It's nearly Christmas!

It's been a few weeks since I last posted, I can't believe where the time is going. I am 33 weeks pregnant now, and only have 3 weeks left of work, it's hard to believe. Christmas is slowly creeping up on me, I've been good with my Christmas shopping for the moment but still have to get a few bits and pieces. It's been reasonably easy this year which is good.

This month is my busiest time of year at work, but because I am in my last trimester and am on my feet most of the day I am trying to take it easier. It doesn't help with the hot weather we are having at the moment, it is hot humid weather and we have been having our air conditoner on to keep us cool. Being heavily pregnant in the heat is no fun! Normally I feel the cold all the time, but now I am always hot without a jacket, even when it's not that hot outside, that's very unlike me. :-)

Unfortunately I've not really had the chance to cross stitch either, as we are in the middle of house renovations getting ready for our new arrival, so our house has been a little bit upside down. My Dad is doing a fantastic job though, I don't know what we would do without him. Adrian and I picked our paint colours for our house now so we are about to start painting this week too which is very exciting.

With all the house work going on I do have a progress pic to show though of Achoo since the last time I posted.

I've been busily trying to scrapbook our photos from our honeymoon too before bub arrives as it was something I really wanted to get done before hand as I knew time would be limited afterwards. I am almost done with that too.

A few weeks ago I found out I was a lucky winner in Veronica's giveaway of her lovely scissor fobs. I won the fob I loved which is called desert rose, the beading is so beautiful and I love the little charm on the end. Thanks so much Veronica, now at least I won't lose my scissors quite so easily. :-)

On Saturday at work I had a client in who loves to cross stitch too, and she knows that I love it too. It was her last appointment with me on Saturday before I have bubby so she bought in a gorgeous present for me. When I unwrapped it this is what I found.

A gorgeous hand stitched baby mobile. Isn't it just gorgeous, I was so touched to receive such a generous gift. I love the gorgeous colours going through the little fish. Alot of work has been put into it and it would have taken her quite a few months to complete. I just love it. I might even hang it on the pram for the baby to look at when we go walking.

Thank you also for your lovely well wishes about Katherine. She is doing well and has started her chemotherapy treatment and so far she is doing ok. It's all very positive news which is fantastic.

I am hoping to get a little bit more stitching done this week, because next week we might be back at Mum and Dad's house for the week as our floorboards are almost done being laid downstaris. So they will need to be sanded and polished before Christmas, and I don't know how much stitching I will get done as I am working quite a few nights that week. At least I don't have any Christmas presents I am stitching for people to be out on a deadline. After Achoo I am going to be starting a birth sampler for my sister. I might even have my little one arrive by then, you never know. I will be lucky to get any stitching done. :-)

I hope you are all well and enjoying the lead up to Christmas.

Happy Stitching x

Ahhhh........choo!

It has been a mentally draining week and quite a busy one at that too. Adrian, Matilda and I moved out of our house this week for one week and moved to my parents house whilst we had our top floor of our house floorboards sanded and polished. We were very excited because the rooms getting done were our bedroom, the little hallway, the babies room and our staircase. This means we are getting closer and closer to setting up our nursery. We moved back in on Saturday night after I finished work and had to do a big clean up as there was a film of dust everywhere. We did put up sheets and plastic covering, but because we couldn't cover everything we did get a bit of dust, but it wasn't too bad. I love our new floor, it's so pretty.

It was nice to spend the week at Mum and Dad's to spend time with them and because we were looked after well. :-) Adrian went home for two nights to stay at his parents to spend time with them too.

I also made a trip to my LNS on Tuesday and decided to buy some jubilee 28 count evenweave and some more gold tipped needles and made a start on Achoo. He was hiding in my bedroom every day and I stitched on him every night in bed as I had to hide him from Mum and Dad. I did take him into work too incase I found some time on my breaks to keep stitching him which I did so I did manage to get a bit accomplished which was great. I am so happy I decided to buy more fabric as straight away I could tell the difference in the quality and it feels nicer to stitch on. I can't believe the week I start stitching on a new project for Mum and Dad is the week we need to move in with them, go figure. :-)



Adrian and I found out some sad and shocking news on Thursday, his sister Katherine was diagnosed with cancer. She had been feeling unwell for about a month and on Thursday morning she had noticed she had a lump on her chest, so she went to the doctor straight away that morning. The doctor said it needed to be looked at urgently and they sent her off to an oncologist. They did some tests and found out the lump was a tumor and it was quite large which is why she was feeling so unwell and not being able to breathe so well. On Friday she had bone marrow removed and a biopsy done and we find out tomorrow what sort of cancer it is. They are quite certain it is either hodgkin's or non hodgkins and she will need to be treated with chemotherapy. The good news is it is treatable and she won't need to be operated on to remove the tumor, instead they will give her steroids to shrink it.


