Hot cross buns, one-a-penny, two-a-penny.....

Hot cross buns!
Guess what I made yesterday? I thought there should be traditional hot cross buns in the house for Easter breakfast, so got cooking. I found the recipe here and made the changes that some people mentioned (changed the white sugar to brown & doubled the spices. I also used mixed fruit instead of just currants). I made the mistake of leaving too much room between them when I left them to rise, and they ended up as single buns with a crusty edge instead of soft sides. I also used a baking tray instead of a lamington type pan which wouldn't have helped. I could have added even more spice too.
Anyway, the kids liked them and we had some for Easter breakfast, to wash down the chocolate ;-)

Happy Easter everyone, I hope you got a visit from the Easter Bunny!

A "Finished" Easter finish

Try saying that 10 times fast!
This is a design I stitched a while back, but put off finishing as I knew it would be a nightmare to fit it into the frame properly. Surprisingly I didn't get to the point where I wanted to fling it across the room in a fit of blind fury, cursing the day I ever thought it was a good idea to make a cross stitched collage. I know it's far from perfect, but it will do. As it's quite a busy design I think it works out OK. It gives it that real rustic, homemade look ;-)

Happy Easter, and don't overdo the chocolate!

Australian Open Karate Tournament

We've just had a full on couple of days attending the Australian Open tournament. Of course my internal alarm clock didn't trust my electrical alarm clock again and started the wake up process at 2am Friday morning. After a few more interrupted hours of sleep we hit the road in the dark. The worst part of tournaments? Hands down the early starts! Oh, and the ironing of the kata gi. This time I took it to the local dry cleaner and paid him to do it. Bliss! Best part? Seeing DS perform well and be pleased with results regardless of placings. Oh, and seeing him make friends with his opponents and being a great sport.

Anyway, DS was entered into both kata and kumite (sparring) in the kyu divisions (open to those below a black belt) and the open (open to anyone, including black belts and beyond - although at DS's age there's generally no black belts). A total of 4 events.

In kata, (both open and kyu grades) he won his first 2 rounds 3-0, but lost out in the final 0-3 to take home a silver medal in each. In kumite, he lost the first round but came back in the repecharge to have a chance for 3rd. Unfortunately he narrowly missed out on winning both matches, so just missed another 2 bronze medals.

Last year he was only eligible for kata, and had a major wobble in the kyu grades which cost him the chance to medal, but came back to take 3rd in the open grade. This year was a better result all round.

It was great experience, as there were boys from 3 other states besides Victoria. It felt a lot like Nationals because of this, and gave us a chance to see what some of the other states will be bring to Caloundra in August for the 2011 Nationals.

My Easter exchange package arrived FROM the UK!

And Eileen spoilt me rotten with lots of goodies! Here's a pic:

She sent me a cute purple felt bag, an Easter greeting card, a cute floral kit, some DMC cotton, a lovely bright stitched Easter design, a teeny tiny fluffy bunny, some Easter stickers, 2 pieces of purple fabric and some chocolates. Sadly, some of the chocolates are missing as they got eaten before I took the pic mysteriously disappeared ;-)
Thanks for the exchange Eileen!

Hot off the q-snaps!

I've finally finished "Lacey Pinks", it seems to have taken ages. Here's a pic of it:

Here's the details:

• Name of the design is "Lacey Pinks".
• Chart is designed by Debbie Draper Designs. 
• Fabric is 28 count pink evenweave that was gifted to me :-).
• Thread is DMC #150 (the burgundy) and the pink is from Carries Creations, in "Magenta"
• Stitch count is 120 x 120.  
• Started on March 19th.
• Completed on April 10th.  I chose to stitch this in alternate colours to break it up a little, instead of the one colour it called for. I'm not sure what will become of this design.

My Easter exchange package arrived in the UK!

It seems Eileen liked everything I sent, which is great. Her package to me is still in transit, I'm sure it will be here soon. Here's a pic of the stitched piece I sent to her:

Here's the rest of the goodies I mailed:

Purple is Eileen's favourite colour, so I sent some hand dyed purple fabric, a pansy tuck ornament kit, some fudge and 4 cards with birds on them as she likes birds also.

Here's the details of the stitched piece:

• Name of the design is "Easter Card".
• Chart is a freebie for members at San Man Originals. 
• Fabric is a unique piece of mottled lilac 28 count evenweave from Silkweavers fabric.
• Thread is DMC cotton.
• Stitch count is 63 x 60.  
• Completed around about March 18th 2011.

All quiet on the western front

I haven't posted in what seems like ages, as there hasn't been too much to report. I finally finished off the piece for the Easter/Spring Exchange and mailed it off. Eileen has also mailed her item to me, so I'll be able to post what I sent and what I got soon enough.
I'm still working on the "Lacey Pinks" design, slowly but surely making progress. It seems I've only been stitching at karate class lately, so it's taking a while to finish even though I'm close to the end. Not sure what will be next, I have a few ideas but nothing is jumping out at me.
My eldest son has started debating again for the year, as an extra curricular activity through school. Last night was the 2nd one for the year and his team got their first ever win! I think there's either 3 or 4 more debates, one every fortnight during school terms. Fingers crossed they can get a few more wins on the board.

2 days of stitching on my WIP

Here's my latest project, after 2 days of stitching:

I'm using a pink thread from Carrie's Creations and a burgandy DMC thread. What do you think so far?

