a new trail

This past weekend my morning runs took me along familiar bush trails to this....

...one of my most favorite places ...a mere 2 minutes down the hill from my mother's house, but a long 3 hours drive south of Sydney.

Beaches are my "go to" place, they help blow away the cobwebs, cares, worries and frustrations of my life. Somehow the ocean calms me, centres me and helps me return to being a happier person. The rhythmic shoosh of the waves, the delicious salty tang of the sea on my lips, the squeaky sound of clean white sand under my toes, and especially the solitude of an empty beach on a cool autumn morning. As a city dweller I love it. And crave it.

It's been a worrying ten days with my elderly father hosptalised and my mum left to deal alone with no transport, fighting with inefficient country-style public transport and overly officious hospital staff. I was glad to be able to spend three days with her as chauffer and general support dogsbody.

Thankfully dad was discharged this afternoon and all looks to be heading back to normal.
Fingers crossed.


k

bird with pantaloons

 Really enjoying this little guy....

pushing up daisies

No not quite!! It's been a while since I posted though...so what have I been doing?

Sewing up a storm chain of daisies. These little pretties are to be appliquéd onto the final border of my Jane Pizar lookalike quilt interspersed between the large Welsh Leaf shapes. It has been quite a nice little job to stitch these... 19 down and 1 more to go.

Happy dance time! The long Exemplar sampler from my last post is finished and at the framers. I cannot wait to see how she looks finally complete and framed. Will post a photograph next time.

In celebration of a finish, I allowed myself a start! Haha more happy dances. This is the beginnings of the Blackbird Designs Fine Feathers trio of birds which when all stitched together looks absolutely gorgeous. I have really fallen for the wonderful overdyed threads. But can you see what I've done? So cross with myself! This is what comes of sewing when you're tired. The sweet dividing border is in the wrong place and will need to be removed.

My new favorite tool for cross stitch is this rather bizzarre contraption. MagView magnifying lenses help me see the linen threads so much more clearly especially since graduating from 25count linen to 32count... (and there is a little stash of 35count set aside for the next project). Jean from Linen and Raspberry took me on a little shopping trip to The Crewel Gobelin on Sydney's upper north shore. As well as clever sewing accessories they stock a huge range of fabulous cross stitch patterns that tend to stick to one's fingers (they are lovely people too!)

This past Easter weekend found me in the garden and the kitchen in about equal quantities. No photos of the garden as we were really just claiming it back from the millionty seven spiders who had taken over. After such a wet summer we are beset with all sorts of spideys, some a little too large for comfort...I have taken to waving a stick in front of me on my way through the garden to catch the webs before they drape over my face!

I did bake a big batch of cranberry and pistachio crostini to serve with a dessert of mixed gelatos and lime marinated strawberries. Yum!

Finally, some gorgeous roses arrived on Saturday from my best stitching friends, not one bunch but two!

That's it from me for now.

Hope you find some time in your day to sew.
Until next time.
K