Brightening The Zombie Apocalypse!

Hello to all of my blogland buddies! I hope you're safely tucked up at home to ride out the zombie apocalypse. 😁 Apart from a quick trip into our nearby town (thankfully a small country town, so not many people) to vote in our local government elections, I've been enjoying a quiet weekend at home. That doesn't mean I haven't been busy, though! 😜

I'm knee-deep once again in some Secret Squirrel stitching on a fun project  ... Want a sneaky-peeky???

 Cheerful coloured threads brightening my weekend. I'm excited to be part of something special that will be happening very soon, so stay tuned for something fun coming to brighten the zombie apocalypse. 😜 I can't tell you more yet, but if you're on social media, this is the hashtag to watch for ...

#loveandhugsfromaustralia

Trust me ... You'll want to keep an eye out! 😜 But right now, it's back to the sewing machine for me. Take care of yourselves & stay home & stitch. 😉 Til next to me ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!

KRIS

PS OPAMers ... Time to update your sidebar lists & email your finishes through to me. 😁

Significant Silliness!

Well ... Aren't we living in topsy-turvy times? I hope you're all staying safe & well ... And positive! The power of positivity cant be forgotten. And to help with that, I thought I'd share a bit of fun, silliness & positivity with you all. Not sewing related, but does involve some of my stitching sistas. 😜 There're also quite a few pics so get a cuppa & make yourself comfy. 😝

You see, in the midst of all this craziness, I celebrated a 'significant' birthday last weekend ... Yep ... I joined the Nifty Fifty Club. 😉 And although I didn't want a big fuss (just as well, in the circumstances!) I DID want to mark the milestone with a small celebration. So ... I invited a handful of my 'tribe' to a '20's themed high tea at Edwa d House. (AKA the Meares' Madhouse! 😜) And it wouldn't have been a milestone without my Bestest-Buddy-Since-We-Were-Nine Lynette ... Especially since she toodled up the 'hill' from Brisbane a day early to help with the cooking/baking. I say 'help', but in reality she was the chief cook! 😜

Ta Da! Fairy cakes. YUMMO!

And she even made the birthday cake ... Here she is, deep in concentration. 😜 And since it was a 20's theme (I was turning fifty in the 20's, after all. 😜) there had to be costumes ...

Ta Da! As close to 'properly ladylike' as we ever get! 😂 You should have seen us the night before as we had a 'dress dress-rehearsal'! There was a LOT of giggling & clip-clopping up & down the hallway ... I'm sure GB thought he had a couple of 10 year old school girls in the house! 😂 And then there were more lovely friends to help celebrate ...

Aren't we a glamorous lot?! 😜 Time for tea! 😁 Lynette & I had fun pulling some of my pretty china trios, cake plates & sandwich plates out of their display cabinets ...

Here's everyone ready for tea ... Nice & spaced out. 😉 With some savoury nibblies added to Lynette's & my sweetie-treaties, we had no excuse to walk away hungry. 😜

And pretty as a picture. 😁 Not to mention Lynette's birthday cake creation ...

WOW! Better than a bought one! 😉 Lime & coconut cake with buttercream frosting & decorated with shards of freeze-dried strawberries, pistachios & coconut brittle ... & macarons. 😍 Add incendiary devices ...

... And you've got a birthday cake worth celebrating. 😁 For a couple of hours, we sat, chatted, munched & giggled ... A lovely respite from the serious situation & negative news bombarding us at the moment & a chance for me to be exceedingly grateful for the wonderful, loving, supportive, encouraging tribe I'm privileged to be a member of. A huge thank you to my friends for making my milestone birthday special. Special thanks to Mum & Lynette for their kitchen magic ... & to Lynette for the decades of friendship, fun & love ... She's the sister of my heart who has seen the good, the bad & the ugly & continues to love me anyway! 😍😘 And a big thank you to my Sweeie for putting up with the invasion of my tribe ... First time a husband has retreated to the sewing room! 😂

So ... That was a bright spot in the recent gloom, though a few girls who couldn't be with us have said they want an extension to my birthday celebrations once life settles down so they don't miss all the fun ... So does that mean I'm not actually 50 until after the last party?! 😜😂

In the meantime, my grown up job is continuing, as I work in the aged care sector. There is little face-to-face contact right now (& my office has never been so clean & sanitised) but I'm still a contact point for our retirement village residents to report any maintenance issues to or to contact just for a chat in these uncertain times.  GB will be working predominantly from home as of next week & has been working hard to help other of his workmates get set up to work from home. And proving that there is indeed no rest for the wicked (& even less for the saints! 😝) my design table has several new projects on it, as well as working my way through the instructions for my BOM. Strange & busy times. 😳 

Whatever you're up to, please stay safe, well & positive. If you're struggling with anxiety or just need to receive a silly email to distract you for a while, please reach out to me ... I excel at silly emails. 😝 And wherever possible ... Stay home. I know that apart from work, that's what both of us are doing, as well as checking in regularly with other members of our tribe. Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!

KRIS

Belated Girls' Stitch In Check In!

OK ... I haven't just LOST this week, I'm pretty sure I go RUN OVER by it! 😝 I've been busy getting ready for a special event THIS Weekend , whilst still recovering from LAST weekend. As those of you who visit regularly know, I was chuffed to be invited by the Marvellous Marion & Stupendous Steph of The Quilters Angel  to join Natalie Bird as a guest designer for this fantastic weekend of stitching. And what a weekend it was! If ever I'm hosting a social event for the Queen, or invading a small country, I'm putting Marion & Steph in charge because they think of EVERYTHING! 😜 

I confess to forgetting to take many pics (I was kept pretty busy! 😜) but I'll share a bit of a roundup for you ...

