On the go...

It sure is a busy time of year, I am so looking forward to my Christmas break which starts next week!

And as if we weren't busy enough with Christmas, wedding plans, birthdays etc - we put an offer on a house we liked at the weekend which was accepted, so now our house is on the market!

I have managed to find a little time to start a new project though. Bent Creek's 'Wedding Row'. Kathryn asked about the colourway I would be using for this project a few posts back, I am using the suggested colours (although I did substitute the Lancaster Red, which I did not have for GAST's Manor Red so I didn't have to buy any thread).



I had some minor surgery on my lower lip yesterday. I was not worried at the thought of injections or incisions, but boy am I feeling anxious about next Monday when I get the stitches out! Do surgeons call it frogging too when they're ripping the thread out?? lol

Hope you are all having a great week!

Drugs bust

I recently entered a competition Judy had on her blog. It was to guess the pattern she was stitching. I recognised it straight away as Kitty Cottage Sampler.

A rather large padded envelope was awaiting me tonight when I got home. Judy is amazingly generous, and really made my day with all the gifts she sent.

Included are four skeins of thread, two charts (Calico Cat and Autumn Sampler), a watercolour print (the colours are amazing) and a leaflet about the artist, a sachet of hot chocolate and some bath grains. Oh yes, and a gorgeous Christmas card which isn't pictured because it is already sitting with the others we have received. Thank you so much Judy!



Oh and the drugs bust comment in the title of this post relates to Judy's package. NZ Customs must have thought the bath grains looked a little suspicious on the x-ray, so not only did they open the parcel to inspect they even opened the bath grains themselves. Bet they were disappointed to find it REALLY was bath grains. LOL. Great to know that they are doing their job though!

Not forgotten

I have had CarolR's Quaker Friendship RR for quite some, so I just wanted to post a pic to show her it has not been forgotten. I love Carol's choice of fabric and thread. I don't intend on mailing it for a couple of weeks though, because I don't want it to go AWOL in the Christmas mail rush!



I had a busy weekend this weekend - first up on Friday night I went to a murder mystery xmas dinner. It was so much fun! I wasn't feeling too great on Saturday though. LOL.



The weather at the weekend was gloriously summery. So we headed over to the Wairarapa (which means glistening waters) to a place called Mount Bruce. There we saw two Kiwis which we watched for about 15 minutes, and a whole load of Kaka (these parrots are far prettier than my photo shows).



Judy wanted to see more kitten photos. I haven't seen the kittens for a while, but you can see more in my Flickr album (there is more from the murder mystery too, if you are game for a look!). I will try and take some more kitten photos soon though, apparently they are already starting to run about and make mischief! :-)

Yay, my RR is home again...

A big thank you to all the ladies who stitched on my RR, it's fabulous. I really appreciate the time you all took to stitch on it.



I shamelessly stole the photo from Debby's blog. I hope she doesn't mind.

We had a small wedding crisis on Friday. OH popped in to our reception venue to pay some more money towards it, and was told that their landlord is not renewing their lease. Meaning - NO RECEPTION!!! Say what!!??

I did some searching around and within a couple of hours had the ball rolling, and by Saturday afternoon we had a much nicer venue booked. Funnily enough, the place we'll now be having our reception has played a big part in family celebrations for many years (since my childhood)... so it's quite fitting that it will now be our reception venue. Funny how things work out sometimes :-)

Hope you are all having a good start to the week.

Ooh me eyes...

My craft lamp has left the building. I can't even say it died or had an accident, it just seemed to perish and crack all of a sudden. I was too scared to use it in case I got zapped. So it's craft lights out here (boo!). I tried stitching tonight with the room lights, but I could feel my eyes starting to strain.

Oh well, as least I have some nice new stash to fondle...



The Silver Needle are fast becoming my favourite ONS. But boy the NZ dollar is very low against the US dollar, so there's not much to show for the amount spent. I got Bent Creek's Wedding Row and Just Nan's Frost on the Pumpkins (which I've had my eye on for a while) and the fabrics for them.

If you are depressed by the world and local news right now, like I am, then think KITTENS. Yes, lots of little fluffy cute kittens....



My Mum is a volunteer at the local animal rescue and is fostering a sweet cat called Ella and her four babies. When I took this photo last weekend they were about 10 days old. Ella is no more than a kitten herself and was very scared to begin with, but is really starting to relax now.

I did get a chuckle out of CarolR's comment about the invitations saying 'No presents please'. "Beautiful invitations Rowyn but 'no presents' - what are you thinking of?! LOL" I am sooo slow sometimes, I should have put the web address for my stash wishlist!

Happy thanksgiving to my American friends!

RRs galore

Thanks for all the nice comments on the invitations :-)

Tonight I have finished off Cheryl's RR. There was a problem in her RR and she asked on her blog for someone to stitch the remaining square, so I offered. I hope she likes what I have stitched. It is a combination of Strawberry House and M'lady's Strawberries.





Funnily enough, I just heard from Debby today to say she has finished my Hello Neighbour RR, and guess what she stitched for me? STRAWBERRY HOUSE!! lol. I am so pleased because I really love this design. You can see a photo of it on her blog. Thanks Debby!

Sneak peek

I'm nearly done with Cheryl's RR, but will save a photo until I'm done, done which won't be too far away.

Anyway, I thought I would let you see my wedding invites that went out in the post yesterday around New Zealand, England and Northern Ireland.



The cream paper is actually pearly, but does not show up well in the photo. My sister did a great job with the invites, and I was very pleased with how they turned out.

I actually have both my sisters in action - one on invites and one on bridesmaid dresses. That'll teach them to be so crafty. :-)

Chilli Pepper House

I thought I would share a photo of how Cheryl's RR is coming along.

I'm stitching Little House Needleworks 'Strawberry House'. However, I noticed when I was about to start stitching that the wrong thread was supplied in the chart pack. Instead of Ladybug (pink) I got Chilli Pepper (orangey-brown). I think though that it might tone in better with the other designs than what the Ladybug thread would have.



Hope you're having a good weekend.

Hooray...

Heather's RR is ready to be posted home, I hope she will like the finished product. I have seen a few people say they are glad the RR has come to an end. Me too!



It was a beautiful day here today, so OH and I went crazy in the garden. We went out and spent quite a lot on plants to redo my pots, then decided we needed some more and went out and spent about the same amount again. It looks great though, and it feels summery now.

We even got stuck into a pot of irises which belonged to my Grandmother, a job I've put off for ages. My Mum had them for about 14 years, and she gave them to me a few years ago... so they were well and truly root bound. OH took a spade to them, and we eventually managed to get in and extract the (many) bulbs. They did flower occasionally, but next Spring they should be spectacular. I've already asked Santa for two half wine barrels which I've seen at one of the local garden shops to plant them in.

Have a good week everyone!

Happy halloween...

We do not usually celebrate Halloween, (but we are interested in ooky spooky stuff), so we decided to throw our nephew a surprise Halloween party tonight. He was definitely taken back when I opened the door with my witch hat on, my attractive witch nose and Tess (my black cat) under my arm.



Have fun if you are celebrating Halloween tonight!