Just busy.

Thursday already were has the week gone!!Its been a busy week here as I mentioned we had a wedding to go to on Saturday which was one of the nicest weddings I've been too (and I've been to a lot including hosting my nieces in my garden) the wedding was held outside it was very simple and quick which was great as it was so hot even standing under umbrellas.
It was a long weekend here as Monday was Auckland Anniversary day and we enjoyed just pottering around (I am still working on my windows they are beginning to look really nice but it is a long job as some of the paint turns to this ugly sticky mess when you put the paint stripper on it)I have managed very little stitching over the week but I did get a little break to the LNS to pick up the rest of the silks I had ordered for HOHRH ,this was probably my fastest visit ever as I went straight in and out I didn't even browse for a minute LOL it did help of course that I had DD2 with me and we were off to buy her new school uniform (I now have no little children this is DD2 first year at High School) a pricey business at the best of times.I have been stitching away at my RR piece and this is almost finished ,I've been dying to start something new this week but have been good and resisted the temptation so far lol.I haven't touched the camel blanket since last writting about it mostly because of the huige amount of prep work it needs is a bit off putting at the moment .Well thats about it for now oh I forgot to add that I finally added a photo of the finished winter sampler I think this takes my finishes to 20/50 yay.

Painting and scrapping

This week has turned into one of those weeks were I suddenly decided to do some jobs that I have been putting off (actually hoping DH would do) first up I sanded and painted the railing around the deck and now I am stripping the windows in the study which is proving to be a bigger job than I thought it would be !However I have discovered that under they ugly chipping paint is the same beautiful wooden that we have in our main lounge which has been stained instead of painted and looks beautiful the only problem is I've never tried staining a window before and these are large windows that run the length of one wall and around the corner of the next so if I make a mistake it will be noticeable.The next decision will be wether to replace the horrible curtains or maybe to leave the windows bare as this would allow us to enjoy the view of the trees in our garden and the view of the harbour and Rangitoto oh well one thing at a time.
Today we are off to another wedding this time it is our forman getting married so that should be lovely but I guess I wont get any stitching time today either I have done a little on Namuelles RR piece but thats about it this week ,I really am going to have to pick up the pace a bit lol.I did have a couple of photos to share but I forgot to get the camera so I'll have to share them next time.Take care

Hi everyone I'm back I needed a short break last week as it was just one of those depressing weeks were every thing seemed to pile up and go wrong hopefully this week will go better.
I did manage to finish the Prairie Schooler sampler last week and have stitched one and a half pages of The Book of Ornament and work on LDS so I feel happy with that and will add photos tomorrow ,I will probably continue to stitch LDS today as with the end of the month approaching fast I am no were close to finishing either band but I have enjoyed stitching the little birds in band two.
I also spent some time on Saturday Drawing the designs for a new blanket I am about to start this is a project I have been dying to start for ages it is from Inspirations Magazine and is the first Camel blanket by Jenny McWhinney, I loved it the moment I saw it but it has a ton of different threads and some weren't available here, it was offered as a kit from the magazine but it was quite pricey so I didn't buy it and regretted it when it was no longer available ,but last Christmas they offered the kit again and this time at a much reduced price YAY so I snapped one up and have been looking forward to stitching it but I hate the transferring of the design stage so I have put off starting it, but no longer on Saturday Sarah (DD2) and I went to Spotlight and I picked up some tracing paper (they sell the large sheets) and I have managed to get Two Camels ready and only have the third to go ,then comes the painful stage of transferring them to the blanket!! I might add that while at Spotlight Sarah decided she need a project and came away with arms loaded with paint and a wooden box and tray which she then happily spent the weekend painting.
Sunday morning was taken up with a trip to the Mall to buy new shoes for Joseph and the a trip to Harvey Normans with Mical and Will to help them purchase a new Stove and fridge , we managed to pick up a couple of good deals and they came away very happy .
Before I go I just wanted to say thanks to Renee for stopping by I will check out your blog in the next couple of days.Take care.

I am so tired!

