Don't Look Back #3

I'm very pleased with my progress over the weekend with this design. It is coming together fairly quickly - might I hope that I could get it done before our trip...? 14 days to go...

I've decided I'm not going to take any stitching with me on our trip. Last holiday I took one, and it never saw the light of day. Plus, this time I'm planning on visiting 4 different cross-stitch shops, including one on our fist day in Victoria, Canada, so I'm really hoping to stock up on some newbies while I'm away.

Happy Stitching,
Kerrie

 

Sealife ABC #1

I was so excited about deciding to take some stitching with me on our holiday that I couldn't help myself but start it last night. And if my progress last night is anything to go by, it should be a reasonably quick stitch. I got all but the back-stitching and a bit of sand done  which I'm pretty pleased about. And the colours look good on the dark blue fabric so I'm happy to continue with it.
I forgot to bring the booklet where I got the pattern from, but it was one of those freebie booklets that came with a magazine I got recently. It's a bit hard to see in the photo, but I included 1 strand of sparkly thread in with the sand to give a little bit of sparkle.

 

Happy Stitching,
Kerrie

Holiday Update #1

So I have decided I will take some stitching with me on our big trip and I got it together on the weekend. I'm going to take (you guessed it!) an alphabet design - nautical in theme - that I will stitch on dark blue Aida. I wanted to use pale blue, but the craft store didn't have any so I had to go with dark blue. The bright colours should still pop on the dark background, so that is OK. 

I packed my bag on the weekend and I still have a fair bit of room which is good. I think we're just about ready to go with all our arrangements in place. Less than 1 week to go now...

Happy Stitching,

Kerrie

Robot ABC #4

I've made good progress over the Australia Day long weekend, completing the Q and R (as much as I can without the missing colours). I'm loving the bright colours in this one!

Another big day of scanning library barcodes today - all in 38C degree heat! Lets hope the air-conditioning doesn't break down. I'm in Perth this week to integrate a new library campus collection into our college library system. I need to scan everything on the shelves so I can do a stock-take when the collections have been merged. How lucky am I, 2 stock-takes in 3 months! Woo hoo! (for those new to my blog, I have a little problem in that I love doing library stock-takes - it's my favourite work thing to do!).

Happy Stitching,
Kerrie

Robot ABC #1

Hi Everyone,
I'm over the other side of the country for 9 days in Perth, WA for work. My holiday stitching I've brought with me is another ABC (I know, I'm a sucker for a good ABC design!). This one is from a book called "ABC's for Kids" by Linda Gillum, Sandy Orton & Donna Yuen,  produced by the Kooler Design Studio. I've chosen the Robot ABC for this trip.

Before I left home, I packed all the colours I'd need. Of course, there were 2 that I didn't have but I thought that won't matter too much to start with. And again, of course, the first letter I start with is mostly made up of the 2 colours I'm missing! Anyway, I've done what I can on the P and started the T below it. It's a bit hard to make out the letters now, but I should get the T finished tonight hopefully...

Have a great day!

Happy Stitching,

Kerrie

Footprints #13 & New York?

I'm pleased with my progress from last night. Filled in a lot of the blanks so the right block is almost half done now.

I have to admit, I'm getting distracted - we're contemplating taking some long service leave next year and heading off to New York and around the coast to Quebec for a couple of weeks. I just can't stop thinking about it! Can anyone recommend any cross-stitch related things in New York or Quebec or along the coast (Boston, Portland, Bar Harbor, Charlottetown, Sydney-Nova Scotia or Halifax)?

Happy Stitching,

Kerrie

O Holy Night #64

Slowly, the A block is getting filled in. I actually did a little more stitching after I took this photo, so the red angel is really taking shape now.

Above is the Christmas pattern booklet I purchased from the cross-stitch shop in Hobart whilst in Tasmania last week. It has instructions in 7 different languages! I don't think I'll be making any of the table cloths or serviettes, but I can see myself turning the little Christmas pictures into ornaments or possibly cards.

Happy Stitching,

Kerrie

Tasmania Stitching & O Holy Night #62

Hello again everyone, we are back! We had a great week in Tasmania but I didn't update - sorry. So today, I'll fill you in on what we got up to, what stitching I did and where I'm up to with O Holy Night...

My husband is a whisky fan so we visited almost, but not quite all of the distilleries in Tasmania... The majority of our week was spent driving between and visiting either a distillery or chocolate factory! I reckon I could almost make my own whisky now! The fact there are a few more distilleries we missed, means we'll just have to go back again in the future...

We visited Hellyer's Road near Burnie (twice!); James Boag's Brewery in Launceston; Tasmania Distillery (maker's of Sullivan's Cove which won the World Whiskies Awards - World's Best Single Malt the night of our visit!); and Lark's in Hobart. We also called in to the chocolate factories of Cadbury in Hobart and Anvers outside Devonport. And I got to visit a cross-stitch shop in Hobart called A Stitch in Time.