It was quite a shock to receive such awful news this week, especially as it came up so quickly and it is never something you expect to happen. It has been a very emotional week and i've found it hard to be strong for Adrian but I am trying really hard. The best news is everything being said about her cancer is positive and if you know Katherine you would know how strong a person she is and she is being so positive which makes everything feel so much better. We just need to be strong for her too.
It brought back memories of my Mother who was diagnosed with breast cancer two years ago this Christmas, but she is very well and healthy now and it's such a uplifting feeling and great for Katherine to relate to. Mum had to have chemotherapy and radiotherapy too so I am sure she will be good for Katherine to ever be there if she needs to talk to someone about it.



So it's been a full on week. I came down with hayfever/cold this week too so I've been sneezing away. I guess it relates to starting Achoo this week too. :-) I've only been able to visit Katherine once and because she starts chemotherapy tomorrow I won't be able to visit her until I am 100% well again.


Since cross stitching is therapy it's been good I've been able to do it this week and today it was our monthly stitchy meet which was held at Bek's house today. I managed to get a bit of stitching done on Achoo and just sit back and relax. My Dad came over to our house today and kept on the renovating on our house with Adrian. They managed to get alot accomplished, which I think was a good distraction for Adrian.


I want to show you a picture of my progress on Achoo

I am enjoying stitching on Achoo, and I am liking the blended colours in the thread dimensions like to use.

Thank you so much for all your lovely comments on my Humphrey's corner baby sampler, they really made my day.


Happy Stitching x

Humphrey and Achoo

I am so excited to say I finished Humphrey's corner! I sat up late last night watching bewitched and trying to finish off the writing on the sampler which mind you needed much concentration, which probably wasn't the most smartest thing to start at night time. But I did manage to finish stitching half of it and finished off the rest of the writing in the morning. I'd never cross stitched writing on evenweave before, it's always been on aida when I've had to stitch some writing, so it was my first time and it was a little more difficult than aida, but I got there eventually.

I just adore this piece, most likely because it is for our baby but I really love the colours in both the fabric and the piece and I just think it is so cute! I will show you each elephant on it's own and then the full pattern.

This little one is so cute, I love his little jumpsuit. He's my favourite after the sleeping Humphrey.

This one is too cute looking at his little duck.

The last cutie.

And the full pattern on it's own. I started cross stitching this pattern on Thursday August the 26th and finished it today, 7th of November. I didn't get much stitching time as I would have liked the past few months so I would have finished it sooner if I had the chance to stitch more. But I am happy with 2 and a bit months. :-)

There is nothing like starting a new pattern. :-) I just love it. The new threads and fabric, it's all so exciting. After I finished Humphrey I started kitting up a dimensions kit called 'Achoo' which I've had in my stash cupboard for years. This is him here.

I sorted out the colours onto the colour chart and changed my aida over to evenweave and started a little bit of stitching. But I'm not sure I love the evenweave, it feels and looks different to what I'm used to and it's been sitting in my stash cupboard for awhile so I forget where I even bought it. I think it was at the craft show one year but I wouldn't know what brand it is. I am thinking I might go to my local LNS tomorrow and buy some new fabric. I've always liked stitching on Jobelan. I need some new needles too so it's a good excuse to go to my stitchy shop. I can have a browse too. :-)

I think Achoo is so sweet, I've decided to stitch him for my parents. One day I would like to stitch him for myself too but I want to stitch something nice for them as they always do so much for me and my husband. I would like to stitch them a suprise to hang up in their house. I am planning on having it matted and framed when I have my baby sampler framed too, so after bub is born of course. :-) Going by the size of Achoo he won't take me that long at all.

It's been nice getting in some stitching this weekend, we are in the middle of house renovations getting ready for our new arrival on the way but i've still managed to get my cross stitch out. I hope you've all had some stitching time too. I've enjoyed reading up on all my blogs too.

Until next time, happy stitching xx

First little humphrey completed.

I am very excited to show you my first humphrey completed and all cross stitched, half stitched and backstitched. I managed to finish him off last night and he is my favourite of all the little elephants. :-) I love how he is sleeping with his little doggie teddy, very adorable. I think the backstitch has really bought him to life, and I am loving the colours in it. I also love how the fabric is coming through in the piece.

One thing I am not loving, which I seem to forget with every anchor pattern I stitch is the backstitch isn't always easy to follow with the thick lines they like to use on their patte. But I just take my time and it seems to work out. I do like the anchor patterns so I generally just remember what they're like after I've finished all the cross stitching. :-)

What do you think of him?

And this is a photo of the bubbles I've started backstitching too with the elephant beside them.

My weekend has just started tonight as I worked today and we are having a quiet weekend with a few things to do tomorrow but I think I will be able to get in some stitching time. I am looking forward to it, and I am sure my pattern will be on it's way to being finished sooner rather than later. I hope you all have a nice weekend and get some stitching time in too.

Happy Stitching xx

P.S Thanks for your lovely comments about Matilda our dog, we think she is pretty adorable too.

Back from Wye river.

Our little family had such a lovely time away in Wye river over the weekend. Thanks so much for all your lovely comments about the weekend, I hope you all had a nice weekend too. Many of you mentioned the toad fish but thankfully we didn't come across any which was good. Carol, I hope you didn't get too much of a scare when it came up on your computer screen. :-)

And Vinniey, I'm not sure Matilda would even think about the fish making her sick, she might have a memory like a gold fish in that respect, but maybe she would I'm not sure. Because you would like to see what she looks like, I have posted a photo for you. I think she is very cute!

