The end of our RR has arrived

I am so very pleased to say, that I have stitched on the very last RR piece in the Little House Needleworks RR. I finished Julianne's square yesterday and I am really pleased with how it turned out. Julianne requested a theme of Country Stitcher/City Stitcher and I decided to put together my dream country manor.

The house, big tree and squirrel are from 'Little House Neighbourhood', the sheep from 'Wool Needlebook and Scissor Fob', the hare is from 'Woodland Samplings', the topiary trees and hedge from 'Season of Rest' and finally, the flowers and gate from 'Season of Hope'. I have a photo of the overall RR. It all looks great, I am sure Julianne will love it.

So ends my RR commitment. I am a little sad, as I really enjoyed putting together everyone's squares. I am sure that I will do another RR again, they are a lot of fun.

Jolene is having a great giveaway on her blog Dip Diddly Designs, check out her blog. Jolene is only new to blogging, but boy does she stitch some wonderful designs.

I know this is really late, but here is an update of my Ort Jar for the Totally Useless SAL. I originally had it in a glass bowl, but it was getting really dusty and looking very yucky. I transferred the contents into this new jar, but I am filling it up pretty quickly.

Ranae and I are stitching the Earth Sampler by The Primitive Needle as a SAL on Friday nights, if you would like to join us, please let me or Ranae know.

Amelie started her new swimming lessons on Saturday and she really had a whole lot of fun and didn't get upset or cry once during the lesson. Our new instructor Kelly has taught Aurelia since she was six months old and is the best instructor I had ever met. I am so glad that we were able to get Amelie into her classes.

PS. I have to apologise for the photo of Flax Fields, I just realised that I took a photo of my progress, but there had been no progress at all. Perhaps it was just wishful thinking.

A long awaited post

I have finally got back to blogging this week after a few weeks of drama. As you know, the washing machine emptied it's full load of water out onto the carpet, which has now been removed. Yes, we are living with concrete floors in a small area of the house and it's winter and yes, it's cold.

Basically, the reason this all happened is that we don't have a floor waste in the laundry floor, hence the water had no where to go except around the house. In order to replace the floors, we now have to address this problem, which means a total laundry renovation. Currently the laundry doesn't look like it fits into the rest of the house, so we are having one wall of the laundry removed, so the laundry expands another metre and uses up the useless hallway. Please see pictures for further clarification. While we are renovating, we are going to have the exposed brick walls around the house covered with dry wall, so that should lighten up the house and reduce the amount of dust in the house. Finally, when all that work is completed, we are having floating timber floors laid through the high traffic areas of the house. This will mean the flooring will all match and be much easier to look after. I have found a contractor, who has come up with a great plan and reasonable price. We now only have to work out the finer details and he should be able to start in about eight weeks time.

While all this was happening, both Amelie and myself have been sick. She had been crying and sleeping less than ever before. For several nights I sat up in a chair in her room so she could sleep on my chest. At the time I was really annoyed and couldn't understand why. Several days later I discovered the reason when I was sick as well. I developed a really sore throat, that when I laid down felt like it was on fire. When I sat up, it didn't hurt as much, which explained Amelie's desire to sleep upright on my chest. Both of us then lost our voices and mine is only just getting back to normal.

Enough of that, now to some stitching. I entered a draw on Karen's blog and I won the chart 'Earth Sampler' by The Primitive Needle. Once everything settles down and I get my stitching commitments out of the way, I am definitely starting this one. I have already ordered the fibres I need. So thank you very much Karen, I am definitely going to enjoy stitching this one and I think it will reinvigorate my desire to stitch.

Last week I received a purchase I made from Kathy Barrick's Etsy Store. Most of you would recognise her from her Carriage House Samplings. Kathy is currently selling a number of her OOP designs on her Esty store and I just couldn't resist these purchases.

I have made a tiny bit of progress on my 'Flax Fields' by Carriage House Samplings. Not as much as I would have liked, but any progress is good I suppose.


I have also stitched a little more on 'My Needle and My Floss' by Waxing Moon Designs. I really want to finish this one soon, so I can send her off to another willing stitcher.

Finally, I have to apologise to Julianne. This is my progress on your square for the LHN RR. I was supposed to have posted it off last week, but as you can see I am not quite finished. The house needs a roof and then there is a squirrel and a tree to stitch. I am going to make an extra effort to get this one stitched as soon as possible.

I will leave you with some photos of last Sunday, when we took a trip to Sydney and went to the Aquarium, had Yum Cha for lunch and spent a lovely afternoon at the park and merry go round.

