Reminiscencing, what else is there to do on a dull cold winter's sunday in UK???

A whole twelve months ago today we left for our holiday in Australia and for them it was the start of the dreadful fires.   We both want to go again and would love to see some of the places we visited again!

The Railway station in Melbourne... we past it most days on our walks around the city

I loved Melbourne and I can now understand one of my son’s longing to live there.

We loved the trams and used them to get around.. we are not great shoppers but the arcades offered the cool of air conditioning, so we often found our way to one of them for morning coffee.

This one had two known oddities, Gog and Magog..... I have driven over these hills named this on my way to Cambridge    This has imported Italian mosaic floors, glazed ceilings supported by elaborate iron-lace columns, and octagonal glass domes.  The Royal Arcade is Melbourne’s oldest, built in 1869, and features two folklore giants of the ancient Britons - Gog and Magog - who strike the time each hour

There was such a lot of old Australia just as I imagined it to be and some I just couldn’t have hoped to have seen. I was so emotional seeing this house
This is the original house that my Grand mother's sister Poll and her husband Idris lived in when they emigrated to Australia in 1912.. they never met again and letters were slow as my grandmother had left school when she was eleven to go into service which would have been 1898 and so writing was a very slow process for her. But she lived for letters from her sister Poll and as  small child in the fifties I read them to her and she dictated hers for me to write for her.. So I learnt a lot about my Aunty Poll and saw all the photos of them and this property with them sitting outside.
Isn't the most beautiful property.. It is still in the family but rented out these days.

Off we went with views to die for!

This little fella was in a tree of a house where we had B&B and the owner complained about the grunting noises he made all through the night! We just thought he was beautiful

... this was in Portland on our drive along The Great Ocean road... there was the most fabulous fabric shop here, it was lush and smelt like it too! And we visited a launderette there, a long time since I had done that. It  had internet connection there so we had an hour mailing home, were we home sick not one bit!!

And how could I reminisce with out my relatives being part of my memories...this is the me waving from the verandah of Linda and Idris's (Idris is ,my second cousin) Wouldn't it be wonderful to wake up to this each morning. We ate on it the evening we arrived and watched a cukaboro come down for an offered chicken bone! And the sounds of the birds were amazing and of course the flowers. This is in the Dandenongs, and was breath taking...

And just some of my Australian relatives meeting up for a picnic in Queenscliff, I am holding the red folder which Keen had given me showing that I have 389 relatives?? Well I only met a few!! There were approx 80 people at the picnic plus children, I loved meeting them all especially Linda and Idris and Coral and Lance. Coral and I have written for 8 years so it was wonderful to meet her and I loved her right away..

It was all wonderful and we would love to go back!!

Ta-da..... WATCH OUT FOR THE POSTIE IF YOU WERE IN MY PIF!!

I have been so busy this week stitching, making up, packing and posting!!

And  here they all are, all seven little parcels for my PIFs.. they have all been posted except for one because I am waiting for her to get back to me with her address. I had until August 2010 but because I have been rotating all my stitching and my WIPs I decided to get these done.

I am really pleased with them all so I do hope they will be liked, I shall post pictures when they have arrived at their destinations.

Because I finished my Bea SAL I wanted to start another really big design, I missed it!!LOL
So I am going to stitch Grand Marquoir as a SAL with Julie. I am still not sure what colour and Julie sent links to show the design stitched in all different colours but I think I like red and am thinking of 'crushed berries' HDF by Vikki Clayton.

Although when you look at all the options they do look rather nice and like Julie said, less chance of getting fed up with just one colour
http://images.google.co.uk/images?sourceid=navclient&rlz=1T4GFRD_en&q=grand+marquoir+pictures&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=YHxpS9PvA5P60wSw4LyqCA&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBIQsAQwAA
As well as finishing off my PIFs I have completed piece for an exchange and have some other stitching ready to show on reveal day, Sunday,  for 'Travelling Stitcher' and my Blue Ribbon 'Between the Lines.'
I never thought I could rotate my stitching but I have and it works, except some I could stitch all the time like my Celtic Lady,the hand dyed fabric is so soft and the gold thread makes it look so special.