The cross-stitch shop was a quaint little shop packed with products - patterns, books, threads, buttons, beads and more. There were also 2 little dogs wandering around who provided some entertainment for my husband while I browsed! They had a great range, but I didn't buy much - only a pattern booklet for Christmas tablecloths, although I thought I would more likely use the designs for ornaments or cards instead.

During our travels, I started a new project from the Heartfelt series. I chose the one called Prayer Changes Things, and this is what I managed to complete in the 5 nights we were away:

 

This will go on hold now until I finish O Holy Night.

When we got home last night, I continued with O Holy Night by finishing the back-stitching on the Z block. Now it's on to the top banner...

 

Happy Stitching,

Kerrie

O Holy Night #60 & Tasmania Stitching

 

Yesterday, we went to the F1 Australian Grand Prix which was a fun day, although I did get a bit sunburnt so my arms are a bit warm! Clarence's blood test also showed that his levels are now stable, so no more vet visits required until he has the staples removed on Monday 24th March - yay!

In cross-stitching news, I continued with the Z block. I think I'm missing an update photo or two as I didn't get all of this done in 1 night... Not long before I finish this and can then start on the banner across the top, then the beads and little stars which are all over the design.

And next week, I'm going to break my own rule of only stitching one project at a time to stitch another while we are on holidays. Thankfully, Clarence has recovered well enough to be able to stay with Cheese, his best friend, for the week, and we can go on our planned holiday. We were contemplating cancelling it, but we are relieved we don't have to now. We are going to Tasmania - taking our own car across on the Spirit of Tasmania boat Monday night and driving around then coming back again on Saturday night - I can't wait. I missed out on my relaxing long weekend because of Clarence so I am really hanging out for this break now! My husband is a bit of a whiskey lover and there are plenty of distilleries in Tasmania that we plan on visiting (and sampling of course!). And there's even a cross-stitch shop I've found in Hobart so I'm going to visit there. [For international readers, Tasmania is a small island state of Australia with heaps of history and beautiful scenery.] I'm taking my computer so I should be able to update what we've been doing and my stitching progress as we go. The chosen kit will be a surprise, but it will be one of these ones:

I've purchased this Heartfelt series to stitch for my new library at work and thought I'd get started on one of them while I'm away. You'll have to tune in next week to see which one I've selected.

Happy Stitching,

Kerrie

Dinosaur ABC #11

Last night in Wagga Wagga (NSW) I finally finished off the remaining half-done letters: 

And now we are home - hooray! I am so looking forward to sleeping in my own bed tonight! It looks like we've brought the heat home with us too - next week's weather is to be high 30s and even some 40 degree days! Thank goodness we have air-conditioning!

I think tonight, if I can keep my eyes open, I'll do some more O Holy Night... we'll see how I go.
Happy Stitching,
Kerrie

Dinosaur ABC #10

Today we headed out from Newcastle and made our way to Wagga Wagga (approx 650kms). On our way through Sydney, we called into The Fox Collection showroom. I have wanted to go there for ages as I buy many of my kits from them via mail order. Sadly, the showroom wasn't what I had built it up to be in my mind. The Innovations company deals with all sorts of mail order products and they had a section for each one. The cross-stitch section was one small corner in the showroom. All the kits were the same prices as the ones in the catalogue so there were no bargains there. They did, however, have a small discount bin where I picked out 2 more plastic ornaments for my Christmas tree...

I also got a free ornament when I went up to pay...

So it wasn't a complete waste of time, but now I know I don't need to go back again. (Thank goodness - the Sydney traffic was terrible).
Here is my progress on the Dinosaur ABC from last night. I finished off 2 more letters: O & T

Hopefully, I can finish off the other half-done letters tonight and then get the rest done when we go back to Aireys Inlet on Australia Day long weekend (26th Jan). 

Although we have loved our time away, it will be so nice to sleep in our own bed tomorrow night and not have to go anywhere the next day. And we miss our puppy Clarence too. Can't wait to pick him up.
Happy Stitching,
Kerrie

Holiday Update #3

Today we sadly left my sister and her family in Warwick QLD and made our way about 750km southeast to Newcastle NSW. We had a great time, hot as it was - thank goodness for her pool! I didn't get any stitching done, it was just too uncomfortable. Tonight in the motel in Newcastle, I'll get some more of the Dinosaur ABC done and will post a picture tomorrow when we get to Wagga Wagga. We've decided to take 3 days to get home so we don't feel so rushed.
Happy Stitching,
Kerrie

Holiday Update #2

Wouldn't you know it - it has finally cooled down and today is our last day! We'll be leaving tomorrow morning and heading off. The plan is to take 3 days to get home, but we'll see what happens. I don't expect to get any stitching done today, but probably will tomorrow night where-ever we end up.
As fun as our time away has been, it will be great to get home and sleep in our own bed again, and tackle all those little jobs that have been hanging around all year.
Until the next update,
Happy Stitching,
Kerrie

Holiday Update

In Warwick QLD at my sister's place now and having a ball with the kids swimming and trying to keep cool. Luckily for us, (NOT), South East Queensland is having it's hottest heatwave ever and we are in the middle of it. Yesterday, when passing through Moree NSW, the outside temperature monitor in the car said it was 47 degrees outside!! That's 116F. 

