A New Year Begins

As we sit with our feet up enjoying a glass of tipple to bring in the New Year, we cast our minds back to what a great year we have experienced this past year, and look forward to another year hopefully full of more adventures and achievements. We trust you too can relate to this feeling.

Both hubby & I wish all my blogger friends a very Happy New Year and hope it will be a better one than the last.


'Til next time,


                                    and thank you for not only visiting my blog but your friendship as well.

Mystery Advent Stitch-Along Days 23, 24 & 25

Yah hoo!! Finally, although a couple of days late, I have finished the little stitcheries that make up the Mystery Advent Stitch-A-Long that I have been taking part in for the month of December. I have so enjoyed making them, and with some time out with family over this last week  deciding what I have come to the point of deciding what I shall create with them. So the net couple of days will be spent with some graph paper, a pencil and an eraser to try and bring a design together.


Here are the last 3 designs:

I trust everyone has had a great Christmas and looking forward to a new start with a new year.


'Til next time, take care and enjoy your holiday break, and


                                                     thank you for dropping by and visiting my blog.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Finally I can sit with my feet up and have a quiet drink with all the pressure ... gone! I have finished all that I wanted to complete prior to the Christmas season, I shall be taking my little Mystery Advent Stitcheries for Day 23 & 24 with me as we head off to join our family for Christmas - Day 25 will just have to wait 'til we get back home.


I got the fruit cake made yesterday and it is all ready to go, hopefully we don't get pulled up for RBT testing on the highway, there is quite a lot (?) of rum both in the cake and on top as well .... oops.

At present I am enjoying one of my most favourite drinks, and no, no alcohol in this lot. I am a big fan of the Bundaberg Brewery Ginger Beer, but at Christmas they bring out a special brew - Spiced Ginger Beer. Oh my gosh, would have to think this is Australia's answer to hot mulled wine from the northern hemisphere. It is so, so delicious and refreshing in our hot temperatures.

I have also been busy with my final 'Countdown to Christmas' project for this year - hopefully they will put a smile on your face.

I would like thank Kris from Tag-Along Teddies for the OPAM that she has co-ordinated this year, it certainly is an awful lot of work she puts in each month - so thank you Kris. Can we hope, it will be on again next year?


What ever you do for Christmas and whoever you are with, enjoy and know that you are thought of at this special time of the year.


For now, both Hubby & I would like to wish all my blogger friends a very Merry Christmas - should be able to post again before the New Year.


 I would also like to thank you all for dropping by and visiting my blog.




"Til next time ....

Mystery Advent Stitch-Along Days 21 & 22

Oh my gosh, the time has really flown and we are 22 lovely little stitcheries down and only 3 to go, can't wait to see what it is we are meant to possibly make up using them. Although I do have an idea of my own (as do others) but I will wait and see what ideas are suggested to us.


Here is my Day 21 & 22 stitcheries

In between doing these today, I also got our Christmas cake made after soaking the fruit in rum overnight, and sprinkling more over the top when I took it out of the oven - the smell must have got to me though as I just realised I have not taken a photo of it to post here, ah well, will see if I can put one up tomorrow.


Thankfully our family from Canberra have finally have been able to travel up through NSW (bushfires still horrendous) heading for the Sunshine State of Queensland (we too have fires in various areas, but thankfully no where near as bad as NSW) to spend Christmas with the family.


Time now to sit and put my feet up for a break before heading back to the kitchen to begin cooking dinner - oh, I must be bad, hubby does dinner on a Sunday night, woo hoo! A night off.


For now though, if you are travelling to reach family and/or friends to celebrate Christmas, please take care and travel safe.


'Til next time .....

Mystery Advent Stitch-Alog - Days 19 & 20

Back to my little stitcheries today with me catching up (again) with them. Was not totally happy with the design inside the star for Day 19's, so did a little 'tweaking' again and am happy with it now.


For todays, it just screamed a thread full of sheen for the bow and that is what I did, I pulled out the box with all my DMC rayon threads, had them quite a while and to be honest, don't think they are available now, however, am happy with this one as well. Doesn't look all that different in the photo, but it does shine with the light on it.

Time now, to do a few more bits and pieces ready for Christmas - don't tell anyway, but I still haven't made my Christmas cake yet! Will get the fruit ready and soak it overnight.


So I shall be off .....

Take care my friends,


                      and thank you for dropping by.

