezing winters that my friends in the northern hemisphere have to cope with.


As a reward for reading all of the above, I am offering a giveaway to be drawn on February 15th.  Just leave a comment stating you wish to be included in the giveaway.  The prize will be a $50 gift voucher to 123Stitch.

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.

Latest finishes and a close call

First, here are my latest finishes.

1.  Red House in Winter by LHN

2.  Frosty Flakes by LHN.  I got most of this finished on Sunday - the V8's were racing at Bathurst  so watched that on TV all day, then it was the final of  The Block on TV that night.  Both had dramatic finishes.  I grabbed some time last night while dinner was cooking and added the beads before I had to go out.

I'm still working on old wips.  Next is another small LHN ornament - Pear Tree.

I'll have less stitching time for the rest of this month.  I like to sit down and stitch for an hour at night when all my jobs are done, but DD has amateur theatre performances over the coming 2 weeks as well as sport and I will be out 5 nights a week with her for the next few weeks.  DH is going to be in Vancouver next week so I need to be organized.



I was driving DD home from school last Thursday afternoon when we witnessed a car accident just in front of us.  It was on a busy suburban street, lots of traffic going the same way as we were, but still moving close to the speed limit - 60km/h.  A 4WD coming the other way swerved into our lane and hit a car head on, a third car couldn't stop and hit the second car from behind, then ended up on the footpath.  We were 2 cars behind and I think I said a bad word as I was braking.  All I can remember is seeing car parts flying in the air and a car shooting across the road.  I was amazed there were only minor injuries.  The driver of the middle car was fairly shaken up.  The driver of the third car was a learner and did a fantastic job - he had some facial grazes from the airbag and his mum hurt her wrist.  The second car would have been a write off and the third car had lots of damage to the front.   Not an experience I'm in a hurry to repeat!


I'm enjoying the warmer weather here as we head into summer.  It's still a bit cool some mornings and very dry.  We could do with some rain, but not if is accompanied by violent storms like they just got down in NSW.

Blogger seems to be playing up.  I'm only getting email notifications about some comments?  Sorry if I haven't replied to you.

Wishing you all flying needles and safe driving.
Until next time.

Found

No, I'm not talking about my stitching and blogging mojo which has been gone for months but made an appearance yesterday.  I'm talking about my camera charger which has been lost since the renovations last year.  The iPhone photos aren't the best for stitching pictures and I wanted to use my camera.  I've been looking for this for months, tore the office apart and looked in all the plastic containers 3 times each, searched everywhere I thought there was half a chance of finding it.  Asked DH it he had seen it - 'Don't worry, it'll be in a box somewhere.'  Finally, yesterday I searched again.  Office - no, sewing room - no, kitchen - no, box of cables beside the TV - no.
DH's bedside drawer- YES!  Time for a happy dance.  In DH's defense, the bedside drawers are huge and stuffed full of various things.  I'm sure I'd already looked in them.

There is a story behind this camera, we brought it in New York on my first trip to the US in  October 2008 because DH left our camera at home.  It was hideously expensive because while we were there the Aussie dollar was collapsing due to the GFC. 

This weekend I caught up on all my blog reading and I was inspired to pick up my stitching again.

I didn't leave comments but I'd like to say thanks to all those that blog and encourage us all to keep stitching when we see such fantastic work out there.  

This is Red House in Winter by LHN.  I had a small red blob when I started.  Put it down about 11pm last night.  I was going to say I'm hoping to finish this today but with the way I'm going the end of the month might be a better goal!

I've decided I don't do stitching deadlines or SALs.  I had lots of plans at the start of the year and joined a few groups but I've barely done any stitching all year.  Maybe it's just this year hasn't been a good one and hopefully next year will be better.  

I think I've been really stressed lately and that's why I'm not stitching.  DS is in his last year of school and is struggling to get the good grades he used to get easily.  He wants to do engineering next year at uni and needs to do well and get a good OP.  He was quite sick in May and spent a week in bed with fevers, needed another week to recover enough to get back into school work.  His assignments were extended but that just pushed them into exam block so he didn't get time to sleep or study and did badly on some exams.  We told him not to worry, to do well in the next term!  Should have keep our mouths shut.

I've decided that 2014 is the Year of Broken Bones in our house.  DD had broken her toe and badly sprained her ankle in term 1.  In May (term 2) she broke her left index finger at netball training and missed another 5 weeks of netball.    Three weeks from the end of term 3 DS broke his right collarbone during a school rugby union game on the last weekend in August.  DH thought he had been subbed off  as he picked himself up after the tackle, walked to the sideline and then said there was something wrong with his arm!  His coach was shocked when DH came back from the first aid room and said it was a broken collarbone.  His first injury during 11 years of playing!  It was 3 days before the QCS exams - statewide exams that indirectly effect how they are ranked to get into uni.  He couldn't do them and is given the school's average result for all the calculations - not so good for an above average student.  He missed all his exams at the end of term but will be doing some this week when school goes back after the holidays.  Luckily his break was stable and he didn't need surgery.  The ends are jammed together at an angle but the surgeon said it will heal fine.  He was pretty sore the first few weeks but is able to move his arm freely this last week. It has been 5 weeks since the break now.  He still needs to be careful for the next month or so.  We aren't worrying about his results anymore, if he doesn't get into engineering he can do science for a year then switch courses.  It is more likely he will get his second preference and do engineering at the uni in the city centre which is easier to get to anyway.   