Here she is on our way to Wye river waiting patiently in the car.

And this is our little family, with bub in my tummy (so there are 4 of us in this pic really). :-)

We had such a nice time away together, the views were just beautiful and it was so relaxing to look outside and see the bush and the sea at the same time. At night time we could hear the waves crashing. We spent most of our time hanging out, going for walks, having bbq's and of course I got some stitching time in there too. What is a weekend away without stitching? I stitched by the log fire like I said I would and actually got quite a bit done. I've almost finished all my cross stitching now, next I will be onto the backstitch. I took a photo of where I was sitting cross stitching and the view I had when I looked out the window.

How nice is that view? I thought so. I wish I had that view every time I looked out my lounge room window at home, but sadly I don't. But I guess it's what makes going away all the more special.

I hope you all got a little bit of stitching done over the weekend, I am going to do some more now.

Happy Stitching xx

Weekend away

For some reason I always seem to post on my blog on a Friday. I guess because I never work Friday nights which is nice. :-)

My husband Adrian, Matilda and I are going away for the weekend tomorrow to a lovely beach side town called 'Wye river'. We have rented a log cabin and we plan to just relax, go for walks and spend time together. I really need this break as does he so we are very excited about it. We thought it would be a good chance to get away before bub arrives. I think Matilda is really going to enjoy herself too. :-) As long as there are no toad fish on the beach!!

I am planning on taking my cross stitch with me and since the weather is supposed to be terribly cold and wet as it is today it will be nice to light the log fire and stitch by it. A glass of wine would go perfectly with this scenario but I am pregnant so that won't be happening. :-) Some chocolate can counteract this though. :-)

It has been a busy week and I've worked the last three nights so I've not had much time for stitching unfortunately, but I will show my progress off anyway. The little elephants are so adorable, I've started on the last elephant now but i've only stitched white thread so it won't really show up.

Sometimes I wish we celebrated halloween here in Australia because I am loving all the halloween stitching people are posting about on their blogs at the moment. They are all so quirky and cute. Some of the shops stock halloween costumes and ornaments etc.. here for I guess people that do celebrate but it's not big like it is overseas. Thanks for sharing all your halloween stitching though, and of course the people who haven't stitched halloween patterns I just love reading your blogs too. I hope you also enjoy my posts. :-)

I hope you all have a lovely weekend, and happy stitching xx

Spring is on it's way.

I was so thrilled and I appreciate all the lovely and kind comments you left about my dog Matilda, it was so nice to read them and brightened my day. It is nice to know I have such wonderful followers. :-) Matilda is doing much better now, she has fully recovered as long as she doesn't eat more poisonous fish. :-) I am more aware down at the beach now, I stop walking when she does.

I have had a good few nights of stitching on my humphrey's corner sampler and now that daylight savings has started and the sun is up longer I think I will get even more stitching time in (here's hoping). I have been excited about the beautiful weather we have had the last two days, looks like Spring really is on it's way. I am so over Winter! It's been so lovely and warm and it makes me feel like getting out into the courtyard garden for some stitching time in the sun. I am going to make the effort to do that this Spring.

Anyway, this is where I am up to now on Humphrey.

I am suprised how fast this piece is coming together, I guess the pattern is not overly huge or anything but it's still coming together really well. I can't wait to start the backstitch on it as I think it is really going to bring the little elephants to life. Tonight I plan to stitch after I log off of blogger and watch some of season three of gossip girl. I know, tragic! :-) I like girlie tv shows.

I hope you have all enjoyed your weekends and happy stitching x

Thanks ladies for your kind words about my stitching and the little car accident we had. I can't believe it but this morning I had another drama.

I took my dog Matilda down to the beach for a walk this morning and she managed to eat something fishy! I tried to run to her before she could swallow whatever she found but being pregnant and running on soft sand didn't really help the matter so as I was running she was running away from me and eating this thing in her mouth. I was so annoyed and I am very paranoid because I thought it might have been one of those puffer poisonous fish, but wherever she found it, it wasn't close to the water so I wasn't sure it would have been.

Anyway I was very worried about her as she did swallow it so we went home straight away and I cancelled going into work as I would have hated myself if I had left her home on her own. I am so glad of my decision because an hour later she was violently throwing up and she started shaking alot and was finding it hard to breathe. I don't think I've gotten Matilda into the car so fast and sped off in a panic to the vets which is also an animal hospital. I was so upset in the car almost hyperventalating myself which is not good I know being pregnant and all, but she is my baby and I just kept having the worst thoughts come into my head with these stupid puffer fish. She threw up in my car and then when we got to the vets she kept throwing up so they had to give her an anti vomiting shot and some charcoal tablets. She was still shaking at this stage and the vet was concerned that if she kept doing that and was still throwing up when I got home we would have to take her back and do some tests and put her on a drip. He said she had been poisoned but with what he didn't know. The vet was lovely and offered to keep her at the hospital ( I think he saw that I was pregnant and was worried if she collapsed or something I couldn't pick her up) but my husband was also worried because I was so distressed that he cancelled his job at work and came home so we could monitor her together. The vet said if she did get worse we would need to take her back. Apparently with these puffer fish they can actually restrict their breathing and dogs often collapse and can't walk, but she was still walking fine other than the shaking.