Something a Little Different

I have not just been stitching my Mystery Advent stitcheries of late, I have been busy creating the Secret Santa gift for next week. The theme is 'sustainability' and I think I have accomplished this with relative ease considering anything hand made and reusable fits the bill, don't you think?


Well, this is what I created:


2 Calico shopping bags that roll up for you to take shopping
2 Mesh (with coloured tops) bags for fruit and veges to take to the supermarket
A terylene throwover (flies have a habbit of hanging around on Christmas Day)
A sewing mat with little rubbish bag (my recipient enjoys sewing too)
A wooden (double) trivet that Hubby generously made for me to add - it actually comes apart and makes two trivets.
Plus a Santa Sack to put all the items in.
Oh, forgot, I am also including a recipe book for kids - she has two toddlers.

I should not forget I have also been working on my 'Countdown to Christmas' item for this month as well - to be revealed next week.


For now though, at this busy time, make sure you take a little time out for yourselves.


'Til next time,


                                           and thank you for visiting my blog.

Mystery Advent Stitch-Along Days 16, 17 & 18

Here I go again, lagging behind with my stitcheries, however I do have good reason with me trying desperately trying to finish off my Secret Santa gift - all but there.


For now though, here are my latest for the Mystery Advent Stitch-Along:


Day 16

Day 17

Day 18

I am hoping by tomorrow I may be able to post my Secret Santa project.


So with this in mind I shall close off here and head back to my sewing machine for the last little bits to finish off.


Have a good night my friends,
              
                                        and thank you for dropping by for a visit to my blog.

Mystery Advent Stitch-Along Days, 13, 14 & 15

No wonder it is called the 'silly season', I have gone from behind with my little Mystery Advent stitcheries to being ahead and having todays done before lunch.




Friday's got finished yesterday (Saturday) morning as I had spent a couple of hours at the hairdresser, and yesterday's was done yesterday afternoon/early evening whilst we were at the Sandstone Point Community Christmas Carols in the Park - with a twist.




So to begin, here is Day 13 ....

Now for Day 14 (yesterday)

The twist I spoke of with this one is, as mentioned we were at a Carols in the Park (carols to begin around 6.30pm) to and hubby was on 'cooking duty' with the Vietnam Veterans food trailer cooking up sausages around 3.30pm  and I was sitting on the sidelines stitching my pudding and all going well. However an ant decided otherwise and bit me on my lower eye lid, and oh my gosh did it hurt, off came the glasses real quick and I began to try and get the critter out of my eye. Eventually I did and squashed it to pulp and flicked it on the grass with a few good words. I then took off for the first aid station and thankfully there didn't appear to be any damage, but they did suggest a little bit of ice be put on it. This I did, had a snag or two, deciding to hold off on my stitching and see how my eye developed. Oh I also had an ice cream sundae with butterscotch sauce and a flake bar in it - yummm!


Anyway, before the light faded I was able to finish off my little plum pudding stitchery. Thought, yep, I can post these two when we get home, well .... that didn't happen, so having got on with the task this morning, here is today's stitchery:

I did take some photos of the carols in the park, but have not downloaded them yet - can't have everything ahead of time, but I will let you know that my eye is OK this morning after putting some drops in it last night before heading for bed.


Now it is time to get ready and head off to another Christmas lunch with friends, so whatever you are doing or wherever you may be .....

                                            and thank you for stopping by to visit my blog.

                                       

Mystery Advent Stitch-Along - Days 11 & 12

Woo hoo! Finally caught up with myself and even going out for lunch (again) I managed to get the little stitcheries for yesterday and today finished on time.

Was in a quandary as to what colour to make the snowflake and after several attempts came up with a variegated white (DMC #4015) and a very, very pale blue (DMC # 775) which gave the white just that tinge of colour on the white background.


Have a couple of extra small 'Santa Sacks' to make to take out to lunch with us (yes another lunch) on Sunday with some friends. We will still have two more dinners out next week with other friends - I reckon Christmas is a season of weight gain and then we take the whole of the following year to get it off before we start all over again next Christmas. One could honestly think it was a conspiracy of the weight demons - but they shall not win! I am determined not to go overboard at any of the morning teas/lunches or dinners we are going to.


For now though I shall head for the craft room and cut out those extra santa sacks ready to sew up tomorrow, along with doing more on my Secret Santa project.


'Til next time, thank you for dropping by, keep stitching and take care.

