Competition for the Least Number of Posts Per Year!!!!

See the Title!!!  Do you think that I would win if anyone was to hold a competition for this?  (Hangs head in shame).  Even if I don't post to my blog I do read yours and of course I do stitch.  And I even finish things.....occasionally LOL. Thanks for all of your wonderful comments and for not giving up on me.

This is My Needle's Work by LHN, it was a fun stitch and when I actually stitched on it, it seemed to go fairly quickly.  I am so glad that my job is not 'putting things straight by 'sight'', I would be in serious trouble if this picture was anything to go by ROFL.  I stitched this on 32ct cream linen with the called for threads, Crescent Colours using 2 threads over 2.

When I finished My Needle's Work I decided that it would be a good idea to have something small on the go, rather that feeling overwhelmed with all of my wips (which are mostly baps), so that I can actually finish something. So I started Travelling Stitcher by LHN also (I have lots and lots of Diane's designs). I try to stitch on this for one night every week or so. I don't do a strict rotation as rotations and I just do not mix!  This is being stitched on 32ct cream linen using the called for CC threads 2 over 2.

This one is by Fouroaks Designs and is called A Love Song.  I love this one, and I don't have too much to do. It is being stitched on 32ct antique white linen using Vicki's premium silk in the color Garnet, using one thread over 2.

 Here is a close up of the border detail.  I think that is has taken me nearly as long to do the border as it has to do the inner parts.  When this one is finished I will choose another from my list of wips.

And here of course is HAED Faery Tales (click on the link to see what the final design looks like). I am stitching this one on 25ct white evenweave using DMC threads one strand over one.  I have completed 23 of 60 full and partial pages. 

Now for some news.  As per normal we have been busy, busy, busy.  Four of us are all one year older, the most significant one being Luke turning 16.  He can now get his permit to learn how to drive a car. Scary? You betcha! We have down loaded the book that he needs to read but he hasn't done any yet, his birthday was only four days ago.

We have had some good no, great news and some not so good news.  First the good; very close friends of ours had been trying for a baby for a number of years.  Including numerous failed attempts at IVF. D (female of the couple) sent me an SMS to wish Luke a happy birthday and informed me that she and her DH are 15 weeks pregnant.  I had to read her message three times for it to register.  We are just so pleased for them, they will truly make wonderful parents and fully deserve to have a family of their own.  You know, they always send our kids Christmas presents every year, and now we can do it in return. Yeah!!!  We think so highly of them that they are to become the legal guardians of our kids if anything should ever happen to DH and I.

Now for the not so good news (sorry). Another very close friend who I have known for thirty years, her DH has been diagnosed as having colon cancer.  He is only 42.  He had all of his bowel and 5cm of his small intestine removed during surgery.  His cancer is at stage 3. He had lost a lot of weight when I saw them about a month ago. But since he has started chemo and is feeling much better, more energy and an increased appetite and has even gained some of his weight back.  His prognosis is not all that good but they are both incredibly positive and he is determined to beat it.  He is even thinking of going back to work on shorter hours and lighter duties.  Could you please keep them in your thoughts.  My FIL has also been diagnosed as having prostate cancer.  Even though this news is also terrible, the doctors think that it has been caught early enough and that with minimal treatment he shall continue to be amongst us for many years to come.

Sorry to end on a downer.  If I don't manage to get back here before Christmas, I would like to sincerely wish you and your families all the very best for the coming festive season and a safe and prosperous New Year.

THREE MONTHS AND COUNTING!!

Has it ever been a long time since I posted anything on my blog. Some of you would know that I am still around by the comments that I have been leaving on your blogs.

Like everyone with children knows life can get very busy and some things just need to move down the priority list, and I am sorry but for me one of those things is posting to my blog. You see, I would much rather stitch or read your blogs that post to my blog. Strange, I know!!!

Things continue to be busy for us: Luke has venturers (scouts), plays soccer (the season has just finished) and is working part-time at McDonalds. He wants to go to Vietnam in November 2011 as part of the organisation called the World Challenge, hence the reason for the job. We told him that he would need to fund it himself and this is the desire of the organisers also and they in fact encourage the kids to come up with find raising ideas to cut down the cost which is approximately $6000.00. If he does have a short-fall we will of course help him but he has to make an effort. It will be a wonderful experience for him and I am excited that he is able to go. They go for four weeks, the first to acclimatise, they work in an orphanage or a school for a week, help out with a building project and they do a hike for a week. Joel has basketball once a week, cubs (scouts) and could also play in a modified soccer competition but unfortunately that clashes with basketball and since we have already paid for him to do that, that is what he will do! Caitlyn goes to Joeys, also a scout program, and will be playing soccer when it starts. She didn't do basketball as she in not old enough yet.

