A Fantastic Weekend

I have had a fantastic weekend.

Yesterday my brother and sister-in-law came down from the city for an overnight stay.  Jarrad and Megan had friends also come down for the weekend.  We had a lovey day little party (late lunch) at our house.  Cinnamon and Mark have the most gorgeous little 14 month old boy called Bryn.  He has the bluest eyes and is such a happy little man.  We had lovely Sesame Chicken, cold meats and a couple of salads with desserts of  home made Lemon Merange Pie, Chocolate slice and Pumpkin Cheesecake.

It was a tad chilly so we sat out on the back lawn surrounding Bryn and enjoying his babyness.  He was delighted by our dog Panda and the free ranging chickens.  Fascinated by the leaves on the lawn.  And then top it all off our broody chook, Vanessa, her eggs started to hatch. 

The young adults left as they were staying at Jarrad and Megan's place and then us grown ups had a lovely evening talking and chatting.  It is so important that we see each other now that our Mum and Dad are no longer alive

Today we went down to Balingup to visit with Jarrad and Megan at their home.  We had brunch at a lovey cafe and then toured the orchards where the boys work.  We then had to say goodbye as our visitors had to return home.

It is Christmas decorating time in my home.  Alan kindly got the decorations out and tomorrow I shall decorate our home.  I am only having 2 christmas trees up this year.  

I even popped some stitches into my Mary Sampler that Plum Street Samplers kindly released as a freebie as few weeks ago.

Some Finishes

I have been doing a fair bit of stitching these last few months. I have finished 2 old UFOs (small ones) and started and completed a project. I stitched this design on a piece of hand dyed fabric I had in my stash. I have no idea what count it is. I stitched it 1 thread over 1 thread with DMC threads. The design is a freebie by Bev from Love Thy Thread

Gosh I can't believe this tiny design was a UFO for so long. Started it in Perth before the big move. Just Nan's Noela Christmas Robin. A collaboration between Little House Needleworks and Crescent Colours.

Kenneth James Nock 1926 - 2013

At the end of April my gorgeous Daddy passed away.  I loved him very much and as with any loved person in a family, who passes away, it takes awhile before life gets back on track and routine returns to normal.  We were so lucky that we had Dad for 9 years longers than we thought and they were mostly a good nine years even though his heart was very dicky.  My dear sister looked after him in his last year of life and I know I can speak for my brother in that we are so thankful that she did and he did not have to spend any of  the last year of his life without family around him.  He wanted to go and was excited to be joining Mum.

 Dad, taken on his last birthday. My sister Annette.

Dad with his great grand daughter Evangeline.

Dad dressed up to go to the Melbourne Cup lucheon at Daddy day care

  
Last time at our place here in Kirup a month before he died.  He was desperately ill but so wanted to come down one last time to see our dog and visit with us at our house.

My Daddy I loved you so much.  Many wonderful memories you have left me.  RIP in peace with our Mummy

Becoming a Hooker

Thought that would grab your attention!  A rug hooker that is.  I have found a wonderful group in Donnybrook that hook rugs.  It is at the Arts and Crafts place and Robyn runs the show.  What a lovely, gorgeous person she is and all the other hookers are lovely as well.  Very friendly.  Anyhoo, I have started my first little piece which is a primitive crow.  I will make it into a cushion when done and then possibly do a sheep and then a black and white cow.  That will take at least all of this year to complete those 3 I am sure.

Hooking is good and I am quite surprised how much I enjoy doing it.  Robyn and her group use recycled materials so it really is a cheap craft.  I have a collage of pictures here that show you some of the rugs finished and some in the making.  I need to remind you that none of these are mine.

I also had a visit from some friends of mine who live in Perth.  They gifted me these lovely pair of scissors which they got from the little french shop that is in Boyanup.

