New stash and a small finish

Living in New Zealand good stash isn't always easy to come across and I often think the cost of postage is excessive when shopping online from overseas, so when I saw that MaryKathryn was doing free postage on all orders (international included) I jumped at the chance to order some stash. It arrived just over a week later too - I was very impressed!

So here are my new charts -



I have liked these charts for a long time, so have already finished up Faith by Carriage House Samplings. I changed the wording of 'Faith' to 'Hope', and am going to make it into a fob or pincushion for someone I know who is going to be trying IVF next year.



My cats really make me laugh - Tess came home with glitter all over her head the other night. I suspect she must have been snooping around in someone's house under their Christmas tree! Giggsy has FINALLY learnt to use the cat door - we only installed it in May 2006!! And wee Meg, who usually likes to wake us up by scrabbling around under the bed when she wants out, has started taking a more direct approach - walking over me, and then rubbing her face in mine!

Had better finish up, I'm off out for our usual Saturday lunch shortly. OH has decided to take a half day today (the joys of being your own boss) and will be joining us which is great. Hope you all have a great weekend!

Normal service to resume

Although I've been reading blogs, I haven't posted much at all over the past few months. Sorry about that, but normal service is about to resume.

We had houseguests for three months, which I found unbelievably stressful and suffocating. I'm so glad to finally have peace and tidiness restored in my house.

I have been up in Auckland on a work trip for the past three days. My boss and I stayed at a hotel on the Viaduct which was lovely, and on Wednesday night I went up the Sky Tower. I'm not a great fan of heights, so I did wonder as I was going up why on earth I was there. LOL. Unfortunately, I didn't take my camera to be able to share any photos (unless I figure how to get photos from my mobile to my laptop!) - but I will next time!

I found a cross stitch shop near our Auckland Office - but couldn't find anything I liked. I'm too fussy now that I can shop worldwide on the internet from my living room! :-)

When I got home from my trip last night OH had converted one of our spare rooms into a craft room for me. So sweet! I now have my sewing machine, stash, magazines etc etc all in one room. Yippeee. He stayed up really late both nights I was away cleaning the house, moving things around to get the room sorted for me, cleaning up the garden - and he even found time to wash the car! Here's for a relaxing weekend now that everything is done! And my parents are taking us out for dinner tonight (great!) which means no cooking.

I have been doing a little stitching. I finished up my square on Vonna's RR last week.



I've also put a few more stitches into Long Dog, and am nearly finished JBW Designs 'French Country ABCs'. Photos to follow.

Hope you all have a good weekend.

Baby Miracle Appeal

Just thought I would draw your attention to the Baby Miracle Appeal

Hope you are all having a good week.

Work stress + home stress = no blogging

Life has been stressful (as the title suggests) since I returned from my holiday to Australia, and I haven't been stitching a great deal - as a result I haven't felt like blogging. So sorry to those who keep visiting and not seeing any new posts. I will elaborate more at a later date.

It hasn't been all bad - my OH opened his own flooring shop this week and it's off to a great start. I'm so proud of him.

Now for a little stitching news-

A little progress has been made on my Long Dog Sampler -



Some stash from a LNS I went to recently. I'd seen this one previously and decided it was too expensive, but with feeling like I have been lately I decided what the heck one day and just went and bought it!! LOL



I bought this cute little JBW chart last week (it's called French Country ABCs). I couldn't wait to make a start on it, it's a fun stitch and won't take forever to finish.



Here's a photo of the stash I bought from the USA just after I came back from Australia. I can't wait to get started on it, although I do keep telling myself it would be better if I got Long Dog finished first - as it stitches up quite quickly and I'm not that far from finishing.



My Aunt's (the one who reads my blog) son made the news this week - you can check out the gruesome details here. Ouch!.

Sorry for the rushed post but I'm off out the door now. I hope you all have a great weekend!

I've been found out....

my Aunt found my blog :0) HI AUNTY!!

No stitching lately... we have house guests (indefinitely), including one boisterous but lovely nine year old. We went to a chocolate factory yesterday, and he bought us all a chocolatey-gift of his own accord. What a sweetie (no pun intended!).

I did squeeze in some online stash shopping though, and eagerly await my loot. No idea when I might get to stitch it, but buying it was fun!

Hope everyone is having a great week... Aunty included :0)

Close your eyes Kiwi readers

what I'm about to write might be highly offensive... I LOVE AUSTRALIA! LOL. It was such a fantastic holiday, that we are already thinking about our next trip (maybe an outback adventure).

An Australian winter sure beats a New Zealand one... the weather was fantastic, even reaching 32 degrees Celsius!

The scenery and the wildlife are the most memorable parts of the trip. I got to cuddle a koala, hold a crocodile and pet a whole lot of kangaroos and wallabies. I have a whole new appreciation for snakes, crocodiles and other less cuddly Australian animals.

Australia Zoo deserves a huge mention. If you are ever near Brisbane it is well worth the entrance fee!

We had an amazing journey on the Skyrail in Cairns. It's a gondola/cable car which glides over the rainforest treetops for 7.5 kilometres - you can look down at the amazing view of the Cairns coast, as well as see cockatoos and Ulysses butterflies flying beneath you - there's even a waterfall to admire. You end up at a small village called Kuranda where you can cuddle koalas, go shopping, walk amongst the butterflies etc. Absolutely awesome.

The shopping in Australia was excellent and we picked up some fantastic souvenirs. We even managed to find a cross stitch shop - so I bought 5 kits (as you do) all of Aussie animals.

It was a tiring holiday - we were busy every day and up with the parrots (who would start well before the sun came up). If any Aussie readers could tell me which bird makes a noise that sounds like someone screaming, I'd be intrigued to know! :0)

More photos of my holiday can be found in my Webshots for those who are interested.

Paradise found...

WOW!! Australia was awesome. More photos to follow, but thought I'd share this amazing oasis - the Millaa Millaa Falls in the Atherton Tablelands (near Cairns in Queensland).



Hope you've all been stitching hard, and I'm looking forward to catching up with everyones blogs this weekend! :0)

Back at the end of August...

Australia, here we come!



Take care, and happy stitching!

Swapsies anyone?

I have a couple of charts I'd be interested in trading -

* Ladybugs and Bumblebees by Country Cottage Needleworks
* Rose Cottage by Elizabeth's Designs

I would quite like to swap for Country Cottage Needleworks, Little House Needleworks, Prairie Schooler or charts on my wishlist.

If you're interested, my email address is in my profile. :0)

UFO bustin'

I finished LHN Bee Pinkeep yesterday. A UFO I started back in January. I intend making it into a pinkeep for one of my sisters.



I bought the latest issue of the UK's Cross Stitcher on Friday. I haven't bought a cross stitch magazine in ages (only two that I can recall this year), but I was very taken with a lot of the designs in this issue. I've already made a start on the freebie Geisha kit.



Hope everyone's having a great weekend!