I have also knitted a pair of socks.

And am now knitting the rest of some of my stripy yarn with a contrast welt, heel and toe to use up that lovely striped yarn

Its just as well I don't work any more or I'd  be up all night doing all the things I like best!

The sun is shining today or at least it was this morning and our snow drops are flowering, I think this long, long winter is on its way out!

Hurrah!!!

Stash, stash and more stash!

It is so difficult to look at cross stitch web sites without thinking I ‘d like that and so.... these last few days it lead me to ebay. Wahooooo and we all know where that will lead..STASH !!

I found some cross stitch and hand dyed fabric all advertised by Sandra and so the bidding started I really wanted a DMC kit, ‘Lavender in a Pot’ and Just Nan, ‘Catnip Tea’ I haven't ever stitched a Just Nan design before and SS are having a Just Nan SAL  so I might just join in the fun.
With the Just Nan chart, which had the beads needed, Sandra had generously included the two HD floss' that are needed for the design. The hand dyed 28c linen is gorgeous (or lush in Stacy's words, I do miss that programme!) One is a  pale lemony colour and the other a sort of Lavender shade.

Of course when you have a lot of  charts, which I now have, (although not as many as some!!) you need the fabric and this 10 lots of fat quarters even weave

was a real bargain so how could I resist. Aren't the colours fab!!

I didn’t get the DMC kit which I really, really, really wanted.. so I just thought I ‘d look around and wow I found the very same kit and I got it for a fraction of the price it should be. Such excitement I rushed home today from my Writing Group session just to make sure my highest bid hadn’t been topped, and I am now waiting for its delivery!

And to go with the fabric are some DMC threads from my trusted seller Kat who's prices and  service is second to none.

I have had such a busy few days buying all this, that I have had to sit quietly and stitch to recover!

ROUND ROBIN

This is the start of my Round Robin and Jaclyn has received it, so I can show my bit now.. It is all going to be tea time things and there are 6 of us in this one. I am going to make it into a cushion when it is all done. the finishing date is September 2010. I am thrilled to be doing this as I haven't done anything like it before.  I wonder what each member of the group will want stitched? I am using some aida as I  thought it would be stronger than linen.  All the my charts are out of The Cross Stitcher magazine.
If it looks a bit lop sided its because I have cropped the photo (in GIMP !!) because it has my name and address stitched on the side, just incase, as Clare suggested it might get lost in the post!

You might notice I have started a new blog to chart my progress using GIMP which is a photo imaging program, my efforts shown here are paultry compared to others but my latest ones are much better and I am quite proud that this last one took less than 30 minutes.

Also my book arrived today on How to Knit Lacy shawls by Evelyn A Clark, so as soon as I have stitched my bit on my two sals I shall be starting to knit a fine lacy shawl or scarf!!

And I have nearly finished my fifth pair of socks, so I am well pleased!

There are not enough hours in the day!!!

I have been introduced to gimp by Esther and it it a program that allows you to mix photos.

This has taken me hours of playing around but omgosh I am so pleased with it.

It is no where as good as Esther's which are wonderful but its only my second attempt with pics off my computer and I am going to try to do lots more.

Not spectacular but I loved doing it, now I know why I only sleep 6 to 7 hours, if that,  I have to get up to read, write stories, stitch, knit, quilt, blog, run my ladies group and now this... wahoooooo I love it all

Kidsilk yarn for a lacy wrap!

Don't you just love this colour, its 'Night' with a lovely silver thread in it and it is going to knit up beautifully, if I can knit it.

Its one of those patterns with a chart so shouldn't be too bad, However I have sent off for Evelyn A Clark's knitting book on how to knit triangular lacy shawls and wraps.

I really just want a scarf so watch this space!

I think I have had snow time blues this week as I really struggled to stitch my SALs and for goodness sake, the Travelling Stitcher was my own !