My Fibre Stashing

Whilst I have made a commitment to try and not buy any more stash I am not counting my thread of the month club I get from Jo at Colours Down Under . I receive 8 threads a month for the price of $21.60 including postage.  That is my bit of stashing that I do for myself.  I collect Crescent Colours cotton threads.
This is my latest haul.

As you can see Lindsay decided she wanted in on the photo too.  

Some Stitchy Updates and My New Babies

Haven't been stitching all that much lately.  A trip up to Perth and visitors etc.  One visitor that I have had is my dear friend Jill (no blog).  She comes down every couple of months (even though we have been trying for once a month) and we have a great time stitching together etc.  Jill hasn't been stitching for all that long and she is coming along so well.  I started to teach her in 2010 and she has been continuing ever since.  She is not a confident stitcher but I have noticed the improvement big time over the last 6 months.  She has been having private hardanger lessons with Jo at Colours Down Under . The lessons are paying off as her stitching has improved so much.  Anyway, Jill and I decided that when she comes down we will stitch on our Chatelaines.  Hers is Alhambra Gardens and mind is Convents Herbal Garden.  I started mine when it was Martina's second mystery and that was in 2002.

I have also been slowly stitching away on Martina Dey's of Stickideen von der Wiehenburg design Evangeline and her Coat of Arms Band Sampler.  I love Martina's designs.

So this morning I went down to the chook house to see how my chickens were fairing and to see how the egg sitters were doing.  Bingo!  I have babies.  Four at the moment and I sincerely hope that I get a few more out of this sitting. There are 5 more eggs that hopefully will hatch.  I have another hen in the other chook house sitting on four eggs.  She has one more chance of seeing this through and if she doesn't I wont let her sit on eggs again.  She will be at least another week and a bit before I expect any chickens from her clutch of eggs.  

So here are 2 of her Henrietta's brood.  Mind you they are not all her eggs.  Poor Louise started the operation baby chickens and then Henrietta kicked her out and took over.

Blogger is being stupid and I cant get 2 of the photos to come out the right way so I am afraid you will just have to turn your head.  Apologies in advance.  

It Was The Weather Changing

That is causing all my pain.  I said to my daughter-in-law Megan I can so understand why people in chronic pain commit suicide. (And no I don't feel suicidal just having a little pity session).  Anyway yesterday I woke to it rainy and colder without the humidity and felt a 100% better.  Today not so good.  Anyway whine is over for now.


This year has been so busy.  Dad has been very unwell and I have spent some time in Perth with him.  He has rallied a bit now after an iron transfusion that caused a little heart attack.  I am off to Perth again on Thursday because Mum's best friend Rosie Brandis died suddenly and I am going to her funeral.  It was a shock.  She was a huge part in my growing up life in Mingenew.

I have been stitching and crocheting away like nobody's business this year.  I have had one finish with cross stitch another almost done.  Just need to buy that silk thread so I can finish it.  Also have finished a lap afghan on the crocheting bit and a skeleton.  I will upload pictures when they are all transferred to my computer from my phone.

Presently I am stitching on my Jim Shore afghan and have completed 2 of the squares.  I need to get a move on with the 3rd square as it needs to be completed by the end of the month.  I am also stitching away on a Jim Shores Monogrammed Letter "A".  Don't think my girlfriend reads this blog as it is for her.  Started this last year and didn't realise it was a detailed as it is.  Still I am enjoying it immensely and hopefully it wont get put away before I finish it.  I am also stitching on a band sampler called Evangeline.  Yes it is named after my grand daughter.  My dear friend Martina Dey designed it and then asked me to name it.  I will put Evangeline's birth details at the bottom or in the middle as a birth sampler for her.  I also have been looking at Martina's German site.  It is fantastic and the designs in it are just gorgeous.  Many more designs than available on the English sites.  I love the animal ones.

Anyway I think that is all I can think of.  Well that is not true but I don't want to bore you to tears.  Oh and Megan where is your update on the new chickens and chicken cage?