So we got home and she was still trying to be sick but nothing was coming up but outside we did find some sort of seafood and white flesh that she had brought up earlier (I was dry reaching when I saw it) and we gave her water but she is not allowed any food. She was still shaking but since she's had the medication the vet gave her she has improved alot. She is breathing better, her shakes have stopped and she has wanted to drink.

I am constantly looking at her but she has just fallen asleep as she did fight it for awhile and I now have a headache. I was so upset at her for eating such a yucky thing but she is a dog after all and I do forget that at times. :-) I am just glad she is better and that I made the decision to stay home because she did definately need some help. I have not even felt like stitching, but now that she's ok I think I might be able to start some now.

I can't believe the luck I've had in the past few days. I hope everyone else has had better days, and happy stitching x

More humphrey

I just wanted to thank everyone for your very kind comments about my feather fairy and stitching, it makes me happy and thanks for spending the time in looking at my blog to all my readers and my new followers too.

This week I have really enjoyed my stitching time of a night and I've finally been getting some good stitching progress in. I've really missed it and I've loved working on my sampler again. This is where I am up to with humphrey now.

I love this pattern and am enjoying my time stitching on it. I think it is because I love the colours so much since I am a lover of pastels and the pretty fabric. I am always itching to get home from work to do more. :-)

Today my husband Adrian and I went looking at cots and prams for our bub on the way and I came across a humphrey's corner cot which is white. That's the colour cot I want, it is so sweet and it would be so perfect for our nursery since I am cross stitching a humphrey's corner sampler. Adrian couldn't get over the smile on my face, but other than it being cute we have to look at other things of course with the price, how strong it is, how easy it is to operate etc..some cots were better than others. Anyway we had fun looking around and have narrowed down what prams we like and we left in a good mood until as we were leaving we backed into someone else's car by accident. The shop we were at is very hard to get out of and back onto the road and we were too far out on the oncoming traffic and a truck was heading our way so we reversed in a hurry only by a meter at the most and someone was very close to our car and bang! My bull bar went through the next persons car's bumper but there was no damage to my car. So it kind of put a dampner to our day, but at least no one was hurt at the end of the day.

I hope you have all had a nice weekend and happy stitching x

Another update

This past week has been really busy at work which includes me working quite a few nights so I haven't found much time to stitch except for last night which was really nice. I am loving the way the sampler is looking so far, I love pastel colours so that's why I think I am in love with this design and my fabric choice. Here is where I am up to now.

My two friends Gayle and Bek came over last Monday and we had a nice stitchy afternoon/night together. We had chinese takeaway for dinner and chatted and caught up on each other. I hadn't seen Bek since she got married in April so it was great to see her. I thought I was making good progress on my sampler until I realised I had gone wrong somewhere and it took me a good part of the night to find out where I had gone wrong. I just couldn't work it out, and I ended up finding the mistake late at night. So most of my work was pulled out which was a shame, I was back to square one again. Other than that it was a good night and it was good company.

I also picked up my feather fairy from the framers and I love how she turned out, she is beautiful. I am happy that I didn't go with any matting, the frame looks lovely on it's own. Here she is here. She will look much better when the wall behind her is painted nice, I can't wait to get rid of the wallpaper.

I am hoping to get more stitching done this week, I hope you all find some stitching time too.

Happy Stitching x

Another update

Over the last week I've been getting back into my scrapbooking again as I've been motivated to scrapbook my honeymoon photos and my sister Lori inspired me after seeing her scrapbooking. She also went on a European holiday lately and has got stuck straight into her photos, so I decided to start mine too.

But I've also been stitching of course and I've made a little bit more progress on my little elephant, not as much as I would have liked but a little bit at least. I just love the colours of the elephants, so cute!

My Mum and Dad came over on Monday night for dinner as Dad wanted to show Adrian how to start patching up the nursery walls for our babies room and my Mum being my Mum bought along roast pumpkin soup as she "didn't want me working too hard making dinner" she is so sweet. So we decided on making cheese scones to go with our soup and they turned out to be so beautiful, I am glad we decided to do that. She also had another suprise for me, she bought me the book 'the friday night knitting club' by Kate Jacobs which I've been wanting for ages but could never find anywhere. Mum ordered it for me and bought it over as a gift, so I've been enjoying reading it every night before I go to sleep. Even though it's about knitting I can really relate it to cross stitching which is fun, and being in a stitching group of girls. I am lucky to have such a wonderful Mum and Dad.

I am catching up with two of my girlfriends on Monday night for a twilight stitch meeting at my house since I am missing another stitch meet this month, and I am looking forward to it. It is so nice to sit back and chat and stitch. We did it last summer and it was such a nice night. This time we just wont have the daylight savings to keep us stitching in longer light.

This Sunday I have my sister's engagement party but I am hoping to get in some stitching time in the evening. It's about time, my weekends have been a bit crazy lately.

I also got a call at work today saying my feather fairy is ready to be picked up from the framers, can't wait to see her!