Mystery Advent Stitch-Along - Days 9 & 10

Sorry I am late posting these (Days 9 & 10), thought I would be able to add todays (Day 11) as well, but not to be - went out for morning tea and lunch today, and as much as I enjoyed myself out and about, it does bite into my stitching time.


Here are the 9 & 10 that I finished this morning.

I did have the time this afternoon to get todays done, however I chose to catch up with some sewing of my 'Secret Santa' items. The cutting board came out and away I went. The sewing machine and the overlocker were going full bore. I am quite happy with what I am creating, and will post the photo of all the bits and pieces soon. But it now means I will have to catch up with my daily stitcheries tomorrow - that's OK, I feel I am far enough ahead to spend tomorrow afternoon sitting and doing the hand stitcheries. Looking at the diary I seem to have a reasonable amount of time up my sleeve to finish off the 'Secret Santa' things later in the week and maybe over the weekend.


For now though, I thank you for dropping by for a visit, and I shall make an effort to catch up and stay on track with my stitcheries.

Mystery Advent Stitch-Along - Days, 6,7 & 8

Oh gosh, I feel as if I have been dragging the chain with these, but in actual fact we were out for dinner on Friday night (Day 6), so did not get it posted.


Other than that, we have had a full free weekend and usually for December that is unheard of, so I have managed to get in and finish off a couple of projects including Day 7 yesterday.

Yes, I took the photo with my apron on, we were cooking a Turducken roast in our new Air Fryer. We are contributing the roasts for our Christmas Day get together, and felt we wanted to have a 'practice' run. Really tasted yummy, although it did fall apart when I attempted to carve it.

Hence, Day 7 stitchery did not get posted either. I then decided, I would leave it until I had done todays (Day 8) and post them altogether.

I am so enjoying stitching these, although I have 'tweaked' a couple of them, but on the whole and pleased with the whole project to date.


Now it is time, to put my feet up under the fan with a nice glass of chilled wine supplied by hubby.


Talking of my wonderful hubby, I have to say that although he considers himself  'supervisor' of this Mystery Advent Stitch-Along, he is also very supportive of me doing it. His comments (most of the time) are much appreciated.


For now though, it is 'wine o.clock' and I feel I have earnt it today.


'Til next time, take care wherever you are.


                                                                and thank you for dropping by for a visit.                    

Mystery Advent Stitch-Along Day 5

Another little stitchery done, and now only 20 days to go to the big day! Have an awful lot still to do and plan to get into it over the weekend - a free weekend in December? Unheard of around here!


Anyway, here is today's stitchery:

The design shows a little halo above the girls head, however I am unsure whether to put it on or not, your thoughts please.


Think that will do me for now, and head back into the lounge-room and the air conditioner, quite hot here today with the weekend temps to go even higher - good days for stitching with the air con. on.


'Til next time,


Take care all those affected by bushfires etc,


                                                                       and thank you for visiting my blog.

Mystery Advent Stitch-Along - Day 4

Been busy the last day or so whilst I redid days 1 & 2 along with keeping up with each days project. For Day 4 it was some cherries that we had to stitch. Again it was red-work, so I made the choice to create my own colour combination.

I mentioned I think yesterday that I was considering moving away from the red which meant re-doing both Day 1 & 2 stitcheries - here they are, and I really am quite happy with them.

Now to head off back to the sewing machine and do a bit more on a couple of Christmas gifts I am still making.


For now though,


                                                                    thanks for dropping by.

Mystery advent Stitch-Along Day 3

Goodness me, I feel so sorry for Helen of Hugs n Kisses for the hassles she has been having with her systems and website crash over the last couple of days, guess it would with over 2,400 people trying to download the designs basically all together. Got another email from her this afternoon - all should be good from here on in.


Having done the first two stitcheries in a deep variegated red and todays design looked to be in the same colour, I decided to change tack as the saying goes. I am not one for red-work, so have decided to redo stitcheries 1 and 2 again with other coloured threads. You will see what I mean when we see stitchery 3 below - to me it looks so much brighter and therefore in my eye, better. We were given the option of following her colour scheme or choosing our own, also I have changed the angel design from yesterday just slightly.


Anyway, here is Day 3 stitchery - a candy cane.

Over the coming days, I will endeavour to redo Days 1 & 2, then put the new stitcheries up here on my blog.


For now though, I am going back out to the air conditioning and a bit more stitching.


Catch up with you soon,


                                                              and thank you for dropping by.

