Last post for 2008 and a chart giveaway

While I was waiting on my threads to arrive for Wedding Row (they arrived today), I started Autumn Splendor which Judy gifted to me recently. I didn't actually realise until I was looking for something to stitch that the thread (Victoria Clayton's 'Tigerlily') was included in the chartpack. It is gorgeous and wonderful to stitch with! Thanks again Judy!

Can I interest anyone in the chart once I have finished with it? If so, leave a comment on this post - and if there is more than one person interested, I will randomly pick a name when I get home from up north in a few days.



It has been really hot here, great weather for mucking about in the pool!



Happy new year everyone, and all the best for 2009.

Edited to add:
New year's greetings from Tess


(That's my laptop in the top left-hand corner and my lapcat next to me. Tess doesn't care how hot it is, she likes to be close in all weather!).

Dreams of a lazy Sunday

I was hoping for a lazy Sunday today, as so far the Christmas holiday has been a whirlwind of activity.

It's a gorgeous summers day, and I envisaged a swim in the pool, some nice fresh fruit salad - and maybe even some more stitching. But now we've been invited to a BBQ (such a hardship, lol).

We are going up north at New Year for a few days, so I don't think I'm going to be finding any time to unwind before it's time to go back to work.

Anyway, I managed a slightly better photo of Bent Creek's Wedding Row today. I just have to sit back and wait on the thread now.



Hope you are all finding some time to relax over the Christmas holidays.

Fascinating fascinators

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas. Ours was quiet, but fun. Actually, it wasn't that quiet - my sister got Singstar Abba for Christmas from my other sister. She also bought herself a Wii, so everyone (including my parents LOL) were playing tennis, bowls, karting etc.

I had another wedding letdown just before Christmas - this time my hairdresser of six years. She phoned me to say she's selling the business and cannot do my wedding hair. Fortunately my OH (being a local businessman) is in the know, and knew that the local beauty salon has a new resident hairdresser. So it all works out perfectly - wedding hair, make-up, nails etc are all being done in one place.

So, I took a run to the bridal shop today looking for hair ornaments. I love feather fascinators, and was lucky enough to find one. I also came away with two other combs. I don't know which (if any) I will use, but at least I have a few things to take with me to the wedding hair trial in a couple of weeks. As my hair is short, ideas are thin on the ground... so I have some hair extensions on order too (OH's friend who owns the beauty salon suggested them, that's great thinking for a bloke!!).

Anyway, I have come to the conclusion that wedding preparations are a lot of stress and hassle, and I can't wait for the big day itself so we can just enjoy it (which is what it should be about!).

Pictured with my hair ornament selection is my wedding sampler. I couldn't get a decent photo of it in it's entirety (due to the wrinkles and the fading light), but I am nearly finished. However, I've run out of thread so have put an order in from a shop in Auckland. Hopefully they're open between Christmas and New Year, so I can get it finished. It's been a really enjoyable and quick stitch.



I am glad you enjoyed all the kitten photos. My Mum is currently fostering all seven of them until they are old enough to be desexed and rehomed. They are so much fun!

Especially for Judy (and anyone else who loves cats and kittens)

Merry Christmas everyone (and remember kittens are for life, not just for Christmas... lol)

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!