Still Here ...!!

I'm still here! Thanks to my lovely blogging buddies who have emailed to see if I'm OK ... have been busy and trying VERY hard to stave off a cold, so have been laying a bit low this week. I think I've had a win with avoiding a full-blown head cold  ... lemon drinks, olive leaf, natural cold and flu tablets, even the radical idea of resting!!! have all been applied this week ... but I have been feeling a bit "BLAH!" with it all, so have been hibernating a bit. I've got a VERY busy September coming up, so I'm hoarding my reserves! :0)

I have been doing some stitching, though. Some I can't show yet, as it's new design work, but I CAN show you that I've finished stitching one of my "In-Between-Deadlined-Projects-Project" ... if you see what I mean! :0) I stitch with a fun group of ladies every second Friday night at my Home-Away-From-Home and this is what I've been stitching away at ...

It's one of the cute little teddies I painted at a workshop with Libby Richardson of ArtSmart Craft Cottage in June at Quilters Angel.

 

She's a very girly-girl bear and such a sweetie! I had fun stitching away ... once I chose some new threads ... and a new needle ... and borrowed some scissors!!! GRRRR! It was one of THOSE stitching sessions where you feel you're lucky you remembered to show up yourself!!!

 

I'm going to stitch some more of Libby's cute bear designs and use some pretty scraps from my stash to make a 'beary' sweet, shabby chic knee quilt just for ME. It's always fun to stitch someone else's designs every now and then, with no pressure to remember what thread number you used (though ... note to self ... that WOULD be a pretty handy note to make to self for future I-forgot-my-thread events!!), no measurements to take, no notes to be written, no instructions to make sense of ... you get the picture! :0) Sort of a designer's holiday! :0) I'll show you as I make more progress on these blocks ... though my 'just for me' stitching time is a bit light-on most weeks.

 

Speaking of the lovely Libby ... have you visited Libby's blog yet?? It seems two of her mischievous little bear characters (Correy  and Jessy) have decided Libby has been a bit slack with her blog writing and they've taken over. Pop over for a visit and see what happens in Libby's studio when she's away ... it confirms a theory I've always had about how our lounge room gets messed up when the only ones at home are the teddy bears! Tee! Hee! Hee!

 

Right ... well, I'm off to make myself a cup of tea with lemon ... gotta keep that cold at bay!! Lots of exciting things coming up in September ... including Stitchers Dream Day Out and Creative Fields and I do NOT want to miss out! If you don't want to miss out on them either, hop over to the Quilters Angel web site to get all the info and if you ARE coming to Stitchers Dream Day Out, let me know so I can say "G'day!" Hope you're all keeping well and away from cold-bugs ... have a fantastic week! Til next time ...

 

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!
KRIS

 

 

A Lovely Time Waster!

(This photo has nothing whatsoever to do with the following post ... it's just that a post with no pictures is a bit boring and I like this one so popped it on to add a splash of colour! Tee! Hee! Hee!)

This may surprise some of you, but I'm a bit of a technophobe. (I know ... a technophobe married to the ultimate Geek Boy ... go figure!!!) It takes me quite a while to gear myself up to embrace new technology and I'll often sit back and watch for a while to see if I REALLY want to take the plunge. Some I have, some I've kept my toesies out of the water.

Now, for some time now, I've been seeing a new button appearing on some of my favourite blogs ...

Hmmm ... "What on earth is this 'Pinterest'?" I asked myself. Self did not have any helpful information!! In fact, self often lets me down badly in the information department! Tee! Hee! Hee! So in a bid to gain knowledge ... and not be left entirely behind in the techno stakes! ... I started to click on those little red buttons to see what happened. Oh the beautiful photos I discovered!! The creatively staged photography, the gloriously colourful gardens, the inspirational decorating ideas! There was a whole new, pretty world out there ... but I still wasn't sure this new thing was for me ... plus I had a few little niggly concerns with it all at first ... which have since been addressed.

