Still Alive And Kicking!

Hello to all you gorgeous creatures out there in blogland! Yes ... I'm still alive & kicking ... & wondering where the heck the last couple of weeks went! I can't believe it's September already ... Though our weather up here on our 'hill' hasn't exactly been Spring-like.

Life here continues to be crazy busy, but things at my grown up job are starting to get sorted a bit. After four & a half months of co-managing the retirement village where I work, after the abrupt departure of our manager in April, we welcomed our new manager this week & I have a feeling he's just the right person for the job. There's still the settling in period while we all work out the new team dynamic, but I have a good feeling about it. :0)

And this week saw something else exciting happen ... I got to spend some quality time with my sewing machine!! YAY!! Between one thing & a dozen others, it had been over a month since I'd had some sewing time. Better still ... I FINISHED a project! DOUBLE YAY! :0) Remember I shared a pic of my gloomy day movie-watching project!

A little painted stitchery project designed by the lovely Libby Richardson. Well ...

It's FINISHED! :0) Now ... Those of you who know me well & have been visiting my blog for a while now will NOT be surprised to hear that I didn't make up my project by following the instructions ... I went rogue! Tee! Hee! Hee! I wanted to show off the pretty fabrics so put wider borders around my stitchery & made it as a 'book' rather than a tri-fold folder ... Which meant I had to redesign the inside of the folder, too. :0) But ... It's still a thread holder ...

... With a swatch of pretty green wool to store needles & pins.

It's turned out to be a very handy size. It can store 12 embroidery thread cards & scissors along with needles & pins. I'm thinking about making a couple more of these so I can have one per project. Of course ... It's taken me a year to finish this one, so who knows! :0P And ... It's the first ever Stitchers Dream Day project that I have FINISHED! I've finished the stitcheries for a few in the last 11 years, but never before have I managed to finish a whole project. Just in time for next weekend's Stitchers Dream Day! :0) Are any of you coming to play next weekend? Let me know so we can catch up. And if you haven't booked yet, I believe there are a few spots left for both the Saturday & the Sunday, so act QUICKLY if you want to join the fun ... A FABULOUS day is guaranteed! :0)

And as well as being the first Stitchers Day project I've ever finished, it's an early finish for my OPAM list for September ... To balance out the goose egg on my August tally. :0) I think quite a few of us were busy with non-sewing things in August, or were working on long term larger projects, as our tally was a bit lower ... But there were still 118 finishes recorded, so well done to everyone. And the August random draw winners of the OPAM stitchery pattern are ...

NARELLE C

&

ANNE MARIE

Congrats to you both! Drop me an email & I'll send you the PDF stitchery pattern so you can get stitching. Have any prize winners stitched their version of the prize stitchery yet? I'd love to see them if you have.

But right now I think it's time for a cuppa & then maybe some more sewing ... I have a few gifties that I need to work on so will get started while my mojo is in residence. :0) I hope you all have a fantastic weekend. Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!

KRIS