Happy Stitching xx

Humphrey's Corner

I am so happy that I've finally made a start on my baby sampler, it's a nice feeling stitching something for our baby. I am loving the pale colours on the fabric I chose, I think it was a good choice.

This is what I've stitched so far.

I also took my feather fairy cross stitch into be framed, and I went down for a drive with my sister Kelly who also wanted to get a picture framed for her husband. I decided on going for a pale wooden distressed frame with no matting. I decided against the matting because the fairy has so many different colours I found the matting took the attention away from the fairy just because it looked too much. There was too much going on, just because there were so many colours. I am happy with what I chose though, so can't wait to get her back from the framers to see how she looks.

Tonight I've managed to get a little bit of stitching done between baking a sticky date pudding. We are off to my friend Natalie's house for dinner tomorrow night and I said I would bring dessert. Of course Natalie wants me to bring my stitching too. :-) I am looking forward to it.

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend and......happy stitching xx

Fairies and Cats

I had an eventful night on Wednesday night with my stitching. I managed to initial my name and wash and iron my feather fairy and initial my cats and turn them into coasters. I am really happy with how the cats turned out and I think they

look very cute sitting on our kitchen table now. I just hope people use them. :-)

Of course I had to see what they would look like with a cup of coffee on the top.

I managed to have the morning off work on Thursday as I started later in the day and it was so nice to go for a walk to the beach with Matilda when I woke up and then I started my Humphrey's corner baby sampler which I was very excited about as I've had it for two weeks already and haven't touched it! But I made it my mission on Thursday morning. It's only a small start, but at least it's something.

We have a busy weekend again so I don't think I am going to get much time for stitching, but I do feel good that I've accomplished much of what I wanted to this week.

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend.

Happy Stitching xx

Babies and Cats

It feels like ages since I've been online, and it has been. The last two weeks have been pretty busy and I've not had much time to stitch unfortunately, but I've still been able to sneak online every now and then and catch up on everyone else's blog.

I finished stitching another cat which I finished last Sunday but haven't had time to post about it till today so now all the kitty's are done. I need to get them organised so I can put them into their coasters still, but I am so happy with the outcome. They are all so cute, I can't wait to start serving people coffee and tea on top of my new coasters.

I was so happy on Monday as my new baby sampler arrived! I was very excited when I saw the parcel when I got home from my pilates class that I ripped it open straight away. :-) I've not yet started stitching it but I can't wait. I am hoping that I find some time this weekend to start on it as I want to start it sooner than later. I have such pretty new fabric to go with it just waiting for me to start.

I am now about to sit down with a cup of tea and look through my new cross stitcher magazine that was delivered to my mailbox today. I love that my husband renews my subscription every Christmas.

I hope everyone has a nice weekend, happy stitching. xx

Scruffy cat

Thank you for all your lovely comments about me feeling better, I am still sick but am slowly getting there. This cold just wants to hang around and not leave me alone. I have been working but we have cancelled weekend plans so we can get better quicker, this just gives me more stitching time which is always good. :-)

I finished another cat, I've named him scruffy because I think he has that look about him.

I have one more cat to stitch and then I can arrange them into their coasters which I am looking forward to doing. I am happy that I've had a chance to stitch these little cats because I've been wanting to stitch them for ages. And by waiting for my baby sampler to arrive it has given me an opportunity to do so, especially since I finished feather fairy.

Ooh yes, I won the baby sampler I wanted off ebay too!! It will hopefully arrive this week so I can get started. :-)

I better go and check on my dinner, I hope everyone is doing well, and happy stitching xx

Another kitty down....two more to go!

An awful cold hit my husband and I this weekend and it made us housebound on Sunday, I had to work Saturday unfortunately and suck it up but Sunday was a day of rest. I lost my voice and we cancelled our plans and felt sorry for ourselves of course. :-) But it did allow me to get some stitching done on my cat coasters. I finished stitching another cat, and he is cheeky because he is upside down in the coffee cup, but I think he is very cute.

I am really enjoying stitching these cute characters as they are an easy stitch and I love the cartoon feel they have to them. I bidded for the baby sampler I want on ebay so hopefully I have won it and can get started on it when it arrives in the mail.

Before I go, I just wanted to say thank you to all my followers for your lovely comments, they really make my day and I am delighted that my blog can bring you happiness.

Happy Stitching x

Feather Fairy Finished!!

My feather fairy is now complete! I finished the stitching on her today and I did a happy dance in front of my dog Matilda :-) who looked at me wondering what I was doing. But she did look at my fairy when I held it up to her. I am so excited to have finished this fairy, she did take me 12 months as I didn't work on her every day. You know things such as work and life in general get in the way of stitching. :-)

So without further ado, here she is....

I stitched her on 28 count evenweave called 'arabian nights' hand dyed by 'stitches and spice' and I used DMC threads and kreinik metallic thread. The beads were Mill Hill antique glass beads.

I really love this fairy and I am proud to now display her on my wall once she's been washed and framed. It will look great when I've stitched halloween fairy too one day, as they will go so well together.

Here are some close up's of some of the details.