When I was younger, I played and loved tennis. I am pleased to say that DH and I have started playing on a Tuesday night and we are having the best time. We may not always win but we give it a good shot. Some nights the mist is so heavy that it makes the balls heavier, meaning that I can give the balls an extra hard whack knowing that they will go in for me HEHEHE!!

As for stitching I am concentrating on Faery Tales by HAED. I have completed 18 out of 60 pages. I would love to finish this 'one day' but I need the occasional break. So I'll do a little bit on one of my many other (sigh) wips or put some stitches into a smaller design just so I will have a finish in the not too distant future. The smaller design that I have on the go is My Needle's Work my LHN. So here are some wip pictures. I wish I could take better photos!!!

And here for your enjoyment, and full of cuteness is a photo of our Mr Puddles. I had left this ball of wool in our sitting room and I was in the rumpus room when he came trotting in with this hanging out of his mouth, all I could do was laugh at him.

I had some luck a while ago now. I won some wonderful HDF threads from Cathy. The threads are all in purple shades and here is a link to the post of Cathy showing her finish using these threads. Doesn't it look wonderful. I am seriously considering using one of these colors in a monochromatic design, don't know which thread or design yet!!! Thanks you so much Cathy for your generosity, I truly love the threads.

Suzanne had a bit of a de-stash and I put my hand up for a chart called Irises by Serendipity Designs. Irises were a favourite flower of my Mum's and she had many in her garden. Thank you too Suzanne for your generosity.

If I said that I will promise to update more regularly would you believe me? LOL. I will try!!!

This has turned into a long post, if you have made it to the end I thank you. I hope that you are all well and that you are getting lots of stitching done.

It has been awhile, again.

I apologise for disappearing for so long, computer issues and not being able to load photos has kept me away from posting to my blog.

Thanks everyone for the lovely comments on my last post and for all of the wonderful things that you said about Puddles. I would also like to thank everyone who had become a follower. Hazel correctly pointed out that the photo in my previous post is a bi-colour kitty, not a seal point, (which is what Puddles is). I should have actually posted this photo, blogger won't let me up-load any more photos so here is a link to Puddles mum. Puddles is just like her. He is so affectionate, especially first thing of a morning, all I need to do is pick him up and snuggle with him and he starts purring so loudly. He is very playful, anything that moves is fair game, especially toes and feet. We are all enjoying having him in our family.

We have been pretty busy of late. The weekend of the 17th/18th of April we were in Melbourne for various things; Nephew's 9th birthday party, sister's 40th wedding anniversary, dinner with BIL and his partner (they have just returned back to Australia after living in Switzerland for four years) and we went to see Mamma Mia. The season for Mamma Mia had actually finished some time ago, and DH was forever berating himself as we didn't go to see it. So when it was announced that the show was returning for a limited time he quickly got us some tickets, and fortunately it happened to fall on the same weekend as everything else. Mamma Mia was fabulous, we loved it. DH particularly enjoyed the singing, you see I had subjected him to the movie and he has continually made fun of Pierce Brosnan's singing, I just tell him that I don't care how he sings, looking at him more that makes up for any missed notes! It made for an incredibly busy weekend, but it is always good to catch up with loved ones.

Now for some stitching news. I have had three finishes so far this year, go me LOL. One of them has not been photographed as yet, but I am pleased to show you the other two.

First off is Cirque des Cercles by Ink Circles. I stitched this on 28 ct Navy Jobelan using a Dinky Dyes silk called Desert Sands. It is stitched with two strands over two threads.

Blogger is being painful and won't let me arrange the photos so the close-ups are coming first.

Next is a little design by Birds of a Feather. It is called Soweth Sampler. It is stitched on 36ct linen using the called for WDW threads.

At the moment I am stitching on Faery Tales by HAED. I have made some decent progress on this and need to take a photo of it to post.

Well I must go and do some house work. Take care everyone and I hope that you all get lots of stitching done.

I am in love!!! And my computer hates me.

You may ask with whom am I in love with!!! A little kitty boy has come into our lives. He is just adorable. He was born on the 8th of November and he is a Seal Point Ragdoll. We have had him for a week now and we have called him Puddles as Raggies do like water if they are in the mood. We tossed around a few other names; Jasper, Chester etc, but Puddles was the only one that we could all agree on. I did try to load some photos from my mobile (cell) phone today but I was not successful, however I will (steal) borrow a photo of his father from where we got him from. He has settled into our household really well, it is like he has been here forever.