Well ... this weekend I took the plunge ... held my breath, closed my eyes and clicked on the "Sign Up" button. I now have a Pinterest account. Hmmm ... so what now? How does this all work? What do I do? Where do I look? Aaaah  ... the questions I pondered ... the pretty pictures I admired while pondering!!! :0) I'm still not sure I've entirely got the hang of this newfangled gadgetty thingy, but I do have a lovely collection of inspirational photos growing on my page ... I'm sure I'll learn more tricks as I go along ... but for now, I'm enjoying gathering lovely photos to inspire my creativity ... Oh! And fill in all the spare time I have laying around! Tee! Hee! Hee! Why not click on that red button in my sidebar and have a look at what's 'wasted' my time this weekend ... when I really should have been sewing! :0) I hope you enjoy the pretty pictures as much as I am. It's all Kerryanne's and Laurie's fault! Their lovely pinboards finally tipped me over the edge! Tee! Hee! Hee! Oh ... if you want a good belly laugh, pop across to read Laurie's post about her latest decorating addition to her bedroom HERE ... I nearly fell off the couch laughing!!! She also shared her link on Kerryanne's Friday link up party.

OK ... off I go to do some of the things I didn't do because I was cruising around Pinterest world. :0) Hope your weekend had been a balance of acheivements and relaxation. Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!
KRIS

Signs Of Spring!

Just for a change ... I'm not going to complain about the cold here on top of our 'hill'! :0) Yes ... it's still 'fresh' in the mornings with around 4 degrees, but we've had some lovely sunny days that have been much more pleasant for us hot-weather lovers. (as long as you can stay out of the wind, of course!) In fact ... walking around the retirement village where I work, and as I peek out my office door ... I think I'm starting to see the first signs that spring isn't too far away ... YAY! I thought I'd share my spring hints so you can enjoy them too. These photos were all taken on my iPhone and the first is a couple of little visitors who have been 'knocking' on my office door for the last week ...

Mr and Mrs Blue Wren ... aren't they cute!! :0) They are teeny tiny little birds ... their little legs don't look like they should be strong enough to hold them up, but they have ATTITUDE!!! This pic was taken through the glass sliding door of my office ... where they have taken to fighting with their reflections ... it is kind of funny to watch! :0) And you should hear them going OFF! They sure do tell those 'intruders' where to go! Tee! Hee! Hee!

These pansies are part of a garden edging and the purple colour reminds me of plush velvet.

The daffodils are shining their sunny yellow faces around the gardens ... even if the light was in the wrong spot for the photo, really! :0)

The clivias are splashing their cheerful orange around ... I'm not usually an 'orange' fan, but the contrast against the dark green leaves and the grey of the birdbath is pretty cool. :0)

And this lush looking orchid has been lending some class to the garden edge near our community hall.

All in all, I'm feeling encouraged that spring isn't too far away. Of course ... winter in Toowoomba almost guarantees a few more nasty frosty days before Jack Frost goes away for good for the year ... but now I have some lovely spring photos to bring me hope. :0)

May your week be full of sparks of colour and splashes of hope! :0) Til next time ...

HOPE-FILLED BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!
KRIS

I DID It!!

Here we are, it's Saturday again ... well ... it's now clicked over to Sunday if you want to get technical ... but you know what I mean! :0) Horrible, freezing westerly winds whipping around the top of our 'hill' today, so it was a good day to hunker down in the ol' sewing room and I did something I haven't done in a long time ...

... I dragged my overlocker out of the cupboard and dusted her off ... literally!! How do things get dusty INSIDE the cupboard?!?!?! Add some pretty fabrics ...

 ... I know ... PURPLE!! ... not my usual colour pick, but I fell in love with these yummy batik fabrics and decided they were perfect to do something quite different and out of my comfort zone ... make myself a skirt!!! Now, all of my past Home Economics teachers and my mother will attest to the fact that dressmaking is NOT one of my great skills ... mainly cos I can't read a dressmaking pattern to save myself!! I think I gave those poor Home Ec teachers grey hairs! Tee! Hee! Hee! In fact, when it comes to dressmaking, I usually send fabric and pattern/photo home to my Mum to take care of! :0) However ... I saw a gorgeous skirt being worn by one of the ladies attending the "Girls' Stitch In" in March and with a few pointers from the super helpful Marion at Quilters Angel, I decided to give it a shot.

... I cut some 8" squares and got overlocking. Everything was going swimmingly until there was a 'PLINK' and one of the threads snapped! AAAAARRRRGGHHHH!!! (A join-knot in the thread got caught up and broke the thread ... I HATE when that happens!!) One of the reasons I rarely use the overlocker is very simple ... I'm HOPELESS at re-threading the rotten thing!!!!!! You'll laugh at me ... but I usually wait until my Mum is visiting and get HER to rethread it cos she uses hers more often and can re-thread in her sleep. :0) However, with no Mum-visit on the cards and an event approaching that I want to wear my pretty purple skirt to, I decided to be brave and try the re-threading thing. It took a while, involved quite a lot of muttering, a moderate amount of swearing and holding my tongue at just the right angle ... but finally ... SUCCESS!! I DID IT!!  I didn't have to wait for Mum after all! :0) And I was off again. At the end of the afternoon ...