Thankfully, my sister has a pool, and it is being well used.

It's even been too hot to cross stitch and that means it must be hot! Hopefully the worst of it is over and once it cools down a bit, I'll pick it up again. I did buy a magazine at the news agency today: The World of Cross Stitching, Iss #112. Looking at cross-stitch will have to get me by until it cools down.

Happy Stitching,
Kerrie

Dinosaur ABC #9

Posting from Dubbo (NSW)  tonight. Today we've driven about 850kms, and we are a bit tired, but not too tired to stitch! I've stitched the missing pink in the Dinosaur ABC tonight. J and S are now finished. Until tomorrow, from Warwick (QLD) [another 700+kms]...

Happy Stitching,
Kerrie

Dinosaur ABC #8

So all good things must come to an end, and we are now home from the beach house. We'll be home for a couple of days before dropping off Clarence (our Golden Retriever) at Cheese's (his best friend, another GR) place and then heading to Queensland for a week or so to visit my sister and her family. We are planning to come home via the coast over 3-4 days and we are both looking forward to that.

I've already been to the craft shop and got the missing colours so I can fill in the blanks and finish off the letters completely in the Dinosaur ABC design. I think I will be taking this with me to QLD as I think I'll be able to get it finished during the time away. Then I can select another pattern to be my 'beach house pattern'. I must have missed the sales at the news agency - often they have discounted cross-stitch magazines that people have subscribed to or ordered but haven't collected throughout the year - they didn't have any this year.

We were going to have people over for New Year's Eve, but have decided to have a quiet one, just us and Clarence. No point buying lots of food and then having to throw it all away the next day before we leave. Clarence and fireworks don't mix well - we have sedative pills to give him and he is so funny to watch - he fights them and will not give in to them in case he misses out on something. Poor thing just won't sleep until we go through his normal bedtime routine (some milk in his bowl before we turn out all the lights)... Hopefully the neighbourhood kids won't be letting off fireworks after the big midnight ones like they did last year - we couldn't get him settled until very early in the morning.

Well, back to thinking about what I'm going to pack and how many jobs I can get done before we head off. I'm taking my computer with me so I should still be able to update while we are away. Until the next update...
Happy Stitching,
Kerrie

Dinosaur ABC #7

Oh, I just hate it when I don't have all the colours needed to complete a design. I can't wait to get back to Melbourne and get the missing threads so I can finish this off. It's only 3 colours I don't have, but it seems almost every letter uses at least one of them. Only 4 of the above letters are completely done. Oh well, just another reason why I MUST get to the craft shop when we get home!
Back to much cooler weather today which will be nice. I do so love being down here at the beach house, and being able to stay more than the weekend, which is all we can manage during the year, is so relaxing. I think we are planning to actually do something (like go for a drive to a nearby town) today which is way more than we've managed to do so far - that's what holidays are for - doing nothing... but stitching of course!
Happy Stitching,
Kerrie

Dinosaur ABC #6

I was able to finish off the E last night and start on the K.
It's going to be hot hot hot here today - 38 degrees - so we'll be doing our stuff early then may be going to the beach for a bit. Hopefully people will be smart and there won't be any bush fires started (deliberately or accidentally) as the fire crews are very worried about that.
Happy Stitching,
Kerrie

Dinosaur ABC #4

Phew, I'm exhausted from a great few days at the conference in Adelaide - sorry it's been a while since I've posted. I have heaps of stuff to come back and work my way through which means it was a very worthwhile time. It sure is nice to be home.

On the stitching front, I have to admit, not a lot got done... Only part of one more letter - N

This will now go into hiding for a while, either until I go away somewhere else, or finish the Triplets ABC at our holiday house and this will become my new holiday house project.

Also, just received a parcel from Herrschners with some back issues of magazines I bought for something crazy like 50c each! I'll go through them tonight when I get home and post some pics tomorrow.
Happy Stitching,
Kerrie

Dinosaur ABC #2

Library stock-taking got the better of me on Monday night, I was exhausted! But last night was a bit easier and I got some more stitching done.

I managed to find all the colours used in this design to bring away with me, except 2... and of course, the first dinosaur uses one of the missing colours, hence the couple of missing spots in the M dinosaur.
Happy Stitching,
Kerrie