Just a quick post

I do have a lot to show, but on Friday my washing machine decided to empty a full load of water all over the floor. The carpet has been ruined and now starts some pretty major renovations to ensure it doesn't happen again. For the time being my time is filled with organising builders and tradespeople and making sure that the renovation is completed quickly and efficiently while ensuring the work is of high quality.

I will be perusing your blogs, but I may not have time to leave comments. I will try and post some more information at the weekend. Thank you for your patience.

Prairie Schooler Exchanges

First of all I have to say thank you, thank you to everyone for their wonderful comments on my stitcher's book. I have been on cloud nine all week. My husband has even mentioned widening the doorways so my head can fit through, lol.

I received this beautiful exchange from Jayne this week for the Year Long Prairie Schooler Exchange. Jayne has stitched a scissor fob and thread tag with my initials from Prairie Schooler Book #76 - The Farmer's Alphabet. Aren't they just adorable and I am not sure if the photo shows it, but the fabric is a lovely shade of pale pink. Thank you Jayne.

Sorry about the crappy photos, it's hard to get good help these days. The light is bad and DH used the cheap camera.

I am going to show the exchange item I sent to Laurie for the Year Long Prairie Schooler Exchange. I sent it the same time as I sent Jill's exchange so she should have received it by now, but I haven't heard whether she has it or not.

Design: Spring & Fall - Book #90 (May square)

Designer: The Prairie Schooler

Fabric: 32ct Belfast linen - sand

Thread: DMC

Finish: Pillow

Amelie started her swimming lessons last week, but they were not very successful. We have tried a new swim school to the one Aurelia attends. This was because the one Aurelia attends is so popular I had trouble enrolling Amelie. This new swim school believes in a very hard line of introducing babies to the water. She was forced underwater, dragged into the water and frightened until I had to say enough was enough. This morning, she was not very happy to go in the water and cried a lot, I wouldn't allow her to be dunked under the water. Thankfully, my DH spoke to Aurelia's swim instructor last week about how Amelie was treated and they have been able to fit her into Aurelia's swim school early new month.

Secret Project Revealed

I can finally reveal the secret project I have been working on the last few months. This is an exchange that I sent Jill for the Friends Through Thread Blackbird Designs exchange. I decided to give a stitcher's book a go and found that the motifs from 'Their Song' fitting in perfectly. I did the stitching and backstitching and then basted and baked the piece in coffee to give that old look. I must admit it was a pretty easy stitch, just very time consuming, especially counting all the backstitch. I used a great tutorial over at Volarium. The only change I made was to pad either side of the cardboard with a little 'Warm and Natural' on the pages. I didn't pad the cover as I wasn't sure that the book would fold and sit properly. In hindsight, I could have done this by making the cardboard slightly smaller than the backstitch line. However, I still am very pleased with how it turned out.

Design: Their Song (Loose Feathers #24 )

Designer: Blackbird Designs
Fabric: 32ct Belfast linen - white (coffee basted and baked)

Thread: DMC

Finish: Stitcher's Book

Blackbird Designs Exchange from Cathy

On Tuesday I received a beautiful exchange from Cathy. It was for the Blackbird Designs exchange for Friends Through Thread. This is the very first pinkeep I have received and it's it just gorgeous. Cathy's attention to detail is second to none. The design is Tulip & Star Pinkeep from the With Needle and Thread book and the backing fabric is a Blackbird Designs fabric as well. Don't you just love how she has twisted the ribbon around the outside?

Here is a picture of all the lovely goodies she sent as well.

After all the exchanges and stitching for everyone else, I decided that I needed to stitch something for myself. Here is my new start, it's Flax Fields by Carriage House Samplings. I am stitching it using the recommended NPS and Gloriana silks.

My sale of household items on eBay was a massive success and I have already spent a good portion of the money. I purchased a whole lot of beautiful R & R Reproductions linens from Home Sweet Home Needlecrafts. I really recommend Janet and her store, she has such an extensive inventory of fabric and she has been very helpful. Sorry, no photo to show as I forgot to take a photo before I packed them all away. I also purchased a whole lot of threads from another ONS. I have updated my sidebar of my blog and have listed all my kitted up charts. I figured that if I purchased all the fabric and thread to get all these charts done at some time or other, I could keep my stash buying under control (I'm sure it won't happen!).