I don't think that we could have chosen a better breed. They are well know for their tolerance and I don't think that any of us are sporting any scratches as yet. If he doesn't want to be held, especially by Joel or Caitlyn, and if they won't let him go he will just give them a little nip.

He has 'met' the dogs through the glass doors and windows. One night DH and I had just finished reading and turned out our lamps when we heard some hissing and spitting. Puddles had discovered that the dogs also existed on the other side of the window and sped out of our room. Once we realised what had happened we were ROFLOL, (in bed though). It was so funny. He has been a constant source of amusement for all of us, poor Puddles. I do love our kitty cuddles, he is so soft and he is a chronic purrer.

I have had three finishes in recent times. I started a little BOAF design called Soweth Sampler and completed it some time ago. I completed Faith from LHN Scripture series and CdC by Ink Circles. I can't find the USB cord for the camera and was not able to load pictures from my mobile earlier in the day. HOHUM (letting out big sigh). At the moment I am working on three designs; Bubbles from HAED, Lizzie Kates Double Flips and Desert Guardian by Character Creations. I have worked out a rotation with these and so far it is going well. Will post updates when I sort out the photo issues.

I would just like to thank everyone that drops by, I love getting your comments and reading them always puts a smile on my face. When we came back from our holidays early January there were over 1300 posts in my bloglines, and now they are down to to about 250. There hasn't been a lot of commenting as I have been doing most of the reading from my I-pod touch, and even though I love it, commenting can be a bit hit and miss at times.

Well I am going to go and get some kitty cuddles before I go to bed, stay safe everyone and I hope that you get lots of stitching done.

Retreat..

The retreat was amazing. The owners of where we stayed were extremely hospitable and welcoming. The chef was truly wonderful, I wanted to take him home with me, seriously for his cooking. The food and accommodation were a package deal and I thought that we might have had a choice of menu items for our meals, so we were truly spoilt with the chef making recommendations and asking what we liked/disliked. The food was to die for, mouth watering steak, we had garlic prawns done in a cream sauce with rice, gorgeous tarts for morning/afternoon teas, there was some sort of Thai chicken dish. With three wholesome meals per day and morning and afternoon tea also, I never had a chance to ever feel hungry I was just 'topping up' all the time.

These are the tarts that we were given for morning or afternoon tea, I can't remember now, but they were delicious. We had to include the scissors and threads as props as it was a stitching weekend after all!

These are the other two girls who attended. Bek on the left and Gayle. They are both gorgeous girls and we had many laughs together. Gayle has a little called Caitlyn, it is spelt the same way as our Caitlyn. Given the many variations we thought that this was great. Bek is busy planning for her up-coming wedding, such exciting times ahead for her.

Here is Bernadette with her 'almost' completed Ida May Crow. Bernadette bought her shop along and we were all able to add to our stash. Bernadette is planning another retreat in May 2010 so check out the link to her shop for more details.

I haven't taken a picture of my little finish yet, soon I promise.

We will get the keys to our house tomorrow, YEAH!!! HAPPY DANCING HERE. So all that is going on at the moment is lots of cleaning and packing. DH has gone to Bendigo with the kids, who have all finished school now, to attend his Dad's retirement function. Tomorrow night after work I am getting the train to Melbourne and then on to Bendigo so that we can celebrate Christmas with my family. Once that is over we will be coming home so that we can start moving into our house on Sunday. WOOHOO!!!

I won't get a chance to post for a little while so I hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas, and a safe New Year.

Much love and hugs to all

Joanne.

House Photos

Here are the photos of our house being built, at long last.

This is quite early in the process after the site was 'scraped' and leveled off. If you can see the steel rods sticking up out of the ground, they are for the placement of the pipes for the plumbing.

This one is of the concrete slab after it was poured. You may remember that I wrote about having some trees removed before we could begin building. Well, they caused us some problems during the site preparation for the slab. As the builders were excavating for the footings (deeper parts of the slab for stabilisation) they kept on pulling out large root systems. Our builder was concerned and waited a few days to get another opinion on the design of the slab. The original design was drafted by the company that our builder is affiliated with and they had classified and designed the slab incorrectly, ignoring a recommendation from the company who performed the soil test to determine the type of slab that had to be built. Due to the delays that all of this caused, including some pretty wet weather, our builder got the tradesmen to complete the slab on a Saturday, unheard of in the Australian building industry. This was a big surprise for us, and

we had no idea that this was happening, so no photos of the actual process. There was also a significant increase in the cost of the slab, our builder apologised to us for this, but we totally understood that if the base wasn't right, how could we expect the rest of the house to be right.