The beading on her bodice and hair piece. The hair piece is one of my favourite parts as I think it's so pretty and elegant.

And the metallic thread in her wings, unfortunately the photo doesn't do it much justice as it sparkles alot in real life.

Next project up is to finish off my little cats and start on my baby sampler when it arrives!

Happy Stitching x

Quilt and craft show

I went along to the quilt and craft show yesterday with Gayle and Cassie and had a nice day out. The show wasn't as big as other years so the cross stitch was limited but I still found my favourite stalls which was good. Gayle and I spent alot of time at 'stitches and spice' one of my favourite Australian shops that sell beautiful hand dyed linens, fabrics and thread. They also sell a big range of mirabilia and heaven and earth designs. Unfortunately I couldn't find the baby sampler I was after at any of the stalls but I really wanted to buy some fabric to stitch it on when I do buy it. I wanted a neutral cream colour to suit the baby's room and each gender. And no sparkles just incase it is a boy. :-) But I do really love sparkles!

I wanted to buy the fabric at stitches and spice as I love their dyes so after looking at alot of different dyes I decided on a 28 count jubilee evenweave called 'celtic' and I think it is going to compliment the sampler well. In the sampler kit they have stitched the display picture on cream coloured aida so I knew it would work well with the one I chose.

I also bought the mirabilia 'halloween fairy' which I've always loved and had my eye on to stitch one day. She's one of my favourite mirabilia fairies, I love her clothes and her attitude and it just so happened that stitches and spice had the whole kit for sale at a cheaper price than normal. The kit includes hand dyed threads, fabric, beads and the pattern. So I thought it to be a good opportunity to buy her and even though I won't even pick her up anytime soon she can sit in my to-do cupbored.

If you look closely you can see the swirl up close in the fabric.

That's all I ended up buying that day as nothing else really caught my eye that much and I had spent my budget anyway. Gayle did well with her items and Cassie bought her first cross stitch kit which we will help her make a start on when she is ready.

It was nice spending the day out at a craft show with friends and wandering around together. Unfortunately Cassie wasn't feeling too great, so she sat out most of the day and rested at a table. But at least she did manage to find her first little cross stitch to start. :-)

Happy Stitching x

Is that a cat sitting in my cup of coffee?

Last night I managed to stitch quite a bit on my coffee and cuddles cat while I watched a movie on TV called 'catch and release'. My first cat is now finished which didn't take long to stitch up at all, I think he is very cute. This cat reminds me of my cat Sophie who passed away last year, she was ginger and white and had alot of character. The movie was ok, nothing to rave about but it was a girly romantic comedy and I like those kind of movies of course. It was just nice to sit back and stitch really.

Isn't he cute? I love the little bee he is looking at too.

And I FINALLY got a call on Friday from Morris and Sons letting me know my thread has finally arrived in the Melbourne store, wohoo! I really wanted to pick it up but didn't have much time on Friday so when I finished work today I managed to drive into the city before the shop closed which is a quick ten minute drive from Richmond where I work and I found a carpark really quickly, everything was in my favour. :-) I ran into Morris and Sons and picked up my thread, and double checked it was the right colour since I've taken the wrong colour home before and now I can stitch some more on my fairy tonight. This is the thread I waited four weeks for, what we will do for our love of cross stitch....

Tomorrow is the craft and quilt fair which I am really looking forward to! It's an early start for a Sunday (my choice) but as I am sure many of you will agree, having and taking the time to look at cross stitch is essential. :-)

Happy Stitching x

Baby on the way..

I really want to share my exciting news with everyone, my husband Adrian and I are expecting our first baby!! I am thirteen weeks pregnant and I am due January 25th. It's been hard to keep a secret in the early stages but I am now announcing our wonderful news to everyone. We are very excited, over the moon. It's what I've always wanted.

So since I am a passionate cross stitcher, of course I am on the search for a baby sampler. At the moment I have a humphrey's corner pattern in mind called 'bubble baby' which I think is so adorable, and I've always liked this one. Since we are not finding out the sex I thought it was also a good neutral pattern for either a boy or girl. But my eyes will be open on Sunday when I head to the stitches and craft show with my two friends Gayle and Cassie. We are very excited about going and looking at all the cross stitch stands, filtering through the kits, patterns, threads and fabrics. So I might even see another pattern that catches my eye instead, we will see. I am hoping they have the sampler at the show for a cheaper price than retail.

We are going to get there early before the crowds so we can look around and then have some lunch and talk about what we are going to go back to buy. I can't wait!! I am sure my son or daughter is going to be getting lots of stitched pieces over it's lifetime. :-)

Happy Stitching x

Stitching with friends.

I had my stitchy meet on Sunday which was fun, in the morning I baked my first banana bread with caramel icing. It smelt so fresh and beautiful, the smells coming from the kitchen, I hope the girls liked it, I sure did.

We sat around stitching and playing with Melody's (the girl who hosted) little 9 month old daughter Lily. She is ultra cute!It was a perfect day for stitching, it was cold and rainy outside, and we were having cups of tea and yummy snacks.