Amelie recovered from her tummy troubles and started eating solids quite well and sleeping better. Then she started cutting more teeth, six at one time to be exact. Why do my children have to be so quick to get teeth? Oh, well at least they are over and done with quickly. Those teeth had just about come through and then she caught a nasty cold. Last weekend she had a fever of 40C and was very unhappy. This last week she has been sleeping really badly again both day and night. I really can't remember the last time I had a good nights sleep. I think it was in the brief time before Amelie had the stomach bug that she was only waking once a night. That must be about 3 months ago. I know that I just need to get her day routines working so that she sleeps well in the day and then the nights will follow. Easier said than done, especially when the neighbours are putting an extension on their house and there is a constant banging and crashing coming from over the fence.

Amelie starts her swimming lessons tomorrow, so hopefully I will have some photos to show later in the week. The two exchanges I stitched should be received in this next week, so I will be able to show those off as well. I am really keen to show off my Blackbird Designs exchange piece as I really put a lot of work into it and challenged myself with a very different finish.

I'm a busy girl!

What a week!!! I started Amelie on some pumpkin and pear last week in the the evening as advised by my community nurse, but what a mistake. She went from sleeping well at night, to sleeping in 40 to 80 minute blocks. She had terrible tummy pains, a red raw bottom and I changed so many nappies I think I went through a week's supply in only 3 days. We decided to stick to a tiny bit of baby rice at breakfast the last few days and she is a lot happier. I just don't think her tummy is ready for anything else quite yet and she has only just got the hang of eating off a spoon. As a result of all this drama, mummy has had very little sleep and can't concentrate properly on anything.

May I give you an example. Last Thursday I made a lasagna. The sauce tasted beautiful, the béchamel was perfect, but then my brain went to sleep. I have no idea what I was thinking, but as I layered everything together, after the first two layers of lasagna sheets I forgot to put the remaining sheets in. The result was a very sloppy mess when I served it. The lasagna tasted lovely and the next day it was quite firm and easy to cut, but at the time I could have cried. A whole day's cooking wasted. At least my DH and Aurelia thought it was still great and happily ate it anyway.

I think the severe lack of sleep has attracted frogs to our house, who I swear have taken up residence in my sewing basket. Everything I touch I have to re-stitch several times. I did manage to get my Prairie Schooler exchange stitched and my Blackbirds Design exchange is progressing, but I think I may have been a little too ambitious with this one.

This last week, we have been cleaning out the cupboards and storage areas and I have listed a whole lot of items on eBay. I am really surprised at how well all these items have done. The best part is that me DH says I can keep all the money from the sales to spend on stash. How great is that!

This is what I stitched for my mum for Mother's Day. I am pretty pleased with how it turned out, although finishing with Lugana is a bit difficult as you really can't fold back the edges of the fabric.

Design: Summer Flowers Sewing Set - Biscornu

Designer: Lody Steward (Gift of Stitching Magazine, Issue 31 August 2008)

Fabric: 28ct Lugana - Antique White

Thread: DMC

Finish: Biscornu

10 Years Down....

On Friday the 1st, my DH and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary. I can't believe it has been so long as it only feels like yesterday that we were married. My DH took the day off work and organised lunch for myself and the two girls at a secret location in the mountains. Lunch turned out to be at Silk's Brasserie which is a very nice place to eat. I think it has been many, many years since I have had the opportunity to experience some fine dining. This place was wonderful and the chef happily adapted one of the dishes for Aurelia. She was a complete angel and behaved herself very well during the whole lunch. She was given some crayons and the table was covered with some paper and she scribbled to her hearts content. She scribbled on her side of the table, then on Daddy's and then on Mummy's until there was hardly any empty space on the paper. I must say, my husband and I had a little fun drawing on the table as well. I am just sorry we didn't take a photo of it. Here is a photo of our dessert.

We also took a visit to my LNS, where I just couldn't resist and made a tidy purchase. When I saw the Jeanette Douglas Pineapple biscornu, I knew that I just had to have it and then Aurelia saw it and said 'Mummy, can you make me a little pillow? Just for me, not for the lady, so I can keep in my room." The 'lady' refers to whomever I am making an exchange item for at the time. Now, how can I say no. I also picked up the last two charts to stitch the Blackbird Designs mystery sampler and the latest Just Nan Over The Top Tin called 'Grow'.

After lunch, my DH took me back to my LNS so that I could buy my anniversary present. So without further ado, I present my very own and brand new sewing machine.

Now all I have to do is learn how to sew........

Oooh, I almost forgot! I also visited the local patchwork shop and these are the yummy fabrics I picked up.