Hopefully that is the last of our health dramas for this year.  

If you've made it this far, thanks for reading the epic story.  Leave a comment if you are new to my blog and I will follow you in return.  

Happy stitching.

Travelling Pattern Winner

The winner of the travelling pattern 'Summer Splendor' is..

cucki


Congratulations cucki.
Send me your snail mail address and I'll pop the pattern in the post for you.

Travelling Pattern

I have finished the travelling pattern Summer Splendor by LHN

I stitched this on 28ct Antique Ivory Linen using HDF and DMC 3865.

It's time to get this chart moving again!

If you would like to be the next person to stitch this gorgeous travelling chart please leave a note specifically stating that you are interested in the drawing for this chart in your comment.
There are a few simple rules that need to be followed.

1. Your blog must be an active one.

2. You must stitch it as soon as possible and agree to pass it on.

3. Pick the next lucky stitcher via a drawing on your blog.

4. Post your finish on your blog and the history of where the chart has already travelled to.

 
See where this chart has already been.

- Kathy at Kathy's Sit and Stitch
  Ontario, Canada - Completed March 2012

- Carol at Stitching Dreams
  Pennsylvania, USA - Completed May 2012

- Lisa at Lisa V's Lounge
 Perth, Australia - Completed August 2012

- Ellen at Stitch Passion
 Singapore - Completed August 2012

- Theresa at Giraffe Crossing
 Taiwan - Completed December 2012

- Tatyana at Girl with Hoop
 Russia - Completed May 2013

- Vicky at Nutmegger's Stitching Works
 Connecticut, USA - Completed July 2013

- Meari at Meari's Musings
 Illinois, USA - Completed August 2013

- Sue at I'd Rather Be Stitchin'
 Essex, UK - Completed September 2013

- Kate at The Flying Needle
 Brisbane, Australia - Completed March 2014


If you are interested in stitching this chart and passing it on, leave a comment below by Monday, April 7 and I will draw a name the next day.  Good luck.

I'm Back!

I'm back and feeling better at last.
First, a stitchy update then all the details about my health.

Way back last year I received a travelling pattern - Summer Splendor by LHN.
We were in the middle of renovation hell so I pulled threads and chose fabric and put it in a safe place.  Then I couldn't find it again until I had unpacked all my sewing room boxes after the new carpet was laid.
I picked it up on January 1st and started, but the weather turned horrible and we had a heatwave.  Next I was running around like a headless chook trying to get everything organized for our Canadian holiday.  Fine, I thought, we get back at the end of January, the kids go back to school and I will get it knocked over within a week.
2 months later, here is my progress photo.  I picked it up last weekend and hope to finish this weekend.

Sorry for the poor quality photo - I took this on my phone and it was a rainy day.
When it is finished I will do a separate post and see who would like to have a chance to do this next.


To say I haven't been well is probably an understatement.  I woke up in the early hours of the morning we left Whistler (January 26 - Australia Day) with a terribly sore throat, headache and runny nose.  Great, I've caught a cold, so dosed myself up with painkillers and antihistamines.  I had a bit of trouble clearing my ears on both flights but managed to get a fair bit of sleep.  Got home Tuesday morning and had a busy few days with the start of school for both kids.  Took myself to the Dr that Friday as it felt like I was getting bronchitis - sore throat, painful chest and coughing.  By the weekend the cough was much worse and I was getting up in the middle of the night needing to sit upright for several hours, coughing and choking for breath then feeling like I was going to be sick, then crawling back to bed exhausted at 4am for another few hours sleeep.  After about 4 weeks of that I improved enough to realize this wasn't an ordinary cough and took myself back to the dr.  He agreed that it sounded like whooping cough and ran some blood tests but they came back negative.  The cough lasted another few weeks and was set off by talking, laughing, changes in temperature and standing up.  Even when the cough stopped I was tired all the time.  If I went out to get a few groceries I would feel like I had been hit by a truck and would need to rest for an hour or so after.
I am feeling much better now, the cough has gone and the fatigue and fuzzy head haven't been a problem for over a week.  DH was the only other one who got it and he was about 2 weeks behind me so he is still getting better.  Whatever it was, it was a nasty bug and left me with no energy to do anything but the essentials - food, laundry, kids to and from school.