Stash in the mail :-)

The other day I got some cross stitch stash in the mail, from Barb who won a flood appeal auction from me. She saw that I had the "Lacey Pinks" chart on my wish list, and had it in her stash so very kindly offered it to me. Not only did she include the chart, she sent some pretty pink fabric and Carrie's Creations thread to stitch the design with. I was over the moon! I was nearing completion on my current project and contemplating what to stitch next. Nothing was calling my name until I opened the package, and there was my inspiration for my next project! Here's the goodies she sent me:

If you're reading this Barb, thanks again! You are the best :-)

My Easter/Spring exchange piece

I can't post pics or details of my latest project because it's a gift for an exchange I joined over on the message board at 123 stitch. The idea is to stitch a little something with either a Spring or Easter theme, and mail it off to your partner with a little gift or two. My partner is Eileen in England and we are to mail our pieces on the 1st of April. I am finishing up the stitching part now and will have to work out what to turn it into soon. I can tell you it's stitched on a one-off piece of hand dyed fabric and I'm using 9 different coloured threads. I just have a bit of backstitching to do and that's about it. I'll post pics once I hear that Eileen has received it.

Final cupcake finish!!

I've finished, and only a little later than planned. I had 3 stitching goals for 2010, one of which was to complete all 23 cupcake designs. I failed in all 3 of those goals, so this year my goal is to have no goals! Anyway, here's a pic of #23:

• Name of the design is an extract from "Quaker cushion".
• Chart is designed by Kell Smurthwaite from Kincavel Krosses. 
• Fabric is 25 count "Dark Chocolate" lugana evenweave from 123 stitch.
• Thread is DMC cotton, #840.
• Stitch count is 28 x 28.  
• Started on March 2nd.
• Completed on March 8th, with quite a few non-stitching days in there.  It will be the FINAL cupcake for my stand!

O.M.G :-)

What a weekend! It started with a restless night Friday. I pretty much woke up every hour, on the hour and was awake for the day at about 4am :-(. I never sleep well when the alarm is set for an early time, I think subconciously I expect to over sleep. 

Anyway, after my early start DS and I headed off in the dark for the Victorian Karate Championships. He was entered into kata, kumite and team kumite. Despite the draw not being in his favour, he did really well to take gold in kata! He is now a 2-time state champion :-). Kumite he earnt a bronze medal, despite losing his round, and then in team kata he also lost but overall his team beat the other team to take home another gold. Not bad for a day's work!

Then after our busy Saturday we headed to the Avalon Airshow on Sunday. It was hot, dusty, and busy but a good day was had by all. Until time to leave the carpark. A single exit lane and a gazillion cars trying to merge and exit. Not fun! 

Then today I started a new job. It's tiring and only proved to me that I really, truly am unfit! Other than that it was good and the ladies seem nice. Oh, and it's only just up the road from home, and during school hours!

Now I just need to sleep for a day or twelve. zzzzzzzzz

Second last cupcake!

The end is nigh! I'm now working on the final one, yay. Here's the one I just finished:

• Name of the design  - It's an extract from "Sampler 09"
• Chart is a freebie from this blog, I believe. 
• Fabric is 25 count "Dark Chocolate" lugana evenweave from 123 stitch.
• Thread is DMC cotton, #840.
• Stitch count is 25 x 25. 
• Started on February 25th.
• Completed on March 1st.  It will be another cupcake for my stand.

3rd last cupcake!

Are you sick of the sight of them yet? LOL I recently received the brown fabric for the final 2 cupcakes, so they'll be my next couple of projects. Then I'll be finished the stitching aspect of the cupcakes, just to find some time to sit down and turn them into actual cupcakes.

• Name of the design is - who knows? In my haste to find a project to stitch on the go, I cut and pasted a freebie into ms paint and selected just this part to stitch.  Having now looked through my freebies at least twice, I can't find it anywhere. Sadly, I only started this a few days ago too :-(  UPDATE: It's funny what a fresh look can do ;-). I did find the pattern, in a folder I either didn't check, or checked with tired eyes around 11pm last night. This is an extract from the Petit sampler.
• Chart is a freebie from this blog. 
• Fabric is 32 count "Ruby Wine" lugana evenweave from 123 stitch.
• Thread is a variegated DMC cotton, #107, with the lighter pink bits cut out.
• Stitch count is 29 x 29. 
• Started on February 20th.
• Completed on February 24th. It will be another cupcake for my stand.

Karate & a cupcake

I've finished another cupcake design, only 3 more to go. I'm waiting on some brown fabric to arrive for 2 of them, so that leaves one more red one to stitch for now. 

• Name of the design is "Persian Flower".  
• Chart is a freebie designed by Elizabeth Almond and can be found on the blackwork journey website.
• Fabric is a white 28 count evenweave.
• Thread is DMC cotton, #414.
• Stitch count is 34 x 34. 
• Started on February 16th.
• Completed on February 19th. It will be another cupcake for my stand.

On another note, DS # 2 had his first karate tournament of the year yesterday and took home first place for kata. In kumite he had a bye first round then lost out in overtime in the second round. It's a bit hard to tell who he will be up against in the running for state team, as the age groups were different for this tournament. A few of the kids will go up an age group, and some won't be old enough to try for kumite.  Not to mention this tournament was broken up into 2 different belt levels too. Time will tell I guess.... Here's the trophy he won for his efforts: