my good friend

she learned to quilt on Monday her stitches were all very fine
she forgot to thaw out dinner, so out they went to dine

she quilted miniatures on Tuesday, she says they are a must
they really were quite lovely, but she forgot to dust

on Wednesday it was a sampler, she says that stippling is fun
what highlights, what shadows, but laundry wasn't done

her charm quilt was on Thursday, green, red, yellow, blue
I guess she really was engrossed, she never made the bed

it was a wall hanging Friday, in colours she adores
but she never seemed to notice the crumbs on all the floors


Kate Strachan - 29.12.1943 - 18.11.2010

Kate was an extraordinary woman, she will be missed from our quilting group and from our lives. She was my friend.

Cross Stitch display blog hop....

I cannot remember when I did this one, but it would be in the 80's sometime,  and at the time it was quite different from the usual that I had been stitching, I do so love the colours in this one...

what a marvellous trip around today looking at all the cross stitching, my there are some really clever  clever people out there, I have had some rather big hassles with my lappie over the last few months, a combination of living in the back sticks and not having great internet connection, but also sadly  the lappie that I have been using died on Friday evening, and has sadly not been able to be revived.... so a new purchase is inevitable when we next go to town in another week or so... Rowing Man has an Apple Mac, and whilst they are a great machine, it is not that easy to flit between 2 systems, as everything on that unit is so very different from other units...

I have only a few cross stitches hanging about our tiny little cottage, these are some of my favourites,
 the rest haven't yet made it out of the packing boxes, and I am not sure that they will until we build... I am not even sure which boxes to look in to be honest

 This school sampler is currently hanging in our bedroom ... you will have to excuse the reflective glass doing it's thing, but this is the best photo that I could get without taking it off the wall...

 and this one is also hanging in our bedroom, it is the best place in the house that avoids the direct sunlight, other then the wee room, and you all know the one I am talking about, and I am  not hanging them there!

 there is a small mistake in here, but I didn't notice it until it was all framed up and hanging on the wall,

Thanks for the tour guys.... have a look at Chookyblue's blog for the list of blogs to visit

I haven't done too much cross stitching over the last few years, and I did buy a couple of lovely kits when we were last in Paris ... hmmmm where did I put them?? which box might they be packed away in??? perfect for a nice quiet summer night...

home again, home again, jiggety jig

well, what a fabulous week up at Karapiro both for New Zealand, NZ rowers and a great holiday to boot!

But... we caught the big silver bird yesterday, and  after the long drive home, here we are, back in paradise, ready to get right into the long list of jobs and things-to-do... never ending huh.

The builders and electrician and plumber were here while we were away putting in our new kitchen,  still quite a  bit of work to do, and the electrician needs to come back and do a bit of work, but the cabinetry is in, and the flooring is down, and the plumbing works, no stove tho' so no cooking in this house for a bit!!!!  Hopefully the electrician will be here today, tomorrow.... before the weekend???

lots of parcels have arrived while we have been away, so quite a bit of unpacking, and sorting and folding will happen in the shop today, watch here and here for further details and pikkies of the goodies

and Leanne Beasley's new magazine "Vignette" has also arrived and I will post this out to all the pre-orders. I am sure you will all have fun with this new delightful magazine, it has a really scrummy BOM that Leanne has included to wet your whistle, and get your stitching mojo going ...

so up and at 'em. Talk to you again later today when I have unpacked and sorted the goodies...

bon apetite

whitebait fritters ..... didn't last long!

aren't holidays great!

Mike 'n' Me 'n' Karen 'n' Rowing Man trying out a beanbag at the World Rowing Champs at Lake Karapiro just having watched the Melbourne Cup on the big screen. 'Dis da life! 

look at what I am doing come January 2011

This is Sue Spargo's seventh annual BOM starting in January 2011. Sue's newest BOM is inspired by Central Asian Folk-art and will be constructed out of hand dyed wool and textural fabrics.
The finished size of the quilt will be 42” x 42”. It will make a fabulous embellished wall hanging (Suzani) focusing on being heavily layered with textural fabrics and embroidery. Each month will use 4 different embroidery stitches to embellish the blocks. That will be a total of 44 stitches throughout the year.  How wonderful is this? Sue has limited sign ups to 300, and already these have sold out, lucky lucky me I say!

wedding plans on track

try if you might, but this post was such a long time ago so you could easily be forgiven for not remembering, Rowing Boy and French Chic got engaged  immediately prior to Christmas 2008, and then we had a fantastic time celebrating at their engagement party , well the big day is less then 5 weeks away!

... yesterday Rowing Man and I were in town, but part of the day, while Rowing Man was busy elsewhere, I managed to get round a few dress shops, and try on some gorgeous creations ..... and finally with Rowing Man in tow...last shop of the day, 5pm.. I managed to find just what I had been looking for,

you know how it goes, you're not exactly sure what you do want, but you certainly know what you don't want,

and you try on several  pretties, too many to mention really.., all looking pretty good, .... but they just don't have that zing, that WOW factor, that feel that the minute you slide the fabric over your head, and pull it down over your body,

...and look in the mirror, that this is what you have been looking for  the whole day! ...this makes you feel good... and that makes you look good!

it might not be the colour you thought you were going to wear,

or even the style that you had in your head,

but this IS the dress that makes you feel a million dollars, and still doesn't take any magic away from the bride or her bridesmaids, (not that you could ever do that anyway) or the Bride's mother, everyone is going to look and feel great!

now I just have to not wear it for the next 5 weeks, and keep it clean and spot free, I have already had it on twice today!