Well surprise surprise I have actually kept to my rotation this week ! Last night I stitched on mystery sampler from Gift of Stitching magazine ,sorry no photo today as I am not feeling great today ,don't no what the matter is I feel incredibly tired I can hardly lift my arms or make my legs move even my fingers feel tired !!!!!
I have been reading through a few new (to me) blogs over the holiday period, I am really fascinated with what other people are up to or thinking about and while I intend to keep this as a place to talk about stitching an area that I have noticed a lot of people thinking about is the whole idea of recycling or making better use of what you have and food miles which when you live at the end of the earth is a big issue ,these are all issues I try to put into practice in my every day life although of course there are some things which I find hard to give up (coffee would be a good example not sure how I can get round the food miles on that one) ,it really is encouraging to read about other peoples efforts and I hope to try new ideas out myself this year and be more aware of the effect I can have on some of these issues.
Well I guess I should be off to try and get some work done so Take Care.

Trying new things.

So far so good on the rotation front I have stitched on Autumn Sampler and Noble pursuit (I will have photos but my camera is playing up) and today I move on to A Book of Ornament .
Sunday was filled up with a trip to the Garden Center to buy new liners for my hanging baskets and plants to go in them, then DD1 decided we should stop in at a delicatessen we have been meaning to check out for a while, it turned out to have a strong middle eastern flavour to it with loads of interesting spices and jars of pickles, however as I didn't have any immediate needs for these we bought only some pepper, pita bread(which was absolutely delicious and made the whole trip worth while) and some Turkish coffee ,so with our treasures in hand we rushed home the girls immediately set to work making lunch while I fixed up the hanging baskets a job which didn't take long ,and in the mean time our little food shopping had put DD1 in the mood to bake the cookies she had bought for me at Christmas ( they were a mix ,chocolate chip, packaged very nicely in a chinese style take out box) and we thought we would wash this down with the Turkish coffee, now I should add here both DD1 and I are pretty good cooks so we aren't really used to failure in this department, but the cookies came out of the oven looking very pale and crumbly ,never ones to be discouraged we let DD2 try one first LOL ,actually with tiny cups of steaming coffee in hand we bit and sipped ahhhhhh what we tasted was cookies that tasted like they were made only of sugar and coffee made of mud LOL needless to say we were not impressed, we did redeem our selves latter by cooking delicious shrimp for dinner ,oh well you win some you lose some. Take Care

My January Rotation

The weather here is finally behaving more like Summer so I have been busy out in the garden mostly spreading compost and weeding which in my garden is endless but it certainly is nice to be outside.
On the stitching front I stitched my Santa (Prairie Schooler) for my RR and then discovered in true me style that I was suppose to have sent it on the 2nd not the 6th like I thought!!!!! never mind its in the post now however I forgot to take a photo of it.
I have decided on my rotation for this month I am going to work on-
1.Autumn sampler
2.A most noble pursuit
3.A book of ornament
4.The gift of stitching mystery sampler
5. RR
This is quite a stretch for me as I am not good at the discipline this takes however I have seen how well it works for other people and I am determined to make better use of my stitching time so wish me luck we will see how this goes.
Well I am off to stitch on Autumn Sampler there's not too much to go on this one so hopefully I'll have it finished soon leaving more time to work on the larger projects.
Take care.
.

Gardening in the Rain.

Firstly I want to say thank you to all of you who have dropped by lately there are a couple of you who are new and I wanted to let you know that I really appreciate you taking the time to comment and I hope to drop by and visit your blogs in the next few days.
Sorry no photos today as I really haven't managed to stitch anything as I have been doing some heavy duty garden clearing and my hands and arms are aching!!! however my RR is due be be stitched and sent by the 6th so I better get that out and sorted today !!!!! nothing like leaving things to the last moment.
I download the new issue of the Gift of Stitching this morning and was wondering if anyone else was thinking of stitching the new mystery sampler? it is by LDS.
Well thats about it for me I plan to do more gardening today ,the weather is definitely not helping matters here as it continues to rain however its sunny at the moment if still windy so I better make the best of it while I can .Take Care.