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.

Wipocalypse Feb

Sweet Flowers SAL

WIPocalypse #1

Well, apart from stitching hiccups in the last 2 days, I have stitched every day this year. I have 7 starts on my Crazy January so far.  See posts below for photos. 
Sunday I wasn't feeling well and yesterday was 35C so no stitching done either days.

Weekend Away, planning

No stitching done, it has been too hot and I've had some late nights recently with DS finishing assignments - 2am on Thursday morning!  He finishes for the year on Friday next week but he is going to the Gold Coast on Thursday at 7am for a 2 day maths extension program so he finishes his exams on Wednesday.  I pick him up from school at 6pm Friday.  He went to this program last year and this year there are only 5 of the top students going in each of grades 8, 9 and 10.

DH and I are going away for the weekend - after DD's cricket game and dancing practice, then taking kids to grandparents.  We are members of a car club and this is our Christmas party weekend.  We're going up to the Sunshine Coast about an hour north of here.  There are about 50-60 members going so we should have a great time. I'll take some stitching but will be lucky to do any, think I'll be napping or socializing tomorrow afternoon. 

 I've been thinking about my stitching next year.  I've decided to join Daffycat's TUSAL - it's where you save your orts and take a picture on the new moon.
I've also joined Measi's WIPocalypse to hopefully get some progress done on my wips and blog more often.
Obviously I've had too much time thinking, not enought time stitching because I've joined the Crazy January Challenge 2012 so now I have to select 15 items to start in January.
I'm hoping all the above will motivate me to do more stitching next year.

Lastly, this has made my day.  My photo of Fa-La-La has made it to the welcome page of I Love Cross Stitch yahoo group  Woohoo!

Right, I'm off to bed to get some beauty sleep before tomorrow.  The end of school stress and concerts, etc are nearly over so I'll be able to get back to stitching.  I'll have a giveaway coming up soon.
Thank you for your comments.