QLD Flood Appeal Auctions

After such a devastating week in SE QLD people are starting to clean up and rebuild. Unfortunately, there are some areas where people are still unable to return to their homes and families who have lost or are missing loved ones, I can only imagine their heartache and grief.

I am fortunate that we live in a part of Brisbane that wasn't at risk and only one member of our family was affected (only slightly) by the floods. My DH works for Energex and is one of many who are trying to restore power to flood affected homes and businesses, no small thing to be without power during a Brisbane summer! He's lived here his entire life and has been out after many severe storms but has never seen anything like the destruction that has been left behind from this.

If you would like to help you can go here where there is a list of handmade goods being auctioned with all proceeds to go to the Premier's Flood Relief Appeal.

Please keep those affected by this disaster in your thoughts and prayers.

Karrie

Fair and Square - Christmas round

I received the most beautiful hardanger snowman from my partner Marcy for the Fair and Square - Christmas round. Try as I could I couldn't get a good photo to show the metallic threads on him. I'll back him with a darker colour to make the cutwork stand out and I think he'll make a lovely ornament for my tree next year. Thank you Marcy for a lovely exchange!

Here is the square I sent to Marcy. I've stitched this before and it's one of my favourite stitches, it looks nice with the beads in the light.

Red Berries (Rosewood Manor)

GOS December 2006, Issue 11

32# light mocha linen with DMC threads and Mill Hill beads

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Ours was busy as usual but fun, which is the main thing. We'll be getting ready for the start of a new school year soon which I'm looking forward to as I might get a little bit - just a little bit - more free time.

I don't have any big stitching plans for this year, I'd like to finish off some WIPs and at least start a birth sampler for our new addition. That may change of course, as the year progresses and I'm tempted by all the new charts that are released :)

I hope you all find some stitching time today

Karrie

Lots to share

Finally, I have some finishes to share and a little time to post! I'd forgotten how little spare time there is with a baby, finding time to post has been a bit of a challenge.


The ASOE is closing and this was the final round. I really enjoyed this exchange and would like to thank Terry for running it - it was great fun. Here's what I sent and received.

My ornie to my partner Alison

Oak and acorn from Autumn Treasure - Kooler Design Studio

(Cross Stitch Gold - Issue 25)
32ct Dirty linen with recommended DMC threads

My ornie from Alison

I'm a big fan of JBW designs so I was so happy to receive this, it's gorgeous! It went up with my Halloween decorations for a while and I'm looking forward to it coming out again come Autumn. Thanks Alison for a lovely exchange :)

Fair and Square - Halloween round

Squares from Christine

This design was in this years JCS - Halloween issue and went to the top of my list as a must stitch, so I was thrilled when these arrived in my mailbox - all the hard work done :)
Thanks Christine - they're perfect!

My squares to Christine
"Boo Moon" by Val's Stuff (JCS Halloween Issue 2009)
32ct dirty linen with WDW, GAST and DMC threads

This was an interesting stitch, what started out as one colour change through necessity snowballed and most of the colours ended up different to those charted. I couldn't get the embellishments in time so I improvised and a unique version of this design was born. That's one thing I love about stitching, a few small changes and you can end up with something completely different from everyone else.

My other finishes are for the Great Pumpkin Challenge by Becky and I was so glad I "finished" finished them in time to display for Halloween. I'm very slowly building up a collection of Halloween decorations so any extra motivation is always useful.

"Boo" - Plain and Fancy Merchant freebie
32ct dirty linen, WDW threads

Part of "Halloween Night Banner" - Mill Hill Harvest Festival Booklet
32ct dirty linen, DMC threads, without beads


Halloween - Les grilles de Maryse freebie
32ct dirty linen, recommended DMC threads

My first pillow finish of this type, I'm pretty happy with it, it needs some more stuffing - I didn't have quite enough and I would have preferred a different ribbon, but I'm using stash and this was the best match, not too bad for a first try.

If you've read this far thanks for your patience, you've finally reached the end, whew!

I'm hoping to start some Christmas stitching soon - so much to choose from - hopefully I'll have a few finishes before Christmas arrives.

Hope you find some stitching time today :)

Karrie

Back again!

When we came back from our holiday last year we brought back a surprise souvenir with us which has made some big changes to our family and is partly why I've been so quiet for such a long time.

Our third son, Myles (appropriately named) arrived at the end of July and we're - only just -getting used to juggling the needs of a baby and our two much older sons.

My stitching achievements and mojo have been pretty low this year but seem to be making a comeback now, this is of course just when I have much less free time to enjoy them, LOL. Even though I haven't been stitching too much myself I've enjoyed reading other stitchy blogs to see what everyone else has been up to during the year which has been nearly as good. However, I'm glad that I finally feel ready to join in again.

Missy Ann and Annette are having great giveaways for the 31 Days of Halloween which sounds like lots of fun and I've signed up for the Great Pumpkin Challenge run by BeckySC. I'm definitely in Halloween mode and hope to have lots, well maybe a few, Halloween finishes by the end of October.

Hope you find stitching time today :)
Karrie

Our European odyssey is over and we're back home. It was a wonderful adventure! I took what I thought was an achievable amount of stitching with me and I didn't cross one x the entire time. So no stitch-y updates at the moment but hopefully soon.

Hope you all find some stitching time today :)
Karrie