17 weeks til Christmas....

Don't you just love a sale?! Especially when you know the prices aren't jacked up to pretend to give you a discount & you know bloody well that they are. Not one of those sales- but a real good, genuine sale.

The Sheridan factory outlet is quite near where our work office is located & they had a sale-ended up making 3 trips & buying stacks of manchester- but it was sooooo cheap couldn't resist (& here I was thinking the other day that I more than likely did not need to buy any more manchester for the rest of my life as I have more than enough!) Oh well, bit like saying I'm not buying anymore fabric! Ha!!! as if that is ever going to happen.

I bought 3 of my adult children sheet sets after they messaged me that Yes , please we'd love more bed linen (especially as they know that Mum is paying!)- picked up some sheet sets for my Grandson, new sheets for the single, spare bed & new sheets for our bed- lots of towels (lots of towels!-most for my stash, as at that price they make fantastic gifts- just put a name on them & away I go!). I worked it out that on a lot of the items I saved about 74% & a few of the goodies were closer to 90%!!

One set was delivered this morning to a patient who had requested, if I could, an embroidery on some towels she wanted to give as a gift- they were easy enough-that's a few towels out of the stash already.(2 down 20 to go!!)

Tuesday its Lizzie's birthday & I've put a lovely L on a gorgeous eau de nil coloured towel for her- there were matching face cloths & bathmats with this colour- no hand towels- so she's getting what I was able to buy-I know she loves this colour so its a good choice for her. I picked the Queenie alphabet to use from Francine's embroidery- love this alpha- its really classy & it comes in a really huge size which is nice to put on a towel as a single letter. I'm off Tuesday so I'll leave that parcel on her chair at work for her as a surprise (unless of course she happens to read my blog in which case its no longer a surprise!)

We had a magnificent sunset the other day- I lent out over the balcony to get as much of it as I could-I'd like to be able to get up on the roof for photos- but I don't suppose that's going to happen.

All ready for our Melbourne family's arrival tomorrow- GS rang while I was at work this morning to tell Grandad that he was so excited he can hardly wait!LOL don't you love the enthusiasm of a 4 year old?

I finally finished my sock- I knew this one would knit up quicker as the pattern was much more interesting. So both pairs that I started in Montana are now done....the yarn is already with the pattern for the next pair-have been itching to try these since I saw them in my knitting book & bought the yarn while in the USA-shame I couldn't get the colours I wanted, the pattern is Flame Wave Socks & I'm using Cascade's Fixation yarn in bright red! Should be eye catching.

MOTH managed to break one of the rollers on my quilting frame through the week- not sure what he was doing- so now I will need to get that fixed before I can do all the quilting I have in mind for Christmas....did you know its only 17 weeks until the BIG day? I have a lot to get done in that time.....maybe I need to write a list like my friend Ruth does (for everything) it might just keep me on track!

Until next time

Happy crafting
Oz-Tralien

Montana & Home

The last leg of our journey was with Sammi & Mark- we stayed at their place back 2005 when Sammi & Mark hosted the Ya Ya gathering that year-no qualms about the MOTH here - the beer flowed freely & the politics were the same!

Montana is a beautiful place-the skies are big & blue, the people friendly & plenty to see & do.

By the time we reached Sammi & Mark's we were still reeling from the whirlwind tour with Vi & Bruce so were just looking to catch up with old friends & have a relaxing time.

On our last trip here we toured through Yellowstone & Cody- did the Custer's Last Stand out at Harden & managed to see lots of the touristy things-this visit was a catchup with friends.

We were going to go onto Bryce canyon after leaving Montana but MOTH had had enough of being on the road, there were things to sort out at home & visitors, arriving early from Malaysia. The extra 4 days didn't matter-I am glad to be home & to be able to recover from the jet lag before returning to work.

Sammi & I did a shop hop of fabric stores-I can't say my resolve was that strong- purchased patterns, chalkboard fabric to make our GS a portable drawing mat, & fabric for a quilt (yes, another one) & yarn- more yarn.....lots of it! (well, it wasn't fabric!)

I managed to pull my knitting book out while visiting & work out the cast on for the toe up sock-easy peasy lemon squeezy when I managed to apply it correctly-I even managed to knit one whole sock- the rest of the yarn in that colour had been shipped home in a box, luckily I did have more yarn to keep me busy!

Cast on a second sock in purple & knitted like a mad women possessed & got to the ankle before having to pack it away for the trip home- I am not attempting to travel with short needles again.(see previous blog on having them confiscated)

So, 2 new techniques learnt- toe up & on 2 circular needles-love the fact that there is only to yarn ends to darn in at the end & no grafting!

I must say that after seeing Sammi's stash of yarns & fabric-I think I'm just a novice at this stash building- I thought I had a lot- it would seem mine is much smaller than what Sammi calls 'stash'! Now I can tell MOTH that all my stash is nothing in compared to what my friends have!LOL

Another thing I discovered was that if you don't take pictures of the roses first thing in the morning- the sun burns them by day's end- literally cooks them! Sammi told me when they were blooming as she knows I like to do flower pics!

We did do a bit of driving around Billings to take some pictures- they had some spectacular sunsets while we were there....the week passed very quickly & off we went... to return home to Sydney-exhausted & in need of a holiday to recover.

What wonderful friends I have made through the Internet & even better that we can visit them- now to convince them to come to visit us! It's something about that 13 hour flight that scares them off...