I will edit this later when all the photos are downloaded.  I think I have downloaded them before but I am not computer savy on a PC so can't be bothered looking for where they might be.  Macs are so much better for finding things.

From the top left hand corner is a view of the corner of the crochet afghan, the finished quaker motif, the 2 squares stitch on the Jim Shore afghan, Homer the skeleton I stitched for Kenric and lastly a full view of the afghan I crocheted.  

Me Again

Today I finished my rotation for stitching on my Mary Wigham SAL from 2012.  I am now almost 6.5% done.  My rotation for these projects (meaning ones that are not on my goal list for 2013) is whenever I feel like it.  So here is my progress so far.

I also have uploaded the photos from my camera  I mean I phone onto the computer.  Feeling a little bit clever I am.  Now if I could just find out how to find files on a PC all would be well for a bit.  

Stitching Goals For 2013

I had a dismal year on the stitching front 2012. One completed item is terrible. This year I have decided that I am only committing to a few goals. The first is to finish Just Nan's Common Ground. I am so close after yesterday's stitching session. I am also doing a SAL with my mate Jill (no blog). Jill and I are both hopeless when it comes to sticking to our SALs. We are doing an afghan. Jim Shore's Countryside afghan. I was late starting (forgot to mention it was our Jan 1st start), so needed to work out how many stitches I needed to do get the square done for January. So this SAL should take 35 months. I say should cause you never know with me. Anyways I am powering through it. I can't believe how much I am enjoying it. I am on target to having this square done. So the third goal. I want to complete at least one page of my Dutch Beauty. Given that I have about 20 pages to go it means it will be a long long time before I am happy dancing with this sampler. I will stitch on other designs but these ones are my goals.  And then I think when CG is done I might get out Chatelaine's Mystery 2 and finish it.  Gosh that was a long time ago and it is now available as Convent's Herbal Garden.

I will upload a photo of the Chatelaine when I get it out.

I Forgot to Add

For important events for 2012 was the birth of my beautiful grand daughter Evangeline. She was born on the 3rd June. Photos are: the day she was born and with her cousin Piper on Christmas Day.

A Review of The Last Year

Well I have thought about this post for ages.  I bet it doesn't come out anything like my grand thoughts.  I have a new/old computer to work with and as it is a PC it will take me a bit to get used to as I have had a Mac for such a long time.  When Jacob was here he rebuilt his old computer which is better than mine.  Boy this computer is fast fast fast. Well for me it is.

The last twelve months has had its ups and downs.  Dad was quite sick earlier in the year and we ended up moving him out of the retirement village into my sister's home.  She retired from work to look after him.  Alas it looks as though he is going down hill again with blood counts too low and various other things.  We have been so lucky to have him for so long.

Beryl went into a nursing home and she is settling in there.  I am not sure you could say she is loving it but she is certainly feeling quite used to it now.  Her health is good and I do believe her mental health has stabilized since going there.  She gets much better stimulation I think.

On the cross stitching front I finished 1 project.  I do believe that it was my worst year ever for stitching.  I did a reasonable amount but not consistantly.  On the crocheting front I finished 2 pieces I think.  Would have finished 2 more but I fell over at the local Servo (Service Station) and hurt my left hand.  There were 2 things that came out of that not including the pain.  1.  I obviously don't have Osteoporosis cause I didn't break my hand and I certainly landed on it hard enough.  2.  Not only are my fingers riddled with Osteoarthritis but my whole hand is.  So I am guessing it will take a while to heal.  I do use a hand brace some of the time.  It has been a month today since I hurt my hand and it is still hurting.

Now pictures.  Not sure if I have any on this computer but will go for a look and if I don't I guess I will try and work out how to put them on.

Lastly please go and have a look at both my daughter-in-law's blog.  Megan is our American girl and she and Jarrad have bought a 3 acre property.  She will be breeding chooks (Chickens) and Naomi is our Queensland girl and she stitches, crochets and does patchwork.