Home Again ... SIGH!!

All good things must come to an end ... So they say, though it really doesn't seem fair! :0P My Beloved Geek Boy & I are back from our beachy weekend & had a wonderful time. It was fantastic to have three days of being warm after the nasty cold of last week & we took advantage of it ...

We took long walks along the fabulous Boardwalk that runs right around the bay ...

... Enjoyed dinner at our fave Italian restaurant ...

... Then needed to go for another walk to settle our delicious dinner! :0) And it wouldn't have been a true weekend away without a little shopping ...

OOPS! Would you look at that! Some fabric followed me home! Tee! Hee! Hee! Not sure what I'll do with this tasty lot, but a layer cake & meterage should give me enough to play with. :0) I also enjoyed a chat with Penny, who helped me liberate my new fabricky friends. :0P It occurred to me that my two favourite fabric shops are run by angels ... The Quilters Angel (A.K.A. My Home-Away-From-Home!) & The Patchwork Angel. :0) 

Of course there was also more yummy holiday food ...

AAAAAAAHHHHH! Breakfast with a view ... Mashed avo & poached eggs on sourdough ... In our jammies! ;0)

And fresh prawns from the fish market at the marina, served with crunchy Greek salad. And on our way home, a quick stop in Montville found us ...

... Enjoying DEEEEEEELICIOUS fresh scones with jam & cream. GB thought they were finger-lickin'-good! :0) And when we stopped for a leg stretch at a roadside camp site, we had a chat with one of the locals ...

... Mr Kookaburra, who clearly missed the "sits in an old gum tree" memo. :0P He let me get pretty close, but treated me with the disdain that all transitory interlopers deserve. :0) 

It was worth copping the cold shoulder from the wildlife to sample the views. Though I'm definitely not a camping gal (the only stars I sleep under are FIVE! :0) ) I can see this would be a great spot to spend Mr Kookaburra's decreed one night.

So ... We had a wonderful, relaxing few days & even though it's not coastal weather, we seem to have brought some slightly warmer weather back with us ... & it's nice to be back in our own bed with our own comfy lounge chairs ... I think we're getting old! Tee! Hee! Hee! The rest of this week sees us here at home for a staycation to try to catch up on some of the chores & home jobs that have gone begging during this last couple of very busy months. I'm hoping to make some good progress on my BOM design-in-progress & maybe even some sewing! SHOCK! GASP! :0) 

So ... What are you up to this week? I hope there's some creative time in your schedule & some time to relax & catch your breath. And I'm going to stay in holiday mode by making myself a cuppa. :0) Til next time ...

RELAXED BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!

KRIS

Weekend Escape!

This past week has been our coldest so far this winter ... An average of 2-15 degrees, though with horrible westerly or south-westerly winds of up to 60km/HR it felt much colder. BRRRRRRRR! And you know how much my Beloved Geek Boy & I hate the cold, so this weekend we've run away from home for a weekend escape ...

... To the beach! Aaaaaahhh! Blue skies (rare on our beach visits as we usually attract rain!) & ocean views from our balcony. Nice! And after dinner we took a stroll along the esplanade ...

... for gelato! YUMMO!! After a super busy, stressful couple of months, we're enjoying escaping for a few days ... Plus it's way warmer than our 'hill'!! :0)

Hope you all have a relaxing weekend, whatever you're doing. Til next time ...

BEACHY BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!

KRIS

Penguin Wrangling & OPAM!

G-G-G-GR-GR-GREETINGS from the top of our frozen 'hill' where winter is definitely making itself felt! BRRRRR! This morning when the alarm went off to drag me out of bed in time to go & impersonate a responsible adult, this was what my weather ap showed me ...

Oh I do hate winter! It just saps all of my energy. In fact, I decided it couldn't be much colder if I was a penguin wrangler! :0) OK ... So I know a lot of you northern hemisphere gals cope with way colder temperatures, but I'm just finding this cold snap to be plain NAAAAAAASTY! Perhaps if I could stay home in front of the fire I'd cope better! :0)

I might even get some sewing & designing done! But I confess that both of our grown up jobs are eating up creative energy at the moment. My grown up job has been quite stressful in the last couple of weeks & my Beloved Geek Boy seems to be at his grown up job more than he's home, as they have just moved into new business premises & he's having to set up networks, servers & other techo stuff as well as managing a particularly busy work schedule at the moment. There've been lots of after work sessions, as well as many weekend hours put in. In fact, this last weekend, I decided that the only way I'd get to spend time with GB was to pitch in ...

Here I am punching down cables ... Sounds impressive, right?! It was actually more about match the coloured wires to their matching notches, but it LOOKS technical, right?! Tee! Hee! Hee! We've got a week's staycation coming up next week, so hopefully that will give me some time to actually SEW! Fingers  crossed! :0)

Some of you, however, have been busy & creative bees with the June OPAM tally being ...

105 FINISHES!

YAY! Well done everyone & a pat on the back to those of you like me, who are plodding along with longer term projects, if you managed to make some progress. Remember ... It's good to enjoy the process, not just the result ... Though results are rather satisfying. :0) And the winner of the random prize draw is ...

SUSAN

Congrats Susan! Drop me an email & I'll send you your PDF pattern prize to play with. :0)

But right now I think it's time to throw another log on the fire & warm myself up with a cup of tea. Stay warm ... Or cool if you're a northern hemisphere summer chickadee ... & enjoy the rest of your week. Til next time ...

BRRRRRR! BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!

KRIS

Media Celebrities & OPAM!

Hello all you lovely creatures out there in blogland! I hope you're having a great week so far. Mine seems to keep slipping away from me ... Someone told me today how many days until Christmas & I was tempted to jingle their bells!! The year is flying past quickly enough without Christmas looming!! :0)

There hasn't been a lot of stitching again this week, so it's just as well I got some good stitching time in on the weekend when our Friday Nutters had a mini retreat, organised brilliantly as always by the Marvellous Marion  We had a fantastic time ... So good, in fact, that I only managed to take one photo. :0P 

Here is the Wonderful Miss Wendy showing off her GORGEOUS dream catcher cushion cover. Didn't she do a great job? Thanks for organising the weekend Marion! (P.S. Do you see Wendy's cute unicorn slippers? & her flamingo bag & umbrella. A few years ago Wendy & I shared a joke on FB about flamingoes & it's been a running joke ever since!)

And speaking of photos ... Yours truly & her Naughty Table Partner-In-Crime, the Fabulous Fiona,  made an appearance in our local paper this week ...

Here we are in all our glory. :0) We popped into a craft fair put on in a local hall to showcase the vast creative talent in the Highfields area & we were snapped enjoying the complementary cuppa & scones with jam & cream. YUMMO! Actually, we had a bit of a giggle at being media stars because last year when we took a little road trip to Warwick for the Jumpers & Jazz festival we were also snapped ... Having lunch! Anyone would think all we do is eat! Tee! Hee! Hee! We decided we're singled out for media attention cos we're usually chatting & laughing away, so we obviously look like we're enjoying the events. :0)

On another subject ... We've changed months in the last few days, so OPAMers ... Update those sidebar tallies & email your list of finishes for June to me & I promise not to be as tardy about doing the prize draw as last month. (Insert sheepish grin!)

But right now I think it's time to light the fire & put the kettle on. Enjoy the tail end of your week. :0) Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!

KRIS