Mystery Advent Stitch-Along Day 2

It would appear all is back to normal with receiving our designs for the mystery stitch-along. Todays was in our in box before we were out of bed, and no we didn't sleep in.


Todays design is of a little angel which was a very easy one to stitch.

Was tempted to stitch the star in gold, but thought I would leave it as the design suggested.


Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.


'Til then,


                             take care
                                                                           and thank you for dropping by.

Mystery Advent Stitch-Along - Day 1

Just over a week ago I received an email regarding signing up for a Mystery Advent Stitch-Along from Hugs 'n Kisses in Hobart Tasmania.

It sounded fun with you receiving an email with a small stitchery design each day until Christmas. Then I think on Christmas Day you find out what to make all your stitcheries up as. I have not done anything like this before and it was with a little bit of trepidation that I signed up for it - it was free after all, and who doesn't like something for free. Mind you I have recently made a couple of purchases from them and this is their way of giving back to their customers.


So .... today was the first day, only everything crashed this morning and no emails were received. To begin with I thought it was me, having hit a wrong button or something, but there was a message on their facebook page to say as soon as the problems were sorted out, we would get our pattern for Day 1. This arrived mid afternoon and after I downloaded it , traced off the pattern to some fabric, it was stitching time - mind you in between, we have been out for the first of our Christmas functions, but I have managed o get it done in time.

Hopefully I will not be this late in posting my future stitchings, so keep tuned and see what other lovely stitcheries I get to makae.


For now though,


                       Take care,


                                                                               and thanks for stopping by.

Another Couple of Kindness Bears

I have been trying to get these couple of Kindness Bears made for nearly two months - I don't usually take this long, however this month (November) just seems to have flown by and we have had a few extra things that had to be attended to.

These are for some friends up near Murgon (near where we go fishing at Bjelke Petersen Dam), and I have heard back that they were well appreciated - that makes me feel good too.


For now though I am putting my feet up and resting waiting for the 1st December when I am to start a Mystery Advent Stitch-along.


Wherever you reside, look after yourselves and take care,


                                                                                        and thank you for visiting my blog.

A Couple of Christmas Gifts - Done

As mentioned in my previous post, I have signed up for a mystery advent stitch along, and as I am not sure exactly what I am in for, I decided to really get stuck into finishing off some other Christmas gifts sooner rather than later.


Here are a couple of cushions I have been making for some friends.

I made some of these some years ago and decided to make them when one of my friends said she had done some candle-wicking years ago, but had given the items away, never to be seen again. Picking up on this comment, I decided to make her a little bit of candle-wicking and hopefully make her day.


There is still another project I wish to finish this month, let's hope I manage to get it completed so I am free for next month.


For now though,

                                                                                            and thank you for visiting my blog.

Countdown to Christmas - November

Time is flying by and there is so much more that has to be done before the 'Big Day', and me being me, couldn't help myself when I signed up for an Mystery Advent Stitchalong for the month of December - ah well .... a new stitchery pattern to do each day with the finish I understand to be revealed Christmas Day - should be interesting.


This coming Christmas will be a little different for us, sharing it with our daughter-in-law's family and they have chosen a Secret Santa theme along with the fact that they seem to be very much into sustainability and no excess wastage. So for this month's countdown, I created some Santa Sacks for my our Secret Santa gifts.

Another thing I would like to ask my stitching blogging friends - I have decided (don't ask how many years it has taken me to get to this point - it is quite embarrassing really) that I need to find out the correct needles to use if I am to continue on what I consider my 'niche' for my sewing, that is my hand embroidery pieces.


I got in touch with Kris of Tag-A-Long Teddies and asked her advice, all good, and I purchased said embroidery/crewel needles #9 and felt they were too thick, hmm ...... so when I was doing a bit of fossicking in the cupboard, came across another packet of said #9 embroidery needles - tried one of those and was very happy with it. How can 2 packets (different brands) of the same size needle be so very different?


Put one from each packet side by side and asked Pete if he could see any difference in them and he agreed with me that they definitely were different - can I ask what your opinion is from the following photo.

As you can see from the price on the packet on the right - it appears I may have had then for a while. The ones on the left cost me $3.25 week before last.


It is time for me to close off and go do some housework, although that would not be my preference for the rest of the day, as I am still trying to finish another project before the end of the month.


'Til next time,

                                                                                                   and thank you for dropping by.

We Are Getting Too Old for This Stuff!

