Shoes

Have new shoes, still busy packing, packing, ready for the big trip. I have 5 days to go to be ready arrgghh! My one pair of shoes has to do me for the whole trip in all manner of situations so I had to choose carefully. No room for 20 pairs of shoes for every occasion so hopefully no-one will be looking at my feet. Plus I always seem to see shoe stores everywhere on our USA trips so hopefully I will have room to bring a couple more pairs home! after all, who doesn’t love shoes? Can we ever have too many?

So over the next two weeks I will be reporting in from different parts of the world. Hope you can keep up with me and keep up with your blocks… So many of you from around the world are now stitching along with us, dont forget to join in here on the blog with a comment, a post, a photo of your work or something nice you have done. Visit Country Chix and see the Nice Thing they have been talking about.. I haven’t had a chance to try it out yet but will get to it when I this preparation madness is over.

hugs to all for this week, ‘see’ you in the US of A

Helen

Stitching

On Saturday as busy and panicked as I am getting ready for the big market trip to the USA I took a day out for myself to attend the Quilted Crows Autumn Gathering. What better than a lovely country hall, beautifully decked out with all things stitched, Great tutors such as Kerry Gillespie and Lynette Anderson and of course Leonie and Deidre from The Quilted Crow and 75 likeminded passionate stitchers. So my block for the week just had to be ‘Stitching’. I spent the day finishing the binding on my Diametrically Deduced quilt which is supposed to be in the US by the 26th so couldnt do any new projects today. I had my camera but only took pics of the projects so have included a couple here to tempt you. Their next Gathering is in September with Anni Downs and Natalie Bird… dont want to miss that one..

this was one of Kerry’s new patterns and it was named Milly, Tilly and Molly – no she did not know my girls are Molly, Tess and Tilly but said if she had she would have named them that – such a coincidence to be so close. Think I’ll have to file this pattern to make ‘one day’ for sure.

This was Deidre’s doorstop pattern. A young girl at our table made this one on the day and it looked so good. It was her first attempt at Buttonhole stitch and she had lots of teachers giving her advice and knoweldge…

Sunday saw myself, Miss Tessie and some wonderful friends busy busy packing patterns to ship this week in readiness for my visit to HMQS and Spring Market. I though you may like to see the work that goes into packing the NPNT packs for you – a very big job… but I still think the results are worth it.

The boxes from the printer have glue applied, folded and stuck and then the sticker attached. Tess is good at this bit.

The cards are printed and cut. And then they had to be made into the stacks of 54 – 9 cards from each pile in 6 different boxes from the printer – very easy to get mixed up and we seemed to have a few stranded cards leftover – woops…. The girls packed 500 sets today – lots left for me to package still, my dining table may be unuseable for a little while yet…

 The instructions sheets are printed and folded individually – Colleen made a good dent in these, I finished them at 11pm last night.

The box, the instructions and the cards are then packed into a zip lock bag for storage and shipping. Boxes are stacked with them, now storage space has to be found in my ever bulging studio.. 

Bubble Bath

 

As our cooler weather begins to sneak its way in now I love to have a huge bubble bath… Now I know thats not politically correct with our dire shortage of water in Australia but that is one reason I choose to live in Hobart. However we do limit them and really appreciate the fact that we are able to have one when the time comes. With our new renovation a few years ago we were lucky to have quite a large bath so mine is not often peaceful and relaxing, more likely shared with at least two other eager participants…. We have had all four girls in there but the eldest is now a little more modest.. and its getting a bit squishy!

So Bubble Bath had to be included in my ‘Nice things’ category as there is nothing more decadent and special… Sometimes I do get it to myself with a nice vanilla candle, soft music, champagne  – well actually I cannot remember the last time but I am sure it did happen once…. we can dream…

I have never tried this but I thought with Google around there must be some bubble bath recipes available. You bet there are…. hundreds, here are a couple I may try

http://www.pioneerthinking.com/cherrybubble.htmlCherry Berry Bubble Bath Recipe By Pioneer Thinking

Ingredients: 1/2 cup unscented shampoo 3/4 cup water 1/2 teaspoon salt (regular table salt is fine) 15 drops cherry fragrance oil Directions: Pour shampoo into a bowl and add water. Stir gently until well mixed. Add salt, and stir until mixture thickens. Add cherry fragrance and place in decorative bottle. Can also be used to make a body wash Note: If you can’t find unscented shampoo, you can use a mild baby shampoo in its place. http://www.pioneerthinking.com/ab_bubblebath.html Sweet Dreams Bubble Bath This bubble bath has lavender and patchouli oils to relax you before bedtime. Use soft music and lighted candles in your bathroom for a soothing effect. 6 drops of lavender oil 3 drops of patchouli oil 1 quart of distilled water 1 bar of castille soap. (4 oz. Bar) 4 ounces liquid glycerin Directions: mix the water, soap and glycerin together and stir. Now add your essential oils to the mixture. Cold Season Bubble Bath This bubble bath will help you breathe easier, with eucalyptus oil to ease the cold congestion. This is perfect for the cold season. 6 drops of eucalyptus oil 3 drops of spearmint oil 3 drops of peppermint oil 1 quart of distilled water 1 bar of castille soap. (4 oz. Bar) 4 ounces liquid glycerin Directions: mix the water, soap and glycerin together and stir. Now add your essential oils to the mixture. Pure Sunshine Bubble Bath This citrusy bubble bath will cheer you up and energize you. Perfect for a morning bath or use after exercising. 6 drops of orange oil 4 drops of grapefruit oil 3 drops of lemon oil 1 quart of distilled water 1 bar of castille soap. (4 oz. Bar) 4 ounces liquid glycerin Directions: mix the water, soap and glycerin together and stir. Now add your essential oils to the mixture. Love Potion Bubble Bath This bubble bath will put you in a romantic mood. All of the ingredients are considered known aphrodisiac – so look out! 6 drops jasmine oil 3 drops rose oil 3 drops vanilla oil 6 drops ylang ylang oil 1 quart of distilled water 1 bar of castille soap. (4 oz. Bar) 4 ounces liquid glycerin Directions: mix the water, soap and glycerin together and stir. Now add your essential oils to the mixture.

 

mmm do you know what Castille soap is? Perhaps you have your own Nice recipe you could share.

Let me know if you try any of these

hugs, Helen

Party Time

Yayy!! its now three days later and I have tried again. I guess WordPress have fixed their bug as it has worked and here is our pic, thanks for coming back. Happy Stitching, Helen

Well I have been trying all day to put this post up with a new WordPress interface and cannot seem to get the picture to show. So I will continue to try. Perhaps I just  cannot see it but it will magically appear when I publish.

I chose Party Time this week because I have already featured ‘Celebration’. My first baby Miss M over  the weekend has become the Tasmanian State U13 schoolgirl rowing champion!  So its definitely party time here…. We are very proud of her, we can see that she has developed a  passion and drive for this sport – perhaps she has finally found her niche…. She put her heart and soul into her races over the weekend and won the crowning glory – of course its only her first year and she has a long way to go but we still think its great.. mum had a few tears, dad couldnt be there but her sisters were proudly cheering her on… today feeling every blister, every strained muscle and every bit of stiffness poor baby…

so, sorry to be a bragging mummy but it is very satisfying as a parent to see your child succeed after all her hard work and our taxi driving…

happy partying to all

Helen

 

mmm seems everyone is having problems getting a photo up with the newlook dashboard on wordpress so I will try again tomorrow for you