DD has had a rough time lately as well.  About 3 weeks ago I came home after dropping DH at the airport and found DD buddy taping her little toe and calmly saying she thought it was broken.  Bike + bare feet + speed + cutting corners in the garden = clipping the garden edging.  I was feeling rather ordinary so waited a day then took her to the hospital ER the next afternoon.  Yes, it was broken, they showed her how to tape it up, gave her some crutches and told her to use them for a week or two. I was fine with that as she has a fair bit of walking to do at high school.   No netball for 4 weeks.  Only problem is that now I have to drive her to and from school everyday as the bus drop off is at the bottom of a steep hill and the school is at the top.
Just over a week later I got a call from her school.  It was a wet morning and her crutch had slipped, she had twisted her good ankle and the swelling wasn't going down.  Result - one sprained ankle.  No netball for at least 4 weeks.  She had to stay home for a few days until she could walk well enough to get around!  The toe still hurts a bit but the sprained ankle is pain free when she walks.  She is going to try a slow jog this weekend.  She has missed the first 3 games of the netball winter season but there is a 3 week break over the Easter holidays so she will be right to play after that.

Well done if you have managed to read all that.  I'm excited to be stitching again.
Have to go and feed my family before they complain too much.

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.

TUSAL January 2014

I'm going to join the TUSAL run by Daffycat again this year.
See here for more information.

After not stitching for many months I picked up Summer Splendor by LHN and managed to stitch for a few hours on New Year's Day.  Not much, but it's a start.

Renovations

We started major renovations to our house at the end of June.
Tiles were ripped up and replaced, kitchen, laundry and 3 bathrooms were gutted and rebuilt.  Internal brick walls were removed/rebuilt in various rooms. Most of the contents were boxed up and stored in the garage. 
Every room has had some work done so far.  My bedroom has had the least work, but is used as a storage room. Luckily it is quite big as it currently contains the TV cabinet, oil heater, ironing board, sofa, old bathroom cabinet drawers, stepladder and vacuum cleaner, some boxes, bookcase, etc as well as the bed.
I sent the kids to their grandparents for the first 4 weeks until the new tiles were down.  The cat had to go to the cattery for this long as well. 

First day - discovered 2 layers of tiles

The builders split the work in 2 stages so we could continue living here.  Part 1 was the kitchen, laundry and main bathroom.  Part 2 was the remaining bathrooms.  The painting will be done when the renovations are complete and last will be the new carpet.

I've had some problems - the granite for the kitchen benchtop was cut 10mm too big for the sink but we've made do.  The oven didn't work and needed to be fixed.  The glass splashback had the holes for the rangehood cut incorrectly and needed to be redone, but looks fantastic now.

There is dust everywhere so my stitching is packed away.  There is no point getting it out until the painters have finished. 

Old kitchen, no tiles

 The 30yo old kitchen didn't look too bad but the benchtop was narrow, the cooktop was squeezed into a corner, the oven and dishwasher were on their last legs.  The tiles were getting drummy so we decided to replace them and discovered another layer of tiles underneath.

No kitchen, new tiles

New pantry

New kitchen

New kitchen

The new rangehood will be installed on Monday and electrical work should also be finished.  Still some more work to be done in the last 2 bathrooms.

DH has been travelling a lot during the renovations.  He has been home 1week out of the last 4, and is now half way into a 2 week trip to North America.  Two weeks ago he was in Taiwan/Singapore.  Kids have another week of school before the end of term break. 

I'm still reading blogs, just not managing to comment very often. 
I'm waiting impatiently until I can stitch again.

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Chart Winners

I'm back at last.  Sorry for the 2 week delay.  Everyone has been sick, starting with the kids,  but I'm feeling much better today.  We've had some computer problems as well, first with the internet, then I thought I'd killed the pc, but DH brought it back to life. 


So, onto the winners.  Not many entrants, but each chart went to a different winner.

Peppermint Twist - Sarah Beth

The Merry Skater - Carissa

That Kind of Stitcher - Cleejoow


If you could all email me your addresses I'll pop the relevant charts in the post to you.

I haven't done any stitching here for weeks and I'm missing it.  DH is going to Singapore tomorrow until Saturday so I'll try to pick up the needle again while he is gone.

Kitchen Renovations
I'm going to try to get most of the renovations done during the kids school holidays in June/July, but that means I have to have the kitchen appliances and tiles choosen by the end of next week, and a new front door settled on this week.  Yes, the front door needs replacing so we're going to do it with everything else.  Wish me luck. 

Zoe's Sampler is Finished

Zoe's Sampler
Fabric - 32ct Pampas Lugana PTP
Threads - HDF silks
Designer - Le Grenier de Zoe

This was done through the Sticklounge group which sadly is closing soon.
Sorry about the photo, it is raining here today.



Another finish - just waiting for the button to arrive in the mail.

This chart will go in my 'to be given away at a later date' pile.



Now, I'm back working on Herz Yin Yang.
Here is my small start on part 7.

I'll see if I can finish parts 7 and 8 this weekend. 

The kids start back at school early next week so this will be my last free weekend for a while.

DH has gone car racing this morning (Friday) and will be back Sunday night briefly before flying overseas Monday morning.  He has to go to Sydney for a few days on his way home so he won't be back until the 24th.  He will be away for our wedding anniversary on the 16th - 18 years.  Now I feel old!  We met at uni when we were 17 and have been together since we were 18. 

Ok, looks like the rain showers aren't going to clear anytime soon so I'm going out to the shops to buy supplies for the weekend, then I can stitch the rest of the afternoon and tonight. 

Don't forget my giveaway in the post below this one.