... I had all my strips of squares joined ready for the gathering step ... that will be tomorrow's challenge. :0) In the meantime, I think it might be time to keep a date with my pillow. I hope you're all having a great start to your weekend and that you get to spend some time doing some fun stuff! :0) Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!
KRIS

Sunny Sunday With My Sweetie!!

Here we are, Monday has rolled around again and we all had to drag ourselves out of bed to toodle off to work with eyes half shut cos we didn't go to bed as early as we keep telling ourselves we should ... or maybe that's just ME! Tee! Hee! Hee! Another cold start to the week, though we did have a brief respite over the weekend, with sunny, slightly warmer days. So what's a gal to do on a sunny Sunday, but convince her Sweetie that it's a nice day for a drive. :0)

My very own Sweetie (A.K.A My Beloved Geek Boy!!) and I both had a few errands to run, so we got those out of the way quickly before heading north to Highfields and Cabarlah for our Sunday drive. Now, if you're like me, you have 'favourite' shops ... places you just LOVE to visit, even if it's only to look. Well, one of MY favourite shops moved a while back and I hadn't had the chance to call in for a visit since, so this was the perfect time. Oh the pretties I can find at Vintage Primrose!!!! There were so MANY lovely things I would have loved to bring home, but I confined myself to a few small treasures ...

 ... FIVE new treasures, in fact ... which I forgot to get a 'before' photos of  - OOPS! Also, please excuse my 'flower arranging' ... I come from the "pick & plonk" or "snip & stuff" school of flower art! :0) It's just one of those skills that elude me!! However ... it will show you one of the many uses I thought of for my new treasures ... a pale pink Depression Glass vase and four little cut glass jugs. I just couldn't pass them up and for $5 each, I thought they were sweet bargain additions to our decor. I suppose you could even use them to POUR stuff if you wanted to be really radical! Tee! Hee! Hee!

Now, searching for treasures can cause you to work up an appetite, so we looked for somewhere to grab lunch, finally deciding to try somewhere new. We made ourselves comfy amidst the bright Mexican colours of "Colours Of San Cris" at Cabarlah. Not only do they offer delicious meals for very reasonable prices, they have a huge range of Mexican/tribal influenced goodies for sale that create a colourful and fun setting for lunch ...

Here's my Sweetie enjoying his tasty lunch. Can you hear him thinking ... "SIGH! Not again! Enough with the photos of me eating!" Tee! Hee! Hee! He really is a cutie, don't you think! :0) You can also see some of the Mexican style pretties in the background.

All in all, it was a very pleasant way to spend a sunny Sunday. I also managed to spend some time in my sewing room over the weekend ... am a bit stuck with one project at the moment ... I know what I want to do, just nutting out the best way to do it so it's in the 'too hard' basket for now ... and started a new Secret Squirrel project that I am LOVING! :0) Gotta keep you in suspenders for a little while, but can't wait to share it with you!

Who knows ... I might even be able to add my secret project to my OPAM finishes list this month! :0) Sweet Peg and I have finished our monthly blog-hop for July and the winners have been announced this morning on Sweet Peg's blog. Well done to the winners and well done to everyone for their stitching efforts for July ... a grand total of

645

finishes was recorded! WOO! HOO!!! Congrats to all who finished projects and well done to those who managed to make some good progress on their long-term projects. Don't be discouraged if you didn't have finishes for your list this month ... remember that the main goal of OPAM is to encourage us all to take a bit of time out from our busy schedule to relax, stitch and take a breath. If you managed to do that, then you're a winner! :0) Thanks to everyone who emailed me or Sweet Peg with your end of month tally - it really is a big help to us and I promise to try to answer your emails this week ... slowly but surely will be the ticket, I think! :0)

OK ... slice to bake, dinner to organise, music to get in order all before I head off to choir rehearsal tonight, so I'd better get a wriggle on. Hope your Sunday was full of sunshine too ... real or metaphorical! :0) Enjoy your week - til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!
KRIS