As I am still waiting on my metallic thread to arrive which should be here this week, I didn't get to work on feather fairy. Instead I worked on the little piece I took overseas with me but hardly touched. It is a cute pattern by Margaret Sherry called 'cats and cuddles'. I am stitching it on 14 count oatmeal aida. It is a picture of 4 different cats sitting in coffee cups. They are very cute and colourful, and instead of stitching the cats all in a row I've decided to stitch them individually and put each one into a plastic coaster which I can display on our coffee table or dining table, wherever they end up I guess. I bought the coasters a few years ago at a craft show and they have always been stored away. This is what I've stitched so far...

I will continue stitching on this piece tonight, but it will take a back seat when my thread arrives as I really just want to finish my fairy now, she's so close to being completed!!

Happy Stitching xx

Beads,beads and more beads..

I managed to finish all the beading on my feather fairy and I am really happy with how they have come out. I think her hair piece is really pretty, it's something that I would wear, haha. I also love the beading on her bodice and the back of her wings.

I am quite frustrated because I am so close to finishing her but I still can't get the metallic thread I need which mind you I ordered 3 weeks ago. My LNS hasn't contacted me and I've called her a few times to see if it has come in yet but it never has. So the wait on the thread is what's stopping me from finishing her. I would have finished her ages ago otherwise.

I've tried finding the thread elsewhere but of course it's never in the shops so I called Sydney's morris and sons shop during the week as the Melbourne shop said Sydney have the colour I want and they are sending the spool to their Melbourne shop for me. It will be coming in next week which will be ok, I just wish it was here for this weekend as I am going to a stitchy meeting this Sunday.

I am excited about Sunday, as 4 of us girls are going to our friend Melody's house for our monthly stitchy meeting which we try and hold once a month although this year it's been more like every 6 months as there were 3 weddings (including mine) between us girls and 3 honeymoons so it's been hard to get together. Two of the girls can't come unfortunately as Bek is on her honeymoon and Natalie is working,but we really need to get together or else it won't happen. So it's just me, Gayle, Cassie and Melody on Sunday. We all take a snack, and I am still trying to work out what I can bake and we sit and chat, stitch and eat yummy food. :-) What a way to spend an afternoon....

Happy Stitching x

Has it really been that long since I have written in my journal? 3 months! I've been reading everyone else's journals but havn't posted on my own.

I have a few things to update and tell you about, I also was a little sick of the look of my blog so I decided to play around with it a bit and add some prettiness to it.

My husband and I got back from our honeymoon on the 20th of May, and we had a wonderful time. We couldn't believe our bad luck getting delayed with that volcano that erupted in Iceland, but we got there in the end, we were delayed for 11 days. I have to acknowledge that at least we weren't stuck in an airport somewhere with nowhere to go, there were people much worse off then us. It still put a dampner on the start of our honeymoon though. Anyway, at least I had 11 days of lots of stitching.

Europe is so beautiful, I really loved every city we went to which included Paris,Venice,Austria,Prague and Poland. We saw alot in 3 weeks, and I even managed to find a little cross stitch shop in Paris. I had to bring a souvenier home of course. Europe has so much more history than Australia does, so it was nice to see the other side of the world. The plane trip wasn't all that fun, but what can you do when you can't afford first class tickets? :-)

After we got back from overseas we settled into work and homelife quite quickly and the jet lag wasn't too bad.

I've been stitching feather fairy ever since I got home as I want to finish her really soon. I am really happy with how she has turned out, I think she is very pretty. I ran out of metallic thread which I am waiting on my LNS to get in. It is so annoying when they don't have the colour you need, I could have finished her ages ago. I have started beading her now, and I am really enjoying it. The beads really add some sparkle to her outfit. I have some photos to share.

You can't see that well but if you look closely you can see where I have started on the beading on her skirt. I will post more pics when I've stitched some more on her. I hope that metallic thread comes in soon.

Now that it's freezing and right in the middle of Winter here I've been cooking comfort food and baking alot. I baked my first apple pie which I was very proud of since it was my first time at making my own pastry. I loved how it came out and it was really tasty! Mmm apple pie.

Happy Stitching everyone xx

Friday, April 23rd 2010

I have been enjoying my week at home stitching and catching up on movies. I have made alot of progress on my fairy and now all her feathers are stitched. The colours are so pretty and vibrant, I love admiring them. Next I will be starting to stitch her legs.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel for us regarding our honeymoon now since flights to Europe have resumed once again and we will be on our way there on Tuesday, yay! I am planning on visiting if I can find them that is, a few cross stitch shops overseas. :-)

Monday 19th of April 2010

I am sadly not on my honeymoon as yet, as the volvano eruption has caused major havoc. My husband and I were supposed to leave on Friday the 16th of April and it is now Monday the 19th and we are still stuck in Melbourne. :-( I couldn't believe the bad timing of it all and now it's just a waiting game to see this week when they will let us fly.
I just have to keep telling myself that there are worst things in life. It's just so frustrating when we have both taken all this time off from work and now we are just sitting home twiddling our thumbs. It was my first trip overseas so it was very exciting so when we found out we weren't going it was a major anti-climax.

