We're having a heatwave, a blinkin' heatwave

It is sooo hot. It's going to be 44c which is roughly 111f. And that's in the shade. It's soo hot, even the website for our local temperature is down, or maybe just crashed due to the amount of people trying to find out it's hot. I know how hot it is, it's blinkin' hot.

Jack found a dying bird yesterday and wanted to bring it inside. Gave him that high pitched scream, whilst having visions of him running past me through the open door, letting go of the bird inside and me trying to catch it. So I had to outrun him around the other side of the house to close the door- no mean feat either, considering how fast he runs and I don't. Although I did do Wii Fit in the morning, so maybe that helped!

I thought I'd post my current wip, which isn't on my 'to do list'. It's Debbie Draper's 'Love is in the air', stitched on the suggested 32ct 'Chablis' linen by Picture This Plus, using the suggested Carrie's Creation Threads 'Masquerade'. Fabric is a bit too un-evenweave and I'm having trouble finding the holes. Maybe it's my eyes. I haven't stitched on 32ct for a while. Anyway, it's my wedding anniversary next Wednesday, 14 years of blessed bliss, well most of the time. So, due to the heat, it's a good day to stitch.



So, before I self-combust, I bid you farewell.

Jack's favourite floss

Jack, our 2yo crazy Jack Russell, gets into everything. However, because he hates the high pitched scream I make when I find him munching on things he has left my cross stitch stash alone lately.

But, this takes the cake (he does that too). And it was Nicholas that made the high pitched scream when he discovered this, because he knows that mum does not like anyone messing with her cross stitch stuff (he learnt this at a young age).

Upon hearing Nicholas's high pitched scream, this is what I discovered -



Notice the 'clumpy' bit? That's what he was chewing on. Notice the long 'stringy' bit? That's what he had stuck in his teeth. Kinda hard to pretend he's not done anything when the evidence is hanging out his mouth, Sigh.

At least he has good taste. It WAS Vikki Clayton's silk -Goldrush. It felt nice too, before all the slobber. Oh well. Perhaps I should visit Vikki's site and buy some more.

Woohoo, some finishes!

I've actually managed to finish stitching two gifts well ahead of time. I'm feeling pretty chuffed about this, but the real test will be actually turning them into something to give, that's not rushed and finished so-so.

Here's my first one, The Cat's Whiskers 'Heartstrings'. I was going to frame it, but I'm thinking of turning it into a cushion (pillow) now, with some pretty floral fabric, yet to be purchased.



This next one is Blackbird Design's 'Savoir Faire', a freebie with purchase from 'The Stitching Post'



I 'visually' converted the required GAST & WDW threads to Vikki Clayton's silks,which are lovely to stitch with. I'm going to make this into a floss tag.


This one is Glory Bee's 'Childproof', the first piece I've managed to stitch for myself since 2001!




And my first beading finish for the year, a pendant for moi! Freebie pattern and supplies from Fusionbeads.com using Swarovski crystals and sterling silver findings.



The supplies arrived before Christmas and I've been procrastinating about making it. It seemed too hard to make, and it was lol, I nearly gave up part way through, cos I couldn't quite get it right. Didn't turn out too bad after all!

Happy Stitching!

These Lazy Days of Summer...

I love this time of the year, mornings down at Grange beach, with Nicholas participating in VacSwim, the afternoons spent stitching and watching the tennis, and warm summery nights -with the airconditioner going full blast, so that we can brave the heat outside for short periods of time, then quickly dash back inside to cool down. Mostly, during a typical summer it's too hot to do too much outside, but at the moment it's about 30c (86f), so I have some gardening planned for later in the week...

Yikes, the frog has been visiting. Was sitting proudly looking at my stitching, thinking how quickly it was coming along, musing how 'this' part of my stitching was only 1 stitch away from the border, hang on - that bit I did before wasn't one stitch away from the border- have I made another mistake?- crikey there are 5 hearts in the wrong place!

This is the Cat's Whiskers HeartStrings, using DMC, minus 5 small hearts!

Happy New Year!

Well, I didn't want the first day of the year to go by without posting a blog. Although not one to usually make themas I usually break them, this year I have decided to set myself some goals. And so, here are my New Year's Resolutions-

1/ To be more frugal with my time, and cut down on 'wasted' time, really spent doing nothing worthwhile.

2/ Work toward acheiving my goals (maybe this should be no 1).

3/ To concentrate on the positive aspects of life.

4/To keep my stitching on task, and not be frantically stitching, trying to finish off gifts, at the last minute.

5/ To reduce waste and our carbon footprint.

Hmm, that's probably enough for now. We'll see how I go.

Pauline