Next up is the frame. This is taken from the front. The big beam across the front is a roof support and the entry to our garage.

And this frame shot is from the back of the house. The mound on the right hand side of the photo is what is left of the trees that were taken down. We asked the 'tree men' to mulch some of the trees so that we could use it for our garden.

The house is being 'wrapped' in a type of insulation and the windows are in.

And here is the roof and the completion of the brick work. The brick layers were amazing. Only two of them, always on site early, 6:30 am, and would work until around 3:00. We would go there during their lunch break to see how everything was going and they would always be laughing and joking with one another, great to see. An acquaintance of ours said that they were the best 'brickies' around.

This is of the gyprock (walls) after it had been hung. The black pipe curling over is the water pipe to our kitchen taps (faucets). There will be an island bench here with the rest of the kitchen to the right and rear of this photo.

Looking into our rumpus room from the alfresco area. The area in the photo above is to right in this photo. These two rooms are accessed by two large sliding doors. We would have liked to have had the pillar in the middle taken out, but that would have involved changing the whole structure of the roof and would have escalated the cost considerably. Seeing what happened with the slab it was a good thing that we didn't.

I am sorry that these have taken so long. There has been much more work done on the house since these photos have been taken, so I will have to take some more at some stage and put some on here.

Next in store are some photos from the stitching retreat, and a stitchy update, and a (drum roll please) finish.

I AM SO EXCITED!!

I was going to post some wip photos and house building photos, but now I can't find the camera. The camera bag is there, the usb cable is there, but not the camera. So apologies once again. (The camera is working, even though it is still doing the 'jittery thingy', DH replaced the batteries DOH!!)

I am so looking forward to tomorrow. I am finishing work early and then making way to a little place called Narbethong. What for you may ask? A Stitching Retreat!!! This is being organised by a fellow stitcher and ONS owner Bernadette. Check-in is any time after 2pm, I am hoping to arrive at around 5pm. I am thinking a which wips to take, perhaps a new start also. I suppose that I should also take some clean clothes and other stuff, toiletries etc.

I have met Bernadette on a couple of other occasions, so I am looking forward to catching up with her, but as I have only ever been to one stitching afternoon before, at Bernadette's house, I haven't met many other stitchers and bloggers. There will be 'goody bags' and stash shopping as Bernadette is bringing her shop with her.

Just so there is a photo for this post here is a picture of how our house will look when it is finished. The photo is from the National Builders website, and if you click on the link it will take you to a page where you can down load a pdf file to see the floor plan of the house. Ours is the Sandhurst 3ooE. We have changed a couple of things; taken out the hall-way behind the kitchen to the home theatre and just 'moved' the kitchen back. The door to the home theatre will then be past the kitchen. And we have added an additional 1.5 metres onto the width of the garage. The entry was huge, a room all of its own, so we made that a bit narrower and gave the extra space to the study and living rooms, but we still have the double doors at the front.

Well I must go and start packing for the weekend and try a do some house work just so that DH doesn't have so much to worry about.

Bye for now, happy stitching and stay safe.

Thank you!!!

I would sincerely like to thank everyone who read my last post and left a message. You are all truly wonderful and I consider all of you to be true friends.

Pokua, thanks for the tip about the fabric for MOTM, I will certainly make sure that I am happy with the coverage before I get too far along with the design.

I have been stitching, every night as my de-stress, but I can't get my camera to work to show you any progress pictures. Joel, our 7yo, thinks that the camera is a toy and I think that he has damaged it. We have trouble turning it on, and if by some chance it does turn on the screen does this jittery sort of thing before actually turning on.

I have mainly been stitching on Impatient Ballerina by HAED, and a little on CDC by Ink Circle of a lunch time (I only work 2 days per week so progress is quite slow, but it all helps.) I have also had a new start, Spanish Geometrical Sampler by The Needle's Content. Here is a link to the completed design. The colors and silks are amazing!!