Anyway, onto a lighter note. It's given me time to sit back and relax with Matilda and get some stitching done on my feather fairy at least. I spring cleaned the house with my very helpful Mother who spent the day with me last Thursday and did countless amounts of washing and ironing so everything in the house is done. Not much to do at all. I also did clean out our fridge so I guess I should go and stock up a bit on food until we know we are heading off. I've decided to just take an extra week off work and extend our holiday.
We also bought a new camera to take overseas with us a few days before we were to go away so that's excting. I can now take exciting new pics of my cross stitch. My last camera didn't take very good up close shots of my cross stitch.

In my hand luggage I put together a little cross stitch to take with me on the plane. I put everthing I needed in a little plastic bag so the security guy could see through it. If they discard my needle so be it, but it really is so tiny. I've put some extra needles in my luggage incase they do discard it so then I can stitch on my travels. We have lots of train travel to come.

I now might go and have a shower and sit down to do some stitching.

Happy stitching xx

April 6th 2010

I had a lovely Easter mini break but a very busy one at that. Adrian and I caught up with quite a few of our friends and we had a family lunch at my parents house on Sunday and then a family dinner at the night time at Adrian's parents house. So needless to say there was alot of food and wine consumption. Ooh and chocolate easter eggs too, the most important.

I wanted to dedicate a few hours at least to stitching somewhere in the break and Saturday was my day to do that. I stayed at my sisters house on Good Friday night and spent time with my beautiful neice Heidi who is turning 2 years old this Friday and then came back home in the morning when Adrian was heading out the door so I managed to get the house to myself. It was such a beautiful morning I walked Matilda down to the local shops and decided to buy a take away coffee and hire 'the time travellers wife' on dvd which I have wanted to see for awhile now. I bought a few other things I needed too and whilst enjoying my coffee I took Matilda to the park so she could wander around for a bit sniffing and exploring.

I then went home, hung out some washing and then plonked on the couch for a few hours watching my movie and stitching. It was so lovely, I really enjoyed it. After the movie finished I put on some episodes of 'bewitched' and continued stitching. Yes, I love bewitched.

I have managed to make a fair bit of progress on my feather fairy since I last posted, I am getting closer to the end of stitching her feathers.




I would have to say my favourite colours in her feathers are the blues, I think they are so striking.
My friend Gayle visited me on the 29th of March along with her 10 month old baby Caitlyn and she gave me a gorgeous stitched gift. It was a gift for our wedding and I think it is so sweet. The design is called 'home is where our story begins' and is by Lizzie Kate.


I am not sure what I will do with it yet, but I am sure I will get it framed one day.

There are only 10 more sleeps till Adrian and I go on our honeymoon!! We are going to Europe and it is my first trip overseas so I am super excited! Living in Australia is sometimes not so great due to the loooooong flight we will entail (23 hours to be precise) so I am hoping I can stitch on the plane. I will have to check with our airline first but I am planning on taking a small Margaret Sherry design to work on. I would never take a big pattern like my feather fairy because if something happens to it I would cry (most likely), and I will not have the arm room I would like. I am stopping into my favourite LNS on the way home from work on Friday to get some fabric for it so I can get all the thread etc..orgainsed. If they confiscate the needles so be it, at least I gave it a try. I wouldn't even try taking scissors.

Happy stitching xx

My first post

This is my first blog post at an itch to cross stitch. I decided to keep my own cross stitch journal so I can keep a record of my own cross stitch progress and because I LOVE cross stitching so much anything about it is exciting,haha.

The reason I decided on creating my own journal on blogger is because I love reading about other people's cross stitching adventures and seeing everyone's work and I wanted to have my own. I am hoping that people find me on here and that they enjoy seeing my work as much as I love seeing their's.

Unfortunately there isn't enough hours in the day for me to cross stitch, there is nothing I like more than having a day of watching movies and cross stitching the day away on the couch. But a thing called 'life' gets in the way :-) which in turn has cross stitching taking second place to cleaning the house or going to work. Life in general I guess. But then I look forward to sitting down with my cross stitch at the end of the day and relaxing, as it is my favourite pasttime.

I have been cross stitching for the last eight years now and it can take me awhile to finish a pattern because there are some days that I don't get to sit down to stitch. I love cross stitching mostly anything but I have a love for anything cute, vintage and pretty. At the moment I am working on a piece called 'feather fairy' by Mirabilia and the artist is Nora Corbett (as above). It is my first mirabilia piece and I have loved working on her. I started my fairy back in July 2009 and she is getting there slowly. I recently got married to my darling husband a couple of weeks ago so with all the planning and preparation she got neglected for a bit. I am having alot of fun with her and I can't wait to get to her face and the beading. I am stitching her on 28 count hand dyed jobelan evenweave called arabian nights with DMC thread.


My biggest piece to date was a pattern called 'afternoon tea' by dimensions gold. It took me a whole 17 months to finish, so much detail but worth every bit. In this particular piece I came across new stitches which taught me a bit about cross stitch, it was a great learning curve.

My last piece before feather fairy was a holly hobbie design and it was my first time stitching on evenweave, now I have since fallen in love with it.

I have quite a bit of stash which I am sure every cross stitcher has aquired over the years but there is always room for more. :-)