... The tables were decorated with mini chandeliers, the chairs were covered & tied up with bows ...

... The shop was set up, tempting everyone with pretty sewing 'necessities' ...

... I set up a display of some of my design projects ...

... & so did the lovely Natalie. It was then time to unveil our project designs, the patterns of which participants received in their giftie bags, along with a pre-transferred stitchery & fabric pack for one project. Natalie' projects ...

... A cute drawstring dilly bag featuring some stitchery, as well as some boro boro stitching, a thread wallet & mini pin cushion. And FINALLY I can show you MY projects ...

...a large tote bag featuring a pretty stitchery ... AND ...

... A pretty tablet pouch featuring some watercolour pencil highlighting in the stitchery. I had such pretty Tilda fabrics to play with. 😁😍 I didn't get to catch up with Natalie very much ... We were both kept hopping with mini demonstrations & tutorials ... But I did get to catch up with some familiar faces, as well as meet many new ones ... & put a face to a name when OPAMer June joined the fun. 😁

A HUGE THANK YOU to Marion & Steph for once again organising a fabulous sewing weekend where we were all spoilt rotten. It was particularly timely for us to take some creative time to unwind, amidst the disruptions, concerns & stress facing the world at the moment. This is my favourite photo of Girls' Stitch In 2020 ...

... Marion, yours truly, Natalie & Steph. And it's appropriate that the sign in the background says "Family", because I think of these lovely ladies as part of the extended family I've chosen for myself ... They're part of my tribe. 😁 

If you couldn't make it to Girls' Stitch In, you might like to join us for Stitchers Dream Day Out in September for more fun & stitching. Check out the Quilters Angel website for deets.

PHEW! No wonder I'm still recovering! 😂 I'm not as young & resilient as I used to be ... As of an hour ago! 😝 And on that note, I'm off to keep an overdue appointment with my pillow to rest up for THIS weekend. 😜 Stay well, be wise, be kind & keep your tribe close ... Even if it's virtually. Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!

KRIS 

Lost In Space!

Although, I think the space may be between my ears! 😝 Somehow the days have gone zooming past me & I've been slack in popping in here to say g'day. My grown up job continues to be busy, I've been scrambling to finalise everything I needed to have ready for this weekend's Girl's Stitch In event, starting preparations for a special event next weekend & making a quick trip to Kingaroy for GB's uncle's funeral. Suddenly I'm seeing how my days have slipped by. 😜

I'll have lots to share with you after the weekend, but I thought I'd better let you all know who the February OPAM random draw winner is. There were ...

110 FINISHES!

WOW! Well done everyone! I was especially pleased to contribute three finishes to the tally ... & I'll be able to show you two of them after this weekend. 😁 Well done to everyone who added finishes to their tally or made some good progress on longer term projects. The draw winner was ...

BEV C

Congrats Bev! Drop me an email & I'll send you a copy of the PDFprize pattern to play with.

But right now I need to head off to bed so I'm ready & rested to share lots of stitchy fun with the gals tomorrow at Girls' Stitch In ...can't wait! 😁 And just because a post is boring without a pic, here's a sneaky-peeky of one of the projects the GSI gals will receive the pattern for ...

Full reveal next week. 😉 In the meantime, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Stay safe, stay well & stay kind. Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!

KRIS

Fab Friday!

Hello to all you lovely Bloggy Buddies! I hope your week has been wonderful. 😁 It's been another busy one for me, at my grown up job as well as at home. When I'm finished my grown up job each day, I've been spending many hours here ...

Yep ... I'm doing my absolute FAVOURITE thing (NOT!!) ... Writing instructions ... SIGH! My BOM design-in-progress quilt is FINISHED! YAY! 😁 But ... As my first BOM, I'm finding it a little challenging to wrap my head around the best way to put the instructions together. There are a LOT of elements to each block (almost as many elements as a whole quilt!) & working out how to put the instructions on paper is definitely a challenge for this logic-impaired gal. 😝 But I'll just keep muddling along. 😉

Since my neck & shoulders start to cramp up after an hour or so hunched over the computer (I really need to work on my posture! 😝) I try to remember to get up & stretch out with some of my Gumby yoga exercises (that's yoga for Gumbies, in case you're wondering! 😂) or go for a stroll around the garden. And I just had to share a pic of some of our crepe myrtle trees. These trees are supposed to flower in November/December ... In fact, growing up in North Queensland my Mum called them Christmas Trees, as they flowered around Christmas time. Due to the extended drought in our area, our crepe myrtles didn't flower last year, but with rain falling in the last month, they've decided to put on a show ...

I'm certain the photo doesn't do them justice, but it gives you a glimpse of their show. The one on the right is so heavy with flowers that the top branches have started to bend. 😜 These two are outside our kitchen door along our side verandah, but there are half a dozen or so more smaller trees in the front garden, all putting on a show ... & do you see that strange green stuff on the ground??! 😝 It's the first time in almost a year that we've had a "lawn" rather than a "yard". 😜 The magic of nature! 😍

And speaking of colourful magic ... OPAMers ... Have you updated your sidebar list of finishes for February & emailed your tally to me? Better get in quick, as I'll do the spreadsheet update & random prize draw on the weekend. But for now, I'm gonna play Polly & then get back to my instruction writing with a cup of tea to soothe my boggling brain. 😝 I've got an uplifting essential oil blend in the diffuser & the calming music of Enya playing in the background to help get my head in the game ... What do YOU do to help you relax & focus? I'd be interested to know. Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!

KRIS