The garden looks a mess, you know how it is after snow,  a bit drab and dull and  the grass gets smothered and flattened and where the dog has pounded up and down it looks muddy in places. We did put down more grass seed last autumn to thicken it up so hopefully once the sun shines it will grow!

I hope my tulip bulbs have survived and the squirrels haven't eaten them!

We shall have to wait and see.

Hope everyone else is now snow free I never ever thought I'd say Thank goodness for rain!

I am hoping for a good stitchy week although I am knitting just one more pair of socks for a friend so when I have finished those I shall start my wrap and get on with my SALs.

Happy Stitching or knitting or crafting this week

What do you do when it is snowy outside???

What do you do when its like this outside and its too cold to go out?

I did not take this photo in case you're wondering, but isn't it beautiful?

So what to do in the snow?

I turned this into.....

..... into warm socks for my grand daughter. It is such a lovely yarn and so soft.

I do hope she likes them as I have really enjoyed knitting them.

I got the yarn from Modern Knitting

And because it is so cold and wintery

I bought yellow tulips.

The little blue jug they are in is a hot water jug to go with a tea pot which were my grand mother's.She was born 1887 and died 1980, so that little pot is old!

I don't have the tea pot, I think that was broken long before my time, but I have this and have always used it for flowers. It is part of my collection of blue china bits.

The hearts hanging in front of the window have come from all over the place, one that is made of beads came from Australia last year.

It seems such a long time ago we were getting excited because it was less than a month before we were to go. We would love to go again. While we are freezing here Melbourne had its hottest night,37˚C at 12 midnight a couple of nights ago, can you imagine that???

And I planted spring bulbs to flower inside.

Have a nice day inside or out!

Bests

What did you do this week?

I knitted another pair of socks I think I have the sock knitting bug!! These are mine so a change to knit something for me! Yvonne loved hers and so did her Mum so Yvonne is knitting her some

My Travelling Stitcher SAL:- I have only stitched a small part as I am not rushing to finish this.  I am going to take the five weeks to enable me to fit in all my other stitching and knitting!

And heres a bit more stitched of my Blue Ribbon design, the rabbit!

And this is my Lavender and Lace, Celtic Lady, 'Summer. 'I have stitched the three lower motifs and I so love this I could stitch it all the time. I have stitched some of the beads at the top and it makes it look fantastic. (Or 'lush' as Stacy would say!! I am really going to miss 'Gavin and Stacey' !)

So that's my week, it doesn't seem a lot done but I have stitched or knitted most evenings.
Hope if you're in snow like us you're keeping warm and have enough stash so you won't worry that you'll run out of things to stitch while you're holed up inside!!  LOL
I am not doing so many exchanges this year and want to press on with my WIPs and perhaps peep at my UFOs!! Dare I???  LOL
Happy Stitching all
Chris x

Another SAL???

I came across this design called the Grand Marquoir, and its a free down load.. done in 6 sections so each one can be done over 2 months This is the link, to get the pic to open you have to sign into the site but gosh isn't it worth?   http://www.edisaxe.com/modeles.php?cPath=15&osCsid=48afb58d38b5504e3ee83a68bdb6cba6
And then down load. The photos are finished ones as this was a 2009 sal but as I have finished Beatrix I thought this would fill the gap as it were.
Anyone care to join me?
I won't be starting till February so anyone wanting to join will have time to get kitted up
Its going to be a busy 2010!

Happy New Year to all.

A new year and this is the year I actually do lose all those extra pounds!


I hope everyone's dreams all come true in 2010 and health and happiness are yours in abundance. I thank all my stitching blogging friends for the lovely comments I have received throughout the past year. Some of it was really hard for me but I weathered the storm and am now looking forward to calmer waters.. I can't wait to go home to Essex!
And I am looking forward to new stitching challenges and a reduction in my stash as I am steadlily working through my WIPs.
So in this new year, I wish you Health and Happiness and Wealth
A crisp new sunny day out of that window so I am off for that walk.