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November 2016
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January 2017

December 2016

New Year resolutions

You know I have just realised that I never made any resolutions at all for 2016!  Now that is a first.  I was so tired up in just getting by that I never set any firm direction for the year.  I just let the wind of fate take me where it would and tried to survive.  Maybe there was some widsom in doing that?  It wasn't an easy year to survive. 

But 2017 is different.  I intend to take control of my small ship and although those winds may batter me I will have a direction I want to head in, even if I don't reach the destination I set out for.

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I have put that up on the wall so that I will see it every day.  When I get side tracked it will remind me I want to get somewhere.  So where am I headed?

  1. To Japan to get the images I need to finish my book on Kogin Embroidery.
  2. To develop a stock of embroidered items that reflect where I live for sale at our local markets.
  3. Spend time with my grand daughters.
  4. Keep working towards finishing that pile of UFO's
  5. Take a regular amount of 'me time'.
  6. I wish to design 12 small embroideries for peace.

(I'm not sure how I will go with number 6.)

Looking back at my work
list for 2016 I didn't do too well.

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This year the list is a bit shorter.

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So, from midnight tonight this small ship will set sail into the future.

 


 

 


Run ragged, in a good way.

It has been the week of having all the family plus some extras, staying.  They are all down the beach at the moment so I have a little me time.  And, I just got the message that they are all going to stay till after new year.  Good thing I bought too much food!

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Yesterday was Monique's 6th Birthday.  We had to set up the night before to make sure we had a good spot down on the beach.  (lost a few G clamps that were holding the table clothes in place.) 

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We all set up on the beach and there was a gentle wind blowing that kept us all cool.  The kids had a ball. 

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Ate too much sugar and were pretty good on the whole.  Although, as you can see the healthy stuff was still there.  No worries the adults ate that.

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We all caught the ferry back to the mainland and had dinner at Macca's.  It was so good I expect them all back on January 26th , Australia Day.

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Some images of 2016

I was having a look back over my posts for the past year trying to pick what was the most significant things in each month.  It was a hard task and sometimes I just had to have more than one thing. 

So here we go,

JANUARY

The rain and the patterns it made.

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FEBRUARY

The young Kookaburras

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We moved into the Cow House.

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MARCH

My trip to Melbourne with my daughter.  Finding a new shop.

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This trip was packed with memorable things.

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APRIL

The passing of cousin Margaret marked by this beautiful moon that shone that night.

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MAY

We moved back into our house.

Breakfast with dear friends.

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JUNE

Half the year had rushed by. I was able to snatch a weekend away with friends.

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JULY

A lovely 'Children's Class".

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and some great Kogin Classes.

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AUGUST

Quandamooka festival, so looking forward to the next one.

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SEPTEMBER

My little one's Pincipal's Award.

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OCTOBER

Living on this wonderful island with all the great animals and interesting people.

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NOVEMBER

Getting my Dick Tracey watch

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Driving interstate to see my friend before she passed. ( I lost another two friends to cancer this year.)

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DECEMBER

The start of summer.

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I thought it had been an uneventful year but looking back it was packed full of great things.

How blessed am I?

 

 

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No more waiting, it's here.

A big day ahead with the family all headed this way.  All the air-matresses are blown up, lots of cooking still to been done but the presents are all wrapped.  The island is buzzing as lots of people have come over to stay for the holidays.  My lot are here for the next five days so I might not be able to post till they leave. 

Have a Merry Xmas.

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Xmas Baking

Every year I cook biscuits with the girls at this time of year.  They really don't like the highly spiced ginger bread biscuit so I have come up with a butter biscuit that has just a hint of vanilla.  We have to have gingerbread GIRLS, no boys allowed.  A lot of time goes into the decoration after they have cooled down.

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Then as soon as they are decorated you eat them.

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Then we made Xmas stars, dipped them in chocolate and packaged them as presents for our cousins, Aunts and Uncles.  (They had to be quickly put away so they couldn't be raided.)

Then we assembled and decorated the gingerbread house.  Jasmine insisted that the grass had to be green, there is no snow here.

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The piping is a bit wonky but we are only 4 and 5 years of age.

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Then we put on our best smiles for Oma, Mummy and Grandma to take our picture with our work.

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The next thing they said was "can we eat it now!".  I hope it lasts until Daddy gets home.

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Satirest

I have all of Salley Mavors books and several of her dolls.  I have admired her work since I first saw it back in the 1970's.  But I think she may have missed her callings.  She is a wonderful satirest. 

Screen Shot 2016-12-20 at 3.28.26 pmThose little fairies have come out of the woods to make political comment and they are really very funny.  I didn't know they could do that.


WIPW

There is lots going on but not much to show because a lot of the work is secret.

Just a couple of birds.

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But, I am experimenting with embroidered decorations for Xmas 2017.  This is because the 12 days of Xmas I stitched for the Guild were such a success for their Xmas raffle.  So I thought I would stitch up some snow flakes.  I don't know where I got these designs they were in a file I have had for ages.

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I went out and bought some more linen, at $100 per metre, that was a bit of a shock to the wallet, and some perle 8 thread.  I cut off the piece to set up the first embroidery, overlocked that piece and the remaining fabric and then wrote the count, price and date purchased on the selvedge.  I am sick and tired of having to count threads every time I take a new fabric out of the draw.   I might go back and do the rest of my stash.  Some will be easy because I know just by looking at them.  As for the others, well.

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Sewing, sewing.

Oh that sewing of gifts.  I just think of new things to do all the time.  There are some gifts that cry out to be put into a bag so I have been making bags to put things into.  The Magic 3's bag is just perfect for some things.  This gift, which must remain a secret until it arrives at it's destination, needed a bag which was a bit bigger , so I just increased the size.  Works perfectly and I can make more than one in a day, even with all the hand sewing I put into it.

Screen Shot 2016-12-18 at 9.52.25 pmThe more I use this pattern the more I like it.

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It is also a great stash buster as well.

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An old book

I was looking on the shelves of the Guild's library the other day and came across the book "Danish Embroidery."

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It doesn't have a date of publication on it but I suspect 1960's .  In it are all the cross stitch patterns what were included in the Danish Embroiderers' Guild Newsletters.  In my clean out all those were thrown away so it was strange to see them again.    Most are printed in black and white but there are a few colour plates.

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The other thing about the book is that on one side of he page the text is in Danish and on the other English.  Where I would have used Danish Flower Thread this has been set up for Anchor Threads.  Then half way through the book the content turns to pulled thread work.  Here I found a few patterns I haven't seen before.

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And a table runner I would really like to work.

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There is no pattern but there are measurements.

I have been looking over my list of UFO's and must do's and it really isn't practical to add this to the list, but I want to.