It is a week of birthdays at the moment, mine was on the 30th of September, Caitlyn (my baby) had her sixth birthday on the 1st of October and DH has his on the 5th, I am caked out!! LOL

The building of our house is coming along great after some initial delays. There was a problem with the design of the concrete slab, so our builder had to consult with another company for the fault to be rectified. Once that was all sorted out and the slab laid, the frame and roof tiles went up, and the windows were put where they had to go. Last week the plumbers and electrician were there, and the heating and cooling units were installed. The bricklayers and plasterers are due to be there in the coming week. Sorry, there are no photos due to the camera problem.

Well I must go, I am about to do an order for the latest JCS ornament issue, plus some other things, I have to justify the postage HEHE. I am going to get some threads so that I can kit a few things up.

Happy stitching everyone, and stay safe.

The Last of Our Firsts

Yesterday, August 10th, marked the first year of my Mum's passing. We have had a year of firsts, first birthday, Christmas, Easter, Mother's Day etc, hence my title.

Dad lives five and a half hours away by car, with no stops, but we always stop half way for a break and a meal so the trip invariably stretches out to six or more hours. On Friday night we made the trek to stay at DH's Dad's house, half an hour from my Dad's, so that we could spend some time with my Dad. On Saturday afternoon DH and the kids took me to Dads and I had a sleepover at his place. He cooked tea, quite well I might mention, he is a very capable cook. He would often cook meals for us, I am one of five, when we were growing up as Mum worked alot of nights in the kitchen of a hotel.

Dad has got a little dog, a Jack Russell called Bessie. She is such a blessing. I am sure that she is the reason that Dad gets up in the morning. We, my siblings and I, are so, so pleased that Dad has her. Bessie sleeps with Dad during the night, however when I stayed she came to me during the night and snuggled with me. Dad called her a traitor, lovingly of course, and he was glad to share her with me.

Dad has begun to attend church. I was able to go with him on Sunday morning. My three sisters joined us, albeit a little late, while my brother (church is so not his thing) waited for all of us outside. After a cuppa with the parishioners we all went to the cemetery. One of my sisters bought a bunch of balloons, in rainbow colors, for us to release. DH and the kids had arrived by this stage, and the kids took great delight in being able to release a balloon for their Nanny.

We then went to a hotel for lunch. It was a good day, and a fitting way to remember Mum.

Dad had some misgivings, he made a comment to me that he would like nothing more than for the day to be like any other, for it just to slip by quietly. But with two of my sisters that is just not possible, the bigger the fuss the better as far as they are concerned. Even to the point of 'dancing and stomping' on Mum's grave so that Mum knew that we were there. I was disgusted. I had always been taught that to even walk on someones grave was very disrespectful. I haven't spoken to Dad to see what he thought, but I am sure that he would think the same as me.

Dad spoke of how badly he treated Mum at times, but it mustn't have been all bad as they were married for just shy of 57 years. We had a very stable upbringing. I lived in the same house until I was married, and I never had to change schools, except for going to secondary school when the time came. Dad thought that Mum did a great job of rearing us kids. You see, Dad wasn't always around. He was a shift worker on the railways. I assured him that he was and still is a great influence on all of us.

Mum, I miss you so much, you were always there for us. Whenever I was unwell, you would always come to help out. I still expect you to answer the phone when I ring, or to be on the other end when I answer our phone. I love you Mum and you will always be in my heart.

Stitchy Update.

So here are the update photos that I spoke about in my previous post, mind you, I have stitched more than what shows in these photos LOL. That is what I get for taking so long to post.

First off is Gypsy Rose. There is more stitched in this part, as well as some progress on the far left of the design, just me going off on a tangent.

Next up for show and tell is Faery Tales, this is the completion of this page and is of course The Ugly Duckling, sorry for the crappy photo.

Here is another photo of Faery Tales with an 'almost' complete Cinderella, and we can see the emergence of Prince Charming.

And last of all is Impatient Ballerina, there is quite a bit more done on this one.

That is it for the stitching updates.

As for the house, the builder should be given the go ahead next week, so we should start to see some progress. We have been and selected all of our colors, including a red front door and magenta glass splash backs for the kitchen. What have we done??? The color consultant suggested that we make a feature of our front door as it is a double entry door, so we did!! As for the splash backs, what were we thinking? We had a cinnamon color chosen and DH kept on referring to it as baby poo yellow, and I just would not be able to live with him saying that all the time. We had already chosen the bench tops and cupboard doors and didn't want to have to change them again as well, so we went with magenta. Everything else in the house is neutral. Neither myself or DH are 'out there' sort of people, these selections are so out of character for us, but have a couple of WOW factors really appealed to us.

Well best go and see if I can get some things around the house accomplished.

Stay safe and happy stitching.