Last weekend we were made aware of the death of a member of Pete's previous family (we have bother been married before), and it was decided that we would make an attempt to attend the funeral. First issue was that it would be in Mackay - the best part of 7-800 kms north of where we live. We were given the day (last Thursday) of the funeral, but not the time. OK, down the Flight Centre and booked our flights, I chose the early morning one to go up - just our luck it would be a morning funeral if I decided on a later flight, but no it was to be at 2pm. Flight back was OK, it was at 6.15pm, no worries, but it was what they call a 'milk run, coming through from Cairns, stopping in Townsville, then Mackay, then Rockhampton with a change of planes before continuing onto Brisbane.






Our flight up left Brisbane at 6am, meaning we were up at 3am, leaving home at 3.30, drop the car off, and the shuttle bus out to the airport by 5am. It meant of course we had quite a bit of time to fill in before attending the funeral.




First off  on arrival in Mackay we picked up a rental car and away we went looking for a bite of breakfast come morning tea at the major shopping centre in Mackay called Canelands.




It was Pete who suggested maybe we might find a couple of craft shops - why didn't I think of that? Well, when you think about it, it is not something you would think about when you go somewhere for a funeral is it?






Anyway found two, the first one was a little bit ordinary, but oh boy, the second one was unreal. It was called Needleworx, the hardware store for ladies, and it was, it had everything you could possibly want in the sewing department.

Being conscious of not having any bags so to speak with us, I purchased just two patterns. There was a lovely 3 square Christmas swag hanging up, and on enquiry found they had sold out of the kits nor did they have any patterns for it either - did I want them to let me know when they got more kits in - no we were not from Mackay. Thought about this on the flight back and have since sent them an email asking if they could let me know when they get them in - here's hoping!






Here is a photo of the two patterns I did get, one for making Christmas stocking cutlery holders and the other one, ooh ... I just love it, it is a small quilted hanging saying 'A bear lover lives here' - does that sound like me or what?

The funeral went off as good as funerals can, and the 'afters' was quite pleasant as well. It was then off to the airport to hand back the car and check in.




On descent into Rockhampton the Captain announced there was a colony of bats crossing the runway and we were to circle for about 10-15 minutes so our arrival time was delayed a little. Once on the ground, we had a cuppa and a sandwich to fill the void for dinner, then found the plane to take us back to Brisbane was delayed about 45 minutes.




Finally we were away, landed in Brisbane, got the shuttle bus back to the car storage place to pick up our car and an hour drive home arriving about 11pm. We then fell into to bed around 11.30pm.




Have to say, both of us felt absolutely terrible after getting up around 7.30am on Friday morning, and have been recovering since. A 20 hour day is not something we do well these days, however, would we do it again if the need arises, yes we would - sometimes you just have to do these things.




For now though, it is time for another little snooze.


'Til next time.


Sorry this has come out with big breaks between paragraphs - not sure what has happened, by my apologies.

Small Projects for the Caravan

What an awful week for all around the country with bushfires flaring up in every state, however it seems the worst states have been New South Wales and Queensland, although thankfully, we have not had any where we are, but there certainly plenty in surrounding regions.




At this point in time, the fires closest to us are one on Moreton Island and another at Ningi which flared up last night with lightning strikes. Oh joy, oh bliss - we got 51 drops of rain last night!


So this morning we have had a float plane dropping down into Pumicestone Passage and scooping up water for the fire over on Moreton Island. We have however like everywhere else been covered with a combined smoke and dust haze.

Have got to say a very heartfelt thanks to all the firies for the fabulous effort that all of them have been putting in. Also our thoughts are with those that are going through the horrendous issues of fighting to save their homes etc - our thoughts are with you all.




Because I am one who does not cope real well with being out in smoke/dust haze, I have been busy in my craft room catching up on making a couple of small, but necessary projects needed for our caravan before we have our next trip away.




First off, I needed to buy some windscreen shade thingys, cut them to size and make 3 (so far) panels to place against both bedroom windows and another for the window on the door. These will keep out the sun, particularly when the van is parked up and gets the severe western sun in the afternoons and I now have one very rotted terylene curtain and to save the others, I felt making these panels would help.

I also decided that my bolster cushion (Barney) that I need in bed to stop me rolling onto my back and possibly having choking fits in the middle of the night, a cover to complement the covers etc on the bed, and although you can't see it all that well, you can see a little of it in this following photo.

I have also made a lovely mug rug from a pattern I purchased from New Zealand a couple of years ago and finally I have got around to making it up, quite pleased with the way it turned out too.

With a little under two weeks to go for this month I had better get moving with a couple of other projects I am working on,


so for now .....

                                                                       
                                                                           and thank you for dropping by and visiting my blog.

Girl Time

Yesterday afternoon whilst Pete was down at the Bowls Club umpiring some competitions, I had some time to myself and along with some sorting out of what projects I intend to make this month, I also decided to try a pattern ...... bother, where is my brain, should be recipe I found on the internet the other day, for mini banana bread muffins. Thought I might share the recipe with you ......

Mini Banana Bread Muffins

Mix together 
        3 bananas (mashed) and 2 eggs.
Now add 
        1/2 cup greek yoghurt
        1/3 cup honey 
        1 tsp vanilla extract
Lastly, add
        1 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour
        1 tsp baking soda

Mix altogether, and using an ice cream scoop, put into muffin tin.
Top with strawberries or blueberries, chopped walnuts or chocolate chips (175g).
Bake at 350 deg f/180 deg c for 20 mins.

Here are some suggestions from the comments below the recipe:
            Use oat meal flour instead of whole wheat flour
            Use regular Yoplait yoghurt instead of greek yoghurt
            Used 1 1/2 tsps. baking powder and added 2 tsps. cinnamon & nutmeg

It was also suggested that leave them in the oven for 25 minutes - and I have to concur with this.

Makes 12 muffins, and they are s-o yumm.

This has made my mouth water, so I am off to make myself a cuppa and have another one of my muffins.

For now though .....

                                                                                        and thank you for visiting my blog.

Day Trip

Don't get me wrong, I love setting off and exploring other places, even for a day, however I do like to catch my breath at home too.

Last Saturday Peter had a conference he was to attend (full day) up at the University of Sunshine Coast, and bless their hearts, the association concerned put on a day out for the spouses.

Got to the pick-up point for me (outside the Mantra Mooloolaba Beach) early as Peter needed to find his way back to the University, which left me time for a cuppa and raisin toast - yumm!

Now from where I was sitting in the alfresco dining area, you had a wonderful view of the beach and the shopping precinct.

Time to head back to the front of the Mantra in time to be picked up and whisked away to spend some time at the Eumundi Markets not that far from Noosa, Ginger Factory at Yandina, a little way down the road, before being returned to the Mantra.

The markets were quite busy with lots of people strolling around, enjoying what was on offer to buy, along with musicians and food stalls so you could try whatever took your fancy.

Around 12 we got back on the bus and headed to Yandina and the Ginger Factory. This Ginger Factory used to be at Buderim on the Sunshine Coast many years ago, outgrew it's premises and hence made the Move to Yandina where they have really made it into a tourist attraction. It was here we enjoyed a lovely lunch before having a look around the place.

This is the small lake beside the outdoor dining area where we had lunch.

Time for a little bit of walking to explore the various shops there, just the other side of the lake.

It was in this particular shop that I picked up some very yummy fudge and some apple tree tea bags - they have a delicate flavour and are particularly nice and refreshing in the summer when you let them cool off.

On the way out, we had a look at the variety of products available to buy that had ginger as their main ingredient.

Before we got the bus back to the Mantra we had time to go across the road and pay a visit to the Nut Works, where they process mainly macadamia nuts.

Back at Mooloolaba, our group of adventurers broke up and I went for a walk the whole length of the main road along the waterfront, as I had q while to wait for Peter to finish and come and pick me up. Didn't get too far before I stopped and purchased a very delectable tiramisu ice cream cup - just a small one mind you.

Continuing on my walk, the next stop was at a souvenir place where I purchased a really nice sun hat that fits! My head is not all that big and I find the adult hats come down all but over my eyes, so I have to try and find reasonable kids ones, that don't look like kids ones if you know what I mean.

Got to the end of the street, crossed over and walked back along the beachfront. So different from looking at the ocean in the morning, the wind had really got up, and parts of the beach were closed.

However, I just had to take a couple of photos to show you, the only one of it's kind - a loo with a view. Yes, you read that right.

After nearly being blown over, I decided to head back towards the Mantra and wait in the foyer (a little calmer than outside) for Peter to arrive.

A very long day, tiring, but most enjoyable. Found out next year's conference will be down at the Gold Coast.

As we have been in and out this month, I have not had a real lot of time for stitching, so I shall close off and go see about the projects I plan to do next month.

For now though ...........

                                                                                  and thank you for visiting my blog.